The 13th c. Sufi poet Saadi Shirazi tells this story about the effects of love. For more about Saadi, see this earlier post.

It happened once upon a time that a dervish came to a camp of Bedouins, and there he was offered hospitality by a young man. But to the surprise of the dervish, while the young man was serving him a meal, he suddenly turned pale and fell down in a faint.

The dervish asked the others what had happened to the young man, and they told him that it was a case of love. “He has fallen deeply in love with his cousin. You can see her tent, there. While she was moving in her tent, this young man glimpsed the dust raised by the train of her dress, and fainted.”

The dervish went to the tent of the girl, and said to her, “Permit me to intercede for the young man, your cousin. Show him your favour! His love for you is very great!”

The girl smiled. “He cannot endure even glimpsing the train of my dress. How could he live in my presence?”