ΙΟ

And went abroad into the cold wet fog, Through the dim camp to Peran-Wisa's 2 tent. Through the black Tartar tents he pass'd, which stood

Clustering like bee-hives on the low flat strand Of Oxus, where the summer floods o'erflow When the sun melts the snows in high Pamere: 3 Through the black tents he pass'd, o'er that low strand,

And to a hillock came, a little back

From the stream's brink, the spot where first a boat,

Crossing the stream in summer, scrapes the land.

The men of former times had crown'd the top With a clay fort: but that was fall'n; and

Was dull'd; for he slept light, an old man's sleep;

29

And he rose quickly on one arm, and said:
"Who art thou? for it is not yet clear dawn.
Speak! is there news, or any night alarm?"
But Sohrab came to the bedside, and said:
"Thou know'st me, Peran-Wisa: it is I.
The sun is not yet risen, and the foe
Sleep; but I sleep not; all night long I lie
Tossing and wakeful, and I come to thee.
For so did King Afrasiab1 bid me seek
Thy counsel, and to heed thee as thy son,
In Samarcand, before the army march'd;
And I will tell thee what my heart desires.
Thou know'st if, since from Ader-baijan 2 first
I came among the Tartars, and bore arms,
I have still serv'd Afrasiab well, and shown,
At my boy's years, the courage of a man.
This too thou know'st, that, while I still bear on
The conquering Tartar ensigns through the
world,

4I

And beat the Persians back on every field,
I seek one man, one man, and one alone 49
Rustum, my father; who, I hop'd, should
greet,

Should one day greet, upon some well-fought field

His not unworthy, not inglorious son.
So I long hop'd, but him I never find.
Come then, hear now, and grant me what I ask.
Let the two armies rest to-day but I
Will challenge forth the bravest Persian lords
To meet me, man to man: if I prevail,
Rustum will surely hear it; if I fall
Old man, the dead need no one, claim no kin.
Dim is the rumour of a common 3 fight,
Where host meets host, and many names are
sunk:

But of a single combat Fame speaks clear."

60

He spoke and Peran-Wisa took the hand Of the young man in his, and sigh'd, and said:

"O Sohrab, an unquiet heart is thine! Canst thou not rest among the Tartar chiefs, And share the battle's common chance with us Who love thee, but must press forever first, In single fight incurring single risk, To find a father thou hast never seen? Or, if indeed this one desire rules all, To seek out Rustum-seek him not through fight:

Seek him in peace, and carry to his arms,

70

1 king of the Tartars 2 the northwest province of Persia, west of the Caspian Sea 3 general

His bed, and the warm rugs whereon he lay,
And o'er his chilly limbs his woollen coat
He pass'd, 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 placed his sheep-skin cap,
Black, glossy, curl'd, the fleece of Kara-Kul;2
And rais'd the curtain of his tent, and call'd
His herald to his side, and went abroad. 100
The sun, by this, had risen, and clear'd the
fog

From the broad Oxus and the glittering sands:
And from their tents the Tartar horsemen fil'd
Into the open plain; so Haman bade;
Haman, who next to Peran-Wisa rul'd
The host, and still was in his lusty prime.
From their black tents, long files of horse, they
stream'd:

As when, some grey November morn, the files In marching order spread, of long-neck'd cranes,

6

Kalmuks and unkemp'd Kuzzaks, tribes who stray

Nearest the Pole, and wandering Kirghizzes, Who come on shaggy ponies from Pamere. 131 These all fil'd out from camp into the plain.

And on the other side the Persians form'd: First a light cloud of horse, Tartars they seem'd,

The Ilyats of Khorassan:7 and behind,
The royal troops of Persia, horse and foot,
Marshal'd 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, 142
He took his spear, and to the front he came,
And check'd his ranks, and fix'd them where
they stood.

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, 151 When the dew glistens on the pearlèd ears, A shiver runs through the deep corn1 for joy

So, when they heard what Peran-Wisa said, A thrill through all the Tartar squadrons ran Of pride and hope for Sohrab, whom they lov'd:

But as a troop of peddlers, from Cabool,2 Cross underneath the Indian Caucasus,3 That vast sky-neighboring mountain of milk

Haply he will forget his wrath, and fight. 179 Stand forth the while, and take their challenge up.'

