PROVERBS TURKISH AND PERSIAN.

All skirts extended of thy mantle hold, When angel hands from heav’n are scattering gold. II. Sects seventy-two, they say, the world infest, And each and all lie hidden in thy breast. III. One staff of Moses, slight as it appears, Aye breaks in shivers Pharaoh’s thousand spears. IV. Forget not Death, O man! for thou mayst be Of one thing certain,—he forgets not thee. V. Speaks one of good which falls not to thy lot, He also speaks of ill which thou hast not. VI. Boast not thy service rendered to the King, ’Tis grace enough he lets thee service bring. VII. Lies once thy cart in quagmire overthrown, Thy path to thee by thousands will be shown. VIII. Oh square thyself for use—a stone that may Fit in the wall, is left not in the way. IX. Never the game has happy issue won, Which with the cotton has the fire begun. X. The world’s great wheel in silence circles round, An housewife’s spindle with unceasing sound. XI. Who doth the raven for a guide invite, Must marvel not on carcases to light. XII. The king but with one apple maketh free, And straight his servants have cut down the tree. XIII. Two friends will in a needle’s eye repose, But the whole world is narrow for two foes. XIV. Rejoice not when thine enemy doth die, Thou hast not won immortal life thereby. XV. Be bold to bring forth fruit—though stick and stone At the fruit-bearing trees are flung alone. XVI. All things that live from God their sustenance wait, And sun and moon are beggars at his gate. XVII. While in thy lips thy words thou dost confine, Thou art their lord—once uttered, they are thine. XVIII. Boldly thy bread upon the waters throw, And if the fishes do not, God will know. XIX. What will not time and toil—? through these a worm Will into silk a mulberry leaf transform. XX. When what thou willest has befall’n not, still This help remains, what has befall’n to will. XXI. The lily with ten tongues can hold its peace; Wilt thou with one from babbling never cease? XXII. How shall the praise of silence best be told? To speak is silver, to hold peace is gold. XXIII. Thy word unspoken thou canst any day Speak, but thy spoken ne’er again unsay. XXIV. O babbler, couldst thou but the cause divine Why one tongue only, but two ears are thine! XXV. What mystic roses in thy breast will blow, If on the wind their leaves thou straightway strow!

The good that one man flings aside That in his discontent and pride He treads on, and rejects no less. Out of his count of happiness, Another wiser, even from this Would build an edifice of bliss, For whose fair shelter he would pay Glad offerings of praise alway. This truth a Sage had need to learn— This we may by his aid discern Who once, reduced to last distress, Was culling a few herbs to dress, With these his hunger to allay; And flinging, as he went his way, The coarse and outer leaves aside, With rising discontent he cried, “I marvel if at all there be A wretch so destitute as me The wide world over.”—This he said, And turning (not by chance) his head, Behind him saw another sage, Whom a like office did engage, Who followed with weak steps behind, Seeking, like him, a meal to find, But who, with anxious quest and pain, To gather up the leaves was fain, By him rejected with disdain. Nor other lesson he would teach, The Poet in his Persian speech, Who tells how through the desert he Was toiling once, how painfully! While his unsandalled naked feet Were scorched and blistered by the heat Of fiery sands—and harsh and hard He did his destiny regard; And evil thoughts did in him stir, That he, a faithful worshipper, A pilgrim to God’s holy fane, Should such necessities sustain. Nor did a better mood succeed, With glad endurance of his need, Nor saw he what of sin was pent In murmuring heart and malcontent, Till entering a low chapel, there One prostrate on his face in prayer He marked, and unto him espied Not shoes alone, but feet denied.