Danger or death awaits thee on this field.
Fain would I know thee safe and well, though
lost
To us! fain therefore send thee hence, in peace
To seek thy father, not seek single fights 90
In vain;- but who can keep the lion's cub
From ravening, and who govern Rustum's son?
Go, I will grant thee what thy heart desires."
So said he, and dropped Sohrab's hand, and
left
His bed, and the warm rugs whereon he lay;
And o'er his chilly limbs his woollen coat
He passed, and tied his sandals on his feet,
And threw a white cloak round him, and he took
In his right hand a ruler's staff, no sword;
And on his head he set his sheep-skin cap,
Black, glossy, curled, the fleece of Kara-Kul;10
And raised the curtain of his tent, and called
His herald to his side, and went abroad.
Who roam o'er Kipchak and the northern waste,
Kalmucks and unkempt Kuzzaks, tribes who
stray
Nearest the Pole, and wandering Kirghizzes,
Who come on shaggy ponies from Pamere;
These all filed out from camp into the plain.
And on the other side the Persians formed;—
First a light cloud of horse, Tartars they
seemed,
The Ilyats of Khorassan; and behind,
The royal troops of Persia, horse and foot,
Marshalled battalions bright in burnished steel.
But Peran-Wisa with his herald came,
Threading the Tartar squadrons to the front,
And with his staff kept back the foremost
ranks.
And when Ferood, who led the Persians, saw That Peran-Wisa kept the Tartars back, He took his spear, and to the front he came, The sun by this had risen, and cleared the And checked his ranks, and fixed them where fog From the broad Oxus and the glittering sands. And from their tents the Tartar horsemen filed Into the open plain; so Haman badeHaman, who next to Peran-Wisa ruled The host, and still was in his lusty prime. From their black tents, long files of horse, they streamed; 110
And the old Tartar came upon the sand Betwixt the silent hosts, and spake, and said:— "Ferood, and ye, Persians and Tartars, hear!
Let there be truce between the hosts to-day.
But choose a champion from the Persian lords
To fight our champion Sohrab, man to man."
As, in the country, on a morn in June,
When the dew glistens on the pearlèd ears,
A shiver runs through the deep corn for joy-
So, when they heard what Peran-Wisa said,
A thrill through all the Tartar squadron ran
Of pride and hope for Sohrab, whom they loved.
But as a troop of pedlars, from Cabool,
Cross underneath the Indian Caucasus,
That vast sky-neighbouring mountain of milk
snow;
Back through the opening squadrons to his tent.
But through the anxious Persians Gudurz ran,
And crossed the camp which lay behind, and
reached,
And spend the goodly treasures I have got,
And rest my age, and hear of Sohrab's fame,
And leave to death the hosts of thankless
kings,
Out on the sands beyond it, Rustum's tents.
Of scarlet cloth they were, and glittering gay,
Just pitched; the high pavilion in the midst
Was Rustum's, and his men lay camped around.
And Gudurz entered Rustum's tent, and found And with these slaughterous hands draw sword
Rustum; his morning meal was done, but still
The table stood before him, charged with
food-
A side of roasted sheep, and cakes of bread,
And dark green melons; and there Rustum sate
Listless, and held a falcon on his wrist, 200
And played with it; but Gudurz came and stood
Before him; and he looked, and saw him stand,
And with a cry sprang up and dropped the bird,|
And greeted Gudurz with both hands, and
said:-
"Welcome! these eyes could see no better sight..
What news? but sit down first, and eat and drink.''
He spoke and smiled; and Gudurz made re-
ply:-
:-
'What then, O Rustum, will men say to this,
When Sohrab dares our bravest forth, and seeks
Thee most of all, and thou, whom most he seeks,
Hidest thy face? Take heed lest men should
say:
Like some old miser, Rustum hoards his fame,
And shuns to peril it with younger men.
And greatly moved, then Rustum made re-
ply:-
Gudurz, wherefore dost thou say such words?
Thou knowest better words than this to say. But Gudurz stood in the tent door, and What is one more, one less, obscure or famed, said:
"Not now! a time will come to eat and drink,
But not to-day; to-day has other needs.
The armies are drawn out, and stand at gaze;
For from the Tartars is a challenge brought 211
To pick a champion from the Persian lords
To fight their champion-and thou know'st his
Valiant or craven, young or old, to me?
Are not they mortal, am not I myself?
But who for men of nought would do great
deeds?
Come, thou shalt see how Rustum hoards his
fame!
But I will fight unknown, and in plain arms;
Let not men say of Rustum, he was matched
In single fight with any mortal man.
He spoke, and frowned; and Gudurz turned,
and ran
260
Back quickly through the camp in fear and joy
Fear at his wrath, but joy that Rustum came.
*Zal was born with white hair, and on that account had been cast out to die, but was fostered by a marvelous bird, the simburg, or roc. Cp. 1. 679.
