When night was dark, dark as a negro's face,
One sent by Gustaham, son of Naudar,
Came to Khusrau and said: “Long live the Sháh!
We have returned in triumph joyfully.
We made an unexpected night-assault

Upon the foe, who had no mounted outposts;
Not one of them had wit enough for that.
As soon as they were roused from sleep they drew
Their massive maces and their scimitars,
And when the day dawned none but Kurákhán
With certain of the soldiery was left.
The field is covered with their headless trunks,
Earth is their couch and dust their coverlet.”
A cameleer moreover with good news
Of Rustam came about the dawn, and said:—
“We gat intelligence upon the waste,
And thereupon we hasted. Rustam held
Upon his way alike by day and night,
Insisting on the march with all dispatch.
We reached the place by daylight as the sun,
The lustre of the world, rose in the sky;
Then matchless Rustam strung his bow and set,
When he was near, the helmet on his head,
And all the plain or ever he had thumbed
A shaft was freed from Turkman combating.
Now he hath marched for vengeance to Túrán,
And tidings verily will reach the Sháh.”
A shout of joy ascended from the host,
Whereat the Turkman leader pricked his ears,
And called his faithful followers to horse.
A cavalier moreover came in haste,
With lamentation to Afrásiyáb,
And said thus: “Kurákhán hath left our troops,
And now is nigh at hand with sixty men;
There is a host too marching on Túrán,
Exhausting all the water in the streams.”
The monarch thus addressed his counsellors:
“A fearful struggle now confronteth us;
If Rustam layeth hand upon our throne
We shall be lost indeed! But at this present
He thinketh that we have not heard of him,
And are in grievous travail with Khusrau,
So let us fall like fire on him by night,
And make the plain as 'twere Jíhún with blood.”
The warriors and prudent counsellors
Agreed thereto. The monarch left his baggage,
And led his army from the plain like fire.
Anon an outpost from the waste reported
That heaven was gloomy with the dust of troops;
He saw that all the Turkmans had withdrawn,
And brought these tidings to the king of men:—
“The plain is full enough of huts and tents,
But there is not a Turkman left inside.”
Khusrau knew why the prince of Chín had gone
Precipitately from the battlefield,
That he had tidings as to Gustaham,
And Rustam, and that that had made him speed.
Khusrau sent off in haste to say to Rustam:—
“Afrásiyáb hath turned away from us,
And surely hasteth to contend with thee.
Array the host and be upon thy guard,
Keep to thy shaft and quiver night and day.”
The monarch's messenger was one who skilled
To cross that pathless tract. Arrived he found
The lion-hearted Rustam girt for fight,
The troops with maces shouldered and their ears
All strained; he thereupon declared to Rustam
The message purposed to secure his safety.
Revengeful Kai Khusrau upon his side
Abode in quiet free from bruit of war,
He gave his soldiers all the Turkmans' tents,
Enclosures, thrones, and crowns. He sought the
slain
Íránians, washed away the blood and mire,
And gave them sepulture befitting princes.
Then, passing from the dust and blood of battle,
He packed the baggage, called the troops to horse,
And with all speed pursued the Turkman king.
Whenas Afrásiyáb was near the city*

He thought thus: “Rustam hath had sleep enough,
I will surprise him in a night-attack,
And make the dust fly from his soldiers' hearts.”
But in the gloom he noticed outpost-guards,
Heard how the chargers neighed upon the plain,

And wondering at Rustam's work marched off,
Reflecting that his troops had been defeated,
And had to struggle for dear life; that Rustam,
The deft of hand, was in the front, the Sháh
Behind with all his warlike cavaliers.
Afrásiyáb called any that were near,
Discoursed at large in his anxiety,
And questioned them: “What seemeth good to
you?”
A chief replied: “The treasure of the king
Is all at Gang-bihisht. What profiteth
A toilsome march like this? Gang is eight leagues
In length and four in breadth; men, women, children,
And troops are there; thou wilt have wealth, the foe
Will still toil on. No eagles soar above
Its battlements, none dreameth of such heights!
There are provisions, palace, treasure, crown,
And majesty, command, and throne and host.
The country round about is called Bihisht,*

Where all is pleasure, peace, and happiness.
On all sides there are fountain-heads and pools
An arrow's carry in their length and breadth;
And sages have been brought from Hind and Rúm
To make that fertile land a paradise,
While from the battlements the eye beholdeth
All that is on the plain for twenty leagues.
Is fighting all thy business in this world,
Where every man is but a sojourner?”
Whenas Afrásiyáb had heard these words
They pleased him and, relying on his fortune,
He entered Gang-bihisht exultingly
With all his arms and implements of war.
He went about the city and beheld
Not e'en a hand-breadth of waste ground therein;
There was a palace lifted to the sky,
Built by himself—a king whose word was law.
Alighting there he held an audience,
And gave out money for his soldiers' pay.

He sent a band of troops to every gate,
And put each quarter in a chieftain's charge,
While sentinels all round the battlements
Held watch and ward alike by day and night.
The king, upon whose right hand were installed
Both priests and nobles, bade a scribe be called.