سندبادنامه 120.16

120.16

3 داستان شاه کشمیر با پیلبان فرموذ تا ییل بروی عرضه دهذ وپاذشاه بروی نشینذ وغایت اثر تعلیم او ببینذ. چندانک پاذشاه بر وی نشست ، بل چون شیر از جای بحست ، وچون باذ روی در صحرا نهاذ ، ومانند بخچیر وگراز ، در نشیب وفراز ، دویذن گرفت ، 3 وچون صرصر ونکبا ، در سبسب و بیدا رفتن ساخت . از مطلع روز تا مقطع شب برین صفت می دویذ ، وشاه بر فراز اوچون بچهآ عنقا ، در قلال جبال ، وچون غثا ، در أفواج أمواج دریا ، متحیر ومتفکر . هر چند خواست تا 6 پیل را وقفتی فرماید در حیز سسیر سامذ ، ودر مرکز امکان نگنجیذ ، وبا تواتر سیر وتعاقب حرکات فروذ آمذن نا ممکن ومتعدر شذ . تا بماز شام کی بیل از گرسنگی فتور بدیرفت، وبعلف محتاج گشت، روی بعطن معهود ووطن مألوف بهاذ ، وچون با رام گاه خوذ رسیذ بیارامیذ . شاه با تغیری عظیم وغضبی شدید ، از بالای بیل به پست آمذ ، ومثال داذ تا بلبان را بزیر پای پیل اوگنند . پیلبان چون اثر سیاست، وحدت غضب شاه مشاهده 2 کرد ، دانست کی آتش سخط او التهابی ، وطبع ملول او اضطرابی دارذ ، باخوذ گفت: البحر لاحار له ، والسلطان لاصدیق له

Story of the King of Kashmir and the Elephant-Driver
ordered that the elephant be presented to him, so that the king might mount it and see the ultimate effect of his training.
As soon as the king mounted it, the elephant leaped from its place like a lion, set its face toward the open plain
like the wind, and began running like a wild ass or a boar through lowlands and heights,
and set out across wilderness and waste like a violent gale or an adverse wind. From the beginning of the day until the end
of night it ran in this manner, while the shah was atop it like a chick of the ʿAnqā upon mountain peaks,
and like driftwood amid the surging waves of the sea, bewildered and anxious. However much he sought
to order the elephant to halt, it would not enter the domain of obedience, nor did it fit within the bounds of possibility,
and with the continuous course and succession of movements, dismounting became impossible and unattainable. Finally, at the time of the evening prayer,
when the elephant suffered exhaustion from hunger and became in need of fodder, it turned toward its customary stable
and familiar abode, and when it reached its resting place it grew calm. The shah, with great agitation
and intense rage, descended from atop the elephant to the ground, and commanded that they cast the elephant-driver
beneath the elephant's feet. When the elephant-driver observed the signs of punishment and the fierceness of the shah's wrath,
he knew that the fire of his displeasure was ablaze, and that his weary nature was in distress.
He said to himself: "The sea has no neighbor, and the sultan has no friend."