Saadi · Do good and cast it into the Tigris

Poem of the Day · 5 November 2026

Saadi · Mava’ez, Masnaviyat, an excerpt from Tale 41

English rendering

Be faithful and remember the good you have received. Ingratitude brings a bitter end. Do good and cast it into the Tigris. God will give it back to you in the desert.

A reading for today

In Saadi’s story, a physician cures a king. After recovering, the king turns his back on him. Saadi considers the duties of the person who receives help and the character of the one who offers it. One should appreciate the help received. The other should hold on to their good nature in the face of ingratitude.

In the closing couplet of the excerpt, the good deed is entrusted to the Tigris and its return to God. The distance from river to desert suggests how far the effects of a good deed can travel. Sometimes the good we do shows up somewhere we never imagined when we did it.

Here in Newmarket, someone who asks us which bus to take today may show someone else the way tomorrow.

Poem source: Saadi, Mava’ez, Masnaviyat, Tale 41.