But Rustum strode to his tent-door, and called
His followers in, and bade them bring his arms,
And clad himself in steel; the arms he chose
Were plain, and on his shield was no device,
Only his helm was rich, inlaid with gold,
And, from the fluted spine atop, a plume
Of horsehair waved, a scarlet horsehair plume.
So armed, he issued forth; and Ruksh, his
horse,
270
Followed him like a faithful hound at heelRuksh, whose renown was noised through all the earth,
The horse, whom Rustum on a foray once
Did in Bokhara by the river find
A colt beneath its dam, and drove him home,
And reared him; a bright bay, with lofty crest,
Dight with a saddle-cloth of broidered green
Crusted with gold, and on the ground were
worked
All beasts of chase, all beasts which hunters
know.
280
So followed, Rustum left his tents, and crossed
The camp, and to the Persian host appeared.
And all the Persians knew him, and with shouts
Hailed; but the Tartars knew not who he was.
And dear as the wet diver to the eyes
Of his pale wife who waits and weeps on shore,
By sandy Bahrein, in the Persian Gulf,
Plunging all day in the blue waves, at night,
Having made up his tale of precious pearls,
Rejoins her in their hut upon the sands-
So dear to the pale Persians Rustum came.
And Rustum to the Persian front advanced, And Sohrab armed in Haman's tent, and came. And as afield the reapers cut a swath
Down through the middle of a rich man's corn, And on each side are squares of standing corn, And in the midst a stubble, short and bare— So on each side were squares of men, with spears
Bristling, and in the midst, the open sand.
And Rustum came upon the sand, and cast
His eyes toward the Tartar tents, and saw
Sohrab come forth, and eyed him as he came.
As some rich woman, on a winter's morn,
Eyes through her silken curtains the poor
drudge
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And warm, and pleasant; but the grave is cold!
Heaven's air is better than the cold dead grave.
Behold me! I am vast, and clad in iron,
And tried; and I have stood on many a field
Of blood, and I have fought with many a foe-
Never was that field lost, or that foe saved.
O Sohrab, wherefore wilt thou rush on death?
Be governed! quit the Tartar host, and come 330
To Iran, and be as my son to me,
And fight beneath my banner till I die!
There are no youths in Iran brave as thou."
So he spake, mildly; Sohrab heard his voice,
The mighty voice of Rustum, and he saw
His giant figure planted on the sand,
Sole, like some single tower, which a chief
Hath builded on the waste in former years
Against the robbers; and he saw that head,
Streaked with its first gray hairs;-hope filled
his soul,
And he ran forward and embraced his knees, And clasped his hand within his own, and said:
"O, by thy father's head! by thine own soul! Art thou not Rustum? speak! art thou not he?"
But Rustum eyed askance the kneeling youth, And turned away, and spake to his own soul:"Ah me, I muse what this young fox may
False, wily, boastful, are these Tartar boys.
For if I now confess this thing he asks,
And hide it not, but say: Rustum is here!
He will not yield indeed, nor quit our foes,
But he will find some pretext not to fight,
And praise my fame, and proffer courteous gifts,
Who with numb blackened fingers makes her A belt or sword perhaps, and go his way.
fire-
And on a feast-tide, in Afrasiab's hall, In Samarcand, he will arise and cry:
At cock-crow, on a starlit winter's morn,
When the frost flowers the whitened window-'I
challenged once, when the two armies camped
And wonders how she lives, and what the Beside the Oxus, all the Persian lords
Of that poor drudge may be; so Rustum eyed
The unknown adventurous youth, who from afar
Came seeking Rustum, and defying forth
All the most valiant chiefs; long he perused
To cope with me in single fight; but they Shrank, only Rustum dared; then he and I 360 Changed gifts, and went on equal terms away.'
For this oriental figure, compare the Rubáiyát, st. xli.
So will he speak, perhaps, while men applaud; The iron plates rang sharp, but turned the Then were the chiefs of Iran shamed through
And Rustum seized his club, which none but he And then he turned, and sternly spake Could wield; an unlopped trunk it was, and aloud:huge,
"Rise! wherefore dost thou vainly question Still rough-like those which men in treeless
Of Rustum? I am here, whom thou hast called By challenge forth; make good thy vaunt, or yield!
Is it with Rustum only thou wouldst fight? Rash boy, men look on Rustum's face and flee! For well I know, that did great Rustum stand Before thy face this day, and were revealed, 371
To build them boats fish from the flooded rivers,
Hyphasis or Hydaspes, when, high up
By their dark springs, the wind in winter-time
Hath made in Himalayan forests wrack,
And strewn the channels with torn boughs-so
huge
The club which Rustum lifted now, and struck
One stroke; but again Sohrab sprang aside,
Lithe as the glancing snake, and the club came
Thundering to earth, and leapt from Rustum 's
hand.
