Mushrif-ud-Din Abdullah Sa'di was born and lived in the 12th and 13th centuries CE. Born in Shiraz, which is in modern Iran, Sa'di received his education in Baghdad and spent as many as thirty years in travel and pilgrimage, possibly venturing outside of the world of Islam and into the West.

Sa'di wrote the The Bostan (The Orchard) in 1258, a year before he'd written The Rose Garden. The Orchard was written wholly in verse, while the Rose Garden includes prose didactic tales interspersed with short verses. Several of the stories Sa'di tells in both works are not original with the author, but this is a common feature of Persian literature. For example, stories by Sanai, for example, are repeated by Attar, and stories by both are repeated by Rumi.

The Bostan consists of ten parts, all of which include didactic stories. These parts include:

I. Concerning Justice, Counsel, and the Administration of Government
II. Concerning Benevolence
III. Concerning Love
IV. Concerning Humility
V. Concerning Resignation
VI. Concerning Contentment
VII. Concerning Education
VIII. Concerning Gratitude
IX. Concerning Repentance
X. Concerning Prayer

This translation appears to be much abridged and evidently there is not a complete translation of this work available either in print or electronically in the English language.

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