The Knight in the Panther Skin by Shota Rustaveli

Author:Shota Rustaveli [Rustaveli, Shota]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Poezia Press
Published: 2020-08-04T00:00:00+00:00

TARIEL TELLS OF KILLING A TIGER AND A LION

915

All that has befallen me, to you in detail, I will relate.

You with your wise heart shall judge and tell me what ought to be my fate.

I expected you for a long time. I found it irksome to wait.

I wanted to ride across the plain. The cave, I'd begun to hate.

916

"I came up the hill over there: I had traversed this field of reeds.

A lion and panther had met: they came together in these weeds.

I rejoiced. They seemed enamored. Each seemed to meet the other's needs.

But suddenly they horrified me by their unexpected deeds.

917

“First, they sported gaily; then all at once, they both began to fight;

Each struck the other with its paw; their blows were far from being slight.

The panther lost heart and, like a woman would have, she took to flight.

The lion pursued her: none could have calmed a creature of such might.

918

“I scolded the lion. I said, 'You are out of your mind, it's true.

Why seek to hurt your belovéd? That's not bravery in my view.

I rushed on him; I pierced him with my sword, as any knight would do.

I struck him; I freed him from this world's woe when I the lion slew.

919

“Then I caught the panther in my bare hands as if it were a lyre.

I yearned to kiss it in honor of the one who burns me with fire.

It roared and with its blood-shedding paws it gave me scratches so dire

I could bear no more and my enraged heart suddenly filled with ire.

920

“However much I tried to soothe it, the panther went wild instead.

I grew angry. I swung it, dashed it to the ground and it was dead.

I remembered how I'd quarreled with my belovéd, as I said.

I didn't die. Why are you astonished at all the tears I've shed?

921

“Hear then, brother! I have told you, as you wanted, all of my woes.

Life does not benefit me. Why, then, wonder at the path I chose?

I am sundered from life, but death avoids me, and around me goes."

There the knight sighed and wept aloud, allowing his story to close.

922

Avtandil wept in company with him, and also shed some tears.

He said, "Be patient. Die not. Don't rip your heart with sadness and fears.

God will be gracious, though sorrow has not shunned you over the years.

If He willed you apart, He would never have united your spheres.

923

“Though mischance pursues lovers, embitters life, makes them want to die,

In the end, Destiny gives joy to those who used to weep and sigh.

Love is a grievous thing: for every lover, death is always nigh.

It maddens those who've tasted grief, and teaches the ignorant why."

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