As the first light of dawn broke over the horizon, King Shapur mounted his war-steed, clad in magnificent black royal armor. Above him hovered the glowing black banner of Iran, and with bow in hand, the wrathful young monarch rode beneath the towering walls of the enemy fortress. From the high ramparts, Malekeh, the radiant daughter of the Arab king Tayer, looked down and caught her first glimpse of the Persian king. At the sight of his sun-like countenance, his musk-scented locks, and his unmatched majesty, her heart was instantly overwhelmed by love; sleep and peace abandoned her soul.
Overcome with passion, Malekeh sought her trusted nurse and unveiled the secret of her heart. She declared Shapur to be her true destiny and revealed that her own maternal bloodline traced back to King Narseh of Iran, rendering her alien to the hatreds of her father's house. She charged her nurse with a perilous night mission: to journey secretly to Shapur's royal pavilion and propose a sacred compact—if the king would take her as his lawful bride and queen, she would deliver the impregnable citadel into his hands.
When night stretched its sovereign shadow across the earth from sea to sea, turning the mountains into deep indigo and suspending the stars like three hundred thousand glowing candles from the sky's vault, the nurse departed. Trembling with fear of Tayer's vengeance, she reached the outer royal tents. By promising rich rewards to the watchful chamberlain, she gained entry to the king's presence. Kneeling low, she swept the ground with her eyelashes and delivered Malekeh's message.
Shapur was overjoyed by the tidings. With a beaming smile, he bestowed upon the nurse a thousand gold dinars, two armlets, a pearl necklace, a signet ring, and luxurious Chinese and Barbary silks. The king swore a solemn oath by the sun, the moon, the holy zunnar, Zoroaster, the crown of state, and the holy command of Yazdan, promising that he would never bring her harm, would exalt her upon his throne, and would never part from her embrace.
The nurse hurried back through the dark toward the citadel. Reaching the silver-stemmed princess, she brought the joyous report that the Sun of Royalty had joined with the Venus of Beauty. She recounted in vivid detail the breathtaking stature, divine beauty, and kingly grace of Shapur, bringing immense joy to the expectant maiden.