Page:Tales from the Gulistan (1928).pdf/202

On Love and Youth

It is said that a gentleman possessed a slave of exquisite beauty, whom he regarded with love and affection; he nevertheless said to a friend: "Would that this slave of mine, with all the beauty and good qualities he possesses, had not a long and uncivil tongue!"

He replied: "Brother! Do not expect service, after professing friendship; because when [relations between] lover and beloved come in, [the relations between] master and servant are superseded."

When a master with a fairy-faced slave begins to play and to laugh, what wonder if the latter coquets like the master, and the gentleman bears it like a slave?

A slave is to draw water and make bricks; a pampered slave will strike with the fist.