Chapter Five: On Love and Youth

They asked Hasan of Meymand: 'Sultan Mahmud owns so many beautiful servants, each one a wonder of the world. How is it that he feels affection for none of them the way he does for Ayaz, whose looks are nothing special?' He replied: 'Whatever settles into the heart looks lovely to the eye.' Whoever has the king's devotion, even if he does wrong, seems to do right. And the one the king casts aside, no one in the household will comfort. If someone looks with an eye of scorn, he will call even Joseph's beautiful face ugly. But if you look with an eye of love upon a demon, it will seem to you an angel of paradise.

They say a master had a servant of rare beauty, and he looked upon him with genuine affection and honest regard. He said to one of his friends: 'What a pity, with all his beauty and grace, if only this servant did not talk back and behave so rudely.' The friend replied: 'My brother, once you have admitted your love for him, expect no service from him; for where lover and beloved enter, master and slave depart.' When the master and his fairy faced servant give themselves to play and laughter, it is no wonder that the servant gives commands like a master, while the master bears the weight of the servant's whims.

I once saw a devout man caught in love for someone: he had neither the patience to endure it nor the strength to speak of it. However much blame he faced and whatever penalties he paid, he would not give up his passion, and he said: I will not let go of the hem of your robe, even if you strike me with a sharp sword. After you there is no shelter, no refuge; so if I flee, it is to you alone I flee. So I scolded him and said: what became of your fine mind, that your base desire won out? He sank into thought for a while, then said: Wherever the king of love arrives, the strong arm of piety has no place to stand. How can a helpless man keep his innocence when he has sunk into the mire up to his neck?

A man had lost his heart and given up on life, and the one he longed for lived in a dangerous place, a place where death was likely. It was not a morsel one could imagine ever tasting, nor a bird that might fall into the net. When your gold means nothing in the beloved's eyes, gold and dust look the same to them. One day they advised him: give up this impossible dream, for a whole crowd caught in the same desire you have are prisoners with their feet in chains. He wept and said: Tell my friends to stop advising me, for my eyes are fixed on what he wants. Warriors kill their enemies with the strength of fist and shoulder, but the beautiful kill their friends. It is against the rules of love to pull your heart back from the beloved for fear of losing your life. If you are still tied up in yourself, you are a lying, counterfeit lover. If there is no way to reach the beloved, then dying in the search is the true rule of love. If I get the chance, I will catch hold of his sleeve; if not, I will go and die on his doorstep. Those close to him, who cared about his affairs and pitied his condition, gave him advice and even put him in chains, but it did no good. How painful: the doctor prescribes patience, yet this greedy soul craves sugar. Have you heard how a beautiful one said in secret to a man who had lost his heart: As long as you hold yourself in high regard, what worth can I have in your eyes? They say that word reached the prince, the one whose beauty this man adored, that a youth kept lingering at the edge of this square: cheerful, sweet-tongued, speaking graceful words, sharing fresh and clever remarks, and clearly out of his mind, with a wild passion in his head. The young prince realized the man was in love with him and that he himself had raised this storm of trouble; so he rode toward him. When the man saw that the prince meant to come near, he wept and said: The one who killed me has come back to me; perhaps his heart has softened over the one he slew. As much as the prince showed kindness and asked, where are you from, what is your name, what craft do you know, the man was so drowned in the deep sea of love that he had no breath to answer. Even if you know all seven divisions of the Quran by heart, when love unsettles you, you forget even the alphabet. The prince said: why not speak a word to me, for I too am one of the circle of the poor, indeed I am a servant with a ring in my ear at their door? Then, drawing strength from the beloved's closeness, he lifted his head from among the crashing waves of love and said: It is a wonder that with you present my own being survives at all; you begin to speak, and I am left with no words. He said this, gave a cry, and surrendered his soul to God. There is no wonder in one slain at the door of the beloved's tent; the wonder is in the living, that they carry their soul out unharmed.

One of the students was strikingly beautiful, and the teacher, being human, felt drawn to the boy's lovely face. When he found him alone, he would say: I am so absorbed in you, my heaven-faced one, that no thought of myself even crosses my mind. I cannot force my eyes to shut against your sight, even if I saw an arrow flying straight at me. One day the boy said: Just as you take care with the manners of my lessons, please look too at the manners of my character; if you see anything unpleasant in me that I mistake for good, let me know, so I can try to change it. He replied: My boy, ask that of someone else, for in the way I look at you, I see nothing but your beauty and talent. May the eye of the ill-wisher be plucked out: it sees a person's virtues as flaws. But if you have one gift and seventy faults, a friend will see nothing but that single gift.

