Khabithat va Majalis al-Hazl

Saadi writes that a group of princes once asked him to compose a book of satire in the manner of Suzani. He refused, but they threatened his life, so he complied and wrote these verses while asking God for forgiveness. He describes the work as a chapter in the comic mode and asks cultivated readers not to censure it, since humour in speech is like salt in food. It is a book of pleasantries, written with God’s grace.