The night came and a conflagration blazed,
Whose burning scorched the sky. When from the
look-out
The watchman saw the flames by night, and day
Made thick with smoke, he left his post and came
Exultingly, and “mated to the wind,”
Thou wouldst have said. On reaching Bishútan
He told what he had seen of fire and fume.
Said Bishútan: “A valiant warrior
In courage passeth elephants and lions.”
He sounded corn-pipe, flute, and brazen cymbal;
The blare of trumpets went up from his door.
The army from the plain approached the hold,
And bright Sol gloomed with dust. The troops were all
In mail and helm, their livers seethed with blood.
When news spread in the hold: “A host hath come,
And all the world is hidden by dark dust,”;
The place rang with the name “Asfandiyár”;
The tree of bale was bearing colocynth.
Arjásp armed for the fray and rubbed his hands
Together vehemently. “Let Kuhram,
The lion-catcher,” thus he bade, “take troops,
Mace, scimitar, and shaft.”

He told Turkhán:—

“Exalted chief! speed forth with troops for fight.
Take thou ten thousand of the garrison,
All men of name and battle-loving swordsmen,
Discover who are our antagonists,
And why it is that they attack us thus.”
Turkhán, the chief, with an interpreter
Went in all haste to that side of the hold.
He saw a host equipped with arms and armour,
Their flag a leopard on a sable ground.

Their leader Bishútan was at the centre,
And all his troops' hands had been bathed in blood.
He held Asfandiyár's own mace and rode
A noble steed; he seemed to be none other
Than brave Asfandiyár, and there was none
But hailed him monarch of Írán. He ranked
The troops to right and left till none saw daylight.
Such were the blows of spears with flashing points
That thou hadst said: “Blood raineth from the clouds.”
The forces on both sides advanced to battle,
All who were men of war and loved the fray.
Then Núsh Ázar, the swordsman, galloped forth,
And offered combat to the enemy.
The noble chief Turkhán went out to him
To bring his head down trunkless to the ground.
When Núsh Ázar beheld him on the field
He clapped his hand upon his sword and drew it;
He cut Turkhán asunder at the waist,
And filled Kuhram's heart with dismay and anguish;
Then in like fashion fell upon the centre,
Where great and small were all alike to him,
Thus those two armies battled, each with each,
While dust collected in a cloud above them.
In full flight from the host the chief Kuhram
Made for the hold, and said before his sire:—
“O famous monarch, glorious as the sun!
A mighty host hath come forth from Írán;
Their leader is a doughty warrior,
Who by his stature is Asfandiyár.
None like him hath approached the hold before.
He beareth in his hand the spear which thou
Beheld'st him grasping at fort Gumbadán.”*

The words distressed the heart of king Arjásp,
Because the old feud had revived again.
He gave the Turkmans orders: “Go ye forth
Upon the plain in mass, surround the foe,

Roar like great lions, let none live, and name not
Írán again.”

The soldiers marched away

With wounded hearts and eager for the fray.