Tales from the Gulist[n The Rose Garden of Sheik Sa'di of Shir[z

The truly renowned and highly esteemed Persian poet Sa'di produced in A.D. 1258 a work that he called The Gulistan; or, Rose-Garden, whose leaves, as he says, "cannot be touched by the tyranny of autumnal blasts, and the delights of whose spring the vicissitudes of time will be unable to change into the inconstancy of autumn..."And so it has proved to be. It is read with admiration and rapture both in Asia and Africa, while in Europe it has been translated into Latin, English, French, German, and Dutch.In Persian and other Eastern countries where Persian is spoken and understood, quotations from Sa'di are constantly used in society, and are also current amont the people.Sheikh Muslih-uddin Sa'di Shirazi was born at Shiraz about A.D. 1193, and after his education at the college of Baghdad, became a Dervish and a great traveler. European scholars have long since appreciated and admired his style, his language, and his witty and telling similitudes.