Pírán perceived Gúdarz and held a parley.
“Wise paladin,” he said, “how many souls
Thou torturest! But will it benefit
The soul of Siyáwush to cause Túrán
To reek? His soul is with the good in heaven;
Now that he resteth why not rest thyself?
Two armies hast thou flung upon each other
Like elephants beheaded. All the troops
Of two realms have been slaughtered, and 'tis time
For thee to quit the battlefield. The world
Is void of men. We battle coldly. Why
Must thou destroy the guiltless? Let us make

A pact. If thou desirest so revenge
Advance thy soldiers from the mountain-foot,
And come thyself before them; then perchance
Thou wilt attain the vengeance that thou seekest.
We—thou and I—will wheel upon this field
Of battle and the others in like manner,
And those of us who gain the victory
Shall sit on thrones with every wish fulfilled.
If I shall perish by thy hand forbear
Revenge upon the soldiers of Túrán,
Who shall submit to thy commands and give
Their chiefs as hostages for their good faith;
But shouldst thou perish by this hand of mine,
Together with the nobles of thy host,
I fight not with thy troops, and they have naught
To fear from me.”

Gúdarz, on hearing, marked

How fortune darkened all Pírán's endeavours,
First offered praises to the Omnipotent,
Then, calling to his mind the noble Sháh,
Made answer: “I have heard thee, famous chief!
Throughout. In that way did Afrásiyáb
Get profit from the blood of Siyáwush—
Speak out, turn not away—when they cut off
His head as 'twere a sheep's what time his heart
Was full, his liver pierced? Afrásiyáb
Thereafter sent a cry up from Írán
With all his slaying, raiding, strife, and turmoil.*

'Twas on thine oath that Siyáwush relied,
And lightly didst thou give him to the wind;
Then when my son approached thee afterward
Thou didst reject my counsel, and make ready
In fiery haste for war. My prayer hath been,
Both publicly and privily, to Him,
Who ruleth o'er the world, that I some day
Might meet thee in the fight; and now that thou
Hast come there is no room for tarrying,
So let us twain, with our hoar heads, contend
Upon this battlefield. Do thou now choose
A band of champions to encounter mine,
Experienced chiefs with maces, swords, and lances,

And let them strive together till they bring
Their foemen's heads to dust.”

The Turkman chief

Made ready and chose out ten cavaliers,
Who sped forth from the centre to the place
Of combat, where no eyes were watching them.
This was the compact made between the chiefs—
That every Turkman warrior should encounter
One from Írán. They matched Gív with Gurwí
As peers in strength and pluck—Gurwí, the son
Of Zira, whom of all the foe the Sháh
Most loathed, Gurwí who, seizing by the beard
The spotless Siyáwush, beheaded him.
With Faríburz, the son of Kai Káús,
Kulbád, the son of Wísa, hastened out,
Ruhhám, son of Gúdarz, went with Bármán*

In company but as antagonists,
Guráza went with Siyámak, fierce Lion
With snorting Crocodile. The old Gurgín,
A Lion too, went with Andarímán.
Rúín the brave, who robbed the world of lustre
In fight, went with Bízhan, the son of Gív,
Akhást with Zanga, son of Sháwarán,
And Barta with Kuhram, the good at need,
While Furúhil came forth with Zangula
With all speed from the centre of the host.
Hajír and Sipahram, as 'twere two dívs,
Sent up the war-cry on the battlefield.
Gúdarz, son of Kishwád, paired with Pírán,
And all were ready for revenge and strife.
The generals, as much opposed by duty
As by religion, were athirst for blood,
And sware together not to quit the field

Till one of them had proved victorious.
Between the armies and commanding them
There were two hills, the one was toward Írán,
The other toward Túrán, and to the plain
Betwixt them went the lucky and the luckless.
Gúdarz said: “Let each warrior and man
Of blood that conquereth his Turkman foe
Bring from the spot his banner to this hill.”
Pírán, the chieftain, had his standard raised,
And gave like orders, on the other height.
Then they descended to the level ground,
With girdles tightly girt for shedding blood,
And with their lassos, falchions, bows, and arrows,
Essayed all modes of fight. As for the Turkmans—
Those gallant chieftains—had a mountain faced them
They would have levelled it anon, so well
They plied their heavy maces, swords, and shafts,
And yet their hands were slack, for God had barred
The door of might against them, they were trammelled
Within a net of bale for having shed
Much blood without just cause, their chargers jibbed,
And thou hadst said, of them: “Their feet are hobbled.”
Among the Turkmans everything went wrong
Because their day was over, and their blood
Quaked. Thus the Maker of the world ordained,
And thou hadst said: “Earth hath them in its grip.”
With all the manhood that they had they strove
'Gainst fortune for the honour of their throne,
And in their fight for sovereignty surrendered
Their heads without reserve for fame and glory.
Both sides came rushing to the battlefield,
And strove together, yet Pírán the chief
Knew inly that the evil day had come,
(Such is the process of high heaven above—
The source to thee of grief and happiness!)
But saw that fighting was his only course;
The tyrant's turn it was to suffer force.