Khusrau departed and when near Makrán
Chose one of much experience from the host,
And sent him to the monarch with these words:—
“May kings and wisdom be companions.
Consider from what regions we have come:
We are not drunk and dozing o'er our purpose.
My fortune and my crown illume the world;
My throne is based on chieftains' heads. Prepare
A road and provand for my host; let plenty

Adorn my throne for no one fareth well
When rations fail, and save I furnish them
The troops will combat and will make the world
Strait to their foes; but if thou wilt not hear me
Thou shalt wade through the blood of multitudes,
And make a desolation of Makrán
If thou attack the Lions unprovoked.”
The envoy came and did his embassage,
But no advice or justice found a place
In that king's heart. His foolish head was angered;
He raged and there was mischief in his thoughts.
He concentrated all his scattered troops,
Prepared a battlefield upon the plain,
And bade the messenger: “Go get thee hence!
Return to that malicious man and say:—
‘By change from days of darkness thou hast grown
Thus prosperous and world-illumining,
Yet, when thou comest, shalt behold our might,
And learn what men and warriors really are.’”
Whenas the envoy of the Sháh had gone
The whole state of Makrán was filled with clamour,
The land from mount to mount and all the marches
Were occupied by troops. The monarch brought
Two hundred elephants of war. “No room,”
Thou wouldst have said, “remaineth on the earth!”
While at the chargers' neighs and soldiers' shouts
The moon strayed from its pathway in the sky.
The scouts approached the Sháh and said to him:—
“Makrán is darkened with the dust of troops,
The realm is full of flags and elephants;
The Sháh can see them now two miles away.”
The monarch bade his troops draw up in line,
And take their maces and their swords in hand,
While from Makrán a scout came on the plain,
And all the livelong night went round the host.
Upon the Íránian side Tukhár kept watch,
Who thought a fight a small thing. Those two met—
A noble Lion and fierce Elephant.
Tukhár struck with his falchion, clave his foe
In twain, and filled Makrán's king's heart with fear.
The two hosts in the ordering of their ranks
Made heaven viewless with the clouds of dust,
They drew toward each other mountain-like,
And closed; the leader Tús came from the centre,
While din of trump and tymbal filled the world,
With Káwa's flag before him, while behind
Were warriors with their golden boots. The air
Was full of arrows, earth of elephants;
The world was heaving like the dark blue sea.
The monarch of Makrán at the army's centre
Died smitten by a double-headed dart.
One asked: “Shall we cut off his head, O Sháh!”
Who answered: “We will treat him with respect.
Who cutteth off kings' heads unless he be
A villain of the seed of Áhriman?
Prepare a charnel-house, musk, and rose-water—
A sleeping-chamber worthy of a king—
And, seeing that the wound is through his mail,
By that same token strip ye not the body,
But veil his visage with brocade of Chín,
For he hath died the death that heroes die.”
Now of that host there were ten thousand slain
Of cavaliers and warriors wielding swords;
Of prisoners there were seven and fifty score,
And the survivors' heads were filled with anguish.
The Íránians carried off the camp-enclosure,
The spoil, the elephants, and splendid throne,
And all the nobles of Írán grew rich,
While many had a crown and throne besides.
Anon the warriors, lovers of the fray,
Proceeded to the pillage of Makrán;
The wail of women rose from town and waste,
The land was full of cries; the Íránians fired
The holds and towns, dashed heaven upon earth,
Transfixing many with their archery,
And making women and young children captives.
As soon as the Sháh's wrath had been appeased
He ordered that his army should withdraw,
And also that Ashkash, the shrewd of wit,
Should cease from pillage, strife, and harrying,
And suffer nobody to do an outrage,
Or treat the wretched with severity.
Then all the upright people of the state
Approached to plead their cause before the Sháh,
Thus saying: “We are innocent and helpless,
And aye oppressed by tyrants. It would be
Well worthy of the Sháh to pardon us
If he shall recognise our innocence.”
A proclamation went forth from head-quarters:—
“Ye paladins whose counsel prospereth!
If through injustice, pillage, strife, or tumult,
Henceforth an outcry riseth anywhere,
Then will I cut in two the outragers
That have no fear of God before their eyes.”
The worldlord tarried one year in Makrán,
And requisitioned great ships everywhere;
Then when the spring arrived and earth grew green,
When tulips filled the hills and grass the waste,
When steeds could pasture, hunters go afield,
And gardens were adorned by flowers and fruit-trees,
He bade his faithful liege Ashkash remain
To govern leniently and uprightly
Withal, maintaining justice unimpaired,
And marched out from the country to the desert,
Light-heartedly accepting all the toils.
'Twas holy God's decree that in the waste
They should not look on dust. The firmament
Was full of cloud, the earth of springing corn,
The world of tulips and of fenugreek.
Provision-trains went on before the host
In wagons drawn along by buffalos.
The waste gave herbage, room to camp was there,
Earth was all moisture, and all clouds the air.