Khusrau Parwiz

Of heaven's dome revolving rapidly,
And ever restless in its instancy.

What shall I say ? It giveth one a crown,
Another to the fishes in the sea ;
To one man naked hands and head and feet,
No where to dwell in and no while to eat,
And to another beaver-skin, brocade,
And silk, with milk and honey for his meat.
The end of both, ensnared in bale's dark net,
Is in the dust, and had the sage ne'er set
Eyes on the world, nor passed through days of strife
As lord or liege, his lot were happier yet.
I treat the matter of Khusrau Parwiz,
And proffer to the reader novelties.

Whenas Khusrau Parwiz sat on the throne
Of gold the men of noble birth repaired
To him. They summoned all the chiefs and showered
Gems over that new crown. He thus addressed
The archmages : " No one save the fortunate
Can win this crown and throne. May mine employ
Be right alone for from injustice cometh
All loss. We purpose well to all. Our head
Is void of evil-doing. This new throne,
And this new fortune bright and opulent,
Are mine from God. Do ye withal incline
Your hearts to obey and covenant with us
To observe three things in all contingencies :
To harm not holy men, not to rebel,
And to abstain from others' goods forwhy
The pang will pass to him that did the wrong,
Whene'er it chanced, and sold his heart for naught.
Now must your hands be washed from things like

these.
The path of right ensued. Moreover wisdom
Approveth what accordeth best to manhood.
I have no difference with any one
Although such sought my crown and signet-ring.
The man of high birth and of noble nature
Will speak but right. Your safety is assured :
I will not work the works of Ahriman."

All those that heard the Shah blessed crown and

throne,
And going forth rejoicing praised his fortune,

While he descended from the throne of might
Right glad and mused upon Hurmuzd all night.

Now when the ebon Veil had disappeared,
And in the distance cock-crow reached the ear,
The winner of the world with stricken heart,
And deeply sorrowful, approached his sire,
On seeing him lamented, did obeisance,
And tarried long with him. Khusrau Parwiz,
Beholding his sire's face, sighed deeply, kissed
His eyes and head and feet, then said to him
With full heart and with face all wet with tears : —
" My father, fortune's mate, thou memory

Of Nushirwan ! thou know'st that none had pricked
Thy finger had I been but there to help thee.

See what thou wilt command me ; grief hath come
Upon thee and my heart is full. If now
Thou biddest I am at thy gate a slave
To guard thy head. I seek not crown, I want
Not host, and lay my head before thy throne."

Hurmuzd replied : " O prudent one ! my day
Of misery will pass from me, and he
That perpetrated this will soon be gone :
Both trouble and delight are transient.
I ask three things of thee, no more, and one
Is that each morning at the break of day
Thou wilt delight mine ears with thine own voice ;
The second is that thou wilt send to me
Some noble cavalier scarred with long fight
To talk to me of warfare and the chase,
And some old sage to hold discourse of kings,
And bring to me the records to abate
My pain and misery ; and my third wish
Is that thy mother's brothers, who are not
Thine equals but thy slaves, shall never see
The world henceforth : discharge thy wrath on them
For all this grief."

" O king ! " he made reply,
" May that man perish who deploreth not
Thine eyes and be thy foes, though their ill deeds
Be secret, banished from the world, but still
Consider in that lucid mind of thine :
Bahram Chubina hath been paladin
While with him there are countless forces — horsemen
And gallant sworders — and if we lay hand
On Gustaham no refuge will be left us ;

But as regardeth an old scribe to read

The annals, and some war-primed cavalier,
Skilled in the feast withal, I will dispatch
Such ever new to thee. Be no whit sad,
And hold not thou the action Gustaham's ;

'Tis God's because of senseless words and deeds.
May thy heart bear this anguish, and may patience
Consort with wisdom ; but should fortune serve
I will myself exact complete revenge
On Gustaham and reprobate Bandwi,
And give them shroudless to the dogs to eat.
Be of good cheer, O son of Nushirwan !
And may thy soul be ever young."

He spake,
And left the presence weeping but reserved.
The son was kindlier-tempered than the king
In which regard a man of wisdom said :—
"A bland youth, sweet-tongued, is a better friend
Than some fierce warrior ageing to his end.
Yet at the Last dust is the common lot
Of one of parts and one that hath them not;
Albeit to Learn of One there is No need.
Who saith that wits and fools are of one breed.
For knowledge will ensure thy fair surcease,
And heaven in Paradise will give thee peace.

As victuals serve to keep the body whole.
So knowledge is all needful for the soul.
Cry to the Holy and Supreme in all,
And be all undismayed at great or small."

Bahram Chubina heard how fortune dealt

With that famed king : " They set the searing irons
To his bright eyes, and those two Lamps, those twin

Narcissi of his garth, are dead, his son

Is seated on his throne and his high fortune

Is trodden underfoot."

Bahram Chubina,
The hero, was amazed, grew wan, and pondered.
He said : " The time for me to fight hath come ;
By daring I will seize the world."

He bade
To bear forth to the field the kettledrums
And flag of majesty. He packed the baggage,
He called his warriors to horse and spake
Of waging war against Khusrau Parwiz.
His host, as 'twere a moving mountain, marched
Audaciously as far as Nahrawan.

Khusrau Parwiz, on hearing, was in dudgeon

At such swift action and sent spies to note
The progress of events with these behests : —
" We first must learn the feeling of his troops :
If like Bahram Chubina they intend
To fight or whether we shall have delay,
And whether he be foremost at the centre
Or at the wings, his state at audience-time,
And if he hunteth while upon the march."

They went unnoted by the troops, gat news,
And came back to the Shah all privily.
They said : " His troops are for Bahram Chubina,
All from" the highest chieftains to the boys.
In marching he is sometimes at the centre,
And sometimes with the right or left or baggage.
We saw him long of sight and diligent —
A cautious warrior and cavalier.
His kinsmen all are in his confidence ;
He hath no need of strangers, giveth audience
In royal fashion, hunteth on the plain
With cheetahs, knoweth but the usages
Of Shahs, and readeth all the book of Dimna."

Khusrau Parwiz said to his minister :—
" A long task faceth us. Bahram Chubina,
When he is charging at an enemy,
Would break the hearts of dragons in the deep.
And from the monarch of the world withal
Hath learned the methods of the kings of kings,
While, thirdly, with Kalila, so to speak,
As minister none hath so( shrewd a scribe."

Then said he to Bandwi and Gustaham :—
" Our mates are grief and toil."

Now when Gurdwi,
Darman, the monarch of Armenia,
Shapur and Andaman, shrewd chiefs and fighters,
Were set in secret conclave with the Shah
He thus addressed them : " Mighty warriors !
When wisdom is a light within the brain
Then knowledge is the body's coat of mail,
Which naught except the sword of death will sever,
A sword whereto :a steel helm is as wax.
I am but young to you so cannot walk
The world aright : instruct me what to do.
Who suffereth from these wounds ? "

An archmage said :—
"Thou wilt be happy and the Grace and provand
Of empty brains. Now since the mystery
Of this our whirling world grew manifest
Hath wisdom been disparted into four.
One portion is the king's for Grace and wisdom
Fit him ; another is the pious man's ;
The third the loyal liege's who as near
The royal person tendereth advice ;
The "wise account the small part left the thane's.
The impious and unthankful have no wisdom.
If now the king will hear the old sage's words,
And fix his heart's eye on them, he will eat

Their fruit when they have passed within his heart."

The Shah replied : " Were I to write this down
In gold its Grace and vogue would ask no less ;
The archimages' utterances are gems,
But I have other purposes at heart,
For when our two hosts meet, and when our spearheads
Shall reach to Gemini, I shall not be
Blamed if I quit the centre and advancing
Before the host call to Bahram Chubina,
That impious and self-seeking general,
Show him a peaceful face, make much of him,
And praise him. If he shall receive my words
'Tis well, for who at court can be his peer ?
But if he seeketh fight I too will fight,
And range my host against his."'

All the leaders
Assented to his scheme, the great applauded.
And hailed him king of earth ; all said : " Oh ! be
The ills of fortune far from thee, O king !
Be victory, Grace, majesty, and crown
Of king of kings thine own."

He answered thus :—
" So be it ; enough. May none of us behold
Disunion or defeat."

Then from Baghdad,
And with new camp-enclosures, he marched forth
Upon the plain. As the two powers drew near
Upon the march, the captain of the host's
On that side and on this the Shah's, and when
The world's light had been taken in the toils,
And pitchy night had shaken out its locks,
Scouts went forth from both hosts to guard the

approaches ;
And when night, frighted by the sword of day
Had fled dry-lipped and quaking, rose the din
Of tymbals from both camps and Sol led forth
To War. Then at the Shah's command Bandwi
And Gustaham put on their iron helms,
And went with other chiefs of ardent soul
Toward the canal of Nahrawan, whereat
The outpost came before Bahram Chubina,
And said : " There is a force two bowshots off."
On hearing this he ranged his host and called
His veterans and bestrode a piebald steed
With musk-black tail — a noble caracoller
"With brazen hoofs. An Indian scimitar
Sufficed to arm him, and its stroke was like
The levin from the cloud. He urged his horse
As 'twere a lightning-flash. That miscreant,
Izid Gashasp, was on his left. Withal
There came Hamdan Gashasp and Yalan-sina,
All rage and enmity, while three bold Turks,
Sprung from the Khan, made ready to take vengeance
Upon Khusrau Parwiz and swore: " When we
Shall see the Shah out-distancing his troops,
Him will we bring to thee in bonds or slain.
And thy realm shall repose in peace."

On one side
There was Khusrau Parwiz and on the other
The paladin, between was Nahrawan,
While on both sides the armies watched them meet,
And how the paladin the Shah would greet.

Thus met, one cheerful and the other grim.
The world-lord rode an ivory grey and wore
A gold and jewelled crown ; his robe from Chin
Was of brocade of gold. Gurdwi as guide
Preceded him, Bandwi and Gustaham
Were at his side, and therewithal Kharrad,
Son of Barzin, who wore a helm of gold.
They all were clad in iron, gold, and silver ;
Their golden girdles were occult with gems.
Bahram Chubina paled with rage on seeing
The king of kings and thus addressed his chiefs : —
This whoreson miscreant from low estate
And boorish manner hath attained to manhood,
Grown powerful and girt himself for action.
The writing of the down is manifest
Upon the ivory rondure of his face ;
So now he hath become Shah Faridun
With mace and crown and caught the imperial style,
But speedily will this world end for him.
This dark-souled bastard leadeth on his troops
Like Nushirwan. Scan thoroughly his host
To see if there be of it one of name.
I cannot spy one warlike cavalier
That could confront me for a single breath.
Now shall he look upon the deeds of men,
Steeds charging, scimitars, the dust of war,
The clash of battle-axes, showers of arrows,
The heroes' shouts, the captives, give and take.
The elephants are driven from the field
When I march forth to battle. At our voice
The mountains melt and warriors lose their prowess.
I take the rivers with my sword and turn
Their waters into blood."
He spake and spurred
His pied steed, thou hadst said : " His flying eagle."
He chose himself a narrow battlefield,
The troops in wonder watching him, and thence
Went on to Nahrawan and there confronted
The glorious Great with certain of Iran,
Armed for the conflict with Khusrau Parwiz,
Who said : " O noble chiefs ! who recogniseth
Bahram Chubina ? '"
Said Gurdwi : " O king- !
Observe the warrior on the piebald steed.
With white juppon, black baldrick, and who rideth
About among the troops."
He recognised
The man at sight and said : " Yon lengthy one.
Smoke-hued and riding on the noble piebald ?'
Gurdwi replied : " The same and bent on ill."
" If thou shouldst question," said Khusrau Parwiz,
" That crook-back he would answer churlishly ;
With that hooked nose and half shut eyes he hath,' '
Thou wouldest say, 'a wrathful heart.' Thou seest
That he is wicked by his looks, God's foe.
I mark naught of submission in his head,
And that none will command him."
To Bandwi
And Gustaham he said thereafter: : I
Will give an illustration of this saw : —
" If 'neath the load the donkey will not pass
Then take the weighty burden to the ass."
If some bold div hath gulled Bahram Chubina
How should he see God's way ? All hearts that ache
With greed are helped not by the advice of wisdom.
When thou goest forth to war debate is over.
We must consider all from first to last :
Who knoweth which will conquer in the fight,
Which host be doleful or illustrious ?
Considering those troops so well arrayed,
And with a leader eager for the fray,
Such as Bahram Chubina is — a man
Grim as a lusty div — and militants
Like ravening wolves, I will, with your consent,

So that disgrace may not attach to me,
Be first to make advances ; 'twill be better
For me than showing slackness in the fight.
If I receive from him a fair reply
His late misdoings shall be obsolete ;
I will bestow some corner of the world
Upon him and by bounty earn his thanks ;
Our warfare and endeavours in the field
Shall end in peace — a gain to us. No doubt
The wisest course is safest. Good folk joy
When monarchs act as merchants do."

" O king ! "
Said Gustaham, " live happily while time
Shall last. Thou scatterest gems in talk and art
More Wise. Do what thou wiliest. Thou art just,
And yon slave is unjust : thy head is full
Of brains and his of wind."

On hearing this, advanced before his troops,
Held distant parle with brave Bahram Chubina,
And sought for feast in war-time. Thus he said : —
" Illustrious man ! what business hast thou here
Upon the battlefield ? Thou art as though
The jewel of the court, the wealth of throne
And diadem, the army's prop in war-time,
And as a bright light at our festivals.
Thou art ambitious, brave, and servest God ;
Ne'er may the Almighty take His hand from thee.
I have considered of thy case, approved
Thine acts, will entertain thee and thy troops.
And make my soul glad by the sight of thee.
I will appoint thee general of Iran.
As is but right, and I will pray to God
For thee."

When brave Bahram Chubina heard
He gave his black-tailed, piebald steed the rein,
Saluted from his seat, paused, and replied :—
" In good case, blithe, and fortunate am I,
And may the day of greatness ne'er be thine,
Who knowest not kingship whether just or not.
The Alans' king in the conduct of his kingship
Is being helped by the unfortunate !
I have considered of thy case and suppled
A lasso for thy sake. I will erect
Forthwith a lofty gibbet, make thy hands
Fast in the coils, and hang thee up thereon
As thou deservest, giving thee a glimpse
Of fortune's bitterness."

Heard and his cheeks became like fenugreek.
He knew : " Bahram Chubina will not yield,

And part with crown and throne," and thus replied : —
"Ingrate! No good man would speak thus. When

guests
Come to thy house from Far dost thou revile them
At feasting-time ? This note is not the wont
Of Shahs or of the exalted cavaliers.
No Arab and no Persian e'er have acted
Like this in thirty centuries. The wise
Would shame hereat, so go not thou about
The door of thanklessness. When guests give thee
A glorious greeting one must be a div
To answer as thou dost. Ill days, I fear,
Await thee for thou knowest that thy counsels
Are troubled. Thy resource is in the hands
Of that Great King who liveth ever more,
Whose word is law. Thou sinnest in His sight,
And art ingrate, with person in disgrace,
And heart in fear. In calling me the king
Of the Alans thou takest but one side
Of my descent unless I am unworthy

Of king of kingship and the cap of power
As having for my grandsire Nushirwan,
And for my sire Hurmuzd. Whom knowest thou
More worthy ? "

Said Bahram Chubina : " Wretch,
And mad in deed and word ! first, for thy talk
Of guests : thou art thyself new-fangled though
Thy talk is of the past. What have the words
Of Shahs to do with thee ? Thou art no sage,
Or valiant cavalier. Thou wast the Alans' king,
And now though thou art chief thou art withal
Inferior to the slave of slaves. Thou art
A fruitless evil-doer in the world ;
No Shah art thou or fit to lead the mighty :
But me men bless as Shah. I will not let thee
Set foot on earth. Moreover, when I said : —
" Thou art ill-starred, unfit for rule and kingship,'
I said it, worthless Shah ! and may the state
Be never thine ! because the Iranians
Are foes of thine, will struggle to uproot thee,
Will rend the., skin and veins, and give the dogs
Thy bones to eat."

Khusrau Parwiz replied : —
" Knave ! why so fierce and haughty, for foul words
Disgrace a man ? But from the very first
Thy disposition hath been thus ; clear wisdom
Is severed from thy brain. Blest is the noble
That eateth wisdom's fruits ! Fey divs discourse
At large. I would not have a paladin
Like thee made weak and ruined by his temper.
I prithee banish anger from thy heart,

Be not so moved and charm away thy wrath.
Remember God, the just Possessor ; base
Thy wisdom on His justice. Thou hast now
A height before thee higher than Bistun,
And if a king shall ever come of thee
The Egyptian thorn will bear. Thy heart is full
Of thoughts of rule but we shall see what God
Ordaineth. "Who hath taught thee such ill carriage,
Such principles of Ahriman, I know not,
But thy colloguer seeketh for thy death."

He spake and lighting from his ivory steed,
And taking from his head the precious crown,
Wailed with his face turned sunwards, put his hope
In God, and said : " O glorious Judge who bringest
The tree of hope to fruit ! Thou knowest who
Is now affronting me, Thy slave, and how
We should for very shame bewail the crown.
If royalty is to desert our race
I will not strive but be a thrall within
A Fane of Fire and live on milk and herbs.

Hoard neither gold nor silver and at prayer-time
Wear woollen ; but if rule is to be mine
Thee will I serve in truth and equity.
Oh ! let my host prevail, give not my crown
And palace to a slave, " If I succeed,
And haste to bring before Azargashasp
Crown, steed, and armlets, earrings, torque, and robe
Of gold adorned with gems, and pour
Withal Upon the dome of lapis-lazuli
A hundred sacks of red dinars, and give
The worshippers five thousand score of drachms.
When I become the monarch of the world,
Then will I strive to reinstate some city
Unjustly desolated and the haunt
Of onager and lion, leave it not
To thorns and weeds, but send on my return
From battle five score thousands of dinars.
Those of the scions of Bahram and others

That shall be brought to me as prisoners
Will I make servants of the glorious Fire,
And glad the hearts of priest and archimage."

He spake these words and rose up from the dust ;
That speaker sore-oppressed was justified.
Swift as a dust-cloud from the place of prayer
He came and shouted to Bahram Chubina : —
" Thou hellish, div-like slave remote from wisdom.
And far removed from precedent and Grace !
Some rabid, tyrannous, and lusty div

Hath blinded thee. Thou hast, in wisdom's stead,
Wrath and revenge, and won the divs" applause.
A thornbrake is a city, Hell a garden
To thee ; the lamp of wisdom hath died out
Within thy brain and robbed thy mind and heart
Of lustre. It was but a lying witch
That led thee thus through greatness to a fall.
To-day thou settest hand upon a shoot
With leaves of bane and fruit of colocynth.
Thy stock ne'er so aspired nor is the aspirant
Applauded. God hath not bestowed on thee
The Grace and stature. Hast forgot Gurgin,
Son of Milad ? Thou unjust wretch ! ne'er hope
For what will never be. The crab hath not
The eagle's wing nor doth the eagle soar
Aloft the sun. By holy God, by throne
And crown if I shall come upon thee hostless,
And if I blow a chilling blast upon thee. . . !
Thou hast not seen me yet in fight and I
Have heard but thy harsh words. I lean on Him
That giveth victory. If I am unworthy
To be a king let me not live a liege."

Bahram Chubina said : Thou fool possessed !
Thy sire, that world-lord friendly to the Faith,
Who ne'er blew cold on anyone, thou knewest not
To prize but flungest vilely from the throne.
And thou wouldst fain be world-lord after him,
Be vigilant and wise ! Thou art impure,
God's foe, and wilt experience naught but ill
From Him that giveth good, while if Hurmuzd
Had been unjust and time and earth exclaimed
Against him "'tis not fit for thee, his son.
To king it in Iran and in Turan.
Thy life will not be passed upon the throne:
Content thee with the charnel For thou art
Afar from fortune. For Hurmuzd will I
Exact revenge ; moreover, I am king
Within Iran. Now make this clear to me:
What upright man agreed that thou shouldst sear
The eyes of Shahs or bid one do the deed ?
Take thou henceforth the kingship to be mine
From Sun to fish's back."

Replied : -May his sire's woe ne'er joy this slave.
Thus was it written and what was to be
Hath been : how long wilt thou add word to word ?
Thou makest thyself king-, thou who at death
Wilt not possess ;a shroud ! So far as folk,
And barded steeds can go thou art a monarch —
In expectation— but thou hast no house,
Home. land, and birth ; thou art a windbag king.
With thy false title and such wares as these
Thou wilt not shine upon the royal throne.
There have been brave men ere thy time — aspirants
With massive maces — yet they never sought
The kingship, being lieges, nor pretended
To crown and throne, but thou becomest ever
More rabid and art lost to modesty.
The World-lord maketh kings for justice-sake,
Or for their parts or on account of birth,
Bestowing kingship on the worthiest,

The wisest or the least injurious.
My sire made me the monarch of the Alans
Since through thy wiles he was concerned for me,
And now God hath bestowed on me the kingship,
Throne, greatness, and the crown of power. I have

them
From Him who is the Master of the world,
From Him who knoweth all, by the appointment
Of king Hurmuzd who from his sire received
The throne as heirloom, from high priest and sages,
The mighty men and the experienced chiefs,
According to the Faith which once Zarduhsht,
The wise and ancient, brought from Paradise,
And gave Luhrasp the word of God, which he
Accepted and transmitted to Gushtasp.
All those that have aggrieved me, all whose treasures
I have received, are under my protection,
Be they my friends or foes. The mendicants
At lurk from wasted cities will I make
Rich, be they outcasts or of mine own kin,
And bramble-brakes like Paradise, fulfilled
With men, with cattle, and with tilth, ignore,
By way of compensation, no good thing
Until we quit this world for that, will make
Our heart the scales, will weigh, and use the might
Of our own arm. What time Hurmuzd, the world-lord,
Ruled justly, earth and time rejoiced in him.
The son past doubt should have his father's throne,
Should have the crown, the girdle, and the fortune,
But as for thee, thou wicked, crafty man,
Who wast the first to war against Hurmuzd !
No ill hath come unless by thy command,

Thy spells, thy guile, and plotting. If God will

I will make dark in vengeance for the Shah
Bright Sol to thee. Now who deserveth crown.
And if not I who is there ? "

" Valiant one ! '
Rejoined Bahram Chubina, " he is worthy
That carried off from thee the sovereignty.
When, from the daughter of Papak, Ardshir
Was born, and the Ashkanians had the sway.
Grew he not mighty and slew Ardawan,
Whose Throne he won ? And now five hundred years
Have passed by and Sasanian heads and crowns
Are waxing cold. Now is my day for throne
And diadem ; the headship and the work.
Allied with conquering fortune, are for me.
When I behold thy fortune, face, and troops.

Thy crown and throne, like some led lion roused
Will I abolish the Sasanians,
Erase them from the roll and trample down
Sasan, both head and crown. The power should be
The Ashkanians' if the wise would hear aright."
Khusrau Parwiz replied : "Contentious fool!
If' kingship is for those of royal race
What dost thou in their midst ? What are the folk
Of Rai but double-faced : " And what as men ?
But few at first they joined Sikandar's host,
And arming on the Rumans' side soon won
The Kaian throne. It did not please the Maker.
And ruin came upon them from themselves :
The Judge that giveth succour crowned Ardshir,
And he was worthy of the royal crown
Although he had no treasure and dinars.
Those great men's work hath passed away, our words
Are wind. God choosing him for sovereignty
Saw naught but good in him. Now who deserveth
The government and who shall be the lord
Of this unstable world ? Inform me truly,
Choose the good path and shun perversity."
Bahram Chubina hearing changed his ground,
And said : " I am Bahram, the warrior,
The rooter up of kings."

Made answer : " Thou hast heard the sage's saw : —
" The equipage of greatness ne'er commit
To mean or wayward folk of little wit,
For they, when they have got it from thee, take
Their ease and if thou ask it back they quake.'
My father, who was rash and ill-advised,

Discerned not close from open and among
His many great and small gave men of straw
The royal equipage which came not back
Upon demand for he that was possessed
Thereof had grown intoxicate thereby.
What was the saying of the sweet-voiced sage ?
' 'Twill cause thee pain and toil to stablish men
Unstable : woo not the ungrateful then."
Thou wast a brave man, keen and of high aims,
But thine ill nature made thee an ill-doer.
My father made thee first among the chiefs ;
Thou Wast the greatest in the sovereignty ;
But royal favour and the silvern throne
Have made thee drunk and err. The name Chubina
Is now Bahram, the silvern throne become
A snare to thee. There seated thou art fain
To mount the moon ; thou wast the general,
And wouldst be Shah. No sage e'er held such talk ;
I wot that thou consortest with the Div."

Bahram Chubina answered : " Evil one !
Reviling is thy sole accomplishment.
Thou heedest not God's covenant, thou seekest
This state whereof thou art not worthy, and blindest
The Shah ! How can such deeds as these be hidden ?
Thy friends are hostile, being thine in word,
But mine in heart. The Khan is mine ally
With all the armies of Iran and Chin,

For I am just and kindly with a hand
And sword. No enemy will conquer me.
I will transfer the power from Pars to Rai,
And ban the name of Kaian, set up justice,
And reinstate the customs of Milad.
I spring from famed Arash and am in war
A fire unquenchable, the grandson I
Of great Gurgin and the consuming Flame
Upon Barzin. It was king Sawa's mind
To leave not in Iran throne, crown, or signet.
To rase the Fanes of Fire and suffer not
Nauruz and Sada feast. The Iranians too
Were all enslaved till I girt up my loins,
And by an arrow from my bow determined
King Sawa's life. If thou knowest not the sum
Of that rash monarch's troops go count a thousand
Four hundred times. Twelve hundred elephants
Of war had he. Thou wouldst have said : " The

earth
Will hold them not.' That great host fled while I
Roared like a lusty lion in their Rear,
Know thou that none without accomplishment
Doth rashly seek the seat of mighty men.
My helmet savoureth of the crown, my sword
Will win the ivory throne, but if a gnat
Shall war with thee 'twill bring thee from thy throne
To earth."

Khusrau Parwiz replied : " Thou luckless !
Why not be mindful of Gurgin at Rai,
Whom fortune never succoured in the world,
And who had not throne, majesty, and state ?
None knew thy name ; thou wast obscure and poor.
The great Mihran Sitad came and informed
The monarch of the age about thee, thus
Exalting thee from darksome dust, but thou
Hast lost sight of that day ! He furnished thee
With treasures, arms, and troops, and Rustam's

banner
Resplendent as the moon. God did not will
That Turkmans out of Chin should waste Iran,
And helped thee in the fight with them ; thy helm
Rose cloudward since the Lord of circling heaven
Willed the Great King success ; but thou dost take
The merit to thyself who never sawest
The great and good. If kingship is to quit
The Kaian race why girdest thou thy loins ?
'Twill need one like Sikandar to obscure
The fortune of the king of kings. Mayst thou
With thy div's face and dusty hue attain
To naught except a ditch. Thy waywardness
And conduct dimmed the Shah's days. Thou hast

put
My name on drachms and striven to ruin me.
Thou art ill's source in this world and supreme
Among transgressors. Whereso blood is shed
The guilt is thine. Thou wilt not find by night
In slumber what thou seekest for all day
Beneath the sun. O luckless and unjust !
Give not thy whole time to perversity,
Inflict not rashly outrage on thyself,
And so remain unjust and miserable.
Think how to gain God's favour and make wisdom
And truth thy task for what is mine and thine
Will pass ; time reckoneth our every breath.
Who will declare, when thou hast decked thy

heart
With guile, that guile is better than the right ?
At thy behest whate'er thou wilt is thine,
Thine to one half the realm. Then in this world
Thou wilt be happy, all at ease, and far
From hurt of foes, and when this Wayside Inn
Thou quittest thou wilt pass un-irked. No need
To labour this, for in the Zandavasta
Thus saith Zarduhsht : 'He that abandoneth
The holy Faith hath neither fear nor awe
Of God within his heart. Let him be counselled
For one year : if thy counsel profit not
Let him be slain by order of the Shah.
And his offending corpse flung on the road :
But if he is the Shah's own enemy
Let him be slain forthwith." Men in good sooth

Will shed thy blood for thy perverted fortune
Requireth this. Now will a wretched life
Be thine and Fire thy place when thou departest.
If thou continuest long thus to revolt
From Shah and from God's justice there will come
Remorse for thine unseemly words and deeds.
Thou ailest and the drug For thee is counsel ;
I am endeavouring to make thee whole.
But if desire and envy rule thy heart
Say so and I will send a different leech.
Thy victories had made thee somebody,
But thoughts of treasure caused thee to rebel.
Heard hast thou that Zahhak was impious,
That divs and warlocks filled the world with fear,
And how when he had vexed the nobles" hearts
The glorious Faridun entreated him. -
Thy troops, alive or dead, are all my slaves
At heart. Through thee they have obtained some

glory,
And so have turned their heads from right, but when
I shall display my treasures, and incline
The warriors' hearts, not one of all this host
Will bide with thee because thou hast not name,
Or Grace or goods. When thou didst overcome
King Sawa all the troops believed that they
Would never see defeat, they were so drunk

And satiate with spoil. Thy warriors,
So fearless, must not perish by my hand ;
I would not that the country of Iran
Should lose this mighty warrior-host — all chiefs
And nobles — and defeat befall the throne
Of might. Now tell me, in Arish's days
Who was the Shah for this may end our parley ? '

Bahram Chubina answered : " Minuchihr
Was then the Shah and had the host and crown."

Khusrau Parwiz replied : " Ill-natured one !
Thou know'st that he was monarch of the world ;
Know'st thou not that Arish was but his slave,

And bowed to his directions and commands ?
Just so it was with valiant Kai Khusrau
With such as Rustam for his officer,
For Rustam might have seized the world, the throne,
And style of Shah, but held to precedent,
And never glanced that way. Then why dost thou
Not follow me and hail Khusrau Parwiz
As Shah ? Thou dust-face ! thou art but a div.
Like Ahriman ; the crown and throne of Shahs
Have stirred thy greed."

Bahram Chubina said : —
" Thou miscreant ! rightly art thou from Sasan,
Who was a shepherd and was shepherd-born ;
Papak was not the first to make him one."

Khusrau Parwiz replied : " Thou evil-doer !
Thine arrogance is not Sasan's. Thy words
Are wholly lies, and falsehood is no honour.
Thou comest of bad-natured, worthless men,
And spring'st not from Sasan."
" The shepherdship,"
Bahram Chubina answered, " of Sasan
Ne'er will be hidden."

Said Khusrau Parwiz : —
" Dara, when dying, gave not to Sasan
The crown of majesty. Though lost was fortune
Was lineage lost ? No talk will turn injustice
To justice. Seek'st thou, having for thine own
Such prudence, rede, and Grace, the imperial throne ?"

He spake and smiled, turned from Bahram Chubina,

And set his face towards his host. Of those
Three valiant Turks who served the Khan of Chin,
Were savage as a wolf and had assured
Bahram Chubina: " We, to win renown,
Will on the day of battle bring to thee
The person of the Shah alive or dead
Before the troops,'" one impious horseman, strong,
Fierce, fearless, rushed forth seeking fight and grim
With sixty coils of lasso on his arm,
And drawing near that steed of ivory,
And aiming at the splendid crown, flung forth
His lasso coiled, and caught the Shah's crowned head ;
But Gustaham clave with his sword the lasso,
The Shah's head 'scaped from harm, while brave
Bandwi
Strung up his bow and with his arrows robbed
The air of light. He loosed a poplar shaft

Against the Turk ; that battle-seeker fled,
And to that miscreant said Bahram Chubina :—
" Be sombre dust thine only hiding-place !
Who said : " Assail the Shah ? " Didst thou not see

me
Upstanding in his presence with respect ? ' '

Sick, mind and body, he returned to camp.
His sister heard of his return, put off
Her splendid crown and, when a slave had brought
Her veil, ran forth in dudgeon sore of heart
To meet him and thus spake : " O warlike chief !
How didst thou fare, say with Khusrau Parwiz ?
If he be hot and hasty through his youth
Relax no effort in the cause of peace."

The brave Bahram Chubina answered thus :—
" One must not reckon him among the Shahs.
No valiant cavalier or sage is he,
Not generous or brilliant. Parts are better
Than birth, and kings should have them."

His wise sister
Replied : " O shrewd, ambitious chief ! if I
Say much thou wilt not hear me but display
Ill-temper and ill-nature. Call to mind
The saying of the aphorist of Balkh : —
When any one shall truth from hiding bring,
And tell thy faults, truth is a bitter thing.'
Think not to waste thy country for thou hast
Thy share of earth. A very wise man said : —
" To have an ox's horn an ass once tried,
And lost forthwith his ears on either side.'
Court not the world's reproach ; none of thy race
Hath worn the crown. Had this youth intervened not
I had not been thus seared and dark of soul ;
But as it is his sire is living, the throne
Of sovereignty is still in place yet thou
Must interfere ! How it will end I know not.
But all night long mine eyes are filled with blood.
Thine only aim is pain and malison ;
Thou sniffest rashly at a poison-flower.
How folk will call Chubina infamous,
The name Bahram disfame ! God will be wroth
Withal and Hell the prison of thy soul.
The world is not for every one. my brother !
And naught abideth save a Fair renown.
Consider now, who was it sought thee out
Save king Hurmuzd ? But since king Sawa's throne
And goods came to thy hands thou didst assume
The crown, and having grown renowned through him
Art seeking for the imperial throne; but know
That every good thing is from God and be
Not ingrate to our Shah : presume not thus
Upon thy stricken fields. Thou hast gained honour,
But be not arrogant. Thou hast at heart
Consorted with the Div and hast grown guilty
In God's sight. When Hurmuzd was wroth and raved
Through what the foul Ayin Gashasp had said
Thou shouldest have been patient and not made it
A liege's opportunity for war;
And in his great affliction when his son
Came forth to fight from Barda' 'twas thy duty
To visit the young Shah and ornament
His new throne as he wished. The youth had then
Adopted thine advice and thou hadst not
Seen evil days but quiet, joy, and triumph.
Why these designs upon the crown and throne ?
Thou knowest that there still are princes left,
Both old and young, descended from Ardshir,
With wealth and countless hosts. Who in Iran
Will hail thee king ? If any king with treasure
And troops could dare to eye this land of ours
It had been Sawa, prince of Chin, none else,
Who marched upon the country of Iran ;
But holy God made thee his opposite,
And saved our land and elders. Since the World-lord
Made this world and spread over it high heaven
Men have not seen a cavalier like Sam,
Whom not the rending Lion would confront,
Yet when it happened that Naudar became
Unjust and trampled on his father's ways,
And when the nobles called on Sam and had
The turquoise throne made ready, " God forbid,'
He said, ' that ever captain of the host
Should contemplate the throne because the dust
Of Minuchihr is mine, my coronet
The footings of Naudar's.' I recognise
In Sam thy better ; he sought not the kingship.
Not being ill-conditioned. So too Zal
And elephantine Rustam never sought
To rule our folk. Know, I have said this, brother !
Because the fortunate alone who hath
August hands, Grace, and high birth, and is wise,
Of ardent heart and just can take the throne.
I know not what will come on thee, for wisdom
Hath vanished from thy heart ! "
Bahram Chubina
Made answer : " 'Tis all true and holy God
Is witness, but the thing hath gone too far ;
My heart and brain are sick with greed and I
Must grow whole or resign my head to death,
Which pierceth helms of steel. If I am stricken
By this young Shah my troops will take from him
His throne and, black at heart with vengeance, set
Another there."
The youthful king for his part
Recrossed the bridge of Nahrawan, rejoicing,
Called all the captains of the host, set those
Entitled by their rank beside the throne
Of sovereignty, and said : " Good-hearted chiefs,
Adept and veteran ! of this my kingship
This is my primal act — a mere essay —
And none doth owe us praise though our intent
Be good, and ye have had no good from us
While we must now augment your toils and griefs.
Ye served mine ancestors and have seen much
Of this world's salts and sours. I will disclose
My purpose, hidden from the host, to you :
My words must go no further, that would mar
My scheme if it were published to the troops.
I mean to lead the host to-night to battle,
For I have parleyed with Bahram Chubina,
Who is ;an active, skilful cavalier,
Though I discerned no wisdom in his head,
Or in the heads of his illustrious troops.
His fight with Sawa is his only theme,
He telleth o'er and o'er the same old tale.
He thinketh me a foolish youth and fain
Would frighten me with mace and scimitar.
Not knowing that I attack by night and so
Gain confidence. If ye will share the fray
With me I will not loiter but, when night
Shall steep her face in ambergris and loose
Her musky locks, do ye mount armed and grasping
The mace and scimitar."
They all agreed
To do the Shah's behest. When he had gone
Back to his tent he put all strangers forth.
He sent for Gustaham and for Bandwi,
And for Gurdwi, a veteran warrior,
And told his purpose of a night-attack
In hopes that they would aid. Said Gustaham : —
" O king ! why put such confidence in fight ?
A camisade may alienate thy troops.
Thy soldiers and the soldiers of the foe

Are one in heart and body ; on one side
Are grandsons, on the other grandsires. What
Deception can there be ? Here is a brother,
And there a father ; they are all akin ;
How shall son war with sire ? Encourage not
The wishes of thy foes by this design.
This was no matter for the host ; thy words
Have ruined all."

