سندبادنامه 209
English (machine translation) 209
- Language
- English
209.1
The antidote becomes worse than the flame of poison / when it exceeds its proper measure.
Now this maidservant has heard that one of the company of the viziers has sown discord and confusion concerning her,
displaying her words as falsehood and infamy,
presenting her statements and premises in the guise of ugliness and reprobation, and striving to distort her condition and disparage her speech;
and I fear that through the discourses of the viziers and the absurdities of the prince,
the very same situation will occur as that which befell the washerman from his unfilial son
and disobedient child.' The shah asked: 'How was that tale? Relate it!'
209.8
tell it!
209.10
The Tale of the Washerman, His Son, the Donkey, and the Whirlpool
She said: 'Men of intellect and the most excellent among the multitude have related that in the city
of Fasṭūr, there was a washerman who had an ignorant and foolish son, undiscriminating and heedless,
of base character, obscure aspect, madcap, confused in his affairs, destitute of the ornament
of intellect, and procrastinating in the acceptance of wholesome advice. This washerman was always beaten and crushed
in the hand of injury and under the foot of danger from him. However much his father gave him counsel and admonition,
his perverse nature and inverted constitution would by no means attain uprightness through admonitions of alteration
or reprimands of correction, nor would it accept any amendment.
209.18
The rheum of misfortune had so diseased his brain that the scent of counsel never reached his sense of smell,
and greed, avidity, madness, and folly had so overcome him that by no effort or kindness
would he admit of cure or relief; nor would he refrain from beastly habit and predatory nature,
like rusted iron and burnt lead, which by no device can be rendered fit for any work,
nor by any decoration and elegance gain luster in the eye of a purchaser. The father’s heart was ever wounded and bruised
by the blows of the thorn of his opposition,
and his mind was fearful and distressed at the peril of his ignorance and error, wondering on which day
some calamity would be born of his disproportionate madness, or some misfortune come upon him from his ugly words and shameful deeds.
209.27
The Tale of the Washerman, His Son, the Donkey, and the Whirlpool
Now this washerman used to wash clothes on the bank of a large stream, and in this stream
were deep whirlpools and profound basins, and powerful torrents continually flowed through it.
used to flow. Whenever the bleacher became engaged in work, the mad son, under the pretext of catching fish, would fling himself
like a snake into the water and swim like a frog. However much the bleacher
cried out more loudly, he would go nearer to the middle. The father, fearful and apprehensive that
he might suddenly fall into a whirlpool or a sea-monster might make toward him, [called to him, but] he would not listen to his words,
nor give a place of acceptance in his ear to his counsel, which was pure affection:
Linked texts (1)
- سندبادنامه — Ẓahīrī Samarqandī, Persian