The ārNāKing resolved to wait another day, and Bakhtyār was sent back to prison.
On the next morning, the Eighth Vizier, having paid his compliments to the King, addressed him on the subject of Bakhtyār, and said: “Government resembles a tree, the root of which is legal punishment. Now, if the root of a tree become dry, the leaves will wither: why then should the punishment of Bakhtyār be any longer deferred?”
In consequence of this discourse, the King ordered the executioner to prepare himself, and Bakhtyār was brought from prison. When the unfortunate young man came before the King, he addressed him, and said: “If your Majesty will consider the consequences of haste and precipitancy, it will appear that they are invariably sorrow and repentance; as we find confirmed in the Story of the Jewel-Merchant.”
The King expressed his desire of hearing the story to which he alluded; and Bakhtyār began it accordingly, in the following manner:
There was a certain jewel-merchant, a very wealthy man, and eminently skilled in the knowledge of precious stones. His wife, a very prudent and amiable woman, was in a state of pregnancy when it happened that the King sent a messenger to her husband, desiring his attendance at court, that he might consult him in the choice of jewels. The merchant received the King’s messenger with all due respect, and immediately prepared to set out on his journey to the capital. When taking leave of his wife, he desired her to remember him in her prayers; and, in case she should bring forth a boy, to call his name Bihrūz.
After this injunction he departed from his house, and at length arrived in the capital, where he waited on the King, and having paid his respects, was employed in selecting from a box of pearls those that were most valuable. The King was so much pleased with his skill and ingenuity, that he kept him constantly near his own person, and entrusted to him the making of various royal ornaments, crowns, and girdles studded with jewels.
At length the wife of this jewel-merchant was delivered of two boys; one of whom, in compliance with her husband’s desire, she called Bihrūz, the other Rūzbih; and she sent intelligence of this event to the father, who solicited permission from the King that he might return home for a while and visit his family; but the King would not grant him this indulgence. The next year he made the same request, and with the same success. Thus during eight years he as often solicited leave to visit his wife and sons, but could not obtain it.