The Nāṣirī Generations 66.4

66.4

About the time of the troubles consequent on the outbreak of the Ghuzz tribe, when ’Alā-ud-Dīn was in company one day with Sulṭān Sanjar, and engaged in a carousal, Sanjar, who was seated upon the throne, thrust out one of his august legs, and let the foot, on the sole of which there was a black mole, dangle over the throne. On ’Alā-ud- Din's noticing this mole, he stood up and solicited that he might be allowed the honour of kissing it; and repeated these lines suitable to the occasion: — Verily the dust at the gate of thy palace is [my] diadem, [And] this, the collar of thy service, is my adornment. In the same manner as I kiss the mole on the sole of thy foot, Even so good fortune [likewise] salutes my head.”