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Rh B readsAt I C has

Here the rhyme is faulty, because a nímfatḥa is made to correspond to a fatḥa. AB therefore eliminate it and write

In some cases the fault is not removed but is partially remedied. At I. C readsA amends this by writing in the second hemistich thus introducing a type of rhyme and  (instead of ), which is not uncommon in the Mathnawí, but impairing the syntax, as  is now superfluous. It remained for B to restore the syntax and write

Those who desire further evidence will find plenty of material in the critical notes. I think, however, that the instances which have been given are enough to establish what I undertook to prove, namely,

The inexact prosody of the poem is quite in keeping with its free, unelaborate, and generally colloquial style. No one is likely to argue that the copyists represented by A and B sought to