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Then he that had spoken with Bhanavar said, 'A sail will come, and a sail came from under the sun. Scarce had the ship grated shore when the warriors lifted Bhanavar, and waded through the water with her, and placed her unwetted in the ship, and one, the fair youth among the warriors, sprang on board with her, remaining by her.
O thou soul of wrath! Ruark, my fire-eye! my eagle of the desert! where is one on earth beloved as thou art by Bhanavar? The dark light in his eyes kindled as light in the eyes of a lion, and she continued, 'Ruark, what a yoke is hers who weareth this crown! He that is my lord, how am I mated to him save in loathing?
And, O Bhanavar, Bhanavar the Beautiful! shall I counsel thee, moon of loveliness, bright, full, perfect moon! counsel thee not to ascend and be seen and worshipped of men, sitting above them in majesty, thou that art thyself the Jewel beyond price? Wah! What if thou cast it from thee? thy beauty remaineth!
Then wept she bitterly, and with her tears the memory of what had been came back to her, and she opened her arms to take into them the little girl that fanned her, that she might love something and be beloved awhile; and the child sobbed with her. After a time Bhanavar said, 'Where am I, and amongst whom, my child, my sister?
Then cried the Vizier, 'Hear him! is not that a fair simulation? So he called to the guard, 'Shackle him! When that was done, he ordered the house to be sacked, and the women and the slaves he divided for a spoil, but he reserved Bhanavar to himself: and lo! twice she burst away from them that held her to hang upon the lips of Almeryl, and twice was she torn from him as a grape-bunch is torn from the streaming vine, and the third time she swooned and the anguish of life left her.
Now, when the sun was lost to earth, and all was darkness, Bhanavar fixed her eyes upon an opening arch of foliage in the glade through which the youth her lover should come to her, and clasped both hands across her bosom, so shaken was she with eager longing and expectation.
And so it was that her winningness melted him, and he said, 'Bhanavar! the serpent is the Serpent of the Lake; old, wise, powerful; of the brood of the sacred mountain, that lifteth by day a peak of gold, and by night a point of solitary silver. In her head, upon her forehead, between her eyes, there is a Jewel, and it is this light. Then she said, 'How came the Jewel there, in such a place?
Oh! what warrior dies With heaven in his eyes? O Bhanavar! too rich a prize! The life of my nostrils art thou, The balm-dew on my brow; Thou art the perfume I meet as I speed o'er the plains, The strength of my arms, the blood of my veins. Then said he, 'I make nothing matter of complaint, Allah witnesseth! not even the long parting from her I love. What will be, will be: so was it written!
Bhanavar trembled at the sight of the Jewel, and its redness was to her as the blood of Zurvan and Almeryl. She stretched her hand out for it and cried, 'This day, O my lord, make it mine. So the Vizier said, 'Nay, what I have spoken will I keep to; it has cost me much. Bhanavar looked at him, and uttered in a soft tone, 'Truly it has cost thee much.
Then Bhanavar loosed on either of the slaves a serpent, saying, 'What these have seen they shall not say. And while the sweat dropped heavily from the forehead of Aswarak, she stepped out of the circle of serpents, singing, Over! over! Hie to the lake! Sleep with the left eye, Keep the right awake.
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