Gurdwi said : " All is over,
E'en as a wind that passeth o'er the plain.
Power, passion, treasury, and troops make err
A young man's head. Do not be thou to-night
Upon the field and suffer not the host
And treasure to be lost, because I doubt not
That all our secret plans and preparations
Will be reported to the other side ;
Yield not thy head then to the enemy.'

Pleased with the rede Khusrau Parwiz assented,
Selected certain chiefs devoted to him
For good and ill : " Kharrad, son of Barzin,
And Gustaham, the Lion, and Shapur,
And Andiyan, the valorous, Bandwi,
Kharrad, withal, the Lustre of the host,

Nastuh, the chief and burner up of heroes,
And others who would serve to guard the troops,
The treasure and himself. They sought a hill
That would avail if fight were toward— a place
All grass and apt for feasts. Khusrau Parwiz
Thence viewed the host from far.

Bahram Chubina,
The brave, for his part mounted and when great
And small drew near he questioned of the

chiefs : —
" What tidings have ye of your kith and kin ?
Send to them, ye that have such — men at one
With you in word and Faith. If they will come
And do my will, and stake their lives as pledges
Of their sincerity. I will enrich them,
And they shall all be nobles like yourselves.
The troops from Barda' and from Ardabil.
And slack Armenians — a band or two —
Remain. We fear them not in fight while those
From Barda' are but as a pinch of dust."

The chieftains heard what brave Bahram Chubina
Proposed and chose a warrior from the host.
Sage, fluent, heedful, who thus charged departed,
And speeding onward through the Longsome night

Declared his message to the Iranian chiefs,

And heard their answer : " Till the hosts engage

We will not leave Khusrau Parwiz. This matter,

We fear. will prove a long one. He will make
A night-attack, so Feel not ye secure."'

The envoy, hearing this, went swift ;as dust
Back to the army of the paladin.
And as a privy matter, every word,
He there reported all that he had heard.

Now when Bahram ('Chubina was aware
That all the troops were well disposed to him
His host lit watch-fires and set lights ablaze
In every quarter. Then that Lion chose
A valiant band fit to subdue the world.
Six thousand Sabres as the leaders reckoned.
Bahram (Chubina told them : " When the drum
Shall beat at cock-crow raise the battle-cry,
Attack and crown the nobles' heads with blood."

Led by the three proud Turks the troops sped forth
At his command and full of spite and vengeance
Fell on the army of the king. Arose
A din of mace and sword and battle-ax,
The earth was iron and the clouds were dust.
The troops all asked : " Where is Khusrau Parwiz ?
The day and victory to-day are ours."

Khusrau Parwiz was on the hill in anguish,
His eyes were full of blood, his cheeks the hue
Of lapis-lazuli, and, till the shafts
Of dawn shot up, the clashing of the hosts
Confounded him, but when the dark night's skirt
Had vanished, and he saw the battlefield
All killed and wounded, to his chiefs he said : —
" Help and put forth your powers against the foe,
For God, the Victor, is mine aid and prop),
And now my work is blows and scimitar."

He charged amain at those three Turks. Turks ?
Nay,
Three fierce and savage wolves. One closed with him,

Unsheathed his glittering glaive and sought to strike

The king upon the head ; the royal rider

Put up his shield to save it, thrust beneath

The guard, and laid his foeman low. " Famed
fighters !

Slack not the struggle now," he cried, but still
His troops all turned away, abandoning
That world-aspirant shamefully who then
Said to Bandwi and Gustaham : " Hereof
I augur ill. I have no child grown up,
Or other kindred, fitted for the crown,
And if I should be slain in fight the world
Would have no king."
Bandwi made answer thus : —

At O noble prince ! may this world yearn in love
For thee. Thy troops are gone, abide not thou.
For none is left to aid thee."

To Gurdwi
Then said the king : " Haste with Tukhar and

take
The tent-enclosure, treasure, and brocade.
Crown, captives, purses, and the ivory throne.
All that thou canst, and take a thousand horse
Of those still left."

The nobles toiled to load.

And carry off, this treasure. Then appeared
A dragon-flag; the world turned violet.
Behind the flag rode brave Bahram Chubina,

Who robbed the world of lustre in the fray.
He and Khusrau Parwiz encountered. both
Redoubted warriors and savage lions.
Like elephants of war they raged and smote
Each other on the head. All lion-like
Bahram Chubina wheeled, his weapons Failed
Against the foe, and thus till set of sun
The conflict passed all bounds. Then came Tukhar
To tell Khusrau Parwiz that he had drawn
The treasure and the baggage to the bridge,
Whereat the monarch said to Gustaham :
"We have not any helpers in the fight ;
We are but ten : this is a mighty host.
And led on by a valiant paladin.
Although we have the Grace upon our side
We lack for friends, so flee we. Timely flight
Is better than affray. I may not tarry,
For I am all alone."

The unpractised youth
Fared till he reached the bridge of Nahrawan,
Pursued all hotly by Bahram Chubina,
His head all vengeance and his heart all strife.
Khusrau Parwiz, when he perceived this, stopped
Upon the bridge and summoned to his presence
The veteran Gustaham. " Bring me my bow,"
He said ; " 'tis mine interpreter in war."

The treasurer, who was Gustaham himself,
Produced the bow. The valiant chieftain took it,

And robbed the air of lustre with his shafts,
Showered them like hail and pegged with each a

helm
And head together. Then Bahram Chubina,
That Lion, charged with lasso in his hand
And Dragon under him. With lasso only
He passed behind Khusrau Parwiz who saw,
Rejoiced, strung up his bow and with a shaft
Struck on the breast Bahram Chubina's horse ;
Its task was done. That general afoot
Despairing took his buckler while Yalan-sina
Advanced like dust and charged. The atheling,
Who knew him valiant, aimed and hurt his steed.
Yalan-sina fled from the bridge afoot,
And with him fled the rest, both old and young.
Now when Bahram Chubina thus withdrew
Khusrau Parwiz, swift as a dust-cloud, broke
The bridge and went to Taisafun in dudgeon,
With pain at heart and eyes fulfilled with blood.
He barred the city-gates with iron bars,
Sat down amid a multitude of cares,
From every quarter called to him the Great,
And posted sentinels at every gate.

Thence weeping blood and liver-pierced he went
Before his sire, gave greeting, tarried long,

And said : "The cavalier, the paladin.
Whom thou didst choose. O king ! came as do Shahs
That have the Grace and brought a numerous host.
I counselled him but 'twas of no avail,
He only cared for war and conflict. Never
Be his name current ! All against my will
Was fought a great fight, and the stars brought scath
On many. All my troops deserted me;
Thou wouldst have said they saw and passed me by,
And, not reflecting, hailed Bahram Chubina
As Shah. Pursuing me he led his troops.
As 'twere a moving mountain, to the bridge
Of Nahrawan, and I. when mine estate
No longer flourished, fled and scaped the net
Of bale. As I account of gain and loss
The Arabs only may prove serviceable,
And, if the king bid, I will bring their horsemen
In countless numbers."

"This is ill-advised,
Replied Hurmuzd, " for now thou hast no standing.
To go to them is labour lost, for we
Possess not men, or arbalists or treasure.
The Arabs will not help when there is naught
To gain or lose but in despite and dudgeon
Will sell thee to thy foes, yet God will aid,
And smiling fortune side with thee. If thou
Wouldst quit this land depart with speed for Rum,
And tell to Caesar what this slave in straits
Hath said. He will assist thee with his treasure
And troops. In that land are both men and stores,
And arms and host arrayed. Moreover all
That spring from Faridun are kin to thee,
And will assist thee in thy need."

Thereat
Khusrau Parwiz kissed earth and gave the praises
Due to the Great. Then to Bandwi, Gurdwi,
And Gustaham he said : We must consort
With grief and toil. Take order, pack, and yield
Our country to the foe."

Said Gustaham : —
" Ne'er mayst thou see ill hap, O king ! '

He answered :—
"The circling heaven produceth wrath and love
By turns."

With that the watchman cried : " O Shah,
Just and auspicious ! from the road hath risen
Dark dust. Amid a host a standard waveth
Charged with a dragon, and Bahram Chubina
Raised it beside the Nahrawan."

Thereat
Khusrau Parwiz gat on his steed like smoke,
And fled like flying dust with that blue banner
Behind him. Turning him about he saw
Bandwi and Gustaham proceeding slowly.
And shouted to them in an angry tone : —
" O villains ! what hath happened that yon foes
Become like friends to you ? If "'tis not so
Why ride at leisure with Bahram Chubina
Hard on your backs ? "

Bandwi replied : " O king !
Be not concerned at him ; he will not see
Our dust, the host's flag is too far away.
Thy friends all say there is no cause for haste
Because Bahram Chubina, when he reacheth
The palace, will at once give to Hurmuzd

The crown and throne, will sit as minister
Beside him, and will angle to some purpose
By writing from his sovereign to Caesar
To this effect : " A worthless slave hath fled
This country; : let him not obtain asylum
In Rum. Each time that he hath raised himself
He hath done hurt and damage to your land.
When he arriveth put him into bonds,
And fill with trouble his rejoicing heart.
Return him to this court and tarry not
Until he have grown great,' and they will bind him,
And send him back in tears and strongly guarded."

Khusrau Parwiz heard this with troubled heart,
His cheek gloomed at their words and he replied : —
"Ill-fortune well may treat us thus, but words
Are long and deeds are strong; trust we in God."

He urged his steed and said : " What good and bad
The World-lord hath writ o'er our heads will come,
No musing can avert it. May our foes
Ne'er have their will."

When he had gone the two
Unjust ones turned back eager for revenge.
Arrived, they sought the palace of the Shah,
All dudgeon and with hearts prepared for crime.
When they had passed the gate and reached the throne
They straightway took the string from off a bow,
Flung it forthwith around the monarch's neck,
And hung his honoured person. Passed that crown
And throne of king of kings : thou wouldst have

said : —
" Hurmuzd was never in the world at all."
The custom of revolving time it is

To furnish sometimes sweets and sometimes bane ;
Seek not for profit from a stock like this

Because the quest will bring thee naught but pain.
When thus Hurmuzd's days ended and the throne,
That happy seat, remained unfilled, forthwith
Arose a sound of drums ; those murderers' cheeks
Became like sandarac. Upon the road
Bahram Chubina's standard came in sight
Amid his troops, and that outrageous pair —
Bandwi and Gustaham — fled from the palace,
And hasted till they reached Khusrau Parwiz,
Who, seeing their wan looks, knew that their hearts
Contained some secret, else would they have quitted
The master of the world ? His cheeks became
Like flowers of fenugreek but he revealed
Naught to that savage pair. He bade his troops : —
" Turn from the highway for a host approacheth.
Take the long route across the watered plain,
And let your bodies grow inured to pain."

On entering the palace of the Shah
Bahram Chubina chose from his fierce host
Six thousand wielders of the scimitar,
Mailed, to pursue the king, and put Bahram,
The son of Siyawush, in charge of those
Famed, warlike troops, while on the other part
Khusrau Parwiz took to the waste to 'scape
His foes with life, and reached at length a hold
With battlements of viewless height. Folk called it
" The House of God ' —a shrine, a blessed spot,
With bishops and a metropolitan,
A place for penitents. He there addressed
A holy man : " What food is there to hand ? "

A bishop said : " There are unleavened loaves
And watercress, my lord ! If such thou needest
Let it be none save ours."

The king forthwith
Alighted with his escort. That aspirant
With his two courtiers took in hand for prayer
The sacred twigs, then on the soft, blue sand
They sat and ate in haste of what there was.
Thereafter he addressed the bishop thus :

" Hast thou no wine, old sir whose steps are blest ? '

He said: " We manufacture wine from dates;
We make it in the heat of summer-time.
There is a little left, clear ;as rose-water.
And red as coral in the sun."

Forthwith
He brought a cup thereof and it eclipsed
The hue of Sol. Khusrau Parwiz drank three,
Partook of barley-bread and. when his wits
Were warmed with ruddy wine, slept with his head
Laid on Bandwi's lap on the yielding sand.
All sorrowful of soul and liver-pierced.
Just as he slept the senior bishop came.
"Black dust-clouds have arisen on the road."
He said; '"behind them is a mighty host.""
Khusrau Parwiz replied : " It is bad luck
That foes should seek us just as men and steeds
Are spent. The inevitable day hath come."

Then spake Bandwi the good at need : " Yon chief
Approacheth."

Said Khusrau Parwiz: " Good friend !
Direct us in the matter."

He rejoined :—
" I will devise escape for thee, O king !

In this strait, though I shall have sacrificed
My life to save the monarch of the world."

Khusrau Parwiz replied : " A sage of Chin
Hath uttered better things in this regard :—
" In Paradise shall be his future state
Who here hath tilled about a monarch's gate.
The plastering can not abide in place
When city-walls are levelled to their base.
When mighty cities perish out of hand.
Let not the hospitals be left to stand."
If shift thou knowest use it ; holy God
Will save thee from the need of other help.

Bandwi said : " Let me have the crown of gold.
The earrings, girdle, and the robe from Chin,
Gold-woven and tulip-hued. and while I don them
Abide not thou. Go with thy troops apace
As sailors speed a vessel o'er the deep.'

The youth did as Bandwi advised and thence
Companioned with the wind. When he had made
Shift thus to flee, Bandwi, the veteran,
Turned to the bishop, saying : " Ye must tarry
Unseen of all upon the mountain-top,"
Then went himself dust-swift within the shrine,
And with all speed shut fast the iron door.
Assumed the gold-embroidered robe and donned
The royal crown. He went upon the roof,
And thence unwillingly beheld a host
On every side. He waited till they came
Up to the hold to fight. At sight of him
With gold crown, earrings, torque, and belt all cried :—
It is Khusrau Parwiz with his new crown
And robes."

Bandwi, when certain that the troops
Had taken him to be the Shah himself,
Went from the roof, donned his own clothes with
speed,
Then fearlessly returned and said : " Young braves !
To whom shall I address me as your chief
Because I have a message from the Shah
To give in presence of the mighty men ? '
The son of Siyawush, on hearing this.

Said : " I am chief and I am hight Bahram."

Bandwi replied : " The world-lord saith : " My
journey
Hath much distressed me; all our beasts are sore.
Foundered and all amort with lengthy travel.
I reached this house of penitents for rest.
But will at day-break give up worldly hopes.

And take with you the Longsome road that leadeth

To great Bahram Chubina, and herein

I do not seek delay that heaven perchance

May succour me. Mine ancestors were wont
To keep the laws of honour and good faith,
And through their long and fortunate careers
They ne'er refused when subjects asked a, boon.
So now that fortune is my foe I make
An open breast to you. for from bright Sol
To darksome dust the will of God is done.'

The chief agreed and every one that heard
The Shah's words grieved for him. The troopers all
Dismounted and kept guard on him that night.

Next day Bandwi went to the roof upon
The side that faced Bahram and said : " The Shah
Is praying and will do naught else to-day.
He spent last night in prayer. Besides, the sun
Is high, he must not suffer from the heat.
Leave him in peace to-day. At dawn to-morrow
He shall surrender."

" This may prove a trifle,"
Bahram said to his chiefs, " or else of moment.
If we shall press him much he may be wroth
And fall on us. He is a host himself,
A world-aspirant, shrewd and valorous.
If he be slain in fight Bahram Chubina
Will send too dust from us. 'Tis best to wait
To-day, although our stores are running low,
To see if he will yield without contention."

Thus was it till the night rose o'er the mountains,
And her host gathered, then both far and wide
The troops spread, kindling fires on every side.

When earth grew sun-hued eloquent Bandwi

Went to the roof and thus addressed Bahram : —
" Experienced one ! when dust rose from the plain
Khusrau Parwiz at sight of you departed,
He and his troops, in haste toward Rum, and now,
Wert thou to wing it eagle-like and soar
Above the sun, thou wouldst not spy the Shah
Unless in Rum where he hath aged by now ;
But if ye grant me quarter I will come
Forth to thy valiant chief and I will answer
All questions asked of me about ourselves,
But if not I will arm and send the dust
In combat to the sun."

The youth's heart aged
With grief when he heard this. " What will it profit,"
He asked his comrades, " if I send the reek
Up from Bandwi ? The better course will be
To take him as he is with mind unclouded
Before the paladin to tell whatever
He knoweth of the Shah and either lose
His head or keep his crown.'

Then to Bandwi :—
" Discuss this question with Bahram Chubina,
Thou evil schemer ! "

Then Bandwi, the Lion,
Came down and went back with the valiant chiefs.
Bahram Chubina heard of their return.
And that Khusrau Parwiz bent on revenge

Had gone to Rum. and vehemently raged

Against the son of Siyawush, exclaiming: —
" Thou luckless miscreant ! thou hast disobeyed.
Fool that I am ! I have approved a fool !

He summoned next Bandwi, the ambitious one.
And turned the wrath on him: 'Thou miscreant

knave !
Blame-worthy liar who hast been so foolish
As thus to gull my troops ! Thou couldst not rest
Through thine ill nature and hast now become
One with accursed Khusrau Parwiz, hast made
A youth a veteran and hast come to boast: —
I will renew this outworn age.'

Bandwi
Replied : " Exalted chief ! look but for right
From me and be not fierce. Know that the king
Of kings is of my kin. his majesty
And greatness are mine own, and I have given,
As was my duty, mine own life for his.
If thou'rt a chieftain act straightforwardly."
Bahram Chubina said : " I would not slay thee

For this thy fault. Howbeit thou wilt perish
By his hand soon and know that I speak sooth."

They gyved Bandwi's feet, and Bahram Chubina
Consigned him to the son of Siyawush
To keep him scathless, stayed till sunset there,
Then sought his own couch with a heart all care."

When Sol unsheathed its sword, and when its veil
Of yellow showed, Bahram Chubina sent
And called the magnates, seating them upon
The dais of the kings on golden seats,
Which he had ranged around, and sat in joy
As conquering monarchs do. Thereafter he
Spake with a mighty utterance thus and said :—
" Ye that are worshipful ! now make response
In full assurance and auspiciously
Advise upon my words. Give them all heed,
And note my prompt dispatch. Ye will not find
A worse Shah than Zahhak, search as ye may,
Who slew his sire for kingship's sake, whereby
Iran fell to his hands and now again
Khusrau Parwiz, a man unjust and cursed,
Hath slain his father and hath gone to Rum ;
And so till one of royal race appeareth,
One fit to claim the throne and make crown, girdle,
And fortune his who, think ye, is the man
To gird him at this present to restore
The precedents of kings ? I swear by Him,
Who is the Master of the sun on high,
That I will give you aidance in the quest."
The nobles heard the famous chieftain's words,
And none dissented. Then an elder rose—
Shahran Guraz, a hoary warrior,
A chieftain eminent — and answered thus :
" Thou art a benefactor to the world,
Illustrious prince ! Hadst thou not been at Rai
No one had matched king Sawa when he reached
Our coast with forces to enslave the Free ;
But bravely thou didst arm thee and that trouble
Passed from the Iranians, and a host equipped,
And warriors all, four hundred thousand strong,
Fled from thy wooden shaft, and thus Iran
Had rest from heat and strife; so now its throne
Befitteth thee as thine unsleeping fortune
Is witness. Him that disobeyeth thee.
Or shunneth thine alliance, will we cause
To do thy will, brave though he be, and though
The matter touch Khusrau Parwiz himself."
Thus spake he and resumed his seat, whereat

The chieftain Khurasan stood forth before
Bahram Chubina and thus spake : ' I ask
This old, ambitious sage, who hath harangued
The assembly at such length, who hath inspired
His words? He praised thee so that all our hearts
Rejoiced, and yet there is a goodly saying
Used in the Zandavasta by Zarduhsht
For honest brains to hear : " Whoe'er shall quit
The Almighty's way, admonish such one year,
Supplying all his needs, and after that
If he return not slay him with the sword
By order of the Shah, while if he be
The just Shah's foeman let him be beheaded
Forthwith.' "

He spake, ceased, and resumed his seat.
Then Farrukhzad stood up. " O helpful chief ! '
He said, " just speech is better than mishap.
If justice then is better perish he
That joyeth in unjust words."

Then he spake
Thus to Bahram Chubina : " Blest be thou,
And may the sight of thee sustain the world.
If these my words find favour and if God,
The Conqueror, assist us live for ever
As our blest Shah, and be the hands and tongues
Of bad men far from thee."

That valiant man
Sat down and Khazarwan, son of Khusrau,
Came forward lion-like and said : " Although
Both young and old talk much yet in the end,
If thou wouldst follow right, dispatch like wind
A cameleer and tarry not until
Khusrau Parwiz, the exalted one, shall tread
The longsome road a victim to injustice.
Excuse thy late behaviour and approach not
The throne thus boldly, for no general
Is worthy of it while the world-lord liveth.
If thou art fearful of Khusrau Parwiz
Break off thy love for Pars and Taisafun,

And live in ease and power in Khurasan.

Write letter after letter of excuse ;
Perchance Khusrau Parwiz may prove amene."

When he withdrew stepped forward Zad Farrukh,
And said with justice : " Chiefs of noble race !
I have been listening to this debate
Of these the chosen leaders of Iran.
First, that proposal worthy of a slave
To make a paladin the Shah is one
Distasteful to the wise, one to diminish
A man's renown. The words of Khurasan
Were grand and wedded, I maintain, to wisdom,
While those of Farrukhzad were violent,
Such as would hebetate the hearts of sages.
The fourth to speak was Khazarwan, the chief,
Whose words were also wise, for since God made
The world the course of time is manifest.
Start from Zahhak, the Arab, who was both
Unjust and foul of Faith. He slew Jamshid,
That overweening one. and seized the world

Unjustly. Holy men grieved that a div
Was Shah till Faridun, that glorious king.
Abated him. Next came that miscreant,
Afrasiyab, who For that purpose left
Turan and crossing o"er the stream beheaded
Naudar, the noble with the scimitar
In piteous fashion and o'erturned the state;
And. third, Sikandar who From Rum invaded
Iran, laid waste our land, and slew Dara.
The swordsman, so that food and slumber grew
Harsh to the Iranians, while, fourthly, came
Foul Khushnawaz who robbed our fields and fells
Of mirth and joy when unexpectedly

The Haitalians slew Piruz, a Shah high-starred.
The conqueror of the world, the chief of rulers.
And overturned the throne of king of kings.
But none hath seen a wonder such ;as lately
Came on Iran when Shah Khusrau Parwiz
Fled from the throne, from his own troops, to
foes ! "
This said, he sat and wept. Bahram Chubina
Turned livid at the words. The veteran
Sambaz, loin-girt, with Indian sword in hand,
Leapt to his feet. " This noble paladin,"
He said, " is great, just, ardent, so till one
Of royal race shall come and gird his loins
'Tis best for him to sit upon the throne,
For he is warlike, brave, and fortunate."

Bahram Chubina, chief of warriors,
Heard, clapped his hand upon his sword and drew it,
Exclaiming : " If we find within this quarter
A woman of the lineage of the Shahs
I will behead her with the trenchant sword,
And let the breath of death pass over her.
I will not wait for one to claim the realm,
And caracole amidst the cavaliers."

Whenas the chiefs possessed by Ahriman
Heard their foul leader thus assert himself
They drew their scimitars, arose, and spake
In terms unheard till then : " Bahram Chubina
Is Shah and we are subjects. We will not
Transgress his wishes and commands."

Now when
Bahram Chubina saw the scimitars
Drawn he did what was just and right, and said :—
" If any one shall leave his seat and touch
His scimitar I will cut off his hand
Forthwith and sober him."

This said, he left
The nobles for the pleasance. That great conclave
Dispersed with faces lined and broken hearts.

Whenas the pitch-hued, star-illumined Veil
Appeared, and watchmen's calls were heard, he asked
For pen and paper, and a noble scribe,
And wise, approached, to whom he handed pen
And inkstand, saying : " Write out on this silk
This declaration from the Iranians : —
" Bahram Chubina is the Shah, triumphant,
Deserving crown, adorning throne, and seeking
Right publicly and privily.' "

This written
They lighted links and passed an anxious night,
But when the Veil of lapis-lazuli
Had passed away and when the world was sun-gilt,
One fortune-favoured came and set a state
Within the palace of Bahram Chubina ;
Upon that golden state they placed a seat,
And oped the court. He took his place as Shah,
And donned the royal crown. The scribe then brought

The declaration of his sovereignty
Inscribed upon the costly painted silk,
And each chief testified : " Bahram Chubina
Is monarch of the world."

When they had signed
He sealed it with his golden seal and said :—
"All-holy God will testify to you
That now this realm is mine and may its kings
Be of my lineage for a thousand years,
And thus ennobled hold in line direct
The crown and lofty throne."'

"'Twas on the day
Khurshid of month Azar that thus the Lion
Gave up the Onager's back. Bahram Chubina
Thereafter thus harangued the Iranians :—
" Revengeful strife hath risen in our midst.
Whoe'er accepteth not this settlement.
Be he an honest man or not, shall spend
But three days in Iran and on the fourth,
What time the world's Light mounteth to the sky,
Shall go to join Khusrau Parwiz and sleep not
In our dominions longer."

Blessing him,
Not from their hearts, men said : ""May earth ne'er
lack thee."
Heart-broken that Bahram Chubina reigned
Those loyal to the kingdom's rightful lord
Departed Rum-ward and dispersed abroad.

For seventy days Bandwi, like cheetah bound,
Was in the prison of Bahram Chubina,
Watched by Bahram, the son of Siyawush —
A most unwilling jailor — whom Bandwi,
Still scheming though in bondage, thus beguiled :—
" Despair not of the monarch of Iran ;
Though night be dark 'twill turn to day and though
His fortune, like the fortune of Piruz
With Khushnawaz, shall tarry long. The Maker
Restored him in the person of Kubad,
And gave him back the world. Bahram Chubina
In like wise will retain not crown and throne.
Doth he himself, this man of fortune, think it ?
Nay, perish any rustic who thus giveth
Himself in folly to the wind. Count thou
Two months upon thy fingers and thou'lt see
Troops from Iran in Rum, and they will cast
Fire on this crown and throne, and break the jewels
On this man's head."
Bahram said : " If the king
Will grant me quarter I will deck my soul
With thine advice and do thy will in all,
But I must have a great oath sworn to me
By moon, Azargashasp, by throne and crown,
That if Khusrau Parwiz come to our coasts,
And bring a host from Caesar and from Rum,
Thou wilt ask him to spare my life, not slight
What so importeth me, lest he be led
By what the Iranians say and harm befall me."

He spake, then calling for the Zandavasta
He caused Bandwi to swear, who took the roll,
And said : " Let not Bandwi see aught but pain
And toil from the Supreme or e'er find rest
Within this Wayside Hostelry if I
Do otherwise. Else when Khusrau Parwiz
Bestir himself I will not look on him,
Or ever rest, unless he send to thee
Withal a signet and a chieftain's crown."

Bahram, on hearing what an oath he swore,
And seeing his pure heart and loyalty.
Said : " I will tell thee all my schemes aloud.
I will achieve revenge and set a snare
"To catch Bahram Chubina. Where I set it
There will I do mine utmost to destroy him
With bane of scimitar. Our streams are dry
Since we have had to hail him as the Shah."

Bandwi replied : " Know. O experienced man !
That I am shrewd and prompt and wise, and when
Khusrau Parwiz returneth with a host
From Rum, and sitteth on the state, thou'lt find
That he will not refuse me anything.
I will ask pardon for thy past offence,
And he would give his crown at my request.
If thou wilt keep thy word and not ensue
Guile in thy heart unfetter me and thus
Begin to recognise Khusrau Parwiz ;
"'Twill prove thy secret bent ; that plain appeal
Will reach his ear."

Thereat Bahram's "s face brightened,
And he removed the fetters.

When night's veil,
Musk-hued, turned bright and dawn laid hand thereon
Bahram said to Bandwi : " If my heart fail not,
What time Bahram Chubina playeth polo
To-day I have engaged me with five friends
To slay him."

Calling for a coat of mail
He donned it 'neath his dress and rode away.
Bahram, the warrior, had a wicked wife
Who wished him hewn to pieces. In her heart
She was enamoured of Bahram Chubina,
While hatred of her husband filled her soul ;
So to Bahram Chubina she dispatched
Some one to say : " O thou that succourest !
Protect thyself because Bahram hath donned
His mail beneath his robe and buckled it.

I know not what may be his ill intent,

But thou hadst better keep aloof from him."

Bahram Chubina, hearing her advice
Not to play polo with her spouse, tapped all
Who came upon the ground with polo-sticks,
And drew anear him, gently on the back
With kindly greetings in a pleasant tone
Until he reached the son of Siyawush,
Found him to be in mail and said : " O thou
Worse than a biting snake ! who weareth mail
Beneath his silk upon the polo-ground ? "

This said, he drew his vengeful scimitar,
And clave the son of Siyawush in two.
'Twas bruited in the city that Bahram
Was slain, and when the tidings reached Bandwi
The daylight failed him. Putting on his mail
He mounted, quaking girt his warlike loins,
And taking all the kinsmen of Bahram,
With all that looked for safety to himself,
Fled from the city and the Day of Doom.
When they had gone one stage their numbers grew ;
They pressed along the road to Ardabil.

Bahram Chubina, when he left the ground,
Trailed in his wrath his robe in blood, then ordered
Mahrwi to guard Bandwi. The people said :—
" Fret not for him, O king ! for when he heard
News of this slaying verily he took
The wind for waymate, knowing that the matter
Concerned himself and that Bahram was slain
For their intrigue. He sorrowed to have caused
His comrade's death and saw the outlook dark."

The king said : " May he lack both skin and brain
That knoweth not foe from friend. One will repose
Upon the points of elephants tusks, another
Trust to the billows of the dark blue sea ;
A third will brave a monarch's wrath, a Fourth
Take lion by the foreleg. Let thy soul
Feel for all four; their fortune is averse.
Another would move mountains and inviteth
All to his aid. He wearieth himself.
And as the outcome clutcheth but the wind.
To voyage in a ship unseaworthy
Is better than to be precipitate,
And if thou seekest and dost find a spring
Wilt thou grow daft and turn therefrom in wrath ?
The man whose guide is blind will tarry long
Upon his way. The handler of a dragon

Would die, the dragon 'scape, while pain and death
Are his who eateth bane for trial's sake,
And yet I did not slay Bandwi at first,
So he hath schemed and hath escaped my hands !
My act is one for which I needs must weep,
And see what is God's will."

Bandwi the while
With his small band sped on like rushing wind.
Each carried with him what he could toward where
Mausil the Armenian, dwelt along a road
Infested by wild beasts and waterless.
Bandwi perceived a camp-enclosure pitched,

Saw that it was Mausil's, found streams and food,
And hurried forward to that fertile spot
Alone, beheld Mausil, did him obeisance,
And told him privily the case, who said :—
" Stay here, for here the latest news will reach thee
Of what Khusrau Parwiz doth in fair Rum,
And if he contemplateth peace or war."

Thereat Bandwi was minded to remain,
And called up his companions from the plain.

Khusrau Parwiz led on in haste where guide,
And grass and water, were not. Slack of rein
They went in dudgeon till they reached Babil,
Where all the well-disposed among the chiefs
Went forth to welcome him. As he drew near
He made his men dismount outside the city,
And scarce had done so when a courier came
Out of Iran in haste. He bore a letter
Concealed upon him from Bahram Chubina,
And written to the ruler of Babil : —
" Detain a company if one shall come ;
My troops pursue and will arrive anon."

The ruler, seeing the letter's purport, sought
Khusrau Parwiz in haste, who looked and read,
Astounded at the process of the world.
He feared pursuit and mourned his own fatigue,
But mounting presently departed thence,

And girding up his royal loins pressed on
Until he came to the Farat : no rest
Saw he in his own realm. His followers.
Both old and young, were famished. Then they spied
A wood and water while a caravan
Of camels led on by a cameleer
Appeared anon. That youth, when he beheld
Khusrau Parwiz, called blessings down upon
That Noble one, who asked : " What is thy name ?
What is thy trade and whither goest thou ? '
He answered : " Kais am I. son of Haris.
And heir of Arab) chiefs. From Misr have I
Come with a caravan and am myself
Chief cameleer. I dwell Beside the waters
Of the Farat and came thence to this forest."
Khusrau Parwiz asked : " What hast thou of food
And stuffs, for we are wearied out and famished,
Not having food or packs ? "
The Arab) said :
" Stay : I am one with thee, share, soul, and body."
In his affection for the Shah he brought
A fatted cow : they slaughtered her and lit
A fire by kindling sticks both green and dry.
He grilled kabab ; the comrades of the Shah
Were eager to partake, consuming much.
But had no bread. Each chieftain then made ready
A sleeping-place. They slept awhile, then rose
And offered up their orisons anew
To that just Judge who made the world, made mighty
And weak alike, and then the Shah addressed
His comrades thus : " The most in fault are they
That are my noblest and most famous subjects :
Still those that have done worst, rebelled, and left
God's way, may trust with confidence to me.
See that ye give to them the fairest hopes."
His comrades blessed him, saying : " O thou pure
Of heart and Faith ! bright be thy heart and jocund
Thy lot, and may the just Judge give thee back
The throne. He hath bestowed on thee such Grace
And mien that love and justice are increased
For every one : thou art the sum of wisdom,
For thou replacest ill by good."

The Shah,
Though pleased at this acclaim, was in his heart
Concerned about his route and asked the Arab :—
" What is it like ? How shall I fare with troops ? "

He answered : " Seventy farsangs and more

Of waste and mountain front you. With thy leave
I will find meat and water for the road
If thou wilt hurry not."

Replied : " There is no other course, for this
Will furnish provand and a guide."

