§ 29 How Kai Khusrau made a Feast

Khusrau commanded: “Let the board be spread,
And call the chiefest nobles to the feast.”
Now when the guests had risen from the table
They had the place set for a drinking-bout.

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Fair slaves illumed the hall, with cup-bearers
And earringed harpers harping on their harps;
Their heads were crowned with massive coronets
Of gold with patterns traced thereon in gems.
All cheeks were ruddy as brocade of Rúm,
And fairy fingers made the harps resound.
There were gold chargers full of purest musk,
And in the front a laver of rose-water.
The Sháh, resplendent with imperial Grace,
Shone like a full moon o'er a straight-stemmed cypress.
The paladins, the lieges of Khusrau,
All left the palace, well bemused.

Next morning

Came Rustam to the court, with open heart
And girded loins, for leave to hie him home.
He took much prudent counsel with the Sháh,
Who gave commandment, and a change of raiment
Bejewelled, with a tunic and a crown,
A vase of royal gems, a hundred steeds
All saddled and a hundred laden camels,
A hundred fair-faced handmaids ready girt,
A hundred slaves adorned with torques of gold,
Were brought before the master of the world,
Who gave them all to Rustam of Zábul.
That hero kissed the ground and then stood upright.
He set upon his head that royal crown,
He bound that royal girdle round his loins,
Did homage to the Sháh, then left the presence,
And made his preparations for Sístán.
Next to the nobles that had been with Rustam
In toil and fight, in happiness and sorrow,
The Sháh gave gifts, to each in his degree:
They left the palace of Khusrau, rejoicing.
The Sháh, when he had finished with the chiefs,
And sat at leisure on his throne, commanded
Bízhan to come, and spake of all his troubles,
While for his part Bízhan informed the Sháh
At large of that strait dungeon, of his conflicts,
And what had happened in those evil days.
The Sháh forgave him and much pitied too
The pains and sorrows of the luckless damsel,

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Called for a hundred garments of brocade
Of Rúm, gem-patterned on a ground of gold,
A crown, ten purses also of dínárs,
Girl-slaves and carpets and all kinds of wealth,
And said thus to Bízhan: “These precious things
Bear to the lady of the mournful soul,
Use her not hardly, speak no chilling word,
Consider all that thou hast brought on her.
Go through this world rejoicing by her side,
And take thou heed of time's vicissitudes,
How it will raise one to the heights of heaven,
And bear him all unharmed by care and anguish,
Then how that heaven will fling him to the dust,
Where all is fear, anxiety, and dread!
The man whom fortune cherished on its breast
It casteth wantonly to depths of need,
And raiseth thence another to the throne,
And setteth on his head a jewelled crown!
The world is not ashamed of such ill doings,
For it respecteth no one; and, although
For ever dominating good and bad,
Ensueth not the peace of any one.”
Such is the manner of our earthly lot!
It leadeth us alike to good and ill,
And noble hearts may live untroubled still
So long as poverty oppresseth not.

The story of Gúdarz I next unfold
And of Pírán; that of Bízhan is told
As I have heard it in the tales of old.