Vulgar words in The Persian Literature, Comprising The Shah Nameh, The Rubaiyat, The Divan, and The Gulistan, Volume 2 (Page 1)
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~ ~ ~ Sentence 82 ~ ~ ~
a short wise man is preferable to a tall blockhead; it is not everything that is mightier in stature that is superior in value:--_a sheep's flesh is wholesome, that of an elephant carrion_.--_Of the mountains of this earth Sinai is one of the least, yet is it most mighty before God in state and dignity_.--Heardst thou not what an intelligent lean man said one day to a sleek fat dolt?
~ ~ ~ Sentence 293 ~ ~ ~
They say, of all animals the lion is the chief; and of beasts the ass is the meanest; yet, with the concurrence of the wise, the burden-bearing ass is preferable to the man-devouring lion.
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"The poor ass, though devoid of understanding, will be held precious when carrying a burden; oxen and asses that carry loads are preferable to men that injure their fellow-creatures."
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Behold a religious man, who threw a patched cloak over his shoulders; he made the covering of the Cabah the housing of an ass.
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many a fleet horse perished by the way, and that lame ass reached the end of the journey.
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If thou hast no taste to relish this, thou art a cross-grained brute.--Now that the camel is elated with rapture and delight, if a man is insensible to these he is an ass.--_The zephyr, gliding through the verdure on the earth, shakes the twig of the ban-tree, but moves not the solid rock_.--Whatever thou beholdest is loud in extolling him.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 824 ~ ~ ~
To a man without provision, and knocked up in the desert, a piece of stone or of gold, in his scrip, is all one.
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XXVI I met a fat blockhead decked in rich apparel, and mounted on an Arab horse, with a turban of fine Egyptian linen on his head.
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I replied: "It is a vile epistle which has been written in golden letters:--'_Verily this ass, with the resemblance of a man, has the carcase of a calf, and the voice or bleating of a calf_.'
~ ~ ~ Sentence 936 ~ ~ ~
You might say that the croaking of the raven of the desert was the burden of his chant, and this text of the Koran expressive of his manner:--_The most abominable of noises is the braying of an ass:--"Whenever this ass of a preacher sets up a braying, his voice will make the city of Istakhar, or Persepolis, shake to its base_."
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,033 ~ ~ ~
Could they any way suit the dignity of me, who would in my day strut with my fellow-crows along the wall of a garden:--It were durance sufficient for a good and holy man that he should be made the companion of the wicked:--What sin have I committed that my stars in retribution of it have linked me in the chain of companionship, and immured me in the dungeon of calamity, with a conceited blockhead, and good-for-nothing babbler:--Nobody will approach the foot of a wall on which they have painted thy portrait; wert thou to get a residence in paradise, others would go in preference to hell."
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In bestowing a dinar he will stickle like an ass in the mire; but ask him to read the Al-hamdi, or first chapter of the Koran, and he will recite it a hundred times."
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Were they to take the ass of Jesus to Mecca, on his return from that pilgrimage he would still be an ass.
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He decreed: "This man has no redress, for had he not been an ass he would not have applied to a horse or ass doctor!"
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,265 ~ ~ ~
That ass proceeds all the lighter on his journey on whom they load the lightest burden:--the poor dervish, who suffers under a load of indigence, will in like sort enter the gates of death with an easy burden; but with him who luxuriates in peace, plenty, and affluence, it must be a real hardship to die amidst all these comforts.
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,288 ~ ~ ~
In common, such as are in indigent circumstances will contaminate the skirt of innocency with sin; and such as are suffering from hunger will steal bread:--When a ravenous dog has found a piece of meat, he asks not, saying: Is this the flesh of the prophet Salah's camel or Antichrist's ass?
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,293 ~ ~ ~
Nor do they ever condescend to return any person's salutation, unmindful of the maxim of the wise: That whoever is inferior to others in humility, and is their superior in opulence, though in appearance he be rich, yet in reality he is a beggar:--If a worthless fellow, because of his wealth, treats a learned man with insolence, reckon him an ass, although he be the ambergris ox."
~ ~ ~ Sentence 1,403 ~ ~ ~
A fool was undertaking the instruction of an ass, and had devoted his whole time to this occupation.