How the Ambassador of Cæsar came to Núshírwán with a locked Casket and how Búzurjmihr was set at large to declare its Contents

Now in those days it chanced that Cæsar sent
An envoy with a letter to the Sháh,
With gifts, with presents, and a padlocked casket,
And said: “O king of warriors and chiefs!
Thou hast no lack of holy archimages,
So let them tell, not tampering with the lock,
What is concealed therein. If they say right
We will send tribute and our wonted gifts;
But if thy clever archimages' hearts
Fail in this knowledge indispensable
The Sháh must not ask tribute at our hands,
Nor send an army to invade our realm.
Such is the message that hath come from Cæsar:
Make answer as it seemeth good to thee.”
The monarch of the world said to the envoy:—
“This thing is not a mystery to God,
And by His Grace divine I will achieve it,
Convoking holy men to give me aid.
Abide here for a se'nnight, cheered with wine,
Make merry in thy heart and be at ease.”
The matter proved perplexing to the Sháh:
He called to him the great men and the wise,
Who all examined it in every way
To find a means whereby to loose that coil,
Examined, as did all the archimages,
That casket and that lock whose key was lacking,
But could not tell and owned their ignorance.
Now when that concourse proved of no avail
The heart of Núshírwán, the Sháh, was grieved.
He said: “The intellect of Búzurjmihr
Will search this secret of the turning sky.”
The king of kings, in sore embarrassment,
Gave orders to his treasurer to provide
A change of raiment from the treasury,
And had a choice steed saddled royal wise.
He sent them to the sage. “Thou must forget,”
He said, “the hardships that thou hast endured
Because high heaven above us so ordained
That thou shouldst have affliction at our hands.

Thy tongue excited my displeasure: thou
Hast been the author of thine own oppression.
I am confronted with a thankless task,
The elders' hearts have been perplexed thereby,
For Cæsar hath dispatched to us from Rúm
A famed priest of that land and therewithal
A casket with a tightly fastened lid
Padlocked and sealed with musk. The envoy saith:—
‘Thus said my lord: “Reveal this hidden thing,
And let the sages and the princes say
What lieth in this casket.”’ So methought:—
‘No one will see through this veiled mystery
Unless it be the soul of Búzurjmihr.’”
When Búzurjmihr had listened to those words
His pain and former trouble were renewed;
He left the prison, bathed his head and body,
And first approached in prayer the Lord of all.
Albeit innocent himself he feared
The Sháh, the wrathful world-lord's, tyranny.
He watched that day and night alike and pondered
According to the message of his master.
What time the sun was brilliant in the heavens
He mused upon the aspects of the stars,
* He laved his heart's eyes in the stream of wisdom,
Chose out a trusty man among the sages,
And said to him: “My market hath been spoiled,
My vision ruined by my sufferings.
Observe upon the road the passers by,
Address them, have no fear, and ask their names.”
Forth from his house went Búzurjmihr and met
A woman hasting, beautiful of face.
That wise man vigilant informed the sage
Of all things that were hidden from his eyes,
And he as feeling for his way rejoined:—
“Ask if this Moon be wedded.”

Said the lady:—

“I have a spouse and child withal at home.”
The sage on his white roadster, when he heard
Her answer, started. Then another woman
Appeared and, seeing her, his agent asked:—
“O woman hast thou got a child and spouse,
Or, being single, only wind in hand?”
“I have a husband if no child,” she said,
“Thou hast mine answer, suffer me to pass.”
Just then another woman came—the third.
Her too the friend approached. “My Fair!” said he,
“What mate hast thou who hast such goodly carriage
And daintiness?”

“I never had a husband,”

She said, “I would not one should see my face.”
Now mark the inference of Búzurjmihr
On hearing these replies. He hurried on

With anxious mien. They brought him to the Sháh,
Who ordered that he should approach the throne,
But was exceeding troubled in his heart
Because he missed the sage's piercing glance,
And heaved full many a deep and chilling sigh,
Excused himself for having wronged the guiltless,
Then talked of Cæsar and of Rúm, and spake
Of casket and of padlock. Búzurjmihr
Made answer to the monarch of the world:—
“Be lustre thine so long as heaven shall turn.
Now must we hold a session of the wise,
Of Cæsar's envoy, and the archimages,
And have the casket laid before the Sháh,
Before the Great, the seekers of the way;
Then in God's strength, who gave me intellect,
And made the right the business of my soul,
I will declare the casket's whole contents,
And lay no hand on it or on its lock.
Although mine eyes be dim my heart is bright;
The breastplate of my soul withal is knowledge.”
The king joyed at the words. His heart grew fresh
As roses in the Spring. Anxiety
Bent him no longer, and he called for envoy
And casket, summoned all the archimages
And mighty men, and seated many a sage
With Búzurjmihr, then told the ambassador:—
“Repeat thy message and demand an answer.”
The Rúman, hearing, loosed his tongue and thus
Told Cæsar's words: “From the victorious world-lord
We look for wisdom, knowledge, and renown,
And thou, O master of the world! hast Grace,
And stature, greatness, lore, and might of hand.
The wise archmages—seekers of the way—
The chiefs and heroes that attend upon thee,
Are either all assembled at thy court,
Or are thy lieges still where'er they be.
If these shrewd-hearted sages shall behold
This casket with its lock and seal and stamp,
And state distinctly what is there concealed,
So that their statement shall accord to wisdom,
Then by this token I will send to thee
The tribute that my realm can well afford;
But if in any wise they fail herein
Ask not for tribute from our land again.”
Whenas the sage had heard the speaker's words
He loosed his tongue and offered praise and said:—
“Oh! be the world's Sháh Sháh for evermore,
May he be eloquent and fare with fortune!
Praise to the Master of the sun and moon,
Who showeth to the soul the path to knowledge,
And knoweth all things manifest and hidden;
I covet knowledge, He is past all need.
*

C. 1757

Within the casket are three lustrous pearls,
And greater coverture than I have said.
* One pearl is pierced, the second is half pierced,
The third hath had no intercourse with iron.”
The Rúman sage, on hearing, brought the key
To Núshírwán who looked. Concealed within
There was a pyx, and in the pyx a veil
Of painted silk, and in the silk three jewels,
Just as the wise man of Írán had said,
Because of those three gems the first was pierced,
The second half pierced and the third intact.
Then all the archimages praised the sage
And showered gems on him. The king of kings
Became of joyful countenance and filled
The mouth of Búzurjmihr with lustrous pearls.
His conduct in the past oppressed his heart,
He writhed, his face grew furrowed: why had he
Dealt so oppressively with Búzurjmihr
From whom he had experienced love and faith?
The sage, when he beheld the Sháh's shrunk face,
And grief-pierced soul, revealed what had been hidden,
Declared all that had passed to Núshírwán,
Told of the armlet, of the sable bird,
The liege's care, the slumber of the Sháh,
And added: “This was doomed to come to pass,
And sorrow and remorse will profit not.
When heaven is intending good or ill
What are Sháh, archimage, or Búzurjmihr?
God hath implanted in the stars the seed,
And we must write the sentence on our heads;
So let the heart of Núshírwán, the Sháh,
Rejoice exempt from pain and grief for ever.
Exalted though the Sháh be yet his state
Is made more gracious by his minister.
The chase, war, pleasure, largess, justice, feast,
These are the business of the king of kings.
He knoweth what Sháhs did in days of yore,
So by that token let him do the same.
To gather treasure, to provide the host,
To chide, speak, hear the suppliant, and take thought
For rule and treasure, these things are a care,
That, heart and soul, the minister must bear.”