Читать книгу The Book of the Pearl. The history, art, science, and industry of the queen of gems онлайн

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From the “Bustan,” one of the most popular works of Sadi, the Persian poet (1190–1291 A.D.), Davie quotes:

From the cloud there descended a droplet of rain;

’Twas ashamed when it saw the expanse of the main,

Saying: “Who may I be, where the sea has its run?

If the sea has existence, I, truly, have none!”

Since in its own eyes the drop humble appeared,

In its bosom, a shell with its life the drop reared;

The sky brought the work with success to a close,

And a famed royal pearl from the rain-drop arose.

Because it was humble it excellence gained;

Patiently waiting till success was attained.

Even the usually well-informed William Camden (1551–1623), in whose honor the Camden Historical Society of England was named, accepted the theory of dew-formed pearls. He stated that the river Conway in Wales “breeds a kind of shells, which being pregnated with dew, produce pearl.”^[42] Also, speaking of the Irt in county Cumberland, England, he said: “In this brook, the shell-fish, eagerly sucking in the dew, conceive and bring forth pearls, or (to use the poet’s word) shell berries (Baccas concheas).”^[43]