The Knight in the Tiger Skin by M. S. Wardrope

	Here Is the Marriage of Avt'handil and Thinathin by the King of the Arabs
1547	THAT day Avt'handil sits as lord and is high king; tendernesses beautify Tariel who sits with him. Nestan- Daredjan, the amazer of onlookers, is with T'hinat'hin; it is as if heaven had bent down to earth, and two suns are united.
1548	THEY began to bring bread to plenish the armies; beeves and sheep arc slain more abundant than moss. There was made an offering of presents, fitting to them. The ray of the faces of them all lightens like the sun.
1549	THE bowls were of jacinth, the cups were of ruby; moreover, wondrously coloured vessels bear passing wondrous seals. The panegyrist of that wedding would be praised by the sages. O inlooker, thou wouldst have said unto thy heart: "Be not loosed, be bound there!"
1550	THE minstrels approached from all sides, there was heard the sound of the cymbal; heaped like a hillock of gold and cut rubies of Badakhshan; for drinkers flows a fountain of wine from a hundred runlets, like a canal; from twilight to dawn, there was noise, the time of mourning passed.
1551	NONE remained without a gift, neither lame nor crippled; pearls rolled to and fro, scattered, thrown about; satin and solid gold were of none account, to be carried away. For three days the King of the Indies was as a groomsman to Avt'handil.
1552	ON the morrow the King of the Arabs again entertains; he is not listless. He said to Tariel: "Pleasant it is to gaze on thy sun! Thou art king of all kings, and she queen. It behoves us to be your slaves, to pierce our ears for earrings.
1553	"NOW, O king, it is not fitting that we should sit on a level with you!" The royal throne Rostevan placed for Tariel, and another couch apart; he placed Avt'handil and his wife gifts for Tariel; they lie in a heap.
1554	THE King of the Arabs plays the host, he does nothing but entertain; sometimes he approaches these, sometimes those, he stands not upon his royal dignity; he gives, and all praise his ungrudging generosity. P'hridon sits near Avt'handil, as one accustomed to kingship.
1555	THE King Rostevan did honour to the daughter of the Indies and her husband, he gave them love and gifts, as to a son and daughter-in-law; it is impossible to tell even a tenth of what he gave, to each a sceptre, purple and jewelled crowns.
1556	STILL he gave to both gifts fitting their fate; a thousand gems like the eggs of a Romany hen; then a thousand pearls like a dove's egg; a thousand steeds, in size each like a hill.
1557	TO P'hridon he gave nine trays full to the brim with pearls, nine steeds richly saddled. The King of the Indians does homage with dignity, wise, not drunkenly; he gave thanks soberly though he had drunk of the wine.
1558	WHY should I lengthen speech? The days of one month passed. They sported, they ceased not at all from drinking. To Tariel they presented wondrous jewels of ruby stone Their radiance like the sun's covers them all.
1559	TARIEL was like a rose, and a light snow shower fell from his eyes; he sent Avt'handil to Rostevan to ask for leave; he gave him this message: "To be near thee is enough for me as full joy, but enemies hold my kingdom, I know they are eating up the land.
1560	"THE knowledge and art of the learned destroy the unlearned. I think any hurt to me would bring somewhat of sadness unto you too. I go that tarrying here may not bring evil upon me, soon again may I see you happy, may God's will grant it!"
1561	ROSTEVAN said: "0 king, why art thou so bashful? Whatever is best for you do it, look into it, examine it. Avt'handil will accompany thee, go with a great host; rend in pieces and cut up your enemies and them that are traitors."
1562	AVT'HANDIL said to Tariel those two words that Rostevan had said. Tariel said: "Speak not thus; guard the rows of crystal. How canst thou, O sun, depart from the newly united moon!" Avt'handil said: "I shall not be seduced by thee with this.
1563	"OF a truth thou wishest not to forsake me while thou goest away slandering me, saying: 'He loveth his wife, forsooth; he hath forsaken me, 'twas like him!' Am I to remain sundered from thee and an object of pity to myself! For a man to forsake his friend!. . . Ugh! Ugh! he will do ill!"
1564	TARIEL'S smile is like the sprinkling of crystal from roses. He said: "Absent from thee I bewail myself more than thou. Since thou wishest it, come away with me, accuse me not of flattery." Avt'handil commands troops to be summoned to him from all sides.
1565	HE assembled the armies of Arabia, no time is wasted; eighty thousand men were all arrayed, man and horse clad in armour of Khvarazmia. The King of the Arabs eats the gall of bitterness at their separation.
1566	PARTING each from other, both maidens, the adopted sisters, sworn with the oath of sisterhood, trusting in each other's word, with breast welded to breast, with neck riveted to neck, wept. The onlookers, too, had their hearts consumed.
1567	WHEN the moon is on a level with the star of dawn, both shine equally; should one go away, the other also is removed; if it go not away, the sky will make it remove; to look at them the inlooker must become a hill and a mountain.
1568	HE who created them such. He Himself shall sunder them, though of their own will they desire not parting. They glue together and cleave the rose, they weep and tears flow; all those who parted from them thought their lives of no account.
1569	NESTAN-DA REDJAN said : "Would that 1 had never come to know thee! Separated from the sun I should not now be thus melted by parting. Thou shalt know tidings of me; let me have news of thee, speak to me in letters. As I am burned up for thy sake, thou shalt melt for mine."
1570	T'HINAT'HIN said: "O sun, delight of them that gaze on thee! How can I give thee up, or how can I endure parting Instead of praying for days from God, I shall desire death. Mayst thou have as many days as I shall shed tears!"
1571	AGAIN they kissed each other, those ladies parted; she who was left there could not take her eyes away from her who was gone; she too looks back, therefore flames consumed her. I cannot write down a tenth part of that I could wish!
1572	ROSTEVAN at their departure was made more mad than madmen; a thousand times he says, "Woe is me!" not merely once doth he sigh; hot flows the spring of tears, as if a cauldron were being heated. Tariels face is drawn, the soft snow falls gently, it wastes away.
1573	THE king crushed Tariels rose with embracing and kissing. Quoth he: "Your presence hitherto seems like a dream to me; when thou art gone afar from me I shall remain with my sufferings twentyfold increased. Life was given to us by thee; by thee also shall we be slain."
1574	TARIEL mounted and parting from the king gave him a farewell greeting; all the soldiers shed tears moistening the meadows, they said: "The sun hastes to greet thee, haste thou too to meet him." He said: "For your sake I weep more than Sala."¹
1575	THEY set out and departed with many troops and much baggageTariel, P'hridon, Avt'handil, all elegant in form; he had eighty thousand men with worthy steeds; the three went on, helpful one to another.
1576	THE three went their wayGod can never create their like again! They were met; none dared withstand them. In the plain they tarried for dinner when morning was past. As was fitting they feasted; they drank wine, not buttermilk.