
Mehran Setad Chooses the Khan's Daughter
From E5.5, Hormizd Calls for Bahram Chubin. It illustrates E5.5.18–29:
- E5.5.18I went before the Khan and bowed my head;Five lovely daughters were before me led.
- E5.5.19All five seemed fit to grace a monarch’s throne,With gait like pheasants, springtime beauty shown.
- E5.5.20They bloomed with color, fragrance, form, and grace;The Khan then sent me to their private place.
- E5.5.21I entered that famed court where all were fair,Their faces decked, with roses in their hair.
- E5.5.22All wore bright jewels; your mother wore no gem,Yet she alone outshone the rest of them.
- E5.5.23She sat there shyly, head and eyes cast low;Her sleeves concealed the face she would not show.
- E5.5.24Yet she alone was daughter of the queen;No other bore such bloom, such grace serene.
- E5.5.25The queen was Faghfoor’s daughter, high and pure;She gave the child a grace that would endure.
- E5.5.26She grieved her child must leave her father’s hall,And pass beyond her kin and country’s call.
- E5.5.27Of all those daughters, her alone I chose;I passed the rest, though each had cheeks of rose.
- E5.5.28The Khan said, ‘Choose another; all are fair,Each one is noble, beautiful, and rare.’
- E5.5.29I answered, ‘Choice is made; I will not stray;To choose anew would shame us all today.’
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