سندبادنامه 349.4

349.4

15. The Story of the Lover, the Old Woman, and the Weeping Dog
Until one day an old woman, whose straight stature the bowmaker hand of time had bent into a curve,
and over the site of whose tulip garden the ploughman of days had strewn fragments of saffron, and over the meadow of whose hyacinth
he had ground the dust of camphor, passed by the young man. She looked at him and saw that the freshness and lustre of the rose garden of the young man's beauty had withered,
and found that the bloom of the Judas-tree blossoms of his cheeks had turned to saffron.
With an eye of physiognomy she investigated his inner state,
and inquired into the cause of his wasting and emaciation; she gazed into the indicator of his yellowness,
and knew that the young man was afflicted with the continuous fever of love and the burning heat of separation,
for the marks of pallor were manifest on the pages of his cheeks. She said: “O young man,
tell me, why has the sun of your youth grown yellow at the very start of its course, and why has the flower-garden of your youth suffered languor at the very season of spring's equilibrium?
If it is the sickness of love, you have found a physician.” When the young man discerned this hint within this glad tidings, he drew a cold
breath and shed warm tears from his eyes. When the old woman interpreted the sign of love
and understood the explanation of the clear and ambiguous verses of separation, she said:
“‘You have fallen upon an expert in this matter, and have alighted upon one knowledgeable of its innermost truth.’ Recount your affair!