English
The Old Man and the Young Wife
An old man told this story: I had taken a young girl as my wife. I decorated the bridal room with flowers, sat alone with her, and fixed my eyes and heart on her. Through the long nights I stayed awake, telling jokes and clever stories, hoping she would grow fond of me and not turn cold.
Among other things I said: Fortune has smiled on you, luck is watching over you, for you have found the company of an old man, seasoned and worldly, calm, one who has tasted both heat and cold, tested good and bad, a man who understands the worth of companionship and honors the duty of love, kind and tender, good natured and sweet of tongue.
I will win your heart as far as I am able,
and even if you wound me, I will not wound you back.
And if you crave sugar like a parrot for your food,
my sweet life is a small price to keep you well.
You have not fallen into the hands of some conceited, reckless, hot headed, flighty youth who cooks up a new whim each moment, changes his mind every instant, sleeps in a different bed each night, and takes a new lover every day.
Do not expect loyalty from nightingales,
for each moment they sing to a different rose.
Unlike old men, who live by reason and good manners, not by the demands of youthful folly.
Seek someone better than yourself, and count it a chance;
with an equal, you will only waste your days.
He went on: I said so much in this vein that I imagined her heart had come under my spell and she was mine. Then suddenly she let out a cold sigh from a place of pain and said: All these words you have spoken carry no weight on the scale of my reason next to what I once heard from my midwife, who said: For a young woman, an arrow in the side is better than an old man.
When she saw at her husband's side
something as slack as the lip of a man who is fasting,
she said: This one with me is a corpse,
and charms and spells are only for the sleeping.
A woman who rises from a man's bed unwilling,
from that house much strife and quarrel will rise.
An old man who cannot even rise from his place
except by his cane, how will his other 'staff' ever rise?
In short, there was no way to make it work, and it ended in separation. When her waiting period was over, they married her to a young man who was harsh, sour faced, penniless, and ill tempered. She suffered cruelty and injustice, endured hardship and misery, yet still gave thanks to God, saying: Praise be to God, I escaped that painful torment and reached this lasting bliss.
With all this cruelty and bad temper of yours,
I will bear your burden, because you are beautiful.
To burn in torment beside you
is better than going to paradise with another.
The smell of onions from the mouth of a beauty
is sweeter than a rose from an ugly hand.