I remember a night when a dear friend came through the door. I sprang up so wildly, beside myself, that my sleeve brushed out the lamp. A vision came to me that lights up the darkness with the glow of its face. I marveled at my luck: where did this good fortune come from? He sat down and began to scold: 'You saw me at once, so why did you put out the lamp? What did you mean by it?' I said: 'For two reasons. First, I thought the sun itself had risen. Second, this verse came into my mind:' 'When a tiresome, heavy guest comes near the candle, rise up and snuff it out in front of everyone.' 'But if it is a sweet-lipped one whose smile is like sugar, take hold of his sleeve and put the candle out.'

Someone, meeting a friend he hadn't seen for a long time, said: Where have you been? I've missed you. The friend replied: Do you miss me, or are you simply bored? You came late, my intoxicating beauty, now I won't easily let go of your hem. A beloved seen only rarely, isn't that better than one you see until you tire of them? A beloved who arrives with company has come to wound you, for jealousy and rivalry are never far from such a scene. If you come to visit me with friends around you, then even in peace you have come as an enemy. For a single moment my beloved mingled with strangers, and my jealousy nearly took my life. With a laugh the beloved said: I am the candle of the whole gathering, Saadi; what do I care if a moth burns itself for me?

I remember, in the old days, a friend and I were as close as two almonds in a single shell. Then, suddenly, a separation came. After a while, when he returned, he began to scold me: 'In all that time you never sent a single messenger.' I said: 'It pained me that a messenger's eyes should brighten at the sight of your beauty while I was left out of it.' Old friend, tell me not to repent with mere words, for even a sword could not force me to give this up. I grow jealous that anyone should gaze on you until content, then I catch myself: no, no one could ever have their fill of you.

I saw a learned man who had fallen for someone, and his secret had spilled into the open. He endured endless cruelty and bore it with boundless patience. Once I said to him gently: I know your love for this beloved has no fault in it, and that your affection is not built on some slip; yet even so, it does not befit the dignity of scholars to disgrace themselves and put up with the rudeness of the ill-mannered. He said: My friend, take your reproaching hand off the hem of my life. Many times I have thought over the very sense you point to, and bearing his cruelty comes easier to me than being patient without the sight of him. The wise say: it is easier to set your heart to struggle than to lift your eyes away from what you long to behold. Whoever cannot get through life without someone must bear it, even if that someone wrongs him. One day, worn out, I told him, Enough, spare me! and for many days after I begged forgiveness for that word. A true friend does not turn away from a friend; so I set my heart on whatever pleases him. If in kindness he calls me close to him, or in anger drives me off, that is his to decide.

In the bloom of my youth, as such things happen and you know how it goes, I fell for a lovely one, secretly and with all my heart, because he had a voice that sang sweetly and a face like the full moon when it rises. One whose cheek is so tender it seems to drink the water of life; whoever tastes sugar looks toward his sweetness. By chance I saw in him a behavior that went against my nature, something I could not accept; so I pulled my skirt away from him, packed up, and said: Go, take whatever path you please; you have no thought for me, so mind yourself. I heard that as he left he was saying: If the bat has no wish for the sun's embrace, that does no harm to the sun's own worth. He said this and set off, and his leaving left its mark on me. I lost the time of union, and a person stays ignorant of how sweet life was until misfortune comes. Come back and kill me, for to die before you is better than to live on after you are gone. But thanks and praise to God, after a while he returned; that David-sweet voice had changed, his Joseph-like beauty had faded, a dust like the down on a quince had settled on the apple of his chin, and the market of his charm had lost its shine. He expected me to take him in my arms, but I kept my distance and said: In the days when your face was smooth and lovely, you drove away the one with an eye for beauty. Today you come to make peace, now that stubble has broken out on you. Fresh spring, your leaves have turned yellow; don't set the pot on, for our fire has gone cold. How long will you strut and show your pride, imagining last year's good fortune still holds? Go to someone who is still looking for you; save your airs for the one who would still buy you. They say the new grass in the garden is pleasant; the one who says it knows what he means. That is, a faint green down on a beautiful face makes the hearts of lovers want it even more. But your garden is a patch of overgrown leeks; no matter how much you pull, it just grows back. Whether you keep or pluck the hair by your ear, this fortune of your beautiful days is coming to an end. If I had any power over life as you have over that beard, I would never let it come around, not until the Day of Judgment. I asked him: what has happened to the beauty of your face, that ants now swarm around the moon? He answered: I don't know what has come over my face; perhaps it has dressed in black to mourn my lost beauty.

