Zāl was not insensible to the charms he had heard so vividly described, but he remembered that Mihrāb was descended from Zohāk, the Serpent King,[[245]] and he knew that if he made any advances toward the fair daughter of the fatal line he should provoke the rage of his father, and also of the Persian monarch Minūchir.
Mihrāb had occasion to communicate with Zāl, and on his return homeward his wife, Sindokht, inquired after the white-haired youth, asking what he was like in form and feature, and what account he gave of his stay with the Sīmūrgh.
Mihrāb described his host in the warmest terms of admiration, telling of his valor, his accomplishments, and his manly beauty, his only defect being the strange crown of silvery hair.
The beautiful princess was present, and, with her dark eyes fixed upon her father’s face, she drank in every word of his eulogy, and her heart warmed toward the stranger. When she retired to her own apartments, she confided to her maid the fact that she was deeply impressed with the description she had heard, and a few days later she declared to the attendant that she was deeply in love with the stranger, and besought the maid’s assistance.
The servant was startled and frightened by this confession, and remonstrated with her beautiful mistress upon the absurdity of her position:
“What, hast thou lost all sense of shame,
All value for thy honored name!
That thou in loveliness supreme,
Of every tongue the constant theme,
Should choose, and on another’s word,