Page:Man in the Panther's Skin.djvu/144

 Calm thy heart, believe me, I cannot take thee! I cannot! I cannot!

765. "Since I am a lover I must run mad alone in the fields. Should not one with blood-stained tears roam alone! Errantry is the business of lovers; how can one wait till he is grown old? This world is such, be thou assured thereof and submit.

766. "When I am far from thee, think of me, love me. I fear not my foes; I shall take care of myself. A brave man must be of good cheer, he must not mope in grief; I hate when a man hesitates at no shameful deed.

767. "I am such an one as will not gather cucumbers in this world as an old man, one to whom death for a friend seems a sport and a play. I have left my sun, she grants me leave, why should I linger! Then, if I can bear to go from mine own home, whose can I not bear (to leave)?

768. "Now I give thee my testament addressed to Rosten. I will confide thee to him, and entreat him to care for thee as befits one brought up by me. Should I die, slay not thyself; do not the deed of Satan; weep thereupon, fill the channel of the eyes."



769. He sat down to write the will, thus piteously inditing: "O king! I have stolen away in quest of him I must seek. I cannot remain sundered from him, the