The Turkman king reposed upon his throne
Of ivory on the further side of Jáj,

And of his myriads of troops meanwhile
The more part were in arms, prepared for war.
Whate'er existed on that hilly march,
Upon the trees or growing on the ground,
The troops consumed it all—both fruit and leaf.
The world was bent on death. The Turkman king
Was at Baigand, surrounded by his kindred
And his allies, for all the chiefs of Chín
And of Máchín were present there. Pavilions
And camp-enclosures occupied the world;
No room remained. Afrásiyáb, that wise,
Ambitious man, was at Kunduz and there
He feasted and reposed, selecting it
Because it had been built by Farídún,
Who had erected there a Fane of Fire
With all the Zandavasta limned thereon
In gold. The name Kunduz is ancient Persian;
Thou hast may be some knowledge of that tongue,
But now the name is altered to Baigand,
So light and fickle is this age of ours!
Afrásiyáb was sprung from Farídún,
And was unwilling to desert Kunduz,
But with his meiny camped upon the plain,
Confounding with his host the heavenly sphere.
His camp-enclosure, thronged with multitudes
Of servitors, was of brocade of Chín;
The tents within it were of leopard-skin—
A usage of the Turkman king Pashang.
The royal tent contained a throne of gold
Adorned with gems and golden ornaments;
There sat the monarch of the Turkman host
With mace in hand and diadem on head.
Outside stood many standards of the chiefs,
And at the monarch's portal were the tents
Of those whom most he honoured—brethren, sons,
And others not akin. 'Twas his desire
To reinforce Pírán, but with the dawn
A cavalier came swift as dust with tidings
About him, and the wounded straggled in,
Withal lamenting, dust upon their heads,
Each with his own account of injuries
Inflicted by Írán upon Túrán,
Told of Pírán, Lahhák, and Farshídward,
And of the nobles on the day of battle,
How they had fared both in the van and rear,
And how they had been worsted on the field,
How also Kai Khusrau arrived one day,
And with his host filled earth from hill to hill.
“Our troops all asked for quarter,” thus they said;
“The flock was frightened being shepherdless.”
The monarch, when he heard it, was aghast,
His face was gloomy as his heart was dark,
He came down wailing from the ivory throne,
And cast his crown down in the magnates' presence,
A wail of anguish went up from the troops,
The nobles' cheeks were wan with misery.
They cleared the place of strangers and assembled
The monarch's kin. Afrásiyáb in anguish
Wept, rent his locks, and wailed: “Ye Eyes of mine,
My noble cavalier Rúín, Húmán,
Lahhák, and Farshídward, horsemen and Lions
Upon the battle-day! no son or brother,
No chief or leader, hath survived the fight!”
He thus lamented. Then his humour changed,
He sorrowed for the soldiers, then he sware
A mighty oath and cried in grief and anguish:—
“By God, I will have none of ivory throne,
My head shall have no commerce with the crown,
My tunic shall be mail, my throne a steed,
My crown a helmet and my tree a spear.
Henceforth I wish not feast and banqueting,
Or e'en provision for the crown itself;
I want but vengeance for my famous men,
My swordsmen and my men of high emprise,
On base-born Kai Khusrau, and may the seed
Of Siyáwush be lacking to the world.”
While he bewailed those tidings news arrived
Of Kai Khusrau: “A host is near Jíhún,
And all the realm's face is o'erspread with troops.”
In grief and wretchedness he called his powers,
Spake of Pírán at large and of the slaying
Of Farshídward, his brother, of Rúín
And other heroes of the fight, and said:—
“Ensue not slumber and repose henceforth;
Our foes have mustered and have come sharp-clawed.
This is no time for dallying and debate,
But for revenge, for bloodshed, and a struggle
For very life. Our task is love and vengeance,
This for Pírán and that on Kai Khusrau.”
With tearful eyes the chieftains of Túrán
Replied: “We all are servants of the king,
And will not quit this vengeance while we live.
None hath borne children like Pírán, Rúín,
And Farshídward—the seed of Farídún.
We, great and small, are at the king's disposal,
And though the hills and dales become a sea
Of blood, we have our bodies' length of earth,
Not one of us will quit the battlefield
If He who is the moon's Lord aideth us.”
Thereat the Turkman monarch's heart revived;
His humour changed; he was himself again.
He oped his treasury's door, he paid his troops,
His heart all wreak, his head vainglorious,
And gave up to his soldiers all the herds
That he possessed upon the hills and plains.
He chose him thirty thousand Turkman sworders,
Equipped for war, and sent them to patrol
Jíhún in boats that none might cross the river
By night and make a foray unopposed.
He sent his forces out on every side,
Employing much resourceful stratagem,
But 'twas the ordinance of holy God
That that unrighteous king should be destroyed.
At night he sat in conclave with the wise,
With world-experienced, prudent archimages:
They bandied earth's affairs about among them,
And settled that the king should send his host
Across Jíhún. The king, who sought a means
To counteract the mischief of the foe,
Then parted all his army into two,
And ordered Kurákhán, his eldest son,
To come to him. For valour and for state,
For mien, for looks, for prudence and for counsel,
Thou hadst declared the son to be the sire.
The monarch gave him half of that great host—
Experienced men of name and warriors—
And sent him to Bukhárá, there to be
Behind his father like a mount of flint.
The king kept on dispatching arms and men,
Provision trains ne'er ceased. He left Baigand
And hastened to Jíhún. The army lined
The bank throughout. Above a thousand boats
Were ferrying for a week until the hills
And plains were naught but warriors. The crowd
Of elephants and troops of Lions made
The passage of the stream a busy one.
Boats covered all the water and the host
Marched toward the desert of Ámwí. The king
Brought up the rear and crossed intent on war.
He sent on all sides speedy cavaliers—
Men shrewd and ardent—and commanded them:—
“Survey the country both to right and left
For some spot large enough to hold the host.”
Whenas the scouts returned from every side
They thus reported to the exalted king:
“The many troops engaged in this campaign
Will need supplies and grass and halting-places.
There is beside the river of Gílán
A route with fodder and encamping-grounds
Where men of vigilance may bring provisions
By water to the army. On the way
Are sands and ample room for pitching tents
With palace-like enclosures.”

