One day he was engaged in hunting on the slope of the Safīd* Sang hills and had put hunting-dogs into the charge of his immediate attendants in order that they should lie in* wait. And certain men had been sent up the mountain to drive the deer down into the plain. When the deer came to the obstacles, the servants had been caught by the dog of carnal appetite, and as in their folly they thought only of His Highness's tender years and boyish appearance, they had set themselves to eat and so did not slip the dogs in time. When he became aware of this, his inward sovereignty was aroused, and he issued an order that their necks should be bound with cords as if they were dogs, and they be led round the camp. He so sate on the masnad of severity that the old and experienced were amazed and placed the finger of surprise in their mouths. When this occurrence came to the ears of His Majesty Jahānbānī, his heart was greatly delighted and he remarked that he would soon come to great sovereignty and attain everlasting dominion.
Shāham Khān Jalāīr used to tell how one day His Majesty Jahānbānī bade him go and see what the new fruit of fortune's springtide was doing. “When I went,” he said, “I found him lying down. His lustrous countenance was serene and he looked as if he were asleep. In truth he was holding converse with the holy ones of heaven's court (the angels). His blessed hand moved occasionally as is seen in the recuperative states of the lords of contemplation. From time to time there fell from his pearl-dropping tongue such expressions as “God willing, I'll bring the cream of earth's surface under my sway and fulfil the desires of the sorrowful of the seven climes.” “The Khān used to say that when he saw this condition and heard these words, he became amazed, and great awe fell upon him, so that he could not stand. He went aside and remained stupefied. Several times did he (Akbar) speak in this fashion.
A laudable behaviour of His Highness at this time and one which showed his lofty and farseeing nature was that whenever any flatterers or black-hearted persons, who see nothing but their own personal loss or gain, or rather think their* loss is their gain, would say “May you soon be king of the seven climes” or “May you be the Lord of the Age” he would be much displeased and say “Those people in their little sense want to show themselves wellwishers. God forbid that they know anything of the palace of wellwishing! They are imagining evil for me in thinking of the decease of His Majesty Jahānbānī, and are gathering my temporal good from my spiritual ill. Or rather they are casting trouble into the country of welfare and raising the head of sedition. For the spiritual and temporal good fortune of children lies in their hopes and wishes being always for the preservation of their august fathers, and they wish them long life. For he who does not act rightly by his temporal God how shall he conduct himself properly towards his spiritual God?” Let men admire the lofty understanding, the pure nature, and the right thinking of this spiritually and temporally great one (Akbar)! In fine, greatness and glory shone in every action of His Highness. What the mature and experienced attained to by thought and care, this cherished one of God's glance acquired with small application in the beginning of his career. And every knowledge and science that the learned and the studious gathered with difficulty, came into the hands of this exhibitor of wondrous powers without meditation or care. Ripe wisdom made the hope-eye of the world shine on beholding this light of the eyes of sovereignty, and made men exult in the firm wisdom and deep knowledge of this nursling of God. But till the time of the revelation of the Khilāfat, it was veiled and hidden, and he passed his time under God's protection and free from the mischief of the deceit and treachery of ill-wishers.