One of the Arabized men of Baghdad was asked: What do you say about beardless youths? He replied: There is no good in them; as long as one of them is delicate, he acts rough, and once he turns coarse, he acts gentle. That is: while he is handsome, refined, and slender, he behaves harshly and severely; but once he has grown coarse and rough, no longer good for anything, then he turns tender, and the harshness is gone. When the young man is beautiful and sweet, his words are bitter and his temper sharp. But once his beard comes in and he falls from favor, he grows sociable and eager for affection.

Someone asked a scholar: Suppose a man is alone with a beautiful face, the doors shut, the rivals asleep, his desire eager and his lust in full command, as the Arabs say: 'The dates are ripe and the watchman cannot stop you.' Is there any chance he stays safe through the power of self restraint? The scholar answered: Even if he stays safe from the beautiful ones, he will not stay safe from the slanderers. And even if a man is saved from the evil of his own desire, he will never be saved from the malice of those who accuse him. You may manage to keep your own conduct in order, but you can never tie the tongues of people.

They put a parrot in a cage with a crow, and the parrot suffered from the sight of it, saying: What a hideous face, what a loathsome shape, what a cursed look, what a graceless form. Oh, crow of separation, I wish there were the distance of the two horizons between you and me. Whoever wakes at dawn to your face, may the morning of his health turn to dusk. A miserable creature like you would deserve your company, but where in the world is there anyone as wretched as you? Strangely enough, the crow too was sick to death of the parrot's nearness, weary of it, muttering prayers against evil and wailing at the turning of the world, wringing its hands in bitter regret: What upside-down luck is this, what a base fortune, what fickle days. What I truly deserved was to stroll along a garden wall with another crow. For a pious man, this much prison is enough: to be penned up in the same stall as scoundrels. Yes, what did I ever do that, as punishment, fate has bound me in this chain of misery, strung together with such a fool, so stubborn, so ill-bred, chattering nonsense? No one will come near a wall if they paint your likeness on it. If you were given a place in paradise, others would choose hell instead. I offer this saying so you understand: however much the wise despise the fool, the fool dreads the wise a hundred times more. An ascetic was among carousing revelers, and from that crowd a lovely one from Balkh spoke up: If you are weary of us, do not sit here sour-faced, for you are the only bitter thing among us. A gathering joined together like roses and tulips, and you sprouting up in their midst like a stick of dry firewood. Unpleasant like a contrary wind, harsh like the cold, you sit there like snow and freeze like ice.

I once had a friend. We had traveled together for years, shared our bread, and built countless bonds of companionship. In the end, over some small gain, he saw fit to wound me, and the friendship ended. Yet on both sides an attachment remained, so much so that one day I heard two lines of my own verse being recited in a gathering: When my beloved arrives with that sweet, salty smile, she rubs still more salt into the wounds of the lovesick. If only a lock of her hair could fall into my hand, the way a generous person's sleeve falls into the grasp of the poor. The company of dervishes praised not the elegance of these words but the goodness of their own character. My friend too had joined in that praise, and had mourned the loss of our old companionship and confessed his mistake. I realized that on his side too there was a desire to reconcile. So I sent these lines, and we made peace: Wasn't there once a vow and loyalty between us? You wronged me, and you broke your word. I gave my whole heart to you, turning it away from the world; I never knew you would turn away so soon. If you still have any wish for peace, come back, for you will be more welcome than you ever were.

A man's young and beautiful wife died, but the decrepit mother in law, on account of the dowry, went on living in the house. The man was sick to death of her conversation, yet saw no way to escape living beside her, until a group of acquaintances came to console him. One of them asked: How are you bearing the loss of your dear wife? He said: Not seeing my wife is not as hard on me as seeing her mother. The rose was carried off and the thorn stayed behind; the treasure was taken away and the snake remained. To fix your eyes on the tip of a spear is sweeter than looking at the faces of your enemies. Better to be cut off from a thousand friends than to have to look at a single enemy.

I remember, in the days of my youth, how I once passed through a lane and set my eyes on a beautiful face, in a scorching summer when the heat dried up the mouth and the burning wind seemed to boil the very marrow in the bones. In my human weakness I could not bear the blaze of that noonday sun, so I took refuge in the shade of a wall, hoping someone would come and cool the summer's fire in me with a drink of water. Then suddenly, out of the darkness of a house's entryway, a light shone forth: a beauty so lovely that eloquence itself fails to describe it, as if dawn were breaking in the black of night, or the water of life were welling up from the shadows. In hand was a cup of iced water, sugar dissolved in it and mixed with rosewater. I could not tell whether it was perfumed with rosewater, or whether a few drops from the rose of that face had fallen into it. In short, I took the drink from that lovely hand and drank, and my life began anew: There is a thirst in my heart that no sip of clear water can quench, even if I drank whole seas. How happy is the fortunate one whose eyes fall upon such a face every morning. One drunk on wine wakes at midnight; one drunk on such a cup-bearer wakes only on the morning of resurrection.

One year, Muhammad Khwarazmshah, may God have mercy on him, made peace with Cathay for the sake of some interest. I entered the great mosque of Kashgar and saw a boy studying grammar, perfectly balanced in build and utterly beautiful, the kind of person of whom people say: Your teacher taught you nothing but flirtation and stealing hearts, he taught you cruelty, coyness, scolding, and tyranny. I have never seen a human of such form, temperament, stature, and manner; surely he learned these ways from the fairies. He held Zamakhshari's introduction to grammar and was reciting: 'Zayd struck Amr, and the object was Amr.' I said: Boy, Khwarazm and Cathay have made peace, and yet the quarrel between Zayd and Amr still goes on? He laughed and asked where I was from. I said: the soil of Shiraz. He said: What do you have of Saadi's words? I said: I am tormented by a grammarian who attacks me in anger, like Zayd standing against Amr, bent over dragging a hem, never lifting his head; and can any rising come from one bound to a falling case? He thought for a while and said: Most of his poetry in this region is in Persian; if you spoke Persian it would be easier to grasp, for one should speak to people according to their understanding. I said: The moment your nature turned toward the whims of grammar, it wiped the very image of patience from my heart. The hearts of lovers are all caught in your snare; we are absorbed in you, and you are busy with Amr and Zayd? In the morning, when I had firmly decided to travel, they told him: that man is Saadi. He came running, spoke kindly, and grieved, saying: For all this time, why didn't you tell me who you were, so I could gird myself to serve you and honor the arrival of the great? I said: In your presence, no cry of 'here I am' can escape me. He said: What if you rested in this land a while, so I might benefit from serving you? I said: I cannot, because of this tale: I once saw a great man in the mountains, content to leave the world behind and live in a cave. I asked: Why won't you come into the city, so you might loosen at least one burden from your heart? He said: There, lovely fairy-faced ones dwell; and when the mud is deep, even elephants slip and fall. Having said this, we kissed each other's head and face and said farewell. What good is kissing the face of a friend, when in that very moment you must bid him goodbye? You would say the apple is bidding the orchard farewell, red on this side and pale yellow on the other. If I did not die of grief on the day of parting, do not count me fair or true in love.

A robed dervish traveled with us in the caravan to Hejaz. One of the Arab chiefs had given him a hundred gold coins to buy an animal for sacrifice. Suddenly the bandits of Khafajeh struck the caravan and stripped it clean. The merchants broke into weeping and wailing, crying out in vain. Whether you beg or whether you scream, the thief will not hand your gold back. Only that pious dervish stayed just as he was, untroubled. I said, 'Didn't the thieves take what was yours too?' He replied, 'Yes, they took it, but I had no such bond with it that parting would wound my heart.' You shouldn't tie your heart to any thing or person, for pulling your heart free again is hard work. I said, 'What you say fits my own case. In my youth I once shared a close friendship with a young man, a true and sincere love, to the point that his beauty was the focus of my eyes and being with him was the whole profit of my life.' Only the angels in heaven, if not, then no human being with beauty like his will ever walk this earth. I swear by that friend: after him all company is forbidden to me, for no seed will ever bring forth a man like him. Suddenly the foot of his life sank into the mud of death, and the smoke of separation rose from his household. For days I sat keeping watch over his grave, and among the things I said in my grief for him were these: I wish that on the day death's thorn pierced your foot, the hand of the world had struck the sword of ruin over my head, so that on this day my eyes would never have seen the world without you. Here I am at your graveside, with dust heaped on my head. He who could find no rest and no sleep until roses and jasmine were first scattered for him, the turning of the world scattered the rose of his own face, and thornbushes sprang up over his grave. After parting from him I made a firm decision and a settled resolve: to fold up the carpet of desire for the rest of my life and to keep away from all company. The gain from the sea would be fine, if not for the dread of its waves; the company of the rose would be sweet, if not for the worry of the thorn. Last night I preened like a peacock in the garden of union; today I writhe like a snake in the pain of parting from my love.

