English
Bahram's Night Battle
The astrologer said to Bahram: do not take a single step on Wednesday.
If you turn away from this advice, harm will find you, and all your efforts will come to nothing.
There was a garden set between the armies, and on either side of it stretched the battlefield.
So on Wednesday, from the early morning, he went to that garden, saying: today let us be merry.
They carried in rich furnishings, wine, harps, musicians, and food.
He came to that garden and drank his wine until a watch of the dark night had passed.
A scout came to Parmuda and reported that Bahram was wedded to his cup and his garden.
The commander picked six thousand fighters, brave men and horsemen, from his army.
He sent them to surround the garden on every side, the fierce warriors moving without lamps.
When Bahram learned of their doings, of the world-seeker's plan and their scheming,
he said to Yalan-Sina: brave man, make a breach in the garden wall.
Then Bahram and Izad-Goshasp mounted their horses along with the warriors.
They slipped out through that breach in the garden, and who could tell where those bold men had gone?
The blare of the trumpet rose from the gate, and the general set his foot in the stirrup.
Swiftly they cut another breach and threw the enemy army into confusion, man by man.
Bahram charged, javelin in hand, the way a man half drunk will do.
The enemy heroes could not escape his grip; his casting hand reached out and was reddened with blood.
The clash of blades and the shouts of the chiefs rose like blacksmiths' hammers falling on steel.
From that garden to the place of Parmuda the king, headless bodies lay strewn along the road.
When he came back to his own camp, the proud leader began to plan a night raid.
When half the dark night had gone by, the fighting commander rode out onto the plain.
The general led his forces toward that side; not one of the Turks' scouts saw him coming.
When he drew near the battlefield, the sound of the brass trumpet rose along the way.
When the boom of the war drum and the trumpet came, the fighting Turks sprang up from their places.
Such an uproar rose from the army that it split the ears of the raging lion.
In the darkness a wild tumult broke out on the army's left flank and its right.
No one could tell one man from another, in the black night among the long spears.
With their daggers they struck sparks of fire, setting earth and air ablaze.
Few of the fighting Turks were left alive, and the stones turned red as coral with the blood.
Their chief fled away like dust, his mouth dry and his lips gone dark as lapis.
So it went until dawn broke and blazed,
and the dark night pulled back its hem.
The commander of Iran reached the Turks
and let out a roar like an enraged lion.
He said to Parmuda: You runaway man,
keep away from the ranks of brave warriors.
You are no man yet, boy; you are still a child.
It would suit you better to be nursing at your mother's breast.
Parmuda answered him: You charging lion,
how long will you be so eager to spill blood?
By day of battle even the leopard on land
and the sea monster in the water grow sick of the blood of chiefs.
You will never have your fill of human blood;
I am certain you are a ravening lion.
You cut off the head of Saveh Shah, who kept faith
as long as the wheeling sky endures.
You destroyed an army in such a way
that the sun and moon took pity.
I am what remains of that warrior king;
know that you have laid me low with grief.
We are all born from our mothers for death,
whether we are Turks or free-born men.
I flee and you come storming after me,
but you will not catch me until my hour arrives.
If I turn back with weapon in hand,
either I fall or you fall in the fight.
Do not be so hot-headed and fiery of temper;
that is not how a great army leader should be.
Now I will go back toward my own camp
and seek out my own road again.
I will write a letter to the king,
hoping through him to be safe from fate.
If he accepts me and takes me in,
after this he will spare me from such struggle.
I am a servant of that royal court;
I have torn my heart clean away from claims of greatness.
Set aside malice and war,
and with kindness turn my spirit toward a feast.
When Bahram heard him, he turned back,
and for the king's cause his voice grew sweet.
When that army rested from the fighting,
Bahram's army came to Parmuda's camp.
He roamed across the field of battle
and cut the heads of the proud from their bodies.
When they were piled upon each other, a great heap grew,
rising high and wide like a mountain.
