The third day after this the Sháh went forth
With escort, the equipment for the chase,
Ten camels all in housings of brocade
With stirrups silver and with dossers gold,
Ten camels with the Sháh's pavilion,
And his brocaded seat. In front of these
Were seven elephants which bare the throne
Of turquoise hued like Nile; its feet were all
Of gold and crystal; 'twas the throne itself
Of Sháh Bahrám Gúr. Every swordsman there
Had thirty pages who had golden belts
And bridles, while a hundred camels served
To bear the minstrels wearing massive crowns.
The falconers had eight score hawks with them,
And ten score noble peregrines and falcons.
Among them there was one bird black of hue,
More precious in the Sháh's eyes than the rest,
With sable talons and with yellow beak,
Like gold a-gleam on lapis-lazuli.
They called it a tughral. Its eyes were like
Two goblets full of blood. The Khán of Chín
Had sent it with a throne and crown, with amber,
A golden torque inlaid with emeralds,
With two score armlets, and with thrice twelve earrings,
Three hundred camel-loads of rarities
Of Chín, and fifteen score of ruby signets.
Behind the falconers they led eight score
Of cheetahs for that Lustre of the world—
The Sháh—with jewelled torques and chains of gold.
Thus came the king of kings upon the plain,
And raised his crown o'er Jupiter. The sportsmen
Made for the river whither used the Sháh
Auspiciously to fare each seventh year.
As they drew near they found the river full
Of water-fowl. He had the tabor beaten,
And the tughral flew off. The imperious bird
Was all impatience; in its claws a crane
Was helpless quarry, and a pard had been

Its proper prey. At length it soared from sight,
And bound a crane, then soared again and flew
Like shaft from bow, the falconer pursuing.
The Sháh was vexed that it had flown away,
And followed by the tinkling of its bells.
He came upon a spacious pleasure-ground,
With mansion rising in a coign thereof,
And thither went with certain of his men,
The rest remaining on the hunting-field.
On entering Bahrám Gúr saw a garden
As 'twere a mountain-skirt. Upon the ground
Brocade was spread, and all the place was full
Of slaves and wealth. A pool was in the centre
Whereby an old man sat. Three girls like ivory
Sat by him wearing turquoise crowns. Their cheeks
Were like the spring, their statures tall, their eye-
brows
Arched, and their tresses lassos; each girl held
A crystal goblet, and Bahrám Gúr saw them.
His eyes were dazzled at the spectacle
Just as his heart was gloomed for his tughral.
On seeing him that wealthy thane grew pale
As fenugreek with fear. A wise old man
Was he, Barzín by name, but ill-affected
Toward the Sháh. As swift as wind he left
The hauz,*

approached the Sháh, and kissed the
ground,
Then said: “O monarch of the sun-like face!
May heaven revolve according to thy will.
I do not dare to say to thee: ‘Abide
With thy two hundred horsemen on my march.’
Still, if the Sháh take pleasure in my garden,
The glory of Barzín hath reached the moon.”
“To-day,” the world's king answered, “the tughral
Escaped us. I am vexed about that fowler,
Which hunted birds as leopards hunt their quarry.”
Barzín replied: “I saw a sable bird
Just now with golden bells and pitch-hued body,
Its beak and talons turmeric in hue;
It came and settled on yon walnut-tree:
By thy good fortune it is come to hand.”
The Sháh said to a servant: “Go and look.”
He went like wind and cried: “Glad ever be
The world-lord! The tughral is on a bough;
E'en now the falconer is taking it.”
The hawk thus found, the old man said: “O Sháh
Without a mate or equal on the earth!
Oh! may thine entertainer prove auspicious,
And all the wearers of a crown thy slaves.

Call for a wine-cup in our present joy,
And, when thou art refreshed, ask what thou wilt.”
The king of kings dismounted at the pool,
And old Barzín grew glad. With that there came
Bahrám's chief minister and therewithal
The captains of the host and treasurer.
Barzín brought forth a golden cup and first
Drank to the monarch of the world, then brought
And offered to the Sháh a cup of crystal,
Who seeing took and drained the proffered draught
Below the inscription-line, whereat Barzín
In high delight had wine-jars set about
The place, and in his cups said to his daughters:—
“My clever chicks! no chieftain of the host,
But Sháh Bahrám hath visited this garden!
So come, thou songstress! let us have a song,
And thou, my moon-faced daughter! bring thy
harp.”
All three drew near the Sháh, and on their heads
Were jewelled crowns. One danced, another played
Upon the harp, the third possessed a sweet
And soothing voice. While they made minstrelsy
The king of kings in high contentment drained
His goblet dry. He said thus to Barzín:—
“What girls are these who live with thee in joy?”
Barzín thus answered him: “O Sháh! may none
Behold the age without thee. Know that these
Are mine own daughters and my heart's delight.
One is a caroler, another harpeth,
The third observeth measure in the dance.
I need not aught, O Sháh! for I have money,
Domain, and pleasure-ground, and my three daughters
Are, as the Sháh perceiveth, like glad spring.
O moon-face!” said he to the songstress, “fear not,
But sing a song about the Sháh.”

