The poet, after bewailing the approach of old age, tells of the arrival in Írán of the news of the death of Siyáwush, of the remorse of Kai Káús, and of the wrath of Rustam, who slays Súdába, invades Túrán, expels Afrásiyáb, and rules there himself for seven years; after which he retires to Sístán. Afrásiyáb returns, recovers his authority, and wats with success against Írán.
At this juncture Gúdarz is warned in a dream to have search made for Kai Khusrau, the son of Siyáwush, who is kept as a prisoner of state by Afrásiyáb, and Gív departs on the quest. His adventures are described, and he ultimately returns to Írán in company with Kai Khusrau and his mother Farangís in spite of all the efforts of Pírán and Afrásiyáb to stop them.
Subsequently a quarrel takes place between Gúdarz and Tús as to whether Kai Khusrau or Faríburz shall be associated as joint Sháh with Kai Káús, who puts the matter to the test and Kai Khusrau is successful.
The most conspicuous character in this Part is Gív, a word which means “warrior.” The feats which he is described as performing would be more than worthy of Rustam himself, who, after his withdrawal from Túrán, is relegated for a time to the background. We must conceive, as the Persians themselves would, that Gív, employed on the sacred mission of discovering and bringing to Írán the destined prince, was favoured with divine assistance in his enterprise.
§ 31. The quarrel between Gúdarz and Tús, as to the respective claims of Kai Khusrau and Faríburz to be associated as Sháh with Kai Káús, bears important results in the next reign. Tús was the son of Naudar, and he and his brother Gustaham were deliberately passed over after the death of that Sháh, and again after the death of Garshasp, when Kai Kubád was fetched from Mount Alburz to fill the vacant throne.*
Tús can never forget that he is the direct representative of the line of the Pishdádian Sháhs, and, despairing of ever becoming Sháh himself, he on this occasion attempts to obtain power indirectly by advocating the claims of a candidate of his own.
§§ 34, 35. In the account of the expedition of Faríburz and Kai Khusrau to Ardabil we have another proof of the truth of the view, often advanced in the present work, that the true seat of the legends of the Sháhnáma is to be looked for in the regions lying between the Euxine and the Caspian. A??dabíl is in Ázarbáiján, a land exposed to invasions from the north through the Pass of Darband, and where the numerous fire-springs doubtless gave rise to the legend of the heat which distressed the host of Faríburz in the neighbo??rhood of the castle of Bahman.