The
Rose Garden
---------------------------
Written
by
Shaikh
Muslih al-Din Sa'di
--------------------------------------
Translated
by
Francis
Gladwin
-------------------------------
"It was the season of spring; the air was
temperate, and the rose in
full
bloom. The vestment of the trees resembled the festive garments
of
the fortunate. It was mid-spring, when the nightingales were
chanting
from the pulpits of the branches; the rose decked with pearly
dew,
like blushes on the cheek of a chiding mistress. It happened
once,
that I was benighted in a garden, in company with one of my
friends.
The spot was delightful, the trees intertwined; you would have
said
that the earth was bedecked with glass spangles, and that the
knot
of the Pleiades was suspended from the branch of the vine. A
garden
with a running stream, and trees from whence birds were
warbling
melodious strains: that filled with tulips of various hues; these
loaded
with fruits of several kinds. Under the shade of its trees the
zephyr
had spread the variegated carpet. In the morning, when the
desire
to return home overcame our inclination for remaining, I saw in
his
lap a collection of roses, odoriferous herbs, and hyacinths, which
he
had intended to carry to town. I said," You are not ignorant that the
flower
of the garden soon fadeth, and that the enjoyment of the rosebush is but of
short continuance; and the sages have declared, that
the
heart ought not to be set upon anything that is transitory." He
asked,
"What course is then to be pursued?" I replied, "I am able to
form
a book of roses, which will delight the beholders, and gratify
those
who are present; whose leaves the tyrannic arm of the autumnal
blasts
can never affect, nor injure the blossom of its spring. What
benefit
will you derive from a basket of flowers? Carry a leaf from my
garden:
a rose may continue in bloom for five or six days; but this
rose-garden
will flourish forever." As soon as I had uttered these
words,
he flung the flowers from his lap, and, laying hold on the skirt of my garment,
exclaimed, "When the beneficent promise, they faithfully
discharge
their engagement." In the course of a few days, two
chapters
(one on the comforts of society, and the other containing
rules
for conversation) were written out in my notebook, in a style that
may
be useful to orators, and improve the skill of letter-writers. In
short,
whilst the rose was yet in bloom, the book entitled the Rose
Garden
was finished: but it will be truly perfected on gaining a
favorable
reception at court, and when it obtains an indulgent perusal
from
that prince who is the asylum of the world, the shadow of the
Most
High, the ray of providential beneficence, the treasury of the age,
the
refuge of religion, the favorite of Heaven, the mighty arm of the
victorious
empire, the lamp of the resplendent religion, the most
splendid
of mankind, the aggrandizer of the faith, Sa'd, son of Atabuk
the
great; that potent monarch to whom nations bend the neck; lord
paramount
of the kings of Arabia and Persia; sovereign of land and
sea;
inheritor of the throne of Solomon, Muzaffar al-Din, may God
perpetuate
the good fortune of both, and prosper all their righteous
undertakings!"
Out
of the Pan into the Fire
-----------------------------------
I had grown weary of the society of my
Damascus friends, and
therefore,
made my way into Jerusalem desert, where I enjoyed the
companionship
of the beasts; until the time came when the Franks
made
me their prisoner, and kept me with Jews in a trench in Tripoli
digging
clay. One of the leading citizens of Aleppo, with who I had
been
formerly acquainted, chancing to pass by, recognized me and
said,
"Sirrah, what manner of life is this?" I said, "What can I say?
I fled from men to mountain and to plain,
For I had nothing from mankind to gain;
How is my case? Regard me in this den,
Where I must sweat with men that are not men.
Better to hand in chains, when friends are
there,
Than dwell with strangers in a garden
fair."
He had compassion on my condition, and with
ten dinars procured
my
release from bondage. He took me along with him to Aleppo, and
there
made me marry his daughter, adding a dowry of a hundred
dinars.
Some time passed. She was a woman always scowling,
disobedient
and growling; she began to give me plenty of her shrewish
tongue,
and made life wholly miserable for me.
A bad wife comes with a good man to dwell:
She soon converts his pleasant world to hell.
Beware of evil partnership, beware:
From hellish torment, Lord, thy servant spare!
Once in a torrent of abuse she said, "Are
you not that man whom
my
father bought back from the Franks?" I said, "Yes, I am that man
whom
your father bought back from the Frankish chains for ten dinars,
and
delivered into your bondage for a hundred dinars.
