English
Bahram Gur and the Miller's Daughters
The following week, with priests and nobles, the king of the world went out to hunt.
For a whole month he stayed at the hunting ground, drinking wine among his soldiers.
The catch from the mountains and the plains grew beyond all counting.
Happy at heart, he headed for the city with his army; night fell along the road and the world turned black.
The great men of the army rode on, reciting tales of the kings of old.
One of them saw a bright fire in the distance, blazing like a feast Bahman might hold.
The king looked toward the light and saw, off to one side, a cheerful village.
By the edge of the village he saw a mill, with older men scattered around it.
On the far side of the fire were young women, who had set up a party at the border of the field.
Each wore a crown of flowers on her head; here and there sat musicians.
They sang songs of the king's battles, and now and then struck up something new.
All were moon-faced, all with curling hair, all in jeweled robes, all their locks fragrant as musk.
Near the door of the mill, for play, they had stretched a thread over the grass.
Each held a bunch of flowers, half tipsy with joy and with wine.
Then a cry rose from the party: 'Long live Bahram the king!'
'He has glory and grandeur, love and a fine face; the turning heavens stand upright at his feet.'
'It is as if wine drips from his cheeks, and the scent of musk rises from his hair.'
'His only prey is lion and wild ass; that is why they call him Bahram Gur.'
When the king heard their voices, he turned his reins and rode that way.
When he came near the young women, he looked over the place from end to end.
He saw the whole plain full of moon-faced beauties, and thought the road back to the city too short.
He ordered the cupbearers to bring wine and set it near the king.
The cupbearer brought a crystal goblet and placed it in Bahram Gur's hand.
From among those women, four of the most renowned stepped forward.
One was named Moshk, another Sisenak, one Nar, and another Susanak.
They came to the king, hand in hand, faces like spring, tall in stature.
They sang a song to Bahram, the wise and famous king.
Bahram Gur asked about all four, for his heart had stirred with longing for them.
'You rose-cheeked girls, whose daughters are you, and why have you lit this fire?'
One said, 'You cypress-tall rider, alike to a king in every way,'
'Our father is an old miller who hunts game with his arrows in these hills.'
'He should come once the night grows dark, his eyes dazzled by the blackness.'
At that very moment the miller came down from the mountain, bringing his catch with a group of men.
When the noble, pure old man saw Bahram, he pressed his face to the ground.
The king ordered a golden goblet given to the old man who had just arrived.
He said to him, 'Why do you keep these four sun-faced girls, when they are of an age to marry?'
The old man blessed him and said, 'These daughters of mine have no husbands.'
'They have reached this age still maidens, and in their maidenhood they are pure.'
'But they have nothing more than that; I will say no more about it now.'
Bahram said to him, 'Give me all four of them, and do not haggle over dowries.'
The old man answered him this way: 'Do not push toward this door you speak of, horseman.'
'We have no place, no home, no land, no silver, no house, no ox, no donkey.'
Bahram said to him, 'That suits me fine; I want them even with nothing at all.'
He said to him, 'Then let all four be your brides, and your hidden handmaids too.'
'Your eye has seen their faults and their virtues; just as you have seen them, you found them pleasing.'
Bahram said to him, 'I accept all four of them from the pure Creator.'
He said this and rose to his feet, and his tall voice rang out across the plain.
He ordered the army's servants to take those idol-fair girls to the king's harem.
The army came in one by one from the plain; all night the troops kept crossing the field.
The miller stood amazed at all this, and in the dark night sank into thought.
He said to his wife, 'This one, famed and bright as the moon, with such height and such power,'
'When he reached the mill in the dark night,' his wife said, 'he had seen the fire from afar.'
'Hearing this merrymaking of the girls, in his drunkenness he brought wine and musicians.'
Then the miller said to his wife, 'Woman, tell me a tale;'
'will the end of this be good or bad?' His wife said, 'This was a work of God.'
The man never asked about lineage; wealth was nowhere in his mind.
Over all the earth he sought a moon-faced beauty; he did not look for gold or a king's daughter.
'Should an idol-maker in China see girls like these, all praise of idols would break off.'
So they talked until the sun rose over the hillside, and the world grew bright as a shining lamp.
All kinds of stories passed between them, of the base-born and of the noble.
When night turned to day, the chief came to the village and said to the old man, 'Fortunate one,'
'the dark-fated night has come to bless your pillow; that green branch of your tree has borne fruit.'
'Last night, in the dark, Bahram the king was returning from the hunting plain.'
'He looked and saw this feast and its fire, and turned his reins and rode this way.'
'Now your daughters are his wives, kept in peace within his private chambers.'
'With that face, that hair, that honest grace, you made your daughters fit for a king.'
'King Bahram is your son-in-law; from now on you will be spoken of in every land.'
'He has given you this pure land and border; grieve no more, for you are freed from sorrow and fear.'
'Give your commands, for the pledge is yours; we are all your servants, and the command is yours.'
'Now we are all your subjects; more than subjects, we are all your servants.'
At this the miller and his wife stood dumbfounded, each one calling out the name of God.
The chief said, 'That face and that hair have brought the girls a husband down from the fourth heaven, the sphere of the sun.'