Pírán spake thus unto Afrásiyáb:—
“The surface of the world is like a sea!
Did not I say: ‘We cannot tarry here
Secure from Rustam of the deadly hand?’
By murdering the youth beloved by him
Thou hast transfixed our hearts with arrow-points.

How wilt thou fare? None of thine own remaineth,
And Púládwand the dív hath marched away.
The horsemen of Írán on barded chargers
Exceed in sooth a hundred thousand men;
The lion-catching Rustam is their leader,
And air is full of arrows, earth of blood.
From sea and plain, from mountain and from waste,
Our warriors assembled; when men failed
We tried the dívs. Great were the strife and shouts,
But now, since Rustam came, no place is left
For thee; the only prudent course is flight.
Since thou art here the treasure of the earth
Thou shouldst withdraw to further Chín. Leave here
Thy troops thus ranged for battle and betake thee,
Thou and thy kindred, seaward.”

The king saw

That fight was hopeless, took the advice, and fled.
They left his flag but he himself departed,
And went in haste toward Máchín and Chín.
The armies came together face to face,
The earth grew like a darksome cloud, anon
The peerless Rustam shouted to his host:—
“Take not your bows and arrows or your spears,
But battle with the mace and scimitar,
And show a prowess worthy of your standing.
Is it the time for pards to shun the fray
When they perceive the quarry in the lair?”
The soldiers left their spears upon the mount,
And, shouting, made the dales and plains of fight
Impassable with corpses. Half the living
Asked quarter, and the others fled pell-mell;
There was no shepherd and the flock was scattered;
The plain was filled with handless, neckless trunks.
Then Rustam spake and said: “Enough are slain.
These changes are the lot of all, at whiles
Producing bane, at whiles the antidote.
Put off your arms and do more good henceforth.

Why set your hearts upon this Wayside Inn,
Which now is joyful and then sorrowful,
Which now assaileth us like Áhriman,
And then is like a bride all scent and colour?
Choose calm, untroubled lives, for who can say
That cursing is a better thing than blessing?”
He chose gold, silver, raiment yet unworn,
Youths, horses, swords, and casques to send the Sháh,
Took for himself crowns, musk, and ambergris,
And lavished on the troops the residue.
He fain had found the monarch of Túrán,
Path and no path they sought him everywhere.
Folk gave no trace of him by land or sea;
No tidings reached them of Afrásiyáb.
The Íránians set themselves to desolate
His banquet-houses and his palaces,
And Rustam fired his settlements beside;
That conflagration blazed up far and wide.