This done, the great king's day and fortune changed,
The leafage withered on the royal tree;
He quitted crown and throne and with the heads
Of those three kings beside him lived in tears
And in austerities: his plaint was this:—
“My days are changed and darkened by these three,
Who were my heart's delight and grief withal,
Thus slain before me miserably, in hatred,
And as my foes would wish. Such ills befell them
Through their perversity and evil deeds;
They disobeyed me and the world frowned on them.”
His heart was full, his face all tears till death.
Though Farídún is gone there is his name
Still left through all the years that have passed by;

He was, my son! all excellence and fame—
One who found profit in adversity.
Then Minúchihr put off the royal crown,
He girt a blood-stained girdle round his loins,
And reared a charnel as the Sháhs were wont
Of ruddy gold and lapislazuli.
They placed a throne of ivory within
And hung a crown above it, visited
The dead to say farewell, as was the use
And ritual, then shut the charnel-door:
In such ill case that dear one left the world!
One sennight Minúchihr gave up to grief,
His eyes were full of tears, his cheeks were pale,
And for a sennight city and bázár
Were mourning with their mourning sovereign.
O world which art all wind and levity!
The man of wisdom hath no joy of thee.
Thou fosterest each one with thy caress,
No matter if his life be more or less,
But when thou willest to revoke the trust
What reckest thou of coral or of dust?
Man! when the world hath snapped in twain the cord
Of this world for thee, be thou liege or lord,
Thy griefs and pleasures as a dream appear:
Vex not thy heart then to continue here.
Blest is the man who, whether king or thrall,
Bequeatheth good as his memorial!