Page:Tales from the Gulistan (1928).pdf/220

On Love and Youth

and beauteous youth was pledged to a chaste maiden. I read that in the great sea they fell into a vortex together. When a sailor came to take his hand, lest he might die in that condition, he said in anguish, from the waves: "Leave me! Take the hand of my love!" Whilst saying this, he despaired of life; in his agony he was heard to exclaim: "Learn not the tale of love from the wretch who forgets his beloved in distress." Thus the lives of the lovers terminated.

Learn from what has occurred that which thou mayest know, because in the Arabian city of Baghdad Sa'di is well aware of the ways and means of love-affairs. Tie thy heart to the heart-charmer thou possessest, and shut thy eye to all the rest of the world. If Mejnûn and Laila were to come to life again, they might indite a tale of love on this occurrence.