Vis and Ramin

76 VISRAMIANI
Keep thy heart as merry as thou canst, for by joy days are
added to man.
"Araei: The world is like a rest-house 1 or inn 2 for
travellers, and we are wayfarers. 3
Wayfarers tarry but a
short time in the inn. Its bitterness and joy alike are out-
ward, and men cannot tarry a moment in one place, 4
they
are like the shadow of a cloud.
"
If Fate has taken away from thee one joy and desire, it
has fulfilled for thee a thousand better. Thou art a fair
maid, 5 and a queen, and in royalty thy commandment goes
forth over every land. Forsake not joy nor cast down thy
mind into vain grief. Wherever on earth there is a young
man, everyone of them is a seeker of his own desire and
in one way some in another undertake
well-being : some
affairs and rejoice in them. Some like armies, some like
wife and home, some like gorgeous slaves, some like ripe
also who are within the curtain, 6
wives and daughters of monarchs, and also of grandees,
85 girls. Likewise those |
rejoice in many kinds of things. However fair and royal
the husbands they may have, in secret they love and make
love with others besides. Thou alone grievest day and
night, and slayest thyself in vain ;
save Viro, thou thinkest
on none and desirest none. Though he is a king and a
king's son, he is not an angel reared in Paradise. A short
time ago thou didst ask me if in the city of Marav there
was another as fair as Viro, or if I had indeed seen such a
one ? God knows that in Marav I have seen many youths 7
fair as the sun, such that man's eyes cannot be sated 8 with
gazing on them. In figure each is like a cypress, unblemished
in face and beautiful, and in courage chosen and
praised of every land. If perchance 9 thou seest such a
man, each of them would please thee more than Viro, and
i
Sadgomi.
2 P'liunduci.
3 MoJcaravneni (karavcmi, 204), R., lt)07.
Dazmen erVhgan.
6
Qma, 41, 96. ? an unusual use of the word. Cf. K.
P'hardagi. R., 380, 382, 394, 505.
8
Qadzghebis, 76.
9
Shemtque (?).
7 Moqme catzebi, 50, 98.