The warriors, when Khusrau had reached the sea,
Put off their mail; the Sháh had taken with him
The mariners from Chín and from Makrán,
And made those preparations on the shore
That men are wont to make before a voyage;
He bade prepare provisions for a year
To last till he should reach the other side.
The prosperous Sháh, the seeker of God's way,
Withdrew in all his glory from the strand,
And, in the fervent importunity
Of pleading with the Maker of the world,
Besought of the Almighty and most High
To bear him scathless to dry land again.
He said: “Almighty Ruler of the world,
Who knowest both the secret and the open!
Thou art the Warden both of land and sea,
The Lord of heaven and the Pleiades,
The Guardian of my life and of my host,
The Guardian of my treasure, throne, and crown.”
The sea was rough and all hearts were distressed,
Yet for six months the vessels were their couch.
The seventh month, when half the year had passed,
The north wind blew against them, and the sails
Were ta'en aback; the vessels moved stern-foremost.
They wandered from their proper course and reached
A place which sailors call “The Lion's Mouth,”
Yet God so ordered it that wind and storm
Dealt gently with the fortune of the Sháh.

The soldiers on the voyage pointed out
To Kai Khusrau in great astonishment
How lions fought with oxen in the waves;
They sighted men with hair like lassos, men
Completely covered, as sheep are, with wool!
There was a troop with heads like buffalos,
Their hands behind their backs and feet in front!
There was a fish that had a leopard's head,
A crocodile that had an onager's,
A lamb a hog's! The water teemed with them!
The Íránians showed each other those strange sights,
And called upon the Maker of the world,
Till by the merey of the Lord of heaven
The wind abated and the storm was hushed.
In seven months the voyage was completed,
They were not visited again by storms.
Khusrau on landing saw a spacious plain,
Then came before the Maker of the world,
And chafed his face upon the dusty ground.
He drew his ships and boats up from the sea,
And tarried not, there was no time to lose.
Before him were the desert, plain, and sands,
The shifting sands o'er which he passed unhurt.
The cities there resembled those of Chín;
The tongue was like that spoken in Makrán:
He rested in those cities and required
A great provision from them for his host.
The Sháh committed all that land to Gív,
And said to him: “Partake of fortune's fruits.
Treat even evil-doers leniently,
For wealth and goods are worthless to my heart.
Henceforward hold I no man of account,
But worship God who is the Succourer.”
He chose out from the host a man of name,
Acquainted with the language of the folk,
To take a message to their kings, it ran:—
“Whoever seeketh peace and satisfaction,
Let him attend this court in merry guise,
With jocund heart, rich gifts, and right good will;
But he that shall transgress mine ordinance
Shall bear the penalty of his ill counsels.”
Whenas the messenger had come to them
He gave the message of the king of kings,
And every one replied: “We are his subjects
If we are worthy even to be such.”
No chief refused; they, old and young alike,
Came to the audience of the Sháh with gifts,
The marchlord and the monarch equally.
Khusrau, on seeing this, received them well,
And raised their necks until they reached the sun,
Then sought intelligence about Gang-dizh,
The throne of power, and Afrásiyáb.
The spokesman of the company replied:—
“No seas or mountains are before thee here,
And, reckoning all roads, both good and bad,
Hence unto Gang is but a hundred leagues.
No life is left in that unrighteous king,
But few of his unrighteous men remain,
And ever since he came across the sea
He and his followers have been at Gang.”
The Sháh was glad at that intelligence,
And thought the labour light. He gave the chiefs
A robe of honour each, called for their steeds,
And then dismissed them homeward while he went
Toward Gang-dizh with all his armament.