Vis and Ramin

VIS DRIVES AWAY RAMIN 341
one scabbard, 1 or day and night together? Thou re-
proachest me for ignorance, and thou thyself through
ignorance art become an object of hatred to thine
enemies.
" If thou hadst not been ignorant and a simpleton, 2 thou
wouldst not have behaved in the least like this. Since I
am ignorant and lacking in sense, thou shouldst thank
God that thou art no longer held captive by the company
of such an ignorant person and that I am the wife and
familiar 3 of a great sovereign and thy ruler, and, as thou
thyself sayest, too stupid as such, and not thine."
When Vis had made an end of this speech, not even then
was her heart softened. She leaned out of the windows*
and cried aloud to the sentinels 6 : "Be on your guard,
sleep not to-night. It is an ill night ; perchance some
harm may befall the castle from the elements." 6 She
said this in such a way that hope was completely gone
from Ramin.
Ramin went thence frozen by the cold, bereft of spirits
and friend. Maddened by Vis's anger, he trudged through
the snow. He himself comforted his own heart, and thus
soliloquized :
"Be not cast down, heart, if thy
friend has forsaken
thee. Oft does this befall in love ; dishonour is indeed the
lot of lovers. |
And
now, if thou survive, free thyself from 389
this sort of thing. Henceforth thou art free 7 from all
trouble, and a free man cannot bear unjustly grief and
anger from a slave.8 A well-born man cannot do unjustly,
nor will a prudent man rashly rush into dishonour.
Henceforth free thyself from passion, and as long as thou
livest bewail the bygone days. Think upon Vis's deeds,
and say : Alas ! my
days spent in vain ! For, save hope,
only excess of woes remains to me. What pity
to kill a
horse in vain behind the ball since I cannot gain the goal."
1
KarJccuhi, 192. R., 72. Shlui (Armenian).
3 Moakhle also " intimate friend." R., 44, 716, 1418.
4 S,//v,/,,7/. Qushagi, 121, 846, 416. Hatri.
7 Azn',. l; . 247,
1047, atateba. Afono.
9 Hclo, at polo ; ? the resting-place outside the ban