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.
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,
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.