it, for it has passed into the hands of my subjects. Then I return and stay for a year to collect the like of

that, and if I am able to increase it, I do so. All of this I bestow upon my servants,

those around me, and my subjects, while I remain stripped of it in my kingdom. So how has it become for them a source of grief, sorrow, ruin, and strife?"

Hormuz ibn Shahryar replied: "O King, all that you have mentioned

and whose value and weight you have magnified does not equal nor compensate for the loss of a single soul among these souls that you destroy in this place. This is something that no Persian King (Akasira) before you has ever done."

The King said: "Woe to you, O Hormuz! I have been told that the kings of India kindle fires for a whole year, then play musical instruments and harps (qanunat) over them, and lead the people to them in finery and [in] fine appearance, until there remains in that India no one, prominent or humble, male or female, but that they stand by that fire for a full month, or a week, or less or more than that.