When Ighríras went from Ámul to Rai
The king asked: “Wherefore hast thou acted thus?
Why hast thou mingled colocynth with honey?
Did I not bid thee: ‘Slay these evil men;
It will be folly to imprison them?’
The warrior's head is not concerned with statecraft,
His fame is gained upon the battlefield;
Nor should the soldier tread the path of wisdom,
For wisdom never mingleth with revenge.”
“Tears and compassion are not wholly needless,”

He answered. “When thou hast the power to harm
Fear God and do it not, for crown and girdle
See many like thee but are no man's own
For ever.”

Hearing this Afrásiyáb

Was silenced, for the one was full of fire,
The other wise; and how should wisdom fit
Dívs' heads? At his reply the chieftain raging,
Like elephant gone mad, drew forth his scimitar
And cut his brother down; that man of wisdom
And goodness passed away. Zál heard, and said:—
“Now shall the fortune of Afrásiyáb
Be darkened and his throne laid waste.”

He blew

The trumpets, bound the tymbals on, arrayed
The army like the eye of chanticleer
And went toward Párs, in anger and revenge,
With troops that stretched from sea to sea, and dark­ened
The sun and moon with dust. Afrásiyáb,
On hearing Zál's design, marched forth his host
Toward Khár of Rai, drew up and took his stand.
The outposts were engaged both day and night;
Thou wouldst have said: “The world hath but one hue.”

Both hosts lost many a gallant man of mark.
'Twas thus until two sennights passed away,
And horse and foot were weary of the fray.