The Arab
Dispatched a cameleer to fare before
The troops. He hurried over waste and mountain,
All care and travail, with that company.
Withal afar another caravan
Appeared upon the route before the troops.
A wealthy merchant sought the king, who asked : —
" Say, whence art thou and whither hastening ? '

He said : " I am a merchant and a scribe,
And I have come from Khurra-i-Ardshir."

" How did thy father name thee ? " said the Shah.
The merchantman replied : " Mihran Sitad."

The king requested of the man supplies
Because the leader of his troops had said : —
" He hath, O Shah ! provisions past compute,
But may not be best pleased."

To find a host
Upon the way is so much to the good,'
The Shah replied. The merchant loosed his bales
Of cheap and costly wares, brought provand forth,
And sat himself upon the ground, invoking
A blessing on the king-. The eating done.
The hospitable merchant brought the Shah
The water for his hands, but when Kharrad,
Son of Barzin, saw that he rose, ran up.
Took the warm water from the merchant's hand,
That no respect toward the Shah might Fail,
And when the merchantman made haste to bring
Wine lucent as rose-water then again
Kharrad, son of Barzin, took from his hand
The goblet and presented it himself.
In due observance servants profit find,
For all such service is repaid in kind.

" Which is the army's route," the Shah then asked
The merchant, "and. O hospitable man !
Where dwellest thou in Khurra-i-Ardshir ? '

He said : O Shah ! live in prosperity.
I of these,- traffickers am from Karaz."

The Shah enjoined Ruzbih, the scribe, to note
The young man's name and village. " Go thy ways,
And be at heart the warp and woof of wisdom,"
He said. The army left that verdant spot,
And hurrying toward the Ruman marches reached
The town which Caesar named Karsan. The Christ-
ians.
On seeing the troops afar, went hurrying
Across the waste to carry their effects
Within the walls and firmly barred the gates.
The Shah, the lustre of the world, chagrined
Remained outside for three days with his troops,
And on the fourth dispatched a man to say : —
" Our troops are few, send provand, succour us,
And treat us not in this high-handed wise."

They scorned his words, his troops were weak and
famished,
When suddenly there rose a murky cloud,
Which roared like some great warrior-lion ; a storm
Swept o'er the place ; from every quarter came
Din and a cry for help. By midnight half
The walls had gone ; the town was all amaze ;
The bishop offered prayers ; in every quarter
They gathered food together, and three priests,
Three venerable men, went forth in haste
With native produce and with Ruman robes.
And brought a led horse to the Shah. They said :—
" Our fault, O Shah ! is manifest to us,"
And he, a noble youth, reproached them not.
There was within the city's walls a palace,
Whose summit was at home among the clouds;
'Twas built by Caesar and had many slaves.
The Shah went thither when he left the plain,
And oft-times used to go about the city.
The Rumans all acclaimed him and strewed jewels
Beneath his feet. Possessed of this fair dwelling
He rested for a while and wrote to Caesar
Of that storm, rain, and darksome cloud, then went
Toward Manwi which he renamed Mini.
The shrewd and wise, the great and powerful,
Among its citizens, with priests and monks,
Went to the king with gifts and offerings,
Spake of the storm and of that ancient town,
And all said : " We are slaves and bow before
Khusrau Parwiz' behest."

He stayed three days,
And on the fourth when Sol, the world's light, rose,
And thrust its bright sword through the clouds,

departed
Toward Warigh ; it was a city's name,
And had the true Cross and a hospital.
Upon the waste he saw a hermitage ;

He heard the hermit voice, approached, and asked :-
" What blessed one is here ?

They ma de reply :—
"An ancient man grown wan with many years,
A skilled astrologer; there is not aught
Concealed from him, and what he saith will be."

The Shah drew nigh the door forthwith and cried :-
" Be thine to worship God, and may He bless thee
If thou wilt come forth from thine ancient cell."

Forthwith the hermit, when he heard the words,
Descended from his cell and seeing the Shah

Said : "Of a truth thou art Khusrau Parwiz
Brought by the hand of an ill-doing slave,
Impure. Armenian-like, a servitor,
To this affliction for thy father's throne."

He spake at large ; Khusrau Parwiz became
Cheered in his heart through all that kindliness.
And all in wonder at the words invoked
The blessings of the Maker on the man.
The devotee, and, mounted, greeted him
With outstretched hand, whereat the man of God
Did reverence and spake long. By way of proof
The Shah said : "Of the Iranian host am I,
A subject, bearing a dispatch to Caesar,
And I shall carry to my lord his answer.
See if my journey will be prosperous.
And how result."

He answered : " Say not so ;
Thou art the Shah, make not thyself a courtier.
I told thee all at sight so never prove me.
Thy Faith alloweth no falsehood, and deceit
Is not thy way and wont. Thou hast endured
Much toil and suffered, and at last hast fled
Before thy slave."

Astounded and confused
Khusrau Parwiz began to make excuse.

The hermit said : " Forbear, and question me
Of what will be. As to thy coming hither
Be glad and confident, and to the world
A fruitful bough for God will satisfy thee,
And give to thee high fortune and high place,
While thou wilt have from Caesar arms and troops,
And daughter worthy of the crown of state.
The World-lord, who ne'er sleepeth, will assist thee
In battle with thy slaves, while in the end
The miscreant will flee and oft recall
The days of his success. He will alight
Far from that field of battle and there dwell ;
Yet still, though rather than submit to thee
He will choose exile, they will shed his blood
At thy behest."

Khusrau Parwiz replied :—
" God grant it, ancient sage ! but tell me this :
Will it be long ere I obtain the kingship ? "

He said : " Twelve months and thou wilt have the
throne,
Then fifteen days and thou wilt light the world
As king of kings."

" Who of this company,"
The Shah inquired, " will bear most toil and care
On mine account ? "

The hermit said : " Bistam,
A lofty spirit and a prosperous,
And thy maternal uncle who, thou knowest,
Hath made thy lifetime pleasant ; but be ware
Of that unprofitable man, the source
Of all thy plaints, affliction, and mishap."

The Shah was wroth and said to Gustaham : —
Thy name revealeth thee ! Thy mother called thee
Bistam but thou proclaimest in the fight
Thyself a Gustaham ! "

Then to the hermit :
" This is mine uncle on my mother's side."

The hermit answered : " Yea, it is the same ;
Thou wilt see pain and strife through Gustaham."

"And after, said the Shah, "what will ensue,
My counsellor ? "

He answered : " Heed not that,
For thenceforth thou wilt have but praise: no ill
E'er will befall thee, and if hardship cometh
'Twill be from God. This rebel will disturb
Thy peace, but after thou wilt be content.
And, bad as this malicious one may prove,
His fate is in thy hands."

" Be not concerned
Hereat, O king ! " said Gustaham. " By God,
The Holy One. the Maker of the moon.
Who made a Shah like thee to rule the world ;
By sun, by moon, and by Azargashasp,
And by the life and head of our famed Shah,
While Gustaham shall live he shall not seek
Aught but the right or knock at evil's door ;
And if he should be minded otherwise
Then may the soul of Gustaham depart.
No human being since the World-lord made
The world hath looked upon His secret's key ;
Why shouldst thou credit then a Christian's words,
And heed his idle talk ? Suspect me not
Through speech of his, and seek not for a pretext
Against me now that I have sworn to thee."

Khusrau Parwiz made answer : " Holy men
Speak to the point. Withal I have not seen
Ill from thee ever, and thou catchest not
At guile or folly, yet high heaven's process
May make thee harmful and no wonder too,
For when God willeth wit and wisdom swerve."
Then said he to the hermit : " Be thou glad
In heart and prosperous."

From that hermitage
He went like levin flashing from a cloud
Toward the city of Warigh, and thence
There met him those of worth and eminence.

When he arrived there came from noble Caesar
A cavalier to say : " Ask what thou wilt
Within our coasts and see that thou refrain not
Thy will from kings, for though this realm is mine
I hold thee as mine equal. Stay secure,
And happy in yon city, apprehending
No ill. All Ramans, haughty though they are
And chiefs, shall serve thee, and I will not seek
Food, sleep or rest till I have furnished thee
With arms and troops."

The Shah heard and rejoiced ;
His soul was eased ; he bade call Gustaham.
Balwi, aspiring Andiyan, Kharrad,
Son of Barzin, and lion Shapur, and thus
Spake that brave monarch : " Saddle up at dawn
With golden saddles on the horses led,
Put on your tunics gold-inwoven from Chin,
Be one in heart and honesty, depart,
And parle with Caesar. Be ye wary, shrewd.
Attentive, bland, and courteous. If he goeth

Upon the Ground for archery or polo
Exert you to the utmost 'gainst his chiefs,
For ye must not be worsted : let him know
That horsemanship proceedeth from Iran.
While from its Lions there come might and valour."

The Shah then bade Kharrad, son of Barzin : —
"Bring hither silk from Chin and black musk ; I
Must write a letter like resplendent Sol
In jocund Paradise to Caesar, brief
But to the purpose, such as all mens hearts
May recollect. He hath philosophers;
Be instant that they hear no foolishness.
They measure not their words in anything;
Let them not find a fault in our dispatch.
When he hath read the letter loose thy tongue;
None of them can compete with thee in speech."'

Then to Balwi : " : " If Caesar speak of us

In public with regard to an alliance.

Oath, treaty or affinity, reply

As sweet as honey for thou art my tongue
Before that folk and mine interpreter
For good and ill. Endeavour by all means
To save us from defeat ; be diligent;
Take mine assurances and bear in mind
My words."

Those ardent, veteran warriors
Heard the instructions of that glorious youth,
And blessed him saying : " May none wear the crown
But thou."

They fared with cheerful hearts to Caesar,
Who when he heard : " Some nobles of Iran,
The envoys of the monarch of the world,
Have reached Yunan," sent many troops to meet
them.
He decked a palace with brocade of Rum,

The pattern jewelled on a ground of gold,
And sitting on the famous ivory throne
Assumed the heart-illuming crown and bade
Withdraw the curtain and to introduce
The envoys from the vestibule, rejoicing.
First came the noble Gustaham, behind
There were Balwi and brave Shapur, Kharrad,
Son of Barzin, and valiant Andiyan,
All crowned and girdle-girt. They came anear
To Caesar and on seeing did obeisance,
With one consent called blessings down on him,
And on that golden throne besprinkled gems.
He first inquired about the Shah, Iran,
The host and toilsome journey. Hearing this,
Kharrad, son of Barzin, approached the throne,
And brought the letter of the Shah. They set,
By order of that noble sovereign,
Four golden seats, and of the envoys three,
Men of illustrious rank and well advised.
Sat down, but still Kharrad, son of Barzin,
Stood. Caesar said : " A traveller should sit."

" The Shah hath not conferred on me the right,"
He answered, " in thy presence while I hold
His letter : mine abasement may commend

Itself to thee and aid mine embassage."

Said Caesar : " Speak. What said the prudent
prince ? "
Kharrad, son of Barzin, what while he spake
Observing what Khusrau Parwiz had said.
First praised the Maker and besought His help,
" Who is above all height, all wise, all mighty,
Who hath revealed heaven's host and given us
Soul, wisdom, love. He bade and heaven was,
For He is over space and time. The sphere
And stars revolving are His work. When He
Created servants out of worthless dust

He gave life first to Gaiumart. The race
Went on to Faridun whom God most favoured
Of all those noble chieftains. Once obscure
His stock became illustrious in the world.
And lasted up to Kai Kubad who donned
The crown of majesty. His race ne'er saw
Calamity and ever kept God's way ;
But now a worthless slave hath come and sat
Upon the royal throne. I seek for justice
Against the unjust, not crown, throne, cap, and

girdle.
Whoever sitteth on a throne hath need
Of wisdom, fortune, and nobility.
This man shall learn to whom the fortune, Grace,
And diadem of king of kings pertain.
Help me and quell this traitor for I roam
Despised by small and great."

When Caesar heard
His cheeks became like Bloom of fenugreek ;
That bloom of fenugreek grew charged with hail,
And from his tongue and soul there burst a wail."

He read, his grief increased, the throne appeared
All mournful to his eyes, and thus that world-lord
Said to Kharrad, son of Barzin : " That I
Esteem Khusrau Parwiz above myself,
Above my kindred and my fluent soul,
Is not a secret with discerning men.
I have arms, troops, and treasure. Now consider

What ye require. If he will have mine eyes

I will not say him nay though they are better

Than wealth, dinars, and sword."

Then Caesar summoned
A well-experienced scribe and, seating him
Upon the royal dais, bade him write
An answer decked like meads of Paradise
With many a counsel, promise, and kind word
About past times and present. When the scribe
Had finished Caesar chose a cavalier
Brave, fluent, ardent, and of heedful mind,
Wise, learned, a warrior, and scribe withal,
And said : " Go to Khusrau Parwiz and say :
" Thou seeker of God's way, shrewd-hearted Shah !
I have men, arms, and treasure, and no need
To trouble any one but, if need were,
Would requisition drachms from every lord
Throughout the realm that thou mightst have thy

wish,
And go hence to thine own home in Iran.
Grieve not while here, 'tis circling heaven's way,
Which is by turns our refuge and our bale,
By turns our loss and profit. While I find
Arms, troops, and money do thou take thine ease.'
The envoy went and told Khusrau Parwiz.

Then Caesar cleared the audience-room and sat

Deliberating with his counsellor,

And said thus to that priest : " This suppliant
Hath made choice of ourselves to refuge with :
What shall we do that he may gather strength,
And feel no more his subject's insolence ? '

The counsellor thus answered : " What we need
Is that a few shrewd-hearted men of those
That are our well-advised philosophers
Shall act with us herein."

So famous (. Caesar
Dispatched a messenger and four arrived
Of those philosophers, two young, two old,
All Ruman-born, and thus they spake at Large: —
'The Iranians, since Sikandar passed away,
Have deeply wounded us by frequent raiding,
By war and strife, and causeless, reckless bloodshed :
Now holy God requiteth their ill deeds

In kind. Since the Sasanians' Fortune halteth
Forbear to intervene. Khusrau Parwiz,

If he shall gain the royal crown and raise
His forehead to the moon, will ask for tribute
From Rum anon and trample on our land.
Reflect if this be wise. Hold their words wind."

When Caesar heard he changed his mind and sent
The Shah a letter by a cavalier
To tell what course the sages had advised
In long debate. He reached Khusrau Parwiz,
And told what he had heard the famed king say,
Delivered Caesar's letter too and uttered
Words past compute. Khusrau Parwiz grew strait
Of heart thereat, his face turned wan with care.
He thus replied : " If we must lay to heart
All that can be alleged from days of yore
Then all our travail will but catch the wind.
Consider now if my progenitors,
Those chosen world-lords, men of holiness,
Made wars with justice or unjustly ; ask
Of ancient men who bear such things in mind.
Vouchsafe to question the wise men of Rum
If 'twas the crow or owl that did the wrong.
Although the Maker hath not left in want
The Great of Rum mine ancestors withal
Were men of name, in their own days supreme.
Who were no brookers of insurgency.
Pride, wrong, or foolishness from any one ;
But what can this avail now that my head
Is in the dragon's maw ? Greet Caesar for me,
And say : " The Great speak only to the point
In wisdom's presence though both good and ill
Pass in the end. I will not rest till I
Have drawn my skirt forth from this turbid stream,
And if the Rumans will not succour me
I will send envoys to the Khan. My words
Have naught availed because my river-bed
Was fouled, and when my messengers return
My sojourn in this city will be short.'
He said to the Iranians : " Obey
My bests ; let not this matter break your hearts,
For God, the Conqueror, is aiding us ;
Our part is fortitude and manliness.'"

He took the matter lightly and dispatched
His answer by Tukhar. He wrote as though
He recked not either good or ill. Tukhar
Departed from Khusrau Parwiz and came
To where was Caesar's court, that man of name.

Now Caesar having read the letter pondered,

And then addressed his noble minister : —
"Expound these problems. Call the Great and

Brave,
Tell what hath passed at Large and ascertain
If now Khusrau Parwiz in this contention
Will be successful or will writhe at fortune.
If ye shall say : He will not be victorious,
Henceforth there is no New Year's Day for him,"
Then will we let him journey to the Khan,
And go, since he is ailing, to that cure;
But if he is to triumph and possess
The kingship, like his father, it were well
In all ways that he go hence with a host.
And so not contemplate revenge at heart."

The prudent minister, on hearing this.
Gave orders and the readers of the stars
Came with their ancient tablets and consulted
Until three watches of the night had passed,
And in conclusion an astrologer
Spake thus to Caesar : " O illustrious !
I have consulted these old tables made
In astrologic wise by Falatun.
Ere long Khusrau Parwiz will have the realm,
The kingship start afresh, and darksome dust
Receive him not for eight and thirty years."

Thereat said Caesar to his minister : —
" Our doubts are cleared about Khusrau Parwiz.
What shall we say ? What answer shall we give ? "
" Let us apply a salve," he made reply.
" If he betake him to the Khan's domains,
Get aid from him, perceive himself secure,
And levy soldiers elsewhere than in Rum,
He never will forgo revenge on thee.
Advise thou who art wiser and more potent
In compassing thy will."

" We must," said Caesar,
" Dispatch him troops forthwith. "When all is

weighed
'Tis well to hold wealth cheap and keep from harm."

He wrote forthwith, bestowing praise on praise :—
" We have consulted loyal, honest priests
On all points bad and good, and have returned,
Discussion over, to our former view.
All is arranged and now we will unlock

Our ancient hoards. Within Kastantaniya

We have but force enough for garrison,
But have ta'en order and have requisitioned
Troops from the other provinces. As these
Arrive I will not fail to send them to thee.
All this delay and great deliberation.
This pricking with a fleam the lion's jaws,
Arose from sages' tales about the past.
How under Shah Shapur, son of Ardshir,
Our youths' hearts aged with toil, much ravaging,
Assault and slaughter and unjust revenge ;
Then passing to Kubad and to Hurmuzd,
Both reckless of God's justice, of our cities
Were nine and thirty turned to bramble-brakes
By the Iranians, and the waste became
Filled with the blood of chiefs whose wives and children
Were carried captive ; so thou must not marvel
If Rumans mused revenge. Howbeit to owe
A grudge is not according to our Faith,
And God forbid that we should practise ill.
We know no better thing than uprightness,
And lack of all deceit and knavery.
We have convoked the chiefest sufferers,
And spoken much to them in this regard;
Their evil passions have been charmed away,
For gnawing bane hath turned to antidote.
Thus then have we secured that none will use
The language of revenge about the past,
And pledge our lives to further thy commands.
Thou too must pledge thy word that none will bear
Ill will to us, must say : " While I am king
I will not think your labours slight or mean.
Will not demand a tribute from the Rumans.
Or sell for aught these services of theirs.'
Go further in complaisance: treat and make
Affinity with us. Whate'er ye do,
E'en in an unjust war, let us be friends
And brothers still through all vicissitudes
Of power. Now when ye need our help no Longer,
And thoughts of vengeance shall recur to you,
There will be talk again of Tur and Salm,
And of the follies of the past, so now
I ask a binding pact, fit for thy seal.
As a reminder that from this time forth
We will not speak of vengeance for Iraj,
Or of the past. Iran and Rum shall be
One realm ; we will not seek to sever them.
There is a daughter in our ladies' bower—
A fit match for the greatest of the great ;
Ask her according to our holy Faith,
According to our rites and ritual,
That when thou hast a child of Caesar's line
He may not think of vengeance for Iraj :
Then earth will rest from war and strife, and seek
The right way in the Faith. Regarding this
With wisdom's eye thou wilt esteem it just.
Affinity will make alliance sure,
Such is the precept that we have of God.
Good sooth, it is a long day since Piruz,
Or Khushnawaz. They gave their heads to wind,
But perish any treaty-breaking king !
Our Prophet, the Messiah, said thus : " If thou
Quit justice wisdom warpeth.' Many a plan
Tried Khushnawaz to keep the other's head
From coming to the shears, but when Piruz
Used force against him. in that fight the Shah
Saw but black reek while host and royal throne
Went to the winds because his head was turned
From right. Thou art a youth new to affairs,
And if thou wouldest gather fortune's fruit
Make not a treaty-breaker thine ally :
Dust is the shroud of such, and crown and throne
Curse treaty-breaking, strife-provoking kings.
Peruse my letter o'er and, if thy fingers
Possess the needful skill, write heedfully
A fair and good response. I would not have
This known to any scribe, so write thyself,
And take good heed. When I shall read thine
answer,
And see therein the heart of one resolved,
I will dispatch forthwith arms, troops, and money
To ease thy heart of care. As touching those
Who are with thee most honoured or renowned,
And those withal 'gainst whom thou harbourest
vengeance,
Put manfully such hatred from your hearts.
Leave their ill doings to almighty God,
And be not masterful with friend or foe.
If thou wouldst have victorious fortune hold thee
Lord of the world with host and crown and throne,
Lay not thy hand on others' goods but make
Thy soul a pathway toward the light, indulge
Thy kindred, and protect the labouring poor.
If thou art bounteous and a friend in need
None will attempt thy crown and throne, Of Shahs
The vigilant have kept the world from foes.
The magnates that desire affinity

Themselves or for their virtuous children ne'er
Have suffered ill from foemen, and God's Grace
Hath magnified them. Now we all court thee,
And deck our tongues to give thee good advice."

Whenas the address was dry they sealed the letter
With musk. Now when with tidings of a league
That he expected not the letter reached
Khusrau Parwiz he told the Iranians : —
"The sun revolveth otherwise to-day!
A letter of high policy hath come
From Caesar in most favourable terms :
He seeketh to abate the ancient feud
Between Iran and Rum."

They answered him :—
Whene'er this feud is o'er no chiefs will seek
The Shah's crown, or such numbers live in want.
If in thy days such righteousness come down
Men will inscribe thy name on every crown."

Now when they had approved this policy
Khusrau Parwiz put strangers forth and called
For inkhorn, pen, and silk of Chin, and bade
A scribe attend. He wrote, as Shahs were wont,
Thus in the olden tongue in royal script : —
" Khusrau Parwiz doth swear by holy God,
By circling sun and stable earth that while
I sit as Shah upon the seat of state,
Lord of Iran, its treasures and its troops,
I will not ask the chiefs of Rum for tribute,
Or send a host against those fields and fells.
I will restore to Caesar all the cities
Thereof however tradeless they may be
And worthless, and thereafter will return
Their documents and records. Further, I
Am well content to ask of him a daughter
Whose mother is both pure and of his race,
And by so asking illustrate my heart.
Entrust to those Iranians at thy court,
And under thy protection : " Gustaham,
Kharrad, son of Barzin, of royal race,
Shapur and Andiyan — thy daughter, wise
And high-renowned, when thou dost send the troops.
I am through mine affinity to thee
As my great family were heretofore.
The first was Gaiumart, the next Jamshid
A source of hope and terror to the world —
Then followed others of the glorious stock,
Great men in wisdom and in royalty.
From those old monarchs, wearers of the crown,
The story runneth on to Kai Kaus,
And Kai Khusrau, and by the selfsame token
To mighty Kai Kubad whose justice made
The sheep and wolf akin. Pursue the tale
To Shah Luhrasp through whom to Shah Gushtasp
There came the glorious Asfanfiyar,
That chief of chiefs, from whom sprang great Bahman,
And thus we come to Ardshir Papakan
'Neath whom our ancient star regained its youth.
Now when Khusrau Parwiz, son of Hurmuzd,
Is one in heart and sentiment with Caesar,
Among whose distant ancestors was Salm
(I seek no fables and I tell no lies)
We shall abolish all the feud between us,
And Ruman and Iranian will be one.
I do accept from Caesar Caesar's daughter—
The crown of all his daughters. Whatsoever
May be her faults or virtues it is well,
And holy God is witness to this letter,
Writ in mine own hand known throughout the world,
And I have sealed the letter with my seal
According to our customs, ways, and faith.
For thy successors — world-lords crowned and
throned —
That which is written here shall be my pledge,
With mind and wisdom to corroborate,
That I will keep my word in great and small.
That what I say is true my heart and star,
And holy God, bear witness, so delay not
To act upon thy words, for I have lingered
Long in this city."
All being said, he gave
The letter to Khurshid, son of Kharrad.
As swift as wind that chieftain rose and mounting
His chestnut steed sped till he came to Caesar,
And gave the message of Khusrau Parwiz.
Then Caesar, having snapped the band and read
The words of that exalted Shah, commanded
The wise men and the eloquent to meet
Before him and inquired of them in turn : —
" What cure shall I adopt ? How shall I make
A treaty with the monarch of Iran ?
His letter leaveth us without excuse ;
All we of Rum and of Iran are one.'

The chiefs and sages rose to answer him,
And said : We are but subjects ; thou art Caesar,
The world-lord throned and crowned. Do thou

advise,
Who hast both counsel and authority :
Our bodies and our souls are thine."

When Caesar
Heard he commended those shrewd, pious chiefs,
And waited till in the revolving sky
The lamp of day had lost its radiancy.

When circling Sol grew pale, and in the tower
Of night the stars were stationed, Caesar bade
His warlocks muse and frame a talisman—
A marvel — somewhere, such as none would know
From real — a woman modest, fair, and seated
In trailing raiment on a goodly throne
With handmaids on both sides of her and slaves

Before her and behind. She was to sit,
That moon-faced one in silence, to appear

A woman weeping, and from time to time
To raise one hand and dash her tears away.
The Warlocks. as they were instructed, made
The semblance of a woman with long hair,
And all that from a distance gazed thereon
Took it to be a woman lovelorn, bright,
That sorely wept o'er Christ, her cheeks aflame,
Her lashes like Spring-clouds. When of the adepts
That talisman was set up in its place
One went and said to Caesar : " We have finished
The matter)' in accord to what thou badest."

When he had heard this from the expert. Caesar
Came from his throne in haste and visited
The talisman. He marvelled at that feat
Of sorcery and sent For Gustaham.
He bounteously rewarded those magicians
With money and with divers other gifts,
Then said to Gustaham : " Famed warrior !
I had a daughter beautiful as Spring:
She grew up to :a marriageable age.
I had a kinsman, an aspiring one,
To whom I married her with Christian rites.
I countenanced him unadvisedly,
And sent her to his palace. That youths soul
Hath gone to Heaven ; she is deeply grieved :
Bright day for her is lapis-lazuli ;
She will not take my rede or speak a word.

And our young world hath aged through her trouble.
Concern thyself to see her, and employ
The words of men of lore, for thou art wise,
A paladin by race, and she may speak
To thee"

He said : "I will : it may be I
Shall banish this affection from her breast."

With cheerful heart and charged with potent words
That chief approached the guileful talisman,
Which bowed to greet him as he neared its throne.
Illustrious Gustaham sat humbly down.
And spake to that sad dame, beginning boldly
With such advice as seemed to him of profit : —
" O daughter born of Caesar's race ! " he said,
" The wise exclaim not at the course of nature :
The flying eagles, lions in the forests,
And fishes in the waters, are not free
From death," but all his words were wind ; no soul,
Or tongue had she but ever and anon
Would dash away the tear-drops from her eyes
As her physician talked. While Gustaham
Was lost in wonder Caesar summoned him,
And asked : " How didst thou find that child of mine,
Whose pain and mourning cause me this distress ? '
He answered : " I advised her much but vainly."
The following day said Caesar to Balwi :
" Go thou with Andiyan. Shapur withal,
The nobly born, may help to make my heart
Glad in my daughter. Go to that sorrower,
And speak to her about the famous king.
She that is heaping fire upon my head
May answer thee. Be good enough to aid me
By converse with my mourning child ; perchance
In view of your high rank she may accept
Your counsels. Sure I am that she will speak
To-day, and when she maketh fair reply
I shall be freed from this disconsolate,
Who raineth tears of blood upon her breast."

Then those three noble Persians went to her,
And each one strove, but answer gat they none ;
That tongueless dame was mute. The baffled three
Went back to Caesar, that just judge, and said : —
" We spake and gave advice as best we could,
But there was no improvement."
" 'Tis ill hap
For us, he said, " to grieve for one in grief."
Since these great men had failed he had recourse

To great Kharrad, son of Barzin. " Thou art."
He said, " one of these chiefs and thou mayst hear
Her voice forthwith." then sent him to the mourner
From court attended by a trusty servant.
When he arrived he looked upon the mien
Of that crowned form and waited in its presence
No little while. The guileful talisman
Made him a bow of greeting. He observed
The woman, head and foot, most heedfully,
And marked the attendants standing round. He

spake
At large: she answered not a word; that man,
That scion of the chiefs, grew lull of thought.
"If grief hath robbed her of her wits."' he said,
" Why do her servants hold their peace the while ?
If these be very tear-drops from her eyes

One would expect her passion to abate.
She letteth fall the drops upon her breast,
And knoweth not to move to left or right :
Her tears fall on one spot ; she hath not used
One hand or stirred a foot ! Had this form life
She would move more than foot or hand, would shed
Her tears, and stretch her other hand, elsewhere.
I see life stir not in her body ; "'tis
A talisman of these philosophers."

He came to Caesar with a smile and said :—
" This moon-faced lady is not rational ;
It is a talisman of Ruman make,
And hath deceived Balwi and Gustaham.
Thy purpose was to laugh at us or charm
Our eyes. Our Shah when he shall hear will smile
With open lips and show his silvern teeth."

Said Caesar : " Live for ever ! Thou art fit
To be the minister of kings. I have

A wondrous chamber in my palace, one
Can not imagine aught more marvellous.
When thou beholdest it thou wilt not know
Its secret — talisman or work divine."

Kharrad, son of Barzin, on hearing this,
Went to that ancient chamber and beheld
A cavalier upstanding, poised in air,
And going back to famous Caesar said : —
" The cavalier is iron and the chamber
Withal is fashioned of the famous ore
Called loadstone by the sages. Those of Rum
Have mounted him upon an Indian steed.
Whoe'er shall read the Indians' books will find
Both pleasure and enlightenment of mind."

" In what regard," said Caesar, " do the Indians

Err from the Path ? Those that are worshippers,
Are they idolaters or what are they ? "

Kharrad, son of Barzin, replied : " In Hind
They worship ox and moon, put not their trust
In God and circling heaven, and regard not
Their persons, look no higher than the sun,
And reckon not men like ourselves as wise.
Whoever kindleth fire, shall enter it,
And shall consume himself therein, believeth
That in the air there is a fire ordained
By God, whose word is law, which fire the sage
Of Hind entitleth : " Ether ' and hath much
Of worth and interest to say thereon,

As thus : when earthly and etherial fires
Combine man's sin is purged : they must be kindled
Since burning is accounted righteousness.
Withal ye too speak not aright : hereto
Christ's life is testimony. Mark'st thou not
What Jesus, son of Mary. said when he
Was bringing secret things to light ? " If' one
Shall take thy skirt from thee resist him not.
And if one buffet thee upon the face,

So that thine eyes are darkened by the blows.
Be not enraged or Let thy cheek turn pale,

But shut thine eyes and speak no chilling word.
If' thou hast little food let it suffice.
And if thou hast no carpet seek one not.
Hold not this land of evil to be bad,
And ye without a pang will quit this (Gloom.'
But now with you desire is king o'er wisdom.
Your hearts have erred through overweening greed,

For ye have raised your palaces to Saturn.
And camels bear your treasuries' keys. Besides
The treasures ye have mighty hosts with coats
Of mail from 'Ad and Ruman helms. Ye lead
Hosts everywhere unjustly and allow not
Your swords to rest. The wilderness is all
One fount of blood : Christ led you not to this.
He was a poor, unfurnished man who earned
His bread by toil and lived on curds and milk
With butter for his only other food.
Now when the Jews gat hold of him and saw
Him friendless and without resource they slew him,
And having slain him set him on the gibbet
To make thereby his Faith contemptible.
His father was an ancient man, his mother

A temple-keeper and a trier out
Of good and ill. Grown ardent and desirous
Of knowledge, eloquent, instructed, mindful,
He made withal disciples by his teaching,
And compassed in his youth his will by shrewdness.
Thou sayest that he was God's son and smiled
When slain upon the gibbet ! At such things
The sage doth smile. If thou art wise fear God,
Who hath no need of consort and of son,
And unto whom all mysteries are clear.
Why turn'st thou from the Faith of Gaiumart,
The path and precedent of Tahmuras,
Which tell us that the Judge of earth is One,
And that our only course is serving Him ?
The experienced thane and worshipper of God,
When muttering prayer he taketh in his hand
The sacred twigs, may taste no drop of water
Albeit for very thirst he dream thereof ;
He trusteth God upon the day of battle,
And asketh not cold water in the fight.
Withal he taketh for his cynosure
The highest element which is above
Earth, air, and water. Our Shahs barter not
Their Faith but list to Him, the Lord of all.
They joy not in dinars and gems but seek
To make their name and mark by justice only,
By gifts of lofty palaces or joying
The hearts of mourners. Fourthly, they pronounce
None wise but one that on the day of battle
Doth veil the bright sun's face with dust and guardeth
The land from foes. Be curses his, not blessings,
That seeketh from religion aught but right."
When Caesar heard this he approved ; the words
Seemed profitable to him, and he said : —
" The Maker made thee foremost of the great :
One needs must hearken to thy pure discourse.
Thou hast the key that openeth the door
Of mysteries. The head of one with liege
Like this is higher than the moon's own crown."

Then from his treasury he bade to bring
Dinars and drachms and crown magnifical,
Bestowed them on Kharrad, son of Barzin,
And uttered many praises : " Cultured be
The country of Iran." he said, "through thee."

Now Caesar, when he heard that troops had come.

And that the world was black with horsemen's dust.
Chose from those Rumans five-score thousand men,
All famed in battle, requisitioned arms,

War-steeds and drachms, and thus much time elapsed.
He had one daughter Maryam hight, wise, grave,
Well counselled and resolved, and later on
Brought forth such stores of bridal bravery
That e'en the speedy baggage-beasts grew slow —
Gold trinkets, jewels that a king might wear,
Gems, gold-embroidered raiment, carpetings,
Brocade of Rum with golden patterns wrought
Upon a ground of silk, torques, bracelets, earrings,
And three most costly and bejewelled crowns.
He had four gilded litters too made ready.
Their curtains decorate with royal gems,
And forty others made of ebony
All jewelled like the eye of chanticleer.

Then came three hundred moon-faced waiting-maids
All colour and perfume, five hundred slave-boys
Intelligent and bright with ornaments
Of gold and silver, forty Ruman eunuchs
Fay-faced, illustrious, attractive men,
And four of the philosophers of Rum,
Wise, learned and famed. He gave them their

instructions,
And privily withal charged Maryam
To be obedient, order her desires,
To do her duty, to be bountiful.
As to her food and how to bear herself.
There was, as reckoned in the Ruman way.
More than three hundred millions' worth of goods.
To every envoy at his court he gave
A crown inlaid with jewels, robes withal,
Steeds and dinars and much of all things fitting.
He bade write to the Shah on painted silk : —
" Well may they raise their necks up to the moon,
These subjects of the Shah ! No man more courteous
"Than Gustaham hath sprung from small or great.
Is there a champion like the chief Shapur
To act as arbiter ? Balwi withal
Can keep a secret for he would not sell
His folk for aught, while none though he live long
Will see one like Kharrad, son of Barzin,

Whom God created to solve mysteries.

He is as bright and faultless as the sun,
Divine in rede and deed."

This written, he summoned
His counsellors and readers of the stars
To fix a lucky day for setting forth,
And started on Bahram with favouring stars
And auguries. He went himself three stages,
And then resigned the conduct of the host.
Bade Maryam come to him, conversed with her
At large, and said : " Be Ware of putting off'
Thy girdle till thou comest to Iran.
Khusrau Parwiz must see thee not unveiled
Till then or things unlooked for may befall thee,"
Then bade her tenderly farewell : " May heaven
Protect thee on thy way."

