Vis and Ramin

VIS'S CONVEKSATION WITH MISHKIN 251
sword of his absence has cut off my head. The lance 1 of
his fickleness has pierced my heart, and patience is im-
What
possible to one who is beheaded and heart -pierced.
worse thing than this has he done to me ? First, he went
and to send me
away and forsook me, and married a wife ;
tidings of this he wrote me a letter to make me envious.
Then, when I sent the nurse, he met her angrily, insulted
her, and then he chased her away wounded with arrows in
heart and liver, as if he had never seen the nurse all his
days, and as if she had never suffered trouble for him.
Now, by these deeds a mortal arrow has struck my soul,
and I am fallen sick, as thou seest. Now, Mishkin, thou
art prudent and skilled in words, wise and pleasant in con-
verse, a composer of letters. Write Eamin a letter from
me. Let him see my woes, and let him understand my
tortures. Thou knowest well how to unite words ; collect
together for me all knowledge and science. Write such
kinds of words as are fitting. If by virtue of thy tongue
thou leadest Eamin hither, until death I will be thy servant
and handmaiden. Thou art wise, and by the tongue of a
wise man the heart of a young man is soon softened."
When Mishkin heard this discourse from Vis, Mishkin,
the wise and prudent, by his eloquence adorned a letter to
Ram in.
1 Lakhuari, 198. B., 4, 161, 506, 566.