I heard that a sheep had by a great man been
rescued from the
jaws
and the power of a wolf; in the evening he stroked her throat with
a
knife, whereon the soul of the sheep complained thus: "Thou hast
snatched
me away from the claws of a wolf, but at last I see thou art
thyself
the real wolf."
On
Contentment
-----------------------
I never lamented about the vicissitude of time
or complained of the
turns
of fortune, except on the occasion when I was barefooted and
unable
to procure slippers. But when I entered the great mosque of
Kufah
with a sore heart, and beheld a man without feet, I offered
thanks
to the bounty of God, consoled myself for my want of shoes,
and
recited: "A roast fowl is to the sight of a satiated man less valuable
than
a blade of grass on the table; and to him who has no means nor
power
a burnt turnip is [as good as] a roasted fowl."
The
Last Sleight
---------------------
Translated
by
Reuben
Levy
------------------------
A person had arrived at the head of his
profession in the art of
wrestling:
he knew three hundred and sixty capital sleights in this art,
and
every day exhibited something new; but having a sincere regard
for
a beautiful youth, one of his scholars, he taught him three hundred
and
fifty nine sleights, reserving, however, one sleight to himself. The
youth
excelled so much in skill and in strength that no one was able to
cope
with him. He at length boasted, before the Sultan, that the
superiority
which he allowed his master to maintain over him was out
of
respect to his years and the consideration of having been his
instructor;
for otherwise he was not inferior in strength, and was his
equal
in point of skill. The king did not approve of this disrespectful
conduct,
and commanded that there should be a trial of skill.
An extensive spot was appointed for the
occasion. The ministers of
state
and other grandees of the court were in attendance. The youth,
like
a lustful elephant, entered with a percussion that would have
removed
from its base a mountain of iron. The master, being sensible
that
the youth was his superior in strength, attacked with the sleight
which
he had kept to himself. The youth not being able to repel it, the
master
with both hands lifted him from the ground, and raising him
over
his head, flung him on the earth. The multitude shouted; the king
commanded
that a dress and a reward in money should be bestowed
on
the master, and reproved and derided the youth for having
presumed
to put himself in competition with his benefactor, and for
having
failed the attempt. He said, "O King, my master did not gain the
victory
over me through strength or skill; but there remained a small
part
in the art of wrestling which he had withheld from me, and by that
small
feint he got the better of me." The master observed: "I reserved it
for
such an occasion as the present; the sages having said, 'Put not
yourself
so much in the power of your friend that if he should be
disposed
to be inimical he may be able to effect his purpose.' Have
you
not heard what was said by a person who had suffered injury from
one
whom he had educated? 'Either there never was any gratitude in
the
world, or else no one at this time practices it. I never taught anyone
the
art of archery who in the end did not make a butt of me.'"
The
Greedy Merchant
------------------------
Translated
by
Reuben
Levy
--------------------
I saw a merchant who possessed one hundred and
fifty camels
laden
with merchandise, and forty slaves. One night, in the island of
Kish,
he entertained me in his own apartment, and during the whole
night
did not cease talking in rambling fashion, saying: "I have such
and
such a partner in Turkistan, and such goods in Hindustan; these
are
the title-deeds of such and such a piece of ground, and, for this
matter
such a one is security." Sometimes he would say: "I have an
inclination
to go to Alexandria, the air of which is very pleasant." Then
again:
"No, I will not go, because the Mediterranean sea is boisterous.
O
Sa'di, I have another journey in contemplation, and after I have
performed
that I will pass the remaining of my life in retirement, and
leave
off trading." I asked what journey it was. He replied: "I want to
carry
Persian brimstone to China, where I have heard it bears a very
high
price; from thence I will transport China ware to Greece, and take
the
brocades of Greece to India, and Indian steel to Aleppo. The
glassware
of Aleppo I will convey to Yemen, and from thence go with
striped
cloths to Persia; after which I will leave off trade and sit down in
my
shop." He spoke so much of this foolishness that at length, being
quite
exhausted, he said: "O Sa'di, relate also of what you have seen
and
heard." I replied, "Have you not heard that once upon a time a
merchant,
as he was travelling in the desert, fell from his camel? He
said
that the covetous eye of the worldly man is either satisfied
through
contentment or will be filled with the earth of the grave."
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