He had a brother,
The valiant Niyatus. who led his host
In that campaign, and : " Maryam is akin
To thee," he said, " in blood and. I would add.
In Faith. I charge thee with her, with this

wealth.
And this well ordered army."

Niyatus
Accepted all from Caesar who. this said.
Turned back in tears. The host marched toward

W'arigh,
Led on by Niyatus with mace and sword.

Khusrau Parwiz, on hearing that the host
Had come, set out with forces from that city.
And when the leaders' dust-clouds and the Flags
Of those mailed cavaliers appeared, and when
The troops came onward cloud-like, lapped in iron,
In helmet and cuirass, his heart laughed out,
Like Spring-tide roses, at that fine array :
He plucked up heart and gave his steed the heel.
He saw, embraced, and greeted Niyatus,
And testified his gratitude to Caesar,
Who had endured such toil and with that toil
Of ordering the host had rendered void
His treasury ; then going to the litter
Beheld the face of Maryam through her veil,
Saluted her and kissed her hand, rejoicing
To look upon the Fair. He bore her off
To his encampment where he gave his Moon

A bower and passed three days in converse with her.
Upon the fourth when Sol, the world's light, shone
They gat in readiness a choice pavilion,
And summoned Niyatus, Sarkab, and Kut,
The bold, with other chiefs both great and small,
Whom thus the Shah addressed : " What chiefs and

warriors
Are here, such men as brandish sword and mace,
In battle reck not of their lives, and turn not
From lion or from leopard in the fray ? '

Then Niyatus made choice of seventy men
To lead in fight ; each had beneath his banner
A thousand chosen, lance-armed cavaliers.
Khusrau Parwiz beheld this picked array
Of noble horsemen eager for the strife ;
He praised the Maker of heaven, time, and earth,
He praised too Niyatus, his troops withal,
And noble Caesar and his realm, and said : —
" If God almighty aid me in this war
I will display my puissance and make
Earth like a sea for jewels ; ye shall joy
At having come and rather tell thereof
Than hold your peace : heaven's airs shall breathe

love-fraught
From pleasance, friendship be our only thought."

Upon the seventh day that comely Shah
Arrayed his host as 'twere the turning sky,
The din of tymbals went up from the court,
And air grew ebon with the dust of troops.
He chose a force of Persians and set out
Toward Azar Abadagan. There passed
Two weeks what while by order of the Shah

The soldiers concentrated at his camp.
He pitched it on the plain of Duk ; the army
Was great and under Ruman discipline.
He gave the whole host up to Niyatus,
Thus saying: "Thou art master of the flock,"
And thence with certain valiant cavaliers
Let his swift steed have rein and made toward
Khanjast — an anxious journey — till he reached
Mausil. the Armenian, who could hold his own
Among the great and had with him Bandwi,
The Shah's maternal uncle. Now these twain.
On hearing that Khusrau Parwiz was stirring.
Sped from the waste to meet him on the way.
Preceding their own troops. To Gustaham
The Shah said, seeing them upon the road:—
"O warrior ! two are hurrying o'er the field :
See who they are and wherefore in such haste."

He answered : " Sure am I, O king ! that he
Who rideth on the piebald is my brother,
The brave Bandwi : his friend is not of us.'

The Shah said : " What ! How canst thou know
him ? Nay,
Seek him in ward if living and if slain
Upon a gibbet in the riding-ground."

Said Gustaham : " O Shah ! regard him well
From this side : 'tis thine uncle : let me die
For saying so if it prove otherwise."

Afoot the twain approached the shady spot
Where was the Shah, praised him and did obeisance.
He gave Bandwi a welcome and observed : —
" I said that I should find thee hid in dust."

He told the Shah all that had chanced to him,
His ruse of putting on the royal robes,
And all Bahram Chubina's clemency.
Khusrau Parwiz wept greatly at the tale,
Then asked him : " Who is this ?'"

" O sun-faced Shah !
Hast thou no kindly welcome for Mausil ? '
He answered. " Since thou left'st Iran for Rum
He hath not slept in lands inhabited,
But camped upon the plain, his palace been
Tent and pavilion. The troops with him
Are many ; he hath all the gear of greatness,
With drachms and treasures. Now he hath been

waiting
Upon the road and longed for thy return."

" How came it," asked the world-lord of Mausil,
" That all thy toil was hidden ? We will strive
To give thee happy days and make thy name
The greatest of the great."

Mausil replied : —
" Give me new life, O king ! Let me approach
And kiss thy stirrup while I praise thy Grace
And splendour."

" For these words," replied the Shah,
" I will make bright thy gains to pay thy pains,
Will grant thy wish and set thy name on high
Above the great."

Then he withdrew one foot
Out of the stirrup, and that ardent soul,
All eagerness, kissed foot and stirrup both,
O'ercome by veneration for the Shah,
Who, when that loyal liege was satisfied,
Bade him remount and urged his own steed on
Across that barren waste until he reached

Azargashasp. With muttered prayer he entered

The Fire-fane, with an aching heart. A priest,
The Zandavasta in his hand, approached
The pious Shah who, loosing from his loins
His golden belt, flung jewels on the Fire,
And in his prayers outdid the priest himself.

" Just Judge ! ' he said, " bring my foes' heads to

dust.
Thou knowest that I justly plead and purpose
To keep the path of good. Approve not Thou
The injustice of the unjust."

This said, he girt
His golden belt and sought the plain of Duk
With wounded heart in trouble for his way :
Night fell ere he reached camp.

He sent shrewd spies
To learn the posture of the world's affairs,
And when the army of Nimruz had heard :—

"The Shah, the lustre of the world, hath come,"
They bound the drums upon the elephants,
And earth became as 'twere the river Nile.
All folk at that intelligence, which made
Them young again, drew near to give him aid.

Bahram Chubina heard : " The Grace of kingship
Hath been revived," and cast his eyes on one
Devoted to himself, one of the host,
Aspiring, sage, fair-famed : " Dara Panah—
Then called a scribe of note whom he instructed
To write him letters of great charge to all
The valiant leaders : " Gustaham, Bandwi,
Gurdwi, the warrior (for he had won
That name from all the other chiefs), Shapur,
And Andiyan, the cavalier, and all
That were the living memories of the great.
The letters ran : " I offer to the Maker
Mine adoration privily that ye
May all awake from sleep and hasten not
To ill on this wise for from verge to centre,
With this Sasanian race in evidence.
Things worsen through their wrangling and self-
seeking.
Ardshir, sprung from Papak, was first to bring

Confusion on the world, his scimitar
O'ershadowed all his age and mazed the Great ;
And first of all I instance Ardawan
With other chiefs of ardent soul whose names
Are lacking on the earth to this throne's grief.
Then surely ye have heard of what befell,
Through ill-advised Piruz, to Sufarai.
He freed Kubad from fetters and Kubad,
Of all the chieftains, gave him to the wind ;
For when malevolent Kubad grew strong
He put away his virtues, took to crime,
Slew this illustrious and devoted man,
And soured the nobles' hearts. He that aggrieveth
His kin, preferring passion to his child,
Would injure strangers more. No one would look
For ivory in ebony' ; so put not
Your only trust in the Sasanians,
Or seek for jewels in red willow-trees.
When they shall bring this letter unto you
May your Urmuzd prove gracious. Ye possess
A place illustrious in my regard ;
The breast and sleeves are all one with the shirt ;
Our place for rest and sleep by dark or day
Is one, and when ye join me ye will brighten
My gloomy soul. I reck not of the Rumans,
Or of their king, and will tread down their heads
And throne."

They sealed the letters with his seal,
And then the envoy went in merchants' guise
In haste to where Khusrau Parwiz held court.
He had a caravan of various goods.
And with the letters carried presents too.
He marked the grandeur and great host where for,
Thou wouldst have said : " Earth hath no thorough-
fare,"
And thought : " With such a king who will confide
In brave Bahram Chubina ? I am Persian,
I carry thirty camels loads of goods,
And have no Foes : why should I wreck myself
When majesty hath risen from the abyss?
I will deliver to Khusrau Parwiz
The letters — an unlooked for offering. "

Perturbed he reached the Shahs court with those
letters,
And all the presents of that hostile liege ;
He brought the drachms, the letters, and the gifts,
Revealing all. The world-lord having read
Assigned the messenger a golden seat,
And said to him : " O man exceeding wise !
Speak of Bahram Chubina as one vile
In our regard. Thou hast attained thine end,
But make it not a feather in thy cap.'"

Then sending for a scribe he had an answer,
Such as the case required, drawn up at large : —
" Brave and exalted chief ! we have perused
Thy letters and been privy with thine envoy.
In word we battle for Khusrau Parwiz,
But are to thee like new Spring in our hearts.
When thou hast led thine army hither who
Will reck of Rum or Rumans ? We will draw
Our scimitars and slay them in the fight.
Khusrau Parwiz, when he shall see thine host,
Thy prowess and pre-eminence, will quail
At heart upon the battle-day and flee
Like fox before thee."

Having sealed the letters
He gave them to that loyal chief and said :—
" For this thy conduct, sage ! thou shalt have fruit
From toil," then gave him jewels and dinars.
And many precious gems. " Convey," he said,
" These to Bahram Chubina and recount
What thou hast heard, and thou shalt want for

nothing
When my high fortune brighteneth."

From court
Dara Panah departed and achieved
His journey like the wind. The youth delivered
The letters which the paladin received.
When that aspirant had perused the letter
He summoned greed and banished rede, and led
By what the letters said prepared to march.
The Iranians were amazed. The elders went,
On seeing that blind act, and said : " Depart not,
Or thy young day will age. Khusrau Parwiz,
If he invadeth us, will only find
The maces and the scimitars of war ;
But do not thou betray the royal throne,
Or fortune will beguile thee forwardly."
Their words were vain : he bade the host assemble ;
He loaded up the baggage, called to horse.
Struck up) the drums, and led the army forth.
That valiant armament of Persians reached
Azar Abadagan. Host drew near host.
And ant and fly were barred from thoroughfare.
That warring subject said : " I fain would scan
Yon host and see what Ruman cavaliers
Are like, and if their troops are troops or what."
Then with Yalan-sina and with the chief,

Izid Gashasp, the warriors all mounted
Upon their steeds. These magnates went to view
The hostile host, saw and returning told
Their chief : " Yon host is boundless ! The affair
Is other than we deemed."

Upon their side
The Ruman horsemen of The Shah arrived
In all haste at the place of audience,
And girding Up their loins exclaimed : " We long
To battle with the Iranians," which thing
Accorded to the wishes of the king.

When Sol rose o'er the darksome hills the war-cry
Ascended from both hosts ; thou wouldst have said : —
" Earth is a turning sky and swords eclipse
The sun ! " The troops drew up to left and right;
Earth was an iron mountain. At the neighing
Of chargers and the shouting of the hosts

The desert fled for shelter to the hills.
When brave Bahram Chubina saw he drew
His glittering glaive, his heart conceived no fears
Though raging lions' hearts were rent asunder.
He went himself to view the left and right,
And told Yalan-sina : " Take thou the centre,
And keep before the army for I champion
The troops to-day and tarry though they flee."

Khusrau Parwiz surveyed the battlefield,
And saw the whole world blackened by the hosts ;
The bright sun's face was like a lion's maw.
And thou hadst said : " The clouds are raining

swords ! "
Then Niyatus, Bandwi, and Gustaham
Went with the Shah from battlefield to height.
Those leaders took their station on Mount Duk,
Their eyes upon their followers, and thence
The Shah surveyed his host, the right and left,
The centre and the wings. The tymbals sounded
From both sides and the eager warriors
Advanced to fight. " Earth is an iron mountain,"
Thou wouldst have said, " heaven lost in foemen's

dust ! "
Now when Khusrau Parwiz saw matters thus,
Saw heaven as woof and earth as warp, he prayed
Thus in the olden tongue : " O Thou more pure,

And higher than the high ! Who but Thyself,
O holy Judge ! can tell which will return
Exulting from the fight to-day ? The spear
Of him whose fortune halteth hath but thorn
Or weed for point."

Khusrau Parwiz was full
Of care, both heart and soul ; the world appeared
A brake to him, for from among the troops
Kut, like a dark hill in his iron mail,
Brake from the centre to the height and cried : —
" Illustrious monarch ! point me out the slave,
The doer of div"s work, 'gainst whom thou foughtest
When in Iran and fleddest while he triumphed.
Look to the army's left and right, and find him
Among the chieftains. I will teach him warfare,
And show what hearts and might true warriors have."

Thereat all mindful of the former fight
The Shah was vexed at heart because Kut said : —
"Thou didst let fall thy knightly equipage,
And flee before a slave," but answered not ;
His heart was full, he sighed. At length he said: —
" Approach yon rider on the piebald steed :
He will attack thee when he seeth thee;
Then fly not lest thou bite thy lips in shame."

Kut sped back like the wind and spear in hand
Came furious as a maddened elephant
Upon the battlefield. Yalan-sina
Called to Bahram Chubina, saying: 'Beware,
Brave cavalier! A div armed with a lance,
And with a lasso in his straps, hath come
Like elephant gone mad."

He heard, unsheathed
Like wind his falchion and proclaimed his name,
Which when the Shah observed he rose and peered
Down from the mountain-top upon the pair,
Wet-eyed and wroth of heart. Now when the Ruman
Charged with his lance the aspirant gripped his steed,
Escaped the thrust, raised to his face his shield,
And clave his foe asunder to the breast.
The sword's clash reached Khusrau Parwiz who

laughed
To see the stroke struck by Bahram Chubina,
While valaint Niyatus frown-blinded raged
Because the Shah had laughed, and said : " Great

sir !
One should not laugh in war whereof thou knowest
Naught but the sleights, and when thou wouldst

avenge
Thine ancestors I see thy heart asleep.
Men will not see in any peopled part
Of Rum or of Iran one like to Kut,
Hazara's son, whose slaying made thee laugh.
Know this, that fortune hath deserted thee."

He made reply : "I laugh not at his slaughter,
Or at his body which is cleft in twain.
Know this that he who mocketh shall receive
Himself a buffet from the turning sky.
He said to me : " Thou fleddest from a slave
With whom thou hadst not prowess to contend.'
But fleeing from this slave who striketh blows
In such wise in the battle is no shame."

Bahram Chubina for his part exclaimed : —
Ye chiefs of glorious birth : " Yalan-sina,
Ram and Izid Gashasp ! bind ye the slain
Upon his charger and thus send him back
To his own camp for their own Shah to see."

They hasted to secure upon the saddle
The corpse of Kut, and then the charger sped
Back to the camp with that exalted chief.
Khusrau Parwiz was grieved at heart for Kut.
They loosed the knotted lasso from the slain,
Then by the Shah's direction dried the body,
And having filled with musk and stitched the wounds,
Sewed up the corpse in linen and dispatched it,
All armed and girded, unto Caesar, saying : —
" If this infernal slave can give such blows
In time of battle with his scimitar
I am not shamed for having fled from him."

The Rumans were heart-broken ere they fought,
And sorely stricken ; their patricians wept ;
They all were tearful and dispirited.
Ten thousand of the mighty men advancing
All prelates, warriors, and cavaliers,
Charged so that hills split at the cry of them.
The clash of arms, the shoutings of the chiefs,
The blows of scimitar and massive mace,
Rose. Thou hadst said : " It is a raging sea,
And heaven as it turneth crieth : " Blood."
The hosts were blocked and sundered by the slain ;
An army of those Ruman chiefs had fallen.
Khusrau Parwiz was stricken to the heart.
And had the wounds of those still living dressed.
They piled the corpses mountain-high; men called it
"The harvest of Bahram." Khusrau Parwiz
Lost faith in Rumans for he said : " If they

Bear them like this again know that their host
Will cease to be and all their swords of steel
Prove merely wax."

Then said he to Sarkab : —
"To-morrow take no Rumans to engage,
But rest and I will lead the Iranian host
To battle.-."

To the Iranians he said :—
No more delay; to-morrow ye must fight,"
And one and all replied : " We will not fail
To level to the plain mount, waste, and dale.'

When day's white banner rose aloft the main,

And when the stars grew hopeless of the dark,

The drummers went forth from both camp-enclosures
With elephants and clarions. There rose

The sound of pipes and horns, the trumpeting

Of elephants, and clash of brazen cymbals.

Thou wouldst have said : " The plains and uplands

heave,
The sun's face is like raven's plumes," and when
The Iranians ranged their ranks and grasped their

spears,
And Indian swords, thou wouldst have said : " The

earth
Is all cuirass, the spear-heads light the stars ! '

Whenas Khusrau Parwiz arrayed the centre
The troops took heart. Gurdwi, that brave aspirant,
Commanded on the right, and on the left
A famed Armenian with cuirass and sword
Like Ahriman's. Shapur with Sipansar
And Andiyan drew tight their loins for battle,
While close beside the Shah was Gustaham
To guard him from the foe.

Bahram Chubina,
The hero, seeing not the Rumans, paused
In silence, then commanded and they bound
The drums upon the elephants ; the world
Was like the Nile. The elephant he rode
Was white and his antagonist despaired.
He charged the Shah's right, shouting to Shapur : —
" O knave ! 'twas not thy promise in thy letter
To come against me on this field of blood !
This is not Persians' usage, and thou givest
Thy body to be slaughtered all for naught."

Shapur replied to him : " Thou div-like one !
Thou hast lost all thy wits in slavery.

Whose name and token did the letter bear

Of which thou speak'st in presence of the lords ? '

Then great Khusrau Parwiz said to Shapur : —
" That letter was to match with his designs ;
I and the other nobles of the host
Will compensate thee for it. In due season
I will explain and purge thee of suspicion."
Bahram Chubina heard Khusrau Parwiz,
Perceived the ruse, was both enraged and shamed,
And in his wrath resolved on fight. The usurper
Charged all alone upon his elephant
The centre of the army of the Shah,
Who saw and said to Andiyan : " Fierce lion !
Shower arrows on yon elephant and make
Your bows like clouds in Spring."

The Iranians,
All that were fortune-favoured, strung their bows.
The elephant's trunk was riddled so with shafts
That thou hadst said : " It is a Nile ! " Forthwith
Bahram Chubina called for horse and helm,
King-worthy, and the arrows showered anew
Upon that proud one's steed. The warrior
Alighting, girt his mail-skirts round his waist,
And then with buckler raised above his head
Brought Doomsday with his trenchant scimitar
Upon the foe who dropped their bows of Chach,
And ran. They brought a horse. He mounted raging,

And shouting charged the centre of the foe —
The station of the Shah and pierced it through :
The standard of the leader disappeared.
Thence went he toward the foe's right and outflanked
The Persians and the baggage. Now Gurdwi
Commanded there — a man of valiance
And of ambition. When he saw his brother
He strung and drew his bow. Those men of blood
Closed ; thou hadst said : " They mingle." Long

they strove,
And neither would give way. Bahram Chubina
Cried : " Miscreant ! wherefore girdest thou thy loins
To shed thy brother's blood ? '

Gurdwi replied : —
" Old wolf ! hast thou not heard the weighty saw : —
" A brother as a friend is good : forego
Both skin and vein if he become thy foe.'

Thou art a man of blood, a miscreant,

An Ahriman, the Maker's enemy
At heart. No one of honour and repute
Will come against his brother in the fight."

Bahram Chubina, hearing this, withdrew
In anger and high dudgeon, while Gurdwi.
His martial countenance a-gloom with iron,
Proceeded to the Shah. Khusrau Parwiz
Commended him right lovingly and said : —
" May turning heaven reward thee."

Then the Shah
Made toward the centre, where his warriors reeled,
And sent one to Shapur. Assist Mausil,"
He said, " put forth your power, fight back to back,
And ye may compass shining fortune yet."

At that time said the king to Gustaham : —
If any Ruman shareth in this fight
Then when Bahram Chubina hath been worsted,
Or even wounded, they will raise their heads
Up to the sky and brag immeasurably.
I would not have the Rumans waxing proud,
And glorying over us about the war.
I have seen all their prowess ; they are like
A flock in Winter. 'Twill be best for me
To fight with him short-handed ; I require not
Aid from another for I trust in God,
The Succourer."

Said Gustaham : " O king !
Conspire not thou against thine own sweet life ;
But if thou art determined choose some comrades ;
Wreck not thy person on this battlefield."

Khusrau Parwiz rejoined : ' 'What thou hast said
Is well, so make thy choice of some to help
Out of the army.'"

Gustaham selected
Twice seven Iranian horsemen brave and proud.
He wrote himself down first upon the list.
Then brave Shapur with Andiyan, Bandwi,
Gurdwi — the prop of kings Azargashasp,
And then Shirzil, Rangwi who could outface
The lion and the elephant. Tukhara —
A help in fight and to Yalan-sina
A mortal foe — illustrious Khusrau,
And Farrukhzad, Ustad son of Piruz,
Who caused his enemies to melt away.
Urmuzd and fortunate Khurshid-a pair
To whom their foemen were as grass. Their chief
Was gallant Gustaham expert in war.
On this wise he made choice of Fourteen men,
And hurried with them from the host apart.
Khusrau Parwiz harangued those chiefs and said : —
" My noble followers ! look ye all to God,

Be blithe of heart and smiling. Naught will chance
But as He willeth while this ancient sky
Endureth. Better perish in the fight
Than have a slave to rule us. Ye must be
My body-guard and instant in the fray."

All blessed him, hailed him king of earth and vowed
That none of them would quit him in the strife.
The monarch heard, was reassured, rejoiced,
And well contented with those warriors.
He left the host with glorious Bahram,
And went forth with those fourteen combatants,
While from the look-out rose a shout forthwith :
They told Bahram Chubina : " Troops have come."
That vigilant aspirant gat to horse
With lasso in the straps and sword in hand.
When from his steed he saw the sum of them
He chose him some few warriors and spake
Thus to Yalan-sina : " Yon miscreant
Hath proved that he is hardy in the fight,
For now I know that none but he would venture
Upon this field of vengeance. He hath come
Attended by a troop like this to battle,
But it may be to face the crocodile !
There are not more than twenty cavaliers,
And not one of them do I recognise ! ""'

Then to Izid Gashasp and to Yalan-sina
He said : " Men hide not valour. Four of us
Will do, for fortune is a greater friend
To me than to Khusrau Parwiz."

He gave
The host to one hight Janfuruz, who loved
The night's gloom more than day, and then went forth
Himself and sped on with the wary three.
Khusrau Parwiz perceived Bahram Chubina,
And told his comrades : " There hath come a troop.
Be not perturbed for 'tis my time to stand.
Leave it to me and with my mace to deal
With vile Bahram Chubina : be it yours
To combat with his chiefs. Ye are fourteen
To three and may ye never see defeat."

Then with his Ruman soldiers Niyatus
Must needs gird up the loins and from the field
Of fight they made their way toward the heights
To view both companies and all exclaimed : —
" Why bartereth the great Shah life for crown ?
Abundant horse are left and yet he goeth
To fight in person recklessly ! "

All raised
Their hands to heaven because they deemed him slain.
Now when Bahram Chubina and his comrades —
Yalan-sina and brave Izid Gashasp —
Charged, all the comrades of Khusrau Parwiz
Took flight. Bahram Chubina was the wolf,
These nobles were the flock and full of dudgeon
When they beheld that div escaped from bonds :
Howbeit Bandwi, Gurdwi, and Gustaham
Stayed with the Shah till, with a prayer to God,
He also, left resourceless, turned his steed.
Pressed by Izid Gashasp. " My fate," he said,
Is on me ! Why in folly did I court
This Doomsday, for the folk have looked upon
My back in flight ? "

Said Gustaham : "The horsemen
Approach us : wherefore shouldst thou fight alone?'

The Shah looked back and saw Bahram Chubina
The foremost of the four, and then to save
Himself cut loose his charger's sable mail.
His three companion-horsemen Lagged behind;
His vengeful foe pursued. A narrow gorge
Confronted him. Behind him warriors three
Came on like pards. The gorge was barred by rocks.
The world-lord was afar from his own troops.
That glorious youth dismounted fain to scale
Afoot in haste the heights. His path was barred :
The heart of that famed man was sore thereat.
He might not tarry and he could not flee,
While after him came fierce Bahram Chubina,
Who called to him : " O knave ! the abyss is yawning
Before thy height of greatness ! Why hast thou
Thus shouldered thine own fate and brought it me ? '

Then straitened with the scimitar behind,
The rocks in front, the Shah cried : " God almighty,
Who art above the processes of time !
Thou art my succour in my helpless strait :
I cry not unto Mercury and Saturn."

Or ever from the mountain rose that cry
Surush, the glorious, grew manifest
Upon the pathway, garbed in green and riding
A white steed. At that sight Khusrau Parwiz
Recovered confidence. Surush drew near,
And having grasped the prince's hand (such things
Are not a marvel with all-holy God)
And borne him from his foe, placed him in safety.
And then let go his hold.

" What is thy name ? "
Khusrau Parwiz inquired and spake and wept
By turns. He said : " Surush. Thou art in safety ;
Lament no more. Henceforth Great King art thou,
And shouldst be naught but holy."

Having said,
He vanished : none hath looked on such a marvel.
Bahram Chubina saw and, all astound,
Invoked the Maker oft. A trembling came
Upon him when he saw his purpose foiled.
He said : " May pluck ne'er fail me while I fight
With men, but now that it hath come to fays
I needs must weep for my beclouded fortunes."

For his part Niyatus upon the mountain
Asked God's protection, Maryam tore her cheeks
In anguish for her world-lord spouse. The host
Filled mountain, plain, and dale, the Rumans' hearts
Were grieved and seared. Said Niyatus to her :—
" Stay here ; I fear me that the Shah is lost."

With that upon the mountain's further side,
Far from the troops, Khusrau Parwiz appeared.
That famed host joyed and Maryam's heart was eased.
He came to her, informed her of that marvel,
And thus he said : " O spouse of Caesar's line !
The just Judge hath done justice unto me ;
'Twas not through slackness or through cowardice,

For cowards show their slackness in the fight.
I was companionless within the gorge.
And in my trouble called upon the Maker,
And He that ordereth the world's affairs
Revealed to me, His slave, His hidden purpose.
Not glorious Faridun or Tur or Salm.
Or yet Afrasiyab, e'er dreamed such things,
For, nobles ! what I looked upon to-day
Betokeneth victory and sovereignty.
Renew the struggle and remember me."

Forthwith the host descended from the mountain ;
The world was blackened by the horsemen's dust.
Bahram Chubina for his part was troubled,
Repenting all his conduct, but advanced.
Not having any choice, his powers apace.
There was no daylight left. He said : "All those
Commanding troops need wisdom, mastery,
And courage. Seeing how I ply the dart,
And have the making of a paladin,
The brave preferred me to Khusrau Parwiz,
And I will bring the crown of Nushirwan
To dust."

Advancing rashly toward the Shah
He strung his bow and loosed a whole wood arrow,
Which in a moment struck the Shah's belt whence
It dangled point-arrested by the silk.
A slave that saw came and extracted it

From the brocade. The Shah's spear struck his

foe
Upon the belt which was of mail and broke not,
But though the spear-head snapped the usurper

quailed.
The Shah, indignant that his spear was broken,
Brought down his mace upon his foeman's casque.
The mace's head was broken by the blow,
And stuck upon the crest, while all that saw,
Or heard the iron ring, acclaimed the Shah,
Whose troops were heartened, for Bahram Chubina
Had had a check, who, when the sun and moon
Loured on him, turned reluctantly away,
Aware how hard his task had grown — one past
Both prowess and endeavour. The Shah's host,
When they beheld his lion-manlihood,
All : " Rumans and Iranians — unsheathed
The sword of vengeance and charged mountain-like
In mass. The magnates followed in his steps,
And utterly o'erthrew those mighty powers.
Bandwi came to the Shah and said : " O thou,
Whose crown is higher than the sky and moon !
This host like ants and locusts is dispersed
Upon the plain, the sands, and stony ground.
It is unworthy to shed needless blood,
And for the Shah to strive against his slave.
'Tis better that they should appeal to us
For quarter than be slain or maimed in fight."

Khusrau Parwiz replied : "I seek not vengeance
On any that repent. I grant them grace ;
They are the earrings of my crown."

Night's flag
Rose o'er the darksome hills, both hosts withdrew,
The sentries challenged, bells rang, and the troops
Had little sleep. Bandwi, the ambitious, went
Between the hosts, chose from the troops a chief —
A herald fluent, with a goodly voice —
Bade him to mount upon his Arab steed.
And make him ready to proclaim. They rode
Between the hosts till close upon the foe,
And then the herald shouted : " O ye slaves,
In fault yourselves and followers of fortune!
By God ; the Shah will pardon all. e'en those

That have done worst and in the war achieved
Most fame, be their faults patent or concealed."

The sound went through the darkness of the
night,
And all gave ear. Bahram Chubina's chiefs
Girt up their loins to quit him. When the sun
Rose o'er the hills, and day spread taffeta
Upon the ground, the tents upon the plain
Were all abandoned, but Bahram Chubina
Was not aware of what had passed that night.
None but his friends were to be seen in camp.
On hearing of the troops he visited
The tents and told his comrades: " To retreat
Is better now than waking on a Doomsday."

He bade the master of his camels furnish
Two thousand lusty and foam-scattering,
And all his treasures that were portable,
The hangings and the carpets and the plate
Of gold and silver, with the ivory thrones,
The golden torques, the armlets and the crowns,
They loaded up and then themselves took seat
Upon their steeds and girt them for retreat.

Whenas the bright sun had arrayed its throne
Exploring parties went out from the Shah ;
They found the chieftain's tent unoccupied,
While of the other tents not many stood.
The scouts came in and told Khusrau Parwiz,
Who grieved the more about that battlefield.
He choose three thousand cavaliers in mail
On barded steeds, then bade Nastuh to mount,
And gird his warlike loins for the pursuit.
He went in dudgeon ; he was not the man
To fight Bahram Chubina who the while,
Uncertain of his kingdom and his rights,
Kept with himself his silver and his gold,
And marched all fearful by a trackless route.
Yalan-sina and brave Izid Gashasp
Rode by the soldiers' side conducting them
Along those wayless ways and as they went
Told stories of the Shahs. They saw afar
A ruined hamlet where no chief could dwell,
And as Bahram Chubina rode ahead,
Remorseful and in dudgeon, he and all
His men athirst, he found a carline's cot.
In courteous terms they asked for bread and water.
She brought a worn-out sieve, laid down a sheep-skin,
All tattered, and set out upon the sieve
Dry bread. Yalan-sina then handed him
The sacred twigs who thought not in his grief
Of muttering prayer. They ate, then asked for wine,
And prayed.

" If ye would have wine." said the crone,
There is some, and I have too an old gourd.
The end of which I cut off even now,
Have made a cup. and set it by the wine."

Bahram Chubina said : "If wine is there,
What better cup could be ? "

She went and fetched them,
And he was well content to use that cup.
He gave it brimming to her that she might
Be festive too, and said : " My gracious mother !
What tidings hast thou of the world's affairs ? '

" My brain is worn out, I have heard so much,"
She answered. '.Many came from town to-day,
And talked but of Bahram Chubina's battle,
How all his troops deserted to the Shah.
And how the chief fled hostless."

"Pious dame- !

He answered, " say if he hath acted wisely
Or followed his desires."

" Famed man ! ' she said,
" How is it that the Div hath dimmed thine eyes ?
Dost thou not know that since Bahram Chubina,
Son of Gashasp, urged on his steed against
Khusrau Parwiz, son of Hurmuzd, the sages
Laugh at him ? None accounteth him a chief."

Bahram Chubina said : " Since his desires
Have made him quaff wine from a gourd do thou
Keep barley-bread for him on this old sieve
Until next barley-harvest."
Having eaten
He passed withal the night there in his tunic,
His shoulders on his breastplate, but sleep came not:
He found no rest — to vain desires a prey.

Whenas the sun in heaven made secrets clear
The warlike chieftain had the tabor sounded,
What troops he had he gathered, and those nobles

Set forth and came upon a goodly reed-bed,
And many folk were harvesting the reeds,
Who when they saw afar Bahram Chubina
With his large body of determined men,
Said: " Blest be thou ! Why take the reed-bed thus ?
In front are many troops with hands blood-bathed
For fight."

" They must be horse," he made reply,
" Sent by the king. I heard, when we resolved
To quit our camp, that he had chosen Nastuh,
A man ambitious but inapt, to lead
Three thousand cavaliers — stiff opposites
In battle — in pursuit of us. When I
Behold him I will end his days. Now tighten
Your girths and ring him in."

The cavaliers
Drew tight their girths and grasped their Indian

swords.
They fired the reed-bed and o'erthrew their foes :
That bed of reeds was utterly consumed,
This man was slain, that burnt. Bahram Chubina,
The warrior, perceived Nastuh and gave
His fleet steed rein, and with the lasso's noose
Unhorsed Nastuh whose feckless hands they bound.
He begged for quarter, saying : " Famous king !
Why wish to shed my blood ? Compassionate
My luckless fortune. Slay me not that I
May run before thee and approve myself
Thy wretched mendicant."
Bahram Chubina
Replied : " I would not carry from the field
Of fight such men as thee. I "will not sever
Thy head because I shame at having fought
A cavalier like thee. When thou art set
At liberty be off with you and tell
Khusrau Parwiz what thou hast seen of me."

Nastuh, on hearing, kissed the ground and gave
Abundant thanks. This done. Bahram Chubina
Departed with his warriors good at need
To Rai, reposed, then sought the Khan with speed.

Khusrau Parwiz on his side visited
Bahram Chubina's lines and pillaged them.
Bestowing on his soldiers purse and crown.
He mounted a fleet steed and girt himself
For prayer. Before him was a bramble-brake.
He entered that befitting place afoot,
And wallowed in the dust before his God.
" O righteous Judge ! ' he said, " Thou hast delivered
The country from the burden of the foe,
And hast surpassed our whole imaginings.
I am thy worshipper and worthless slave :
I walk according to the Lord's command."

Thence he returned to camp ; his counsellors
Assembled, and he called a scribe to write
A letter out on silk from Shah to Caesar,
Detailing what had passed in that campaign.
He first praised God — the Source of manliness,
Of prowess, and success, then said : "In secret
Much hath God favoured me. I and my host
Came to Azargashasp. I hurried onward,
Returning for the fight. Bahram Chubina
So pressed me that I had not room to strive ;
But when all-holy God ceased to assist
My foe the flaming blast of war died out,
And with resources failing and with troops
Deserting he withdrew at break of day.
I have destroyed his whole host, fired his camp,
And intercepted too by God's behest
His line of march."

They set upon the letter
The Shah's seal, and the messengers departing
Bare it to famous Caesar's court where he,
Whose fortune was awake, on reading it,
Descended from his throne and cried to God : —
" O Guide ! Thou changest never. Thou hast made
Thy slave triumphant and restored the outcast."

He lavished alms and provand by the ass-load,
And wrote withal an answer like a tree

In Paradise, beginning : " In the name
Of God, the Lord of victory, of Grace,.
And justice, Lord of moon and sun and might.
Know thou that greatness and good fortune come
From Him, what while thou livest give Him praise,
And in this world in public and in private
Ensue but justice and beneficence."

