When news reached Ardawán fear filled his heart,
And gloom his mind. He said: “A lord of counsel
Told me this secret of the lofty sky,*

But can one 'scape by pains unthought of ills?
I did not fancy that Ardshír would prove
To be ambitious and a lion-taker.”
He oped his treasury, gave rations out,
Bound on the baggage, and led forth the host;
Contingents came from Gíl and from Dílam:
The army's dust rose moon-ward while the Sháh*

Led forth a host that barred the wind. Two bow-shots
Divided power from power; snakes found no rest,
Such was the din of drum and clarion,
The clangour of the gongs and Indian bells.
The armies shouted and the banners waved,
While blue steel falchions scattered heads around.
The battle lasted thus for forty days,
The world was straitened to the common folk,

The plain grew mountain-like with all the slain,
The wounded were aweary of their life.
At last there rose a mighty, sable cloud,
And men could strive no more. A frightful storm
Succeeded, and the warriors lost all heart.
The mountains echoed and the plain was rent
While air reverberated. Then the troops
Of Ardawán were frayed and all exclaimed
With one consent: “This storm hath come from God
On Ardawán; this host will need our tears.”
So all the wise one day, when fight was fiercest,
Asked quarter, and Ardshír charged from the centre;
Arose a clashing while the arrows showered.
Amidmost of the mellay Ardawán
Was ta'en, and for his crown gave up sweet life.
The hand of one Kharrád seized on his bridle,
And bare him captive to the atheling.
Ardshír saw him from far. King Ardawán
Lit from his steed, his body arrow-pierced,
His soul all gloom, and Sháh Ardshír commanded
The deathsman: “Go, seize on the great king's foe,
Cleave him asunder with thy sword, and make
Our evil-wishers quail.”

So did the deathsman:

That famous monarch vanished from the world.
Such is the usage of the ancient sky!
The lot of Ardawán Ardshír too found;
Him whom it raiseth to the stars on high
It giveth likewise to the sorry ground!
Two sons of him by whom Árash's seed
Thus had been brought to shame were taken too.
The noble Sháh Ardshír imprisoned them
With fetters on their feet. Two elder sons
Succeeded in escaping from the fight,
And were not taken in the net of bale.
They went in tears to Hindústán, and thou
Mayst well narrate a tale concerning them.*

The battle-field was full of reins and girdles,
The weapons of the host, and gold and silver,
Which were collected by the Sháh's command,
And given to the troops. Among the chiefs
Tabák was most concerned to cleanse the corpse
Of Ardawán from blood, lamenting while
He washed away the dust of fight, and built
A charnel as the royal custom was.
He robed the wounded bosom in brocade,
He placed a crown of camphor on the head,
And none of all the troops that went to Rai
Might tread the palace-dust of Ardawán.*

Tabák thereafter came before Ardshír,
And said: “O Sháh who seekest after wisdom!

Demand the child of Ardawán to wife,
For she hath Grace and beauty, crown and throne.
Then will this diadem and all the treasures
That he collected with such toil be thine.”
He listened to the words of wise advice,
And asked the daughter for his spouse forthwith,
Then stayed a month or twain within the palace,
A mighty leader with a mighty host.
From Rai the aspirant went toward Párs and rested
From travail and dispute. He built a city,
All palaces and gardens, and therein
Were fountain, plain, and dale, and to this day
The noble, ancient thane*

doth speak thereof
As Khurra-i-Ardshír.*

Within, a spring
That never failed gave water for canals.
Beside it he set up a Fane of Fire,
Revived the feasts of Sada*

and Mihrgán,*

And round it splendid edifices raised,
With pleasances and parks and palaces.
(When that wise Sháh of Grace and might was dead
The border-chieftain named the city Zúr).
He founded villages all round about,
And there he settled folk when all was ready.
He saw within one quarter a deep lake,
But needs must pierce a height that intervened.
They brought picks and artificers, and clove
The mountain with a hundred water-ways.
He led them thence to Zúr. It was a seat
Abounding both in dwellings and in neat.