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Volume 3 150 |
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A–Z |  |
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LUCKLESS LAZINESS IN A PERSIAN SEMINARY PAYS THE PENALTY BY UNDERGOING THE BASTINADO MODE OF PUNISHMENT The bastinado, the rudimentary instrument of Persian justice, is applied to the highest as well as the lowest in the land. Should he be unlucky enough to offend the Shah, a nobleman may be liable to this castigation, a refractory servant will have it meted out to him by his master, a lazy pupil by an irate teacher. The culprit is thrown on his back, and his feet, held high in the air by means of loops fastened to a pole, are beaten with supple wands — a punishment to which the hard soles of the ordinary offender are so inured that he prefers to "eat sticks" rather than pay a fine |