
Fereydoon in Iraj's Burned Garden
From A6.13, Fereydoon Receives the Tragic News. It illustrates A6.13.26–37 (to A6.13.38):
- A6.13.26Fereydoon bore the young king’s head in pain,And entered, staggering beneath the strain.
- A6.13.27He looked upon the royal throne with dread,And saw no crown above the severed head.
- A6.13.28The royal pool and cypress met his eye,Flowering tree, willow, quince stood nearby.
- A6.13.29He found the nobles’ festive ground laid bare,Black dust rose high to Saturn through the air.
- A6.13.30He tore his hair and wounded his own face,While tears poured down within that ruined place.
- A6.13.31He bound a blood-red girdle round his frame,And set the royal dwelling all aflame.
- A6.13.32He tore the rose beds up, burned cypress trees,And closed joy’s eye, renouncing every ease.
- A6.13.33He cradled Iraj’s head against his breast,Then turned toward Yazdan with his request:
- A6.13.34“O righteous Judge, behold this guiltless one;Look on the innocent; see what they have done.
- A6.13.35His severed head lies here, exposed and bare;His body, torn by lions, lies elsewhere.
- A6.13.36Burn both those unjust hearts till all their lightIs gone, and every day they see is night.
- A6.13.37Brand both their livers with so deep a scarThat beasts will pity what their torments are.
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