The poet, first having set forth the various qualities that kings ought to possess, proceeds to tell how Kai Khusrau becomes joint Sháh with Kai Káús, who exacts from him an oath that he will avenge the death of Siyáwush. He accordingly assembles the host, and sends it, under the command of Tús, against Afrásiyáb, strictly enjoining the former not to attack Farúd—the half-brother of Kai Khusrau—on the march. Tús out of dudgeon with Kai Khusrau disobeys, and Farúd is slain. The Íránians subsequently are surprised in a night-attack by Pírán and de­feated. Kai Khusrau recalls Tús and appoints Faríburz leader, who arranges a month's truce with Pírán, after which the fight is renewed and the Íránians are overthrown at the disastrous battle of Ládan. They retreat to Írán, and Pírán is splendidly rewarded by Afrásiyáb. The poet in this part records various heroic exploits of Gív, his son Bízhan, and his brother Bahrám, who is slain.

§§ 1 and 9. There are two Preludes in this Part. The first may be regarded as introductory to the whole reign, specifying as it does the ideal kingly qualities that are to be exemplified in the person of Kai Khusrau, while the second is meant to impress upon the reader the real motives that underlay the conduct of Tús with reference to his treatment of Farúd. Tús, as we have seen, was a disappointed man.*

Although he was the direct representative of the ancient Pishdádian Dynasty his claim to the crown in­variably had been ignored. Despairing, moreover, of ever becom­ing Sháh himself he had just been advocating the claims of Faríburz to the kingship, in opposition to those of Kai Khusrau, in the hope of becoming at all events a king-maker and the power behind the throne. Again his plans are frustrated, and he vents his spite on Khusrau's half-brother, Farúd.

§ 6. The name of the slave of Tazháv appears variously as Isnapwí and Ispanwí. We adopt the latter.

§ 7. In Rustam's account of the conquest of part of Zábulistán by the Turkmans we seem to have a reminiscence of the permanent occupation of that country (?? 100 B.C.), from which it received the name of Sístan.*

Similarly in Kai Káús, Part II., we had a reference to the invasions of Mesopotamia by the Arabs.*

§ 10. Kalát is a word used for forts in general, but if, as seems probable, the particular stronghold referred to is that which is now known as Kalát-i-Nádirí, we here find ourselves in the poet's own neighbourhood. Tús, his native place, is said to have been founded by the legendary hero of that name, who plays so prominent a part in this portion of the Sháhnáma, because, in consequence of the death of Farúd, he was afraid to return to the court of Kai Khusrau,*

but we find nothing to this effect in the Sháhnáma. Kalát-i-Nádirí was so called because Nádir Sháh (A.D. 1736-1747), one of the most remarkable of Persian sovereigns, whose uncle was the ruler of this fortress,*

was born in its neighbourhood and made it his favourite residence. It is situated some forty miles to the north of the ruins of Tús. “It is upon a very high hill, only accessible by two narrow paths. An ascent of six or seven miles terminates in a plain about twelve miles in circumference, watered by several fine streams and covered with verdure and cultivation. A second ascent, by a route of ten or eleven miles, leads to another plain of greater elevation, but of equal richness.”*

“It is a district or a basin,” says another account, “fortified in the most wonderful way by nature. In shape it is something like a foot, and it must have a length of twenty miles by a breadth of two to four miles … if the term impregnable can be used anywhere, it can here. For the fifty miles of its circuit, nature has indeed left hardly anything for man to do.”*

§ 15. The Rívníz slain by Farúd should be distinguished from the hero of the same name slain at Ládan (§ 30). The former was descended from Pashang*

and therefore of Pishdádian descent. He is quite appropriately the son-in-law of Tús. The latter is a son of Kai Káús and therefore a Kaiánian.

§ 18. Bízhan's friendship with Gustaham, the son of Gazhdaham, is one of the features of this reign. Another is Gív and Bízhan's anxiety about one another when either is courting danger. The father can never bring himself to realise that his son is grown up and well able to take care of himself, while the son, with all the insolence of youth, persists in regarding his father as played out— touches not foreign to human nature.

§ 30. The battle of Ládan is also known by the name of the battle of Pashan, and there is a legend that when Firdausí was on his way to seek his fortune at the court of Mahmúd he chanced to enter a garden where three of the seven poets of Mahmúd's court were revelling. He asked to be allowed to join them, and they consented on the condition that he should cap their three rhyming verses with a fourth. Firdausí at once obtained the needful rhyme by a verse referring to the battle of Pashan, whereby he showed his superior knowledge of the epic history of his country.*

In this connexion the word has sometimes been understood as equivalent to Pashang, the name both of the father and of one of the sons of Afrásiyáb, but Firdausí's line was in­tended to celebrate the prowess of Gív at the battle of Pashan or Ládan. It is possible, however, that these are the names of distinct battles though fought in the same campaign, in which case we may regard the former as the night-surprise and the latter as the occasion when Gúdarz lost nearly all his descendants. Gív distinguished himself at both battles.

The “mountain-skirt” to which the Íránian army withdrew after its defeat seems to be that of the northern scarp of the province of Khurásán which still goes by the name of Dáman-i-Kuh— the term used in the poem, cf. p. 10.

§§ 31-33. See pp. 10, 11. The historical Bahrám (Vardanes) was, according to Tacitus, a king of exceptional valour and brilliancy.*