His father was the founder of a college at Iconium in Syria, but after his father’s death Jalal-uddin went to Aleppo and Damascus to continue his studies, and finally succeeded to the direction of the college. His literary fame rests upon his Mesnevi, a work in six volumes, which is a series of stories with moral maxims. Some portions of this work may be compared to the Hitapodeśa, while other parts appear to be an imitation of the Book of Proverbs or Ecclesiastes. He was, however, the author of several lyrics that are worthy of preservation; of these the following is, perhaps, the best: THE FAIREST LAND. “Tell me, gentle traveler, thou Who hast wandered far and wide— Seen the sweetest roses blow, And the brightest rivers glide; Say, of all thine eyes have seen, Which the fairest land has been?” “Lady, shall I tell thee where Nature seems most blest and fair, Far above all climes beside? ’Tis where those we love abide, And that little spot is best Which the loved one’s foot hath pressed. Though it be a fairy space, Wide and spreading is the place; Though ’twere but a barren mound, ’Twould become enchanted ground; With thee, yon sandy waste would seem The margin of Al-Cawthar’s stream; And thou canst make a dungeon’s gloom A bower where new-born roses bloom.” The most important bard of this period was SĀ’DĪ. Shaikh Sā’dī, as he is called, was born at Shīrāz,[267] while his country was under Turkish rule. He was educated at a college in Bagdad, where he lived until he was sixty-four years of age, when he had obtained an enviable reputation as a poet and orator. In later years, when the Tartar Chief Halāku Khān had overrun the adjacent territory and captured Bagdad, Sā’dī, with many others, was obliged to flee. He visited different parts of Europe, Africa, and even Asia as far as India.