Page:Tales from the Gulistan (1928).pdf/212

On Love and Youth

beautiful wife of a man died, but her mother, a decrepit old hag, remained in the house on account of the dowry. The man saw no means of escaping from contact with her, until a company of friends paid him a visit of condolence, and one of them asked him how he bore the loss of his beloved. He replied: "It is not as painful not to see my wife as to see the mother of my wife."

The rose has been destroyed and the thorn remained, the treasure has been taken and the serpent left. It is better that one's eyes be fixed on a spear-head than that it should behold the face of an enemy. It is incumbent to sever connection with a thousand friends rather than to behold a single foe.