3 it. To-day is the hour of thy joy, not of weeping and mourning. Now, if thou hearkenest, rise up from the ground and clothe thyself in royal robes, set upon thy head the crown of gold that befits thee and adorn thy sunlike face, beautify1 the palace with thy presence,2 and make the harem a garden; begin a conversation with sugar-like tongue, and set forth a banquet with thy rosy lips; with thy jetty eyes rob the onlookers of their hearts, and rejoice the heart of Moabad with pleasant kiss. Make night into 59 day with thy flashing face, | and bind the sorcerers with the hairs of thy head; make the sun envious, with thy smile make the sweetness of sugar despicable, and put amber to shame with thy hair; cool the hearts of men towards women, and by mad love of thee make yellow the faces of heroes (iions). If thou clothest thy body in its raiment, so shalt thou be as I have said. If thou put all fair ones to shame, thou wilt rejoice all the gloomy ones when thou adornest thyself. Thou hast youth, goodness, charms, and rank. What dost thou seek more than these that God has given thee? "Shegoneba: Let no one raise his arm against God's decree, for no one can avert what is to come. "Neither by thy crying out will Providence be affrighted, nor will the future be removed from thee. Why dost thou cry out against so much good fortune, and in vain let flow from thine eyes never-dying tears?" Thus the nurse in many a way advised and urged Vis. But she hearkened no more to the nurse's advice than to the wind. Thus spoke Vis: 4 "Hey, nurse, thy talk is like a barren tree; my heart is sated of life in this fleeting world; I do not wish at all either to clothe myself or to sit upon a throne. My garment is mourning, and my throne is earth; my banquet is lamentation, and my bosom friend is solitude. Neither will Moabad have any joy in me, nor shall I find in him good or glory. When I was near Viro I was a rose without a thorn, 2 Piri. 3 Sadedo tsalcotad, 116. 4 P'hlasi, R., 1183. 1 Shemcev. THE NURSE'S ADVICE 55 and now I am a thorn without a rose. Everyone likes his own desire, and I prefer that desire be unfulfilled; | for 60 since Viro could not find his heart's desire in me, I shall let none other find his desire in me." The nurse was ready1 of tongue, and again began her speech, instruction,2 and advice: 66 "O light of thy mother's eyes! It is not fitting that thou shouldst be troubled for Viro's sake, for he was thy brother as well as thy beloved husband; you in your intimacy with each other could not find a time to fulfil your desire. But it will certainly be thus, that if lovers were together for two years and could not attain their desire, and they were separated so that they no longer thought of union then they no longer expecting would regret for ever.3 "Araci: As a poor man who suddenly finds a priceless1 treasure and procrastinates, he takes away nothing from there, he thinks it is all his own, and when others come and carry it off, he cannot find it there, and he regrets for ever-even so was it with Viro and thee, and most grievous is his plight. "Araci: That time and that day are past when a tortoise overcame two nightingales.5 "Shegoneba: A past lover is like a day that is past. "If thou art prudent, do not regret the past. Do not sulk now foolishly and do not struggle. Hearken unto me. Sit no longer on the earth, go to the bath, wash thy musky hair in rose-water; take out from the coffer the raiment appointed for thee, apparel thyself, and sit down on the throne in the beauty that adorns thee, and set the crown upon thy head. For here come, indeed, | passing good and 61 well-born queens-some wives of the magnates, some lovely as the sun and dazzling as the moon, and all are adorned royally. I will not that they see thee thus, from deference 1 Cargi. 2 Tsurt'ha, 121. R., 402, vtsvrť'hitza; 726, vtsvrť'hio; mtsvrť'heli, 884. 3 Or, "then they would regret for ever the loss of all hope (of union)." 4 Madjansa, 118. ? worthless. 5 Sharukhi, P. ? proper name. they, too, will sit down on cinders at thy side. Thou art not so ignorant and stupid; now thou knowest that thou art in a strange land and not in thine own home. If a man own nought, let him deck himself with borrowed things to appear before strangers. "Shegoneba: The best thing for a man is to seek fame. and to bind the tongues of strangers. "Whoever should see thee thus will speak nought but ill of thee afterwards. Some will say thus: We have no honour from her, and let us do nought to please her. Others will say: Who is she, indeed, that we should wonder at her? This is fitting: if thou hast all knowledge, thou shouldst gain their tongue for thee. Whoever is seen by men to be disrespectfully treated, know thou that men will become hostile to him. And those who behave with pride, however good and charming they may be, their intimates cannot pleasantly