Page:Man in the Panther's Skin.djvu/215

 would have cleared away my house at one swoop, he would, O God! have made me eat my children, then he would have stoned me with stone.

1188. "God reward thee in return —what thanks can I render thee! thee who hast delivered me safe from that serpent's gaze! Now henceforth I can be happy in my star and fate! No longer do I fear death. Ha! ha! …"

1189. Avt'handil said: "Fear not! even in the book is it thus written: 'Of all foes the most hateful is the friend-foe; if a man be wise, he will not heartily confide.' Fear no more from him, now is he corpse-like.

1190. "Tell me the same story—since thou spedst the maiden, all the tidings thou hast learned or heard of her." Again P'hatman spoke weeping; again the tear flowed from her eyes. Quoth she: "The ray which sun-like illumined the fields was brought to nought."



1191. Woe, O Fate, in falsehood thou art like Satan, none can know aught of thine, where thy treachery is. That face apparent as a sun—where hast thou it hidden? Whither hast thou taken it? Therefore I see that in the end all seems vain (desolate), wherever anything may be.

1192. P'hatman said: "The sun was departed from me, the light of all the world, life and existence, the gain of my hands; from that time unceasingly the burning of hot fires