will leave it lorn,
For to this end all men are born.
Birth opes to all the gate of Life,
Death shuts it down on love and strife,
And Fate, that counts the breath of man,
Measures to each a reckoned span.”
Then the fifth Mubid questioned him and said —
“Look how two lofty cypresses
Spring up, like reeds, from stormy seas,
There builds a bird his dwelling-place;
Upon the one all night he stays,
But swift, with the dawn, across he flies;
The abandoned tree dries up and dies,
While that whereon he sets his feet
Breathes odours out, surpassing sweet.
The one is dead for ever and aye,
The other lives and blooms alway.”
Then Zal yet again bethought him before he said —
“Hear of the sea-born cypresses,
Where builds a bird, and rests, and flees.
From the Ram to the Scales the earth o’erpowers,
Shadows obscure of the night that lowers,
But when the Scales’ sign it must quit,
Darkness and gloom o’ermaster it;
The sides of heaven thy fable shows
Whence grief to man or blessing flows,
The sun like a bird flies to and fro,
Weal with him bringing, but leaving woe.”
Then the sixth Mubid questioned him, and it was the last question that he asked, and he deemed it the hardest of all to answer. And all men hung upon his words and listened to the answer of Zal. And the Mubid said —
“Builded on a rock I found
A town. Men left the gate and chose
A thicket on the level ground.
Soon their soaring mansions rose
Lifting roofs that reach the moon,
Some men slaves, some kings, became,
Of their earlier city soon
The memory died in all. Its name
None breathed. But hark! an earthquake; down,
Lost in the chasm lies the land-
Now long they for their rock-built town,
Enduring things they understand.
Seek in thy soul the truth of this;
This before kings proclaim, I was,
If rightly thou the riddle rede,
Black earth to musk thou hast changed indeed.”
And Zal pondered this riddle but a little while, and then opened his mouth and
said —
“The eternal, final world is shown
By image of a rock-built town;
The thicket is our passing life,
A place of pleasure and of pain,
A world of dreams and eager strife,
A time for labour, and loss, and gain;
This counts thy heart-beats, at its will
Prolongs their pulse or makes it still.
But winds and earthquake rouse: a cry
Goes up of bitterness and woe,
Now we must leave our homes below
And climb the rocky fastness high.
Another reaps our fruit of pain,
That yet to another leaves his gain;
So was it aye, must so remain.
Well for us if our name endure,
Though we shall pass, beloved and pure,
For all the evil man hath done,
Stalks, when he dies, in the sight of the sun;
When dust is strown on breast and head,
Then desolation reigns with dread.”
When Zal had spoken thus the Shah was glad, and an the assembly were amazed, and lauded the son of Saum. And the King bade a great banquet be prepared, and they drank wine until the world was darkened, and the heads of the drinkers were troubled. Then when morn was come Zal prayed that the Shah would dismiss him. But Minuchihr said —
“Not so, abide with me yet another day,” and he bade the drums be beaten to call together his heroes, for he desired to test Zal also in feats of strength. And the Shah sat upon the roof of his house and looked down upon the games, and he beheld Zal, the son of Saum, do mighty deeds of prowess. With his arrow did he shoot farther and straighter than the rest, and with his spear he pierced all shields, and in wrestling he overcame the strongest who had never known defeat. When the nobles beheld these doughty deeds they shouted and clapped their hands, and Minuchihr loaded Zal with gifts. Then he prepared a reply unto the letter of Saum. And he wrote —
“O my Pehliva, hero of great renown, I have listened to thy desires, and I
