Since I have ended with Khusrau Parwíz
I speak next of Shírwí and of Shírín.
As soon as three and fifty days had passed
Since that whereon that glorious Sháh was slain
Shírwí dispatched Shírín a messenger
To say: “Thou wicked, potent sorceress,
Learned but in necromancy and black arts!
In all Írán thou art the guiltiest.
By necromancy didst thou gain the Sháh,
And by thy craft thou bringest down the moon.
Quake, guilty one! and come to me. Abide not
Thus in thy palace, joyful and secure.”
Shírín raged at his message and abuse
So foul and senseless. Thus she said: “God grant
That parricides possess not Grace or presence.
I will not see the wretch e'en from afar
At funeral or feast.”

That mournful dame

Sent for a scribe and had a document
Drawn in the olden tongue, instructing him
Regarding her last wishes and estate.

She kept a little poison in a pyx;
She could not well procure it in the city.
She kept it on her, sewed a winding-sheet
To wrap her form—that cypress of the garden—
And then returned this answer to Shírwí:—
“Exalted Sháh, the wearer of the crown!
Now perish all thy words and perish too
The villain's heart and spirit that hath heard
Of witchcraft save by name and joyed therein.
Had Sháh Khusrau Parwíz been one to cheer
His soul with sorcery there would have been
A sorceress within his bower, and she
Had seen his face.*

He kept me for his pleasure,
And when the dawn was peeping he was wont
To call me from the golden bower and joy
At sight of me. Shame on thee for such words!
Such knavish talk becometh not a king.
Remember God, the Giver of all good,
And utter not such words in others' hearing.”
They brought the answer to the Sháh. Shírwí
Raged 'gainst the guiltless dame*

and said: “Thou
needs
Must come. None is blood-thirstier than thou.
Come and behold my crown's top. If it be
Magnifical then do it reverence.”
Shírín, on hearing this, was full of pain;
She writhed; her cheeks grew wan. She thus
replied:—
“I will not come to thee save in the presence
Of those wise men that are about thy court,
Men of experience and clerkly skill.”
Shírwí dispatched and summoned fifty men
Both wise and old, then sent one to Shírín,
To say: “Arise and come. Enough of talk.”
Thereat she robed herself in blue and black,
And drew anear the Sháh, approached apace
The Rosary of Revellers*

—the spot
Wherein those fluent Persians were—and sat
Behind the great king's curtain as became
The virtuous. He sent to her to say:—
“Two months*

of mourning for Khusrau Parwíz
Are o'er. Now be my wife that thou mayst take
Thy pleasure and avoid a mean estate.
I will maintain thee as my father did,
And e'en with more respect and tenderness.”
Shírín replied: “Let me be righted first,
And then my life shall be at thy dispose.
I will not hesitate in answering
The hest and purpose of thy glorious heart.”
Shírwí agreed to that fair dame's request,

Whereat the noble lady raised her voice
Behind the royal curtains, saying: “O Sháh!
Be happy and victorious. Thou said'st
That I was a bad woman and a witch,
Remote from purity and rectitude.”
Shírwí replied: “'Twas so, but generous folk
Do not take dudgeon at mere hastiness.”
Shírín addressed the other Persians present
Within the Rosary of Revellers,
And asked: “What have ye seen in me of ill,
Guile, folly, and dark ways? For many a year
I was the mistress of Írán and helped
The Brave in everything. I ne'er ensued
Aught but the right; fraud and deceit I banned.
Through my word many were made governors,
And took their portions of the world full oft.
Who hath beheld my shadow in Írán
Away from home? If any one hath marked
My shadow, crown, and state let such declare
What he hath seen or heard and by his answer
Reveal the truth.”

The magnates in attendance

All spake her fair. “In all the world,” they said,
“She hath no peer in public and in private.”
Shírín proceeded thus: “Ye lords and chiefs
Both veteran and redoubted! three things make
The worth of women that bedeck the throne
Of greatness: one is modesty and wealth
Wherewith her husband may adorn his house;
The next is bearing blesséd sons, that she
May e'en exceed her spouse in happiness;
The third is having beauty and fine form,
Joined with the love of a sequestered life.
When I was mated to Khusrau Parwíz,
And entered on seclusion, he had come
Weak and dispirited from Rúm to live
Within our land, but after reached such power
As none had heard of or had looked upon.
Moreover I have had four sons by him
To his great joy—Nastúr, Shahryár, Farúd,
And Mardánsháh, blue heaven's coronal.
Jamshíd and Farídún had not such sons;
May my tongue perish if I lie herein!
Their bodies all are now beneath the dust,
Their spirits roaming in pure Paradise.”
Unveiling then her lovely countenance,
And musky hair, “There is my face,” she added,
“Such as it is. If there be falsehood show it.
My hair was all my hidden excellence,
For none on earth e'er used to look thereon.
What I display is all my sorcery,
Not necromancy, fraud, and evil bent.”

