“Most happy am I to have you with me, Athura, star of the evening! The light of your eyes surpasses the light of the stars! Your countenance, like the sun, brings warmth to my soul! Glad will that day be, when you shall become my wife; and we shall walk together thereafter forever!”
He dismissed the guard. Then with his strong right arm around the princess and his ample cloak shielding both, they went on together. She laughed happily.
“Indeed, my lord, you have the tongue of a poet!” she said. “What says the great Zoroaster of this land?
“Ahura-Mazda looked upon the desert lands
And with his mighty breath gave life to them;
Where none could dwell before he poured out life,
And Aryans lived and multiplied in peace,
Until their numbers were as desert sands.
Was not his thought inspired by such nights as this?”
“It may have been,” he answered. “But does he not continue: