Vis and Ramin

128 |
CHAPTER
XXIV
MOABAD TAKES AWAY VIS AND COMES TO MARAV AND
KHUARASAN
IN the Pehlevi 1
tongue Khuarasan signifies pleasant and
fertile land. The food for Eraq and all Persia comes from
(Persia and) 2 Khuarasan. The earth and water are pleasant
and the air 3 is pure, and the city of Marav itself, in Khuar-
asan, is as pleasant as May among the months;
it is a
place for men to take rest in, and is like Paradise.
When Shah Moabad, under a good planet, having returned
from Koistan, went to the city of Marav, he sat on
the towers 4 like Solomon and Balav 5 and sported ; thence
he gazed on fields, gardens, and vineyards verdant and
blooming. Smilingly and sportively 6 he said to Vis :
" Behold the fields and vineyards are fair like thy face.
The water, the earth, the garden, the hayfields, meads and
orchards, mount and vale at Marav are decked by God like
Eden. Why dost thou not tell me, my moon, whether
Marav pleases thee more or the land of Mah ? I prefer the
land of Marav for this, that its land resembles heaven
adorned with stars. So to speak, it is Paradise, full of
God's bounty. As Marav is more pleasant than the land
129 of Mah, so am I more than Viro. |
1 P'halauri, 3.
2 ? the insertion of " Persia and " a copyist's mistake.
I have many lands like
3 Haeri, 104, 224. * Coshci, 120.
5 The editors of the printed text suggest the god Baal ; perhaps
Balavari is meant (the Georgian story of Buddha) ; but Graf reads
**
Balkis," which seems better. ? read Balac.
6
Laghobit'ha, 96, 135. B., 59, 79, 82, 136, 889.
114