He sent a crown — an heirloom of the Caesars,
Reserved for fit occasions — with a pair
Of earrings and a royal torque, of robes
Eleven hundred broidered all in gold,
A hundred camel-loads of gold dinars,
As well as many pearls and precious stones,
A jewelled cross and throne all royal gems,
A green robe shot with gold whereof the fringe

Was finished off with jewels. With the gifts
And offerings went four philosophers
Of those of Rum. Khusrau Parwiz dispatched
A thousand cavaliers of noble birth
To meet and welcome them. Those magnates

reached
With their new gifts Khusrau Parwiz in safety.
Who. having viewed them and perused the letter,
Was lost in wonder at that wealth and said
To his own minister : " These robes of Rum,
Adorned with jewelry are not the wear
Of wealthy thanes but Christian priests ! If we
Have Crosses on our dress we shall conform
To Christian fashion. If I wear them not
'Twill anger Caesar who will of a truth
Misconstrue me, while if I put them on
The magnates all will say : " This king of men
Perchance hath turned a Christian for wealth's sake,
Because he is all Cross.

His counsellor
Replied : " O Shah ! clothes constitute not Faith.
Though Caesar be thy kin thy Faith is still
That of Zarduhsht. the Prophet."

Then he donned
Those royal robes, hung up the jewelled crown.
Bade raise the curtain, and bring in the envoys.
Both Rumans and Iranians crowded in
Without distinction. When the sages saw
The Shah's attire they knew that he desired

To pleasure Caesar, others said that he
Had of a truth turned Christian privily.

Next day Khusrau Parwiz prepared his throne,
And donned his crown of state. The festal board
Was spread within the rosary. " Invite,"
He said, " the Rumans."

Niyatus arrived
With the other Rumans and they took their seats
Before the board with the philosophers.
Now when Khusrau Parwiz came from his throne
Of audience in the jewelled robes from Rum,
Advanced with smiles and sat down at the board,
Bandwi came quickly, sacred twigs in hand.
The world-lord took them with intent to join
The other nobles in their muttered prayers,
While Niyatus, on seeing that, threw down
His bread and all disordered left the board,
Exclaiming : " Muttered prayer and Cross at once
Insulteth Christ through Cesar ! "

Seeing this
Bandwi, still at the board, back-handed smote
That servant of the Cross upon the face.
Khusrau Parwiz was grieved, beholding this ;
His cheeks grew like the flower of fenugreek.
He said to Gustaham : " This valiant fool
Should wrangle not when drinking. What hath he
To do with Ruman Niyatus ? He recked not
His person in this quarrel."

Niyatus,
Departing, mounted and returned half drunk
To camp. He donned his Ruman mail and thought
To mar that feast. The Ruman cavaliers,

All eager for the fray, set face to where
Khusrau Parwiz held court, and Niyatus
Sent on a cavalier of Ruman race
Withal to go like wind to him and say :-
" Bandwi, the worthless, with a back-hand blow
Smote on the cheek God's servant. Now if thou
Wilt send him to me — well. If not. expect
A tumult of the folk. Thou Wilt writhe more
At me than at the slave ambitioning
The throne of king of kings."

Was wroth on hearing this. "None should ignore
The Faith of God," he said. "From Gaiumart
And from Jamshid to Kai Kubad none spake
Of Christ, and God forbid that I shall quit
My fathers' Faith, those world-lords choice and holy,
Adopt the Faith of Christ, and murmur not
A prayer at meals but be a Christian !

If thou wilt take account thou art alone :
I saw of late what Ruman prowess is ! '
Then Maryam spake thus to Khusrau Parwiz :-
I will abate the brawling of these folk.
Commit illustrious Bandwi to me,
So that the Rumans may contemplate him
From head to foot. I will restore him whole.
None ever made a point of senseless strife."
The king dispatched Bandwi to Niyatus,
Escorted by ten horsemen, with Maryam,
That prudent lady on whose lips good counsel
Ne'er failed. He said : " Approach thy father's

brother,
And say : " Thou quarrelsome, ill-meaning man !
Hast thou not seen how Caesar hath assisted
The Shah to majesty, hath fought his battles,
Hath made affinity and league with him,

And furnished men and means and hoarded treasures ?
Wilt thou destroy affinity and league,
And take away from me the Grace of Caesar,
Who told thee that the Shah would not abandon
His Faith on his return ? Why speak raw words ?
Now take Bandwi's head to thy breast and utter
No word ungracious. Give not to the winds
The toil and work of Caesar, and God grant
That thou mayst not recall my words too late."

She went and spake to that effect. Her cheeks
Were like a rose in bloom, and Niyatus,
Who thought her words of profit, took her counsel.
He pacified his heart about Bandwi,
And shamed on his account, at sight of him
Arose and bade his treasurer bring forth
A noble led horse and received Bandwi
With smiles and welcome, and they visited
The king together. When Khusrau Parwiz
Saw Niyatus he said : " The heart of one
Of ill condition seeketh not for good.
Bandwi hath ne'er ensued but strife and tumult :
Make not the world both dark and strait to me ;
Give not the toil of Caesar to the wind
In passion ; let me have a moment's joy.
If he hath spoken ill of thy religion
Expect not wisdom from a foolish man."

" Expect not wisdom from a Ruman drunk,
O Shah ! " said Niyatus. " Keep thy sires' Faith,
For wise men change not such."

When in this strain
Much talk had passed he sought his camp again.

The Shah then bade Kharrad. son of Barzin :—
'Hold a review and call a court. Let all
The Ruman troops be mustered, young and old.
Bestow on them two thirds of all my treasures;
They must feel well content with what we give."

For all deserving of :a robe of honour
By prowess shown in fight he bade make ready
Such, and to requisition splendid steeds
From his own court. He gave to Niyatus
Such jewels, steeds and handmaids girt with gold
That they exceeded measure and surpassed

Withal what potentates were Used to give.

All cities taken by Kubad from Rum,
Or captured by Hurmuzd and Nushirw'an
Of glorious birth, he gave to Niyatus,

Had patents drawn for them and filled the cup
Of colocynth with honey. Then the Rumans
Set forth for Rum, that prosperous coast and land.
The great Khusrau Parwiz escorted them
Two stages, farewelled Niyatus, and then
Turned back. Next week he took ten cavaliers,
Both shrewd and true to him, and quitting camp
Fared to Azargashasp. On seeing the dome
He lighted down and went afoot, his eyes
All wet, his cheeks sun-yellow. "When he passed
The portal and approached the Fire his visage
Was hidden by his tears. There he recited
The Zandavasta for a se'nnight's space,
And humbly danced attendance on the Fire,
Departing on the eighth day for the feast
Of Sada was at hand. As he had promised
Before his lords he gave his share of spoil,
Of gold and silver, jewel-work, and gems
Fit for a monarch, to the Fire. He gave
Drachms to the poor abundantly and left
No one dissatisfied throughout the land.
He went thence to the country of Andiv
To have his portion in the day of joy :
That province was the salt waste's boundary,
And none could put a value on the soil.
Within the palace built by Nushirwan,
Who dwelt there much, he had a splendid suite
Of rooms prepared, the golden throne arrayed,
And then the conquering, God-fearing world-lord
Came and sat down upon his grandsire's seat,
And bade a scribe and his own minister —
A helpful archimage — attend. They wrote
Out patents for the Iranians as the Great
And Mighty used to do. Bandwi, the chief.
The well advised, the veteran, managed all.
The Shah gave Khurasan to Gustaham,
And bade him reinstate both law and justice,
Assisted by Burzmihr, the experienced scribe
Of beauteous face, and since heaven favoured him
Bestowed by grant Istakhr and Darabgird.
He set his golden signet on the patent.
Then handed it to Ram Barzin forthwith,
And bade him bear it to Shapur to whom
He gave withal both slaves and robe of honour.
He bade convey a patent under seal
To Andiyan, as was the royal use,
And gave him all the country of Kirman
Because Khusrau Parwiz esteemed him great.
He gave another province to Gurdwi,
And sealed the letter with the golden seal.
He gave Balwi the town of Chach and sent
The patent with an ivory throne. He counted
The treasury-keys and to Tukhara's son
Committed them. The monarch of the world,
This matter ended, turned to folk at large,
And bade the chieftains all obey Kharrad,
Son of Barzin, whose rule should be world-wide,
And name be countersigned on every patent.
The soldiers all that in the time of action
Held by the famous king were given from him
A robe of honour and dismissed with joy.
A herald fluent and a chief withal

Of sweet voice and shrewd heart went round pro-
claiming : —
" O ye, the subjects of the king of earth !
Praise justice only, seek not vengeance. shed
Not blood, and prompt not unto deeds of ill.
If any of our subjects be aggrieved,
Or injured by the troops, the wrongers' place
Shall be the gibbet here and penal Fire
Hereafter. Ye are all lords of the treasure
That cometh to you from your proper toil.
Enjoy and give away, ye that have means !
And ye that have none ! ask. In every city
We have a treasure through our fathers' travail,
Or ours, and we have bidden the treasurer
Give food and clothes withal to such as lack.
When food is requisite they shall receive

From him three mans at dawn upon condition
That they shall make thanksgiving and shall

strive
To keep the earth in culture."

Through his justice
The world became a Paradise on high,
And one may well acclaim Khusrau Parwiz,
For better is a great king of that kind
Than one impure albeit sage in mind.

At sixty-five 'tis ill to catch at pelf.
Oh ! let me read that lesson to myself,
And muse upon the passing of my son.
My turn it was and yet the youth hath gone,
While I for sorrow am as soulless clay.
I will make haste, perchance o'ertake, and say
Reproachfully : " My turn it was to go ;
Why hast thou gone then 'gainst my will and so
Robbed me of all my peace ? Thou didst abate
My cares ; why hast thou left thine aged mate ?
Didst thou perchance find younger company
That lightly thus thou hast abandoned me ? '

Seven years and thirty o'er the youth had sped
When he distasted of the world and fled.
Harsh comrade proved he of my pilgrimage,
And, having turned his back on me in rage,
Went, but he left me his calamities,
His griefs, a full heart, and blood-weeping eyes.
Now whither he hath passed he doth aspire
To choose a habitation for his sire
In Light. Since then weary time hath gone,
And of his way-mates hath returned not one.
Good sooth ! he looketh for me wrathfully
Because I loiter. Five and sixty I,
He thirty-seven. He asked not aged me,
But hurried off alone. I stayed to see
The outcome of my labours. May God grace
Thy soul with light and wisdom's breastplate place
Before thy life. It is my prayer that He,
Who giveth all and ruleth righteously,
The Holy, will forgive each fault of thine,
And cause thy moon now overcast to shine.

Tell now old tales, tell of Bahram Chubina.
When he drew near the country of the Turks,
Toward the Lions and the Khan, there went
Ten thousand shrewd and wary cavaliers,
Led by the son and brother of the Khan,
Each with a priest as counsellor, to meet him.
On reaching the Khan's throne Bahram Chubina
Gave praises to him and did reverence.
The Khan, upon beholding him, rose, kissed,
And stroked caressingly, his face, inquiring
At large about the travail of the way.
And of his warfare with the Shah and host,
Then gave a welcome to Izid Gashasp
Withal and to Yalan-sina — those chiefs
No longer hostile. When Bahram Chubina
Was seated on the silvern throne he took
In his the Khan's hand, saying : " Glorious prince,
The captain and ruler of the Turks
Of Chin ! thou know'st that no one is secure
Within the world by reason of malign
Khusrau Parwiz who vexeth those that fain
Would rest from toil and doubleth it for those
That live at ease. If now thou wilt accept me,

And be mine aid in good and evil, I
Will be thy comrade in this priceless land,
And friend in good and ill, while shouldst thou suffer
Through me I will depart and seek a cistern
Elsewhere, and if thou wilt have none of me
Then I will journey unto Hindustan."

The Khan said : " Noble chieftain ! never mayst
Thou need that day. Like mine own kin will I
Hold thee. My kin ? Nay, better than my child.
My whole land will co-operate with me
Herein, both lord and liege. Pre-eminence
I give thee o'er my chiefs and furthermore
I make thee independent of my lords."

Bahram Chubina further asked an oath
To bind his soul, for so far all was tongue.

The Khan said : " By the most high God, the Guide
Of me and thee, I am thy mate indeed.
What while I live, and friend for good and ill."

Thereafter they prepared two palaces,
And furnished them with vessels of all kinds.
Slaves, food, and raiment, needful carpeting,
With serviceable plate of gold and silver,

Dinars and royal jewelry, the Khan
Sent to Bahram Chubina whose dark soul
Grew bright, and save with whom the Khan went not
To polo, the assembly, and the chase,
Remaining in this mind and lauding him.

The Khan possessed a chief who was his friend.
His help in war and of a stronger nature.
Named Makatura, by whose means the Khan
Had won success and fame. He used to visit
The Khan at dawn with fingers on his lips,
For thus did subjects offer reverence,
To those illustrious potentates of Chin,
And each time from the veteran monarch's treasure
Would carry fifty score dinars away.
Bahram Chubina marked this for while,
Astonied at the Khan, then laughed and said
One day : " Exalted one ! thou art esteemed
Among the potentates, yet every morn
At audience-time this Turk thus beareth off
These fifty score dinars ! If' he receiveth
A mine 'tis not for rendered services,

The Khan replied : " This is a way of ours —
The glory of Our Faith that all our bravest,
And stanchest on the day of stress, should meet
With no refusal when they ask for more,
And plead with importunity. His power
Is more than mine. I charm him with dinars.
" If I refused the troops would mutiny.
And dim my shining day."

Bahram (.'Chubina,

The world-aspirant, said : " O king of men !

Thou hast made him a master o'er thyself.
When world-lords are both valiant and alert
They must not let a subject have the reins.
If I should rid thee of him wouldst thou be
Well pleased or dost thou care for his support?'

"'Tis thine to order this," replied the Khan,
'And thine to plan and compass this desire.
If thou canst free me from him thou wilt bring
The question to an end."

" To-morrow morn,"
He made reply, " when Makatura cometh
For his dinars, smile not, regard him not,
And answer not or, if at all, in wrath."

That night passed and at dawn came Makatura
Before the Khan. That world-lord neither saw him,
Nor heard what that bold Turk had got to say,

Who, angered, raged and glared at him, and cried : —
" Why is it that to-day I have grown vile,
My lord ? Assuredly this Persian prince,
Who reached our land with thirty friends, is striving
To turn thee from the right and would consign
Thine army to the wind."

Bahram Chubina
Replied : " O warrior ! why so fierce in talk ?
I, if the Khan will follow mine advice,
And prudently regard our covenant,
Will let not thee come hither every morn
To waste his treasures with impunity.
Thou mayest be three hundred cavaliers,
And hunt the Lions on the battlefield ;
It followeth not that thou each morn shouldst come,
And claim dinars by ass-loads from the king."

When Makatura heard his head became
All vengeful at Bahram Chubina's scheme.
In wrath and passion he put forth his hand,
And plucked a poplar arrow from his quiver.
" This is my token and interpreter
In battle," said he to Bahram Chubina,
" So look out for my point when thou shalt come
To court to-morrow morn."

On hearing this
Bahram Chubina, growing mettlesome,
Gave him a poplar arrow tipped with steel.
And said : " Receive this keepsake and observe
Its usefulness."

Then Makatura went
Forth from the Khan and hurried to his tent.

When night withdrew its sombre skirt, and dawn
Brake o'er the gloomy mountains, Makatura
Put on his battle-armour and went forth,
Turanian sword in hand. Bahram Chubina,
On hearing, called for steed and royal breastplate.
The spot they chose was one whose plain and waste
No leopards e'er resorted to for fight.
The Khan, on hearing, mounted on his steed,
And went accompanied by the loyal Turks
To see which raging Lion of the twain
Would have the better fortune. Makatura,
On coming to the scene of strife, dispatched
Dust cloudward from the plain and shouted thus
To haught Bahram Chubina : " What hast thou
To say of manhood now ? Wilt thou begin,
Or shall the loyal, lion-hearted Turk ? '"

Bahram Chubina said ; " Begin thyself,
For thou didst start this quarrel by thy words.'

Then Makatura called on God and strung
His bow, grasped joyfully the string and arrow,
Drew to the point and then released his thumb.
He struck the cavalier upon the belt,
But that bright iron point pierced not the mail.
Bahram Chubina held aloof awhile
That Makatura might grow tired of fight,
Who, thinking that his enemy was shent,
Turned shouting from the field.

" O warrior ! "
Bahram Chubina cried, " thou hast not slain me ;
Depart not to thy tent. Thy say is said ;
Stop and hear my reply and, if thou livest
When thou hast heard it, go."

With that he chose
A breastplace-piercing shaft of poplar-wood,
One to which stone and iron were as wax.
And hit the valiant horseman on the girdle.
That chief grew satiate of dinars and fight,
And wept and slept upon his bast-bound saddle,
For he, on mounting for the fray, had tied
His two feet to the saddle and thus kept
His seat though wounded, while his wounder rode
Up to the Khan and said : " Imperious !
Yon noble needeth one to dig his grave."

The Khan said : " Look more closely. He is
swooning,
But living on the saddle."

Thus replied
Bahram Chubina : " Puissant sovereign !
His body cometh even now to dust.
May all thy foemen swoon as he is swooning
On his Turanian steed."

The valiant Khan
Dispatched a cavalier to that famed Lion,
Whom they saw bound, slain vilely, and released
From fate's vicissitudes. The Khan thereat
Laughed to himself in secret, wondering
At that chief horseman of the world's exploit ;
Then full of thought returned to his own palace
With crown that soared to Saturn in his joy.
He called for arms and drachms, for steeds and slaves,
Gemmed trinketry, imperial crown, dinars,
King-worthy jewels, and all kinds of gear
Of war. These from the Khan a messenger
Bare to Bahram Chubina's treasurer.

Time passed and peace was tutor night and day.
There were at that time in the hills of Chin
Wild animals past count. One was a beast
Out-bulking horses and upon its head
Were two Black locks like cables. It was tawny
Of body while its ears and throat were black.
None saw it save at noontide and it had
Two claws resembling those of mighty lions.
Its roar rose o'er the clouds, it swallowed stones,
And turned the day of mighty men to gloom.
Folk called it : " Lion-ape : " the land was all
Confounded at the ill it wrought. The Khan
Possessed a moon-like daughter, had the moon
Two raven locks, two rubious lips, a nose
As 'twere a silvern reed, two smiling cheeks
Of coral, and dark eyes. Her parents used
To weep for terror lest the sun should strike her.
One day she went forth to the plain and roamed
The meadows while the Khan, the world-lord, followed
The chase elsewhere. The queen was in the palace
Engaged in converse with a counsellor.
Thus went her daughter to that meadow-land
With other damsels, wine, and revellers.
The lion-ape descried her from the heights,
Descended to the plain and gulped her down :
That fair-cheeked damsel ended in a breath.
The Khan heard and his face turned black, his queen
Tore out her hair : they' mourned the maid for years,
As if they had been burning in fierce flames,
And sought to slay the monster and relieve
Chin from that stress. Now when Bahram Chubina
Fought with and sent the dust from Makatura
The queen went forth to watch him and discoursed
To all about his prowess. Meeting him
One day with five score nobles of Iran,
And many men on foot preceding him,
While he rode with a counsellor, she asked : —
" Who is this with such height and Grace divine ? '
A servant answered : " Thou hast much to learn,
Not knowing brave Bahram Chubina's name !
He once was Shah within Iran ; his crown,
Out-topped the moon. Chiefs title him : " Bahram
The brave,' for he hath borne the fame of valour
From other kings, and now that he hath quitted
Iran for Chin earth quaketh 'neath his charger.
Our sovereign would have him for a chief,
So setteth on his head a royal crown."

She thus made answer : " Since his Grace is such
Well may we nestle underneath his wings,

And well may I request a boon of him ;

He will not act with slackness like the Khan,
But venge me on the monster when he heareth
The reason for my grief and malisons."

He answered : "If the queen of upright folk
Will speak to him she will not find a trace
Left of the lion-ape except a corpse
Dragged by the feet by wolves."

She heard and joyed :
Pain for her daughter left her. She made haste
To see the Khan and tell him all. He said :—
" Where there is horseman such as I, and where
A lion-ape hath battened on my child,
'Twere shame for us to tell it ; 'twould disgrace
My stock. Bahram Chubina knoweth not
That that terrific monster will make budge
An iron mountian with its breath. Although
The daughter of a king be famed life too
Is dear to him."

She said : "I want revenge
For her who was mine Eye, so speak I will.
Shame or no shame, and haply gain mine end."

Much time thus passed away. She kept her rancour
A secret. Now the Khan chanced to prepare
A feast and summoned thereunto his chiefs.
He sent and called the brave Bahram Chubina,

And seated him upon the silvern throne.
Now when the queen behind her curtains heard
She entered quickly, saw the hero, praised
And blessed him much, and said to him : " May Chin
And Turkistan be prosperous through thee!
Fain would I ask a favour of my lord;
May he accord it me.

He said : " 'Tis thine
To order and to will and win thy wish.'"

She said : " Near by there is a meadow-land —
The very spot for feasting and therein
The youths of Chin keep merrymake each Spring.
A bow-shot past the wood thou mayst behold
A mount more black than pitch. Upon that mount
Of flint there is a monster, and the realm
Of Chin is in distress because of it.
A lion-ape I term it for I know not
What else to call it. By the Khan I had
A daughter whom the sun was wont to praise.
She left the palace for that feasting-place
What while the Khan was hunting with his men.
Came from the mountain that ferocious monster,
And gulped down her that was our very Eye.
Now every Spring it visiteth that meadow
In quest of prey. No youth or paladin

Of any name is left in this our city
Since through the mischief of this lion-ape
They have been slaughtered, and it hath sent up
The dust from this fair land. Our cavaliers
Of war and men of action have gone forth
In numbers to that mountain-height but when
They see afar the monster's claws and breast,
Its back, its shoulders, ears and head, it roareth
And shattereth those warriors' hearts, for what
Are lions, tigers, crocodiles thereto ?
No counter of the cost will venture near."'

Bahram Chubina said : " At dawn to-morrow
I will go forth and view this pleasure-ground.
And by the strength and might that God hath given,
The exalted Fashioner of sun and moon,
I will relieve the pleasance of this monster
If some will guide me thither when "'tis dawn.""

Whenas the moon's disk shone forth from the sky.
And dark night shook abroad its dusky locks,
They broke up and departed on their ways,
Bemused, each to his palace. When the glory
Of golden Sol appeared and plaited up
Night's azure tresses, brave Bahram Chubina
Put on his gambeson and then committed
His honoured form to God. He took his lasso,
His bow, a hundred shafts and one forked dart
As used in hunting. When he neared the height
He bade his retinue turn back, and when
Hard on the lion-ape thou wouldst have said :
" The mount loured o'er him."' There mid rocks of

flint
He girt himself and mounted on his saddle.
Armed with his coiled up lasso, plied his bow
And strung it, called on God who giveth good,
Sent up his battle-cry, and smote the rocks
Until they Flashed again. The lion-ape

Was in a pool. It wallowed and came forth.
For when the monster's fell was soaked no shaft
Availed against it. That grim monster came
To gulp Bahram Chubina down. That hero
Shot and the body of the lion-ape
Had fight enough. He shot again and smote
The monster on the head : the blood poured down
Like water o'er its breast. He marked the strength
And onset of the monster, shot again,
Transfixed its claw, then loosed his ;lasso. leapt

Upon that lofty mountain-top and speared
The creature's loins : the Flints were dyed with blood.
Then reaching for his scimitar he clave
The monster's form in twain, cut off its head,

And flung it down contemptuously, descended,
Came to the Khan, rejoicing, and proclaimed
What had befallen the ape. The Khan and queen

Set forward to the wood and made all haste

To reach the mountain-top while acclamation,

Such that thou wouldst have said: "The earth is

rent "
Rose from the warriors of Chin. They praised
Bahram. Chubina and showered gold and jewels
Abundantly upon him while the chief
Of Chin embraced him and bestowed on him
Thenceforth the style of king, and having reached
The palace chose a trusty messenger.
And sent a hundred purses full of drachms,
With slaves and robes, and bade a scribe attend.
They wrote a patent out for Chin on silk.
The Khan at that time gave Bahram Chubina
His daughter to secure his staying there.
As was their custom they made ready robes
Of honour, many crowns and belts. The Khan
Said to Bahram Chubina : " These bestow
On such Iranians as are worthy of them."

Bahram Chubina took to feast and chase,
Untroubled by the passing on of time ;
The noblest of the cavaliers of Chin
Were his petitioners, and all Chin said : —
" We are thy slaves and only live for thee,"
While he mid feast and largess passed his days,
And all folk too united in his praise.

Thus matters fared till tidings reached Iran,
Reached the great monarch of the brave : 'A king-
ship
And treasure greater than thine own are now
Bahram Chubina's and untoiled for ! '

Vexed
And troubled by solicitude, his heart
Wrung by the doings of Bahram Chubina,
He held consult with his own magnates, spake,
Discussing all expedients, and at night
Called for a scribe and made an arrow-head
His pen-point. To the Khan of Chin he wrote
A letter, and thou wouldst have said : " He made
His sword the pen."

He first praised God, " the One,
The Guide to good, who setteth up on high
Sun, moon, and Saturn, who enthroneth kings,
Who pricketh sinners and increaseth Grace.

By ignorance, by knowledge, by uprightness,
And by perversity, by harm and loss,
'Tis owned that He is One and hath no comrade,
No peer, no mate. Whoever seeketh good
Shall find it but so may not he whose hands
Are steeped in ill, and he that maketh choice
Of God's way must forgo ingratitude."

He then said thus : " Bahram Chubina (may
He ne'er in this world see his wishes won !)
Was an ungrateful servant to the Shah,
Ignoring both his master and his God.
He was of small account, unfamed and weak.
Till my sire took him up when season served :
But when the monarch of the world thus raised him
He only did according to his nature :
His conduct is well known to great and small.
The mighty and the wise rejected him,
But thou didst welcome him when he arrived,
And take him by the hand as one well born —
A thing incredible to upright folk,
And not approved by me. Thou hast Forgotten
Perchance his conduct when thou went'st in fear
Because of him. He lashed thee many times
Upon the head — a thing that none commend.
Thou shouldest not make barren thine own fame,
And barter thy tranquillity to him.
When they deliver this let thine advice,
Now dark, consider well if thou wilt profit
By sending us that slave, his feet in fetters ;
Else I dispatch an army from Iran,
And for Turan turn daylight into gloom."

Now when the letter reached the Khan, and he
Had heard the intention of Khusrau Parwiz,
He told the envoy : " When thou com'st to court
To-morrow morning ask for the reply."

The envoy came in haste ; he had not slept
All night. He waited till he saw the Torch
Resplendent of the sun, then made all haste
To have an audience of the Khan who sent
For scribe with pen and ink and silk of Chin,
And wrote in answer : "To the Maker be
Such praise as magnates give from me, a slave,"
Proceeding thus : " Thy letter I have read,
And set the messenger before me. Speak
Thou unto slaves expressions such as thine.
It fitteth not thine ancient family
To disallow the greatness of the great,
Or not to make the lowly know his place.
Mine are the whole of Chin and of Turan,

And the Haitalian crown. I ne'er broke faith ;
Suggest it not. To break my pledge when I
Have ta'en Bahram Chubina by the hand
Will make men call me base-born. I fear none
Save holy God, but as for thee if greatness
Increase with thee so also should thy wisdom."
He set his seal thereto and told the envoy : —
" Companion with the wind."

Within a month
The envoy reached the Shah who when he read
The letter writhed and was in fear of fortune.
He called the Iranians, told the Khan's reply,
And showed the letter, and the Great, when they
Had read it, mused. He gat from them this answer : —
" O glory of the throne and crown of kings !
Weigh these things well ; consult some ancient sage ;
Let not this letter make thee rash ; turn not
The torch of former Grace to gloom ; select
Some old Iranian sage, wise, eloquent,
A warrior and a scribe, and let him go
Hence to the Khan to speak and hear his views,
Inform him what Bahram Chubina was
At first and, after, to what ends he used
His leadership, and having ordered all
Was fain to make a bondslave of his lord.
If this be not accomplished in one month
Then let the envoy stay a year Forwhy
"'Twill not be easy to disparage him
Because he is the Khan's own son-in-law.
The envoy must be very plausible,
And none must gather what his purpose is."
Thereafter brave Bahram Chubina, hearing
That some one from Iran had brought the Khan
A letter, went to him forthwith and said : —
" My gracious lord ! I hear yon recreant knave
Is plying thee with letters. Choose from Chin
A gallant host and occupy Iran.
My scimitar shall conquer it and Rum ;
I will salute thee monarch of those lands,
And there the watchmen of the night shall have
Thy name upon their lips. I will behead
Inglorious Khusrau Parwiz, and may
No top or toe be left him ! I took service
That I might root out the Sasanians."
The Khan, on hearing, pondered and his heart

Was like a wood with thoughts. He summoned all
The elders— eloquent, learned, heedful men —
Told them Bahram Chubina's scheme, revealed
What had been secretly proposed and gat
This answer from the men of lore, alike
From those of his own kin and alien : —
" 'Tis no light task, but hard, to consummate
The measure of the lineage of Sasan ;
Yet if Bahram Chubina shall march forth,
And show the wise the way, he in Iran
Will find full many a friend since he will have
The Khan to back and help him, and thy fortune
Soon will achieve the work. We ought to listen

To what he saith."
Bahram Chubina's heart
Revived when this he heard ; he laughed and changed
In bearing. All the warriors agreed
That they must choose two young men who were fit
To have command, inured to toil and soldiers.
There was in Chin a noble named Chinwi,
And one Zhangwi — a chief. The Khan sent, sum-
moned,
And made those men of war his pay masters.
He bade them both : " Be circumspect in fight,
And ever look up to Bahram Chubina
Alike in times of joyance and of wrath,
Secure the fords of the Jihun and send it
In dust up to the sky."

He gave to them
A valiant host — all chiefs and warrior-lions.
Drums sounded at Bahram Chubina's portal.
And Sol's face changed to ebony with dust.
From Chin toward Iran he took his way
Upon Sapandarmad at break of day.

Now when the great king heard : " The wolf hath

come
Outside the wood, and bold Bahram Chubina
Hath brought a host that robbeth heaven of lustre,"
He said thus to Kharrad, son of Barzin :—
" Go to the Khan upon this business.
Thou art acquainted best both with Iran
And with Turan, and with their divers tongues."
He oped his treasury and brought forth such jewels,
Such scimitars and golden belts, as made
Kharrad astound and secretly invoke

The name of God. With these he left for Chin.
Crossed the Jihun and took unwonted paths.
Neared the Shah's palace, looked around and chose
One to announce : " An envoy from the Shah
Hath come to court."

The Khan, on hearing this,
Prepared his throne and bade admit the envoy
Who. as he (drew anear, made eloquent
His tongue and did obeisance, saying : " Thy slave
Will frame his tongue to speak at thy command."

The Khan replied : " A sweet tongue maketh young
The heart of eld. Speak words of profit ; they
Are pith when spoken but, unspoken, peel."

Thereat Kharrad recalled old tales and first
Praised the Creator, who controlleth fortune.
The Almighty and the Lord of fate, who made
"Sky, earth, and time, high heaven and the world,
Who hath all power of right while we are slaves,
And tell his righteous acts. To one He giveth
The crown and lofty throne, another one
He maketh vile, afflicted, and cast down,
Not that He loveth this and hateth that,
But why He only knoweth. We, both great
And small, are born but to return to dust,
And have perforce resigned to death our bodies.
Begin we with pre-eminent Jamshid,
Or with the glorious world-lord Tahmuras,
And thus pass on to Kai Kubad and all
The Great that we remember— Kai Khusrau,
The famous Rustam and by that same token
Continue till we reach Asfandiyar.
Their share of this world was the charnel-house ;
They have drunk bane instead of antidote.
Our present Shah is of thy kin ; he joyeth

And sorroweth as thou dost wax and wane.
His great-grandsire upon the mother's side,
When glorious Shahs held sway, was Khan of Chin.
Now in these latter days our covenant
Hath been renewed and everything is changed.
May He that giveth victory bless thee,
And be thine earth compact of heads of kings."

He spake. The Khan gave ear and answered
him : —
" O trafficker in lore ! if in Iran
Be one like thee he knoweth well the sky ! "

The Khan assigned him lodging in the palace,
And seat anear the throne, then bade him bring
The gifts and give all to the treasurer.

The Khan said : " Mayst thou lack not worldly wealth.
If thou wilt take a present of me speak
That I too may accept what thou hast brought,
But if not thou art brighter than a gift —
The crown of chiefs in knowledge."

They prepared
For him a pleasant dwelling-place and draped it
With stuff of every kind. At board and chase,
At feast and drinking-bout this favourite
Was with the Khan, sought an occasion, found him
One day at leisure and made bold to say : —
" Bahram Chubina is a miscreant,
Worse than malicious Ahriman, and selleth
Men veteran for what it were not worth
A mite to mention. King Hurmuzd was first
To bring him forward, raising him by favour
Above the sun. Not one knew e'en his name,
And yet his will hath everywhere prevailed !
Although he doth thee many a kindly office,
Yet will he break faith with thee in the end
As with the Shahs he did, regarding neither
The Shah nor God. If to the Shah thou wilt
Dispatch him thou wilt raise up to the moon
The Iranian monarch's head. Thenceforth Iran
And all Chin are thine own and thou mayst dwell
Where'er thou wilt."

The Khan was stunned to hear
Such talk, regarded him with louring eyes.
And said to him : " Speak not such words as these,
For thou wilt blacken our regard for thee.
I am no miscreant and treaty-breaker
Because the shroud of such must be the dust."

Kharrad, son of Barzin. on hearing that,
Knew that his novelty was out of date.
And made reply : " O thou of royal race !
Why dost thou think to speak such words ? The Shah
Is better than Bahram Chubina is
For thee because of old relationship."

The Khan rejoined : " I will make plain my purpose:
If Caesar broke his covenant by making
Agreement with Khusrau Parwiz shall I

Do likewise ;and ;act treacherously against
The brave Bahram Chubina ? I possess
A thousand slaves such as Khusrau and come
Of an illustrious race. The king of Rum
Did not oppress thy Shah but gave him treasure
Land and a host. Since brave Bahram Chubina,
Whose gests are written in the chronicles,
Is my supporter and my son-in-law
How can I draw back from my covenant ? '

Again Kharrad was foiled and took to guile.
He thought : " The Khan is not concerned for us,
Because Bahram Chubina hath suggested
Iran to him. My words are willow's fruit."

In black despair about the Khan he turned,
He had no choice, toward the queen and sought
Among her suite one that could cheer his soul.

He found a steward and was privy with him,
Recounted what Khusrau Parwiz had said,
And made that wretch's heart rejoice, then added : —
" Speak for me to the queen that I may be
Her scribe."

The crafty steward answered him : —
"That will not serve because Bahram Chubina
Is now her son-in-law ; she is his brains
And skin. Thou art a scribe ; contrive some scheme ;
Moreover let not thy design get wind."

Kharrad, son of Barzin, on hearing this,
Discerned no top or bottom to his cares.
There was an aged Turkman, named Kulun,
Whom other Turkmans scorned. He dressed in sheep-
skin,
And lived withal on millet. Makatura
Was of his kindred, so he railed against
Bahram Chubina, ever cherishing
Revenge at heart and cursing him.- Kharrad
Sent to invite Kulun to his famed mansion,
Gave him dinars and drachms, clothes, much to eat,
Invited him to feasts and seated him
Among the chiefs. Kharrad, exceeding wise
And patient-hearted, clever and expert,
Mused much, consulting on one hand the steward
About the queen of Chin but held his peace
When, day or night, he visited the Khan.
The aged steward spake thus to Kharrad :—
" A man like thee, a noble and a scribe,
If he had skill and was of fame in leechcraft,
Would be a crown upon my lady's head,
And all the more so as her daughter aileth."
Kharrad replied : "I have that knowledge too,
And, as thou say'st, will take the case in hand."