They told one of the Arab kings the tale of Majnun and Leyli, and the wild storm of his heart: how, for all his learning and eloquence, he had wandered off into the desert and let the reins of reason slip from his hands. The king ordered him brought in, and began to scold him: 'What flaw did you find in the dignity of the human soul, that you took on the habits of beasts and abandoned the company of people?' Majnun answered: How many a friend has blamed me for loving her, though he never once saw her, so my excuse would be plain to him. I wish those who found fault with me could have seen your face, my love, so that, dazzled at the sight of you, they would have sliced their own hands instead of the fruit, without even noticing. Then the truth of my claim would have stood proven before their eyes. That is the very one for whom you blamed me. It came into the king's heart to look upon Leyli's beauty for himself, and see what face could be the cause of such turmoil. He ordered a search for her. They combed the Arab camps, found her, and brought her before the king in the courtyard. The king studied her appearance and saw a woman with dark skin and a slender frame. She seemed unremarkable to him, for the least of the maidservants in his harem outshone her in beauty and adornment. Majnun sensed this at once and said: 'You must look at Leyli's beauty through the window of Majnun's eyes, and only then will the secret of seeing her shine out for you.' No mention of my beloved's sanctuary ever reaches my ear but that, if the doves of that ground heard it, they would cry out with me. Friends, tell the one who has never been wounded: you cannot know what fills the heart of a man in pain. The healthy feel no ache from the wound; I will speak my pain only to one who shares it. There is no use describing a wasp to someone who has never in his life felt its sting. Until you suffer a state like mine, my condition will sound to you like a mere fable. Do not compare my burning to another's: he has salt on his hand, but I have it rubbed into an open wound.

