A long stretch of time passed, and Gordiyeh, sister of Bahram Chubin, lived in comfort, wanting for nothing. She partook in assemblies with sagacious elders and battle-tested chieftains. During one such feast, a wine goblet was brought forth inscribed with the name of Bahram. Upon beholding it, Gordiyeh ordered the goblet to be cast away and shattered, purging everyone's heart of his memory as all present cursed Bahram, the vessel, and whoever had brought it.
Meanwhile, hatred for the city of Ray burned fiercely within King Khosrow Parviz, for Ray had been the cradle of Bahram's rebellion. Khosrow commanded that war elephants be sent to trample Ray into dust, expel its inhabitants, and reduce the prosperous metropolis to a desolate wilderness. However, his noble and wise minister, Bahman, stepped forward and urged restraint: 'O heir of the Kianian kings! Ray is a great and ancient city; it is unbefitting for war elephants to crush it underfoot. Almighty God will not favor such destruction, nor will the righteous of the earth.'
Khosrow acquiesced to his advisor's wisdom but declared: 'Then I shall appoint a base-born, wicked, ignorant, and vile-tongued fool as governor over Ray for a time.' The king then delineated the absurdly specific traits of the wicked creature he sought: a talkative, ill-starred man with red hair, red skin, a crooked nose, a hideous face like a denizen of hell, yellow-cheeked, malevolent, shallow-hearted, filled with spite and lies, with squinting green eyes, oversized teeth, who walked crookedly like a wolf. The mobads and nobles marvelled at how vividly Khosrow conceived this monstrous portrait, and scouts were dispatched across the realm to find him.
Eventually, such a man was located along a roadway and brought before the throne. Upon beholding his monstrous visage, the court and army erupted in laughter. Khosrow questioned him: 'What evil deeds do you excel at?' The creature replied: 'I never rest from wickedness, and wisdom has no place in me. I distort every word spoken, fill the bodies and souls of men with blood, and my sole capital is falsehood.' Satisfied, Khosrow drafted the official decree granting him governorship over Ray, elevating the ill-omened villain to high power.
Upon arriving in Ray, the unwholesome ruler abandoned all godly shame. He immediately ordered every rain gutter torn down from all roofs, taking malicious delight in the act. Next, he commanded the extermination of every cat in the city. Heralds marched through the streets proclaiming that if a single roof gutter or cat were found in any dwelling, the governor would burn the property to the ground and shower heavy stones upon the owner's head. Furthermore, he extorted anyone possessing even a single dirham, plunging the citizenry into despair. Without cats, the houses were overwhelmed by infestations of mice; without gutters, rain damaged the roofs and walls, leaving the city defenseless. Thus, through the malevolence of the hideous governor appointed by Khosrow, the once-flourishing city of Ray was completely reduced to ruins, scorched under the sun and buried in pain.