As Garsíwaz approached the gate the sound
Of feast and revelry was heard within,
The music of the rebeck and the harp
Rose from the palace of Afrásiyáb.
The cavaliers seized on the roof and gates,
And occupied the outlets everywhere.
When Garsíwaz found that the palace-portal
Was fastened, and heard revels going on,
He broke down all obstructions, rushed within,
And sought the chamber where the stranger was.
Now when he reached the door and saw Bízhan
His blood boiled up with rage, for in that chamber
There were three hundred handmaids busied all
With harp and wine and singing, and among them,
With red wine at his lips and making merry,
Bízhan! Then Garsíwaz cried out in anguish:—
“O reckless and abandoned profligate!
Now art thou in the savage Lion's clutch.
How wilt thou 'scape with life?”

Bízhan writhed, thinking:—

“How can I fight unarmed, without Shabrang,
Or aught to ride? Luck, sure, hath gone to-day!
Where now is Gív son of Gúdarz, that I
Must throw away my life? I see no helper,
But God.”

He always carried in his boot

A blue-steel dagger; this he drew and holding
The door exclaimed: “Bízhan am I and sprung
From that high chief of paladins and nobles,
Kishwád. None e'er shall break my skin unless
His body is aweary of its head,
And though 'twere Doomsday none should see my
back.”
He cried to Garsíwaz: “Ill fortune thus
Hath dealt with me. Thou knowest my forefathers,
My monarch, and my rank among the chiefs;
If ye will fight I am prepared to bathe
My hands in blood in battle, and behead
Full many a Turkman chief; if thou wilt bear me
Before the king I will explain. Do thou
Ask him to spare my life, and make all end
In happiness.”

Then Garsíwaz, perceiving

The resolution, the dexterity,
And readiness to fight shown by Bízhan,
Confirmed a covenant with him by oaths,
And courteously advised him, thus obtaining
The dagger from him by that covenant,
And making him a prisoner by smooth words;
Then bound him cheetah-like from head to foot.
With fortune gone will prowess aught avail?
Thus is it with yon hump-backed sky above,
Thou'lt feel its harshness when it looketh love.
They carried him with sallow cheeks and eyes
Fulfilled with tears before Afrásiyáb,
The hero, when he came with pinioned arms
And bare of head before the sovereign,
Did reverence and said: “Vouchsafe, O king!

To seek the truth. I came not to this court
By any wish of mine; none is to blame.
I left Írán to fight against wild boars,
And chanced on this Túránian festival.
I sent my kindred and my retinue
To seek a falcon that had gone astray,
And went to sleep beneath a cypress-tree,
So that its shade might shield me from the sun.
A fairy came. She spread her wings and took me,
Still sleeping, in her arms. She left my charger,
And bore me where the escort of thy daughter
With troops of cavaliers and many litters
Passed by upon the plain. Then there appeared
Hemmed in by horse a Turkman parasol,
And brand-new litter canopied with silk;
Within a lovely Idol slept; her crown
Was lying on her pillow. Suddenly
The fairy called on Áhriman, and, rushing
Like wind among the horsemen, set me down
Inside the litter, and recited charms
Above the charmer there, that I might sleep
Until I reached the palace of the king;
So I was not to blame, nor hath Manízha
Been smirched by what hath passed. Assuredly
That fay had marred my fortune by her spells.”
Afrásiyáb replied: “Thine evil day
Hath come apace. Departing from Írán
Thou soughtest fight and fame with mace and lasso;
Now with hands bound thou tellest women's dreams;
Like one bemused, and triest lies upon me
To save thy life.”

Bízhan replied: “O king!

Hear what I say to thee and be advised.
Boars with their tusks and lions with their claws
Are alway fit for fighting; so are heroes
That have their scimitars and bows and arrows;
But how when one is naked with bound hands,
The other in a panoply of steel?
How can a lion pounce without sharp claws
However fierce? If now the king would see
My prowess shown to all, let him provide
A horse and massive mace for me, and make
Choice of a thousand chieftains from the Turkmans;
Then hold me not a man if I leave one
Alive of all the thousand on the field.”
The king regarded him with angry looks
At this, then turned to Garsíwaz, and said:—
“Dost thou not see that this fell Áhriman
Is meditating further ills for me,
And not contented with the evil done
Would fight as well? Take him bound hand and foot,
Just as he is, and rid the world of him.
Command to set a gibbet in the road
Before the gate, there hang the wretch alive,
And never speak of him to me again,
So that no native of Írán may dare
Henceforth to cast an eye upon Túrán.”
They dragged him, stricken to the heart with anguish,
His eyes a-stream, forth from Afrásiyáb,
And, when Bízhan the wretched reached the door,
His feet stuck in the mire made by his tears.
He said: “If God Almighty hath decreed
That I must die in miserable plight
I do not fear the dying or the gibbet;
My smart is for the warriors of Írán,

And royal fathers' blame when I am dead.
Alas! mine adversaries will exult,
Their lust will all be satisfied upon me.
Alas! the king of kings! the looks of Gív!
Alas! thus to be parted from the brave!
Go, breezes! to the country of Írán,
And bear my message to the well-loved Sháh.
Tell him: ‘Bízhan is in an evil case;
His body is beneath the Lion's claws.’
Say from me to Gúdarz son of Kishwád:—
‘My glory hath departed through Gurgín:
He cast me into evil so that now
I see not any one to succour me.’
And to Gurgín: ‘What greeting shall I have
From thee, false warrior! beyond the grave?’”