Story 9

  I have heard that in these days a decrepit aged man

  Took the fancy in his old head to get a spouse.

  He married a beauteous little girl, Jewel by name,

  When he had concealed his casket of jewels from the eyes of men

  A spectacle took place as is customary in weddings.

  But in the first onslaught the organ of the sheikh fell asleep.

  He spanned the bow but hit not the target; it being

    impossible to sew

  A tight coarse robe except with a needle of steel.

  He complained to his friends and showed proofs

  That his furniture had been utterly destroyed by her impudence.

  Such fighting and contention arose between man and wife

  That the affair came before the qazi; and Sa'di said:

  'After all this reproach and villainy the fault is not the girl's.

  Thou whose hand trembles, how canst thou bore a Jewel?'