The Tale of the Sweet Seller

A man with a smile as sweet as honey was selling his candy, so sweet that hearts melted with longing for it. His sugar was bundled up like sugarcane, and he had more customers than a swarm of flies. If he had offered poison, say, people would have taken it from his hand like honey. Another vendor watched his trade and grew jealous of his booming business. The next day that jealous man went running through the city, honey on his head and vinegar on his brow. He wandered back and forth crying out his wares, but not a single fly settled on his honey. When by nightfall he had made no sale, he sat down heartbroken in a corner. His face soured like a sinner dreading punishment, gloomy as the frown of prisoners on a feast day. A woman teased her husband and said: even honey turns bitter for a sour, scowling face. A foul temper drags a man down to hell, for good character comes straight from paradise. Better to drink warm water scooped from a stream than a cold, sour syrup served with a scowl. The bread of anyone who wrinkles his brow like a folded tablecloth is forbidden and joyless to taste. My friend, do not make life hard on yourself, for the ill tempered have their fortune turned upside down. Suppose you have no silver or gold to your name; do you, like Sadi, not even have a kind tongue?