Bahram Gur's Campaign Against the Turks

Bahram Gur rested in Merv, once the king and his warhorses had recovered. He tempered the fire of his spirit with patience, yet his heart set its mind on battle at Bukhara. In a single day and night he reached Amu, and the world-seeking king turned to hunting and sport. He set out from Amu at the first watch of night, crossing the river and the sands of Farab. When the sun turned the face of the sky yellow and cast off its dark blue robe, the world grew dusty as a falcon's feather, and the world-seeker pressed on past Mai and Marv. The whole Turkish army fell into confusion; they set fire to the land and the plain. The dust rose so high that a star seemed to reach for the moon's skirt, and a father searched for his own son on the road. Of the Turks, every man who had ridden in the front rank, from the elders to the young dagger-wielders, all came before Bahram in humiliation, on foot, their hearts full of blood, brought low in the dust. They said: O generous king of high fortune, greatest lord over the free-born of the world, if it is true that our Khaqan sinned and broke faith with the ruler of the world, then surely, when he broke his pact with the king of the world, he has fallen captive into your hands. But do not spill the blood of the innocent; it does not befit the renowned to seek needless strife. If you demand tribute from us, that is fair, but why cut off the heads of the innocent? Every man and woman among us is your servant; in this war we have been struck down as your subjects. King Bahram's heart ached for them; with the hand of wisdom he sewed shut the eyes of his anger. He stayed his warriors' hands from spilling blood, and the God-worshipping king fell deep in thought. When the world-ruler's kindness took hold, the troubled hearts of these men grew calm. The lord of lords came before the king and agreed to pay heavy tribute every year. When his purpose in this was fulfilled, he took tribute and provisions from the Turks. When he turned back and came to the city of Farab, his face glowing with color and his lips full of laughter, he rested a week and marched no further, and summoned all the nobles from China before him. He raised a pillar of stone and plaster, decreeing that no one from among the Turks or the Khalaj should cross into Iran except by the king's command, and that the Oxus itself would stand as the border on the way. In his army there was a man named Shamr, wise, of noble blood, sound judgment, and ambition. He made him king over the land of Turan and crowned his throne with the splendor of the moon. He placed the golden crown upon his head, and all the city of Turan rejoiced in him.