When Mihran Sitad, the wise and discerning ambassador of Khosrow Anushirvan, arrived at the court of the Khagan of China, he bowed low to the earth and showered royal praises upon the sovereign. The Khagan welcomed the Iranian envoy warmly and assigned him a high seat of honor worthy of the Great King's messenger. Yet in secret, the Khagan was filled with anxious thoughts, and he retired to the private quarters of his queen, the Khatun, to deliberate upon Khosrow Anushirvan's proposal for a royal alliance.
'This King Anushirvan,' the Khagan said to his queen, 'is young, vigilant, and blessed with rising fortune. His armies are vast and his treasury beyond measure. We ought to give him a royal daughter to elevate our own prestige. Yet you have one true princess who wears the crown over all women, and four wise maidservants in your inner chambers. Might we not give him one of the maidservants instead, thereby resting from war while preserving our own flesh and blood?' The Khatun consented to this cunning plan.
At dawn, as the sun climbed the mountains, Mihran Sitad presented himself at court and delivered the letter and greetings of Anushirvan. The Khagan smiled at the Iranian monarch's noble promise and handed the key to the royal harem to Mihran Sitad, inviting him to enter and personally choose the bride. Four trusted guardians accompanied the ambassador. As they walked through the grand corridors, the guardians whispered: 'She whom you shall see today has never been beholden by star, sun, or wind.'
Stepping into the inner palace, Mihran Sitad beheld a chamber adorned like Paradise, filled with light and wealth. Five fairy-faced maidens sat upon magnificent thrones. Four of them were clad in radiant brocades of China, crowned with jewels, and bedecked with golden necklaces and armlets. But the fifth—the Khatun's true daughter—wore no crown or royal jewels. She was dressed in humble, worn clothing with only a simple cap upon her head. Yet her beauty was entirely divine: a slender cypress crowned by a luminous new moon, radiating natural grace without artificial paint.
Mihran Sitad, endowed with deep wisdom and keen perception, immediately grasped that the Khagan and Khatun were seeking to deceive him so as to keep their true daughter. Without hesitation, he approached the unadorned princess and declared: 'I choose this maiden who sits without crown or adornment, for her innate nobility and natural glory exceed all worldly treasures. I came seeking true virtue, not Chinese silk!'
The Khatun was dismayed and protested: 'O old man, why do you reject these splendid, majestic maidens who know how to serve a king, and choose instead an unadorned youth?' Mihran Sitad replied firmly: 'If the Khagan turns away from justice, my sovereign will judge me as foolish and untrustworthy. I choose her who possesses true royal lineage, even if she lacks an ivory throne or golden torc.'
Seeing the old ambassador's unwavering discernment and courage, the Khagan marveled at his intellect and recognized him as a noble, honorable man. He ordered the council hall cleared, and mobads, astronomers, and sages were summoned with Roman astronomical charts to read the stars regarding this union.
Examining the celestial spheres and the movements of the planets, the astrologers joyfully announced to the Khagan: 'O King, let no sorrow touch your heart! This union shall yield nothing but supreme good. From the line of Khosrow Anushirvan and this daughter of the Khagan shall be born a glorious future king—Hormoz—upon whom both the monarchs of Iran and the valiant lords of China shall pour endless blessings!'