Who, peering through the cloak about his head,

Challenged: "Who speaks?" The voice replied: "A friend

Unknown to you." ... It was old Peacock Tous,

The great grey camel with the crimson tail

On whom the queen was wont to ride. He said:

"Sheikh, I was born among the Bakhtiari,

The shelter of their hawthorn vales was mine;

For me, unbroken to the loads men carry,

The breeze that crowns their uplands glowed as wine

To drink. I, Tous, the Peacock, whom men call so