That place the famous heroes
each one called Bahram's Mound.
The weapons of the horsemen and whatever he saw,
wherever it lay, he dragged toward that mound.
He wrote a letter to the king
about Parmuda and the countless army.
He told what had happened to them
with the Turks and that battle-seeking king,
how out of fear of his sword the king had sought escape
and from that place had fled, wretched and homeless.
And on this side the Khaqan shut himself in the fortress,
sitting there amid his crowd and his worries.
Many circled around the fortress gate,
but no one knew how to wage war against it.
Then he said: now that the battle is set in order, there is no time to delay the work.
He told Yalan Sina to pick three thousand horsemen from among those warriors.
And to Azargoshasb he gave four thousand of those fighters, mounting them on horses.
He ordered that whoever they found, they should rush to strike his neck at once,
so that the famous one might come out of the fortress when he saw the whole plain turned into a river of blood.
Things stayed this way at the fortress gate for three days; on the fourth, when the world lighting sun blazed forth,
he sent a message to Parmuda, that lord of the land and of a noble house:
You, chief and king of the Turks of China, why did you choose this fortress out of all the world?
Where is that world seeking Sava Shah now? Where are all those treasures and all that power?
Where are all those elephants and their armor? Where are the great men of bright souls?
Where are all those tricks and that sorcery, that now you sit apart from them all?
Was the whole realm of the Turks not enough for you, when no one in the world was the equal of your father?
Yet you sit on this rampart like a woman, your heart full of blood, beating your hands on your head.
Open the gate and ask for quarter; seek my friendship with the king of the land.
Send the treasure of gold coins out of the fortress; a man in chains has no use for wealth in this world.
If you hold treasure, bring it out of the land, for to the king gold coins mean little.
I am your mediator at the king's court, for I am a man of standing in the land of Iran.
I will make you greatest among all the great, and better your fortune beyond your thought and wisdom.
And if there is a secret hidden with you that could brighten your darkened soul,
reveal that secret and tell it to me; since your fate has come to this, do not hold back.
But if you keep someone at your side for war, and still hold plenty of treasure and gold,
then beat the war drum and pursue these feuds; perhaps your wealth is short and your army too small.
When the messenger came and delivered this message, and the ambitious man heard it from him,
he answered thus: tell him, do not seek out the secret of the world as long as you can help it.
You have grown insolent in the world, perhaps because your first hardship has now come to an end.
Do not draw yourself up in your victory; even if you are new, the world is old.
No one knows the secret of the turning heavens, and it never shows its face to us either.
It is not fitting for a lord to mock; I too once had an army, elephants, and war drums.
The lofty wheel of heaven tests you with falsehood; do not bind your heart to insolence.
My father, that brave man who had seen the world, whom the days of battle knew well.
The earth was a slave beneath his horse's hooves, and the very heavens rushed to serve him.
He grasped at what he should never have reached for, and turned aside from a mistaken plan.
Skill hides itself beneath regret, and the enemy laughs at the expense of a friend.
And then you said the stars of the sky outnumber the rays of the sun and moon.
The beasts and elephants, like blades of grass, were ground to nothing in a moment beneath the millstone.
For the one whose day has turned like this, you will not remain glad or lighting up the world.
Fear this fickle, turning fate, lest it brew poison as the cure for poison at your feet.
For the one who makes the shedding of blood his trade, the hearts of his enemies fill with dread.
They will spill his blood in the very same way that he spilled the blood of proud rebels.
If you wipe out the land of the Turks, in the end they will come seeking revenge.
I will not come suddenly before you, for I fear my time will come to an end.
I am but a servant and you a great king; how would I make myself wretched and low before a servant of mine?
Nor will I come to battle you without my army, so that a well-wisher would call me mad.
If I ask protection from your king, when hardship falls upon me there is no shame in it.
