The Bustan of Sadi: Translated from the Persian with an introduction
By Sadi
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The Bustan of Sadi - Sadi
Sadi
The Bustan of Sadi
Translated from the Persian with an introduction
EAN 8596547319832
DigiCat, 2022
Contact: DigiCat@okpublishing.info
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
THE BUSTĀN OF SADI
PROLOGUE
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
On the Reason for the Writing of the Book
Concerning Atābak Abu Bakr, Son of Sád
CHAPTER I CONCERNING JUSTICE, COUNSEL, AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNMENT
Nushīravān’s Counsel to His Son
Discourse concerning Travellers
Story illustrating the Need for Deliberation
Story of the King whose Coat was Coarse
Story of Darius and the Herdsman
Story of Abdul Aziz and the Pearl
Story of how Tukla was rebuked by a Devotee
Discourse concerning Riches and Poverty
Story of Qazal Arsalān and the Fort
A Story of Damascus
Story of a Bully
CHAPTER II CONCERNING BENEVOLENCE
Story Illustrative of Doing Good to the Evil
Story concerning Fasting
Story Illustrative of Practical Charity
Story of a Man and a Thirsty Dog
Story Apropos of Nemesis
Story of a Fool and a Fox
Story of a Devout Miser
Story of Hātim Tai
Story of Hātim and the Messenger sent to kill Him
Story Illustrative of Misdirected Kindness
Discourse concerning Kindness to Orphans
CHAPTER III CONCERNING LOVE
Discourse concerning Constancy
Story of a Dancer
Story illustrating the Reality of Love
Story Illustrative of Patience
Story of One who was Assiduous in Prayer
Story of Sultan Mahmūd and his Love for Ayāz
Story of a Village Chief
Story of a Fire-fly
Story of a Moth and a Candle
Another Story on the Same Subject
CHAPTER IV CONCERNING HUMILITY
Story of a Raindrop
Story Illustrative of Pious Men regarding themselves with Contempt
Story of Sultan Bāyazīd Bustāmi
Discourse on Conceit
Story of the Darwesh and the Proud Cādi
Story of the Honey-seller
Story illustrating the Forbearance of Good Men
Story illustrating the Noble-mindedness of Men
Story of a Kind Master and his Disobedient Slave
Story of Marūf Karchi and the Sick Traveller
Story illustrating the Folly of the Ignoble
Story of One who had a Little Knowledge
Story illustrating the Humility of the Pious
Story illustrating the Value of Soft Words
Story illustrating the Wisdom of Feigning Deafness
Story illustrating Forbearance for the Sake of Friends
Story of Luqman, the Sage
CHAPTER V CONCERNING RESIGNATION
Story of a Soldier of Isfahan
Story of the Doctor and the Villager
Story of the Villager and his Ass
Story illustrating Luck
Story of One who blamed his Destiny
Story of a Darwesh and his Wife
Story of a Vulture and a Kite
Story of a Camel
Discourse concerning Hypocrisy
CHAPTER VI CONCERNING CONTENTMENT
Story of the King of Khwarazm
Concerning the Evils of Over-eating
Story of a Glutton
Story of a Recluse
Story illustrating the Evils of Avarice
Story of an Ambitious Cat
Story of a Short-sighted Man and his High-minded Wife
Story of a Holy Man who built a House
Story of a Sheikh who became King
Discourse concerning Riches
CHAPTER VII CONCERNING EDUCATION
Discourse concerning the Excellence Of Taciturnity
Story concerning the Keeping of Secrets
Story illustrating the Fact that Silence is Best for Fools
Story illustrating the Folly of Impertinence
Discourse on Slander
Story concerning the same Subject
Why Thieving is Better than Slandering
Sadi and his Envious Class-friend
Story of Sadi’s Childhood
Story of a Sufi’s Rebuke
Concerning Absent Friends
Where Slander is Lawful
Tale-bearers worse than Back-biters
Faridun and his Wise Vazier
Discourse concerning Wives
Discourse on the Training of Sons
Sadi rebuked for his Fault-finding
CHAPTER VIII CONCERNING GRATITUDE
A Mother’s Warning to her Son
Discourse concerning the Art of the Most High God
Discourse concerning the Condition of the Weak
Story of Tughral, King of Shirāz, and the Hindu Watchman
Story of a Thief
Story of One who was not what he seemed
Story of a Sage Donkey
Story illustrating the Evils of Pride
Story of Sadi and the Idolaters
CHAPTER IX CONCERNING REPENTANCE
An Old Man’s Lament
Advice and Warning
Sadi’s Rebuke from a Camel-driver
Story concerning Sorrow for the Dead
Story of a Pious Man and a Gold Brick
Admonition
Moral from an Incident in Sadi’s Childhood
Story of a Man who reared a Wolf
Story of a Cheat
A Recollection of Childhood
Story of One who burned his Harvest
Discourse on Repentance
CHAPTER X CONCERNING PRAYER
A Worshipper’s Lament
Story of an Idolater
INTRODUCTION
Table of Contents
If among the twenty-two works with which Sadi enriched the literature of his country the Gulistān rank first in popularity, the Bustān (lit. Garden
) may justly claim equal precedence in point of interest and merit.
No comprehensive translation of this important classical work has hitherto been placed before the reading public, but it cannot be doubted that the character of its contents is such as to fully justify the attempt now made to familiarize English readers with the entertaining anecdotes and devotional wisdom which the Sage of Shiraz embodied in his Palace of Wealth. This is the name which he applies to the Bustān in an introductory chapter, and it is one which springs from something more than a poet’s fancy, for the ten doors, or chapters, with which the edifice is furnished lead into a garden that is indeed rich in the fruits of knowledge gained by a wide experience of life in many lands, and earnest thought.
The Bustān is written in verse—a fact which adds considerably to the difficulties of translation, since the invariable rule of Sadi, like that of every other Persian poet we have read, is to sacrifice sense to the exigencies of rhyme and metre. In not a few cases the meaning is so confused on this account that even the native commentators, who possess a fund of ingenuity in explaining what they do not properly understand, have been compelled to pass over numerous couplets through sheer inability to unravel their intricacies and the abstruse ideas of the poet.
Probably in no other language in the world is poetic license so freely permitted and indulged in as in Persian. The construction of sentences follows no rule; the order of words is just that which the individual poet chooses to adopt, and the idea of time—past, present, and future—is ignored in the use of tenses, that part of a verb being alone employed which rhymes the best.
Notwithstanding idiosyncrasies of this kind, the Bustān is written in a style that is delightfully pure and admirably adapted to the subject. The devout spirit by which Sadi was characterized throughout his chequered life is revealed in every page of the book. In the Gulistān he gave free rein to the quaint humour which for many centuries has been the delight of the Eastern peoples, and which an ever-increasing body of English readers is learning to appreciate and admire. In the Bustān the humour is more restrained; its place is taken by a more sober reasoning of the duties of mankind towards the Deity and towards their fellow-men. Devotion to God and the inflexibility of Fate are the underlying texts of every poem, and the ideality of the one and the stern reality of the other are portrayed in language the beauty of which, it is to be feared, the English rendering does not always adequately convey.
The poems abound in metaphor, a figure of style which Eastern writers employ to a degree that is always exaggerated, and sometimes tedious; but for the purpose of this translation, which aims at a happy medium between literal accuracy and the freedom requisite in order to render Oriental phraseology into polite English, numerous of the more far-fetched allusions have been discarded, to the benefit of the text.
Although a memoir of Sadi’s life is included in another volume of this series, it may not be out of place to give here a brief