The Old Man with the Young Wife

An aging merchant, so overtaken by loneliness after his wife's death that his judgment failed him, paid a large sum to marry a much younger woman from a struggling family -- a match neither of them had chosen out of affection, and one the young bride could barely tolerate.

One night, a thief crept into their home. Startled and afraid, the young wife instinctively turned and embraced her husband for protection -- the first real closeness she had shown him since their marriage.

The old man, astonished and delighted at this sudden warmth, noticed the thief lurking in the corner and understood immediately: her embrace wasn't affection at all, but simple fear of the intruder. Rather than resent this, he addressed the thief with wry gratitude, offering him anything he wanted as thanks for the moment of closeness his presence had accidentally caused.

The thief, with equal dry humor, declined -- but noted that if he ever wanted something from the house, he'd be glad to come back, on the condition that she still wasn't embracing her husband passionately by then.

The tale is remembered less for its plot than for its clear-eyed honesty about a mismatched marriage: the old man's own self-awareness, recognizing fear rather than mistaking it for love, is what keeps the story gently comic rather than purely sad.