From that time forth he led a goodlier life,
Moved by remorse at heart. Now every year,
When nights were short, he sojourned at Istakhr
Two months because that city was delightsome,
The air serene: he knew not how to quit it.
He and his court were wont to spend three months
At Ispahán with its delicious air—
The seat of mighty men. In Winter-time
He dwelt at Taisafún among the troops,
The archimages and the counsellors;
While in the Spring he was upon the plain
Of the Arwand, and thus a while went by.
He had a son beloved,
Just like the moon, whom he had named Parwíz,
And sometimes called “Khusrau the well-content.”
*
He never left his father's side for long;
The father never bloomed without the son.
It chanced that the young steed of prince Parwíz
Escaped from stall and followed by its groom
Went to the growing crops whose owner came
Lamenting to the groom and asked: “What man
Must sorrow for this horse's ears and tail?”
The groom said: “'Tis the horse of prince
Parwíz;
What careth he for subjects?”
Then the owner
Went to the king and laid the case before him,
Who said: “Haste, dock the horse's tail and ears,
Then have the damage to the crop assessed,
And prince Khusrau shall recompense the man
A hundredfold in money from his treasures
Upon the field and in its owner's presence.”
Thereat the prince moved chiefs to plead for him
Before the Sháh that he would not have docked
The black steed's tail and ears, but in his wrath
Against the steed the king paid no regard
To all those men of world-experience;
The groom through terror of the king made haste
To dock the young steed of its ears and tail
Upon that tilth betrampled; and Khusrau
Paid the complainant what the Sháh had bidden.