Vis and Ramin

Vis said :
I CHAPTER
LXX 374
"Oh, Ramin, forsaker, at last by thy wit thou hast
fallen into ill-luck. Thus is the custom with evil-doers and
sinners, if they at any time fall into such trouble as thou
now hast fallen into. Surely the bird that has flown by
is l not caught in the net ! Thou art now houseless in thib
city of Marav, and a stranger among thy many friends.
Never shalt thou have thy will of me nor find shelter in
Marav. It is better that thou stand not there in vain, nor
speak uselessly, nor seek roses and lilies on the 2
rocky bank
of a river. When thy former lover slipped out of thy hands,
it was better for thee to have sat pleasantly by the side of
the latter one. Gul is thy wife, and when thou hadst a joy-
giver like her sitting at home with thee, why didst thou go
elsewhere broken-hearted ?
"
This | palace is of the Shahinshah Moabad and fortunate 375
for his guest, but not for such an in suiter as thou art. May
God give thee no inviter, 8 for thou hast neither shame
before thy host nor fear of God !
And
since thou art not
worthy to sit there and speak to me, how can I let thee
come face to face, or how can I lead thee into the palace
of Moabad ?
am a guest!'
I tell
. . .
'
thee to go hence, and thou : sayest
Thou art like that countryman who
was turned out, for they would not let him stay in the
and he said :
'
village, The village belongs to ma* When
thou earnest forth from thy house, didst thou not then know
that there was winter snow and rain, and that there would
be a blast ? Why did this road seem to thee a sport, since
thou knewest that in Marav thou hast no house, and that
1 Makhe. * Riqo ? rice.
no
8 Mehman, cf. matman, 487.
I