they say, there was one belonging to an old woman who was very poor and
without a family to help her. In spite of her great age, she went to work as well
as she could, in different places, but could scarcely exist on her earnings. Her
house near the site selected for the new palace was old and in a tumble-down
condition. They tell that one day having gone a long distance to find work she
fell ill and remained a long time without being able to return to her house. Then
the architects who were building the palace said, "We must not let this hovel
remain standing so near the King's palace." So they razed the hut and levelled
the earth, and finished the palace with all sorts of embellishments. The King,
taking possession, gave a grand house-warming festival.
Now on this very day it so happened that the old woman returned home.
Arriving she could find no traces of her house, and was stupefied. In one hand
she held a stick, in the other some dry wood for her fire. On her back she bore a
package of rice and herbs for cooking. She was fatigued with a long journey and
faint with hunger. When she saw that her house had disappeared she knew not
what to do nor where to go. She burst into tears. The servants of the King drove
her away, and as she went, she fell and spilled her rice and herbs and fell down
in the mud. In this state of indescribable desolation she exclaimed, "O Lord,
avenge me on these tyrants!"
The old woman had hardly ceased speaking when the voice of some unseen
being was heard above her saying, "O woman, fly quickly from this spot, for the
anger of God is advancing upon the King." In horror she got up and fled in all
haste. Again she heard the voice saying, "O woman, look behind you at the
palace." She looked behind her and saw the palace, the King, and all his
ministers and servants engulfed in the bowels of the earth by the will of God.
And to this day that place vomits fire and smoke as a mark and a warning.
In the Kitab Tarykh it is told that in ancient times under the kings of Persia
named Moah, who followed the rules of justice, men were happy. But after these
kings, Izdegherd-ibn-Chahryar reigned over Persia. By his harsh tyranny he
destroyed the high reputation of the kings of Persia and wretchedly closed a
series of reigns lasting 4,000 years and noted all over the world for justice and
equity. Under the rule of this miserable tyrant countless numbers of men
perished and a great many prosperous and famous cities were devastated. All the
better classes of citizens were plunged into the most frightful distress and the
most lamentable desolation, and it would be impossible to tell how great and
wide-spread was the mourning. Now while all were groaning in affliction the