On The Trail of a Tale - Part Four: How I Came to Play a Very Small Role in Saadi’s Travels Through the World
What persuaded me to accept ISIC’s commission, however, was thinking about the generations of Iranian Americans, like my son, who did not read Persian. They deserved, I thought, access to a version of that heritage that would “sing” in their dominant tongue the way the original “sang” in Persian.
From Saadi’s Bustan: The Emperor of Rum Enjoined to Endure His Burdens
A Weekly Poem from 13th Century Iran
From Saadi’s Bustan: Takla Is Deterred From Abdication
A Weekly Poem from 13th Century Iran
From Saadi’s Bustan: Umar Ibn Abd al-Aziz Sacrifices A Jewel To Help the Starving
A Weekly Poem from 13th Century Iran
From Saadi’s Bustan: Darius and His Herdsman
A Weekly Poem from 13th Century Iran
From Saadi’s Bustan
A Weekly Poem from 13th Century Iran
On The Trail of a Tale - Part Two: The Sources of Franklin’s Parable in 17th Century Christian Arguments for Religious Tolerance
For Saadi, in other words, the Zoroastrian’s sincere commitment to his faith was worthy of respect on its own terms and was therefore more valuable as a guide for human behavior than the orthodoxy he would have been merely performing had he given thanks to God as Abraham had expected him to.
On The Trail of A Tale - Part One: Benjamin Franklin's Persian Parable
Had Franklin gotten his wish...and the Parable had remained unpublished, neither its origin in the work of the 13th-century Persian poet Saadi of Shiraz nor the story I am telling you would have become known, at least not in the way we know them now.
