_ADDITIONAL NOTES:_ Adam and the Oil of Mercy Muslim Legend of Adam's Punishment, Pardon, Death, and Burial Moses and the Poor Woodcutter Precocious Sagacity of Solomon Solomon and the Serpent's Prey The Capon-carver The Fox and the Bear The Desolate Island Other Rabbinical Legends and Tales AN ARABIAN TALE OF LOVE. _ADDITIONAL NOTES:_ 'Wamik and Asra' Another Famous Arabian Lover APOCRYPHAL LIFE OF ESOP. _ADDITIONAL NOTE:_ Drinking the Sea Dry IGNORANCE OF THE CLERGY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. THE BEARDS OF OUR FATHERS. INDEX. FLOWERS FROM A PERSIAN GARDEN. I SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE PERSIAN POET SAADI--CHARACTER OF HIS WRITINGS--THE "GULISTAN"--PREFACES TO BOOKS--PREFACE TO THE "GULISTAN"--EASTERN POETS IN PRAISE OF SPRINGTIDE. It is remarkable how very little the average general reader knows regarding the great Persian poet Saadi and his writings. His name is perhaps more or less familiar to casual readers from its being appended to one or two of his aphorisms which are sometimes reproduced in odd corners of popular periodicals; but who he was, when he lived, and what he wrote, are questions which would probably puzzle not a few, even of those who consider themselves as "well read," to answer without first recurring to some encyclopaedia. Yet Saadi was assuredly one of the most gifted men of genius the world has ever known: a man of large and comprehensive intellect; an original and profound thinker; an acute observer of men and manners; and his works remain the imperishable monument of his genius, learning, and industry. Maslahu 'd-Din Shaykh Saadi was born, towards the close of the twelfth century, at Shiraz, the famous capital of Fars, concerning which city the Persians have the saying that "if Muhammed had tasted the pleasures of Shiraz, he would have begged Allah to make him immortal there." In accordance with the usual practice in Persia, he assumed as his _takhallus_, or poetical name,[1] Saadi, from his patron Atabag Saad bin Zingi, sovereign of Fars, who encouraged men of learning in his principality. Saadi is said to have lived upwards of a hundred years, thirty of which were passed in the acquisition of knowledge, thirty more in travelling through different countries, and the rest of his life he spent in retirement and acts of devotion. He died, in his native city, about the year 1291. [1] One reason, doubtless, for Persian and Turkish poets adopting a _takhallus_ is the custom of the poet introducing his name into every ghazal he composes, generally towards the end; and as his proper name would seldom or never accommodate itself to purposes of verse he selects a more suitable one.