I grew weary of the company of my friends in Damascus, so I ventured into the wilderness of Jerusalem and found solace among the animals.
Until I was captured by the Franks and made to work in the trenches of Tripoli with the Jews.
One of the chiefs of Aleppo, who had a prior acquaintance with me, passed by, recognized me, and said: “What is this state you are in?!”
I replied: "What can I say?:
I fled from people to the mountains and the plains
For I was not devoted to God among men
Imagine my state now
That I must endure in the stable of the ignoble
It is better to be in chains among friends
Than in a garden with strangers."
He took pity on my condition and for ten dinars, freed me from captivity, took me to Aleppo, and married me to his daughter with a dowry of a hundred dinars.
Some time passed. She was ill-tempered, quarrelsome, and disobedient; she began to speak harshly and made my life miserable.
An ill-tempered wife in the house of a good man
Is like hell in this world
Beware of a bad companion, beware!
And protect us, our Lord, from the torment of the fire
One day, she said with a tone of reproach: “Are you not the one my father bought back from the Franks?”
I replied: “Yes! I am the one he bought back for ten dinars from the Franks and handed over to you for a hundred dinars.”
I heard that a great man saved a sheep
From the jaws and claws of a wolf
At night, he placed a knife to its throat
The soul of the sheep lamented:
"You saved me from the clutches of the wolf
Only to see that you yourself are the wolf."
