204 Translations from the Tarilch i Ftruzshahi. [No, 
and how some years elapsed before he secured the empire which 
was the object of his ambition, and how he wrested it from the 
hands of men possessed of all the advantages of birth, and wealth 
and previous renown, who had divided* the land of Shams-uddin 
amongst them and made it their prey, and who rose up against 
him from every quarter,—and how it was only by a long course of 
stratagems and device, that he eventually crushed his opponents 
And yet because the kingdom has come into your hands easily and 
without toil, you despise it, and reckon it a light thing to slay the 
son of my elder brother, while I was foot-tied at Lak’hnauti, a 
brother who, naturally fitted for sovereignty, became a martyr in 
his father’s lifetime. Saving us four, there was no other heir in 
the kingdom of Ealban. Immediately that you are removed, this 
kingdom will fall into the hands of another family and another 
tribe, and they will not leave a name or trace of us on the face of 
the earth. God only knows what havoc another family, whether 
good or bad, may make in this land among our followers and com¬ 
rades and tribesmen and servants and mistresses, and what dis¬ 
grace and dishonour they may inflict on the inmates of our harems. 
My father who grew old in experiences as Malik, Khan, and king, 
used to say, i I could if I wished beget sons and daughters in plenty 
from my wives and concubines, but I have heard from the leaders 
of our faith and the leaders of our people alike, that a king should 
not have many sons and daughters; for if the kingdom fall into 
the hands of one son, that son must admit all his brothers and 
cousins to partnership with himself, or he must slay them all or 
disperse them into distant climes.’ And so with a king’s sons-in- 
law. With the royal nuptials, the scent of dominion mounts into 
their brains, and leads them inevitably to their fate. When a king 
gives himself up to sensual indulgence, and begets many sons, it is 
as though with his own hands he had given them to the sacrifice. 
On the other hand if the kingdom do not fall to the king’s son,, 
but to a stranger, the new king’s administration will not prosper, 
nor be secure until he has exterminated the counsellers, and ad¬ 
herents, and followers and comrades of the previous king. Oh my 
* Qist, o^jl, is plainly wrong. *£++**, jl, qismcit, is the most obvious emenda¬ 
tion. 
