Someone asked one of the learned men of Baghdad: "What do you say about beardless youths?"
He replied: "There is no good in them. As long as one of them is soft and delicate, he behaves harshly, but when he becomes rough, he acts tenderly." Meaning that when he is good-looking, delicate, and slender, he behaves with roughness and harshness. However, when he becomes coarse and rough—no longer useful—he becomes tender and loses his harshness.
When a boy is lovely and sweet,
His words are bitter, his manner is harsh.
But when he grows a beard and is cursed,
He becomes sociable and loving.
