158 



PARSONS THE ROSE. 



little, and be as silent as possible. The learned Zeb, cele- 

 brated through all the East, learning that there was a 

 vacancy in the academy, endeavored to obtain it, but ar- 

 rived, unfortunately, too late. The academy was annoyed 

 because it had given to power what belonged to merit ; 

 and the president, not knowing how to express a refusal 

 without mortifying the assembly, caused a cup to be 

 brought, which he filled so full of water, that a single 

 drop more would have made it run over. The wise phi- 

 losopher imderstood by that emblem that no place re- 

 mamed for him, and was retiring sadly, when he per- 

 ceived a rose petal at his feet. At that sight he took 

 courage, seized the petal, and placed it so delicately on 

 the water, tliat not a single drop escaped. At this in- 

 genious allusion to the rules of the academy, the whole 

 assembly clapped their hands, and the j^hilosopher was 

 admitted as a member." Madame de Genlis relates very 

 nearly the same anecdote, but attributes it to Abdul-kadri, 

 a person celebrated among the Turks, who was desirous 

 of residing at Babylon, where they were unwilling to re- 

 ceive him. 



The Turks themselves, matter-of-fict as they are, have 

 also seen somethino; marvelous in the beautiful and vivid 

 tints which the hand of nature has painted on the corolla 

 of the Rose ; but their imagination, less glowing than 

 that of the Greeks, furnished them an idea more singular 

 than pleasing. They suppose that the Rose owed its 

 origin to the perspiration which fell from 31ahomet ; for 

 which reason they never tread upon a rose-leaf, or suffer 

 one to lie on the ground. 



Meshilu, the Turkish poet, speaks of " a pavilion of 

 roses as the seat of pleasure raised in the garden of 

 " roses like the bright cheeks of beautiful maidens ; " of 

 the time when " the plants were sick, and the rose-bud 

 hung its thoughtful head on its bosom and of the dew, 

 as it falls, being changed into rose-water." They also 



