 Ports of call are at the world's end strange fascinating lands beckon us be thus revel in their exotic splendors Come with us tonight as we make Persia our port of call Skirting the desert shores of Arabia our steamer enters the Persian Gulf and drops anchor in the harbor of Kormosa Persia's principal deepwater port here east meets west Dirty grimy tankers of the Anglo-Persian oil company lie at anchor beside Latine rigged Arabian merchant vessels Their triangular striped sails shrieking brilliant colors against the drab black and gray of the vessels of Europe on the key barrels of crude oil, but recently pumped by pipeline from Abadan stand close to bales of priceless Kurdistani rugs Just arrived by camelback across hundreds of miles of shimmering desert Here are the fociers the vendors of sweet meats and Persian melons the sellers of pottery Here to the shipping point for Persia's opium and here the southern terminus of the railroad Which one day will carry the traveler north hundreds of miles to Tehran the capital But today we must journey by automobile or if adventurous enough by camelback Persia's surest method of transportation in Tehran millennium old market city Risa Shah Pellevi king of kings by grace of his astute political ability is building a modern capital Stretching wide tree-lined boulevards through the ancient bazaars Demolishing blocks of mosques and mud houses to make way for beautiful government buildings forcing progress on the ageless east Above Tehran Mount Demi then the thrusts its eternally snow-capped peak 18,000 feet into the clear blue Persian sky It was upon this legend crowned mountain some say that 3,000 years ago dwelt the first great sage of antiquity Zarathustra while he meditated upon good and evil Life resolves itself into a struggle the good against the evil the evil against the good Ahura Mazda Lord of wisdom and light strives against Hariman ruler of evil and darkness The choice is yours Fill your soul with the good and the light or dwell in evil and darkness You must choose And as you have chosen So we will be judged In the life That's the first conception of the life hereafter Thus the first clear conception of good and evil thus the heritage of Christianity thus spake Zarathustra Into this country of desert and snow-capped mountains a thousand years before Zarathustra had drifted nomadic Aryan tribes Those who settled to the north near the Caspian Sea became known as the Meads and those who settled in the south near the Gulf Were known as the tribes of Pers or Persians For centuries the war-like Meads held the Persians in subjection and then 600 years before Christ There rose among the people of Pers Cyrus a shepherd king who unified his clansmen and led them north against the Meads After four years of campaigning across burning deserts and in freezing mountain passes Cyrus finally tasted the sweet fruits of victory in his camp on the plains beneath Holy Mount Demo then Welcome to our camp. In turn I am unable to welcome you to my country. I Believe I address Cyrus leader of the rebel Persian you address Cyrus king of the Persians and of the Meads Cyrus king of kings. I have come to discuss terms of peace Not to listen to the bragging of a boastful shepherd There are no terms to discuss Astiages when you heard that slave announced you as you entered my tent you heard your proud titles for the last time You are vanquished Astiages and I am ruler by what authority my authority of my Persian bowman my Persian horsemen and by grace of a Hurra Mazda whose light I will carry to the ends of the world You are but the first of a noble company Astiages Del Shazer Babylon will bow to my arms creases of Lydia will surrender to me the Phoenician and the Jew will learn Of Cyrus and his Persian warriors and my might will be felt in Father's Greece. Yeah, my work is finished On the winged feet of fleet runners the fame of Cyrus spreads Across Asia Minor down through Phoenician to Palestine into the valley of the Nile across the helispoch King Prizes of Lydia richest man of the ancient world fears for the safety of his bursting coffers Quickly he organizes a defensive coalition against the barbarian thundercloud gathering on his eastern horizon Sparta joins him and the Pharaoh of Egypt and Bell Shazer of Babylon promise help But the handwriting is already on the wall by 46 BC Cyrus captures Sardis capital of Lydia and takes King Prizes prisoner by 39 BC Cyrus at the head of the conquering person defeats Bell Shazer and enters Babylon and in the next 10 years Houthia, Tecania, Khadruja, Bacchriana and Archeosa are added to Cyrus's domains Trusting the Persian Empire east into India then in 525 BC can buy us a son of Cyrus conquers Egypt Thus in 25 years had Cyrus the obscure shepherd king vaulted to world prominence Become emperor of the world For a hundred years Persia ruled supreme then history spotlight swung westward and Greece held the stage then Rome In Bethlehem a savior was born, but the land of the lion and the son heard little of him Six centuries later another prophet appeared in the Arabian city of Mecca of him Persia was to know much For he was Mohammed and his fatalistic philosophy his promise of paradise to the faithful who died for Allah Was destined to spread across half the world Subjecting it to the rule of the caliphs Impersia's holy city of Meshed is the tomb of the most famous of these the caliph Harun al-Rashid The mention of whose name conjures up pictures of the thousand and one nights and the deathless story of the cruel Sultan Sharia and his lovely Sultana Shaharazadeh Oh Has traveled in their natural pleasures prepare to die. Oh wise and powerful Sultan my lord about a single night Well, do I know that I'll consider us to all women faithless But they'll be headest each of thy wives at the end of the bridal night. That's how pleading for mercy No, my lord But the Sun's first shaft of light has not yet gilded the top of yonder moss, but I am weary Then Lie back among my cushions and let me tell you a story a story Very well before thou