Now when Bízhan had vanished from the host
Gív's heart swelled up with sorrow, and repenting
He wept blood in his anguish. See what grief
And love a son may cause! He raised his head
To heaven with full heart and with liver stricken,
And said to God: “O Judge of all the world!
Vouchsafe to look upon this wounded heart.
Oh! burn it not with anguish for Bízhan,
My feet are in the mire made by my tears!
O Thou, the Omnipotent! restore me him
Unhurt.”

He went in sorrow for the youth,

His son, and thought: “I pained him wantonly:
Why did I thwart his wishes? Should ill come
Upon him from Húmán, what good to me
Are armour, sword, and belt? I shall be left
All anguish, care, and wrath; on his account
My heart will ache, mine eyes will weep.”

He went

Like dust, approached his son upon the field,
And said: “Why dost thou grieve us thus and haste

When thou shouldst tarry? Doth the black snake rage
So greatly on the battle-day that so
The crocodile may issue from the deep?
And is the shining of the moon so bright
As to eclipse the radiance of the sun?
Now thou art rushing on Húmán and turnest
Thy head from my behest, adopting thus
Thine own course, knowing not the task before thee!”
Bízhan replied: “Turn not, my valiant sire!
My heart from its revenge for Siyáwush.
Húmán is not of brass or iron, not
A mighty elephant or Áhriman.
He is a man of war. I challenge him,
And backed by thy good fortune will not shrink.
My fortune may be written otherwise
Than I desire, the Judge disposeth all;
Since what must be will be grieve not nor trouble
On mine account.”

Gív, hearing his brave son

Whose loins were girt for battle like a lion,
Dismounted, gave to him the steed and mail
Of Siyáwush, and said: “If thou art bent
On fight, and self-will lordeth thus o'er wisdom,
Mount on this rapid charger, which will roll
Earth under thee. My mail too will be useful,
Since thou wilt have to fight an Áhriman.”
When he beheld his father's steed before him
Bízhan alighted from his own like wind,
Put on the mail and made the buckles fast:
Then, having mounted on that royal charger,
Bound tight his girdle, took his mace in hand,
Chose from the army an interpreter—
One well acquainted with the Turkman tongue—
And went, like some huge lion, with his loins
Girt up to take revenge for Siyáwush.
Bízhan, or ever he approached Húmán,
Beheld an Iron Mountain—one that moved—
The desert all a-gleam with the cuirass,
And under the cuirass an Elephant.
He bade the interpreter shout to his foe:—

“Turn back if thou art eager for the fray,
Bízhan is ready to contend with thee,
And thus he saith: ‘O veteran cavalier!
Why urgest thou thy steed about the field,
Sent by Afrásiyáb to come to ill?
Thou shouldest have the curses of Túrán;
Thou art the miscreant that made the feud,
And art the guiltiest in all the land;
I look to God for succour and I thank Him
For bringing thee to meet me on this field.
Draw in the reins of thine impetuous steed:
My blood is boiling for revenge upon thee;
Select a spot whereon we may engage,
And wheel with me on desert, dale, or mountain,
Or else between the hosts' embattled lines,
For name and fame, where friend and foe alike
May look upon thee and of all the chiefs
Approve thee most.’”

Húmán laughed long and loud,

And answered: “Luckless one! thou trustest much
Thy body haply weary of its head!
I will dispatch thee to the host so mauled
That Gív shall be in pain and grief for thee,
Soon will I separate thy head and trunk
Like those of many of thy gallant kin.
Thou wilt be in my clutches as a pheasant,
When borne with shrieks and weeping tears of blood
Above the cypress-branches by a hawk,
Which sucketh at the gore and teareth out
The plumes; but what availeth? Night is near.
Go sheltered by its murk and I will go
Awhile to mine own host, present myself
At daybreak to the chief, and hurry back
With head erect and dight to counter thee.”
“Begone,” Bízhan replied, “and may a ditch
Be in thy rear and Áhriman in front!

To-morrow, if thou comest to the field,
Thy king and host shall ne'er behold thee more,
And I will bear thy head so far away
That thou shalt cease to trouble for thy troops.”
They wheeled and sought their camps and paladins,
Then passed in troubled, vexed repose that night
With hearts that were impatient for the fight.