The Pasha and the Dervish

Fable by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian Period 18th century

An Arab in Marseille once told me
that a Turkish pasha in his own land
came one day bearing a sealed chest
to the wisest dervish in all Arabia.
This chest, he said, contains rubies,
diamonds of very great worth:
it is a gift I wish to make
to the man you shall judge
to be the greatest fool on earth.
Search well, you will find him.
Armed with his chest, our good hermit
set off to roam the world. Did he then need
to go far?
The difficulty of choosing was his great concern:
fools ever more foolish came from every side
to present themselves before his eyes.
Our poor trustee
took up the chest to offer it to each:
but a secret foreboding
advised him to do nothing of the kind,
assured him he would find better.
Wandering thus from place to place,
burdened by his message,
at last, after a long journey,
our man and the chest arrive one morning
in the city of Constantine.
He finds all the people rejoicing:
what has happened then? Nothing, an imam told him;
it is our grand vizier whom the sultan sends,
by means of a silken cord,
to carry a firman to the prophet.
The people always laugh at such affairs;
and, since these are trifles,
our emperor often gives them this pleasure.
-Often? -Yes. -That is all very well; your new vizier
has he been named? -Without doubt: and there he goes passing by.
The dervish, at these words, runs, crosses the square,
arrives, and recognizes the pasha his friend.
Well! There you are! Says the latter:
and the chest? -My lord, I have traveled Asia;
I have seen perfect fools, but without daring to choose:
today my course is done;
deign to accept it, grand vizier.

Florian

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/fable-the-pasha-and-the-dervish-jean-pierre-claris-de-florian/