Reign of Farayin

When Farayin set the crown of kings upon his head, he said whatever came into his mind. He said: I will be king for a while, I will sit joyfully on this throne. Better this than to bear the yoke of servitude for sixty years, suffering hardship and bowing my neck. After me my son will take the throne in his time, and set that royal crown on his head. His elder son said to him privately: now you are the crowned king of the world. Do not feel safe; secure the treasury. You have become guardian of the world, so finish the task at once. When someone from the line of true kings appears, you will not last here for long. After that his younger son said: now you are the crowned king of the world. Kingship needs an army and a treasury; when you have wealth, you will not fall into hardship. Fereydoun, whose father was Abtin, the man who wore the crown before him, gave the world to his three blessed sons, for in this world he was made happy by justice. Hold this world with men and with wealth; no mother gives birth to a king ready-made. This kind of talk did not please him; he told his elder son: do not be foolish. He set a review of the troops at the royal court, and summoned the whole army to his gate. From dark night until day he handed out gold, and gave away many robes to those who did not deserve them. Within two weeks, of King Ardashir's treasury nothing of value was left, not even an arrow's feather. Whenever he went to the garden to drink, he took nothing but candles scented with ambergris. The basins were of gold and silver; the golden ones were studded with jewels. Eighty attendants before him and eighty behind, and behind them companions to answer his call. Drinking through the night was his custom; the hearts of the nobles filled with hatred for him. All through the dark night he roamed about, in the orchards or on the field. Not one friend was left to him in Iran; decline came upon his mentor's counsel too. Farayin turned unmanly and vile, without justice, without generosity, without sense. He would blind eyes with gold, and sell the world for coins. He kept spilling the blood of the innocent, and after that he turned in fury against his army. They filled their lips with curses; a whole world wished for his death. In the dark night Hormozd of Shahran Goraz spoke many words in secret. He was a chosen horseman from the city of Estakhr, the pride of those great men. He said to the Iranians: O nobles, these days of Farayin have grown unbearable. He treats the nobles with contempt; why have your minds and hearts grown so narrow? All eyes have filled with tears because of him, the liver is full of blood; a physician is needed. The army answered me thus: since no one is left at the seat of power, no one even thinks of envy or rivalry that would clear his heart of this base-born man. Shahran Goraz said to them: this matter of the Iranians has dragged on too long. If you will do me no harm, then do what befits justice and courage. This very moment, by the power of the pure God, I will bring him down from his horse to the dust. He received this answer from the Iranians: may no harm ever come to you. Today the whole army is your ally; if trouble comes from this, we are your stronghold. When he heard this from them, from his quiver first a steel-tipped arrow leapt out. He spurred his black horse from its place, while the army kept watch over him. He drew the bow with his arm, now lowering it, now raising it overhead. As the rebellion raged he fitted the arrow, and when the moment was ripe he loosed his grip. The arrow struck Farayin suddenly in the back; the whip fell from his fist. The arrow passed through in blood up to its feathers; its iron point came out through his navel. He fell headlong from his horse; from that wound a river of blood flowed. He writhed and let out one cold breath, lamenting on that dust, his heart full of pain. The whole army drew their swords clean, and from the dusty plain rose a dark night of chaos. All night they hurled their daggers; no one could tell friend from foe. This one struck that one, and that one this; one earned curses, another praise. That great army scattered like sheep who lose heart at the sight of a wolf. Many were left without a king; no one came forward to claim the crown. They searched far and wide for a son of the kings, but found no one from those famous lineages.