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Home  »  library  »  poem  »  The Courtiers

C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

The Courtiers

By Jean Pierre Claris de Florian (1755–1794)

Translation of Thomas Walsh

A PERSIAN king went out one day

To hunt with all his courtiers gay;

And growing thirsty, looked around

To see could any spring be found.

In vain; but near, an orchard stood

With ripened fruits in multitude.

“Now Lord forbid,” exclaimed the King,

“That I should take a single thing;

For if my courtiers see me do’t,

It means good-by to all the fruit.”