XXI
SHANI AND TABAK
THIS is a story about a woman and man who were of like wisdom, and so were suited to each other.
Now the beginning of this history is what I will now write. A certain stranger said to his parents, "I am going to journey forth to look for a woman of like wit to myself. If I find her I will marry her, but if I do not find her I will return."
So that man set out, and when he got outside the town he met another man walking. Now this man was the Wali of the town to which he was going, but he did not know that. The Wali called to him, "Wait for me; as we are going the same way let us walk together." That stranger agreed, and both walked together. After they had gone about twenty paces he said to the Wali, "Will you carry me, or shall I carry you?" The Wali did not answer him, for he thought, "For what reason should he carry me or I carry him, when each one has his own legs?"
They walked on some way, till they arrived at some cultivation. Then the stranger asked, "That millet there, has it been harvested yet or not?"
Now that millet was standing in the stalk with the ears there on them.
The Wali thought, "Surely this man is a fool or blind. How can he ask if this millet has been harvested, and there it is standing?" So he did not reply.
As they came near the town to which they were going they met a funeral coming forth, on its way to the cemetery.
The stranger asked, "Is that man in the bier dead, or is he still alive?"
The Wali thought, "Surely his foolishness is increasing." So he did not reply.