English
The Words of Daqiqi
As soon as the king had spoken these words,
Zarir the commander and Esfandiar
drew their swords and declared: if there is
anyone at all in the whole world
who refuses to accept this faith,
who will not bow his head in obedience,
who will not come to the blessed king's court,
nor gird himself before the shining throne,
who will not take up the good path and true religion,
who makes no way for this good faith,
we will tear the life from his body with the sword,
and hang his head high upon the gallows.
The commander of Iran, whose name was Zarir,
a warrior as bold as a savage lion,
said to the king of the world, like a free and noble man:
may the king grant me leave
to answer the sorcerer Arjasp.
King Goshtasp found this pleasing,
and told him: rise and answer him,
make an example of the chieftains of Khallokh.
The honored Zarir and Esfandiar,
along with Jamasp, the fearless minister,
all three went out together,
their heads full of vengeance, their hearts grim.
They wrote a letter to the vile Arjasp,
fitting reply to what he had written.
Zarir the commander took it in his hand
and carried it still open, unsealed.
He brought it to the king and read it aloud;
Goshtasp, the world-seeker, sat amazed.
From the wise commander Zarir the horseman,
from Jamasp and from noble Esfandiar,
he sealed it and wrote his own name upon it,
then called all the envoys before him.
Take this, he said, and carry it to him,
and see that after this you do not travel this road again.
For were it not for the protection an envoy
is granted in the Avesta and the Zand,
I would have woken you from this sleep,
and hung you alive upon the gallows.
So that this wolf-headed one would learn
not to stretch his neck against the king.
He flung down the letter and said: go,
carry this to that Turkish sorcerer.
Tell him: your reckoning has come,
you are bound for blood and for the dust.
May your neck be struck, your waist cut through,
your bones scattered into the earth.
This very month, if God so wills,
I will put on my iron armor for battle,
I will lead an army into the land of Turan
and lay waste the country of the wolf-heads.