The steward hastened to the queen and said : —
"A learned leech hath arrived."
" Live and enjoy."

She answered. " Scratch not thou thy head but
bring him."
He went and told Kharrad. son of Barzin : —
" Preserve thy secret, go announce thyself,
And act the cheerful leech."

That schemer went
Before the queen and found the patient's liver
Disordered. He prescribed pomegranate-juice,
And therewithal a herb that flourisheth
Beside a stream : folk call it chicory.
He sought to stay the aching of her head.
Within a week, for God so ordered it,
The girl grew like the world-enlightening moon.
The queen brought from her treasury dinars,
A pursef'ul. and five gold-embroidered robes,
And said : "Take this unworthy recompense,
And ask what more thou wilt."

He said : " Keep these,
And I will ask my guerdon when I please."

Bahram Chubina, for his part, arrayed
His army like a pheasant's wing and marched
To Marv. Then one came to the Khan to say : —
" Let none pass to Iran from Turkistan
Or Chin to tell Khusrau Parwiz about us,
And make a gift to him of our designs."

The Khan proclaimed : " If one go to Iran
Without our seal him will I cleave asunder,
And money shall not buy him off, by God ! '

Kharrad, son of Barzin, abode two months,
Intent on his close schemes. Then in concern
He called Kulun, gave him the seat of honour
One day and said to him : " None is exempt
From secret sorrow in this world. Thou oft
Hast begged for millet, barley-bread, and sheepskins
From all in Chin, but now thy food is bread
And lamb, and thou art richly clad withal.
Contrast thy present with thy past estate,
Past malisons with present benisons.
Thine years have reached a hundred or at least
Are great in sum. I have a dread emprise
For thee whereby thou mayest gain a throne,
Or darksome dust. I will obtain for thee
An impress from the signet of the Khan ;
Then speed as though thou wouldst roll up the earth.
Thou must get access to Bahram Chubina,
And bide thy time at Marv. Don thy black sheep-
skin,
Provide a knife, and go. Note heedfully
The twentieth of the month and on that day
Approach this man world-famous for he holdeth
That day ill-omened as I have observed

For many a year. He will admit not then

The public and wear but brocade of Rum.
Say : " From the daughter of the Khan I bring
The mighty chief a message.' Keep thy knife
Unsheathed within thy sleeve till he shall bid thee
Approach alone and as thou dost say thus : —
" The noble lady said : " When thou dost tell

The secret in his ear hide it from others."
When he shall say : " What is the secret ? Tell me,'
Approach him quickly, slit his navel, rise,
And seek to flee. All those that hear his cry
Will hurry from the chieftain to the stalls ;
This one will go for steeds and that for treasure,
And thou wilt suffer not for slaying him.
If they slay thee. . . well thou hast seen the world,
And hast approved its weal and woe. Besides
Thou wilt have had revenge and done what use
Enjoineth, but indeed none will concern
Himself about thee at that time to harm thee,
While if thou scapest slaying thou hast bought
The world and paid for it. the conquering Shah
Will give to thee a city and withal
A share in this world."

To that sage Kulun
Made answer : " Need I any further guide ?
Good sooth ! although I am a hundred I
Fain would get somewhat so I have no choice.
Be both my body and my soul thy ransom.
Such is the covenant I make with thee."

Kharrad, son of Barzin, on hearing that.
Sped to the queen and said : " The time hath come
For me to ask my boon, O gracious lady !
And I will tell it. Certain of my folk
Across the river are in bonds. Be pleased
To set mine own feet free. Procure for me
An impress of the Khan's seal and this know
That by so doing thou wilt give me life."

She said : " He is asleep and drunk : I might
Put clay upon the signet on his hand."

She asked Kharrad, son of Barzin, for seal-clay,
Went to that drunken sleeper's couch forthwith
From her apartments, presently impressed
The clay upon the signet, came, and gave it

To her petitioner. That scribe gave thanks
Therefor, then went and passed it to the elder.
Kulun received that seal, sped pheasant-like,
And came to Marv, unmarked. He tarried there
Until the twentieth of the month — the day
That was unlucky for Bahram Chubina,
Who was at home attended by one slave,
With apples, quinces, and pomegranates placed
Before him. All alone Kulun approached
The gate and said thus to the porter : " Sir !
I bring word from the daughter of the Khan,
And I am neither warrior nor Persian.
That pious lady hath entrusted me
With secrets, which for her sake must be kept,
For this great monarch. She is ailing too,
And is with child. Tell him that I may give
My message to the crowned and famous chief."

The noble chamberlain made haste, went in,
Came to the entrance of the warrior's chamber,
And said : " A scurvy-looking messenger,
Clad in a sheep-skin, hath arrived and saith : —
" I carry from the daughter of the Khan
A message to thy potent lord.' "

Replied
Bahram Chubina : " Say to him : " Display
Thy visage also at the chamber-door.'

Kulun drew near and from the doorway showed
His head. On seeing an old man weak and wretched
Bahram Chubina said to him : " If thou
Hast letters give them up."

Kulun rejoined : —
" I have a message only and will speak not
With others by."

Bahram Chubina said : —
" Approach without more mystery and tell it
Within mine ear."

Kulun drew near. The knife
Was up his sleeve. His villainy grew plain.
He feigned to whisper and then struck. A cry
Rose from the room. Now when Bahram Chubina
Called out the people ran to him. He said : —
Arrest the fellow. Ask who prompted him."
Then all within the palace came and dragged
That hoary-headed man off by the feet,
The servants in their fury smiting him
With palms and fists. He took the buffetings,
And opened not his lips from noon till midnight,
Then when he had been broken, hand and foot,
They flung him down within the palace-court,
And gathered in their sorrow and dismay
About Bahram Chubina. He still bled,
And groaned. His cheeks were lapis-lazuli.
His sister too had come to him forthwith.
She tore her hair, laid on her lap his head,
Then wailed and cried right bitterly : " Brave horse-
man !
The lion used to flee the woods before thee !
Who hath removed this Column of the world ?
Who hath o'erthrown this mighty Elephant ?
Woe for the cavalier of chieftain-mould,
World-conqueror, undaunted, lion-queller !
Thou didst not serve the Shah, and no God-server
Was he that smote thine elephantine form.
Alas ! who tore this tall, exalted Mountain
Out of the pleasant waters by the roots ?
Who hath plucked up so flourishing a Cypress ?
Who cast this crown of greatness basely down ?
Who filled the ocean suddenly with dust ?
Who hurled this moving Mountain to the abyss ?
Now alien, friendless, helpless, and alone
We live despised in other men's domains.

I said to him : " O captain of the host !
Uproot thou not the sprout of loyalty,
For if a daughter only had been left
Sprung from Sasan she would assume the crown,
The whole face of the land would be her slave,
Her blest crown touch the sky.' Thou wouldst not

hear
My profitable words but now repentest
Thy deeds and bear'st a guilty soul to God.
Ill is on our great house ; we are the sheep ;
Our foemen are like wolves."

The wounded man,
On hearing what she said and seeing all
Her heart and prudent counsellings, her cheeks
Rent by her nails, her hair plucked out, her heart
And eyes all blood, her face all dust, though faint
And suffering loosed his tongue and answered thus : —
" My noble sister ! nothing ever matched
Thy counsel yet the measure of my days
Is full. I acted not on thine advice ;
A div-like guide led me in everything.
No prince was more exalted than Jamshid,
Through whom the world was full of fear and hope,
Yet erred he at the bidding of the divs
So that he made the world black for himself.
'Twas just the same with watchful Kai Kaus,
Heaven's favourite whose steps were fortunate.
The loathly Div's incitements ruined him ;
The evils that befel him thou hast heard :
He mounted heavenward to look upon
The circling sky and course of sun and moon,
But fell into the deep beyond Sari,
Headforemost. In like manner hath the Div
Caused me to err and docked my hand from good.
" Thine is the royal diadem,' he said,
" From Aries to Pisces all is thine.'
I do repent mine evil deeds. God's pardon
"Were gracious to me. Thus "was destiny

Writ o'er my head; why should I mourn the past ?
The water riseth o'er me; grief and joy
Are both as wind to me : 'twas written thus ;
What was to be hath been ; none can abate,
Or greaten ills. Thy counsels are mine heirlooms,
Thy sayings are mine earrings. Right and wrong
Are over; call not fruitless words to mind.
But turn to God and place your confidence
Where fortune smileth. He is friend enough
In troubles ; tell none of your grief and joy.
My destined portion of the world is mine,
The end is come and now I must depart."

Then : " to Yalan-sina he said : I leave
The whole host, throne, the kingship and the state,
To thee. Do thou take heed of my good sister:
Thou wilt not need another counsellor.
Part not asunder. May disunion
Ne'er come between you twain. Abide not long
Within this hostile territory. I
Came hither and am weary of the place.
Go and present you to Khusrau Parwiz,
Speak and hear him. If he shall pardon you
Hail not another as your sun and moon.
Take many greetings from me to Gurdwi,
And tell him what hath chanced.- Make me my

charnel
Within Iran, and wreck my palace here.
Much trouble have I suffered through the Khan,
And have not found him gracious for one day.
It was no guerdon for my toils to have
A div dispatched to slay me, yet in truth.
If he shall hear of this, he will not know
What he should think. None save Iranians
Conceived this plan, and had the Div for guide."

He called a scribe and wrote, as there was need,
This letter to the Khan : " Bahram Chubina
Hath passed away in failure, shame, and woe.
Be good to those I leave and keep them safe
From toil and trouble caused by enemies,
For I have never wronged thee but ensued
Whate'er was wise and right."

He gave his sister
Much good advice, embraced her darling head,
And laid his mouth against her ear, his eyes

Suffused with blood, and he gave up the ghost.
All wept him bitterly and lived in sorrow.
His sister in her pain bewailed him sorely,
And kept recalling all her brother's words :
Her heart was riven by her grief for him.
She had a narrow silver coffin made,
She wrapped brocade around that warrior-form,
With raiment of fine linen 'neath his vest,
And covered him with camphor, face and all.

The process of this Wayside Inn is so !
Toil not, thou knowest that thou needs must go.
Quaff not thou grief but wine by day and night
With lips all laughter and with heart-delight.

When tidings came about Bahram Chubina,
And what his gory had entailed on him,
And when his letter too arrived, and when
The messenger had told his tale, the Khan
Was grieved at heart, his eyes were filled with

blood,
His cheeks became like lapis-lazuli.
Amazed he called his veteran counsellors,
And told the fate of brave Bahram Chubina
While every one that heard it wept for woe.
All Chin bewailed right bitterly and burned,
Without a fire, for anguish. Then the Khan
Investigated all to ascertain
The author of the crime and, when he found
That 'twas Kharrad who planned that wicked

deed,
Exclaimed : How did that dog escape when he
Had turned such fire as this on us ? "

Kulun
Had two sons living in Turan as well
As divers friends and kinsmen. When the Khan
Had learned the truth he burned Kulun's house

down.
And all about it, flinging on the flames
His sons and giving all their goods to spoil.
Then when the queen's turn came he had her

haled
Forth from the curtains by her hair, seized all
Her goods, and heeded not her misery.
He sent swift dromedaries everywhere :
Kharrad, son of Barzin, came not to hand.
The Khan grieved long, arraying all his slaves
Throughout the land of Chin in mourning weeds,
For he had loved Bahram Chubina's deeds.

Now when Kharrad, son of Barzin, approached
Khusrau Parwiz and told what he had done,
And seen and heard, the Shah's heart joyed for he
Was quit of that opponent worshipful.
He showered many drachms, robes, and much else
Upon the poor. They wrote to every king
And chief a letter in the ancient tongue
To tell what God almighty, the All-just,
Had brought to pass and how He had sent up
Dust from that foe. The Shah too wrote a letter
In royal wise to Caesar. For a se'nnight
They held festivities and called for harp
And wine in every quarter of the city.
The Shah sent offerings to the fanes of Fire,
And robes of honour to the Great. He told
Kharrad, son of Barzin : " Thou hast deserved
To have the crown and throne," and filled his mouth
With royal gems ; the treasurer poured dinars,
Some hundred thousand, out before his feet
On such wise that they grew as high as he.
The Shah said : " Whoso turneth from the way
Shall have his day bedimmed although he be
In battle like the brave Bahram Chubina
From whom an ancient Turk hath raised the dust."
The chiefs all blessed Khusrau Parwiz and said : —
" Without thee never be the crown and signet,
And if, in spite of all thy loving-kindness,
A man would have thy face lack radiancy
Then let him as Bahram Chubina be."

Now when the Khan's heart was relieved and Chin
Was all like clay with gore he said one day :
" Weak men, weak deeds ! but I was well content
And gladdened through Bahram Chubina's prowess.
Now why have I allowed the hero's kin
To bide in so much weakness and contempt ?
I shall be blamed by all that hear thereof,

And in the future none will trust mine oath.
I have not soothed his little son's distress
Or have concerned me for his kin although
He was related to me through my daughter,
And heart and soul compact of love and wisdom."
He bade his brother come and spake at large : —
" E'en as a pheasant flieth in a garden
Betake thyself to Marv, look on the kin
Of brave Bahram Chubina, greet them well,
And say : " By God and by the throne of greatness
I had no knowledge of this villainy.
I too am stricken to the heart and wrapped
In grief while I shall live, and in revenge
Have bathed the surface of the land in gore.
The cities curse, but bless Bahram Chubina.
Although I should take vengeance for this hurt,
And bring the heaven down, one in a hundred
Would not avenge so famed a hero's blood ;
But no one, as all wise men know, can 'scape
From God's decree. This was assigned to him,
And all through the perverse Div's sorcery.
I hold to my first pledge and will keep faith.'
Convey a separate letter to Gurdya : —

" O holy lady of unsullied skirt !
Thou art all uprightness and kindliness,
Of lofty nature, far from all defect.
Long have I mused upon thy state, while wisdom
Hath been in secret session with my heart.
And have found no lord fitter than myself
For thee, so grace my curtains by thy counsel :
Thee will I hold as mine own soul and body.
And do mine utmost to keep faith with thee.
Then all in this state shall be thine to bid.
And I will pledge my heart to do thy will.
Now gather all thy friends, discuss the matter
Before the wise and see what seemeth best
To thy bright mind when thou hast wisely weighed.
Let wisdom rule thy words and then inform me.'

That atheling, his brother, heard and like
A turtle-dove from cypress sped to Marv,
And to Bahram Chubina's kindred bare
The letter and good will, told what the Khan
Had said and how he passioned to avenge
The slain, then added : " Sages and archmages
Approven well and vigilant of heart !
Herein may much good tidings come to you,
And may the almighty Judge befriend the dead.
This sudden death — no trifle-— was a thing

That none expected."'

Then he gave the sister,
But privily, the letter and the message
Sent by the Khan. He spake of their connexion,
Her counsel and fair words, of past and present,
And of the purity and piety
Of women that both counsel and console.
The young man spake, the lady of the skirt
Unsullied heard him but made choice of silence.
Thereafter, when she had perused the letter,
And all the words of the imperious Khan,
She made her wisdom and her knowledge mates,
Thought out her answer and informed the brother : —
I have perused this letter and held session
With wisdom. Just what kings, experienced folk.
And potentates would do the Khan hath done.
Oh ! may our eyes be bright upon the man
That seeketh thus to avenge us ! May the world
Ne'er lack the Khan, and may the crown of greatness
Rejoice in him. May care ne'er wound his heart,
And may he ne'er despair. We sat in counsel.
I read thy Letter over, every whit,
And all the men of wisdom and of might
Agree to entertain this wish of thine.
Howbeit all my family are now
In sorrow and the subject is ill-timed.
When mourning For so great a chief is over
The Khan's commandment shall not be transgressed.
I purpose not to go back to Iran.
Naught can be better for a virtuous dame
Than to be married, but if I shall come
In haste what will the wise king say of me '.
If in the midst of grief I aim at joy
I shall not act with virtue or respect ;
The wise will say that I lack modesty,
The Khan himself will think me indiscreet.
When four months of this mourning have elapsed
I will dispatch a horseman to the king.
Meanwhile hear will I what I ought to hear —
All that my counsellors may have to urge —
And state it in a letter to the king
When mine adviser goeth unto him.
As for the present, fare rejoicing hence,
And tell the Khan the message that I send."
She gave the envoy many gifts, and he,
A man experienced, left Marv joyfully.

Then at her leisure that young, prudent dame
Consulted with her counsellors and said : —
" A new thing, one that ne'er will stale with me,
Hath chanced : the Khan, that ruler of the world,
In flattering terms hath asked for me in marriage.
He hath no fault ; he is a king, great, brave,
And master of the armies of Turan.
None dared to name me while my Lion lived.
For twelve years after I had lost my sire
The brave Bahram Chubina took in charge
Mine orphanhood and raged when any one
Demanded me in marriage. Now the Khan
Is not a person of small consequence,
And he hath both ability and power.
Howbeit when he striveth to make kinship
Between the Turks and the Iranians
From that bond and connexion time will see
Both travail and affliction in the end.
Look what it was that Siyawush received
Except sun-burning from Afrasiyab !
That youth unmatched by other mother's son
Gave from the first his head up to the wind.
What did that chieftain's son too do but send
The dust up from Iran and from Turan ?
Contrive that unknown to the Turks we may
Convey this story to Iran forthwith.
I have dispatched a letter to Gurdwi,
For I had apprehensions on this score,
That he might ope my matter to the Shah,
And tell my toil and care. God helping me,
He will both hear and grant my fair appeal."
They said : " Thou art for life our youthful lady
In Chin and in Iran. An iron mountain
Could not displace thee, and thou guidest heroes
To manliness. Thou art more shrewd than sages,
More full of counsel than wise ministers.
We are thy subjects all ; 'tis thine to bid,
And thine to judge and deal with this request."

On hearing this she called the muster-roll.
And opened offices to pay the troops.
Went forth, inspected every one of them.
And chose eleven hundred and three score,
Each one of whom would face ten cavaliers
In fight. She furnished drachms and then returning
To her abode harangued her warlike powers :—
" He that hath ever seen a stirrup-strap
Is not perturbed because of ups and downs.
He feareth not a murderous multitude
E'en if the clouds shall shower heads on him;
He will not turn from me when I retreat;

He will not be afraid when Foemen charge.
Fare we toward Iran, fare we toward
The monarch of the brave. Here in Turan
We are but strangers, destitute and friendless.
Weak as we are and abject mid the great.
Withdraw we then when darkness hath set in,
And when our foemen's heads are dull with sleep.
Let not your hearts be straitened on the way
If any troops of Chin encounter us.
Because the chieftains with their massive maces
Will follow us past doubt, but let us each
Take his own life in hand and, if they come,
Give and get blows withal ; but all of you
That disapprove of this ! abide ye here."

They shouted : " We are lieges and obey."
This understood, they rose and made them ready
For war with Chin, Izid Gashasp, the chief,
And Yalan-sina mounted with the troops,
Who all said : " Better perish with renown
Than live and let the men of Chin prevail."

She crossed the desert to the caravans ;
She had the camels passed in front of her,
And chose three thousand to transport her baggage.
At night like some illustrious cavalier
She mounted, mace in hand ; her charger's mail
Was splendid, and she wore a breastplate, sword,
And battle-helm, then led both night and day.
Swift as the wind, her host upon its way.

A number of deserters from her force
Arrived to seek protection from the Khan.
His brother came and said : " O famous chief,
And lover of the fray ! some valiant troops
Have made toward Iran, and many others
Have sought for my protection. Realm and host
Will laugh for ever at thy court's disgrace."

The chieftain's cheek, when he had heard the words,
Grew white with anger, and he answered : " Haste,
And lead an army forth. Observe what road
Those troops have taken. When thou readiest them
Act not injuriously but first of all
Make use of honied words, for of them none
Hath any knowledge of our usages ;
Their fear perchance hath turned us into foes.
Speak with all unction and entreat them well ;
Encourage them by loving-kindliness ;

But if they offer armed resistance play
The man and let there by no dallying ;
Make one tomb for the whole of them at Marv
So that the earth may be like pheasant's plumes."

He went forth with six thousand valiant horsemen,
Picked Turks, and on the fourth day overtook
The Iranians, but that lion-hearted dame
Was not concerned beholding them. She left
The army, visited as swift as wind
The cameleers, disposed the baggage-train
Behind the lines, and then surveyed the field.
She donned her brother's armour and bestrode
A fiery steed. The hosts were ranked. Each man
Took his own life in hand. Tuwurg came forth
Before his troops (the Khan was wont to call him
" Old Wolf ") and said to the Iranians :
" Is not the virtuous dame in this great host ? '
For Gurdya was arrayed in heavy mail,
And had her waist girt like a warrior's,
So that the valiant billman knew her not,
But spurring on his steed and coming near
Said to her : " Midst this army where shall I
Seek for the sister of the murdered Shah,
For I have many things to say to her,
Respecting both the present and the past ? '

She answered : " Here am I prepared to charge
A ravening lion.'"

When he heard the voice
Of her that rode a lusty lion-steed
He was amazed and said : " The Khan of Chin
Of all the kingdom made a choice of thee
To keep him mindful of Bahram Chubina,
The Lion and the chosen cavalier.
He said : " I will requite the favour done
If only thou wilt listen to my words.'
He said to me : " Haste unto her and say : —
" If what I spake was not acceptable
Know that my words were not imperative,
And that I have renounced what I proposed.
If is not well for thee to quit our coasts :
Attempt it not although thou wilt not wed.'
Join words together unto this effect,
And if she will not take advice use bonds
For her and all that have supported her.
This is too much ! ' "

She answered: "Let us quit
The field and troops, and I will answer thee
Advisedly on all points."

He approached
That famed and valiant dame who, seeing him
Alone, displayed to him her face beneath
Her sable casque, and said : " Thou hast beheld
" Bahram Chubina's horsemanship and courage
With admiration : his full sister I.
His day is done so I now will essay thee.
I long to fight with thee. If thou shalt find
That I am worthy of a husband say so.
Good sooth ! thou mayst approve me as thy spouse ! "
She spake, then spurred her steed, Izid Gashasp
Rode close behind her. With her spear she struck
The girdle of Tuwurg and pierced his mail.
He tumbled headlong, and the sand beneath
Ran blood. With chosen warriors Yalan-sina
Charged and discomfited the host of Chin,
Slew, overthrew, and wounded many a man,
Pursued the foe two leagues and left few mounted.
The whole plain was a-stream with blood that day,
This man was headless, that head-downward lay.

Victorious she drew toward Iran.
She drew toward the monarch of the brave.
But halted for a short time at Amwi
With questionings increasing in her heart.
She wrote thence to her brother, telling him
In sorrow all that occurred, and said :—
What time the brave Bahram Chubina died,
All care and grief Fraternal, to us both
He proffered much good counsel. May we never
Distress his spirit ! Furthermore he said :
" Inform the exalted monarch of the counsels
That thou hast heard from me." A mighty host.
All men of name and warriors, pursued us.
But I have so entreated them in fight
That never more will they see fight or feast.
With me are many Famous chiefs, and harm
Must not be theirs. Till my good star convey
A hoped response I pause upon the way."

From that time forth the Shah sat undisturbed,
Since brave Bahram Chubina was no more,
And found no chieftain hostile and disposed
To counter him in fight. One day he thus
Addressed his upright minister : " How long
Shall I conceal my thoughts ? Shall my sire's slayer
For ever be about me as a kinsman ?
Now that I have the power and feel aggrieved
What should result ? "

They spread the board and quaffed,
And put Bandwi in fetters that same day.
The Shah thereafter bade his minister : —
" Cut off his hands and feet ; he will not then
Gird up his loins to shed the blood of kings."

They lopped him and he died forthwith, resigning
His blood-stained life up to Khusrau Parwiz.
The Shah then sent a man to Khurasan
With strict injunctions : " Hold thy tongue and go
Hence to the marchlord's court. Bid Gustaham :—
" When thou hast read my letter come forthwith.'

The envoy reached in Khurasan the court
Of one at ease and gave the Shah's behest,
That youthful Shah who poured out blood with zest.

When Gustaham heard this he summoned all
His scattered troops, set forth upon the march,
And passing by Sari and by Amul
Came to Gurgan — the country of the Great —
Heard that the Shah had grown severe and slain
Bandwi, his brother, unexpectedly,
Whereat he gnawed his hands, gat from his steed,
Rent, all his raiment as a paladin,
And wailing poured the dust upon his head,
Perceiving that the world-lord would avenge
Hurmuzd on him. He turned back sorrowing,

And, thou hadst said : " Companioning the wind."
Collecting all his scattered troops he marched
Toward the forest of Narwan and. when
He reached the mountains of Amul, drew up
His army in that Forest, thence made raids.
And thus began a system of revenge.
He found a living for all workless men,

And where he heard that royal troops were camped
Descended on them and destroyed them all.

Now when Gurdwi arrived he told the Shah
All that his sister with her warriors
Had done against the marchlords of the Khan,
And how she made their dust go up at Marv,
While Gustaham, on his side, was informed
That brave Bahram Chubina's days were done,
And that Gurdya with many troops had fled
That fierce chief, that a host had followed her
To take revenge, and how she had entreated
Those Famous men of Chin, He called to horse.
And from that forest led his troops like wind
To meet her. When Gurdya was ware she went
Forth with her chiefs and nobles. Gustaham,
On seeing them, rode out before his troops.
He met Gurdya and was o'ercome by pain
And much remorse about Bahram Chubina,
Spake also of his sorrow for Bandwi,
And wiped blood from his eyelids with his sleeve.
He lighted weeping from his steed at sight
Of Yalan-sina and Izid Gashasp,
And said : " The Shah hath slain Bandwi ; his day
Is over and thou wouldst have said : " The Shah
Was not his sister's son. Bandwi bled not
For him who used to pour his very soul
Out at Bandwi's feet and lamented him
When absent ! " Now upon the earliest chance
The Shah, true to the instincts of his race,
Hath severed from Bandwi both hands and feet !

So now what hope can ye have in the Shah,
For never came fruit from the willow's bough ?
He will entreat your kindred even worse,
And make meat in the city cheap enough.
E'en at a distance he will rage to see,
And plan new vengeance on, Yalan-sina,
Thou being Bahram Chubina's general,
And having power through him. Let each that

knoweth
The Shah be ware or better cut his throat !
If ye will stay with us we will consult
On all things great and small."

The hearers took
His counsel ; they all shunned destruction's path.
He spake in earnest to Gurdya, recounting
Bahram Chubina's acts. She was o'ercome
By what he said, and felt that he was right.
All joined him and his clouded counsels cleared.
" Doth not," thus said he to Yalan-sina,

" This lady talk of marriage and desire
Its honours ? '

He replied : " Wait till I speak,
And by long converse ascertain her will."

He said to her : " O lady ! I have seen thee
Act as adviser. Thou didst well to flee
The Khan, preferring wisely thine own race.
What sayest thou to the Shah's maternal uncle,
The valiant and the wealthy Gustaham,
The captain and the leader of a host ? '

She said : " A spouse that cometh from Iran
Ne'er will despoil my kindred."

So Yalan-sina
Gave her to Gustaham — a gallant hero
Of royal lineage — who tended her
Like a fresh apple, for he saw in this
His exaltation nothing of a fall.
The armies sent forth by Khusrau Parwiz
Found their old fortune altogether changed,
And Gustaham, on seeing a host o'erthrown,
Would spare the troops and take them for his own.

Time passed ; the Shah's soul grieved at Gustaham.
One day he said in anger to Gurdwi : —
" So Gustaham hath got Gurdya to wife,
And those great companies resort, methinketh,
To him by her advice. A spy of mine
Hath come back from Amul and all is clear."

He spake thus till it darkened, and the eyes
Of warriors failed, then while the slaves brought lights
And wine they sent all strangers from the hall,
And holding conclave with Gurdwi the Shah
Discussed affairs and said : " I have dispatched
Great forces to Amul to take revenge,
And all have come back wounded and in bonds,
Have come back full of sorrow and dismay.
There is one plan — a trifle when compared
With crown and throne. Although Bahram Chubina
Erred yet Gurdya was ever on our side,
And I have got a scheme, but keep it close.
A letter must be written to Gurdya.
Like wine-streams in the garth of Paradise,
To say : " Thou hast been friendly and hast helped me
In all things everywhere. Much time hath passed
While my heart's secret was not on my tongue,
But now the time for speaking hath arrived
Because Gurdwi is as myself to me.
Look out for some expedient to abate
This foul affliction and put Gustaham
Beneath the stones ; then both my heart and home
Are thine. This done, thy troops and partizans
Shall find protection with me everywhere,
Be nowhere treated with contempt, and I
Will give a province unto whom thou wilt
That they may act as rulers, and do thou
Come to the golden palace of my wives,
And thou shalt put an end to my revenge.
Thus will I pledge myself with many oaths,
And add to these yet more assurances.'
Gurdwi replied : " May the king live for ever,
And be as Venus in the Sign of Virgo.
Thou know'st that I regard my children's lives,
My fruitful lands and all my family,
However precious I account them all,
As worthless when contrasted with thy head.
I will send one to her on this affair
To give her light thereon. I shall require
A letter, written by the Shah and sealed
With his own signet, like a shining moon.
This will I send my sister by my wife,
And thus put off all our antagonists,
For this is woman's work and specially
For one that is discreet. In mine opinion
Thy words should reach my sister, and the matter
Soon end as thou wouldst wish. The plan is perfect."
Khusrau Parwiz, on hearing this, rejoiced,
And thought his cares wind, asked his treasurer
For paper, chose words redolent of musk,
And wrote a letter like a garden full
Of roses like the cheeks of the beloved.
Replete with pledges, oaths, and promises,
And manifold advice and flattery.
Whenas the ink of the inscription dried
They sealed the letter with a seal of musk.
Gurdwi wrote counsel too. and much besides,
Reciting first Bahram Chubina's deeds
Disgracing all his family and land.
And adding : 'God forgive him ! May his wrangling
Cause no remorse in him ! Those void of wisdom
Heed not the consequences of their acts.
Well, he; hath gone and we shall follow him.
Confiding in the justice of our God.
My wife, on coming, will enlighten thee.
Swerve not From what she saith or thou wilt make
Thy fortune's visage wan."

He put the letter
Writ by the Shah inside his own and wrapped
Them both in painted silk. The wary wife
Took them and heard those peremptory words.
She hasted for the forest! of Narwan —
A woman sent as envoy to a woman.
Thereat Gurdya became like jocund Spring
With cheeks all grace and colour and perfume.
They talked at large about Bahram Chubina,
And wept. Then privily Gurdwi's wife gave
Gurdya the letter and made plain the path.
That lion-woman saw the Shah's dispatch
And, thou hadst said, looked down upon the moon.
She laughed and said : " None with five friends would

think
This matter difficult."

She called her five,
And stationed them by Gustaham's bed-chamber.
She read to them the letter of the Shah,
But kept it from the chiefs in general.
When she had said her say she quickly made
A compact with them and shook hands thereon.
At night she put the lights out and at once
Pressed with her hands upon her husband's mouth ;
Some of the five too came to give her aid,
Came to the couch of that illustrious one.
She struggled greatly with the drunken man,
And silenced him at last. The general
Died in the darkness and bequeathed both night
And shining day to others. There arose
Within the city shouts and cries for help.
In every quarter tempest rose and fire,
And when the dauntless lady heard the din
She clothed her in a Ruman coat of mail.
That night she called the Iranians, spake at large
About the murdered man, showed the Shah's letter,
And so emboldened them. They blessed the event,
And showered jewels on the document.

That dauntless lady called for pen and inkstand,
And sat at ease among her counsellors.
She wrote a letter to the Shah concerning
His friends and foes, first praised those that eschew
Revenge, then said : " The bidding of the Shah
Hath been obeyed as loyal hearts would wish,
And through the fortune of the valiant world-lord
That great host hath dispersed. What further orders
Hast thou to give ? What further wilt thou hang
On thy slave's earring ? "

When the letter reached
Khusrau Parwiz he joyed in her the more.
The mighty Lion sought a messenger,
High-starred, an honest man and shrewd of soul,
And wrote a letter like the Artang of Chin,
With many blessings in it, summoning
The noble lady to the court, and in it
Called her the Diadem upon the moon.

The envoy came dust-swift to her and told
All that the Shah had said. The lion-lady
Became like radiant roses in the Spring-tide
By reason of that letter, called and paid
Her troops, and loaded up when it was day.
As she approached the city of the Shah
An army met her! : when she reached the court
The Shah received her. and she found him kind.
Thereafter she produced great offerings,
As did the chieftains in her company,

Exhibited the goods and all the wealth.

Then gave them to the royal treasurer —
Dinars and kingly jewels past compute,
Gold-woven brocade, crowns, girdles, golden thrones,
And golden shields. Khusrau-Parwiz beheld
That noble Cypress-tree with cheeks like Spring,
And pheasant's ;;gait. with countenance like day,
And locks like night, while pearls, thou wouldst have

said,
Rained from her lips. He sent her to his bower,
Gave her precedence there, sent to her brother —
His own resourceful minister — to ask her
In marriage, took and held her dear as life,
While robes of honour, coin, and much beside
He showered upon the comrades of his bride.

Two se'nnights passed away. " By sun and moon,
By throne and casque, he said to her, " narrate
Thy battle with the soldiers of the Khan,
And gird thy loins as thou wast girded then."

" O Shah ! " she thus made answer, " live for ever,
And be souls nourished by the sight of thee.
Command thy men to bring a charger here,

A saddle and choice lasso and a bow,
A spear and helmet and a warrior's mail.
Besides a quiver filled with poplar arrows.""

The Shah then bade the servitors : " Prepare
A place within the pleasance."

Heedfully
Those slaves from Rum and Turkistan attended.
Twelve hundred Beauties of Khusrau Parwiz
(Thou wouldst have said : " The garden hath not

room,")
Arrived preceded by sunlike Shirin
In height a silver column as she walked.
Gurdya approached the Shah and bade a slave
Bring coat of mail and Ruman casque. She quitted
Her seat and came forth With her loins girt up
And spear in hand. That all-accomplished dame
Drew nigh a black steed by the Shah's command,
Set on the ground the butt-end of her spear,
And vaulted to the saddle swift as wind.
She chose her field of action in the pleasance,
Wheeled her about on all sides right and left,
And pierced the dark clouds with her battle-cries.
She told the Shah : " What time I fought Tuwurg
I was ;an angry "Wolf as I am now.

Shirin said : " Wilt thou arm thy Foes, O king,
For she is thinking of her brother's death,
And will, I fear, consign thee to the wind ?
Thou wearest but a robe upon the throne
Of gold, and she can reach thee any time ! '

He laughed and answered : " Then provoke her
not."
The moon-faced lady wheeled amid the dust.
She was a heroine in love and war.
And said : " Would that a foeman of the Shah's

Were here before me on the battlefield.

I would unhorse him as I did Tuwurg
Here in the Great King's presence."

He was all

Astound, she had such stature, thews, and limbs.
He said to her: "Thou wilt not have to rail
At fortune. Let me see if thou art (quelled
By wine or unaffected."

Then she took —
That lady-paladin a goblet filled
With royal wine, which Ahriman himself
Would have declined, and in the sight of all
Quaffed to the Shah and drained it at a draught;
She knocked the dust out of that golden stream !
The Shah in wonder said : " O warrior-moon !
I have about the world four generals.