dies thou mayest tell me a story Know then no king that there was in the time of the caliph the prince of the faithful Our and our wash it in the city of Baghdad a man called sim dad the porter He was a man in poor circumstances Who bore burdens that he might sleep his thirst with wine and fill his belly with a pilaf of rice at night And when gray dawn slipped between the richly woven curtains of the Harim Filling the pointed arch with promise of a new day Shaharazadeh had only just begun her fascinating tale of the adventures of sin bad the porter and his host sin bad the sailor Fascinated with the story the Sultan postponed his bride's death until the next night so that he might hear the conclusion of the adventures of sin bad But at the end of each night Shaharazadeh was in the midst of another amazing story and each night the Sultan put off her death Until tomorrow, but at the end of the thousand and one nights Shaharazadeh had told all her stories Seated at the feet of the cruel Sultan Sharia Shaharazadeh gazed out the window so at last the son's first rosy beam snare the top of the distant minaret Oh powerful Sultan my master and my lord For a thousand and one nights I have related to be the history of the preceding generations and the admonitions of the people of former times Now great and wise king. I am ready to die About we know he is Shaharazadeh. It is no longer my wish that thou should die During these thousand and one nights. I have seen they to be chased pure ingenuous and pious I have found the unlike other women whose faithlessness drives reason from the souls of men Shaharazadeh I pardon thee and exempt thee from all injury and henceforth thou shall truly be my queen Ruling equally with me in my vast domain Receiving the fullness of the love I have learned to hold for thee Until together we shall wander in paradise As the sun's bronze disc slides beneath Persia's western horizon From the minarets of countless months The moys and calls the faithful to prayer A sacred hush Falls over the busy bizarre and the chattering marketplace Only the tinkle of a camel's bell or the nervous whinny of a horse Breaks the stillness as man woman and child face towards mecca Drop devoutly to their knees touch their foreheads upon the earth There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet But though the vast majority of Persia's estimated population of 10 million professed the sheer confession of the Mohammedan faith Religious freedom is granted to all and many Persians still worship the Ahura Mazda of the ancient Zarathustra the Jehovah of Israel the God of Christianity at the great bizarre of Tabriz collects the Orient changeless Eternal living life today as it has been lived for thousands of years By slow-plotting camel caravan. They have come from all over Persia Across the steps of southern Russia from the Caucasus from Belukistan from in a Mongolia even from farthest China Here amidst the babble of outlandish tongues White clad men from Bokara rub shoulders with techis from Merv with a pigtail down each side of the head Smooth shaven Persians wearing pillbox hats trade with bearded Kazakhs from the Kyrgyz waste Hindus quiet with the calm of centuries Wheatling Armenians bloodthirsty Afghans Untamed Baktiari from Persia Southern Mountain slantide Chinese Trude Greeks all are here to buy sell exchange or bought her the wealth of the Orient Sandalwood from Samarkand Melons from East Bahá'í rare gems from Kashan Needlework from Georgia Wonderfully carved ivory from China right purple figs from Kermanshah and rugs Soft silky rugs in the intricate designs of which are caught the essence of the mysticism of the Orient rugs made by unmetered Kurdish nomads in which are woven the ancient symbol of a serious sacred tree flanked by two guardian beasts Prayer rugs are the most delicate mold on which may be found every flower known to Persia Rugs from Shirats brought in rows ivory and blue Tecca rugs of geometrical design and smoldering red Modern in their essential simplicity although following designs tradition has dictated for ten centuries In the ancient Persian city of Nisha poor nearly a thousand years ago Flourished one of the Orient's most famed universities and here under the tutelage of the Imam Mu'afak Study the son of a tent maker of Nisha poor Brilliant talented this youth soon brought himself to the attention of the Imam who one day called the young man to him I have summoned you Omar Kayam to offer you the use of my library My books and my charts and the benefits of my private instruction most of our Emotion chokes my throat My soul prays for eloquence with which to thank you. You will work hard. You will study You must learn for in you. I see one to succeed me as professor You shall mold the thoughts of the next generation you honor me That one whose learning is so complete should grant such opportunities to an unworthy scholar Whose father is a maker of him hence forth. You shall be as my son You shall live with me here in my house. You shall what sound is that? Surely Allah may his name be venerated has not sent one of his heavenly virgins to earth even so Oh my even so that is my daughter Sharon who approaches It cannot be that one so lovely Possesses the brief mortality of life. Sharon Come here You should know Omar Kayam. He is to live with us. He shall be as a brother to you Omar Kayam, you are welcome here Paradise could never hold more beauty Then I see in your eyes. I'm not that Tomar Sharon is to become a wife of the Sultan. So has she been promised But she is still little more than a child. Oh, has it been destined since her birth the rose of cashmere Could in all its beauty never dim what today my eyes have seen a book of verses underneath the bow A jug of wine a loaf of bread and thou beside me singing in the wilderness Our wilderness were paradise and now it is lovely Lovely I wrote it for you For us but Omar, this is not the wilderness This is a knee shop or and we are in my father's garden Anywhere with you There would be paradise but such is not my