Vis and Ramin

ZARD'S REPLY 177
not even do that. When God created you I know not what
planet was in the ascendant. One of you is equal to a devil
in sorcery, and one like an ox and an ass for stupidity.
Thy place is in the herd, among cattle. How hast thou
of all the shame that
kept Vis from Ramin ? I am worthy
can fall on me, since I have appointed an ox head of the
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castle. Thou sittest carelessly, thou shuttest the gate, and
"
thinkest : I have done well and have zealously done my
duty. Thou sittest there, and like an ox lowest in thy
stupidity. Thou canst not perceive this, that secretly inside
they laugh at thee; as they wish, | Ramin thus rejoices; 202
and outside the whole country knows this story. Thy seat
is certainly an enviable one for thee !"
Zard thus : replied
"
happy* monarch, be applauded ;
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many a year mayst
thou return merry from the road. Grieve not for evil deeds,
let not the devil's deeds into thy heart. Thou art a
puissant 4
sovereign, and canst speak both ill and good. If
thou knewest what is true, none would dare say aught to
thee ; and if thou wert to speak crookedly 5 a thousand times
nobody would dispute anything whatever thou saidst, and
say it is not so. Thou blamest for something of this kind:
that I have not taken thought. You took Ramin away
from here ; I, alas ! how do I know what he has done ?
He was not a falcon that he should soar from Greece and
fly down here; nor an arrow that he should speed to this
castle, as it seems Ramin has done. Look at the locked
door sealed with your seal ; the dust of a year lies upon it.
How could Ramin break into such a castle as this whose
gates and walls are all of brass ? Sentinels are fixed day
and night at all approaches and roads thus I guard her.
Even if Ramin is a sorcerer and knows a thousand wiles,
he could not even then get in ; and if he opened these doors
and shattered 8 them, who resealed them with your seal ?
Believe not this evil report, sovereign. Do not be gloomy,
i
Ghaphali, 142. 8viamt 197.
'
Vathad, R., 290, 879. Mordchmuli, 195, 215.
* Mrudi, 176. DaUtta, 66, 222. R.. 166, 1016.
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