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not power to eat; he chewed a morsel, spat it out,[1] he hardly swallowed the weight of a drachm.[2]
904. Pleasant it is when man converses agreeably with man; he will listen to what is said, not let it pass in vain; thus the fire which burns so greatly is somewhat quenched; great comfort it is to speak of troubles when a man has the opportunity.[3]
905. That night those lions, those heroes, were together, they conversed, and each revealed to the other his woes; when day dawned they began again many-worded conversations; they heard (again) from each other the oath formerly sworn.
906. Tariel said: "Why speak many words? For that which thou hast done for me, God is surety[4] for the debt. Oath for oath is enough; remembrance,[5] friendship for a departing friend, are not the deed of a drunken man.
907. "Now be merciful to me, make me not burn again in hottest fires; the flame which consumes me is not kindled by a steel; thou canst not extinguish it for me, thou thyself shalt be burned by the law of the creation of the world. Go, return, go back thither, to the place where thy sun is.
908. "To cure me seems hard even to Him who created me—understand, ye who hear!—therefore I roam mad in the fields. Once I too was a doer of what befits the reasonable; now the turn[6] of madness has fallen to my lot, and so I am mad."
909. Avt'handil said: "What can I say in answer to this thou hast said? Thou thyself hast spoken as a man sagely instructed. How is it not possible for God again to cure the wound! He is the upbringer of everything planted or sown.
910. "Why should God do this, create such as you and not unite you, part you, madden thee with weeping?
