Vis and Ramin

I CHAPTER
LXII 345
BAMIN COMES TO MARAV
WHEN Ramin saw from afar the city of Marav, he rejoiced
as is the wont of the afflicted in the expectation of meeting.
He gave thanks to God and a flower (? of poesy) to the city.
He began to praise 1
it, saying : "0 pleasant Marav, seat of
sovereigns, rejoicer of the sad, enricher of the poor,
comforter of the oppressed ; pleasant Marav, inexhaustible
in flowers in winter and summer alike, without whom those
who have once seen thee cannot live, and especially he who
like me knows his heart-ravisher to be here. pleasant
Marav, chiefest of all cities, invincible by foes, desirable to
the tried, abode of the sun, seat of the moon, and palace of
her who has reft me of reason and life !" Ramin, for lack
of Vis, and being out of himself, was in such a state that
the princes of Khuarasan seemed roses of Eraq, and the
stones of Marav like gems of Gorab. A strange land cannot
please a man like his own, and he can give to none such a
heart as he gave to his first love. He was so delighted to
see his country that the snow there seemed like camphor, 2
the leaves like sweet-smelling oil, the trees like Paradise,
and the earth like immortality. He entered Marav at the
midnight hour ; he was as merry as a resuscitated corpse.
Ramin straightway went to the foot of the tower where Vis
was. A sentinel |
3 had been set by Vis to watch for Ramin's *U6
coming. When the sentinel saw and recognized him, he at
once went down and told the nurse. She rejoiced greatly,
and said to Vis :
4
'The dissipate r of thy griefs is come, thine ever-
1 Keba, 827.
' Kap'huri, 887, 854. Outhagi, 121. R., 1867.
807