103
650. Hereupon they swore,[1] the frank[2] friends, those jacinths of amber hue, wise-worded (but) mad-minded. They loved each other; for ever would affection's flame[3] burn their hearts. That night the fair comrades spent together.
651. Avt'handil wept with him; fast fell the tears. When day dawned he went forth, kissed him and parted from him. Tariel was so grieved that he knew not what to do. Avt'handil wept, too, as he rode through the rushes.[4]
652. Asmat'h went down with Avt'handil, she conjured him with an oath, she kneeled, she wept, she raised her fingers in entreaty, she besought him to come back soon; as a violet, so she faded. He replied: 'O sister, of what can I think save you!
653. "Soon shall I come; I shall not forsake thee nor waste time at home. But let him not go elsewhere; let not that fair form wander. If I come not hither in two months I shall be doing a shameful thing; be assured that I am fallen into unceasing grief."[5]
XVIII
THE STORY OF AVT'HANDIL'S RETURN TO ARABIA AFTER HE HAD FOUND AND PARTED FROM TARIEL
654. When he was gone thence sadness was surely slaying him; he scratched his face, he rent the rose (of his cheeks), his hand he shortened;[6] all the beasts licked
- ↑ Among the Khevsurs and P'hshavs the oath of brotherhood is accompanied by the drinking of a cup of wine into which silver has been scraped, and it is therefore called p'hitz vetzkhli (Ilia Dehqonia, Sitqvis Cona, s.v.); 296, 771, 914.
- ↑ Sadagi. For other meanings cf. 136.
- ↑ Dagi, 915; Ch., flame; Car., heat, fever.
- ↑ Shambi (170, 192, 216, 846), bulrush; Abul., tall thorny grass; also jungle.
- ↑ I.e., "some misfortune will have befallen me."
- ↑ Gamocleba, to shorten, deprive; ? his arm was weakened by grief; or, his hand grew feeble through beating and lacerating.
