Stories from history (23)
Raindrops mingled with Bahram’s tears

Bouzarjomehr Parkhideh:  They say that in the days when, on the way to Pir-e Sabz Shrine, there was no water reservoir, the caravans who would go on pilgrimage to Pir-e Sabz (the pilgrimage season was always in summer) would face water scarcity, and in a few cases some farm animals had died from thirst.  The pilgrims would take pitchers of water from the closest village to Pir-e Sabz, Sharifabad.
A pious man by the name of Bahram Beman Mobarak-e, while once traveling to Pir-e Sabz, suffered badly from thirst.  He then decided to build a water reservoir with his own money, on this route.  It took him two months to prepare the supplies and equipment.  Finally, in the last days of Khordad (July) a Moslem mason and two workers (one of them was Zoroastrian) started work on the reservoir.  Bahram himself worked abreast with the team and supervised the work at the same time.  One day, Bahram came to see that the work had ended.  After one month of hard work, under very difficult conditions, the water reservoir was built.  They were all very happy that work had finished.  That day the mason reminded Bahram that if the reservoir is empty for more than 24 hours, in that heat of mid summer, their efforts would go to waste; the reservoir wall would take cracks.  Bahram was aghast and felt helpless.  He cried out:  “What a pity, our work went to
vain.”  He started thinking from where to find water in that hot summer, in the middle of the desert, to fill the tank.  He fell to his knees and sobbed.  With tears filled in his eyes he lifted his head and said:  “O Lord, I built this reservoir with good intention; filling it with water is now your job.”
Bahram was crying hard and the mason and his workers were stunned and staring at him.  Amazingly, in the month of August a dark cloud appeared from a corner of the sky.  The raindrops mingled with Bahram’s tears and a rainstorm followed.  The mason and his workers took shelter under the roof of the reservoir.  But Bahram remained in the rain, on his knees.  Water started flowing into the reservoir.  When Bahram lifted his head from the ground the reservoir and the desert around him was full of water.  Bahram cried out: “O Lord, I praise your grace.”
And, thereafter, spring rain pour would fill the reservoir every year.  The mason would go to Pir-e Sabz every year and tell this story to the pilgrims.  I heard this story from the grandson of the Zoroastrian worker who had built the reservoir.
Taken from “The Story of 365 Days” written by Jamshid Pishdadi

Translation by Rowshan Lohrasbpour