Gúdarz was full of wrath and said: “May Tús
Cease from among the nobles of the world.
Now will we let him see to whom belong
The Grace, the sovereign sway, throne, state, and
fortune.”
His sons and grandsons numbered seventy-eight.
He beat the drums and marched forth from the palace
Out to the open with twelve thousand men
Of his own kin, brave troops on barded steeds,
Led by himself, that shatterer of hosts.
Upon the other side came Tús, the chieftain,
And bound the drums upon the elephants,
While many warriors girded up their loins,
And Káwá's standard led the central host.
Tús saw Gúdarz with such a multitude
As dazed the eyes of sun and moon, he saw
A mighty elephant which bore a throne
Of turquoise as resplendent as the Nile.
Upon it sat the aspiring Kai Khusrau,
With loins girt up and crown upon his head,

Surrounded by ten score huge elephants;
Thou wouldst have said: “The world hath not a Sháh
Save him.” Khusrau shone moonlike on the throne,
With earrings, torque, and armlets, on his head
A crown of glittering gems, and in his hand
An oxhead mace. Tús thought with saddened heart:—
“If I shall fight to-day there will be slain
A multitude of warriors in both hosts.
This feud shall not arise within Írán,
For naught would better please Afrásiyáb,
The fortune of the Turkmans would awake,
The throne of empiry pass to Túrán,
And our prosperity be at an end.”
He sent a man of wisdom and resource
To Sháh Káús to say: “If any here
Among us lay a shaft of poplar wood
Upon his bow there will arise a fight
Whereof Afrásiyáb will dream all night.”