Page:Persian Literature (1900), vol. 1.djvu/77

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THE SHÁH NÁMEH
43

a favorite garden, where he had been accustomed to hold weekly a rural entertainment. Feridún, in performing the last ceremony, pressed it to his bosom, and with streaming eyes exclaimed:

“O Heaven, look down upon my murdered boy;His severed head before me, but his bodyTorn by those hungry wolves! O grant my prayer,That I may see, before I die, the seedOf Irij hurl just vengeance on the headsOf his assassins; hear, O hear my prayer.”—Thus he in sorrow for his favourite sonObscured the light which might have sparkled still,Withering the jasmine flower of happy days;So that his pale existence looked like death.


MINÚCHIHR

FERIDÚN continued to cherish with the fondest affection the memory of his murdered son, and still looked forward with anxiety to the anticipated hour of retribution. He fervently hoped that a son might be born to take vengeance for his father’s death. But it so happened that Mahafríd, the wife of Irij, gave birth to a daughter. When this daughter grew up, Feridún gave her in marriage to Pishung, and from that union an heir was born who in form and feature resembled Irij and Feridún. He was called Minúchihr, and great rejoicings took place on the occasion of his birth.

The old man’s lips, with smiles apart,Bespoke the gladness of his heart.And in his arms he took the boyThe harbinger of future joy;Delighted that indulgent HeavenTo his fond hopes this pledge had given.It seemed as if, to bless his reign,Irij had come to life again.

The child was nourished with great tenderness during his infancy, and when he grew up he was sedulously instructed in every art necessary to form the character, and acquire the accomplishments of a warrior. Feridún was accustomed to

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