So spake he; and Ferood stood forth and said:

"Old man, be it agreed as thou hast said.

1

grain, not Indian corn 2 Kabul 3 the HinduKush Mountains

Sohrab men call him, but his birth is hid.
O Rustum, like thy might is this young man's!
He has the wild stag's foot, the lion's heart.
And he is young, and Iran's Chiefs are old,
Or else too weak; and all eyes turn to thee.
Come down and help us, Rustum, or we lose."
He spoke but Rustum answer'd with a smile:
"Go to! if Iran's Chiefs are old, then I
Am older: if the young are weak, the King
Errs strangely for the King, for Kai Khosroo,
Himself is young, and honours younger men,
And lets the agèd moulder to their graves. 222
Rustum be loves no more, but loves the
young-

The young may rise at Sohrab's vaunts, not I. For what care I, though all speak Sohrab's fame?

For would that I myself had such a son,
And not that one slight helpless girl I have,
A son so fam'd, so brave, to send to war,
And I to tarry with the snow-hair'd Zal,1
My father, whom the robber Afghans vex, 230
And clip his borders short, and drive his herds,
And he has none to guard his weak old age.
There would I go, and hang my armour up,
And with my great name fence that weak old

250

Thou knowest better words than this to say.
What is one more, one less, obscure or fam'd,
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 shall see how Rustum hoards his fame.

But I will fight unknown, and in plain arms; Let not men say of Rustum, he was match'd In single fight with any mortal man."

He spoke and frown'd; and Gudurz turn'd,

and ran

257

Back quickly through the camp in fear and joy, Fear at his wrath, but joy that Rustum came. But Rustum strode to his tent door, and call'd

1 Zal was at this time old, but according to tradition he was born with snow-white hair, on which account his father cast him out on the Elburz Mountains, where he was miraculously preserved by a griffin, cf. II. 676-9.

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 wav'd, a scarlet horsehair plume.
So arm'd, he issued forth; and Ruksh, his
horse,

Follow'd him, like a faithful hound, at heel, Ruksh, whose renown was nois'd through all the earth,

The horse, whom Rustum on a foray once 270 Did in Bokhara by the river find

A colt beneath its dam, and drove him home, And rear'd him; a bright bay, with lofty crest;

Dight with a saddle-cloth of broider'd green Crusted with gold, and on the ground were work'd

All beasts of chase, all beasts which hunters know:

281

So follow'd, Rustum left his tents, and cross'd
The camp, and to the Persian host appear'd.
And all the Persians knew him, and with shouts
Hail'd; 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 into the blue waves, at night,
Having made up his tale2 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 advanc'd, And Sohrab arm'd in Haman's tent, and came. And as afield the reapers cut a swathe

290

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 towards the Tartar tents, and saw Sohrab come forth, and ey'd him as he came.

As some rich woman, on a winter's morn, Eyes through her silken curtains the poor drudge 300 Who with numb blacken'd fingers makes her fire

At cock-crow on a starlit winter's morn, When the frost flowers the whiten'd windowpanes

1 an island famous for pearl-fisheries 2 required number

Behold me: I am vast, and clad in iron, 322
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 sav'd.
O Sohrab, wherefore wilt thou rush on death?
Be govern'd: quit the Tartar host, and come
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,

331

The mighty voice of Rustum; and he saw
His giant figure planted on the sand,
Sole, like some single tower, which a chief
Has builded on the waste in former years
Against the robbers; and he saw that head,
Streak'd with its first grey hairs: hope fill'd
his soul;

And he ran forwards and embrac'd his knees, And clasp'd his hand within his own and said:

"Oh, by thy father's head! by thine own soul! 340 Art thou not Rustum? Speak! art thou not

he?"

But Rustum ey'd askance the kneeling youth,

And turn'd away, and spoke to his own soul:"Ah me, I muse what this young fox may

mean.

False, wily, boastful, are these Tartar boys. For if I now confess this thing he asks,