On Enduring the Cruelty of One You Cannot Bear to Lose

A young bride went complaining to an old man about her unkind groom. She said, 'Don't let my days pass in such bitterness beside this boy.' 'The others who share this house with me, none seem as heartsick as I am.' 'A husband and wife should be such close friends, like two kernels wrapped in a single shell.' 'In all this time I have never once seen my husband smile at my face.' The old man, blessed and wise, heard her words; he had seen many years and knew how to speak. He gave her a sweet and gentle answer: 'If he is handsome, then bear his burden.' 'It is a pity to turn your face from someone whose equal you will never find again.' 'Why defy the one who, if he rebels, could strike out the very letters of your existence?' One day I pitied a slave whose master was putting him up for sale, and the slave kept saying, 'You may easily find many slaves better than me, but you will never find another master like you.'