Who have it in command to guard my life.
Each hath twelve thousand men : " Iranians
And valiant cavaliers. I have withal
Within my golden bower and room of gems
Twelve thousand slaves, all pure, with torques and
earrings.

Henceforth thou art their overseer for thou
Dost toil and care for what is thine. I wish
To hear no word of them from any one,
Or young or old, save thee."

Gurdya rejoiced
On hearing this ; the slanders of her foes
Had harmed her not. She swept earth with her face,
And called down blessings on her sovereign's Grace.

A long time passed ; meanwhile the monarch's star
Sought only the ascendant, but one night,
As he was drinking wine among his sages,
His magnates and experienced officers;
There was a cup in use among the guests,
Graved with the name Bahram. The Shah bade

throw
The cup away whereat they all began
To curse Bahram, the cup, and him that wrought it.
Thus said the Shah : " Now let the elephants
Of war tread down the fields and fells of Rai,
Expel the folk and turn it to a waste."

The noble minister addressed him thus :—
" O thou memorial of mighty kings !
Consider that the state of Rai is large.
Not one for elephants to trample on,
For God and all good folk would disapprove."

The king replied : "I want one ill-disposed
And of low birth to act as marchlord there,
One who is coarse of speech and ignorant."
" Do thou, O king ! " the minister rejoined,
" Characterize the wretch, and I will seek,
And bring him, otherwise we have no guide."

Khusrau Parwiz replied : " I want a gabbler,
Ill-starred, red-haired, foul and with nose askew.
With sallow face, malicious, squat, and soured.
A coward, vile and gloomy, vengeful, lying,

Green-eyed and squinting, with projecting teeth.
And humped like wolf in gait."

The archimages
Were all amazed that he should speak of such.
And all made search about the world, amidst
The cities, and among the great and small.
One day a man brought one such to the Shah,
Who said : " Tell thine ill deeds in fitting terms."

The man replied : " I cease not to do ill.
I have no wisdom and I say one thing
And do another, and snub all that greet me.
My stock is lies: I never help the right;
I break my pledge and fling nobility.
Both root and stem, to earth."

Khusrau Parwiz
Made answer : " May thine evil star ne'er change."

They gave him Rai by patent, so the wretch
Grew great by turpitude. They gave to him
Troops that had been dismissed. He left the court,
Famed for depravity. The miscreant.
When he arrived at Rai, put off all fear
Of God, and bade the gutters of the roofs
Be torn away : this gave him much delight,
And afterward he had all cats destroyed,
Which gave great umbrage to the householders.
Where'er he went he took with him a guide,
While in the front of them a herald walked,
Proclaiming : " If I see a gutter left,
Or cat within a house, I will set fire

To house and field, and stone the inmates' heads."

He would turn out a place to find one drachm,
And vex its owner. All the people left
Their homes in terror and gave up their lands.
There were no gutters when the rain came down,
No watchman in the city. Through the foul
And ill-conditioned miscreant that came
From court to Rai that city was laid waste.
The sun beat down upon the people's heads,
The place was full of pain and wretchedness,
And not a soul regarded their distress.

Thus was it till the month of Farwardin,
And rose-leaves decked the surface of the earth,
Until the clouds' tears grew as large as hail,
And tulips filled the valleys and the plains,
Till all the dales were dappled like a pard,
And earth was coloured like brocade of Rum.
The chieftains came to sport within the garths,
And to the uplands flocked all sheep and deer.
Khusrau perceived the garden's open gates,
The water-birds disporting on its streams,
And bade the trumpets sound. They carried thither
Jars of perfumes, sat down upon the grass.
Called out for wine and decked their souls with joy.

A man from Rai approached Gurdwi and told
All that had happened. He was grieved at heart,
And sought in his concern a remedy.
He told his sister : " Thou must tell the Shah.
See if thou canst devise a scheme to make
His heart indifferent in this regard."

Anon Gurdya produced a kitten, clad
As 'twere a child, upon a courser trapped
With gold and jewels. In the kitten's ears
Were earrings and its claws were tulip-hued,
Its eyes were pitch-like, Languishing like those
Of folk bemused, its cheeks were like the Spring.
It rode about the garden like a child
With saddle-flaps of gold. The Shah laughed out,
And laughter took possession of the court.
" What," said he to Gurdya, " is thy desire,
My gracious lady ? "

That resourceful dame
At once did reverence. " Exalted Shah ! "
She said. '" -grant Rai to me, be wise again,

Release the hearts of woeful folk from grief,

Recall that wretched mannikin from Rai,
And term him miscreant and malefactor,

For he doth ban the cats and wreck all gutters !"

Khusrau Parwiz Laughed out at his wife's words.
And said : " Thou saucy shatterer of hosts !
I give to thee the city and the lands.
Send thither presently some upright man.
And call back that malignant one from Rai,
Like Ahriman, that loathly infidel."'

The lady's Fortune waxed continually
Beneath that royal and illustrious Tree.

Thereafter when the Shah's hand was extended,
When all folk wished him well, when other kings
Were subject to him, and his other lieges
Had been enriched, he chose out of Iran
Four times twelve thousand warlike cavaliers,
Brave and experienced, oped the ancient hoards
Filled by Piruz and glorious Kubad,
Partitioned out the world in four and made
Appointments to the governments. He sent
Twelve thousand out of those illustrious men,
Shrewd cavaliers, deft wielders of the sword,
Toward the Ruman marches to safe-guard
That populous and glorious coast that troops
From Rum might not attack Iran and lay
The country waste or any one encroach.
But be content with his own rank and fortune.
He chose moreover of the men of name
Out of Iran twelve thousand warlike horsemen
That they might march forth to Zabulistan
(They left a rose-garth for a gloomy land)
And said to them : " If any one shall turn
Out of the way, not keeping his own place,
Restore him to the path with courteousness,
But in worse cases use the chain and pit.
Send spies about to keep you well apprised ;
Ye will have need of outposts day and night,
And sleep not in your tents without a guard."

Out of the host he called twelve thousand others,
All magnates valorous and fond of fight,
And having given to them much advice
Dispatched them to the route of the Alans,
And charged them with the gate-way of the West
So that no enemy might pass thereby.
He bade the chiefs : "Be watchful and God guard

you."

He chose and sent twelve thousand warriors more,
Such as were fit, to Khurasan, exhorting,
And greatly charging : " From Haital to Chin
Let none set foot upon our land save those,
Devoted and attached to me, that are
Admitted with my knowledge and command.
In all the provinces I have full hoards
Available to all. When ye have need
Ask and live happy, prudent and secure."

He oped his treasuries' doors and seeing drachms
With the inscription of Hurmuzd he wept,
And gave them to the poor with further gifts
When they were clothed. He cut the heads off all
The adherents of Bandwi and intimates
Of foul-mouthed Gustaham who had rejoiced
O'er his sire's murder. Having made an end
Of cursing and revenge he wisely took
A new departure, portioning in four
The night and day, which make revolving time.
At one of these four seasons an archmage
Of goodly speech attended to inform
The Shah about the host and world's affairs,
Who, if he noticed anything amiss
Among the people or the warriors,
Would ply forthwith the skirt of justice, learn
The facts, and find a way. Another time
Was given up to song and minstrelsy,
And quiet, careless session with his lords
As mighty men should do. The third was set
Apart for prayer and praising God, the fourth
For study of the starry sky above,
Its character, its nature, and its host.
The readers of the stars then stood before him
Because they were his guides to understanding ;
But during half of this night-period
He sat among the Idols of Taraz.
He also made division of each month
In four parts that life might be pleasurable :
One for the riding-ground, for archery,
And polo with some noble to record ;
Or for the chase among the hills and plains
To keep himself in health, and when he left
The chase by day or night the affluent
Would decorate his route. The second part
Was given up to chess and nard and tales
Of battle, while the third was for the sages,
The scribes and story-tellers, who in turn
Narrated to him stories of the past,
While in the fourth the Shah received the envoys
Of other potentates and wrote his answers
To those exalted chiefs. With robes of honour
The envoys, gratified and satisfied,
Would set forth from the court and journey home.
On that day too for all the provinces
He used to write out patents and bestow them
On all the chiefs. When the New Year began
At Farwardin, and sunshine in men's hearts
Relumed the Faith, he laid a treasure by,
Unknown to all his subjects, secretly.

When he had reigned five years he had no peer,
And in the sixth year Caesar's daughter bare him
An infant like the moon. 'Twas not the custom
To give the call to prayers in infants' ears
If delicately nurtured. Fathers spake
One name into their ears — a private one —

The other name was publicly announced.
The Shah in private called his son Kubad.
But publicly Shirwi of glorious race.
When of that night of birth there had elapsed
Three watches the astrologers approached
Khusrau Parwiz who asked : " What have all those
Who read the stars observed, what will result,
And what is this young world-lord's horoscope ? '

They said : Thou canst not 'scape the sky's decree.
The earth will be in turmoil through this child ;
His army will not bless him. He withal
Will quit (.God's path. What need we further say?'

The upshot of their travail and those words
Unseemly grieved the Shah's heart, and he said
Thus to the sages : " Take a better view.
Be careful that ye speak no word thereof
Before the Iranian chiefs."

He took good heed
Of that ill horoscope and laid it up
When he had sealed it with his royal signet.
The matter filled him with concern ; he gave
No audience for a se'nnight and refrained
From chase and wine. None saw him for a space.
The chieftains all resorted to the archmage,
And held discourse at large to ascertain
What had befallen the illustrious Shah,
And why he gave not audience to his lieges.
The high priest sought the Shah, on hearing this,

And told the army's words. He answered thus : —
" Fate troubleth me, and I am all concern
About the process of the turning sky
Through what the astrologers have said."
He bade
The treasurer : " Bring forth the painted silk
With script therein."

The treasurer produced,
The archmage scanned heart-straitened, and was

mute,
But in the end said : " God is all in all,
For He surpasseth all men's understanding.
Now if the blindly turning sky presenteth
An altered aspect to the questioner
How can concernment make it turn from ill ?
Why then should any sage suggest such things ?
May naught but joy be thine. Heed not their talk.
We reap as heaven soweth and perforce
Must trust thereto. While heaven itself shall last
At whiles will love and justice and at whiles
Strife and revenge prevail. From it the body
Hath gain and loss. The understanding soul
Is not afraid. The Maker be thy stay
And comforter, and fortune's head be laid
Upon thy lap."

Thereat Khusrau Parwiz
Smiled and then gave his mind to other things.
He called a trusty scribe, instructed him
At large, and bade him write to Caesar thus : —
" Put on a crown fit for a king to wear,
For in the night Maryam hath borne a son,
Whose like thou ne'er hast seen. He needs must be
Both wise and fortunate, and through his virtues
Both worthy of the throne and bountiful.
So, as I do myself, live happily,
For joy and high estate pertain to thee."

Now Caesar, when the letter reached him, saw
The superscription of Khusrau Parwiz,
And bade to blow the trumpet at his gate ;
The realm resounded. They adorned the wastes
And ways in honour of Shirwi the son
Ot Shah Khusrau Parwiz ; the voice of minstrels
Rose from the state of Rum from end to end.
Folk went with many Crosses to the court,
The scent of roses and sweet perfumes rose.
Thus for seven days they joyed with harp and wine
O'er prince Shirwi while Caesar on the eighth
Bade drivers with their caravans attend.
He loaded up with drachms a hundred camels,
And fifty with dinars by way of largess,
Two hundred with gold-woven brocade of Rum,
Thou wouldst have said : " The fabric is all gold,"
With forty golden tables made with feet
Of coral, fitting for the use of kings,
With gold and silver effigies of beasts
With gems for eyes, with robes of beaver-skins,
With silk from Chin, and with a golden laver
Adorned with emeralds. He sent Maryam
A peacock made of gold, and many gems.
He sent as tribute also forty million
Dinars of Rum with forty watchful Rumans
To guard it led by Khanagi — a man
Unmatched in wisdom. Thus with cameleers
Ten caravans went laden with dinars.

When tidings reached the conquering Shah : " An
envoy
From Caesar draweth nigh," he bade Farrukh,

A loyal marchlord, ruler of Nimruz,
High-born, a warrior, and the army's Lustre,
To mount. With him went horsemen of the Shah
With golden helms. When Khanagi descried
Those troops afar he boldly rode ahead
Until they reached the Shah and that famed court.
On seeing his fair face and splendid throne
All louted to the ground and homaged him.
Then Khanagi, his face in dust, exclaimed : —
" O lord of justice, holy man ! may God,
The All-conquering, bless thee, mayst thou ever be
The Shah and glad."

The chiefs arose and made
Room for him near the Shah to whom he said : —
" Whose wisdom is like thine ? Thou art more bright
Than Sol in heaven, more lasting than the soul
Of eloquence. May this world never lack
A king like thee, and may time bear him fruit.
May none behold the day whereon thy will
Is frustrate ; be thy name writ on the sun.
May this world never lack thy head and crown,
This land thy host. From Caesar salutation,
From us praise to this famous king of earth.
May all be dark to one that joyeth not,

In his alliance. We have come from Rum
With gifts and tribute to this famous land,
Come with philosophers withal lest any
Should feel aggrieved at us. Let him accept
From Caesar goods and tribute and moreover
His blessing."

Smiled the Shah upon that man
Of worship and they set for him a seat.
Khusrau Parwiz sent to the treasury
The gifts and said to him : " There needed not
Such pains ;" then to Kharrad, son of Barzin : —
" Read out this letter to the company."

The scribe, an eloquent and heedful man.
Scanned the address and said : " 'Tis " to the great.
Exalt Khusrau Parwiz, that man of God,
The watchful ruler of a lovely land,
Whose crown and wisdom are God's gifts to him,
The world-lord and the son of Shah Hurmuzd,
The glory of the crown and throne, from Caesar,
The father of the mother of the prince
Of lion-name. and may his fame and power
Endure. Be his height, Grace, and victory,
And may his days be all a New Year's Day.
May he rule o'er Iran and o'er Turan,
In sovereignty without competitor,
For ever glad in heart and bright in soul,
For ever old in wit and young in fortune.
The noble monarchy of Gaiumart,
The offspring of Hushang and Tahmuras,
Sire after sire, son after son, God grant
The stock ne'er fail. May holy God bless these.
The Mighty both in kingship and in Faith.
No horseman and no Spring is like to thee.
Like thee there is no picture in the halls;
Thou hast all manliness and uprightness,
And may thy spirit look not on defeat.
In all Iran, Turan, and Hindustan
From Turkistan to Rum, the sorcerers' land,
God hath giv'n thee high birth with purity :
No holy mother e'er bare such a son.
When Faridun gave to Iraj Iran,
And took supremacy from Rum and Chin,
He from the first acclaimed Iraj and purged
His heart from guile and gloom. Thou hast no want,
Thy fortune prospereth, and thou wouldst say
That God bestoweth majesty and charm
And manhood upon thee and robbeth others
Of their renown for manliness. As patrons
Of virtue, noble, bountiful, no member
Of their race e'er saw trouble. Tax and tribute
They laid on foes, and their ill-wishers bare,
As oxen do, their burdens. Since the days
Of Nushirwan (may wisdom make him young

For evermore !), whose peer hath never been,
And ne'er will be, as Shah — the prudent king-
By whom was reared a bulwark from the deep),
So that they freed the whole wood of Narwan
From Turkmans and the folk reposed, so freed
A vast expanse from enemies amid
The benisons of lords and underlings,
While Arabs, Indians, and Iranians
Girt up their loins before him — from the sea
Of Chin up to the land of the Khazars,
And from Armenia to the Eastern gate,
The nobles of Haital, Chach, Turkistan,
And Samarkand, although possessed of crowns,
Of Grace and splendour, all have been your lieges
Admittedly because the Shahs were sprung
From Faridun and others had no right.
By this affinity that I have now
Contracted with thee, and increased thereby
My greatness by my wisdom, I rejoice
As those athirst, or herbs sun-parched, at water.
Let the shrewd world-lord make me glorious,
And answer me this day. I ask the king
To grant a wish of mine. It is a matter
Of no account to him. Among thy treasures
There is the Cross of Christ : observe and ye
Will find it so. It hath been there for long.
Now let the Shah restore it and so doing
Confer a favour on us great and small :
Then all the world will bless him, saying thus : —
Let time and earth without him be no more.'
'Twill be a favour to me ; I will pray
All day and three fourths of the night for him.
Let him accept the tribute, toll, and gifts
Sent by me to his folk, and in return
I will accept the Cross by way of thanks.
Ne'er may the wicked look upon thy face !
Our feasts and ritual will prove glorious.
Our Faith become resplendent in the world,
As will our holy day. our Sunday, God
Will everywhere be worshipped, and the sad
Will kiss the Cross and burn thereto much incense.
That time will be delightful to my heart,
For ye will purge your hearts of all the vengeance
That hath come down to us from Faridun,
And privily possessed both Salm and Tur ;
Our realm will rest from forays and all feuds.
Our wives and children have been carried off',
In every way our hearts have been distressed,
But our affinity hath calmed the world,
And all insensate passions are appeased.
May the Creator bless thee and thy land."

The Shah heard Caesar's letter to the end
With secret joy ; the days of mighty kings
Had been restored in him. He gave great praise
To Khanagi and said : " Be thou no more
A stranger."

They made ready for that worthy,
That man both shrewd and brave, as dwelling-place
Two halls delightsome, and provided him
With all things needful. Khanagi first viewed
The appointed dwelling, then rejoined the Shah,
And companied that worshipper of God
At feast and entertainment, wine and chase.
On this wise with the Shah a month they spent
In all good fellowship and much content.

Khusrau Parwiz wrote when the month had passed
A letter couched in wise and happy terms,
Beginning thus : " The blessings of the Great
Be on the man who keepeth pure within,
Who seeth God's work both in good and ill,
And feareth none beside but praiseth Him —
The Master of the sun — who thus sustaineth
The heavenly sphere : and first, thy praises of me,
As instanced in thy letter, I acknowledge,
And I am gratified that they proceed
From sages eminent. I have received
Thy splendid treasure sent and only wish
That thou hadst less concerned thyself. Since God,
The holy Ruler of the world, hath raised
Thy realm o'er Spica, so as to outprize
Hind and Saklab, Chin and Khazar, what manhood,
What knowledge, virtue, and what Faith are thine,
And with God's blessing ! When I was in trouble
Thou didst assist me and remove my griefs
Most wisely. Now I am more gratified
In thine affinity and virtuous daughter
Than any other chief in child, in land,
And virtuous kin. The other chiefs all turned
Their backs on me and passed me by as vile,
But thou didst take the place of sire to me,
And more. I recognise that thou hast been
A father noble and benevolent.
Next, what thou sayest of the holy Faith.
About your Sundays, fastings, and thanksgivings,
The scribe hath read to me. The words are both
Apt and acceptable, but still I shame not
For mine old Faith : " Hushang's than which the

world
Hath seen naught better, teaching as it doth
All justice, goodness, reverence, and love,

With observation of the stars of heaven.

Sure am I that God is and ever strive
To follow justice. We do not allow-
That God hath any partner, son. and consort.
He is and ever will be manifest,
Not comprehended by our thoughts but still
To me the warrant of His own existence.

Now ;as for these old tales recalled by thee
About the (Cross of Christ : a well based Faith
Hath reason for its guide. Concerning those
Who. as thou say'st, are sad because their Prophet
Was crucified yet call Him Son of God,'
And say that on the Cross He laughed, if He
Was son He hath but gone back to his Father;
Be not concerned about some rotten wood.
If foolish utterances proceed from Caesar
His letter will be laughed at by the old.
The Cross of Jesus, which Ardshir the Shah
Put in his treasury, is not worth the pains,
And if I send it from Iran to Rum
The land will laugh at me, the archimages
Think that I have turned Christian and a priest
Upon Maryam's account ! Demand of me
Whatever else thou wilt : the way is open.

I look with admiration on thy gifts,
For which thou hast encountered so much toil,
And have bestowed them on Shirwi that so
I might inaugurate his treasury.
I am concerned about Iran and Rum,
My thoughts all night are like a wood, I fear
That when Shirwi is grown mishap will come
Upon both lands. Beginning with great Salm,
Prolonged by that old vengeful Wolf Sikandar,
What with new feuds and old, the whole affair
Will be revived. In all things that thy daughter
Hath said to me know that she hath restored
Thy crown to youth. She is a Christian still,
And heedeth not my words. She is at ease
And joyful, triumphing in this young Tree
Of royalty. The World-lord help thee ever ;
May fortune's head be always on thy lap."

They sealed the letter with the royal signet,

Kharrad, son of Barzin, took charge thereof,
And then they oped the doors of treasure-hoards
Collected by the Shah for many a day.
And in the first place eight score money-bags,
For coins which Persians call " paidawasis,"
They filled till they were hard as stones with jewels,
Then sealed them tightly. Every bag was worth,
According to the reckoning on the roll,
One hundred thousand drachms. There were besides
Of pieces of brocade from Chin one hundred
And forty thousand, some of cloth of gold
With jewelled patterns, and five hundred pearls
Of purest water and like water-drops,
With eight score jewels like pomegranate-seeds,
Such as a skilful jeweller would prize,
While of the native produce of each land,
Of Hindustan and Chin, Barbar and Misr,
And raiment from Shustar — all that the chiefs
Esteem — he sent three hundred camel-loads
To noble Caesar. He gave Khanagi
A grander robe of honour than he gave
To strangers or his kin, with garments, steeds,
Thrones, trappings, and all kinds of noted stuffs.
In this way too he made up camel-loads,
Ten out of them consisting of dinars
To give to the philosophers of Rum.
The embassy went on its way rejoicing,
While all the mighty men called down upon
That prowest king of earth their benison.

Now will I tell again old histories
About Shirin and Shah Khusrau Parwiz.
The book containing them is antiquate,
But that same story bring I up to date
To serve as a memorial of the Great.
Six times ten thousand couplets there will be,
Well ordered, banishers of misery.
For thrice a thousand couplets one may look
In vain as yet in any Persian book,
And if one were to cancel each false strain
In sooth five hundred barely would remain.
That one — a bounteous king and of such worth
And lustre mid the monarchs of the earth —
Should disregard these histories is due
To slanderers and mine ill fortune too.
They envied this my work and "with the king

They have prevailed to spoil my marketing ;
But when the royal potentate shall read
My pleasant histories with all good heed
I shall be gladdened by his treasures here,
And may no ill from foe approach him near.
My book may then recall me to his mind,
The seed of mine endeavours fruitage find.
Be his the crown and throne while time shall run,
And may his destiny outshine the sun.
A rustic minstrel wise and old once said : —
" To know is that which giveth man most aid ;
The tale of grief and joy he needs must tell,
Taste all the bitter and the salt as well,
For youths though knowing and of noble birth
Can only by experience compass worth.'"

Khusrau Parwiz like other paladins,
While yet his father lived, was young and bold,
And had for mate Shirin who was to him
As his bright eyes. He cared for none beside
Among the fair and daughters of the night,
But parted from her for a while when he
Came to be king and had to roam the world
Unrestingly, for all his work was then
To fight Bahram Chubina while the Fair
Wept day and night o'er his defect in love.
It was so that one day he willed to hunt,
And all things were prepared as in the times
Of former Shahs. They took three hundred steeds,
Caparisoned with gold, for that famed King-.
While of his loyal servitors there fared
Afoot a thousand and eight score, and carried
Two-headed darts. A thousand and two score
Bare scimitars and wore brocade above
Their coats of mail. Seven hundred falconers
Came next with royal falcons, sparrow-hawks,

And gos-hawks, while behind them mounted men —
Three hundred keepers of the cheetahs— fared,
And pards and lions chained three score and ten,
All harnessed with brocade of Chin, all trained,
And furnished with gold muzzles. For the deer-hunt
There were eight hundred hounds with golden leashes.
Behind them came, to harp on hunting-days,
Two thousand minstrels all on camel-back,

And crowned with gold. Five hundred camels went
Ahead, and 'twas their special task to bear
The seats, pavilions, and tent-enclosures,
The tents and shielings for the quadrupeds.
There were two hundred slaves to kindle censers,
And to burn aloe-wood and ambergris
Therein. Before the Shah two hundred youths
Of those attending on him went with posies
Of saffron and narcissus that the scent
Might meet him from all quarters as he came,
Preceded by a hundred water-bearers
To sprinkle all the road, and thou hadst said :—
" They pour rose-water over ambergris '
Lest any sudden blast might scatter dust
Upon that Shah of glorious lineage.

Three hundred youthful princes rode with him,
Arrayed in yellow, red, and violet.

The king of kings had with him Kawa's standard,
Wore crown and earrings, royal cloth of gold,
A golden girdle, armlets, and a torque,
And jewelled buttons.

Now Shirin, on hearing : —
" The host, preceded by the mighty Shah,
Hath come," put on a yellow vest musk-scented,
And made her visage like pomegranate-blooms.
She wore a red robe of brocade from Rum
With patterns jewelled on a ground of gold,
And placed upon her head a royal crown
Set with the jewels of a paladin.
She left her jocund hall, went on the roof,
And in her day of youth showed naught of joy,
But waited till Khusrau Parwiz arrived,
Then let the tear-drops fall upon her cheeks.
At sight of him she rose, showed all her height,
And spake to him with sweetness of the past.
The twin Narcissi bathed the Cercis-bloom,
The first all languishment, the last all health.
All tears and beauty, eagerly she cried
Thus in the olden tongue : " O Shah ! Great Lion !
O framed to be leader of the host !
O blessed hero, lion-conqueror !
Where is that love of thine ? Where are the tears
Of blood once stanched by looking on Shirin ?
Where all those days which once we turned to nights,
Tears in our hearts and eyes, smiles on our lips ?
Where are our loves, our troth, our bonds, our oaths ? '

E'en as she spake she shed blood-drops of gall
Upon her guise of lapis-lazuli,

And when he heard and looked and saw Shirin

He wept for her, his face hued like the sun.
He sent a led horse all betrapped with gold,
And forty honest eunuchs, men of Rum.
To bear her to his golden bower, his house
Begemmed, then went to hunt with hawks and

cheetahs.
When he had had enough of hill and plain
He went back to the city joyfully.
They decked it and the roads because the Shah
Was coming from the chase: the trumpet-calls,
And sounds of singing, ravelled all the air.
And thus the royal Fruit of that tall Bough
Passed through the city to his lofty home.
While From his bower Shirin came forth and kissed
His feet and hands and head. At that time spake
The Shah to the high priest : " Indulge no thoughts
Save good concerning us, bestow on me
This fair-cheeked lady as my lawful wife,
And publish the glad tidings to the world."

So he espoused her in the ancient way
With all the rites and sanctions of his day.

Now when these tidings of Khusrau Parwiz
Came to the nobles and the host : " Shirin
Is in the Shah's bower and the old affair
Hath been revived," the city was aggrieved,
And full of care, distress, and malisons.
For three days none approached him. On the fourth,

When the world's Lustre shone, he sent and called
The chiefs and set them on the nobles' seats.
He said to them : " For days I have not seen you,
And grieve thereat. I am concerned for fear
Of your concernment and solicitous
About your dealings."

Thus he spake but none
Replied ; they simply held their tongues, but those
Aggrieved and angry looked at the high priest,
Who seeing this rose to his feet and thus
Addressed Khusrau Parwiz : " O righteous judge !
Thou hast in youth's day come to be the king,
Hast seen from fortune much of good and ill,
And heard how in the world no stint thereof

Ariseth from the deeds of those in power ;
How when a noble race hath been defiled
Defiled too are the mighty sprung therefrom.
Know this, that never hath a noble son
Laid hands upon his father's life unless
His mother had befouled the seed and smirched
Her offspring. Thus Zahhak, the Arab, slew
His sire and brought ill on Jamshid's head, thus
Sikandar, who poured out Dara's blood, brought
So great a fire of feud upon ourselves
Although his father called Dara his brother,
While Failakus was wont to call him son.
When sire is pure and mother virtueless
Know that no holy son will come to birth.
None seeketh for uprightness in perverseness
If he is fain to fill his sleeves with right.
Our hearts are sad because a potent div
Is now the great king's mate, for had there been
No other woman in Iran e'en then
How could Khusrau Parwiz thus honour her ?
If but Shirin were absent from his bower
His face would be resplendent everywhere.
Thine ancestors, those wise and upright men,
Ne'er would have thought of this."

When he had spoken
At great length, and the king of kings returned
No answer, he said thus : " At dawn to-morrow
We will assemble here and haply have
The Shah's reply ; our talk was long to-day."

Next day they rose at dawn and went to offer
Their service to the Shah, and some one said :—
" It is not right to speak such words." another : —
"The words were wisdom's mates." a third : "He will
Reply to-day, and what he saith should make
For happiness."

The archimages all
Set forward and with stately steps approached
The Shah. The magnates took their seats and then
A man came with a bowl all furbished bright
As Sol and passed before the chiefs in turn.
Now warm blood had been poured therein. He set
It gently by the Shah. All turned away
Their faces and the assembly was all talk.
Khusrau Parwiz looked on them and they quaked.
He said to the Iranians : " Whose blood
Is this and wherefore is it set before me ? '

'Tis noisome blood," the archimage replied,
" And so polluteth him that seeth it."

"When he had spoken thus men took the bowl,
Passed it from hand to hand, cleansed it of blood,
And scoured it out with water and with sand.
Then when that noisome bowl had been made bright
And clean, the washer filled it full of wine,
And sprinkled it With musk and with rose-water.
The bowl shone out sun-bright. Khusrau Parwiz
Said to the archmage : " Verily the bowl
Appeareth otherwise ! '
The archmage said : —
" Live ever more ! Good hath appeared from ill.
Thy bidding hath turned Hell to Paradise,
And from ill-doing good is manifest."

" Shirin," Khusrau Parwiz said, "to this city
Was e'en as this disgustful bowl of bane,
But in my bower she is a bowl of wine,
And savoureth as we. She first obtained
Her ill repute through me ; she did not court
The friendship of the Great."

All blessed him, saying : —
" May earth ne'er lack thy crown and throne. They

grow
In goodness whom thou makest good, and mighty
Are those whom thou hast made so in the world,
For to be Shah, archmage, and chief is thine,
And have withal on earth the Grace divine."

Thenceforth the greatness of the Shah increased,
And what had been a moon became a sun.
His days were spent with Caesar's daughter ; she
Was chief within his bower. Because of her
Shirin was sore, her cheeks were ever wan
With envy till at last she gave her bane,
And Caesar's lovely daughter ceased to be.
None wotted of the trick because Shirin
Kept her own counsel, and Khusrau Parwiz
Gave her the gilded chamber when Maryam
Had been deceased one year.
Now when Shirwi
Was sixteen years of age, and in his stature
O'ertopped the men of thirty, his sire brought
The erudite to educate the prince.
While by command an archimage maintained
A kindly watch upon him day and night.
It happened that the archimage one morn
Went to his patron's and returning Found
Shirwi as usual occupied in sport,
Saw that he had in front of him Kalila
And Dimna but that the fierce youth was holding
In his Left hand a wolfs claw cut and dried.

And in his right a buffalo's horn, and these
He beat together as the humour took him.

Such actions, pastime, and behaviour

Vexed the archmage's heart who boded ill
From that wolf's claw, the buffalo's horn, and manners
Of that rude youth, and was in great concern
At what might happen through that ill-disposed
And luckless prince in times to come for he
Had seen the horoscope and made inquiries
Of minister and treasurer. He sought
The high-priest and reported thus to him :
'This youth is wholly given up to play."

The high priest went at once and told the Shah,
Who kept a careful eye upon his son,
On whose account his ruddy cheeks grew pale
In trouble for the future of the world.
His heart was full of pain, his liver ached
At what the readers of the stars had told him.
He said : " I wait the Lord of Heaven's will.""

When twenty-three years of the reign had passed,
And when Shirwi had gotten stalwart limbs,
The Great King was displeased because the child
Was lusty grown but not as he desired.
The monarch's mind, which else had been all smiles,
Was pained thereat, and he confined the youth
To his own palace with a foster-brother,
Disgraced on his account, and all that were
Attached to him or went to him for counsel :
There were above three thousand more or less.
Their palaces, connected each with each,
Were as a whole the prison of Shirwi.
They decked, draped, carpeted, and furnished them
With provand and the means of giving largess,
With male and female slaves, with wine and minstrels.
The place was all dinars. The inmates passed
Their time in song and feast while forty men
Kept guard.

And now as episodes recite
Tales told by men who thought and spake aright.

Of that throne which thou knowest as Takdis,
And which Khusrau Parwiz set up within
The hippodrome, the origin occurred
Beneath Zahhak — that loathly infidel —
For when heroic Faridun came forth,
And from the Arabs carried off the style
Of kingship, on Mount Damawand there dwelt
A man who was distinguished by the Shah.
His name was Jahn, son of Barzin, a power
Within the realm, and for that Shah renowned
He made a throne and studded it with gems,
So that Shah Faridun rejoiced o'er him
When that grand throne was finished, and bestowed
Drachms thirty thousand with a golden crown,

And pair of earrings on him, and had written
On his behalf a patent for Sari.

And for Amul. The coast-lands thus assigned
Resembled Paradise. When Faridun
Bestowed Iran upon Iraj — the youngest
Of his illustrious sons — he gave withal
Three things — this very throne, the ox-head mace
To serve as his memorial in the world,
And thirdly what the just Shah used to term

"The Seven Founts' a jewel. When Iraj
Departed these were left and Minuchihr
Had joy thereof. Each wearer of the crown
Made some addition to that throne, and when
It came to Kai Khusrau, the fortunate,
He added greatly to its height. It passed
In due succession to Luhrasp and so
On to Gushtasp who, when he saw it. cried : —

" The work of mighty men must not be hidden,"
And to Jamasp that man of worship said: —

What canst thou add to this achievement ? Scan
It everywhere and see what supplement
Thereto will win us praises after death."

Jamasp beheld the throne and saw therein
A key wherewith to open wisdom's door.
Upon it he inscribed the heavenly host,
Which hold the secrets of futurity,
And there portrayed by order of the Shah
The planet-forms from Saturn to the moon.
The throne thus reached the era of Sikandar,
Each Shah that looked upon it adding somewhat-
Gold, silver, ivory, and ebony —
Until through ignorance at one fell swoop
Sikandar broke it up ; howbeit the nobles
Concealed and handed down full many a shard.
Thus was it till Ardshir began his reign,
And then the name e'en had grown obsolete.
He found no traces and so made another,

Not as he would, and had small joy therein.
He died and left it as thereafter did
Those that succeeded. When Khusrau Parwiz
Sat on the throne and all the chiefs were loyal
They spake about that other royal throne,
And its past history. Thus said the Shah : —
" Ye chiefs ! I ask a favour of my lieges
So that I may remake that throne renowned
To keep my name in mind. I need the plan
Drawn by Jamasp — the favourite of the sky —
The one adopted by Gushtasp, the Shah,
Assisted by Jamasp's advice and skill."

