Persian Literature, Volume 2, Comprising The Shah Nameh | Page 4

that will prove of service, and not the
fatted ox, on the day of battle."
They have reported that the enemy's cavalry was immense, and those of
the king few in number; a body of them was inclined to fly, when the
youth called aloud, and said, "Be resolute, my brave men, that you may
not have to wear the apparel of women!" The troops were more
courageous on this speech, and attacked altogether. I have heard that on
that day they obtained a complete victory over the enemy. The king
kissed his face and eyes, and folded him in his arms, and became daily
more attached to him, till he declared him heir-apparent to the throne.
The brothers bore him a grudge, and put poison into his food. His sister
saw this from a window, and closed the shutter; and the boy understood
the sign, and withdrew his hand from the dish, and said, "It is hard that
the virtuous should perish and that the vicious should occupy their
places." Were the homayi, or phoenix, to be extinct in the world, none
would take refuge under the shadow of an owl. They informed the
father of this event; he sent for the brothers and rebuked them, as they
deserved. Then he made a division of his domains, and gave a suitable
portion to each, that discontent might cease; but the ferment was
increased, as they have said: Ten dervishes can sleep on one rug, but
two kings cannot be accommodated in a whole kingdom. When a man
after God's heart can eat the moiety of his loaf, the other moiety he will
give in alms to the poor. A king may acquire the sovereignty of one
climate or empire; and he will in like manner covet the possession of
another.

IV
A horde of Arab robbers had possessed themselves of the fastness of a
mountain, and waylaid the track of the caravan. The yeomanry of the
villages were frightened at their stratagems, and the king's troops
alarmed, inasmuch as they had secured an impregnable fortress on the
summit of the mountain, and made this stronghold their retreat and
dwelling.
The superintendents of the adjacent districts consulted together about
obviating their mischief, saying: If they are in this way left to improve
their fortune, any opposition to them may prove impracticable. The tree
that has just taken root, the strength of one man may be able to extract;
but leave it to remain thus for a time, and the machinery of a purchase
may fail to eradicate it: the leak at the dam-head might have been
stopped with a plug, while, now it has a vent, we cannot ford its current
on an elephant.
Finally it was determined that they should set a spy over them, and
watch an opportunity when they had made a sally upon another tribe,
and left their citadel unguarded. Some companies of able warriors and
experienced troops were sent, that they might conceal themselves in the
recesses of the mountain. At night, when the robbers were returned,
jaded with their march and laden with spoil, and had stripped
themselves of their armor, and deposited their plunder, the foremost
enemy they had to encounter was sleep. Now that the first watch of
night was gone:--"the disc of the sun was withdrawn into a shade, and
Jonas had stepped into the fish's mouth "--the bold-hearted warriors
sprang from their ambush and secured the robbers by pinioning them
one after another.
In the morning they presented them at the royal tribunal, and the king
gave an order to put the whole to death. There happened to be among
them a stripling, the fruit of whose early spring was ripening in its
bloom, and the flower-garden of his cheek shooting into blossom. One
of the vizirs kissed the foot of the imperial throne, and laid the face of
intercession on the ground, and said, "This boy has not yet tasted the
fruit of the garden of life, nor enjoyed the fragrance of the flowers of

youth: such is my confidence in the generous disposition of his Majesty
that it will favor a devoted servant by sparing his blood." The king
turned his face away from this speech; as it did not accord with his
lofty way of thinking, he replied:--"The rays of the virtuous cannot
illuminate such as are radically vicious; to give education to the
worthless is like throwing walnuts upon a dome:--it were wiser to
eradicate the tree of their wickedness, and annihilate their tribe; for to
put out a fire and leave the embers, and to kill a viper and foster its
young, would not be the acts of rational beings. Though the clouds pour
down the water of vegetation, thou canst never gather fruit from a
willow