Vis and Ramin

I CHAPTER
LVII 314
THE TENTH LETTER OF VIS TO RAMIN
ONCE more Vis commanded her secretary to write a letter
to Ramin. So the secretary wrote a letter according to her
piteous grief. He was peerless in mind and skilled in
tongue, and whatever cunning was his he used it all and
exhausted it.
Then Vis stroked the letter on her hair and her mouth, and
thus made it so fragrant that at half a day's distance the
odour of musk from her letter was perceived by man. Then
she called Adina, and said :
" Adina, thou art beloved by me like the faith. 1
Hither-
to thou hast been my servant and slave.2 Now thou shalt
be my beloved brother and equal to myself, for we are one
soul and one body. I desire thee to go to Ramin, who is
to be preferred above, and is more inevitable than, my soul.
I adjure thee tarry not ; go swift as lightning. Alas ! lam
troubled. Present this my letter, and report my message
in its entirety. Strive to hasten. Henceforth I await
thee. |
I count every day and moment till thy return. Do 315
it in such a way that no living man may see thee. Carry
from me longing, desire of seeing him, and greetings more
numerous than the stars of heaven and the sands of the sea
and all things created by God, to the ravisher of my heart,
Ramin, saying :
" '0 worthless, 8 worthless one ! Despicable in worthless-
and false ! I have suffered
ness, oath-breaker, godless,
from thine evil-doing so many woes that I have desired
1
Play on the Persian word dm faith.
* Aramo ? play on name Ramin.
281
* Qma.