As time rolled on and Prince Bahram grew in the distant plains of Yemen under the care of the Arab kings, a dark melancholy seized the heart of King Yazdegerd. Obsessed with thoughts of his own mortality, the Sasanian monarch summoned mobads and star-gazers from across the realm, commanding them to read the heavens and reveal when and where the flower of his life would wither.
The astrologers scrutinized the celestial spheres and, with trembling voices, disclosed the secret decree of Fate. They foretold that when the King's fortune reached its zenith and declined, he would march in pomp and glory toward the lands of Tus, accompanied by drums and trumpets, and that his breath of life would leave him beside the miraculous waters of the Spring of Su.
Stunned by this divine mystery hidden behind the veil of God, Yazdegerd sought to outwit destiny itself. He swore a solemn and binding oath by the sacred fire of Khurad Burzin and the radiant sun that he would never set foot near the Spring of Su, neither in anger nor in joy. Yet no mortal oath can divert the course of divine justice. Within three months, the bitter harvest of his cruel tyranny came due—for when a shepherd turns predator to his own flock, all evil recoils upon his head. A violent and uncontrollable hemorrhage broke forth from the king's nose. Though royal physicians converged from every corner of the empire and applied every known balm, the bleeding persisted; for a week the medicine held it back, only for it to gush forth again like endless tears, marking the onset of royal doom.
#1
وزان پس غم و شادی یزدگرد
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چنان گشت بر پور چون باد ارد
“Thereafter, the grief and joy of Yazdegerd passed over his son like the sweeping wind of Ord.”
#2
برین نیز چندی زمان برگذشت
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به ایران پدر پور فرخ به دشت
“A length of time thus elapsed, while in Iran the father ruled and the auspicious son abode in the plain.”
#3
ز شاهی پراندیشه شد یزدگرد
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ز هر کشوری موبدان کرد گرد
“Yazdegerd grew deeply anxious over his royal fate, and gathered mobads from every land.”
#4
به اخترشناسان بفرمود شاه
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که تا کردهر یک به اختر نگاه
“The king commanded the astrologers to gaze upon the stars and divine his destiny.”
#5
که تا کی بود در جهان مرگ اوی
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کجا تیره گردد سر و ترگ اوی
“To know when his death in this world would come, and where his head and helm would turn dark in death.”
#6
چه باشد کجا باشد آن روزگار
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که پژمرده گردد گل شهریار
“What manner of day it would be, and in what place the flower of the monarch's life should wither away.”
#7
ستاره‌شمر گفت کاین خود مباد
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که شاه جهان گیرد از مرگ یاد
“The astrologer said, 'May it never be that the king of the world should recall his own demise!'”
#8
چو بخت شهنشاه بدرو شود
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از ایدر سوی چشمهٔ سو شود
“'Yet when the Emperor's fortune wanes, he shall journey from here toward the Spring of Su.'”
#9
فراز آورد لشکر و بوق و کوس
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به شادی نظاره شود سوی طوس
“'He shall assemble an army with trumpets and drums, and set out in joy toward Tus.'”
#10
بر آن جایگه بر بود هوش اوی
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چو این راز بگذشت بر گوش اوی
“'In that very spot his consciousness shall cease.' When this secret fell upon his ear...”
#11
ازین دانش ار یادگیری به دست
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که این راز در پردهٔ ایزدست
“If you gain any wisdom from this knowledge, know that this secret lies veiled within God's decree.”
#12
چو بشنید زو شاه سوگند خورد
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به خراد برزین و خورشید زرد
“Hearing this, the king swore an oath by Khurad Burzin and the yellow sun,”
#13
که من چشمهٔ سو نبینم به چشم
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نه هنگام شادی نه هنگام خشم
“'Never shall my eyes behold the Spring of Su, neither in times of joy nor in moments of wrath!'”
#14
برین نیز برگشت گردون سه ماه
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زمانه به جوش آمد از خون شاه
“Three months the heavens turned upon this; the age boiled with the blood shed by the king.”
#15
چو بیدادگر شد شبان با رمه
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بدو بازگردد بدیها همه
“When the shepherd turns tyrannical toward the flock, all evil recoils back upon him.”
#16
ز بینیش بگشاد یک روز خون
✦
پزشک آمد از هر سوی رهنمون
“One day, blood poured forth from his nose, and physicians rushed from every quarter to guide his treatment.”
#17
به دارو چو یک هفته بستی پزشک
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دگر هفته خون آمدی چون سرشک
“When physicians bound it with medicine for one week, in the next week blood flowed like tears once more.”