The Knight in the Tiger's Skin, 1938

671. The knight saluted him low, he put face upon face; he said: "I thank God that no grief afflicts thee!" The magnates did homage, whoever was worthy kissed him; there was great jubilation, great and small alike rejoiced.

672. They came where a dwelling-house had been built; all the city was assembled to see him; forthwith he sat down to feast, gay, proud, merry; an assemblage of tongues could not fully describe the joy of that day.

673. He told Shermadin, he narrated to him all he had seen–how he had found that knight whom he likened to the sun. Avt’handil was hampered by tears; he said with half-closed eyes: "Without him it seems to me alike to dwell in palace or hut."

674. (Shermadin) told him all the home news: "None knows of thy departure; whatever thou toldst me so have I done." He went not thence that day, he feasted and rested; at dawn he mounted, he set out when the sun enlightened the day.

675. He sat no more at feasting, nor stayed he again private; Shermadin, the bearer of good tidings, went to announce (Avt’handil's) arrival; swiftly he fared, in three days he made a ten days’ journey. That lion (Avt’handil) rejoiced that he was to see the sun's rival.

676. He sent a message: "O king, proud art thou in might and majesty! I venture to tell thee this thing with fear, respect and precaution: I esteemed myself worthless in that I had learned nought of that knight; now I know and will tell thee all; I come in joy and safety."

677. Rostevan is a king, proud, puissant, imperious, (so) Shermadin delivered all his message in person: "Avt’handil comes to the royal presence having found that knight." The king said: "(Now) I know that which I entreated and prayed for from God."

678. Shermadin made report to T’hinat’hin, that night-less light: "Avt’handil comes to thy presence; he brings thee pleasing news." Thereat, light flashed forth from her, even braver than the sun's. She gave him a gift, and robes to all his people.

679. The king mounted and went to meet the knight who was coming thither, for this (honour) the sun-faced one incurred a great debt (of gratitude); joyous and warm-hearted they met, and some of the multitude of magnates seemed as if drunken.

680. When he approached, the knight alighted and did homage to the king. Rosten, possessed by excess of joy, kissed him. Glad-hearted and merry they entered the royal hall; all there assembled rejoice at the arrival of the knight.

681. Avt’handil, the lion of lions, did homage to her, the sun of suns; there the crystal, rose and jet were beautified by tenderness; her face was brighter than heaven's light; a dwelling-house was no fit abode for them, the sky itself was their (proper) palace.

682. That day they made a feast; drinking and eating they made abundant. The king gazes on the knight, as a tender father on a son. They were both beautified by a snowfall on fresh snow, a dew on the rose; generously they gave gifts, pearls like small coin.

683. The drinking was done, the drinkers separated each to his own home; they suffered not the magnates to go, they set the knight near before them. The king inquires, and he relates what trials he had undergone, and then what he had seen and heard concerning the stranger.

684. "When I speak of him, be not astonished if I ceaselessly lament, saying: 'Ah me!' To the sun alone can I liken him, or the face of him, the extinguisher of the mind of all who see him; a wilted rose among thorns, alas! he is far away!

685. "When unendurable Fate makes a man suffer grief, the reed becomes like a thorn, the crystal turns to saffron colour." While Avt’handil was telling this his cheeks were bedewed with tears. He told in detail the story he had heard from (Tariel).

686. "Having captured the caves in battle, he has for his house the abode of the Devis. He has the damsel of his beloved as his attendant. He is clad in panther's skin; he despises brocade and cloth of gold. No more sees he the world; an ever-new fire consumes him."

687. When he had finished the story–the matter of his grief–the sight of the light of that sun, not ugly to look upon, gladdened him. They praised his rose-like hand which had been firmly held. "This prowess is sufficient for thee since thou art the undoer of grief."

688. T’hinat’hin rejoiced at the hearing of this news. That day she was merry at the drinking, and eating was not wearisome to her. That sun met in his bedchamber a slave with a courteous word. She ordered him to come to her. Tongue cannot tell how pleased he was.

689. The knight went joyful, tender, not ill content, the lion who had roamed the fields with the lions of the field and had lost his colour, a knight of the world, in quality a gem and a faultless ruby, but for heart's sake he had exchanged heart for heart.

690. Bold sits the sun upon her throne, majestic, unconstrained, a fair aloe planted in Eden, generously watered by Euphrates’ stream; the jetty hair and the eyebrow thickets adorned the crystal and ruby (of her countenance). Who am I that I should praise her? It needs the myriad tongues of Athenian sages to praise her fitly.