ABSTRACT
IT is related in the books of the sublime folk, the scholars and poets who opened the palaces of their mind to those who groped in poverty,— therefore chosen and multiple thanks be unto Him Who has given an excellence to certain men on earth even as He has placed the sun in the firmament, a lamp for the house of His glory, and has set the dawn upon the borders of the sky to be a torch for the nightly halls of His beauty; Who has mantled the sky with cool silk and put a bright green garment upon the earth; Who has decked the gardens with their trees, and the trees with verdant vests; Who has given streams of bright water to those that thirst; Who has given the shade of the vine to drunken men, to women beauty, and to Spring the rose; Who has created a smile to grace the rose and a nightingale to sing of her; Who has set woman before the eyes of man and has planted desire in his heart, a jewel within a stone!— that there was once a superb King in a great kingdom. His every step was a felicity, he kept fortune and happiness to wait upon him, his justice passed the justice of Khusrau-Anushirwan and his generosity exceeded the generosity of Hatim of the tribe of Taiy.
