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Preface A sweet-smelling piece of clay, one day in the bath, came from the hand of a beloved one to my hand. I asked: "Art thou musk or ambergris? Because thy delicious odour intoxicates me." It replied: "I was a despicable lump of clay, but for a while in the society of a rose. The perfection of my companion took effect on me, and if not, I am the same earth which I am."

May God, whose name be exalted and hallowed, keep in security and peace the pure country of Shirâz until the time of the ressurrection, under the authority of righteous governors, and by the exertions of practical scholars.

Knowest thou not why I in foreign countries roamed about for a long time? I went away from the distress of the Turks, because I saw the world entangled like the hair of negroes ; they were all human beings, but like wolves, sharp-clawed, for shedding blood. When I returned I saw the country at rest, the tigers having abandoned the nature of tigers. Within a man of good disposition like an angel, without an army like bellicose lions. Thus it happened that first I beheld the world full of confusion, anxiety, and distress; then it became as it is in the days of the just Sultân Atabek Abu Bekr Sa'd Ben Zanki!

The Cause for Composing the Gulistân

I was one night meditating on the time which had elapsed, repenting of the life I had squandered, and perforating the stony mansion of my heart with adamantine tears. I uttered the following lines in conformity with the state of my mind: