4 Tears of blood flow profusely as I exult our Queen
Tamar
Whose praises I have uttered forth in well-chosen words.
For ink I have used a lake of jet and for pen, a pliant
reed.
My words, like jagged spears, will pierce the heart of
the hearer.
***
5 I was told to compose in her honour stately and sweet-sounding
verses,
To laud her eyebrows and lashes, her hair, her lips and
her teeth-
Badakhshan ruby and cut crystal arrayed in two even ranks.
An anvil of lead can break even the hardest stone.
***
6 Fire my mind and tongue with skill and power for utterance
Which I need, 0 Lord, for the making of majestic and
praiseworthy verses;
Thus will the deeds of Tariel be remembered in eloquent
language,
And of the three star-like heroes who faithfully served
one another.
***
7 Come, let us sit together and weep with undrying tears
for Tariel.
There never breathed a man born under the same star as
his.
I, Rustaveli, whose heart is pierced through by his sorrows
have threaded
Like a necklace of pearls a tale told until now as a
tale.
***
8 I, who am maddened to frenzy by love, have composed
these lines.
She, whom vast armies call mistress has deprived me oi
life and reason.
Thus sickened am I by love for which there exists no
cure.
She alone can cure me, or leave me to death and the grave.
***
9 I have found this Persian tale, and have set it in Georgian
verse
Until now like a peerless pearl it was rolled on the
palm of the hand.
I have done this praiseworthy and disputable deed for
her;
Therefore let her who has robbed me of heart and of reason
judge it.
***
10 Though deprived of their light by gazing upon her yet
my eyes long again
To behold her for whom with love-laden heart I roam like
a madman.
Let her pray for and soothe my soul; it is enough that
my body is burning.
Eloquent must my verses be, majestic, melodious and sweet.
***
11 Man, do not complain at fate. Be content and accept
it.
Let the warrior always be brave, let the worker enjoy
his labour;
So let the love-maddened man learn the meaning of love
and know it.
Disdain not the love of another nor let him disdain yours.
***
12 Poetry is, first of all, a branch of divine wisdom,
Conceived by and known by the godly edifying to all who
hear it.
It pleases the ear of the listener if he be a virtuous
man.
A poem uttered with surfeit of words lacks grace and
excellence.
***
13 A race on a course proves a horse's fire and mettle,
A player's skill is seen when he strikes the ball at
the goal.
Even so it is with the poet who composes majestic poems:
He must call forth all his skill when utterance is hard
and fails him.
***
14 Thus indeed, is the poet, and his poem is proof of
his prowess.
When at a loss of words and he cannot attain perfection
He must seek for words that will not diminish the poem
of its worth,
But strike the ball and score the goal like a dexterous
player.
***
15 A verse or two composed by chance do not make a poet;
Let him not think himself a poet on the level of great
singers.
Even though, now and then, he may write a few discordant
verses;
Yet if he says, "Truly, mine is the better", he is a
stubborn mule.
***
16 Then again there are poets who wish but are powerless
to compose
Verses capable of penetrating deep into one's heart.
I may compare them to the bows and arrows of youthful
hunters
Who cannot bring down big beasts, but kill only small
game.
***
17 A third kind of poems is composed for mirth and revelry,
For the lover, the joyous and merry, for the pleasures
of boon companions.
We may find some of them pleasing both to the heart and
the ear,
But remember, only he who writes majestic poetry is a
poet.
***
18 All the poet's endeavours must not be spent invain.
He must be devoted to one whom he considers worthy of
loving,
And employ all his talents and skill In praising and
glorifying her name.
For her alone must he sing in sweet melodious measures.
***
19 Hear all and know, I praise her whom I have hitherto
praised!
In this I have endless glory, in this I am bold and shameless.
She, who is my life, is a beautiful merciless panther.
I shall devote my skill hereafter to exalt her name.
***
20 I speak of love's highest form-elevated, pure and heavenly,
Eloquence weakens when the tongue attempts to speak of
such love.
It uplifts to heaven the soul of those who endure love's
anguish.
A lover, therefore, must know how to endure and bear
these afflictions.
***
21 Even a discerning mind cannot comprehend that love,
Though the tongue grow tired or the ears of the hearer
weary.
I speak of the lower passions of man who when not lustfully
kissing
Strives to imitate love but only faints from afar.
***
22 In the Arabic tongue a lover is called a madman
Because of non-fulfilment and futile longing for her.
Some, though exhausted, feel nearness to God as their
souls soar upward.
Others, prey to low passions, fly from one fair maidan
to another.
***
23 Beauty befits a lover like unto the sun on high.
He must have youth and leisure, be generous, wealthy
and wise,
Patient, intelligent and eloquent, the mightiest among
the mighty.
If devoid of all these qualities a lover is not a true
lover.
***
24 Love is sacred and tender, hard to know or define.
It is not kindred to lust; it is something beyond it
- divine.
Love is one thing, lust another; in no way do they mingle.
Between true love and lust lies an impregnable boundary.
***
25 He who loves should be constant, never lewd nor faithless.
Absence from her he loves should wring sigh upon sigh
from his heart.
He must be true to her though she frown upon him in anger.
I hate the lover who seeks only bugging and lusty kissing.
***
26 A lover does not long for one today and another tomorrow.
He «annot endure love's parting or absence from her whom
he worships.
Such sport is shameful, base, more like the trifling
of boys.
The lover is he who suffers the whole world's woes and
sorrows.
***
27 There is a love - the noblest - which reveals not its
woes but conceals them.
The lover seeks solitude for when alone he bestows all
his thoughts upon love.
Thus his fainting, dying, burning, are all from afar;
He may face the wrath of his beloved, yet must he fear
and revere her.
***
28 A lover must never reveal his love but keep it hidden,
Nor should he basely sigh and put his loved one to shame;
Nowhere should he show his love, nor reveal it to any
man.
Enduring woes and burning in fire for her sake should
be joy.
29 Only a madman would trust the man who noises his love
abroad.
By this he makes her suffer, by this he suffers himself.
How can he glorify her if he shames her with a
surfeit of words'
That would only profane the love that she cherishes for
him.
***
30 It makes me wonder to think there are men who make
a show of their love.
Why add pain to a heart, already wounded by love?
It they have no love for her then why do they hide their
hatred?
But an evil man loves an evil word more than his soul.
***
31 Judge not severely the tears of a lover; tears are
his due.
Weeping and solitude befit him and the roaming of plains
and forests.
When absent from her his thoughts should be of her whom
he worships,
But when among men it is better he conceal his love within
him.
***
STORY OF ROSTEVAN, KING OF THE ARABS
***
32 Rostrvan ruled in Arabia, a monarch exalted and mighty,
Fortunate, noble, farseeing, wise in council and judgment;
The hosts he commanded were countless, he. the invincible
warrior,
His speech was fluent and gracious, his bounty and wisdom
boundless.
***
33 He had one fair daughter, bright as the sun in its
glory,
Shedding radiant beams, ravishing all who beheld her.
Hearts and minds were enslaved, all bowed down to her
beauty.
Even the sage and the poet were deprived of speech in
her presence.
***
34 Tinatin, fairest of maidens, grew to be fairest of
women;
The sun itself in the sky paled above her in envy.
Rostevan summoned his viziers, graciously ranged them
before him?
Proud, majestic, yet mild, he wanted their judgment and
counsel.
***
35 "We are assembled", he said, «to discuss and counsel
together.
The sun of my days is set, a moonless night is before
me.
The full-blown rose must scatter the face of the earth
with its petals.
But the bud on the branch unfolds, filling the garden
with fragrance.
***
36 «Mine is the burden of age, sorest affliction of mortals;
The footsteps of death draw near me and I must yield
up my spirit.
Light can no longer exist when the shadow of night overtakes
it.
Take for your sovereign, my daughter, whom even the sun
cannot rival*.
37 The viziers answered: "0 King] Speak not of age and
of darkness!
You are still mighty and wise, your subjects still adore
you!
Even the rose that is withered sheds perfume surpassing
all flowers.
Does not the rising star worship the moon that is waning?
***
38 "Speaknot
of death, O King! Your blossom retains
its perfume)
One bad counsel from you is better than a hundred good
counsels from others.
You have done well to unload your heart of its onerous
burden;
She who out-shines the
sun we name
our monarch and ruler.
***
39 "Woman she is, but a woman born to rule over a kingdom.
Truly our hearts declare her worthy to be our sovereign.
Her noble deeds, like
her radiance, shed brightness arid warmth like sunshine.
The lion's
whelp is a lion, be it male or female".
***
40 Avtandil, head of
the armies, son of Amir-Spassalari,
Was slender and tall like
the cypress, bright like tne sunlight
and moonlight;
Beardless was he and his visage was pure as the clearest
of crystal.
Tinatin's raven-black lashes
pierced through his heart and senses.
***
41 Deep in his heart he
nurtured love for that beautiful maiden;
Absent from her, the roses fled from his cheeks, and
he languished';
But in her presence the fireswere
kindled again in his bosom.
Pity the woes of the lover, racked by the torments of
passion.
***
42 Hearing the words of the king, Avtandil rejoiced
greatly;
The raging flames of desire consuming his heart abated.
"Now, he said to himself,
"l will often gaze upon her.
This will bring peace to
my heart and relief to my troubled spirit"..
***
43 Rostevan, king of
the Arabs, announced through the whole of his kingdom:
"l, the father of Tinatin,
proclaim her my worthy successor.
Her light shall illumine
our country; come, and rejoice in her brightness!
Gaze at will on her beauty,
give jubilant tongue to her praises!"
***
44 The Arabian people assembled, courtiers and nobles
and henchmen.
Chief among warriors, Avtandil,
head over legions of soldiers;
First among sages and elders, Sograt,
beloved of his sovereign.
The royal throne was brought forth, dazzling men's sight
with its splendour.
***
45 Rostevan led in Tinatin, bright as the sun's rays at
noontide,
Placed the crown on her head, placed in her hand the
sceptre,
Over her shoulders he cast a mantle befitting
a sovereign.
And sunlike, omniscient, her gaze shed light in the farthest
places.
***
46 Monarch and warriors and nobles bowed down to the sunlike
maiden,
Hailed her their
sovereign and queen and vowed
her eternal allegiance;
Loud their voices arose,
silencing trumpet and cymbal.
And the tears welled up in
her eyes and dropped from the wings of a raven.
***
47 Tinatin wept lest she
prove unworthy to rule over the kingdom,
Shedding her tears like rain over a garden of roses.
Her aged father consoled her; "A child is the peer of
its parent.
Only now is the torturing
fire that raged in my heart extinguished".
***
48 Rostevan counselled Tinatin:
"Be of good heart, my daughter.
To you I have yielded my
kingdom, made you the queen of the Arabs.
The welfare and care of my subjects is entrusted to you
hereafter.
You are indeed wise
and prudent, let then your heart be at peace.
***
49 "Like the sun which casts its beams alike on rosededs
and middens,
Shed over great and small the kindly beams of your mercy.
Kindness makes slaves of the noble and lightens the bonds
of the slave.
Resemble the mighty ocean which pours back the flood
it receives.
***
50 "Generous deeds adorn a monarch as does a cypress Eden;
Even the treitor is won when the hand of the ruler is
generous.
Spending on feasting and wine is better than hoarding
our substance.
That which we give makes us richer, that which is hoarded
is loSt".
