Tásh came to Jurján and Fakhr-Addoulat resigned to him the royal palace, as it was adorned with magnificent furniture and numerous vessels, and appurtenances of royalty and beautifully-carved plate, and vases of gold and silver, and utensils for cooking, and wine-cellars, and all other furniture therein. And he* went to Ray and he made a noble present to him* of five thousand dinars, and two thousand packets of one thousand diráms, and five hundred embroidered throne-robes, with several Arabian horses and mules, with orna­mented bridles and breasts, and all things belong­ing unto them, as arms and coats of mail, and cui­rasses and helmets, and surcingles, and shields adorned with gold, and Indian swords, and various kinds of armour enamelled. And he granted unto him all the taxes and revenue of Dihastán, and Abgun, and Astarábád, except a small part, which was to be expended in building fortresses, and in maintaining the Cutwáls and the registrars. And Tásh proceeded to confer presents and marks of generosity upon the regiments of his army, and commanded that unto every one (of his soldiers from) those countries there should be assigned pensions and allowances, until their condition should become better than it was at Khurásán, with regard to abundant harvests and fruitful crops, and increased wealth. And Fakhr-Addou­lat sent from Tabaristán successive supplies, and all kinds of fresh gratifications, and, with perfect affection, exhibited the feelings of his heart, by new gifts, as frequent as the twinkling of the eye, and he felt no envy, at any part of his dignity and prosperity. And Sáhib Káfi, through his great intelligence and perfect zeal, became acquainted with the extravagance which had taken place in expenditure and gifts, and in the squandering of treasure which necessarily followed this extreme generosity of Fakhr-Addoulat, and he made a severe piece of advice, upon this waste and whim of His Highness (Verse)

Fakhr-Addoulat said one day, in reply to this, “The real favours, the sincere kindness, and the continual benefits of Tásh to me are such that if, in return for one of them, I should expend the whole, both of my hereditary and acquired kingdom, even to this garment which I wear, in advancing the happiness of his condition and in promoting his fortune, I should not regret it. In short I can never be sufficiently grateful for one of his generous deeds, and I would not shake off the obligation by which I am bound, on account even of one of his favours.” Then he related an account of one of his kindnesses and said, “My brothers wrote letters to Khurasán and requested him to withdraw from me, and, with respect to consider­able property which they were bound to send to the Sultán, by way of tribute, they said that they would give an order to him, allowing him to appropriate it to his private use. This property consisted of the valuables of Irák, such as magnifi­cent robes and famous horses, and other produc­tions and curiosities of those countries and cities. This property then they offered in order to make their court and to convey bribes to him, in order to stop all excuse and render evasion impossible. (But he was not led by covetousness for these desirable objects into treachery.) And when the news of this letter and the truth of these sayings reached me the bright day became dark unto my eyes and all good sleep departed from me, and my hope of life became cut off. There seemed to be no path of purity and no road of escape possible. Therefore, through the thought of this untoward event and the diabolical suggestion of that un­manly conduct, I, for the whole night, was one who sleeplessly watches the stars and is attacked by vexation. My heart was grieved and my eye was mournful, and my mind was intently expect­ing that my destruction would take place in the morning, and some (calamitous) event occur, when a messenger arrived from the Chamberlain, Tásh, who requested an audience, and came before me, and sat down politely, and offered to conduct me. I hesitated and doubted whether this were hospi­tality or misfortune, an effect of friendship or dis­sension. For I made no doubt that the arrow of my brother’s deceit had reached the desired mark, and that, in the very interior of my private resi­dence, a great treachery and some hidden evil deeds were transacting. I commanded to bring my horse and I mounted, in the utmost trepidation, the most uncomfortable anxiety, my finger having scarcely power to hold the reins and my hand having scarcely strength remaining to grasp the whip. When I arrived at his palace he received me with unbounded respect, and treated me with greater honour and regard than usual, and, by his kind familiarity and extreme good-fellowship I became a little more at my ease, and my emotions and perturbations of alarm abated, and that part of my apprehension began to diminish. Then he asked for the letters of my brothers and gave them to me, rejecting them as treacherous, malevolent, and inimical, as scorpion-calumniators, and as infringing the rights of relationship. And he said, ‘I wished to have retained these letters and to have kept your noble mind above examining these shameful transactions, and agitating these filthy matters. However I thought it best to bring them forward and to let others know the truth of the matter, and to expose the depth of this cor­rupting wound, and to draw the veil from the surface of the matter, so as to render it free from all doubt or question, and I considered it more conducive to your repose of heart and tran­quillity of mind so to do.’ And he then, with hand clenched, made an oath (saying) ‘I would not sell one combing of thy hair, nay, I would not sell one thread from thy comb, for all the revenue of Irák, and, as regards any sums at my command, I would give them to the winds and regard them as carrion, as worthless as a nut-shell and as a date-skin, in comparison with the restora­tion of thy meanest possession. Nay, I have not yet conferred upon you the tenth part of the honour and the benefits which I have in my mind to give you, on account of my sincere affection and disinterested love. And if I were to spend all my property, even to this ring which I wear upon my finger and to this robe wherewith I am clothed, in the preservation of thy prosperity and in the averting accidents from the area of thy glory, and in vindicating thy hereditary kingdom from those who trouble it, I should not overpay thy fidelity and thy services, and I will never depart from this devotion or from acting upon this resolution, until God, through his confirming power, shall cause you to arrive at the summit of prosperity and place you under the protecting asylum of good fortune, and shall grant settled victory and conquest.’ With respect to one, then, who dis­played so humane a resolution and who, under cir­cumstances which involved no previous obligations to me, and amidst objects of covetousness, dis­played such generous zeal towards my defenceless person, how can I think it right or how can I con­sider it lawful, in acknowledgment of his actions, to supersede, or to neglect him, or to pursue, with respect to him, the path of dismissal and indiffer­ence. No, by God, and by the holy Kaaba, and by the soul of Rukn-Addoulat, I will never join in forgetting his merit or in belying his protec­tion; therefore I will not, with respect to him, in any way lessen or diminish his rank or allow­ance, especially since I have obtained sufficient ability and means convenient, and God hath granted to me settled comfort and maintenance enough (Verse)

“‘For although I should meet with the utmost zeal and the most extreme valour nevertheless he is first in previous excellence and in past generosity. He is upon the step of benefits and I upon the floor of thankfulness. And it cannot be con­cealed that the upper seat of judgment is superior to the floor of ordinary custom (Verse)