Chapter VII: Story on the Qualities of a Good Wife

A wife who is charming, obedient, and chaste,Makes a king of the man knowing poverty's taste.Go! and boast by the beat of five drums at your gate,That you have by your side an agreeable mate !If, by day, sorrow trouble you, be not distressed !When, by night, a grief-soother reclines on your breast !When a man's house is thriving, his wife friendly too,Towards him is directed God's merciful view.When a lovely-faced woman is modest and nice,Her husband on seeing her tastes Paradise.The man in this world his heart's longing has found,Whose wife and himself are in harmony bound.If choice in her language and chaste in her ways,On her beauty or ugliness fix not your gaze!For the heart by an amiable wife's more impressed,Than by one of great personal beauty possessed ;A sociable nature is hostile to strife,And covers a number of faults in a wife.She vinegar sips like liqueur from her spouse,And eats not her sweetmeats with vinegar brows.A demon-faced wife, if good-natured withal,From a bad-tempered, pretty one bears off the ball.An agreeable wife is a joy to the heart,But, oh God ! from a wicked one keep me apart!As a parrot shut up with a crow shows its rage,And deems it a boon to escape from the cage ;So, to wander about on the Earth, turn your face !If you do not, your heart upon helplessness place !In the magistrate's jail better captive to be,Than a face, full of frowns, in your dwelling to see.A journey is 'Eed to the head of the house,Who has in his home a malevolent spouse.The door of delight on that mansion shut to !Whence issues with shrillness the voice of a shrew !The woman addicted to gadding, chastise !If you don't; sit at home like a wife! I advise.If a wife disregard what her husband should say,In her breeches of stibial hue, him, array !When a woman is foolish and false to your bed,To misfortune, and not to a wife, you are wed.When a man in a measure of barley will cheat,You may wash your hands clear of the store of his wheat.The Lord had the good of that servant in view,When he made his wife's heart and her hands to him true.When a woman has smiled in the face of strange men,Bid her husband not boast of his manhood again !When an impudent wife dips her hand in disgrace.Go ! and tell her to scratch her lord's cuckoldy face!May the eyes of a wife, to all strangers be blind!When she strays from her home-to the grave be consigned !When you find that a wife is on fickleness bent,With wisdom and reasoning, rest not content !Fly away from her bosom ! much better to faceA crocodile's mouth, than to live in disgrace.To conceal a wife's face from a stranger, you need ;What are husband and wife, if she fails to give heed?A fine, buxom wife is a trouble and charge ;A wife who is ugly and cross, set at large !How well this one saying two people expressed,Whose minds at the hands of their wives were distressed!One remarked, " May no man to a vixen be bound !"Said the other, "On Earth may no women be found!"Oh friend ! take a bride ev'ry spring that ensues !For a past season's almanac no one will use.Better bare-footed walk than in tight-shoes to roam ;Better travel's misfortune than fighting at home.Some wives are tyrannical, head-strong and bold,But are pleased when they share your embrace, I am told.Oh Sadi ! go to ! do not jeer at his life !When you see that a man is henpecked by his wife.You, too, are oppressed and her load you abide,If once you invite her to come to your side !