rejoice in them. I advise thee this: chase away this hateful and bad humour for the sake1 of these men, and not for Moabad's sake; in any case to Shah Moabad thine ugliness will seem pretty, for he is madly in love with thee." When she heard this discourse from the nurse, Vis was pleased, and it rejoiced her heart, and she no longer found 62 it irksome to listen to the nurse. She immediately rose up from the cinders and went into the bath. The nurse began to dress her, washed her head and body; she decked her person, tired her hair with priceless ornaments; she clothed her in her own garments adorned with precious jewels, she perfumed her with scents, uttered a charm against the evil eye, and breathed upon her. While the nurse was dressing her, Vis meanwhile wept, lamented, and spoke thus: 66 0 perverse and contrary fate of mine! Why hast thou forsaken me and become weary of me? The birds of heaven, the air, and the wind, can bear witness to my misery!" When she had dried these tears and again become calm, her spirits revived, and she became so beautiful, that no one, however wise and clever he might be, could achieve onehundredth part of her praise. She was so charming that 1 Gziť'ha, 110. VIS MOUNTS THE THRONE 57 if she had washed her face in salt water, immediately sugarcane would have sprung from the earth about her. If jasper1 touches her cheeks and lips, it immediately becomes red as jacinth. If she from above the tomb cried out to a corpse already turned to dust, even it would make answer. However fair and praiseworthy those who might come to see her, she would be like the moon, and they who came would be stars. Her neck and ears adorned were fair, and altogether she was peerlessly beautiful, like a porcelain 2 face in gold.3 Moabad that day sent so many gifts (? to Vis) that nobody can mention them one by one: many a coffer full of gold, jewels, and pearls; many a garment of great price, withal numberless brocades, broidered at the edges; many 63 a cup of crystal, trays, and golden vessels, all inlaid with jewels; and scents of many kinds, and withal furs; and many slaves and handmaidens-Greeks, Chinese, and Balkhians, all pretty and untamed as wild goats, and yet as fair as peacocks in womanliness and beauty. 6 8 4 5 Queen Vis sat on the throne, and good fortune was the adorner of her beauty. All the earth rejoiced in her, and she sat gloomy; the congratulations and entreaties of men seemed to her as sadness and lamentation. Thus for a week did Moabad sometimes joyfully drink and dispense (gifts), sometimes tilted in the lists. Then for one week he went away to the chase; not a single arrow missed its aim, nor in the banquet did gold and treasure remain, neither in the hunting did a live creature escape; when the polostick struck the ball, at that blow the ball went up to the sky; when he drank wine with his magnates, for one day the harvest of the whole land for big bumpers 10 did not astonish. There was a cloud of his will, and it rained gold. When the nurse had arrayed Vis, she rested not from tears; so to say, her grief increased every moment. 9 1 Amarta, 185. R., 260. ? amber. 3 Var., oksinosa-cloth of gold. 5 Chineli, 75; vide chinuri, supra. 7 Siksuit'ha. Cf. Ksu, 77. 9 Quandchi, 70. ? racquet. 10 Sadostaknod-dostakani, R., 473, 1144. 2 Chinuri, Chinese, 26. 6 Balkhuri. 8 Suma - drinking. THE BINDING OF THE VIRILITY OF MOABAD BY VIS AND THE NURSE THEN Vis, the world-weary, spoke to the nurse in privacy from men, and entreated her: "My fate strives with me day and night; my heart is sated of life, and the root of the tree of my joy is dried up in me. I know not if I have any resource but to kill myself, for can I be delivered from my present state but by death! Now, if thou seek not a way for me, and save me not from this trouble, as I said to thee, thus soon shall I slay myself; for when I see Moabad it is as if I were burning in fire. To look upon death or on him seems to me all one. May God make Moabad's life as bitter as mine. Though hitherto he has bathed his heart in the water of patience, and has not sought his heart's desire in me, I fear that he cannot endure longer, and will make the hidden secret evident. Now, ere he seeks his will with me, do thou spread a snare in his path. Know this,1 that I will not yield myself for a year, and that I am consecrate by reason of a death. The mourning for my father may not be shortened on his account. Until then I shall be thus. Moabad will not have patience with me for one year, and will not spare me, for he feels neither shame nor fear 65 towards me. Now have mercy on me, manage the matter | in thy manner, bind his virility with regard to me. When one year has passed, then it may be my mind will change, I shall prevail over my heart; and when Moabad at last is unbound, he will be as thy slave for having delivered him 1 Itzode, 77. |