After that the treasury and the fortress are yours; in this renowned realm your wish is granted.
The messenger came and delivered this message, and Bahram was gladdened by the news.
Then they wrote a beneficial letter to the exalted, victorious king.
That the Khan of China has sought protection; from my long war he has taken refuge in the fortress.
A seal and a royal decree are needed, and this good news calls for a celebration:
That the Khan seeks our protection, and from that high station he descends into humiliation.
When the letter reached the king, he raised his lucky crown into the clouds.
He sent for the Iranians and summoned them, and seated them upon the renowned royal throne.
He ordered the letter read aloud, and they scattered jewels over the reader.
He said to the nobles: thanks be to God; I will bow before him and keep the three watches in prayer.
For the Khan of China, who was our lesser, and the lofty sky was our crown,
He once raised his head to the wheel of heaven and thought himself the king of the world.
Now, before a higher spirit, he is a servant, though he is a champion and seeking commander.
It has come to this: that he now blesses us, the commander and chieftain of the Turks of China.
Thanks be to the Lord of the sun and moon, who granted us the means to prevail.
We will give the ancient treasure to the poor, once the truth of these words is made clear.
You too, offer your prayers to God, and add to your good deeds in every way.
He summoned the champion's envoy and spoke to him with many gracious words.
He called for a belt studded with royal jewels, a horse, and a robe woven with gold.
The saddle-gear on that mount was heavy with gold, its studs set with precious gems.
He gave the envoy gold coins as well, a purse and many other gifts.
When he handed the robe of honor to that wise man, he counted him the greatest among champions.
Then he ordered the scribe to come, and they wrote a letter from him on fine silk.
It said: since Parmuda, khan of the khans, is my ally, he is under Hormozd's protection.
God is witness to this seal and decree: that we are his servants and he is the king.
He also wrote a reply to the world-seeking hero, a letter full of hope, lovely as paradise.
He told him: send Parmuda and his army away with honor to this royal court.
The spoils you took from his army, and the swift loyalty you have shown,
send to the court whatever is fitting; the Maker of the world is your helper.
Look to any place where an enemy lies, or wherever hostility has made its nest.
Seize it, guard it, and burn down its house, with good fortune and an omen that lights the world.
If it happens that you need more troops, and the greater strain begins to wear on you,
ask me by another letter like this one, and I will send as many soldiers as needed.
And of the Iranians, all who are near you, since you have set everything right and true,
record their names in this letter, so that for the hardship they endured they may be rewarded.
I will give your army a march to govern; I will give you a crown and command.
When the letter reached the champion, the heart of the renowned hero grew young again.
He was amazed by that letter, and summoned the envoy and the Iranians.
They brought forth the king's robe of honor, and everyone who saw it praised him.
Whatever concerned the Iranians was written in that letter, and he showed it to them.
A cheer of praise rose from the warriors, so loud you would think the earth's face shook.
That famous letter of safe conduct, which came for Parmuda from the king,
he sent to him at that fortress, and Parmuda's darkened soul grew bright.
He came down from his renowned stronghold and called down many blessings on the king.
Of all the treasure that was in the fortress, they wrote down whatever might prove useful.
The proud man came down from the fortress and mounted his warhorse, sweeping in like the wind.
He set out with his army from the fortress, along the road, and paid no attention at all to Bahram the hero.
When Bahram saw this, shame took hold of him, even though a king had fallen into his grasp.
He sent men who at once pulled him down from the road and brought him on foot before the army.
Parmuda spoke to him: 'Once I held my head high in every gathering.
Now I am reduced to begging for my life; from high honor I have fallen into disgrace.
You are no happier than I am on this day of mine, you evil man of evil deeds, who now stands before me.
Now I have received a promise of safe conduct; I intend to go before the king.
Perhaps he will treat me like a brother, and the pain he brings me will grow lighter.
What business have you with me any longer? I have surrendered to you the royal throne and all my wealth.'