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The Drunkard's Presumptuous Oath and the Ironic Reward of Service in Jami's Baharestan Tale of the Qadi of Baghdad
This concept distills the moral of Jami's brief prose anecdote in which the Qadi of Baghdad, walking on foot to the Friday mosque, is recognized by a drunkard who deems it unfitting for a judge to go on foot and swears a binding divorce oath to carry him on his shoulders. The judge submits to the ride, calmly directing the man's pace and route along the walls to avoid the crowd, and upon reaching the mosque orders him imprisoned. The tale turns on comic irony and reversal: an act of impertinent, drink-driven devotion toward authority is repaid not with gratitude but with punishment. It exemplifies Baharestan's use of terse, witty narrative to convey lessons about propriety, the folly of presumption, and the unpredictable exercise of judicial power.
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Humanities
Literature
Persian Literature Prerequisite Course