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SECOND DISCOURSE. ON POETS
" They cast imputations on thl, saying, '
That \nan of many words
Hath grown old in theJove of the Prophet and 'Alt?
If I speak of my" love for these ,
/ can protect a hundred such as Mahmud.
( No good can come of the son of a slave,
Even though his father h^ath ruled as King.
How long shall I speak on this subject?
' Like the sea I know no vhore.
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The King had no aptitude for good,
Else would he have seated me on a throne.
Since in his family there was no nobility
He could not bear to hear the names of the noble."
In truth good service was rendered to Mahmud by Shahriyar, and
Mahmud was greatly indebted to hirm
When I was at Nfshapur in the year A.H. 5 14 (A.D. 1 120-1 121),
I heard Amir Mu'izzf say that he had heard Amir 'Abdu'r-Razzaq
at Tus relate ^as follows: " Mahmud was once in India, and was
returning thence tov/ards Ghazna. On the way, as it chanced,
there was a rebellious chief possessed of a strong fortress, and
next day Mahmud encamped at the gates of it, and sent an<
ambassador to him, bidding him come before him on the morrow,
do homage, pay his respects at the Court, receive a robe of honour
and return to his place. Next day Mahmud rode out with the
Prime Minister 1 on his right hand, for the ambassador had turned
back and was coming to meet the King. '
I wonder/ said the
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latter to the Minister, what answer he will have ? given
upon
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the Minister recited this verse of Firdawsf's :
^Uwljjlj (j'**** 3 jj& 3 t>-e
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-*>'> Jut ,J- >li j^f. t)
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Whose verse,' enquired Mahmud, is that, for it is one to inspire
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courage? Poor Abu'l-Qasim Firdawsf pomposed it,' answered
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the Minister he who laboured for five and ;
twenty years to
complete such a '
work, and reaped from it not advantage.' You
have done well,' said Mahmud, 'to remind me of. this, for I deeply
regret that this noble man was disappointed- by me. Remind me
at Ghazna to send him something.'
"So when the Minister returned to Ghazna, he "reminded
Mahmud, who ordered Firdawsf to be given sixty thousand
dinars' worth of indigo, and that this indigo should be carried
to Tus on the King's own camels, and that apologies should be
made to Firdawsf. For years the Minister had been w&rking
for this, and at length he had achieved his work ; so now he
despatched the camels, and the indigo arrived safely at Tabas.in 2 .
1
Khivdja-i-Buzurg. This was the title commonly given to Shamsu'l- Att/kJAhma(f
ibn Hasan al-Maymandf. See n. 6 at the foot of p. 55 supra. ,
2 Tabai\5n is the name of a portion of the city of Tus. See B. de Meynard's Diet,
de la Perse, pp. 374-375, and p. 54 supra, n. 3 ad calc.