The Nāṣirī Generations 60.3

60.3

If the Sultan, they said, would accept their vassalage, one of them would constantly attend at Court [as a pledge of good faith], and the other two would serve him in such manner as he might command ; and they would rest under his great shadow. They asked that the territories of Nisa and Farawah, which lay on the edge of the Desert [between the mountains bounding Khurasan on the north-east, and the Jihun or Oxus], should be conferred upon them, in return for which they promised they would undertake to prevent any rebel from raising his head in Balkan Koh, Dihistan, the direction of Khwarazm, or the Jihun ; and would assail the ’Irakis [the Turkmans under Yaghmur’s son are here referred to] and drive them out. Their request was couched in civil words, to all appearance, but concluded as follows : “but if, which God forbid, the Sultan would not grant their request, and should refuse his permission, they did not know what the state of affairs might become, because they had no place on earth, and none remained to them. Not having the boldness to venture to address such an august person [as the Sultan’s Wazir], they had addressed the Khwajah [Abi-ul-Fazl] to solicit him, Please God ! to bring their request to a favourable issue.”