Vis and Ramin

LXXIY 383
CHAPTER I
Vis said :
"
This which thou utterest with thy tongue is by no
means in thy heart. Thou gatherest venom 1 in thy heart
and sugar on thy tongue. The God who is in the heavens
is not God because of thy tongue! And if thy heart be
affectionate towards me, thy deeds are such that thou
deceivest him who knows not thy tongue, as formerly thou
didst deceive me. Now, Rainin, calm thine heart. Pour
upon the fire of separation the water of patience.
Just as
it is better for thee to shorten the conversation, so it is
better for me to gaze but a short time on thee.
" A man brings trouble on himself when he again tries
what he has already tried. | The
stream that thou hast made 384
to flow from mine eyes suffices me. If a fire- worshipper 2
serves the fire for a thousand years, at the end the fire
burns him all the same. A low-born child and a wolf 3 -
cub 4 will not be improved by instruction. Now, before
this I have tried thee much, sometimes by threats and
sometimes by entreaties, 5 and at last it is manifest what
thou wert. Half of my days on account of thee have been
spent in disgrace and reproach, and now at least I shall not
waste in vain those that are left. I have gained no advan-
tage from my former love that now I should be bound by
love. No longer shall I love those that love not me, nor
give my heart to a perjured man.
own foe. My mother did not bear
God give me to thee.
I shall not be mine
me for thee, nor did
Zarsa, 815, 820, var., naghveha gall.
* Tzctzkhli* msakhuri servant of the fire, 4, 149.
MgcU, 441. R, 1571. Lccvt 128, B., 89.
5 Rhyme in the original : tnml'irit'lm, mu&un
887
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