proverb · Words worth keeping
If the Sultan demands five eggs, let his soldiers roast a thousand chickens.
If the Sultan demands five eggs, let his soldiers roast a thousand chickens.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
A ruler demanding five eggs and soldiers roasting a thousand chickens contrast a modest order with an excessive destructive response. The saying presents disproportionate execution of authority.
What the words are saying
The precise historical or satirical setting is unverified. A critical reading can question power, overcompliance or escalation without treating the line as an instruction. Its counts are rhetorical, and the image supplies no military procedure or permission to destroy resources.
Everyday example
A reader asks why a small request became a harmful large intervention and who was affected.
When to use it
Use it only as a qualified critique of disproportionate power.
What it does not mean
No verified historical event, military method or endorsement of destruction is established.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided wisdom reference (2014 AD)
Supplied reference B; unit 527; PDF page 49; collection label: Persia/Iran
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- Persia/Iran