the bow of ill-doing; thine eye is become blind to justice, and thou hast despised the fate of virtue. In breed 276 thou art like the scorpion.1 | If even a stone comes in thy way thou strikest it, and thus thou dost not disavow thy race. Thou art a serpent; thou knowest nought save striking. Thou art a wolf, for thou doest nought but harm. From thy conscience such deed was fitting as thou hast done, for thou hast broken thine oath to her who trusted in thee. Though I am heart-pained by thee, this shame oppresses me because of thee. Do not ill, and even think not (ill); for if thou doest ill, evil will befall thee. If thou hast wholly forgotten my love, thou shalt remain disgraced with thy lover. At that time when thou wert going away thou didst not lead me to believe that thou wouldst have forgotten me by this time. Thy discourse was like a poppy petal: outside it appeared red, underneath lay a black snake. If thou weddest a new wife, may God make you happy; but make me not so hopeless. He who finds gold does not throw away his silver. If thou hast dug a new canal in Gorab, do not abandon the old canal in Marav. If in Koistan thou hast built a new house, do not lay waste the old palace in Marav. If a rose has been sown in thy garden, may it be happy; but tear not up the violet beside it. Guard both the new wife and the old love, for from every tree comes its own kind of fruit.' 2 Vis spoke thus pitifully, and from her eyes flowed tears of blood. The nurse pitied her greatly; she, too, wept, and said: 5 "Queen of beauties, make me not to sit on fire, and pour not rosewater on the pomegranate flower. I will not spare myself; forthwith I go to Gorab, and I shall come thither as swiftly as an arrow travels a stadium. Whatever 277 means I know I will use for thee with Ramin. | I shall surely turn his heart to thee and deliver thee from this grief." VIS RECEIVES RAMIN'S LETTER 245 When she had thus spoken, the nurse went quickly away. When she came to the land of Gorab, she met Ramin coming from the chase. He had slain so much game that mountain and plain could not find room for them; a needle1 even could not fall on the earth because of the hunting panthers 2 and dogs; the air was full of hawks, kites, and falcons. When Ramin saw the nurse he was as perturbed and angry as if those arrows soiled by the game had struck his heart. He did not salute the woman, nor did he ask news of Vis, nor of Moabad, nor even of his country. He said wrathfully: 66 3 4 "O impure demon, evil-doer and evil speaker, I have been deceived by thine arts a thousand times and more, and thou hast robbed me of my wits. Now again thou art come and desirest to seduce me. Never may thy wind see my dust nor may thy hand seize my bridle.5 Hence thou shalt turn and speedily depart. In vain for you has been this your journey. Go and say to Vis: What dost thou want from me, and what more dost thou desire of me? Why wilt thou not set me free, and why art thou not sated with so much sin? Thou hast committed a great fault in following after thy heart's desire, and by thine evil fame grievous mischance has come upon thee. Now it is time that thou make a vow to God, to repent and begin to do good and follow after honour. We have both wasted our youth in vain, and have flung away our good fame for heart's desire. We both are lost in this world, and in eternity we shall be punished. Now, if thou wilt not make a vow to God and 278 exercise patience, I certainly shall not follow thee on this road. If we do this deed for a thousand years, nothing will remain in our hands save sin and wind. I have made a vow and I have hearkened to the counsel of the prudent; I have sworn to sin no more against God, and that I will henceforth nevermore be united to Vis. But when God brings it to pass, then I shall be united with the things 1 Nemsi, 55. 2 Avaza, 30, 56, 291. R., 461, 1137. 3 Kori, 275; gavazi, R., 211; shavardeni, 271. * Eshma, 229, 273. 5 Sadave, 324, 332. 4 that fall to my lot, when the sovereignty of the land of Mah falls to me; but who knows how many years may pass ere this? Until then, not a little1 water shall flow over the sand, and this affair is like the old saw 2 which says: "Don't die, donkey, the clover 3 is coming up." I shall be united to her when day and night are one. How long shall I be tortured by her hopes? If for one year the sun himself had suffered what I endured when following after the wife of another, even his face would have been blackened. My youth is gone from me in waiting for her, and I bewail it. Alas! for my days passed in vain! Alas that my youth is lost, and now I have no resource but repentance! My manhood was like a peacock in beauty, a rock in strength, and my youth like a spring flower. My love bloomed in its pride, and now in its fall it is like the autumn leaf; my love and my joy have brought me sorrow. Every spring the earth will bloom, but my youth will never bloom again! If the nature of autumn is like the nature of spring, I also have the same nature as thou hast seen Do not imagine that one can put a young man's nature in an old man. Go, forthwith, tell Vis from me: A wife can have no one better than her husband. God has given thee 279 a good husband. | If thou art happy and good, understand this, let every man save him seem to thee a dishonour, and if thou doest this which I counsel thee, thou shalt be above all queens and more renowned. Moabad is thy husband, and I will be a brother to thee; the land will be thy slave and servant, thou shalt be renowned in this world, and in eternity favoured by God.'" 5 Having said these things surlily, he angrily struck his 3 Alavertni (alaverdi in Saba Orbeliani's Dictionary). 6 Malama, 281 VIS RECEIVES RAMIN'S LETTER 247 since things were so with the nurse on account of Ramin's speech and insult, how would it affect Vis, to whom such a lover had insensibly become an enemy? She had sown love, and reaped hatred; she had expected good, and seen evil. The weeping messenger-nurse went to Vis, dustylipped and smoky-hearted. She had carried a message sweet as sugar, and she brought an answer bitter as gall and sharp as a sword. A black cloud rained upon Vis's heart poisoned arrow-heads1 because Ramin had become weary of her, and the rain of dishonour covered Vis with the mud of enmity; her form was wounded with a sword, and she was bound with the hobble of mischance. Her soul fell sick from sorrow, and she betook herself to bed. 1 Piri-point. 2 2 Toilo, 257, 420. 280 6 | CHAPTER XLVI VIS FALLS SICK THROUGH GRIEF SHE had no power to rise. Her couch was stuffed with grief, and her pillow1 was filled with yellow roses from her face. The monarchs and their wives, the magnates and their wives, with their children, came to inquire, and sat around. Some said it was jaundice and melancholy, and some said it was bewitchment 3 by sorcerers. Wherever there was in the land a good physician, astrologer,5 or leech, from Khuarasan, Eraq, and from everywhere, they brought them. They were troubled, and none of them could understand. Some said one thing, and some said another. They said it was because the moon was in Libra,7 in a bad constellation. Some said she was beloved by being unseen on earth, and therefore suffered. Whatever anyone understood, he said it, and what afflicted her afflicted them, and they ceased not to give their minds to it. No one could discover the cause of her loss of strength and her weakness. Her heart was branded with Ramin's brand, and she was perturbed at being unable to bear it. She wept over her plight and her heart. She poured pearls abundantly on the saffron." 9 When Moabad went out, she again overflowed, so that from her pillow tears flowed in a stream, and a lake stood in the room. She lamented so piteously that those also 281 who heard her could not remain quiet. She said: "0 |