§ 10 How the Khán sent his Daughter, escorted by Mihrán, with a Letter and Treasures to Núshírwán

The Khán, on hearing this, was glad of heart,
Smiled too the sunlike queen. When they had purged
Their hearts of artifice they set the envoy
Before them and told all that he should know
About the queen's child kept secluded thus,
Whom from her sire Mihrán Sitád received
On the victorious king of kings' behalf.
The deputy received, the Khán bestowed,
The only daughter that the queen had borne.
The handmaids came with gifts, came joyfully
Before the king, and afterwards a treasure,
Comprising goods of all sorts, was prepared—
Dínárs, gems, torques, and crowns, a turquoise litter,
An ivory throne, and one of aloe-wood
From Hind, with gold and divers jewelry

C. 1704
Inlaid, and with each throne a royal crown;
A hundred horses and a hundred camels,
The horses saddled and the camels bearing
Brocade of Chín, and forty tapestries
Of cloth of gold enriched with emeralds.
Of carpets too he laid a hundred loads
On camels, and brought forth three hundred handmaids,
And saw that all were mounted for the journey,
Each with a flag in hand—the use in Chín.
The Khán, victorious of fortune, bade
To set up on an elephant a throne
Embossed with gold and silver all incrusted
With gems unworn, and rear a flaunting flag
That made the ground all viewless with brocade.
It took a hundred men to carry forth,
And raise, that standard skyward from the plain.
A litter tricked out with brocade and gold
Contained the maiden Gem. Three hundred hand-maids,
All blithe of heart and bright of countenance,
Accompanied that moon-faced one. He sent
His daughter to the Sháh with troops for escort,
And forty eunuchs to precede the slaves,
And march before her with rejoicing hearts.
The preparations over, came the scribe,
And brought with him rose-water, musk, and silk.
The Khán then wrote a letter like the Artang,*


All illustration, colour, scent, and beauty,
And first of all gave praises to the Maker,
Lord of the world, all-watchful and all-seeing:—
“He fashioned all things by divine decree
To guide His servants to predestined ends.
My crown is the Íránian king of kings.
Not for my daughter's sake have I desired
A league with him, but hearing from the wise,
The great men and the wary-hearted priests,
About his Grace, his majesty, and throne,
I sought for intercourse and league with him
Because so just a ruler girdeth not
His loins in all the world, or one so great
In manhood, victory, and mastery,
In Grace, mien, throne, and crown, while holy God
Sustaineth him with justice and with knowledge,
With Faith and wisdom. Lo! we have dispatched,
According to our rites, our very Eye
To Núshírwán the Sháh, commanding her
To serve him as his slave when she shall pass
Behind his curtains. From his Grace and insight
She will learn wisdom and acquire his ways
And usages. May wit and fortune guide thee,
Be majesty and knowledge thy supports.”
They set the seal upon that musk of Chín,
And gave the letter to the ambassador

C. 1705
With compliments. The Khán prepared for him
A robe of honour past all precedent
As given by the great ones of the world
In public or in private to an envoy.
The Khán gave presents also to the suite,
And made them happy with dínárs and musk.
He travelled with his daughter and the goods,
The beasts and elephants caparisoned,
Until he reached the bank of the Jíhún,
And poured his heart's blood from his eyes the
while;
He thence betook him homeward with full heart
And, in his daughter's stead, had pain for comrade;
Howbeit he delayed till they had crossed,
And reached dry land upon the further side.
When tidings came about Mihrán Sitád*


The folk presented gifts and offerings,
And all with one consent called blessings down
Upon the Sháh and on the chief of Chín.
With hearts rejoiced with largess and with gifts,
And all disposed for hospitality
And amity, the folk decked road and city,
And showered drachms upon the royal bride.
Toward Ámwí and Marv's unwatered ways
All earth was like a pheasant's plumes, and thou
Hadst said of all the journey to Bastám,
And to Gurgán: “The earth saw not the sky
For decorations and triumphal arches
In waste and town wherethrough the progress lay.”
Men, women, children, from the palaces,
Met where that Idol brought from Chín would pass,
Showered on her escort drachms from overhead,
And sifted o'er them musk and ambergris.
The scents were mixed on salvers, and the world
Was full of din from trump and kettledrum.
The horses' manes were drenched with musk and
wine,
And sweets and drachms were scattered under-foot,
While through the din of rebeck, harp, and pipe,
There was no room on earth for rest and sleep.
Now when the Idol reached the royal bower,
And Núshírwán had looked within the litter,
He saw a Cypress with the orbéd moon
Above it and upon the moon a crown
Of ambergris. There was another too
Of musky coils joined chain-wise, link on link,
The links entrammelled, plaited daintily,
And curiously entwined like civet ring-work
Upon a rose's petal, while beneath
The ring-work shone the planet Jupiter.
Sháh Núshírwán was all astound thereat,
And o'er her oft invoked the name of God,
Assigned her a fit dwelling for her own,
And they made ready for that Moon a throne.