***
51 Tinatin's spirit rose high, as she listened to Rostevan's
counsel;
Unwearied, she garnered the words of his life-giving
wisdom.
Then the king sat down to partake of the feast and rejoicings.
Tinatin rivalled the sun, which attempted in vain to
outshine her.
***
52 Tinatin called to her presence her faithful adviser
and teacher,
Bid him bring all her possessions, belonging to her as
the princess.
The massive chest was delivered, her aged tutor unlocked
it;
The maiden scattered her bounty, heedless of value or
measure.
***
53 That day she gave away all she had gathered since childhood,
Enriched both great and small to cries of joy and wonder.
"Thus did my father teach me: 'Be generous, princely
in giving'.
Let none keep back my treasure hoarded for me since childhood".
***
54 Then she commanded her servants to bring her the rest
of her treasures,
To lead in her horses, her mules, her richly-caparisoned
coursers.
Gifts so lavishly showered maddened -the hearts of the
soldiers.
As avid as brigands they swooped on the endless torrent
of riches.
***
55 They pillaged and seized her treasury, carried her
horses away,
As if the gifts freely lavished were trophies wrung from
the Turks.
Each had a share in the bounty, high and low, youths,
maidens,
And still the gifts were showered, like snowflakes caught
in a whirlwind.
***
56 All day they feasted and revelled; the banquet befitted
a monarch.
All day the mighty gathering of warriors rejoiced and
made merry.
Only the king appeared troubled, his brow was furrowed
with sadness.
"What is afflicting our sovereign?" enquired the guests
in amazement.
***
57 Avtandil, leader of heroes, slender and lithe as a
panther,
Sat at the side of the monarch, the venerable Sograt
beside him.
Rostevan's sorrowful visage perplexed the youth and the
seer.
Why that glance of displeasure, that countenance moody,
they pondered.
***
58 Avtandil said: "Let us ask him to tell us the cause
of his sadness!
Surely he nurses some grievance, for here there is nothing
to vex him.
Let us draw near and endeavour to coax him to break into
smiles,
Beguile him with jesting and laughter, ask him to speak
of his sorrow".
***
59 Avtandil, matchless of form, Sograt, wisest of viziers,
Filling their goblets with wine, drew near to the sovereign,
smiling.
They bowed in obeisance before him, then cast themselves
on their knees.
Then spoke the aged Sograt, in gentle and eloquent phrases:
***
60 "Gone are your smiles, O King. Are you troubled or
offended?
Is it because the princess, your majesty's radiant daughter,
Has scattered your wealth too freely, and recklessly
squandered your treasures?
Why, then, make her a queen and add trouble to trouble?"
***
61 Amazed at the boldness of Sograt, Rostevan pondered
in silence.
Slowly he lifted his eyelids, smiling replied to his
vizier:
"Shall I upbraid her for pouring her bounty like dewdrops
from heaven?
He who believes me a niggard knows not the heart in my
bosom.
***
62 "l care not for riches and treasures; this is no cause
for my sadness.
But age draws near, O Sograt, and youth has departed
for ever,
And no man in my realm has learned the arts I excel in,
Knightly arts in the lists, skill with words and with
crossbow.
***
63 "Truly I have a daughter, tenderly nurtured and gracious;
Yet I am sad in my heart, that I have no son to succeed
me,
None to excel me in contests, none to rival my prowess;
Avtandil, taught by my precepts, nearest approaches my
greatness".
***
64 The youth, with his head bent low, listened to Rostevan's
words,
Smiled as he listened to Rostevan boast of his prowess
and cunning;
His teeth flashed white, like sunbeams illumining a plain.
"What have I said", cried the monarch, "to bring that
smile to your face?
***
65 "What have I said", he rapeated, "to merit your smiles
and derision?"
But Avtandil humbly implored the king to pardon his boldness.
"Hear me, and though what I say may offend the ears of
my sovereign,
Yet withhold your judgment, O King, turn not from me
in anger".
