Before setting off on a long journey, a merchant went to bid his wife farewell.
"You never gave me the gifts I deserved," she reproached him.
“You ungrateful woman, everything I’ve given you cost me years of hard work,” he retorted.
What else could I give you?
- an object as beautiful as me."
For two years, the woman waited for her gift. Finally, the merchant returned.
I wept over your ingratitude, but I decided to fulfill your wish, he said. I wondered what gift could be as beautiful as you, and I finally found it.
and he handed her a small mirror.
to read between the lines