English
Part 5: Ardeshir at Ardavan's Court
When he reached the court, they told the king that a petitioner had arrived.
Ardavan called the young man forward with kindness, and spoke at length of Babak.
He seated him near the throne, and prepared a place for him in the city.
He sent him every kind of food, and clothing too, and furnishings.
The young man came, along with the nobles, to the place Ardavan had assigned.
When the sun set its throne above the wheel of the sky, the world grew bright as a fair Roman face.
Ardeshir summoned a servant, and gathered the gifts that were needed.
Babak's brave envoy sent them to King Ardavan.
Ardavan saw them and was pleased; the young man had proved useful to him.
The king kept him like a son, never leaving him neglected for a moment.
At wine-drinking, at the feast-table, and in the hunting field, he kept him at his side year after year.
He treated him like his own child, never parting him from his company.
It so happened that one day at the hunting ground the army and the king's sons scattered wide.
Ardeshir rode beside Ardavan, and the young man was dear to the king's heart.
King Ardavan had four sons, each of them like a prince in his own right.
A wild ass appeared in the distance across the plain, and a stir rose up from that great host.
They spurred all their swift horses forward, until dust and sweat mingled together.
Ardeshir galloped out in front, and when he drew near he loosed an arrow from his bow.
He struck a wild male ass on the flank; the point and feathers passed clean through it.
At that very moment Ardavan came up and saw the shot and the young man who made it.
He saw one wild ass brought down and said, 'May skill be the partner of the hand that did this.'
Ardeshir answered the king, 'It was I who brought this ass down with my arrow.'
The king's son said, 'It was I who felled it, and I will find its mate as well.'
Ardeshir replied to him, 'The plain is wide, and there are plenty of wild asses and arrows.'
'Bring down another one just like this. Lying is a sin for proud men.'
Ardavan grew full of rage at that young man, and shouted at him.
The king said to him, 'This is my own fault, for raising you was my custom and my way.'
'Why should I take you along with the army to the feast and the hunting field,'
'so that you outdo my son, and set yourself above him in valor?'
'Go, look after our Arabian horses, and choose a lodging for yourself right there.'
'Be master over that stable, and help everyone in every task.'
Ardeshir came away with eyes full of tears, forced to go to the horse stable.
He wrote a letter to his grandfather, his heart full of grief and his head full of cunning.
telling what had befallen him from Ardavan, wishing pain on the king's body and torment on his soul.
He recounted all that had happened, and why Ardavan had grown so enraged.
When that letter reached Babak, he did not reveal its words to anyone.
His heart filled with pain and sorrow at the matter; he brought out some gold coins from his treasury.
He sent ten thousand of them to him, dispatching a swift camel and a rider.
He ordered a scribe to come before him and had a letter written to Ardeshir.
'You foolish, inexperienced youth, when you went hunting with Ardavan,'
'why did you race ahead of his son? You are a servant, not one of his kin.'
'He did you no wrong; if any wrong was done, you brought it on yourself through foolishness.'
'Now seek his favor and his goodwill, and never turn your face from his command.'
'I have sent you some gold coins, and in the letter I have given you counsel.'
'Whenever you have spent this sum, ask for more, so the days may pass on.'
The swift camel, old and worldly-wise, came running to Ardeshir.
When he read that letter he was content, and his heart turned toward schemes and cunning.
He spread out every kind of furnishing, of clothing and of food.
Near the horses he chose himself a dwelling, though not a place fit for the work.
Night and day his business was feasting; wine, the cup, and musicians were his companions.