***
66 Then the king said: "Fear nothing! Nothing you say
will offend me".
And swore to be true to his word on the life of his sunlike
daughter.
"Then I will speak my mind", the youth replied to his
sovereign;
"You boast of your skill, your highness. Now prove your
words with deeds.
***
67 "l am as dust that you tread on, yet the arrow flies
far from my bowstring;
Take up my challenge, O King, let others compare our
prowess!
You said in the hearing of all that no archer excels
you-
Let then your people give praise to him who shoots straightest
and farthest!"
***
68 King Rostevan answered: "l accept the challenge you
fling before me.
Your words are bold, my Avtandil. Let us then draw our
bowstrings.
Let all my nobles be summoned to witness our prowess
in contest!
Here in the field shall be proven which is more worthy
of praise".
***
69 Thus did Rostevan speak. They all bowed in reverence
before him.
Then they merrily laughed and sported like boisterous
children.
Wagers were laid and a forfeit was gaily imposed on the
loser:
In the sight of all he must go three days with his head
uncovered.
***
70 Then he said to his huntsmen: "Go, scour the plain
and the forest,
Beat in beasts to be shot at, then summon my soldiers
and people
To witness the contest between us, and see which surpasses
the other".
Thus was ended that day of feasting and high jubilation.
***
KING ROSTEVAN AND AVTANDIL GO HUNTING
***
71 Avtandil rode forth at daybreak mounted on a white
stallion.
In his huntsman's apparel, he was as fair as a lily in
bloom.
His face shone like crystal and ruby, outshining his
golden veil.
Modest of mien, as ever, he summoned the king to the
contest.
***
72 Fully equipped for the chase Rostevan made his appearance.
Warriors came swarming in myriads, eager to witness the
contest.
Townsfolk surrounded the field with noisy clatter and
bustle,
They drew their bows for their wager and shot and strove
together.
***
73 Rostevan gave the command that twelve chosen archers
approach him.
"Follow us closely" he said, "and supply us with arrows
when needed.
See where the arrow sticks and whose arrow's course was
the truer".
Soon in large numbers the beasts began to come in from
all quarters.
***
74 Droves in astonishing number flocked onto the plain
before them.
Herds of wild asses and goats, stags, and the high-leaping
chamois.
The King and his vassal pursued them. Surely no sight
could be fairer!
Behold the untiring arm, the lightning flight of arrow.
***
75 The face of the sun was veiled by the dust from the
hooves of their horses.
Each time a shaft went home, more beasts were brought
up for the slaughter
Till the field was soaked in their blood, as they fell,
transfixed by arrows,
And not one wounded beast could struggle again to its
feet.
***
76 Spurring their steeds, the rivals drove the victims
before them,
The plain ran red with gore, till God in His heaven was
angered
At the sight of His creature's blood. But Avtandil's
name was uttered
By all who looked on at the contest: "A cypress planted
in Eden":
***
77 Pursued and pursuers raced on till they came to the
bank of a stream.
The beasts took refuge in thickets; neither horse nor
hunter could follow.
The rivals sank to the ground to rest awhile from their
labours,
And laughing, each sought to prove that he had emerged
victorious.
***
78 "l am the winner!" "No, I!' each laughingly said to
the other.
They were elated and merry as they happily sported and
jested.
Then the twelve men who carried the quivers stepped into
their presence.
"Tell us the truth", said the king, which of us two is
the victor?"
***
79 The men answered him: "Only the truth we will tell
you.
Avtandil stands alone. You are in no wise his equal.
Slay us now, if you will, we would rather die than deceive
you.
Not one beast could arise after his arrow had struck
it.
***
80 "Between you were felled to the ground more than one
hundred score.
But Avtandil's share, your highness, was one score higher
than yours.
None of his shafts fell short, but of yours, O King,
we have gathered
Many which did no more than scratch the earth that they
fell on".
