The news spread throughout the land. When Khosrow awoke the next morning he was alarmed, yet he steeled himself with courage. He decided it should not be kept from his marzabans, so he gathered them, donned his crown, seated himself upon his throne, and summoned them.
When they were assembled he said, “Do you know why (1) I have called you?”
They replied, “No—unless the king inform us.”
While they were speaking a dispatch arrived announcing that the sacred fires had been extinguished, and his anxiety deepened. He then related to them what he had seen and what had terrified him.
The Mubadhān said, “I too—may God set the king aright—saw a dream this very night,” and he recounted his vision of the camels.
Khosrow asked, “What does this portend, O Mubadhān?”
He answered, “It signifies an event that will arise from the direction of the Arabs.” He was the most knowledgeable among them in such matters.
Khosrow thereupon wrote:
“From Khosrow, King of Kings, to al-Nuʿmān ibn al-Mundhir. After the greeting: send me a man versed in the matter about which I wish to inquire.”
So al-Nuʿmān sent him ʿAbd al-Masīḥ ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥayyān ibn Buqaylah (2) of the Ghassānids.
When ʿAbd al-Masīḥ arrived, Khosrow asked, “Do you know the subject on which I intend to question you?”
He replied, “Let the king tell me, or question me as he wills. If I have knowledge, I will answer; if not, I will direct him to one who does.”
Khosrow then explained the matter for which he had summoned him.
ʿAbd al-Masīḥ said, “The knowledge of that lies with an uncle of mine who lives on the Syrian frontier, a man called Satīḥ.”
Khosrow ordered, “Go to him, ask about what I have asked you, and then report its interpretation to me.”
ʿAbd al-Masīḥ set out until he reached Satīḥ, who was now on the verge of death. He greeted him and spoke to him, but Satīḥ made no reply, so he began to chant:
[rajaz]
Is he deaf, or does the noble one of Yemen still hear? (3)
Or has the swift course of clouds outpaced him and left him spent? (4)
O solver of riddles that confounded everyone, (5)
A grey-haired elder of the clan, from the house of Sanan, has come to you;
His mother is of the line of Dhiʾb ibn Hajan,
Blue-eyed, keen-fangéd, sharp-eared. (6)