 According to a long-existing popular legend written in the Shahnameh ("The Book of Kings"), Bahram suggested that the royal crown and attire should be placed between two lions, and the person that retrieved them by killing the wild animals should be recognized as the shah of Iran.Khosrow chose to pull out, whilst Bahram withstood the trial and won the throne.Bahram distrusted the nobles, who had been unreliable to the earlier Sasanian shahs, and thus chose instead to seek support from the Zoroastrian priesthood.