The Idols

Took heart to sing and play. The songstress sang:—

“O moon-faced king! the moon in heaven
Alone is like to thee,
The royal throne thine only seat.
Thou with thy moon-like blee,

And teak-like stature art the pride
Of throne and crown. Oh! rare
For those that see thy face at morn,
For those that scent thy hair!

Thy loins are tiger-like, thy limbs
Are mighty, thy crown's Grace
Is as the cloud-rack high, and like
Pomegranate-bloom thy face.

For rapture of thy love hearts laugh,
Like ocean is thine own;
Like cloud thy hand. As thy fit prey
I see the lion alone.

C. 1520 Thou splittest with thy shaft a hair,
And by thine equity
Convertest water into milk.
When hostile armies see

Thy lasso and thy puissant arm
Their hearts and brains are rent
However mighty their array,
Howe'er on battle bent.”

Bahrám Gúr, having heard the ditty, drained
The massive crystal cup and thus addressed
Barzín: “O noble sir, experienced much
Is this world's heat and cold! thou wilt not find
A better son-in-law than me who am
'Mid kings a hero and the king of men.
Bestow thy daughters on me—all the three—
And I will raise thy coronet to Saturn.”
“O king!” Barzín replied, “may wine and bearer
Find favour in thy sight. Who will dare say
That he hath such a Venus in his house?
If now thou wilt accept me as a slave
To serve before the throne of king of kings
Then will I pay my service to thy crown,
Thy throne, thy Grace, thy fortune, and thy state;
Moreover my three daughters are thy handmaids
To stand before thee as thy slaves. The Sháh
Approved of them as such or ever he
Saw these three Moons afar. As teaks are they
In stature and as ivory in hue,
Fit for the throne and to adorn the crown.
Now will I tell the monarch of the world
What fortune I possess for good and ill:
Of clothes and carpets, stuffs and draperies,
Good sooth have I stored up in mine abode
Two hundred camel-loads or more as well
As necklaces and bracelets, crowns and thrones,
All for my daughters' pleasure.”

Hearing this

Bahrám replied: “Leave what thou hast in store,
Where now it is, and seek mirth with the wine-cup.”
The elder answered: “My three moon-like daughters
I give thee by the rites of Gaiúmart
And of Húshang. Dust are they 'neath thy feet,
And all the three live but to do thy will.”
The eldest daughter's name was Máh Áfríd,
The second's Farának, and the cadette's
Was Shambalíd. Approving them at sight
The Sháh preferred them 'mongst his lawful wives,
And bade a noble of his escort bring
Four golden litters,*

and, when all three Idols
Were set therein, they were encircled there
By forty Rúman slaves—their devotees—
Who called down praises on them as they went.

While they departed to their golden home
The glorious Sháh caroused. A servant hung
His whip above the court-gate, for the escort,
Save by the token of the whip, ne'er knew
Where Sháh and nobles were. When any one
Beheld the handle and its lengthy thong
He used to run thereto and do obeisance.
Bahrám drank on until he was bemused,
Then glorious took his seat within a litter,
And went back to his women's golden house—
The house that was perfumed with ambergris.
On his return he tarried for a week,
And much he feasted, lavished, and held converse.
The eighth day he went hunting with Rúzbih,
And with a thousand cavaliers. He saw
That all the plain was full of onager,
Drew from its case his royal bow, and strung it,
Invoking God who giveth victory.
'Twas springtide and the onager were pairing.
From all the world they met confronting there,
And rent each other's hides, the face of earth
Was reddened with their blood. Bahrám abode
While two bucks fought together furiously,
Then when the valiant buck that gained the day
Was covering a doe he laughed to see
The onagers, took hold upon his bow-string,
Shot, piercing the buck's flank so that the arrow
Went home up to its plumes, and skewered buck
And doe together, thrilling all his escort.
All who beheld that shot acclaimed the Sháh:—
“Oh! be the evil eye far from thy Grace,
And may thy whole life be a festival.
Such might as thine the age ne'er saw till now;
At once Sháh, warrior, and king art thou.”