Bahram's Hunt

The next week, with a proud army at his side, he rode out to the hunting ground with cheetah and falcon. Near a mountain he saw a lion tearing open the back of a wild ass. He drew the black-feathered arrow to the string and swiftly knotted the three-feathered shaft to his thumb-ring. He pinned the wild ass's heart to the lion's back, the lion above and the ass below, both drenched in blood. When he had killed both the ass and the brave lion, he strode into the palace, sword in hand. The following week Nu'man and Mundhir set out with him toward the hunting ground. Many famous men had come along from the Arabs, for on Bahram hung all profit and loss for them. Mundhir wanted Bahram Gur to show them his horsemanship and strength. In one place they spotted a herd of ostriches, each one running like a swift, uncontrolled camel. When Bahram Gur saw those ostriches, he shot forward like a rushing wind. Smiling, he flexed the bow in his grip and set four poplar arrows at his belt. One by one he fitted them to the bow, so as to bring their days to an end. He split their feathers apart with his arrows: this is how a true hunter shoots. It was as if all struck a single point; no one arrow flew truer than another. He went and saw what the famous men beheld: the rider's shots were all placed within a hair's breadth. Mundhir showered him with praise, and so did the spear-bearing warriors. Mundhir said to him: O king, you delight me like a rosebush in full bloom. May your moon-like face never bend into a frown, and may your waist never grow weak. As soon as Mundhir returned to his palace, his esteem for Bahram rose to the stars. He summoned many painters from Yemen, and these leading men gathered at his door. He ordered them to paint on silk the wounds Bahram had dealt with his arrows. A rider like Bahram with mighty shoulders and neck, a tall camel below, and a wound of astonishing skill. The clay-pellet bow, and lion and gazelle and wild ass, his arm wide open, his hand strong and skilled. The ostrich and the plain and the arrow's wound, all freshly drawn in black pitch upon the silk. He dispatched a rider toward the king and sent him that painting. When the messenger reached Yazdgird, the whole army gathered around that picture. All the famous men stood amazed and sang Bahram's praises. And after that, whenever he performed feats of skill, they would carry the news at speed to the king.