Bahman died of his malady and ceased
To be concerned about the crown and throne.
Humái came, set the crown upon her head,
And ordered things anew, admitted all
The army to her court and, opening
The portal of her treasures, gave dínárs.
In rede and justice she excelled her sire:
The whole world prospered through her equity.
She said: “Be this crown glorious, our foes' hearts
Uprooted, our profession every good,
And may none see distress and care through us.
I will enrich all mendicants and those
Who earn their own subsistence by their toil,
And harass not the great possessed of treasure.”
Whenas the time of her delivery came
She kept it from the people and the host,
Because she loved the throne of sovereignty,
And found it profit to possess the world.
She bare a son in secret, kept it close,
And had the little Treasure hid away,
Procured for nurse a woman of free birth,
Pure, full of modesty, and other virtues,
And privily made o'er to her the babe,
That Shoot so flourishing and full of promise,
And, when they asked Humái about her son,
She used to say: “The noble child is dead.”
Moreover she assumed the royal crown,
And held the throne in triumph and in joy.
She sent her hosts where'er were hostile chiefs,
And was apprised of everything that passed
For good or evil in the world around.
She only sought for what was just and good,
And ordered all the world aright; her justice
Safeguarded it; it spake of her alone.
Thus eight months passed away, but when the boy
Began to favour the departed Sháh
She ordered that a skilful carpenter
Should choose material for fine joinery,
And make a goodly ark of seasoned wood.
They smeared it with a coat of pitch and musk,
And lined it softly with brocade of Rúm,
Bedaubing it without with lime and wax.
She placed within a pillow for a bed,
And filled it full of pearls of splendid water.
They poured in quantities of ruddy gold,
Mixed with cornelians and emeralds.
They bound one jewel, such as kings might wear,
Upon the arm of that unweanèd child
And, when the little one was fast asleep,
His nurse, so deft of hand, went wailingly,
Disposed him tenderly inside the ark,
Enwrapped him warmly in fine silk of Chín,
And then they made the cover water-tight
With lime, pitch, wax, and musk. When midnight came
They carried forth the ark, without a word,
And, hasting from Humái, set it adrift
Upon the stream of the Farát. Two men
Ran after it to notice how the suckling
Fared on the stream. The ark went like a boat,
And those that watched had to bestir themselves.
Now when the morning rose above the mountains
The ark brought up beside a watercourse,
Where was a laundering-place; the workers there
Had made with stones the channel's inlet narrow.
A launderer beheld the little ark,
Ran up, and drew it from the laundering-place.
When he had oped the ark, and had removed
The coverings, he stood in wonderment,
Wrapped it in heaps of clothes and hurried off,
All eager expectation and delight,
Whereat a watcher ran to tell the mother
Of ark and launderer. Said that shrewd queen:—
“Thou must keep hidden that which thou hast seen.”