An old man, descanting about himself, said, “I had espoused a young maiden, and adorned my room with flowers, and, sitting alone with her, fastened on her my eyes and my heart. Through long nights I never slept, but passed the time in narrating witty jests and amusing stories, in order to dispel her coyness, and to make her attached to me. Among other things, I said to her one night, ‘Thy lofty fate befriended thee, and the eye of thy happy destiny was open, that thou hast fallen into the arms of an old man, prudent and acquainted with the world; one who has tasted the vicissitudes of fortune, and experienced good and evil; who knows what is required in social intercourse, and performs all the conditions of friendship, and who is kind and considerate, cheerful and gentle in his language.
DISTICHS.
To win thy heart shall be my lot; Though thou griev’st me, I’ll grieve thee not. Is sugar, parrot-like, thy food? Be thou with my life’s sweetness wooed.
DISTICHS.
To win thy heart shall be my lot; Though thou griev’st me, I’ll grieve thee not. Is sugar, parrot-like, thy food? Be thou with my life’s sweetness wooed.
Thou hast not fallen a prey to a young man, self-conceited and rude, headstrong and fickle, who each moment takes
Young men are gay and fair to see, But wanting in fidelity. Who can the bulbul true suppose, That, singing, flits from rose to rose?
But the class of old men pass their life according to the dictates of reason; not in those things which ignorant youth wishes for.
A better than thyself seek out and prize; For with one like thyself time vainly flies.
Young men are gay and fair to see, But wanting in fidelity. Who can the bulbul true suppose, That, singing, flits from rose to rose?
But the class of old men pass their life according to the dictates of reason; not in those things which ignorant youth wishes for.
A better than thyself seek out and prize; For with one like thyself time vainly flies.
The old man said, “I spoke much more after this fashion, and I imagined I had got possession of her heart, and secured her affections. Suddenly she heaved a cold sigh from a heart full of melancholy, and said, ‘All the words that thou hast uttered do not weigh so much in the balance of my reason as that one word which I heard from my nurse, “That to have her side pierced with an arrow was better for a young woman, than to have an old husband.”’ In short, it was not possible for us to agree, and a separation was decided upon. The period of probation after divorce elapsed. They united her in the nuptial bands with a youth irascible and cross-looking, destitute of fortune, and on the watch for a pretext to quarrel. She had to endure harshness and violence, and to submit to annoyance and vexation, and, nevertheless, she returned thanks to heaven for her blessings, saying, ‘Praise be to God! that I have escaped from that excruciating torment and arrived at this blissful condition.’
Spite of thy passion and thy frowning brow, I'll bear thy airs, for beautiful art thou!
Better with thee be tortured and consume, Than with another Eden's bowers possess:
More sweet from beauty's mouth the onion's fume, Than roses from the hand of ugliness.
Better with thee be tortured and consume, Than with another Eden's bowers possess:
More sweet from beauty's mouth the onion's fume, Than roses from the hand of ugliness.