THE explorers of the records of time have thus delivered the following tradition.

When Jehaundar, by the juggle of the revolving skies, entered the body of the antelope, through fear of the treach­erous Hoormuz, not delaying an instant, he bounded away with the utmost swift­ness, and like the measurers of the desart, hasted over the plains. In dread of beasts of prey, snares, and the dogs of huntsmen, he remained not long in any one spot, but wandered wildly over hills and vallies, till he reached a forest, where he beheld a sharok lying dead among the emerald-coloured grass. Thinking wings safer than the feet of a deer, he transferred his soul into the corpse of the bird, and winged his flight towards his own capital.

Alighting in a garden on the bough of a sunnobir, he was at once entangled in the net of a birdcatcher, and made captive in the grasp of fate. The man having put him into a cage, returned to the city, and made him a present to a dirvesh who was his spiritual director. The wise bird, seeing himself thus taken in the bonds of fate, agreeably to the maxim, that the captive must have patience, resigned himself to his destiny, and submitting to Providence for his relief, after some time spent in consideration, exclaimed in a gentle tone, “Praise be to God, that I have reached the summit of my desires!”

The dirvesh, on hearing these words, was astonished, and said, “Ah! happy bird, surely thou art not aware that thy situation calls not for rejoicing. What cause can there be for it, imprisoned as thou art in a cage of iron?” The sharok replied, “My Lord, what greater can there be than for the enjoyment of the society of so virtuous a personage as thyself?” The dirvesh was pleased with the sweet­ness of this speech, and turning the face of kindness towards him, said, “What wonderful bird art thou, whose elo­quence, like the pista, is all kernel, and thy words sweet as honey?” The sharok replied, “I am a bird long experienced in the world, who has enjoyed the company of men of obser­vation.” The dirvesh answered, “I beg thou wilt confer upon me a por­tion of what thou hast learnt in the gracious society of the observant.”

The sharok said, “Once, when in the service of an experienced person­age, I enquired, Whose morning orizons are accepted; the reply was, His who daily gives bread to the distressed. I asked, Whence proceeded the auspicious shadow of the phœnix; and was answered, From the prayers of the contented in poverty. I enquired, From whence was the sun supplied with clear light; and it was told me, From the purity of the chaste. I asked, Wherefore is the phœnix so renowned? and he said, Because of his unseen retirement. I said, Why is the rose-bud so reserved; and heard, that it wished to conceal its treasures. I questioned why the rose was so grateful to all? and the reply was, On account of its pleasant air and smiling countenance. I enquired, why the cypress was so exalted? the answer was, Owing to its freedom from vice. I said, Ah! per­fect teacher, what is most acceptable from the creature? He replied, Obe­dience to the Creator. I enquired, What was the best for man? He said, Avoidance of sin. I asked, Who was wise? and was answered, He that keepeth himself free from vice.”

The dirvesh, enraptured at the remarks of the sharok, which were indeed consoling to the mind, esteemed his society as a blessing conferred by heaven, and his company dear as his life.

One day, as the dirvesh was passing upon some business through the city, he beheld a great crowd who were collected to behold a young man whom the officers of justice were conducting to the divan. On enquiring the cause, he was told that the youth was sitting under the wall of the vizier’s palace and looking at his face in a mirror, when the minister’s daughter passing on the terrace, the reflection of her person appeared in the glass, and the young man, in the ardour of admiration, had kissed the mirror several times, for which crime he was going to be punished. The sharok, who happened to be with the dirvesh, cried out, “Let them put the young man in the sun, and inflict an hundred stripes upon his shadow.” At this judg­ment from the mouth of a bird, the crowd were filled with astonishment, and the report of the circumstance spread quickly over the whole city from the beggar to the prince. Bherawir Banou, on hearing of it, sent a servant to the dirvesh with a large sum of money, demanding the bird; and though on this account a mountain of sorrow oppressed his heart, yet knowing that to refuse the queen’s request was not in his power, he remediless gave up the sharok to the messenger. The prince, when he once more saw himself in the presence of his beloved princess, offered thanks to God, and remained watchful for opportunity to escape from his feathery disguise.

On a day, when the sun of his good fortune had reached the zenith of kindly influence, seeing the apartment of his princess cleared from intruders, he related to her the story of his escape from the treacherous Hoormuz after the trans­ference of his soul into the antelope, and his adventures from that day. Bherawir Banou, during the recital, sometimes wept like the showery cloud, and sometimes expanded in smiles like the rose; but was impatient to make Hoormuz quit the body of Jehaundar, and depart for the infernal regions.

The prince, observing her affectionate anxiety, said, “O thou chief of the beautiful, restrain thy impatience, and be cautious; for at present I am only a weak bird, and my enemy is as a powerful hawk. At present the knot on the twine of hope can only be unravelled by the hand of cautious con­trivance. Policy demands, when the treacherous Hoormuz next visits thee, that, contrary to custom, thou receive him with affability, and with a smiling countenance say, My heroic Jehaundar, I am grieved at my long illness, which has so folded up my heart, like the blighted rose-bud, that I have no pleasure in any thing; but perhaps if thou wouldst divert me as heretofore, with the wonderful trans­ference of thy soul into another body, it may amuse me.”

The princess following this direction, one day, when the heavens were propi­tious, having flattered Hoormuz with many kind expressions, made the request; and, his star being sunk beneath the horizon of support, he supposing that Jehaundar had been used to entertain her with the display of the mysterious science, complied with her demand. Having sent for an antelope, he cut its throat, and when life was departed, reanimated it with his own impure soul. Jehaun­dar, instantly quitting the body of the sharok, re-entered his own; and, after prostrating himself at the throne of the Almighty, in thanksgiving for his restoration, commanded the antelope to be bound with ropes, and confined in a dark inclosure.

The day following, at sun-rise, Jehaundar ascended the throne, and giving general audience, acquainted the public of his astonishing adventures; when the officers of state and inhabitants of the capital, after recovering from their amazement, each according to their ability showered offerings of gold and silver on the head of their recovered sovereign. The wicked Hoormuz being then brought in, his impure soul was driven to the place of final punishment from the body of the antelope, by the worryings of savage dogs, in agonizing tortures: according to the just observation, that whoever diggeth a pit for his brother will fall into it himself; in retribution for his wicked actions, he sunk like Karoon into the fathomless gulph. “Every one shall reap that which he hath sown.”