None had beheld her hair before, no chief
Had heard thereof. The elders were astound,
And their mouths watered. When Shírwí beheld
The visage of Shírín his spirit flew
Unmarked away from him. Her face so dazed him
That love of her filled all his heart. He cried:—
“I want none but thyself. If I have thee
For wife Írán can give me nothing more.
I will not go from thy commands, but limn
My loyalty to thee upon mine eyes.”
The lady of the lovely face replied:—
“I still need somewhat of the Íránian king.
I have two wants if thou wilt bid me speak,
And may thy king of kingship last for ever.”
Shírwí replied: “My soul is thine, thy wish,
Whate'er it be, is granted.”

Said Shírín:—

“All treasures laid up by me in this land
Thou shalt assign me as mine own before
This noble company and write thyself
Upon this roll that thou renouncest all,
Both small and great.”

Shírwí made haste to do

Her bidding. Having gained her wish she quitted
The Rosary of Revellers, the chiefs
And noble Persians, went home, freed her slaves,
And made them happy with that wealth of hers
Whereof she gave a part to mendicants,
And to her family a larger share.
She gave too somewhat to the Fanes of Fire,
The feasts of New Year's Day and Mihr and Sada,
To ruined homes and caravansarais
Then turned to lions' lairs. All this she gave
As offerings from Khusrau Parwíz, the world-lord,
And joyed his soul thereby. She sought the garden
And taking off her veil sat unadorned
Upon the ground and summoning her folk
Assigned with courtesy a place to each,
Then cried thus loudly: “Hear, ye unaggrieved!
For none will ever see my face again.
Fear ye the Judge of those that seek for justice,
The Lighter of the sun and moon and stars,
And speak but truth; deceit is not for sages.
Since first I came before Khusrau Parwíz,
First made mine entry to his golden bower,
And was chief wife and Glory of the Sháh,
Hath any fault at all appeared in me?
There is no need to speak to save my face:
What booteth that to woman in her need?”

All rose to make reply: “Famed dame of dames,
So eloquent and wise and bright of soul!
By God! none ever saw thee, ever heard
Thy voice behind the curtains. Verily
Thy like hath sat not on the goodly throne
Since Sháh Húshang.”

Then all the servitors,

Slaves emulous and vigilant of heart,
Exclaimed: “Exalted lady praised in Chín,
In Rúm and in Taráz! who would presume
To speak aught ill of thee? Could evil-doing
Befit that face of thine?”

Thus said Shírín:—

“This reprobate, whom heaven above will curse,
Slew his own sire to compass crown and throne,
And may he never more see fortune's face!
Hath he himself shut death out by a wall
Who lightly recked thus of a father's blood?
He sent a message to me that bedimmed
Mine own shrewd soul. I answered: ‘While I live
My heart shall serve my Maker.’ I declared
My purpose fully, fearful of my foe:
He may defame me publicly when dead.
Ye are free agents and my slaves no longer.”
They wept much at her words and furthermore
Consumed with anguish for Khusrau Parwíz.
Informants went before the Sháh and told
What they had heard about that guiltless dame.
He asked: “Hath that good lady further wishes?”
She sent to say: “I have one wish, no more:
I fain would ope the late Sháh's charnel-house;
I have a great desire to look on him.”
Shírwí replied: “So do, 'tis natural.”
The keeper oped the door. That pious lady
Began her wailing, went and laid her face
Upon the visage of Khusrau Parwíz,
Spake of the past and took the mortal bane:*

She sent the dust up from her own sweet life.
She sat beside the Sháh with visage veiled,
Clad in a single camphor-scented robe;
She set her back against the wall and died;
She died and won the plaudits of the world.
Shírwí fell sick when he had heard the news,
For such a spectacle affrighted him.
He bade construct another sepulchre,
And make her diadem of musk and camphor.

He shut the old Sháh's charnel. Soon they gave
Shírwí the bane; the world had had its fill
Of Sháhs! Thus luckless both in birth and death
He left the throne of kingship to his son.
One reigneth seven months and in the eighth
Doth don the camphor crown! Of earth's good things
To have possession of the throne is best,
Of evils life cut short is evilest.