Story 19: The Madness of Majnun

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.