Vis and Ramin

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CHAPTER
LXXXVIII
SHAH MOABAD IS SLAIN BY A BOAR
HOWEVER much one has experience of the world, not thus
can anyone learn its hidden secret. There is nothing more
secret than its heart, nor sharper than its wit. The world
is old, and we are like dreams in it. Why should I expect
to tarry in it ? There is no stability in it. It is not
obedient to man, nor distinguishes love from enmity, nor
does it fulfil friendship to any who expects love from it. It
is even like the thought of the watch-keeping of a blind
man. It shows itself to man in various ways : a thing is
one thing inside and another outside ; it is like a conjurer. 1
Many kinds of figures pass through a gazing crystal, 2 but
inside no one tarries long. It is like an archer who is
shooting in a dark night
: the arrow flies from the hands
446 [ and he does not know where it strikes, and we seek ad-
vantage from it and there is none. Even though we have
we are not saved. Thus we are in a dream.
escaped it, yet
When one day is past and a second day comes, the first is
forgotten
and causes a man to wonder at the other that
comes after it. The fickleness of fate magnifies one and
humbles another. It has annihilated and ruined on the
earth better kings than Moabad (who was) manifested like
the sun. At the end he remained sad and with his wishes
unfulfilled.
When he made the soldiers camp at Amul, he sat
drinking that night until dawn. He completely
clad the
grandees, he gave the other soldiers arms, a horse, gold
1 T'hvalt'h maktzieri, 389.
3 Mecvebani (?). The passage is obscure.
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