The tale of one dinner, in verse after the manner of the Book of Kings. The numbers below are exact.
The Serving of the Feast
Watch the dinner served again, dish by dish, while the scribe writes the poem into the folio.
Setting: “The Feast of Sada”, folio 22v from the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, Iran, c. 1525. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain. The dishes are our own additions.
The Gathering at Table Ferdowsi
When evening fell, the fourteenth of November,four houses met for a feast they would remember. The table bore the poet’s name, Ferdowsi;so let the bill be sung, and sung precisely.
A humble homage to the شاهنامه, the Book of Kings, from four families who love it and who also, on this occasion, ate a great deal of kebab.
The Deeds of the Four Houses
Each house is remembered by its feats. Here they are, exactly as ordered.
Of Doogh Shared and Tea Poured
Two jugs of doogh went round, and none kept score:one river, split in equal parts by four. Then tea was poured, five shares, as ledgers show:two, one and two; and one house let it go.
The doogh
The tea
The Tribute Owed
No sword was drawn; no champion fled the hall.The feast is done. The tribute falls on all.
The division of the realm
Each house’s share of the whole bill.
Tap a slice of the realm for its particulars.
What each tribute is made of
Every house’s total, piece by piece, on one scale.
Tap any band for its amount.
The Royal Accountant’s Ledger
Here ends the verse. The accountant speaks in prose;he does not rhyme, but every cent he knows.