As the Almighty creates the elect of his court naturally endowed with perfection, the Prince by his fourteenth year had attained ample knowledge of every abstruse science and sublime study; so that he became renowned throughout the world for judgment, policy, dignity of demeanour, and self-command, as well as for manly beauty, affability of manners, and eloquence of speech.

The pure mind of Jehaundar, exalted as Keiwaun,* instigated by noble ambition for conquest, and dignified inclination for command, was enamoured of the chace; and in his breast a fond­ness for hunting was interwoven with his ideas, so that he passed much time in pursuing the game, and was daily employed in field sports.

One morning, with a select party of attendants, having turned the reins of his zephyr-like pacing courser towards the country, with intent to subdue the desart-bounding wild ones, and captivate the free roamers of the air, he let loose game-pursuing animals in every quarter. The swift-winged Falcon, like the lovers of Shunkole, uncertain as quicksilver, mounting rapidly the skies, brought the wild-duck and partridge to the earth. The Hawk, whose every feather, from tinges of black and white, resembles the eye of the beauteous (in the same manner as black-eyed damsels, playfully glancing, seize with the talon of their eyelashes the hearts of helpless lovers in their grasp) taking wing in pursuit of the pheasant, extended his claws. The Pullung,* rapid as lightning, and parti-coloured like time, plunged his talons into the Neeloo* and the Zung,* and displayed his native ingenuity in seizing the Antelope. The sharp-nailed greyhound, of agile spring and sure grasp, darting suddenly like fate upon the Gowuzzun* and the Gore,* struck them to the ground of annihilation.

When the golden-winged eagle of the heavens, the sun, having mounted high into the emerald coloured expanse of the firmament, was become intensely warm in pursuit, Jehaundar, the rose of whose cheek had been gently cherished under the shade of majesty, and who could not bear the sultry heat of noon, returned towards his palace. On the way, he beheld a garden of perfect beauty and fragrance, in which the cypress and the cedar, like the lover and beloved, grew side by side, and the lily and the rose, like the bride and bridegroom, reclined on each other’s bosom.

From its emerald-tinged refreshing verdure, the surface of the lawn appeared like the sky, and the heart-enticing melody of the birds in the midst of its shrubs had the effect of the organ.

The turtle dove, of temper like the Collunder,* in his ashy-coloured vest, began the strain of holy ecstacy.

The heaven-comprehending mind of the prince, captivated by the elegance of the garden and fragrance of the flowers and shrubs, becoming inclined to view its rose-faced inhabitants, entered it, bloom­ing as the rose-bud, and lightly treading as the cypress, ran over with his eye this abode of delight. In every recess he saw the zephyr ornamenting the ear of the rose with the Sunbul, and the jewel-set crown on the head of the Hubbeer, like the egrets of coquettish maidens fancifully placed aside. At the foot of every rose-bush, the birds, like Bramins chaunt­ing the bedes,* were twittering tales of love to their mates, and upon a branch of every enamel-like cypress, the turtle dove, in the same manner as Dirveshes when contemplating the divinity, cooed forth its gentle murmur.

On the margin of a fountain reclined a young man who was reciting verses. He had with him a parrot, who, like the Soofies,* fond of retirement, sitting in an iron cage, and, after the manner of the votaries of celibacy, dwelling in solitude, had shut his door on the face of mankind. Like the happy inhabitants of Paradise, he was clothed in green; and, as the syllogists of deep judgment, skilled in eloquence. A wise bird, who for understanding would have gained the prize from the Huddud* of Solomon.

He was lord of the species of flying creation with enamelled wings, chief of sugar-billed parrots, who in the field of speech had exalted the standard of elo­quence among the feathered race; and, for his virtuous conduct in the assembly of the green-vested resemblers of heaven’s dwellers,* had attained the highest fame.

The prince Jehaundar, from sight of the young man, and hearing his soul-delighting melody, which formed a happy accompaniment with the verdant assem­blage of the blossoms moistened by the shower, the strain of the bubbul,* and the heart-captivating note of the undal­eeb,* became even to ecstacy immersed in pleasure and delight. From eagerness of curiosity, he advanced, and spoke the Salaam;* but the conceited young man, captivated with the fervour of his own melody, paying not the least attention, made no reply. The wise parrot, when, on account of the arrogance of his master, he beheld the signs of displea­sure in the looks of the prince, becoming anxious to conciliate his mind, like ora­tors of eloquent speech, opened the door of conversation, and issued forth into the plain of delivery a few sentences, full of meaning as the words of the skilled in expression, with sweet diction and soul-enticing phrase.

The prince, from the speech of this orator, naturally without language, being rapt in wonder, remained for some instants like the reflected image on a mir­ror, in the confinement of silence. Immediately, however, the seed of love for the green-vested orator, beautiful as Ferhaad,* striking root in the soil of his heart, he, with much impetuosity, loosened a ruby of high price from his arm, and offering it to the young man, still employed in his music, begged the par­rot. The youth, not finding in himself power to bear the absence of the accom­plished bird, turning aside from the path of assent, placed the hand of refusal on the breast of the prince’s request; when the latter said, “Ignorant youth, knowest thou not that I am heir apparent to the crown and ring of these regions, and that my soul is charmed with this wise bird? If thy star is wakeful, take this ruby, which is worth a kingdom, and give up that handful of feathers. If thou dost not, thou wilt repent, and, after disgrace, with a thousand humiliations, offer it for nought.”

The young man, for an instant hav­ing reflected on his own condition, con­sidered, that “to act contrary to the will of the sovereign, is to encircle the waist with one’s own blood;” and therefore delivered the parrot to an atten­dant of the prince, who on this account was so delighted and filled with rapture, that you would have thought he had obtained the conquest of the seven regions, or acquired rule over the four habitable parts of the world. With perfect gladness he returned to his palace, and taking the parrot into his confidence and intimacy, consented not to his absence for a moment. He kept him constantly in his sight, and the sensible bird capti­vated his heart by his novel remarks and eloquent narrations!*