***
81 Rostevan felt no remorse to learn that his skill was
outmatched
By one he loved as the rose loves the nightingale's song.
Avtandil's triumph was his own, and the king banished
grief from his bosom,
Smiled and was glad once again, ready for joy and diversion.
***
82 Then each sat down in the shade of the trees on the
bank of the stream;
Countless as chaff were the hosts of warriors assembled
before them.
And the twelve archers were there, bravest among the
brave,
Their hearts full of joy and light, as they gazed at
the beauty around them.
***
HOW THE KING OF THE ARABS SAW THE KNIGHT IN THE PANTHER'S SKIN
***
83 All at once they saw by the stream a stranger sitting
and weeping.
He held a black horse by the bridle and looked like a
lion and a hero.
His armour, saddle and bridle were thickly studded with
pearls.
The rose was frozen by tears that welled up from his
grief-stricken-heart.
***
84 Over his rich apparel was flung the skin of a panther
And the cap on his head was made from the selfsame panther's
skin.
The whip he grasped in his hand was thick as the arm
of a warrior.
The king and his host gazed with delight on this wondrous
stranger.
***
85 One of the king's attendants advanced to speak to the
weeper,
Who, with head bent low, seemed overwhelmed with his
sorrow;
But he drew back in awe, he could not utter a word
For from the swordsman's jet-black lashes, fell showers
of grief.
***
86 The messenger dared not speak, but gazed in wonder
and pity,
Till at last he found the strength to deliver the words
of his master.
I The king commands your presence", he.said. The stranger
did not hear him;
Lost in his grief he wept, and knew not that any stood
near him.
***
87 Deaf to the messenger s words and the clamorous shouts
of the soldiers, Blind to the faces around him, wrapped in his lonely dejection,
The stranger but sobbed the more and his tears, commingled with blood,
Came rushing forth from his heart like waters from under a floodgate.
***
88 Surely his mind had drifted far from its owner's keeping;
He knew nothing of time, of place or the presence of
others.
The attendant iepeated his message, but the stranger
still wept, unheeding,
Nor could the flower of speech be plucked from his quivering
lips.
***
89 Since the strange knight did not answer the slave returned
to his sovereign.
He said: "l told him your will but he weeps and says
not a word.
All my attempts to induce him to speak were in vain,
your highness.
The radiant light that he casts has dazzled and blinded
my eyes".
***
90 Great was the wrath of Rostevan but greater by far
his amazement.
He summoned his archers before him, in thunderous tones
he commanded:
"You twelve are undaunted warriors, skilled in the arts
of warfare;
Take up your arms, at once, and bring that swordsman
before me".
***
91 The archers drew near to the knight, with a sound of
the clanging of armour,
So that the weeper started but fell once again to his
weeping.
Then he looked up through his tears and beheld the archers
approaching.
And cried: "Woe is me!" Nothing more, not " word,
not a sound did he utter.
***
92 Then with his hands he wiped the tears from his eyes,
and rising,
Braced his strong arms and rapidly fastened his sword
and quiver.
Paying no heed to the men he mounted his raven-black
horse
Rode away leaving the men amazed and bewildered behind
him.
***
93 They stretched out their hands to seize him, but he
turned and attacked them so fiercely
That even the heart of a foe would have pitied their
plight in that moment.
Scarcely raising his hand, he beat them down with his
whip,
Till the king's brave archers were scattered, or left
on the ground for dead.
***
94 Rostevan's heart burned within him at the sight of
his slaughtered soldiers.
Turning to those around him he charged them to capture
the slayer.
The youth rode on unheeding, and never once looked backward,
But when the pursuers overtook him, he turned, raised
his whip and destroyed them.
***
95 Rostevan and Avtandil mounted, spurred their steeds
in pursuit;
The youth swayed free in his saddle, his horse as swift
as Merani.