fate. I am to be the bride There lies not joy. It is death. Hear me, Sharon Some sigh for the glories of this world and some sigh for the Prophet's paradise to come I'll take the cash and let the credit go Not heed the rumble of the distal But both Omar and Sharon Lovers in that lovely Persian garden knew that they must heed the rumble of the distant rum For the day came when the suit on arrived to claim his wife and this so wise and Munificent ruler is Omar Kayam my favorite Puper Omar Kayam May Allah whose name is holy Omar and Sharon for these past two cycles of the Zodiac have been his brother and sister Then indeed this must be a solvable body Sharon my child and my bride You may be your companion Farewell Omar Omar it is Kizmet Our fate Kizmet I If only we might know my beloved Fill the cup that fears today of past regrets and future fears Come come my priceless pearl Come my Sharon Yes my lord Goodbye Finger right And having rip moves on Not all your piety nor whip Shall lure it back to cancel half a line Not all your tears Wash out a word of it Persia lies midway between British India and Russia and thus became an extremely important buffer state during the imperial struggle for power Which preceded the world war? The British lion and the Russian bear finally agreed to permit Persia her autonomy While splitting her into two zones of influence Russian to the north British to the south But this balance of power swung sharply toward Great Britain when in 1901 William Knox Darcy an English mining man Discovered oil in southwestern Persia and promptly obtained a lease on 500 000 square miles of potential oil fields Five sixths of persia's territory As the Anglo-Persian oil company develops a city of 40 000 at Abaddon near the gulf As well after well is sunk and the persian field proves to be the richest in the world As the british government takes over the company and as Risa Khan Pellevi Persian minister of war Astutely forces his election to the peacock throne and becomes Risa Shah Pellevi king of kings British official discover that persia has awakened to european ways has begun to appreciate european values A new voice is heard in the east a vibrant voice Bringing with the tradition of syris and the rias The voice of Risa Shah Pellevi king of kings as he utters his favorite dictum Since his accession to the throne in 1925 Risa Shah Pellevi has founded a national bank to replace the british own imperial bank of persia Re-cardified the nation's laws in accordance with western conceptions of jurisprudence Begun the construction of a railroad from the persian gulf to the caspian sea the sounds of tribes of mountain bandits Introduced compulsory military training began a westernizing program to rival that of his neighbor Mustafa Kemal of Turkey Inspired persia to a nationalistic policy which in 1932 resulted in the cancellation of the british oil leases The reverberations of this act are worldwide From Baku to Kettleman Hills oil men pick up their ears wait breathlessly for the next move which may upset the basic equilibrium of the petroleum industry In distant london the admiralty nervously considers the situation For from the anglo-persian oil fields comes the fuel for britain's far-flung navy The traditional imperialistic gesture is made British warships up anchor for the persian gulf as sir john catman president of the anglo-persian oil company Steps into a plane in london roars across europe across the levant across mountains and desert to taran rushes to the audience room of the king of king Your majesty we hold a 60 a lease granted by your predecessor the shah ali mohammad in 1901 Sir john let us not mince words. This is not the pleasure of shah ali with which you are dealing This is the pleasure of today the pleasure of resa sharp alevi May I remind you that you are not canceling merely the lease with the anglo-persian company But also with the british government I am aware of that and i am also aware that your warships are but a day away from my ports in the gulf It is not my desire to resort to force No, mind But it is not my pleasure that you should buy this lease control five six from my territory But this lease is valid We have paid our royalties. I am not interested in that your royalties in any case have been insufficient This oil is persia's and I intend that persia shall have it. This is outrageous. You won't dare to I remind you sir john that persia is a member in good standing of the league of nations Your threats your warships and your outraged anger do not concern me Would you care to risk this subject before the meek? But your majesty our investments think of it We have sunk 150 wells. We have build it more than 100 miles of pipeline. I understand these facts and appreciate them You will find me a just man with whom to deal you may retain your pipelines and your wells But you will sign a new lease it reduces the land you control from 500 000 square miles to 250 000 square miles And in 1938 to 100 000 square miles It requires a royalty payment of four shillings a ton and participation in the profits of your company to the extent of 20 percent But furthermore it deprives you of exclusive operation privileges Hereafter persia will produce oil and persia will be your competitor as well as your partner But your majesty don't you think these terms are a bit stiff? There is one alternative You can get out of persia. But look here man. I freeze the sharper levy king of kings has spoken Thus the political descendant of syrus master of persian ballman fights his battles across the council table Exercising a balance of power in the near east Building upon the glorious foundations of antiquity a new world state Thus persia continues to add glory to her glorious history already 3 000 years old May Allah shine upon you persia and cause your fortunes to prosper Next week the sponsors of this program invite you to join them again on a journey to another fascinating country Where you will meet interesting people Visit strange places in a half hour of romantic travel to ports of call