A long time passed; meanwhile the monarch's star
Sought only the ascendant, but one night,
As he was drinking wine among his sages,
His magnates and experienced officers,
There was a cup in use among the guests,
Graved with the name Bahrám.* The Sháh bade throw
The cup away whereat they all began
To curse Bahrám, the cup, and him that wrought it.
Thus said the Sháh: “Now let the elephants
Of war tread down the fields and fells of Rai,
Expel the folk and turn it to a waste.”
The noble minister addressed him thus:—
“O thou memorial of mighty kings!
Consider that the state of Rai is large,
Not one for elephants to trample on,
For God and all good folk would disapprove.”
The king replied: “I want one ill-disposed
And of low birth to act as marchlord there,
One who is coarse of speech and ignorant.”
“Do thou, O king!” the minister rejoined,
“Charácterize the wretch, and I will seek,
And bring him, otherwise we have no guide.”
Khusrau Parwíz replied: “I want a gabbler,
Ill-starred, red-haired, foul and with nose askew,
With sallow face, malicious, squat, and soured,

A coward, vile and gloomy, vengeful, lying,
Green-eyed and squinting, with projecting teeth,
And humped like wolf in gait.”

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Were all amazed that he should speak of such,
And all made search about the world, amidst
The cities, and among the great and small.
One day a man brought one such to the Sháh,
* Who said: “Tell thine ill deeds in fitting terms.”
The man replied: “I cease not to do ill,
I have no wisdom and I say one thing
And do another, and snub all that greet me.
My stock is lies; I never help the right;
I break my pledge and fling nobility,
Both root and stem, to earth.”

Khusrau Parwíz

Made answer: “May thine evil star ne'er change.”
They gave him Rai by patent, so the wretch
Grew great by turpitude. They gave to him
Troops that had been dismissed. He left the court,
Famed for depravity. The miscreant,
When he arrived at Rai, put off all fear
Of God, and bade the gutters of the roofs
Be torn away: this gave him much delight,
And afterward he had all cats destroyed,
Which gave great umbrage to the householders.
Where'er he went he took with him a guide,
While in the front of them a herald walked,
Proclaiming: “If I see a gutter left,
Or cat within a house, I will set fire
To house and field, and stone the inmates' heads.”
He would turn out a place to find one drachm,
And vex its owner. All the people left
Their homes in terror and gave up their lands.
There were no gutters when the rain came down,
No watchman in the city. Through the foul
And ill-conditioned miscreant that came
From court to Rai that city was laid waste.
The sun beat down upon the people's heads,
The place was full of pain and wretchedness,
And not a soul regarded their distress.