Page:Man in the Panther's Skin.djvu/195

 rose, or what have they in common? But upon it the nightingale has not yet sweetly sung. Every unfitting deed is brief, and then it is fruitless. What says she? What nonsense she talks! What a letter she has written!"

1069. This kind of thought he thought in his heart. Then said he to himself: "Save thee I have no helper. For the sake of that for which I am a wanderer, since I wish to seek her (Nestan) I will do everything by which I can find her; what else should my heart heed!

1070. "This woman sits here seeing many men, a keeper of open house and a friend to travellers coming hither from all parts. I will consent, she will tell me all; however much the fire burns me with its flames, perchance she will be of some use to me; I shall know how to pay my debt to her."

1071. He said: "When a woman loves anyone, becomes intimate with him and gives him her heart, shame and dishonour she weighs not, being wholly accursed; whatever she knows she declares, she tells every secret. It is better for me, I will consent; perchance I shall somewhere find out the hidden thing."

1072. Again he said: "None can do aught if his planet favour him not ; so what I want I have not, what I have I want not. The world is a kind of twilight, so here all is dusky. Whatever is in the pitcher, the same flows forth."