§ 1 How Ázarmdukht ascended the Throne and how she died

There was another dame hight Ázarmdukht,
Who had fruition of the crown of greatness.
She came, sat down upon the royal throne,
And made herself the mistress of the world.
Her first words were: “O sages, veterans,
And masters of affairs! be just in all,
And follow precedent, for ye hereafter
Must make the bricks your pillow. I will foster
The loyal liege, assist him with dinárs,
And if he erreth be longsuffering;
But him that is disloyal and deserteth
The way of wisdom and of precedent
Will I suspend in shame upon the gibbet,
Be he an Arab, Rúman cavalier,
Or Persian thane.”

She filled the throne four months,

But with the fifth disaster came thereto,

C. 2059
For she too died, the throne had not a Sháh,
But was the plaything of the ill-disposed.
With the revolving sky 'tis everything
To be all vengeful with its fosterling.