Part 5: The Polo Game and the Reunion

At dawn the king's advisor came and gathered the children of the army onto the field. They all wore the same clothes, the same faces, the same height, so you could barely tell one from another. You would have said the field was a festival, and among them stood young Shapur. When a child struck the ball, each one tried to outdo the others. At daybreak Ardeshir came to the field with a few of his most trusted companions. He looked, and when he saw the children, a cold sigh rose from deep in his chest. He pointed with his finger to his steward: one of my line has come into being. His guide said to him, 'Your Majesty, your heart has borne witness to your own son.' King Ardeshir told a servant, 'Go, take their ball with your mallet.' 'Stay among these fresh faced children and drive the ball in front of me.' 'Whichever of these children proves bold, riding among the others like a lion,' 'who from before my very eyes carries the ball away, unafraid, counting no one in this crowd,' 'that one, beyond doubt, is my own true son, of my seed and my pure blood.' At the king's command the servant went, struck the ball, and drove it before the riders. The children raced after it like arrows, and as they drew near Ardeshir, they all reined in against their will and stayed where they were, while Shapur swept forward past them. He snatched the ball from before his father and carried it off, and when he was far, he passed it back to the other children. Ardeshir's heart filled with such joy that an old man might grow young from it. His horsemen lifted the boy from the ground and passed him hand to hand. Then the king of kings took him in his arms and gave praise to the just God. He kissed his head, his eyes, his face, and said, 'A wonder like this cannot be kept hidden.' 'Never once did the thought leave my heart; I had believed Shapur was killed.' 'Since God has increased my kingship, He has now added a keepsake of me to the world.' 'From His command there is no escape, even if you lift your head higher than the sun.' He called for jewels from the treasury, for gold coins, for many precious rubies. They poured gold and gems over the boy and sifted musk and amber above him. The crown of his head vanished under the coins, and no one could see his face for all the jewels. He showered gems on the steward too, and set his likeness upon a golden throne. He gave the boy so much wealth that his palace and hall were made splendid. He ordered that Ardavan's daughter be brought to the hall, glad and bright of soul. He forgave her past offense and wiped the tarnish from that moon of a woman. He brought scholars into the city, everyone who had a share of wisdom. They taught the boy to write in Pahlavi, along with the bearing of pride and kingship, and how to gather the reins for battle, and to level his lance at the enemy from above, and wine drinking, generosity, and the ways of the feast, mustering armies and striving on the day of war. After that he had new dies made for silver coins, and dies for gold coins, for every value great and small. On one side was the name of King Ardeshir, on the other the name of his fortunate vizier. The name of the king's advisor was Gerankhar, a worldly wise man who showed the way. They wrote his name likewise on the documents, and the king gave him authority, the seal, and the signet ring. He gave a fortune to the poor man who had nothing to live on but his own labor. He found a place that had been a thornfield and from it made a flourishing city, which he named Gondeshapur, and he called it by no other name.