The sun shone bright on the plain and turning, the youth
beheld
Rostevan, Avtandil riding, galloping close on his heels.
***
96 Before they could overtake him he dealt one furious
blow
With his whip on his charger's side and was straightway
gone from their sight,
Vanished like one who had sunk in an abyss or flown up
to heaven.
And though they searched they could find no trace of
the course he had taken.
***
97 Long and vainly they sought for the prints of his horse's
hooves;
He had vanished from sight like a Devi, leaving no trace
behind.
The soldiers mourned for the dead and bound the survivors'
wounds.
"Well may I grieve", said the king. "Behold, the cause
of my sorrow!
***
98 "Qod would not suffer me longer to delight in the joys
I possessed.
Therefore he turned all the sweet of my joy to gall and
wormwood.
Fate has decreed me to grieve and burdened my heart with
sorrow.
I am wounded unto death. Such is His will and desire".
***
99 Thus spoke the king, and returned, lost in thought
to his palace.
Hunters abandoned the chase. None was called to the lists.
Plaudits and laughter were silenced, groans were mingled
with weeping.
"The king is right", said some, others but called upon
God.
***
100 Rostevan entered his chamber, his countenance mournful
and frowning.
Avtandil watched like a son that none but himself should
follow.
The household servants retired; silenced were sounds
of music,
The clicking of castanets, the plaintive twang of the
'harp-strings
***
101 Up to her father's door came Tinatin, she, the sun
s rival,
Asked of the charrberlain: "ls my father asleep or awake?"
"He sleeps not", the chamberlain said. "He is heavy with
brooding and mourning.
Pale is his cheek from grief, and anger has clouded his
eye.
***
102 "Avtandil, he alone, keeps his vigil beside him.
The cause of their gloom is a stranger, scarcely beheld
but he vanished".
Tinatin said: "l will go. I will not intrude on his sorrow.
Say 'She was here but now!' should my royal father require
me"
***
103 The hours passed slowly by, till the king enquired
of his servants:
"Where is my only solace, my jewel, my heart's blood,
my daughter?"
The chamberlain answered: "She came, she was here but
now at the door.
She would not intrude on your sorrow, but will straightway
come at your call".
***
104 "Send for her, Rostevan ordered. "How can I live without
her?
Say to her: "Why did you go, who are the life of your
father?
You alone have the balm to soothe the wound in my bosom.
I shall unburden my heart and tell you the cause of my
sorrow".
***
105 Tinatin went to her father, swift to obey his bidding,
Like the full moon in heaven was the light of her radiant
features.
Rostevan placed her beside him and asked as he tenderly
kissed her:
"Why did you tarry, my daughter? Where you awaiting my
summons?"
***
106 Tinatin answered: "O King, they told me your visage
was darkened;
How could I brave your frowns when even the lights in
the heavens
Are dimmed by your discontent? But now let us seek for
some means
To put an end to your troubles. That would be better
than grieving".
***
107 Rostevan said: "l am heartsick; and yet your presence
revives me.
With you beside me, my sorrows vanish like clouds in
the sunlight.
Come then, I will relate what has occasioned my sadness.
When you know what has passed, surely you will not blame
me.
***
108 "l came on a comely youth, whose beauty illumined
the heavens;
He wept and refused to say what was the cause of his
anguish.
He did not come when I called him, so I was greatly vexed,
And in my fury commanded my men to seize him at once.
***
109 "He mounted his horse when he saw me and wiped the
tears from his eyes.
I commanded that he must be seized but he struck down
and slaughtered my soldiers,
Then like a spirit he vanished as though the earth had
engulfed him.
And to this hour I know not it he was man or phantom.
***
110 "l wonder, what has happened? How was it and what
have I seen?
The warriors he slew are countless and the blood he spilled
flowed in torrents.
Only a fiend or a spirit immortal could vanish as he
did.
Alas! all the mercies of God are bitterness now to my
soul. |
