Persia past and present; a book of travel and research, with more than two hundred illustrations and a map . nsel are strung on thethread of diction, and the bitter medicine of advice is blendedwith the honey of mirthful humor. Some of the stories are trulyamusing, and the substance of one or two is worth giving as anexample of Oriental humor, for the Persians possess a sense ofhumor, with which they are not always credited. Almostmodern in its point is the anecdote of the man whose disagree-able voice in reciting his prayers in the mosque was annoyingto everybody. One day some one asked him h
Persia past and present; a book of travel and research, with more than two hundred illustrations and a map . nsel are strung on thethread of diction, and the bitter medicine of advice is blendedwith the honey of mirthful humor. Some of the stories are trulyamusing, and the substance of one or two is worth giving as anexample of Oriental humor, for the Persians possess a sense ofhumor, with which they are not always credited. Almostmodern in its point is the anecdote of the man whose disagree-able voice in reciting his prayers in the mosque was annoyingto everybody. One day some one asked him how much hewas paid for reciting. Paid! he responded, I am not paid!I recite for the sake of Allah! Then, replied the other, for Allahs sake dont! A sequel in the same vein is told by Saadi to prove theoccasional value of a disagreeable voice. A certain muezzinin the mosque had so harsh a voice that his call to prayer onlykept the worshippers away from service. The prince who wasthe patron of the mosque, being tender-hearted and not wish-1 Saadi, Gulistan, tr. Eastwick, pp. 101-102, 2d ed., London, SOME ANECDOTES FROM SAADI 335 ing to offend the man, gave him ten dinars to go somewhereelse, and the gift was gladly accepted. Some time afterwardthe fellow returned to the prince and complained that aninjustice had been done him by the smallness of the donation: for, said he, at the place where I now am, they oifered metwenty dinars to go somewhere else and Ill not accept it. Oh, laughed the prince, dont accept it, for if you stay longerthey will be glad to offer you fifty. A single other illustration of Persian humor from Saadi maybe added. The point of the story is this: A man who wassuffering from inflamed eyes went to a horse-doctor for treat-ment. The veterinary gave him some of the salve that he usedon animals and the man lost his eyesight. He then broughta suit in court to recover damages. The judge, after weighingthe evidence in the case, handed down his decision as f
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