Muntakhab al-tawarikh 22.4
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 22.4
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22.4.1
The ant of thy generous table O Salih showed him (Shihab) that path of rectitude.
O Lord! grant him protection in crossing that hair-like bridge over the fire.
On the point of each hair of his you have a hundred favours, for this reason that the heart of an ant is not vexed by him so much as a hair's breadth in this world.
Oh Lord! keep a watch upon the enemy of the king's dominions, for this is best, that he should be as a hair in the fire and as an ant in the running water.
And he also wrote in praise of Sultan Ruknu-d-Din Firoz, imposing upon himself the necessity of introducing four things, as follows:—
Every moment this old wolf lion-hearted infant-eating
Does with me that which the elephant and rhinoceros do at the time of contest.
The elephant-like sky wears away my body as does the rhinoceros.
The time like a lion takes away my patience like a wolf.
I have not the strength of the rhinoceros, and the sky is like a fierce elephant towards me.
It displays the boldness of a lion like the old wolf of the time.
The elephant did not so treat the rhinoceros, nor did the wolf so treat the sheep
As the lion-like heaven treated this being who is thin as hair from oppression.
The Lion of the sky has the craft of the wolf and the strength of the rhinoceros.
For this cause he heaps pain continually on my heart like the load of an elephant.
A maddened elephant in this wolf-haired rhinoceros. Even if mankind are like male lions still sooner or later he effects their ruin.
22.4.2
The sky, the overthrower of the rhinoceros, the conqueror of the lion, if, in play, like the wolf it brings against the life of Rustum a strong move like “pilband.”
The wolf of my patience casts off from him the waterproof like a lion if the elephant of this coerulean castle has made me over to his charge like a rhinoceros.
The lion of the sky, like the elephant in colour, a wolf by nature, takes and tears to pieces the armour of my patience like the hide of the rhinoceros.
Last night when the sun of the sky became elephant coloured in the hide of the rhinoceros, countless Josephs appeared from the wolves of the heaven.
My life is in the hands of the lion, and under the foot of the rhinoceros of pain, until from the elephant bodied sky the tail of the wolf became evident.
The claw of the lion and the horn of the rhinoceros, the tears of the elephant and the hair of the wolf.
Although these four are of use in making the amulet of heart's attachment,
Of what use are the special properties of the lion and rhinoceros and the wolf and the elephant, when that silvery cheeked one demands from me gold more than the weight of an elephant.
Since I do not possess the ferocity of the rhinoceros, the heart of the lion, and the breath of the wolf, I will go to meet my beloved with an elephant load of sorrow.
Hasan Dehlavi also says,
.iil^ tS ol— jia Uj\j ok— ^ jyU.1
Alas ! that the “ pilband ” of thy love cannot easily be overcome.
22.4.3
The reflection of thy elephant-coloured sword if it falls upon lion and wolf makes their eyes which are like the jujubes of Gurgan to become like the pomegranate.
If the breeze of your lion-standard blows upon the dust of the world the maddened rhinoceros will seek shelter from the elephant, wolf from the sheep.
When thou brandishest thy elephantine mace, the lion casts away its teeth, the wolf its claws, the rhinoceros its gall-bladder, and the snake its head-stone.
Rhinoceros-like in attack, wolf-like in gait, lion-like in bravery, elephant-like in body is thy steed, Oh hero! hundreds of thousands like Rustam are thy slaves.
Oh King! In thy praise I have become more powerful than wolf and rhinoceros, lion and elephant, the order of the Lord who rules the sky.
Thou art elephant-bodied, lion-conquering, thy mace if it so wishes, can place the rhinoceros firmly on the head of the sky like the tail of the wolf.
That Wazir who to the punishment of the wolf of the sky has given his heart, like the rhinoceros and the elephant and the lion, instead of being confused.
Without the craft of the wolf, and the power of the rhinoceros, his determination strikes the head of the elephants with the driving hook and brings sparks to the eyes of the lions.
In thy kingdom, Oh King! from the strategy of thy caution the lion has laid aside its oppression, the wolf its deceit, and the rhinoceros its disorder through fear of thee.
22.4.4
Oh thou, whose order is like the decree of fate, thou from whose dignity the Emperor like Fate overcomes the rhinoceros, the wolf, the lion and the elephant.
Skin, and horn, and hair, and tear, of wolf, rhinoceros, lion and elephant will be of use in the way of life, and heart, and nature, and speech.
to adhere any longer, and does not coagulate milk. Whilst it is extracting the poison its colour changes, and when it is thrown into milk it returns to its original condition.
Another test is, when you rub it upon black or blue woollen cloth the cloth becomes white, if rubbed very hard for a long time the cloth becomes black and all whiteness disappears.
Another test: When it is placed in a porcelain vessel in lemon juice, it begins to move in a circular fashion. This test is not peculiar to this stone, but most shells and snails too, shew the same phenomenon. (Ma'zanu-l-Adwiyah).
The Bahru-l-Jawahir says only —
Hajaru-l-Haiyyah. The stone Padzahr (Bezoar stone,) some kinds are heavy and black, some are ashen-grey, and some have three stripes.
For your armour and shoes, when did the wolf-natured sky select tears and skin from the elephant and lion and rhinoceros?
For that purpose again and again, this old wolf from the elephant and lion and the rhinoceros, brings as an offering its hide and skin and teeth as a present of rare value.
The she-wolf drives away the lion as a good omen, if in hunting it comes in sight of your rhinoceros-conquering elephant.
22.4.5
Elephant-bestower, I desire a desert place in Badāon, even though these regions are the abodes of the wolf and rhinoceros and the lion.
As long as the lion and the elephant are co-partners in awe, and the wolf and the rhinoceros are alike in writing, so long may your wolf-crafty enemy, Oh rhinoceros-destroyer and elephant-like in strength, be humbled in the dust before the lion of your portico.
May your enemies bereft of life become like the lions and elephants and wolves and rhinoceros at the end of the stony line in the public baths.