Now when the sun upon the turning sky
Displayed its head as 'twere a golden shield,
Pírán the chief girt up his loins and mounting
A swift steed rode toward the prince's palace
To wish him joy of his-high dignity,
And said to him: “Prepare thyself to-day
For welcoming the daughter of the king,
And if thou hold'st me worthy of the office
I will myself make ready to escort her.”
The prince was moved and blushed. He loved his
wife,
The daughter of Pírán, as his own heart
And soul, but said: “Go, do whate'er thou wilt:
Thou knowest that from thee I have no secrets.”
Pírán on hearing this went to his home
With heart and soul intent upon the business.
The door-key of the store-house where he kept
His uncut stuffs Pírán gave to Gulshahr,
Who was the chief wife of the paladin—
A lady much esteemed and bright of mind.
They chose the best things in the treasury—
A thousand lengths of cloth of gold from Chín,
With emerald-studded plates, cups of turquoise
Filled with fresh aloe-wood and musk-deer's glands,
Two crowns of jewels worthy of a king,
Two bracelets with two earrings and one torque;
Of carpets likewise sixty camel-loads,
Three sets of raiment made of cloth of gold
With patterns traced in gold of ruddier hue,
With divers kinds of jewels s??wn therein;
Of gold and silver thirty camel-loads,
With salvers and apparel made in Párs,
A golden throne, four seats, three pairs of shoes
With emeralds patterned on a golden ground,
Two hundred servants bearing golden cups
(Thou wouldst have said: “The house will not contain
them!”),
Three hundred servants wearing crowns of gold,
About one hundred kinsmen of the king,
Each with one tray of musk and one of saffron:
These with Gulshahr together with her sisters,
In golden litters curtained with brocade,
Went in procession with the precious things.
The lady took a hundred thousand coins—
Dínárs—to fling among the crowd. They brought
The goods to Farangís and blessed her too.
Gulshahr then kissed the ground and said to her:
“The planet Venus mateth with the Sun.”
Pírán, for his part, and Afrásiyáb
Were instant on account of Siyáwush.
They gave the bride as custom and their Faith
Required, and had the contract duly witnessed.
As soon as they had finished pact and plight
Pírán dispatched a message to Gulshahr
Like smoke that she should go without delay
To Farangís to take her to the prince.
Thereon Gulshahr told happy Farangís
That she should go that night to Siyáwush,
And ornament his palace with a Moon.
She spake. They decked the bride at once and ranged
Her musky tresses o'er her rosy cheeks.
Then like a new moon Farangís approached
That youthful prince, the wearer of a crown.
They joyed in one another and their love
Grew ever greater as the moments sped.
For one whole week slept neither fowl nor fish,
And no man went to rest; the earth became
A very garden through its whole extent
With sounds of minstrelsy and merriment.