Note 164 — Chapter V

Shírín was the beautiful wife of Khusrau Parvíz, king of Persia, and Farhád, a famous sculptor, was madly enamoured of her. All the sculptures on the mountain of Bistán are ascribed to Farhád’s chisel. According to the popular tradition, King Parvíz promised that if he cut through the rock and brought a stream that flowed on the other side of the hill into the valley the lovely Shírín should be his reward. He was on the point of completing his Herculean labour when Khusrau Parvíz, fearing to lose Shírín, sent an old woman to inform him that she was dead. Farhád was then at the highest parts of the rocks, and on hearing this false report in despair threw himself down headlong, and was dashed to pieces.—The story of Farhád and Shírín is the subject of several beautiful (often, if not always, mystical) Persian and Turkish poems.