An archimagus reproduced the plan
Whereat the exalt Khusrau Parwiz was glad,
And, this obtained, made haste to reconstruct
With joy the throne, brought forth that of Ardshir,
And gathered all the craftsmen of Iran.
So in the days of that victorious Shah
They reconstructed that resplendent Throne.
The artificers came out of Rum and Chin,
Makran, Baghdad, and from Iran itself.
Of craftsmen there were one and sixty score,
Intent upon the fashioning thereof,
And each had thirty workers under him—
Men out of Rum, Pars, and Baghdad. The Shah
Commanded all to labour earnestly
To have the throne completed in two years,
And when it was set up high fortune shone.
The height thereof was five score royal cubits
If thou wilt add thereto three score and ten ;
The breadth six score for 'twas less broad than high.
A different carpet was laid down each morning
Throughout the month, and seven score thousand
plaques
Of gold with patterns fashioned of turquoise
Were set upon the throne, while every nail
And clamp were solid silver : each of them
Weighed sixty-six miskals. When Sol displayed
Its lamp in Aries the desert lay
Behind the throne which fronted garden-wards,
But when Sol raged in Leo then the back
Was turned toward it in the month of Tir
The time for fruit and festival the throne
Stood fronting toward the garden and the fruits
To catch their scents ; in Winter, in the days
Of wind and wet, none felt them seated thus;
The top was all shut in right royally
With beaver-skins and sables. A thousand balls
Withal of gold and silver glowed like brands
Upon the fire, each five and twenty score
Miskals in weight and coral-hued with heat,
One half was in the fire, the other half
Was turned towards the noble warriors.
The host of heaven, planets. Zodiac.
The bright moon in whatever Sign soe'er,
And all the bodies, fixed or wandering.
Were visible to the astronomer,
Who saw what portion of dark night had passed,
And how much sky had moved athwart the earth.
Among these tables some were made of gold,
And what a wealth of jewels was therein !
Not e'en an expert could compute their tale.
The cheapest ran to some three score dinars
And ten ; seven hundred would not purchase some,
So strike an average. Full many a ruby
Was there whose value none could estimate :
They lit the night like Venus in the sky.
Upon the throne-steps were three rows of seats
Enriched with gems. From one row to the next
There were four steps of gold inlaid with jewels.
One row, whose ornaments were shaped like heads
Of rams, took thence its name ; the next above
Was known as Lapis-lazuli " as higher
Than wind or dust-clouds, while the third was all
Turquoise, and every one that saw it burned
With longing. Rural chiefs and underlings
Sat on the Rams" Heads" row while cavaliers-
Men unaffeared upon the day of battle —
Sat on the cirque of lapis-lazuli.
The turquoise seat was for the minister
That was engaged in governing the realm,
And he that sat there must be wise and Loyal.
A fabric was spread out of cloth of gold
Two Score and seventeen cubits long, its fringe
All strung with jewels held by golden threads.
A map of heaven was inscribed thereon
Where Saturn, Mars, Sol. Jupiter, and Venus,
With Mercury and shining Luna, showed
The fortunes of the Shah : there too appeared
The Seven Climes, and peers of Pars and Rum ;
The seven and forty Shahs, their faces, thrones,
And crowns, were shown, those of the kings of

kings,
Of woven gold. The fabric was unique.
A man of Chin, unrivalled in such work.
Had given seven years to weaving it.
One New Year at Urmuzd of Farwardin
He came before the monarch of Iran,

And brought that royal carpet to the Shah :

The nobles let him pass. He laid it down

On New Year's Day. The Shah's joy was complete.
That carpet gave an opportunity

For mirth : they called for wine and minstrelsy.

There was a minstrel who was named Sarkash —
An expert-who acclaimed the king of kings
With all felicitations on the harp,
While nobles showered jewels over him.
And hailed him as the Grace of majesty,
What while the Shah grew greater year by year.
Now in the nine and twentieth of his kingship,
When none fared ill at court, Barbad heard tell
Thereof, for all Folk said to him : " The world-lord

Affecteth minstrelsy in private life.

And thou, if thou wert introduced to him.

Wouldst overtop Sarkash."

Thereat I the man
Became ambitious and though well to do
Departed to the Shah's court from his province,
And noted all the minstrels there. Sarkash,
On hearing him perform, was vexed at heart,
And, all confounded at such minstrelsy,
Approached the audience-chamberlain, bestowed
A present on him of dinars and drachms,
And said : " There is a minstrel at the gate,
Who is my better both in years and skill.
He must not come before Khusrau Parwiz
For I am waxing old and he is young."

The keeper of the door, on hearing this,
Refused the new musician audience,
And so Barbad, whenever he approached,
Found his employment and his profit nil.

When he despaired of being heard he sought
The royal pleasance with his harp. The gardener,
A man by name Mardwi, revived his hopes,
Because at the New Year the Shah was wont
To hold a two weeks' feast within that pleasance.
Barbad approached Mardwi forthwith, became
Friends that same day and said : " Thou wouldest say
That we are soul and body. I desire
A boon — the merest trifle. When the world-lord
Shall come to revel hither give to me
The means of seeing him, myself unseen."
Mardwi replied : " I will ; my love for thee
Shall oust reflection."

When the Shah took order
For visiting the garth the gardener's heart
Was like a shining lamp. He went and told
Barbad : " The Shah is coming to the pleasance."

Barbad dressed all in green and took his harp,
Prepared to sing of glory and of war.
And went to where the Shah would be who had
Each Spring a fresh spot for his festival.
There was a verdant cypress full of leaf,
Whose branches, like the battle of Pashan.
Extended far and wide. With harp on breast
The minstrel climbed it and abode until
The king came from his palace to the pleasance :
The gardener had the spot in readiness.
There came a fay-faced reveller with wine
While in the monarch's hand there was a cup ;
The world-lord took the liquor from the youth ;
Its crimson made the crystal disappear.
Now when the sun turned sallow, but abode
Until night turned to lapis-lazuli,

The minstrel in that cypress took his harp.
And sang a royal ditty. In that tree
He sang a lay so charming that the Shah,
That man of wakeful fortune, was amazed.
The melody which that sweet voice gave forth
Was that which now thou callest Dadafrid.
The company were in astonishment,
And everyone had his own view thereon.
The playing made Sarkash like one insane :
He recognised the source, but held his peace.
And thought : " None but Barbad can play like this,
Or knoweth thus the song of paladins.'

The Shah gave orders to his lords : " Search all
The pleasance."

They searched long and came again,
While shrewd Sarkash observed : " No marvel 'tis,
So fortune-favoured is the Shah, that rose
And cypress-tree should serve him as musicians.
For ever may his head and crown endure."

Then the cup-bearer brought another cup,
And as the king received it From the youth,
So fair of face, the minstrel preluded
In other fashion and forthwith began
A different song — that called Paikar-i-Gurd,
A name suggested by the words. The minstrel
Sang and the Shah gave ear, drank to the voice,
And bade : " Produce this man and all within
The garden."

So they searched the garden through,
And carried lights beneath the trees, but saw
Naught but the willows and the cypresses,
And pheasants pacing underneath the rose.
The king of kings called for another cup,

And raised his head to hear the voice. Again
There came the singing to another tune
Upon the harp — the tune called Sabz dar sabz,
A melody employed in magic arts.
On hearing it Khusrau Parwiz arose,
And that adorner of the garth demanded
A cup of wine that held a man. He drank
The sparkling wine off at a draught and cried :-
" An angel this, all musk and ambergris,
For if he were a div he would not sing,
Or know to play the harp ! Find out the player.
Search all the garden and the flower-beds
To left and right, for I will fill his mouth
And lap with gems, and he shall be chief minstrel."

Now when the singer heard the monarch's voice,
And speech so kind and welcome, he descended
The branches of the straight-stemmed cypress, fared
Glad and triumphant, came and laid his face
Upon the dust. Khusrau Parwiz said : Speak.
What man art thou ? "

" O Shah ! a slave am I,"
He answered, " and live only by thy voice."

He told all that had happened from the first,
And who had been his friend. The king rejoiced,
Like roses in the Spring-tide to behold him,
Then spake thus to Sarkash : " Unskilful one,
Like colocynth while he is sugar-like !
Why didst thou bar his access to me thus ?
Thy harp is banished from this company."

Then while Barbad sang on the monarch quaffed,
And drained the jewelled cup until his head
Inclined to sleep, whereat with watered pearls
He filled the singer's mouth. Barbad became
Chief minstrel and renowned among the great.

The epoch of Barbad hath past and gone :
May ill be never thy companion.
For since the day will pass alike of chief,
And underling, why should the sage eat grief ?
Full many have gone — both chief and underling-
And I from slumber wish no wakening.
When six and sixty years have passed of life
It is not good for one to be at strife.
When I have ended these my famous lays
The country-side will echo with my praise.
Thenceforth for me not death but life shall last.
For I have flung the seed of words broad-cast,
And all of Faith, of counsel, and sound lore
Will sing my praise when I shall be no more.

I will retell the tale of Mada'in,

Tell of the palace of Khusrau Parwiz.
A Persian shrewd of heart, o'er whom had passed
Years four times thirty, said : Khusrau Parwiz
Sent men to Rum, Hind, Chin, and other lands
Inhabited, and from all climes there came
Three thousand famed artificers, of whom
He chose two hundred — masters of their craft,
Who knew the use of bricks and mortar well —
Out of Iran, Ahwaz, and from the Rumans.
Of these he next chose thirty and from them
Two Rumans and one Persian, from which three

They chose a Ruman matchless in the world.
That expert came before Khusrau Parwiz,
And held discourse of plan and elevation.
That Ruman worshipful, that scientist
Surpassed in speech the Persian. Said the Shah : —
" Accept this contract at my hands and heed
These mine instructions : I require a building
Such that although my sons and race shall dwell
Therein for many a year it will not fall
To ruin through the rain or snow or sun."

The expert undertook the Shah's commission,
And said : " For this thing I am competent."

Ten royal cubits deep he excavated,
(A royal cubit is five common ones)
And laid foundations made of stone and mortar
To form a solid basis. When the walls
Belonging to the palace had been reared
He came before the master of the world,
And said : " Let now the Shah appoint a man,
Exceeding wise and well advanced in years,
And send out to the works this man approved
Together with some trusty archimages."

The Shah appointed men as he was asked,
Who went and made inspection of the walls.
The artist brought silk which the company
Turned to a slender cord by twisting it.
Then from the wall-top of the royal palace
He measured to the level of the ground,
And after measuring the twisted cord
In presence of the Shah's commissioners
He took it to the royal treasury,
And having sealed it gave it to the keeper ;
Then going to the court said to the Shah :—
" The palace-walls have risen to the moon,
But though the Shah bade : " Haste : " I will not urge
The work for forty days but let it settle.
The Shah selected me, and when the time
Is ripe the palace-wall shall be as Saturn.
Let not the Shah's wrath aggravate my toils."
Khusrau Parwiz replied : " Why askest thou
Such a delay from me. thou malcontent ?
Thou must not stop the work but shalt not want
For gold or silver."

By the Shah's command
They gave the artist thirty thousand drachms
Lest he should take it ill. That honest workman
Knew that experts would blame him when he built
The palace hastily and, if it fell,
That he himself would lose his livelihood.
That night he disappeared : none saw him more.
Khusrau Parwiz when told: " Farghan hath fled,"
Poured out upon the speaker all his wrath.

And said : " How could a dullard give himself
Such airs before me ?

Then he bade : " Survey
The work and put in prison all the Rumans. "

He said moreover : " Bring artificers,
And gather mortar, stones, and massive bricks."

Albeit those that viewed the walls took flight
Both from the Shah and realm, and he was forced
To leave the work alone and turned his thoughts
Upon Ahwaz if haply he might find
An architect that such an enterprise
Might not continue headless very long.
He sought for one for three years but they found
None of surpassing worth, and people still
Talked much about the former architect,
Who in the fourth year reappeared. A man
Of prudence and of Grace divine informed
Khusrau Parwiz and presently the Ruman
Himself came swift as dust.

" Thou criminal ! "
The Shah said, " say what disability
Was in the work to make thee lose both wealth
And Paradise ? "

The Ruman said : "If now
The king will send me with a trusty man
I will explain to him about my doings,
And pardon will ensue on explanation."

The Shah dispatched them and they left the palace,
The noble artist and king's confidant.
The clever Ruman took the measuring-line,
And with the Shah's own representative
Tried the wall's height and found that it had sunk
Seven cubits. Then they carried to the Shah
The line. The expert's comrade made report.
The Ruman then spake thus : " If I had carried

The buildings to their height no wall, O Shah !
No vaulting and no work had stood, and I
Could not have stayed at court."'

That he spake, as all should do, the truth,
Freed those in prison, whether ill-disposed
Or innocent, and gave the architect
Ten purses of dinars and to the imprisoned
Full many a gift. Thus much time passed away.
The Shah was eager for the work's completion,
And after seven years it was achieved,
And was approved by wise Khusrau Parwiz,
Who gave the architect much honour, land,
Dinars and drachms and praise. All went to view
That palace, and the Shah was wont to spend
His New Year there. None ever saw a structure
Like that or heard from famous architects
Of such. A ring of gold cast for the purpose
Hung from the ceiling of the cupola,
And from the ring a chain of ruddy gold
With jewelled links. Whene'er the king of kings
Ascended to his throne of ivory
They used to hang the crown upon this chain,
And when he took his seat on New Year's Day
The nearest were the favoured archimages,
The next below the chiefs, the mighty men.
And commissaries, lower down the merchants
And other traders, lower still the poor,
And those that laboured for their daily bread,
And. lowest, many maimed in hand or foot,
Or cast down mangled at the palace-gate.
Then from the hall would proclamation come
That used to stir all hearts : " All ye that are
The subjects of the monarch of the world !
Be not heart-darkened and dispirited.
The cares of all that look up to this height
Shall end, but look beyond the royal throne.
And take ye all the lieges in account."

Then no one. whether innocent or not,
Was still retained in bondage by the Shah,
Who used to clothe his prisoners withal
From head to foot and give to them dinars
And gifts of all kinds, while all mendicants
Within the city that received no share
On New Year's Day he seated at his gate,
And flung drachms to them from the treasury.
Ill-doers used to fear him, drowsiheads heads
Grew vigilant while proclamation issued,
Whenas the time for leaving had arrived : —
" Famed, high-born chiefs ! why seek so for addition ?
Your first concern should be your health and safety.
Consider what ye do and ne'er distress
The diffident, reflect then act, and heed
The sayings of the wise. Regard inferiors,
For those of luckless lives demand our tears.
A man may slumber at my very throne
Unharmed by me if he shall keep the path,
But those that clutch at others' goods, on all
That do such things our anger shall befall."

The greatness of the Shah I next display,
And give new freshness to a bygone day,
Such majesty that mid the small and great
There is no memory of equal state.
Well may the reader of the roll of kings
Shake from his skirts all transitory things,
And well may I too say a word for I
Am well assured of sages' sympathy.
Be not at home in this world for its bane
Is greater than its antidote ; refrain
From greed and strife ; make not life's stage to be
Thy home, 'tis but a wayside inn for thee.
Fare on. Thou agest and the young anon
Arrive ; this cometh, that one passeth on :
Awhile they strut or batten and are gone,
For lion's head and elephant's both must,
The signal given, come alike to dust.

When thou hast heard from me the wondrous tale
About Khusrau Parwiz keep it in mind.
He had such puissance and eminence,
Such majesty, such Grace, such throne and crown,
That, though thou ask of experts, thou wilt hear
Of no one greater. From Turan and Hind,
From Chin and Rum and every peopled clime
They brought him tribute night and day alike —
Boy-slaves and girl-slaves out of every court,
And pearls and gems. His treasures and dinars
Were infinite ; there was no king like him.
The winged eagle, royal falcon, hawk,
Pard, lion, and stream-haunting crocodile
Submitted to him willingly : his mind
Was bright as Sol. The first of all his treasures,
Amassed from Chin. Bulghar, From Rum, and Rus,
Was called ' 'Aris the next of watered pearls,
And in an edifice a bowshot high,
Was named : " Khazra "- by chiefs and Arab sages ;
The next was known as : " Bar ":! and lord and liege
Have never looked upon its like; the next
Was great Shadward which minstrels celebrate:
The next was that which men called : " Bad Awar";
They strove to estimate it but they failed.
The next whereof thou hearest speak thou callest
" Diba-i-Khusraui and next the famed
Hoard of Afrasiyab ; none hath possessed

Its like by sea or land : another hoard
Was that entitled : " Sukhta ": and its lustre

Illumed the realm. Sarkash was of his minstrels;
So was Barbad ; that market never failed
Khusrau Parwiz, and in his golden bower
There were twelve thousand girls like jocund Spring.
He had twelve hundred elephants of war;
Thou wouldst have said : " Earth hath not room for

them."
The war-steeds in the stables of the king
Were six and forty thousand, while of camels
Red-haired there were ten thousand, and none

then

Brocade of Khusrau. Weighed. The best sort.
Possessed one like to them. Twelve thousand more

Were beasts of burden, sixty-six were swift
For litter-bearing ; none had seen or heard
Of such from white-haired veterans. Of troopers
There were a thousand thousand — men of Rum,
Of Chin and Turkistan. He had withal
Shabdiz, the charger that ne'er failed in fight,
While in his women's bower there was Shirin
To add her lustre to his Rosary.

Since he was ruined by a servitor
Be not solicitous in quest for more,
But rather choose a life exempt from care
If thou wouldst have just praises for thy share,
For good and evil pass away with death.
And time is counting up our every breath.
What though thou gainest as thy portion here
Throne, crown, and treasury, though thy career
Be ever so laborious, yet at last
Thy lot among the bricks and dust is cast.
So sow but seed of good. Khusrau Parwiz
Should furnish thee with ample instances :
When thou shalt read the roll 'twill startle thee.
The famous throne, the seat of sovereignty.
Might and the diadem of empiry,
Were not sufficient for him but he must
Raise from Iran and from Turan the dust !

The Shah, who had been just, became unjust,

Joyed in the injustice of his underlings,
Robbed all men of their goods and stirred up strife
'Twixt man and man. That which had been a

blessing
Turned to a curse because the Ram grew like
A tyrannous Wolf. He undertook new toils,
His one desire was to increase his hoards,
Until the folk, who lacked both bread and water,
And had not e"en their bodies for their own,
Betook them to the country of the foe ;
The oppressed although unwilling left the land.
There was a worthless man by name Guraz,
Through whom the Shah enjoyed both ease and

pleasure.
He kept a constant surveillance o'er Rum,
And was div-headed, tyrannous, accursed.
Now when the once just Shah became unjust
This man was first to turn against Iran.
Another was the Favourite, Farrukhzad ;
None could approach Khusrau Parwiz unless
Through him, and as the king of kings drew near
His end this man too grew corrupt. He came,
This offspring of Azar Makan, a man
Of louring face and gruff with underlings,
And grew confederate with old Guraz
Till province after province was involved.
Guraz, who was the general, wrote to Caesar,
And stirred him up to mischief, saying thus : —
" Arise and seize Iran. I will be first
In aiding thee."

Then Caesar mustered troops
For battle, beat the tymbals, paid his host,
And marched like wind toward the Iranian coast.

The king, on hearing, took this grave case lightly.
He recognised the practice of Guraz
In prompting warlike Caesar and recalled him,
But he excused himself and disregarded
The royal letter, for the villain feared
Khusrau Parwiz, the court, and all the chiefs.
The king of kings sat with the Great and all
That were the men of leading in Iran.
He plunged his heart in thought and sought at large
Among all manner of expedients.
And when a bright thought came to him he wrote
Thus to Guraz : " I quite approve thy conduct,
And have commended thee before the lords.
This artifice surpasseth all, for thou
Hast caused the fall of Caesar. When they bring thee
This letter set thy sharpest wits to work,
Wait till I make a move, then move thyself
That Caesar being placed between our hosts
May have his purpose foiled. We will convey him,
And all his Rumans, captives to Iran."'
Then from his court he chose one of resource,
Informed and eloquent, as there was need,
And said : " Convey this letter secretly.
As if thou wert a spy, but so contrive
That Rumans may observe thee on the road,
Interrogate and carry thee to Caesar,
Or else before the captain of the host.
He will inquire : " Whence art thou ? Speak.'
Reply : —
" A subject and in straits. I have been facing
Toil and the longsome road to bear Guraz

A letter." Have this bound to thy right hand.

And if he take it from thee it is well."

The courier went forth from Khusrau Parwiz,
And made the letter fast to his right arm.
A scout descried him as he drew anear,
And carried him to Caesar with his head
All dust, with wan cheeks, and with livid lips.
Then Caesar asked : " Where is Khusrau Parwiz ?
Thou must declare the truth."

The embarrassed liege,
O'erwhelmed with fear, replied with favour changed.
Said Caesar: " Search this wretch malevolent,
Ill-purposed and ill-faced."

Shrewd, skilful men
Searched him and took the letter from his arm,
Then sought a learned chieftain of that march.
One who could read aright the ancient tongue.
Now when that scribe had read the letter over
The monarch's countenance became like pitch,
And thus he said in private to his troops :
" Guraz intended to destroy us all !
The king of kings with countless elephants

And treasure, and three hundred thousand men,

Was minded to involve me in his net :

God grant his heart and policy be darkened !

He dropped his purpose and withdrew his host.
Guraz. informed that Caesar had returned
To Rum, grew pale and sorrowful. He chose
A horseman from his troops and wrote this letter
With sighs and loud complainings : " Why is Caesar
Displeased with me ? Say wherefore hast thou

quitted
Iran and made me shift thus for myself ?
The king of kings, informed of what I did,
In pain and vengeance is estranged from me."
When Caesar was aware of this and saw
That letter he selected from his host
A noble and dispatched him to Guraz
In haste to say : " Hath God so furnished thee
That thou shouldst desolate my crown and throne,
And burn my troops with fire ? Thy former letter,
Thou miscreant ! came but to consign to wind
My treasure, and the purpose was to give me
Up to Khusrau Parwiz. May good estate
And greatness ne'er be thine ! Thou shouldst have

known
That while they see a Shah of royal race
The Iranians will desire no alien,
None born of Caesar, none however wise."

Guraz protested unto Caesar much,
But failed to gain an acccess to his ear.
Khusrau Parwiz then chose as messenger
A Persian who was learned and eloquent,
And sent him with this letter to Guraz :—
"Thou worthless villain, worker for the Div !
These many times I summon thee to Court,
But thou art far from loyalty and right.
Now all the army that thou hast with thee,
For many years thy fortune's fosterers,
Are backing Caesar both in heart and will,
And privily are not as they appear.
Dispatch to me the disaffected rebels."

When this arrived the wary chieftain mused.
He chose twelve thousand valiant cavaliers.
And thus addressed them : "Be ye one in heart.
And heed ye not what any one may say.
Abide awhile on this side of the stream,
And hurry not at all upon the march.
If ye are one in tongue and confidence
Ye may uproot a mountain."

Young and old
Advanced as far as Khurra-i-Ardshir,
Advanced until they reached the river-bank,
Expectant of the bidding of the king,
Who, hearing, was not anxious to behold them,
But ordered Farrukhzad to go and say :—
" Till now ye have been loyal ; wherefore then
Allowed ye Caesar to invade us thus ?
Who hath transgressed the way of God and quitted
The path of duty and of Loyalty ? ""

The faces of the soldiers at that message,
Sent by Khusrau Parwiz, grew dark with fear.

None dared to speak but tarried pained and pale.
The messenger was with Guraz at heart,
But kept his secret both from wind and dust.
He then approached the leaders privily,
And threw some light upon their darkened minds.
"Fear not.'" he said, " ye chieftains ! for the Shah
Hath not detected you in open fault.
Be of one heart and tongue, and say to him: —
'What disaffected person is with us?

And if there be one cloak is over all ;
We stand by one another lustily.' "

The chiefs all heard him, understood, rose up,
And framed their answer on the lines proposed.
Then Farrukhzad returned like flying dust,
And told the Shah their words, who said : " Go back,
And say : " Which of you seeketh his own hurt ?
The man that hath been duped by luckless Caesar
With gifts of treasures, weapons, crowns, and thrones,
That man is guilty in respect to us —
A traitor to this crown and majesty.
Dispatch ye to my court without delay
All that are disaffected in this wise,
Else all of you that have transgressed shall see
The gibbet and the dungeon.' "

Farrukhzad
Went with these words, and in the soldiers' hearts
Old grievances revived. None dared to speak,
But kept a mournful silence. Thereupon
Spake Farrukhzad and in unseemly words : —
" In all this young and valiant host I see
None inefficient ; why then Fear the Shah.
Whose troops are scattered through the world ? I note
At court no great man to illuminate
His star and moon. Despise my words and Fear not
My threats, but curse me and the exalted Shah."

The hearers knew : " The fortune of the king
Hath aged," and framed their lips for malisons,
While Farrukhzad went to Khusrau Parwiz,
And said : " The troops all stand by one another.
And if thou sendest me again I fear
For mine own life."

Khusrau Parwiz perceived :—
" This knave will cause both blood and tears to

flow,"
But fearful of his brother answered not,
And hid the truth ; for Rustam had revolted
Where he was stationed with ten thousand swordsmen,
And holding Farrukhzad disloyal too
Caused his own soldiers to revolt withal,
While Farrukhzad was ware too that the Shah
Knew him as author of the host's default ;
So when that malcontent had left the presence
He dared not to return but kept without.
And tampered there with all the folk, for ever
Attempting to pervert them, man by man.
From their obedience to the Shah. He told
Them all and they agreed : " Another Shah
Should sit upon the throne for this hath lost
The Grace, the royal usages, and fortune."

There was with Farrukhzad an ancient man.
Skilled in affairs, who said : " The Shah imputeth
The army's fault to thee. Thou must produce
A new king soon because our fertile land
Is growing waste, its tumult as destructive
As was Piran. We needs must ascertain
Which of the Shah's sons hath most modesty.
And will cause least dispute. He must be seated
Upon the throne as Shah and o'er his crown
Dinars be showered. Then we shall fare anew ;
We have drunk bitter and we shall drink sweet.
For since Shirwi, the shrewd and eldest-born,
Is now in prison we shall need no other."

They all agreed thereto, But Few elapsed
Of days and nights before Tukhar's host raised
The (dust and slighted all the Shah's affairs.
Then Farrukhzad went out to meet Tukhar
With many troops. They met and much talk passed
In public and in private. Farrukhzad,
Moreover, loosed his tongue and told the ills
Wrought by Khusrau Parwiz. He said : '"The host
By valour and by counsel will restore
The sovereignty."

The general replied :—
" I am not one for words but when I come
To battle with my troops I make things strait
For this world's warriors. This king when young
Was loved by chief and paladin, and since
The days of such an one as he grow dark
I would that none should look on crown and throne.
The fatal time was when he grew unjust,
And joyed in the injustice of his slaves."

When Farrukhzad heard this he chose Tukhar,
And said to him : " Now go we to the prison,

To those unfortunates, and boldly bear
Shirwi, the brave, the atheling, away.
The captain of the host, whose brain and skin
Thou wilt take sooner, watcheth o'er his prison,
And with six thousand proven cavaliers
Is keeper of those wretched prisoners."

Tukhar thus answered : " We have overlooked
This matter of the captain of the host,
For if the fortune of Khusrau Parwiz
Revive there will not be a paladin
Left in Iran, and what with gibbet, bonds,
And dungeon, none will 'scape calamity."

He spake and urged his charger, speeding like
Azargashasp, and led his powers to battle.
The captain of the host encountered him
Forthwith. Those famous troops were overthrown.
The captain of the host himself was slain
In fight, the forces of the king were scattered,
The day was one of gloom and all was lost.
By that expedient and in war-array
Tukhar made entry of that narrow prison,
And called exalt Shirwi. The prince replied
Forthwith, well knowing why that chief had come.
His heart throbbed, laughing after care, when he
Beheld that cheerful face, but still he wept,
And asked : " Where is Khusrau Parwiz ? Is't

thine
To free me?"

Said Tukhar : "As thou'rt a man
Be not perverse, for if thou wilt consent not,
And lettest go this opportunity,
One in sixteen may fail us, but thou hast
Still fifteen brothers left and each deserving
To be the king of kings : the throne of greatness
Would joy in them."
Shirwi remained in tears
And consternation. Should he quit the prison ?
Now Farrukhzad meanwhile was at the gates,

And suffered none to pass to tell the Shah,
But acted as sole chamberlain. When Sol
Grew wan of face, and all the lords had gone
To seek repose, he bade the watch or them
That were its officers to Fare to court —
That place of happiness and royal ease —
And said : " Your cry to-night must not be that
Of yesternight : all watchmen every watch
Must in their cries employ the name Kubad.'

They made reply : We will ; We will forget
Khusrau Parwiz."

So when the night resumed
Its pitch-like robe from city and bazar
Arose the cry : " For ever live Kubad,

The scion of the great, and may his name

Be promulgate in all the provinces."

The night was dark ; the monarch of the world
Slept but Shirin beside him was perturbed,
On hearing what the watchman said, and grieved.
Her heart beat Fast with care. Roused by her

voice

The Shah took dudgeon, but she cried : " O sire !
What shall we do ? How shall we act herein ? '

He said : O moon-face ! why dost chatter so
When I am sleeping ? "

She replied : " Give ear,
And listen to the watch."

He heard ; his cheeks
Became like flowers of fenugreek ; he said : —
" What time three watches of the night have

passed
Consult the astrologers for when this knave
Was born I named him privily Kubad,
But I have spoken of him as Shirwi,

And kept his other name concealed. In public
Shirwi hath always been his name, so why
Is this vile fellow calling him Kubad ?
We must depart while it is night toward Chin,
Machin or else Makran, and I will ask
Faghfur for troops, and make our way to them
By some device."

But as his star was dark
In heaven so on earth his words were wild :
His scheme of night-departure came to naught.
He took a hard case easily and told
Shirin : " The time hath come ; our foes prevent
Our schemes."

She answered him : " For ever live :
Far from thee ever be the evil eye.
Plan in thy wisdom something for thyself :
Ne'er may the foeman have of thee his will.
As soon as it is light that ruseful one

Will turn toward the palace past all doubt."
He called for armour from the treasury —
Two Indian scimitars and Ruman casque,
A quiver, arrows, and a golden shield —
And for a valiant slave who loved the fight.
He went forth to the garden in the dark,
What time the crow awakeneth, hung up
His golden buckler on a bough where none
Was like to pass and with a heavy sword
Beneath his knee sat on the flowery sward.

When Sol shot down its rays the enemy —
That doer of div's work — approached the palace,
And went about it, but that splendid seat
Was void of Shah. They gave to spoil his treasures,
None recking of his travail, and then all
Withdrew in tears and wroth at fortune's doings.

What of yon swiftly turning sky say we,
Which never resteth from its instancy ?

It giveth unto one the royal crown,
Another to the fishes in the sea.

One man hath head and feet and shoulders bare,
No peace, no food, no shelter anywhere;

It giveth to another drink of milk
And honey ; furs, brocade and silks to wear!

Dust and the darkness of the grave await
Them both. To be unborn would best abate

The sage's cares for never to have been
Is better than to be for small and great.

Now for fresh toil upon Khusrau Parwiz
To give reciters novel histories.

The Shah bode in that mead, a lofty tree
O'ershadowing him. When half the longsome day
Had passed he hungered. Now within the pleasance
There was a man employed who did not know
The king by sight. The Sun-faced bade his slave : —
" Cut off a cantle from this costly belt."

That cantle had on it five studs of gold
Enriched with jewelry. The king then spake
Thus to the gardener : " These studs will prove
Of use to-day. Go thou to the bazar,
Buy meat and bread, and shun frequented paths."

Those jewels would have cost a purchaser
Some thirty thousand drachms. Immediately
The gardener sought a baker and asked bread
In change for that gold cantle but the baker
Said : " I have not its worth and cannot pass it."

The two conveyed it to a jeweller,
And said : " Price this according to thy knowledge."

The expert, When he looked upon the studs,
Said : " Who will dare to buy, for this should be
Within the treasury of Khusrau Parwiz,
Who hath a hundred new like this each year ?
Whom didst thou steal these jewels from, or didst
Thou cut them off a slave who was asleep ?

The three men went to Farrukhzad and took
The jewels, gold and all, and he on seeing
Ran to the new-made king and showed the gems,
And cantle severed from the golden girdle.
Shirwi said to the gardener : " If thou
Show'st not to me the owner of these jewels
I will behead thee and thy kith and kin
Forthwith."

" O Shah ! ' he answered, " in the garden
There is a man in armour, bow in hand,
In height a cypress and with cheeks like Spring,
In all points like a king ; he brighteneth
The garden everywhere, and in his mail
Is like the shining sun. His golden shield
Is hanging from a bough. Before him standeth
A slave with loins girt up who cut for him
This jewelled cantle, handed it to me,
And told me : " Hence away and from the market
Buy bread and relish.' Swift as wind I left him
But now.'

Shirwi knew : " 'Tis Khusrau Parwiz,
His features are the age's cynosure,"
And sent three hundred horsemen from the court.
Like rushing wind, down to the river-bank.
Khusrau Parwiz, perceiving them afar.
Grew pale and drew his scimitar, but when
They saw the king of kings they all returned
In tears. They went to Farrukhzad and said :—
" We are but slaves ; he is Khusrau Parwiz—
A Shah to whom the evil day is new.
None either in the garden or the fray
Would dare breathe cold on him."

Then Farrukhzad
Went to the Shah with troops from court, advanced
Alone and spake at large. Khusrau Parwiz
Gave ear to him. He said : " If now the Shah
Will grant me audience, and will excuse
My conduct. I will come and tell the truth
To him but otherwise will hie me home."

Khusrau Parwiz made answer: 'Say thy say.
For thou art neither friend nor enemy."

Then said that fluent speaker : " View the matter
More wisely and assume that thou hast slain
A thousand warriors, yet thou wilt get
Thy fill of fight at last while all Iran
Is hostile to thee, leagued both heart and body
In opposition. Wait the will of heaven :
Perchance these conflicts may result in love."

Yea," said Khusrau Parwiz, " 'tis well. What I
Dread are the vile who may approach and treat me
With all indignities if so they will."

While he was speaking thus to Farrukhzad
His heart was troubled at his aged fortune
Because astrologers had said to him,
And he had been astonied at their words :-
" Thy death will come to thee between two heights,
And by a slave's hand in a lonely spot.
One height will be of gold and one of silver,
And thou with broken heart wilt sit between.
Thy heaven will be golden, thine earth iron,
And fortune will be full of enmity.'

He said : " So now this armour is mine earth,
My golden shield my heaven, and the heights
Are my two treasuries within the garden,
Which used to make my heart shine like a lamp.
In sooth my days are coming to an end :
Where is my star that used to light the world ?
Where are the satisfaction and the peace
Of me who had my name inscribed on crowns ? '

They brought an elephant for him. His soul
Was dark with woe. He mounted, and the troops
Led him away while in the ancient tongue
He cried : " O treasure ! if thou art my foe
Be not a friend to these mine enemies,
For I am in the hands of Ahriman
To-day. Thou aid'st me not in my distress :
Conceal thyself and show thyself to none."

Kubad gave orders to his minister : —
" Remind him not of any evil deed,
But bid them carry him to Taisafun
Away from court with his own counsellor.
There let him bide in peace for many a day
And harmed by none. Let trusty Galinus
Be made his keeper with a thousand horsemen."

When thus the sky revolved above his head
His reign had lasted eight and thirty years.
It was the day of Dai of month Azar,

A time for fires and wine and roasted fowls,
When from Khusrau Parwiz the Grace of kingship
Withdrew and he was crownless like a slave.

Kubad acceded and put on the crown,
And sat in peace rejoicing on the throne.
The Iranian troops did homage to the Shah,
Who gave one year's pay from the treasury,
And lived but seven months so call him naught,
Or call him Shah, just as it pleaseth thee.

Such is this tyrant Hostel's wont ! Thou must
Look not upon it with an eye of trust.
Of all things cultivate a generous mood.
And let thy thoughts be ever bent on good.
When thou shalt say: "The; world hath granted me
My wish then mark ! that wish will prove to thee
A bond and snare. If so thou canst abstain
From thought of ill and list this sage's strain.
Here will thy soul from every fault be freed
When thou dost rightly both in word and deed.