They tell of the judge of Hamadan, who was infatuated with a young farrier, his heart caught in the fire of the blacksmith's forge. For a long time he pined after him, chasing and watching and searching, and describing his state as it happened: That tall, slender cypress came into my sight; he stole my heart from my hands and threw me at his feet. These bold eyes drag the heart into their snare. If you don't want to lose your heart to anyone, close your eyes. I heard that one day the boy came before the judge in a passageway. Some word of this affair had reached his ears, and he was hurt beyond words. He cursed shamelessly, spoke foully, picked up a stone, and left no insult unsaid. The judge said to a respected scholar who was his companion: Look at that beauty and his flash of anger, and that frown knotted on his sour yet sweet brow. In the Arab lands they say: 'A blow from the beloved is a sweet raisin.' Taking a punch in the mouth from your hand is sweeter than eating my own bread by my own hand. Surely from his rudeness the scent of generosity is coming. Fresh grapes have a sour taste; wait two or three days and they turn sweet. He said this and returned to the bench of judgment. A number of upright notables were present in his court. They kissed the ground in service and said: With your permission, we would say a word, though it breaks etiquette, for the elders have said: It is not right to argue over every remark, and to point out a fault in the great is itself a fault. But since the past favors of the master constantly accompany the days of his servants, to see a wise course and not declare it would be a kind of betrayal. The right path is that you not circle this boy in greed, that you fold away the carpet of longing, for the office of judge is a lofty station: do not soil it with a shameful sin. This is the companion you saw, and this is the tale you heard. Someone who has disgraced himself many times, what does he care about anyone else's honor? A good name of fifty years can be trampled by one ugly name. The advice of his loyal friends pleased the judge, and he praised the good sense of the group and said: The concern of my dear ones for my welfare is exactly right, and the matter cannot be argued; and yet, Blame me as much as you like, for you cannot wash the blackness off a black man. Nothing can make me forget the thought of you; I am a snake with a crushed head, I cannot help but writhe. He said this, then sent people to investigate the boy's situation and poured out boundless wealth; for it is said that whoever has gold on the scale has strength in the arm, and whoever has no access to money has no one in all the world. Whoever sees gold bows his head, even if the scale is an iron beam. In short, one night a private meeting was arranged, and that very night the police chief got word. All night the judge had wine in his head and youth in his arms. From pleasure he could not sleep, and hummed: Surely this rooster is crowing at the wrong hour tonight; the lovers have not yet finished with embraces and kisses. For this one moment that the beloved's watchfulness has fallen asleep, beware: stay awake, so life does not slip by in regret. Until you hear the dawn call from the Friday mosque, or the roar of the drum from the atabeg's palace gate. Lifting your lips from lips like the eye of a rooster is folly, taking them away at the rooster's pointless crowing. The judge was in this state when one of his associates came in and said: Why are you sitting here? Get up and flee while you can, for the envious have found grounds against you, indeed they have spoken a truth. Let us quench with the water of some plan this fire of scandal while it is still small, lest tomorrow it flare up and engulf a whole world. Smiling, the judge looked at him and said: When the lion has sunk his claws into his prey, what difference does it make if a dog barks? Turn your face to the face of the beloved, and let the enemy gnaw the back of his hand in spite. That same night the king was also informed: In your realm such an outrage has occurred, what do you command? The king said: I know him among the learned men of the age, unique in his time; perhaps his adversaries have overreached in his case. This talk will not gain my acceptance until it is seen with my own eyes, for the wise have said: To reach hastily for the sword in a rage is to end up biting the back of your hand in regret. I heard that at dawn he came with a few close men to the judge's bedside. He saw the candle standing, the beloved seated, the wine spilled, the cup broken, and the judge asleep in a drunken stupor, oblivious to the world of existence. Gently, little by little, he woke him: Get up, the sun has risen. The judge grasped what was happening and said: From which side did it rise? He answered: From the east. The judge said: Praise God, the door of repentance is still open, by the tradition that says: 'It is not closed upon the servants until the sun rises from its west. I ask Your forgiveness, O God, and I turn to You in repentance.' These two things drove me to sin: an ill-fated destiny and an unfinished mind. If you punish me, I deserve it; and if you forgive, pardon is better than revenge. The king said: Repentance in this state, once you have learned of your ruin, is of no use. 'Their faith did not benefit them once they saw Our might.' What good is repenting from theft when you can no longer throw your rope over the palace wall? Tell the tall man to take his hand off the fruit, for the short man's hand never reaches the branch anyway. With such an outrage as has come to light against you, there is no path to escape. He said this, and the guards seized him. The judge said: I have one word left to say in the king's service. The king listened and said: What is it? He said: If you shake off your sleeve of displeasure at me, do not expect me to let go of your skirt. If escape from this sin of mine is impossible, there is still hope in the mercy you possess. The king said: You have brought a fine turn of wit and spoken a rare point, but it is against reason and against the law that your eloquence today should free you from the grip of my punishment. I think it best to throw you from the fortress, so that others take the lesson and heed the warning. He said: O king of the world! I am nurtured by the bounty of this house, and this sin is not mine alone; throw down someone else so that I may take the lesson. The king laughed and pardoned his offense, and to those who kept urging him to kill the man he said: All of you who carry the burden of your own faults, do not sneer at the faults of others.

There was a young man, pure in love and pure in conduct, who had given his heart to a beautiful face. I read that on the great ocean the two of them fell together into a whirlpool. The sailor came to grab his hand, so that he would not die in that moment. But he cried out from the middle of the waves and turmoil: leave me, and take my beloved's hand instead. As he said this, the world turned against him; they heard him giving up his life while he spoke: Do not listen to talk of love from that fraud who forgets his beloved in the hour of hardship. This is how true friends lived their lives; hear it from one who has lost everything, so you may understand. For Saadi knows the ways and customs of love as fluently as an Arab knows his tongue in Baghdad. The sweetheart to whom you have bound your heart, close your eyes to all the rest of the world. If Majnun, lover of Layla, came back to life, he would write his story of love from this very book.