English
Part 6: Rustam's Thirst and the Spring
A road lay unavoidably before him,
and he had no choice but to press on across the barren waste.
The horse's legs and the rider's speaking tongue
were both undone by the heat and the thirst.
He climbed down from the horse, javelin in hand,
and stumbled forward like a drunken man.
Searching for some way to save himself,
he then turned his face toward the sky.
He said: O just Judge,
you bring every hardship and pain to its end.
If my suffering pleases you,
then fill up my treasure in that other world.
I struggle on so that perhaps the Creator
will grant King Kavus deliverance,
and the gentle Lord of the world will free
the Iranians from the demon's claws.
The guilty and the fallen are yours;
the worshippers and the servants are yours.
His mighty, elephant like body grew so burning hot
that thirst left him weak and reeling.
Rustam collapsed onto that scorching ground,
his tongue split and cracked from thirst.
Just then a fine, handsome ewe
crossed the land in front of the great hero.
The ewe's passing set his mind to thinking;
he said to himself: where does this creature drink?
Surely the Creator's mercy
has come to me in these very days.
He gripped his sword in his right hand
and, by the world holder's strength, rose to his feet.
He set off after the ewe, blade in his fist,
holding the horse's lead rope in the other hand.
Along the way a spring came into view,
when the leading ewe reached that place.
The great hero turned his face to the sky
and said: O truth speaking Judge,
whoever turns away from the one just God
no longer keeps his reason in its proper place.
This spring is no watering place for a mere ewe,
nor is that wild desert ram any kin of mine.
When the situation grows tight and words run short,
take no refuge except in the pure God.
He gave many blessings to that desert ram:
may no harm ever reach you from the turning heavens.
May the grass on your gate and plain stay green,
and may the hunter's heart never rejoice over you.
Whoever raises bow and arrow against you,
may his bow be broken and his aim go dark.
For through you the elephant bodied warrior lives again;
otherwise he was already dreading the shroud,
for he could not fit in the belly of a great dragon,
nor be left to the claws of a wolf,
torn to pieces and dragged away,
no trace of Rustam ever reaching the enemy.
When his soul was done with giving thanks,
he unfastened the saddle from swift Rakhsh.
He washed his whole body in that pure water
and grew radiant like the sun.
Once his thirst was quenched, he set out to hunt;
he belted his waist and filled his quiver with arrows.
He brought down a wild ass like a raging elephant
and stripped the hide from its legs and middle.
As the sun blazed, he kindled a fierce fire,
lifted the meat from the water and roasted it in the flames.
When he finished with the fire he began to eat,
and set about burying the bones in the earth.
He came back to the bright spring for water,
and once his thirst was quenched he made ready to sleep.
The great hero said to eloquent Rakhsh:
Do not fight anyone, and do not pair up with any foe.
If an enemy comes, run to me;
do not go warring with demons or lions.
He slept and rested and said not a word,
while Rakhsh grazed and roamed until midnight.