The Man in the Panther's Skin, 1912

469. "The veils I had found in the city of the Khatavians I bound round me, they became me, I maddened (still more) the heart of the mad. The king dismounted; we entered the apartments of my foster-parents. I saw the flash of her cheeks like sunlight, I trembled.

470. "The form of that sun (Nestan) was clad in robes of orange; behind her was a host of eunuchs in cohorts and lines; with light she quite filled house, street and quarter; there, amid the roses (of her cheeks), shone in beauty coralpearl twins (lips and rows of teeth).

471. "I who had fought and been wounded had mine arm hung from my neck in a sling. The queen rose from her throne (and came) forward to meet me. She kissed me hard like a son, she made my rose cheek blue; she said to me: Henceforth expect not the foe to engage thee.'

472. "Near at hand they made place for me, there where it pleased me; opposite sat the sun for whom my heart was dying. Stealthily I looked at her, she looked at me; no other converse was there; (when) I tore away mine eyes from her, thereby was life made hateful to me.

473. "There was drinking and feasting on a scale fitting to their might, such another rejoicing eye has not seen, goblet and cup were all of turquoise and ruby; the king gave order that no drunk man be suffered to depart.

474. "Being there I gave myself up to the excess of joy; when she gazed at me and I at her, my fire began to be extinguished. I called upon my wild, mad heart to have a care of men (that they observe not). How exceedingly pleasant it is to look face to face on the beloved!

475. "The minstrels ceased to sing. 'Be silent!' They bent their heads. He (the king) said to me: 'Son Tariel, how can we tell thee how we rejoice! We are in bliss, therefore (? because) our adversaries are woeful; right are thine admirers, not idly do they vaunt.

476. "Now, though it is fitting that we should clothe thee who art mighty in glory, we clothe thee not, we doff not those robes beauteously adorning thee. Now thou whose rays are spread abroad hast a hundred treasures from us, thou thyself canst have sewn what thou desirest, be not bashful before us.'

477. "He sat down again joyful, drinking and singing increased, again the feast went on, the lyres and tinkling of harps. The queens retired when day met twilight and until evenings joy was not joy.

478. "We broke up; we could no more endure the drinking of great goblets. I went into my chamber, my perception became like that of one dazed; I had no power in me, made prisoner as I was, to extinguish that fire (of love). I remembered, and the memory of being gazed on by her rejoiced me.

479. "A slave came; he told me true tidings: 'A veiled woman asks tidings of you.' Then I knew at once, I leaped up in all haste, with trembling heart; she came in, I saw Asmat’h, who was coming towards me.

480. "For the sake of her for whom I am dying I was pleased to see Asmat’h, as if I saw herself (Nestan). I hindered her from doing me homage, I kissed her, I took her hand and seated her near me on my couch, and greeted her: 'Blessed art thou, come as a shoot from the aloe-tree!

481. “Tell me news of her; speak to me of nought else.' She said to me: 'I will tell thee truth; now from me (thou shalt) not (hear words uttered merely) to give pleasure. To-day ye saw each other, and tenderly were pleased; now again she commands to make known news of her through me.'

LETTER OF NESTAN-DAREDJAN WRITTEN TO HER BELOVED

482. "She gave me a letter, I gazed on it; it was from the light of the face of the lands. She wrote: 'I have seen the loveliness of thy gemlike brilliancy; fair wert thou returned from battle, after urging on thy horse; not ill seems to me the cause of the flow of my tears.

483. "If God hath given me my tongue it befits me to use it for thy praise; dead for thy sake I can by no means speak, for lacking thee I die. The sun (i.e., Nestan) made a little garden of rose and jet, as a garden for the lion; by thy sun, my self pertains to none save thee.

484. “Though thou hast shed a stream of tears yet have they not flowed in vain; henceforth weep no more, put away grief from thee. Those who look upon thee curse unrestrained those who look upon thee. Veil me with that which but now was bound round thee.

485. “Give me the veils that sometime adorned thee; when thou seest me, thou also shalt be pleased that that which is thine adorns me. Bind on thine arm this bracelet if thou honourest what is mine, and such another night thou shalt not pass as long as thou livest.'"

486. Here Tariel, become like a wild beast, weeps, his grief increases a thousandfold; he said: "I have the armlet which she formerly bound on her arm!" He undid it, took it off, man cannot estimate its worth, he pressed it to his lips, he fainted and fell like a corpse.

487. He lay more lifeless than a corpse at the door of the tomb. On both sides are seen bruises from his fist which he had struck on his breast. A stream of blood flows from Asmat’h's scratched cheeks; she poured water on him again, she succoured him, the sound of gurgling water is heard there.