This refreshed

His heart. He heightened on the imperial throne,
A general was he expert in war,
And went not by the words of any teacher.
He ranged the centre and the wings thereof,
The outposts to observe the enemy,
The rear, and station for the baggage-train,
He ranged the left and right. He made a camp
In royal wise, with five score thousand swordsmen
To form the centre, making that his station
Because he took the chief command himself.
Pashang, whose hands were strong as leopard's claws,
Commanded on the left, in all the host
A peerless noble, and unequalled horseman
In any land. His sire surnamed him Shída,*

For he was like bright Sol, would urge his steed,
Seize, and pluck out by force, a leopard's tail;
He wont to use an iron spear and pierce
A mountain in the fight. To him the king
Committed five score thousand troops and chiefs
For that campaign. He had a younger brother—
His glorious peer, a warrior Jahn by name,
A potent prince, his father's counsellor,
Raised by his understanding o'er the throng.

His sire gave him a hundred thousand horsemen
Equipped for battle—Turkmans of Chigil—
To guard the rear of Shída and not turn
Their heads away though stones rained from the
clouds.
The king chose of his grandsons one who used
To cut his collops out of lions' backs
As leader of the right wing of the host,
Which hid the sun itself in clouds of dust.
The cavaliers of Tartary, Khallukh,
And Balkh, all paladins who used the sword,
Had for their chief Afrásiyáb's fifth son—
A famous warrior eager for the fight,
One whom they used to call Gurdgír the valiant—
A man whose sword and shafts would pierce a moun-tain.
With him went thirty thousand warriors—
Men of the fray and armed with swords for battle.
Damúr and Jaranjás were his companions
In rendering support to noble Jahn.
Their leader was the veteran Nastúh,
Whose own superior was valiant Shída.
Of Turkman warriors thirty thousand men
Marched forth with maces and artillery,
Led by brave Ighríras who counted blood
As water. Next the king chose forty thousand
Whose chief was elephantine Garsíwaz—
A leader of ambition midst that folk,
The chief of nobles, and the army's stay;
The exalted king entrusted to his charge

V. 1289

The elephants. He next chose from the troops
Ten thousand men insatiate of fight,
And bade them place themselves with lips afoam
Between the lines upon the battlefield
To charge the foe dispersedly and break
The hearts and backs of the Íránians.
The rear was toward the east. At night they barred
The road with elephants. Afrásiyáb,
The world-illuming monarch, kept before
His soldiers' eyes Nímrúz as Cynosure.