There would be then no talk of fighting more. But being what I am, I tell thee thisDo thou record it in thine inmost soul: Either thou shalt renounce thy vaunt and yield, Or else thy bones shall strew this sand, till winds Bleach them, or Oxus with his summer-floods, And now might Sohrab have unsheathed his Oxus in summer wash them all away.' "" sword,
And Rustum followed his own blow, and fell To his knees, and with his fingers clutched the sand;
He spoke; and Sohrab answered, on his And pierced the mighty Rustum while he lay feet:Dizzy, and on his knees, and choked with sand; "Art thou so fierce? Thou wilt not fright me But he looked on, and smiled, nor bared his so!
I am no girl, to be made pale by words.
Yet this thou hast said well, did Rustum stand
Here on this field, there were no fighting then.
But Rustum is far hence, and we stand here.
Begin! thou art more vast, more dread than I,
And thou art proved, I know, and I am young-
But yet success sways with the breath of
Heaven.
But courteously drew back, and spoke, and said:
"Thou strik 'st too hard! that club of thine
Upon the summer-floods, and not my bones.
But rise, and be not wroth! not wroth am I;
No, when I see thee, wrath forsakes my soul.
Thou say 'st, thou art not Rustum; be it so! 431
And though thou thinkest that thou knowest Who art thou then, that canst so touch my soul?
Thy victory, yet thou canst not surely know,
For we are all, like swimmers in the sea,
Poised on the top of a huge wave of fate,
Which hangs uncertain to which side to fall.
And whether it will heave us up to land,
Or whether it will roll us out to sea,
Back out to sea, to the deep waves of death,
We know not, and no search will make us know;
Only the event will teach us in its hour.''
He spoke, and Rustum answered not, but
hurled
Boy as I am, I have seen battles too-
Have waded* foremost in their bloody waves,
And heard their hollow roar of dying men;
But never was my heart thus touched before.
Are they from Heaven, these softenings of the
heart?
O thou old warrior, let us yield to Heaven!
Come, plant we here in earth our angry spears,
And make a truce, and sit upon this sand, 440
And pledge each other in red wine, like friends,
And thou shalt talk to me of Rustum's deeds.
There are enough foes in the Persian host,
His spear; down from the shoulder, down it Whom I may meet, and strike, and feel no came,
As on some partridge in the corn a hawk, 400 Champions enough Afrasiab has, whom thou Mayst fight; fight them, when they confront thy spear!
He ceased, but while he spake, Rustum had And labouring breath; first Rustum struck the risen,
Which Sohrab held stiff out; the steel-spiked
Rent the tough plates, but failed to reach the skin,
Blazed bright and baleful, like that autumn- And Rustum plucked it back with angry groan. star, Then Sohrab with his sword smote Rustum's
The baleful sign of fevers; dust had soiled
His stately crest, and dimmed his glittering
His breast heaved, his lips foamed, and twice his voice
Nor clove its steel quite through; but all the crest
| He shore away, and that proud horsehair plume, Never till now defiled, sank to the dust;
Was choked with rage; at last these words And Rustum bowed his head; but then the broke way:
"Girl! nimble with thy feet, not with thy Grew blacker, thunder rumbled in the air, 500
hands!
And lightnings rent the cloud; and Ruksh, the
Curled minion, dancer, coiner of sweet words!
Fight, let me hear thy hateful voice no more!
Thou art not in Afrasiab's gardens now 460
With Tartar girls, with whom thou art wont to
dance;
But on the Oxus-sands, and in the dance
Who stood at hand, uttered a dreadful cry;—
No horse's cry was that, most like the roar
Of some pained desert-lion, who all day
Hath trailed the hunter's javelin in his side,
And comes at night to die upon the sand.
The two hosts heard that cry, and quaked for
fear,
And Oxus curdled as it crossed his stream.
But Sohrab heard, and quailed not, but rushed
Of battle, and with me, who make no play
Of war; I fight it out, and hand to hand.
Speak not to me of truce, and pledge, and wine!
Remember all thy valour; try thy feints
And cunning! all the pity I had is gone;
Because thou hast shamed me before both the And struck again; and again Rustum bowed 510
hosts
His head; but this time all the blade, like glass,
Sprang in a thousand shivers on the helm,
And in the hand the hilt remained alone.
Then Rustum raised his head; his dreadful
eyes
Glared, and he shook on high his menacing
spear,
Come rushing down together from the clouds, And shouted: Rustum!-Sohrab heard that One from the east, one from the west; their
Dashed with a clang together, and a din
Rose, such as that the sinewy wood-cutters
Make often in the forest's heart at morn,
Of hewing axes, crashing trees-such blows
Rustum and Sohrab on each other hailed.
And you would say that sun and stars took He reeled, and staggering back, sank to the part
And then the gloom dispersed, and the wind
fell,
And the bright sun broke forth, and melted all
The cloud; and the two armies saw the pair-
Saw Rustum standing, safe upon his feet,
And Sohrab, wounded, on the bloody sand.
Then, with a bitter smile, Rustum began:—
"Sohrab, thou thoughtest in thy mind to kill
A Persian lord this day, and strip his corpse,
And bear thy trophies to Afrasiab's tent. 530
Or else that the great Rustum would come down
Himself to fight, and that thy wiles would move
|