Whenas the sun next day displayed its crown
The world-lord went to hunt the onager;
The soldiers strung their bows, the Sháh himself
Rode in the rear. He said: “If one should take
His bow to shoot at any beast the arrow
Should strike the buttocks and come through the
breast.”
A paladin replied: “O king! consider
Who in this noble host can shoot like that
Among thy friends or foes unless indeed

Thou shoot in person. May thy head and crown
For ever live. When thou tak'st mace and arrow,
And scimitar, thy warriors are awe-struck
At thy commanding height and royal Grace,
While other archers' hands lose all their strength.”
The Sháh said: “'Tis of God. If He withdraw it
What strength hath then Bahrám?”

He urged Shabdíz,

And, nearing a buck onager, let fly
His arrow, when the moment came, and skewered
Together chest and buttock. As it died
The nobles of the golden belt came up;
They marvelled at his shot, and all applauded.
They could not see the arrow's point and feathers,
For they were hidden in the onager.
The warlike cavaliers and soldiers bent
With faces to the ground before Bahrám,
What while a paladin exclaimed: “O king!
Ne'er may thine eye behold the ill of fortune.
Thou art a horseman but all we ride asses,
And are but ill at that!”

The Sháh replied:—

“Not mine the arrow, for the All-conqueror
Assisteth me. None in the world is viler
Than one whose prop and helper God is not.”
He urged his charger onward, thou hadst said:—
“Yon courser is an eagle in its flight!”
A gallant onager appeared. Forthwith
The Lion reached out for his scimitar,
And with a sword-stroke clave the beast asunder
In equal halves. Chiefs, nobles, and attendants
Armed with the scimitar, came up to him,
And, when they saw that stroke, a sage exclaimed:—
“What swordmanship and might are here! Oh! may
The evil eye ne'er look upon this Sháh.
He hath no semblance save the moon in heaven,*

Beneath him are the heads of this world's chiefs,
While heaven is lower than his scimitar,
And arrow-point.”

The troops that followed him

Cleared all the plain of onager. He bade
Make rings of gold and grave his name thereon.
He ringed the creatures' ears and let them go;
Six hundred too he branded in a batch,
Then freed them for the honour of his name,
And for his will and pleasure, while a man
Went round the host proclaiming thus: “Let none
Sell to the merchants any onagers
On this broad plain but give them as a gift.”
They brought him from Barkúh and from the chiefs
Of Jaz abundance of brocade and furs.

These he accepted and then bade remit
Those countries' tax and toll though both could pay.
Their poor and those that earned their bread grew rich
By reason of his bounty. Many too
Had thrones and crowns. He went home from the
chase,
And passed a week in mirth among his men.
It was his wont to hold an open court
Upon the riding-ground, and thither used
To fare the troops, the men of eloquence,
The wise, the needy, and the suppliants.
“O ye that seek your rights!” he used to say,
“Take shelter from your enemies with God,
While ye that have not slept through toil for me,
And yet have had no portion of my wealth,
Come to the king upon the riding-ground,
And haply he will make your fortunes new.
If any one is old, past work, and weak,
Or, being young, is crippled by disease;
If any of the people be in debt,
And worried by the stress of creditors;
If any children are left fatherless,
And yet ask not of those possessed of wealth;
Or if the children's mothers are in want
In secret and conceal their poverty;
Or if, again, a wealthy man hath died,
And left behind young children in this land,
Whom an executor, devoid of fear
And reverence for God, is plundering,
Keep nothing of this kind concealed from me;
I want not people that conceal their wants.
I will enrich the poor, I will restore
The souls of misbelievers to the Faith;
I will defray the debts of those who have
No money and whose hearts are sad, and open
My treasury's door to modest indigence.
If wrong befall from officers of mine
Defrauding children that have lost their sires,
Those doers of injustice will I gibbet
Alive for wronging one of noble race.”
The Sháh, advanced in wisdom and glad-hearted,
Went from the hunting-field toward Baghdád,*

And to his presence came the haughty chiefs,
Both alien and those akin to him.
He bade his retinue disperse and sought
His own delightsome palace. They adorned
The bower of Barzín, the handmaids there
Were clamorous for musk and wine, the Idols
Got ready song and harp, the hall was cleared
Of strangers. What with harp and wine and pipe,
And sound of song, the vaulted heaven seemed
To greet the air. All night from every chamber
They brought forth bands of dancers that the Sháh

Might be not sad of heart. He spent two weeks
In mirth, and oped his treasury day and night,
Gave largess, and departed for Istakhr,
Placed on his head the glorious, royal crown,
Unlocked the bower of Kharrád, and furnished
The Idols there with treasure and with drachms.
If any in that golden women's house
Had not a crown aloft an ivory throne
The monarch of Írán growled mightily,
Bit at Rúzbih his lip in indignation,
And said: “The tribute from Khazar and Rúm
I give, when paid, to these, but for the nonce
Now requisition ass-loads of dínárs,
And treasure-loads from Ispahán and Rai.
A women's house when in such case as this
Will grow all desolate and not befit
The fortunes of the monarch of Írán.”
They spread brocade upon the floor, and caused
Fresh tribute to be paid in every land.
The world thus passed awhile an easy life—
No war, no toil, no conflict, and no strife.