90
slay me, I shall die. Life is wearisome to me!" She struck herself with a knife, died, fell in a stream of blood.
566. "Why marvel'st thou not to see me alive, unpierced by a lance! Now do to me what befits a bringer of such tidings; by the Most High, deliver from this unbearable life me who have not yet ceased to breathe." Her tears fell piteously, undiminished, unceasing.
567. "'I said: Sister, why should I kill thee, or what is thy fault?[1] What shall I do in return for the debt I owe her? Now I devote myself to seek her wherever rock and water are found.'[2] I became quite petrified; my heart grew like hard rock.[3]
568. "Excessive horror maddened me; fever and trembling came upon me. I said to myself: 'Die not! To lie idle (in the grave) is of no avail; better is it to roam forth to seek her, to run and wander in the fields. Behold the time for thee, who wishest to go with me!'[4]
569. "I went in, I arrayed myself quickly, accoutred I mounted my horse. A hundred and sixty good knights[5] of long service joined me, we passed forth from the gates in order of battle. I went to the seashore, I saw a ship,[6] the skipper saw me apparelled.[7]
570. "I entered the ship, I went out to sea, I cruised amidst the sea. I let no ship from any quarter pass unseen. I waited, but I heard nothing. Mad (as I was) I became still more maddened; God hated me so that He forsook me wholly.
571. "Thus I spent a year—twelve months which were to me like twenty[8]—but I found no man, even in a dream, who had seen her. All those who were attendant upon me were dead and perished. I said: 'I cannot defy God; what He wills even that will I do.'
572. "I was weary of tossing on the seas, so I came ashore.
- ↑ Or, "art thou indeed in fault?"
- ↑ I.e., over the whole earth.
- ↑ Sali, 330, 1005.
- ↑ This line is not addressed to Asmat'h but to Tariel's followers.
- ↑ Moqme.
- ↑ Navi, Lat.
- ↑ If tzuli is tzulman, it is the shipman who was dressed ready to start.
- ↑ Gameotza; ? each month was like twenty, but the verb may also mean "to wonder." The passage seems obscure.
