Page:Man in the Panther's Skin.djvu/179

 story. I stole away in quest of him, fire burned me, and smouldering.

976. "Three years I sought him; I enjoyed not even sleep. I saw Khatavians he had mauled; they showed him to me. I found the yellowish rose, faint-rayed, pale-tinted; he welcomed me and loved me like a brother, like a son.

977. "He took the caves from the Devis after great bloodshed. There Asmat'h attends the solitary, none else is with him; ever the old fire burns him, it is not newly roused. Groaning befits one parted from him, a black mourning kerchief bound round the head.

978. "Alone in the cave the tearful, tear-stained damsel weeps. The knight hunts game for her as a lion for its whelp; he brings it, and thus he feeds her. He cannot rest in one place. Save her (Asmat'h) he desires not the sight of any of man's race.

979. "To me, a stranger, he pleasantly narrated his wondrous and pleasing (story); he told me his tale, and his beloved's. What woe he has suffered this tongue of a madman cannot now tell; longing slays him, and lack of the sight of his grave-digger.

980. "Like the moon he unceasingly roams, he rests not; he sits on that horse thou gavest him, he never alights; he sees no speaking being, like a wild beast he shuns men. Woe is me, remembering him; alas for him dying for her sake!

981. "The fire of that knight burns me, I am consumed with hot fire; I pitied him, and I became mad, my heart grew furious; I wished to seek remedies for him by sea and land. I returned and saw the sovereigns, whose hearts were gloomy.

982. "I entreated leave of absence; the king was enraged at me, and fell into sadness. I deserted my soldiers, therefore they there cried, 'Woe!' I stole away, I freed myself from the flood of tears of blood. Now I seek balm for him; I turn about hither and thither.