Tainúsh, when he had heard Sikandar's words,
Raged like a blast, and said: “Thou worthless fool!
No man could reckon thee a man at all!
Know'st not before whose presence thou art seated?
Assume the bond slave's pose!*
Thy head is full
Of wrath and arrogance. Inform me who
Thy monarch is. Save for our sovereign's Grace
I would pluck off thy head as I would pluck
An orange from its bough. This very night,
Because I grieve for Fúr, will I display
Thy trunkless head in presence of the host!”
His mother called to him, for his hot head
Was growing more distraught, and said: “The words
Are not his own! Address the envoy's sender,
Whose utterance they are.”
She bade: “Conduct
Tainúsh outside the court. Thou scowling one!”
She added, “show not thy vile temper here.
He saved Kaidrúsh, thy brother, from the Sháh,
And reached our court, and yet thou railest thus
Against him and art wroth and sore displeasured!”
The son went forth fulfilled with rage and dudgeon,
With bloodshot eyes. In private to Sikandar
She said: “Tainúsh is foolish and the tool
Of dívs. In private he must not devise
Some loss or crime. Thou seekest after knowledge,
And thou art wise. Consider what to do.”
Sikandar said: “So be it then. Thy course
Is to recall Tainúsh.”
Thereat the queen
Sent for her son and set him 'neath the throne.
Sikandar said: “Imperious prince! if thou
Wouldst have thy wish command thyself, and I
Will not oppose thee. I accept each word
Of thine. Sikandar, who is Sháh and hath
The throne and crown, hath plunged me into gloom.
He sent me to the queen with this command:—
‘Ask tribute from that famous sovereign,’
So that whatever ill grow manifest
From foes toward him may come on me. Hear, prince
Rage not nor storm—another's due—at me,
For much have I been wronged by him myself,
And I have schemed to slay him. To thy hands
Will I deliver him, and then the world
Will be well quit, and I fare free, of him.
Thou know'st not yet my plan and what good thoughts
I harbour. I will go to him to-day
With my reply and will advise him finely!
If I shall grasp his hand and from his camp
Conduct him to thee, and in such a fashion
That he shall have no troops with him, and thou
Shalt look not on his scimitar, his throne,
And crown, then what wilt thou bestow upon me
Of all the realm, how recognise my service?”
Tainúsh thereat made answer: “I have heard
Thy words, and we must act thereon forthwith,
For if thou shalt achieve this, and wilt do
Thine utmost honestly, I will bestow
His treasures and his purses, steeds, and men—
Devoted lieges—and my thanks upon thee;
Thou shalt possess the world, know good, become
My loyal minister, and in this land
Sikandar rose and shook
Hands on the bargain, and Tainúsh inquired:—
“How wilt thou compass this and by what spell
Effect this sorcery?”
Sikandar said:—
“Thou must go with me, when I quit the queen,
And take a thousand horsemen of thy host,
All famed in fight. Upon my journey hither
I marked a wood where I will put in ambush
Thee and thy soldiery, and go myself
To him, will look on that malignant soul,
And say: ‘The queen hath sent so much that thou
Ne'er wilt want more. Her elder son, Tainúsh
By name, hath brought the Sháh her salutations
And messages, but saith: “I dare not face him
Amidst his host.” Now if my lord would deign
Escorted only by his priests and sages,
To meet Tainúsh then in that interview
He could receive the goods and hoarded treasures
Of all sorts, for Tainúsh would come, on seeing thee
Without thy host, or else be free to go.’
Sikandar, when he heareth my smooth words,
Will never guess my colour and design.
But seek the shade beneath those trees, requiring
From thee those crowns and thrones. Do thou sur-
round him
With thy fierce troops and make the future certain;
This will achieve my vengeance and thy wishes,
And thy fame soar by favour of the stars.
When thou hast taken him I am all thine,
And, when thou biddest, I will be thy watchman.
Then mine affairs will prosper and my market
Grow hot and brisk, for thou shalt carry off
Much wealth and slaves and steeds caparisoned.”
Tainúsh rejoiced on hearing him, appeared
A noble cypress-tree, and answered thus:—
“My hope is that his day may turn to night,
And that he may be taken unawares
Within my toils, for all the bloodshed made
By him within the world—that of Dárá,
Son of Dáráb, the warriors of Sind,
And that great man of Hind, the valiant Fúr.”
Now when Kaidáfa heard Sikandar's words,
And marked and understood his stratagem,
She smiled at his device behind her lips,
And hid those corals underneath her veil.
Sikandar left her presence in a mood
O'ershadowed by his great solicitude.