Bahman*

possessed one lion-taking son,
On whom he had bestowed the name Sásán;

He had withal a daughter named Humái,
Considerate, accomplished, and discreet.
They used to call her by the name Chihrzád.*

Her father's greatest joy was seeing her.
He took her for his wife, which in the Faith
That thou call'st olden was a goodly deed.
Humái, that heart-refreshing shining Moon,
In course of time grew pregnant by the Sháh.
Now when six months had passed she 'gan to ail,
And he, at seeing this, fell sick himself,
And, prostrated with suffering, summoned her.
He summoned too the nobles and the magnates,
And, seating them where great men use to sit,
Thus said: “This chaste Humái hath had small joy
Of this world, and I leave her crown, high throne,
The host, the treasure, and preeminence.
She shall be my successor in the world,
She and the babe withal that she shall bear,
For, whether it shall prove a son or daughter,
It shall succeed to crown and throne and girdle.”
Sásán, on hearing this, was all astound:
His heart was darkened by his father's words,
And, like a pard, in three days and two nights
He journeyed from Írán abroad in shame,
And reached in haste the town of Nishápúr
In dudgeon and an alien from his sire.
He asked a lady of high rank in marriage,
But kept himself down level with the dust,
Withheld the secret of his Kaian birth,
And spake to no one of his quality.
His chaste wife bare to him a holy son,
Whose steps were happy and whose birth was blest,

A son to whom he gave the name Sásán,
And died anon. Whenas the child grew up,
And saw his home a prey to poverty,
He tended for the king of Nishápúr
The herds that roamed at will o'er plain and mountain,
And was for long the herdsman of the king:
His dwelling was on height and wilderness.
Now turn I to Humái to tell her case
When she, Bahman deceased, assumed his place.