The great price placed upon womanly beauty is clearly discerned in such writers as Sadi, who died about A. D. 1292. In his _Gulistan_, or "Rose Garden," he tells the story of a doctor of laws who had a daughter. She was so extremely ugly that she reached the age of womanhood long before anyone wished her in marriage, although her fortune and dowry were large--for "Damask or brocade but add to deformity, when put upon a bride void of symmetry," says Sadi. Finally, to avoid perpetual maidenhood, the girl was given in wedlock to a blind man. Very soon a physician who could restore sight to the blind happened to come that way. "Why do you not get him to prescribe for your son-in-law?" the father was asked. "Because," said he, "I am afraid he may recover his sight and repudiate my daughter--for the husband of an ugly woman ought to be blind." Few poets have written more of love and womanly grace than did Hafiz, who died in A. D. 1388. In the _Diwan_, which has been compared to a story of pearls, Hafiz says: "To me love's echo is the sweetest sound Of all that 'neath the circling round Hath staved." A story is told of Hafiz and Tamerlane, which is doubtless apocryphal. Coming upon the poet one day, Tamerlane said: "Art thou not the insolent versemonger who didst offer my two great cities Samarkand and Bokhara for the black mole upon thy lady's cheek?" "It is true," replied Hafiz, with much calmness; "and indeed, my munificence has been so great throughout my life that it has left me destitute; so, hereafter I shall be dependent on thy generosity for a livelihood." This apt reply of Hafiz is said to have so pleased the conqueror that he sent the poet away with a present. It may be said, as a rule, that the Persian poets emphasize almost exclusively woman's physical charms. "Women, wine, and song" are, in truth, the chief burden of the poems. The sensuous side of love is most frequently disclosed. There are, however, some exceptions to this general rule, as may be discovered in passages from the writings of Jami. While it is the beauty of the unmarried woman which most frequently and most naturally holds place in Persian song, yet the married life is not forgotten. Firdausi, in his account of the beautiful Rudabah, says of wedlock: "For marriage is a contract sealed by Heaven-- How happy is the warrior's lot amidst His smiling children." And Firdausi makes Kitabun say: "A mother's counsel is a golden treasure." Examples of the recognition of love that is deep and full of meaning are not wanting among the Persian poets.