The Nāṣirī Generations 152.3.7

152.3.7

Once every year he used to give directions, so that for a distance of fifty or sixty leagues or more, a nargah [semicircle] of huntsmen would be drawn out; and it would require the space of a whole month for the two extremities of this semicircle of huntsmen to close up. More than ten thousand wild beasts and animals of the chase, of all species and descriptions, used to be driven into that plain; and, on the days of chase the Sultan was in the habit of coming out on the pavilion of the garden, and holding a convivial entertainment; and his slaves, his Maliks, and the servants of the Court, one by one, with the royal permission, would mount on horseback and enter the plain, and chase and kill the game in the Sultan's august sight Upon one occasion he was desirous of entering the plain and enjoying the sport, upon which Fakhr-ud-Din, Mubarak Shah, got upon his feet, and repeated a quatrain. The Sultan retracted his intention, and devoted himself to enjoyment The following is the quatrain in question:— “To follow the wine, the beloved, and enjoyment, Will be better than that thou shouldst pursue the chase. When the gazelle of paradise is within thy net, Of what use that thou shouldst follow the mountain goat?”