throne remain.  Then taking leave [of the king,] he retired with infinite joy, and communicated these pleasing tidings to the nobles.  All the nobles returned to their homes with smiles and gladness of heart.  The whole city rejoiced, and the subjects became boundless [in their transports at the idea] that the king would hold a general court the next day.  In the morning, all the servants of state, noble and menial, and the pillars of state, small and great, came to the court, and stood each according to his respective place and degree, and waited with anxiety to behold the royal splendour.

When one pahar [67] of the day had elapsed, all at once the curtain drew up, and the king, having ascended, seated himself on the auspicious throne.  The sounds of joy struck up in the Naubat-Khana, [68] and all the assembly offered the nazars [69] of congratulation, and made their obeisance in the hall of audience.  Each was rewarded according to his respective degree and rank, and the hearts of all became joyful and easy.  At midday [70] his majesty arose and retired to the interior of the palace; and after enjoying the royal repast, retired to rest.  From that day the king made this an established rule, viz., to hold his court every morning, and pass the afternoons in reading and in the offices of devotion; and after expressing penitence, and beseeching forgiveness from God, to pray for the accomplishment of his desires.

One day, the king saw it written in a book, that if any one is so oppressed with grief and care as not to be relieved by [any human] contrivance, he ought to commit [his sorrows] to Providence, visit the tombs of the dead, and pray for the blessing of God on them, [71] through the mediation of the Prophet; and conceiving himself nothing, keep his heart free from the thoughtlessness of mankind; weep as a warning to others, and behold [with awe] the power of God, saying, “Anterior to me, what mighty possessors of kingdoms and wealth have been born on earth! but the sky, involving them all in its revolving circle, has mixed them with the dust.”  It is a bye-word, that, “on beholding the moving handmill, Kabira, [72] weeping, exclaimed, ‘Alas! nothing has yet survived the pressure of the two millstones.’”

“Now, if you look [for those heroes], not one vestige of them remains, except a heap of dust.  All of them, leaving their riches and possessions, their homes and offsprings, their friends and dependants, their horses and elephants, are lying alone!  All these [worldly advantages] have been of no use to them; moreover, no one by this time, knows even their names, or who they were; and their state within the grave cannot be discovered; (for worms, insects, ants, and snakes have eaten them up;) or [who knows] what has happened to them, or how they have settled their accounts with God?  After meditating on these words in his mind, he should look on the whole of this world as a perfect farce; then the flower of his heart