The Book of Akbar 152.4

152.4

Beware, a hundred thousand times beware; listen to my advice with the ear of understanding and send that abandoned one (makhzūl) to the foot of the throne, or withdraw the hand of favour from him, and let him not abide in thy dominions. Else how can reliance be put on thy friendship? Strange it is that you liken this matter to those of ‘Alā’u-d-dīn and others like him. What analogy is there between the two? That affair was one thing, and this is another. Mayhap you have learnt from books of history that in spite of the refractoriness of Ildarim Bayazid, his Majesty Sahib Qarani (Timur) was constitutionally indisposed to invade Rum, inasmuch as Bayazid was engaged in a war with the Franks. But as Qara Yusuf Turkman and Sultan Ahmad Jalair had fled to him, his Majesty by sundry good counsels forbade him to entertain them. When Bayazid refused to accede to this, his Majesty showed what his might was.” Sultan Bahadur out of a weak head and foolishness did not write a sensible reply. Meanwhile Tatar Khan kept saying vain things to Sultan Bahadur, calculated to deceive narrow intellects, and kept urging that he himself might be sent towards the imperial dominions, representing that the royal army had grown pampered and comfort-loving, and was no longer such as the Sultan had seen.