The Words of Daqiqi

The Turks of China settled on this plan and chose two men from among themselves. One was named Bidarafsh the Great, a huge, formidable old sorcerer and champion. The other magician was called Namkhast, whose heart never wished for anything but ruin. He wrote out a fine and clever letter to the renowned king who had embraced the new faith. He wrote it in the name of the God of the world, who knows the seen and the hidden. I have written a letter, O king, suited to what these times demand. To the mighty Goshtasp, king of the earth, worthy of the throne of the Kayanians and their blessing. The chosen and greatest son of King Lohrasp, master of the army and guardian of the throne. From Arjasp, commander of China's warriors, a world-seasoned rider who has ridden the whole earth. In that royal letter was written fine praise in the script of a Turkish prince. It said: O famed king of the world, you who make the crown of kings blaze bright. May your head stay green, your body and soul sound; may your royal belt never loosen at the waist. I have heard you have taken a ruinous road; you have turned my bright day black. An old man came, a deceiving elder, and filled your heart with dread and terror. He spoke to you of hell and paradise and left no joy at all inside your heart. You accepted him and his religion, and adorned his path and his rites. You cast aside the way of your own kings, the great ones of the earth who came before. You abandoned that ancient Pahlavi faith; why did you not look before and behind? You are the son of the man to whom the fortunate king gave the crown from the midst of the army. He chose him among his chosen ones, and set you above the line of Jamshid. Just as the vengeful Kaykhosrow held your honor higher than the other Kayanians. Greatness, kingship, and good fortune, power, glory, and grace, banners and elephants finely arrayed, many armies, treasure, and abundant wealth, all of these were yours, O great king, and every noble loved you dearly. You shone over the whole world like the April sun in the sign of the Ram. God chose you above the world, and all the great ones stood at your service. You gave no thanks to the God of the world; you were not grateful to him on this path. After the Lord made you king, an old sorcerer led you astray. When the news of you reached me, I saw stars in broad daylight from grief. I wrote a friendly letter, for we were both friends and good allies. When you read this letter, wash your head and body clean; never show your face to that deceiver again. Undo that binding chain from your waist, and begin the bright wine of joy anew. If you accept my counsel, no harm will come to you from the Turks. The land of the Kushans and the Turks of China will be yours, like the soil of Iran. I will give you these boundless treasures that I have gathered together through hardship. Fine-colored horses with silver and gold, their stirrups set with jewels. I will send you slaves along with riches, lovely ones with their hair beautifully dressed. But if you do not accept this counsel, you will feel the weight of my iron chains. Soon after this letter I will come and lay your whole country to ruin. I will bring an army of the Turks of China so vast the earth cannot bear its camp. I will dam this Oxus river with musk; with musk I will dry the sea completely. I will burn your painted palace, and tear out your root and branch from the ground. I will burn the whole land to ashes, and pin all your shoulders through with arrows. Every man among the Iranians who is old, dragging them off as slaves is no fit task. You will find no great worth in them; I will cut all their heads from their necks. Their women and children I will carry off and make them all slaves of my own city. I will lay all their land utterly waste, and tear its trees out root and stem. I have said all that must be said, from first to last; now look deeply into this letter of counsel.