Vis and Ramin

158 VISRAMIAXI
" Once she fled, she went away and hid herself ; I was
slain by the thought of me forth into the fields.
her, she made me mad and drove
Now, if she do this again and go
away from me, she will shed my blood. It is better that
I should guard her well now. Great woes befell me in
seeking her. I cannot bear to be without her. I suffered
enough grief before when she was separated from me.
When a man is careful, a serpent bites him not from the
same hole 1 twice." He thought on Vis, what he should
do. Then he called his brother Zard, and said to him :
" Brother and soul of mine, hast thou seen in thy days a
deed so wonderful, or hast thou heard what Ramin has
done to me many times ? The doings and ill-will of
Ramin, Vis, and the nurse have wearied me of life. I am
enthralled by these three sorcerers, and there is no longer
a balm for my woe. They are neither ashamed before
men nor afraid of God, they listen to the instruction of
have no fear of fetters. Whatever is desired
by the shameless one, he cannot miss doing it, and has no
179 none, and |
fear. Though I am so great a monarch, none on the earth
is become more weak 2 and powerless than I. I do justice
to all of the race of Adam, and my Fate does me a thousand
injustices. Goliath 3 heroes fly from me, and I am
one wench
thus made a coward ! by Still, all my affliction
comes from my heart ; for love has forced me to regard
my enemies as my friends, and I would have the whole
world (so that I might give it) to that disgraced one, who
would desire to have my blood to drink. My face has
become so blackened with shame that the water of five
hundred seas cannot wash me. My own wife is become
mine enemy, and my sun (life) is darkened by her. My
own brother has his sword drawn secretly and seeks a time,
that when he finds the time he may slay me like a foe. I
know not what my end will be, nor what Fate will do to
me. Day and night I am like one soulless at the thought
of this. Why do I seek a foe afar ? Even at home I have
i Khhureli, 155.
2 Bechara1 silly. Cf. bechi.
a Dchabucni goliat'lmi, 81. B., 1511.