When Rustam, son of Zál, had tarried long,
Because the heroes fought no little while,
Zawára led his troops across the river—
An army seared of heart and keen for strife.
He cried to the Íránians: “Where is Rustam?

Why should we hold our peace on such a day?
It was to fight with Rustam that ye came,
Came to the gullet of the Crocodile.
Ye would bind Rustam's hands! No sitting still
For us on such a field!”

He cursed and spake

Unseemly words. A famous cavalier,
Son of Asfandiyár, was full of wrath
Thereat. He was a youth hight Núsh Ázar,
A leader of the host and masterful.
This noble raged against the Sigzian,*

And loosed his lips to utter foul abuse.
“Fool of a Sigzian!” said he, “know'st thou not
That every one that cherisheth the Faith
Rejecteth all self-seeking manfully,
And liveth on the bidding of the Sháhs?
Asfandiyár, the hero, ordered us
Not to engage in battle with you dogs.
Who then will disobey his hest and counsels,
And who be bold to break his fealty?
But if ye will commit this wickedness,
And take upon you to provoke a fight,
Ye shall behold for once what warriors are,
When armed with swords and spears and massive
maces.”
Zawára gave his troops command: “Lay on,
And crown yon chieftains with a crown of blood.”
Forth to the front he went, the din of war
Rose, and they slew Íránians numberless,
While Núsh Ázar, on seeing this, made ready,
Bestrode his noble dun and, Indian sword
In hand, advanced. Upon the other side
A warrior came—the refuge of the host,

A chief. That famous one was named Alwá—
A dashing cavalier and masterful.
Him Núsh Ázar espied, drew sword, and smote
His foeman's head, who came from steed to dust.
Zawára spurred his warhorse, neared, and cried
To Núsh Ázar: “Him hast thou slain and now
Stand fast thyself! I do not call Alwá
A horseman.”

With his spear he smote the head

Of Núsh Ázar, who tumbled to the ground.
The day turned 'gainst his host when he was slain.
His youthful brother Mihr-i-Núsh, a swordsman,
In tears, with troubled*

heart, in dudgeon spurred
His elephantine steed and from the centre
Advanced before the lines with lips a-foam
Through anguish, while for his part Farámarz,
Like maddened elephant, came, Indian sword
In hand, and closed with noble Mihr-i-Núsh
While both hosts shouted. Both antagonists
Were noble youths—a prince and paladin;
They were as fierce as lions combative,
And with their swords belaboured one another.
Though Mihr-i-Núsh was active on the field
He had not strength to fight with Farámarz.
The young prince raised his sword and hoped to lay
His famous foeman's head upon the dust,
But struck the blow upon his own steed's neck
So that it came down headlong to the ground,
And Farámarz dispatched him thus unhorsed;

The battlefield was reddened with his blood.
Now when Bahman beheld his brothers slain,
And all the soil beneath them turned to mire
With gore, he came up to Asfandiyár,
When he was in the hottest of the fight,
And said to him: “O ardent sire! a host
Of Sigzians hath come forth to strive with us!
Thy two sons—Núsh Ázar and Mihr-i-Núsh—
Have yielded wretchedly their lives to them.
Thou fightest here while we are in distress,
Our youths and princes shrouded by the dust.
Eternal shame will rest upon our race
Through what these fools have done.”

The shrewd chief's heart

Was full of rage, his lips were full of sighs,
His eyes of tears. “O offspring of the Dív!”
He said to Rustam, “wherefore hast thou left
The common path of right? Didst thou not say:—
‘I will not bring the army to the fight’?
Thou hast no sense of honour and of shame.
Hast thou no reverence for me or God?
Dost thou not dread His Day of Reckoning?
Dost thou not know that they who break their pledge
Will have no worship with their fellow-men?
Two Sigzians have slaughtered my two sons,
And still they turn not from their blind misdoings.”
When Rustam heard it he was sorely troubled
And, trembling like the branches of a tree,
Swore by the Sháh's own life and head, by sun,
And by the scimitar and battlefield:—
“I never gave commandment for this fight,
Nor do I praise the doer of this thing.
Now will I bind my brother's hands, who showed
The way to ill, and bring too Farámarz
In manacles before the pious Sháh.
Slay them in vengeance for thy noble sons,
And be not wroth for this insensate act!”
Asfandiyár replied: “For me to shed
A snake's blood for a peacock's is not well

Or seemly, and it hath no precedent
With mighty Sháhs. Thou villain! guard thyself
Because thy time hath come, and I will mix
Thy thighs and Rakhsh's body with mine arrows,
As milk is mixed with water, that no slave
Henceforth may dare to shed his master's blood.
If thou survivest I will bind thy hands,
And carry thee forthwith before the Sháh;
But if thou diest by mine arrow-points
Take it in vengeance for my noble sons.”
Then Rustam: “What availeth all this talk
Unless it be to make our glory less?
And now to God, to every good the Guide,
Turn thee for shelter and in Him confide.”