English
The Battle for Makran
When the king's messenger returned, the whole city of Makran was filled with alarm.
Their army covered the land from mountain to mountain; every man of Makran took up arms in a rush.
They brought two hundred war elephants, so many you would think there was no room left on earth.
From the neighing of horses and the roar of the troops, the moon lost its way across the sky.
You would say the earth had risen to the sky, and the sun had gone into hiding.
The scout came to the king and reported that Makran had turned black with the dust of an army.
The whole face of the country is banners and elephants; the king can see it now for two miles around.
He gave the order, and they drew up their ranks, taking maces and daggers in hand.
A scout came out from Makran onto the plain and circled the army all night long.
The Iranian sentinel was Tukhar, a man for whom battle was an easy thing.
He came and grappled with the scout, proud as an elephant and fierce as a raging lion.
He struck with his sword and cut the man in two, filling the heart of Makran's king with dread.
The two armies drew up their lines so that the sky vanished behind the dust.
The troops advanced from both sides like mountains, and both hosts drew out their battle rows.
Tus the commander pushed into the center; the world filled with the wailing of horns and drums.
Out in front flew the banner of Kaveh, and behind it the warriors in their golden boots.
The air was thick with arrowheads and feathered shafts; the world became like a sea of pitch.
In the center the king of Makran was wounded, and from that wound his very life escaped.
One man said, 'My king, let us cut off his head.' The king replied, 'We will not even look at it.'
We do not sever the heads of royal warriors from their bodies, unless they are of the seed of Ahriman.
His body must not be stripped bare; leave the fallen man in his armor as he is.
Build him a tomb of musk and rosewater, a fitting resting place for a king.
Cover his face with silk of China, for this is how the great ones meet their death.
From that gathered host ten thousand were killed, riders and warriors who wielded the dagger.
Eleven hundred and forty were taken captive; the survivors' hearts were full of grief.
They carried off the elephants and the treasure, the royal tents and the adorned throne.
The nobles of Iran grew rich; many came away with a throne and a crown.
After that the bold, battle-hungry men turned their faces to plundering Makran.
The cries of women rose from field and city; they tasted much of that suffering.
They set fire to the city gates and seemed to hurl the sky down onto the earth.
They struck down many of them with arrows, and took women and small children captive.
When the king's anger toward that host began to cool, he ordered the army to withdraw.
He commanded that the sharp-witted Ashkash should hold back from plunder, war, and turmoil.
No one was to commit cruelty, nor to be harsh with the wretched and broken.
From that city, everyone who was pious and just came before the king to plead for mercy.
Saying, 'We are innocent and helpless; we have always suffered under the oppressors.'
'If the king sees that a head is guiltless, it would be fitting for him to spare it.'
When the blessed king heard their words, he ordered a proclamation to be cried to the army.
A voice rang out from the royal pavilion: 'You champions of noble judgment,
'From now on, if any outcry rises from any place, from injustice, plunder, war, or turmoil,
'I will cut the oppressors in two, anyone who holds no fear of the Just Creator.'
The world-ruler stayed a year in Makran, and summoned heavy ships from every quarter.
When spring came and the earth turned green, every mountain filled with tulips and the plains grew verdant.
He arranged pastures for the horses and hunting grounds, and adorned the gardens with flowers and fruit trees.
He ordered Ashkash to remain in Makran with the army for some time,
to seek nothing but goodness and truth, and to let no wrong slip into his conduct.
Then he took the road from that city into the desert, bearing all its hardships lightly on his heart.
By the command of the pure God it so happened that in that desert they saw no bare earth.
The sky was full of clouds and the ground full of young crops, a world covered with tulips and yellow blossoms.
They brought food for the people forward, hauling buffaloes on wagons.
On the plain there was greenery and places to rest, the sky full of clouds and the ground full of water.
When he reached the shore of the sea, the warriors loosened the knots at their waists.
The king brought with him all the sea-craftsmen and shipwrights from China and Makran.
On land he did all that had to be done, then the men launched the ships upon the water.
He ordered provisions to be loaded, enough for a road of a full year's journey.
The fortunate, seeking king set out from the water's edge with dignity upon the sea.
In that servitude he took to prayer, and began to praise the Maker of the world.
He begged of the exalted Creator to bring him from the water to dry land unharmed,
along with his war gear and his army, the nobles of Iran, and his throne.
He said, 'O Maker of the world, knower of all that is seen and hidden,'
You are the keeper of land and sea; you are the God of the depths and of the stars.
Guard my life and my army, and my throne, my treasure, and my crown as well.
The sea was so wild and turbulent that no one who fell into it survived.
For six months the ship sailed on the water, and each man made a bed for himself upon it.
In the seventh month, when half the year had passed, the north wind turned crooked and pushed them off course.
They swung the top of the sail hard about, and it flashed like a bolt of lightning.
A helping wave carried the ship along a path the sailor called 'the Lion's Mouth.'
God willed that the wind of the air not turn against the king's good fortune.
The army marveled at what they saw on those waters, and each one pointed it out to the king.
In the water they saw a lion and an ox, and the ox stood its ground fiercely against the lion.
There were creatures like men with hair long as lassos, their bodies covered in wool like a sheep.
A group had heads like a buffalo's, their two arms set behind the body and the feet in front.
One had the head of a fish and a body like a crocodile; another had legs like a wild ass and a body like a leopard.
They kept showing these wonders to one another, and they called out praise to the Creator.
By the mercy of the Maker of the heavens, the air turned gentle and the wind hid its face.
For seven months they passed over the water, and no wind so much as glanced their way.
When the king reached dry land from the sea, he looked out and saw the wide plains of the world.
He came before the Creator of the world and pressed his face to the dust of the ground.
They hauled the ships and boats out of the water; haste was needed, and haste he made.
Desert and sand and open plain lay before him, and at ease he crossed the shifting sands.
He saw cities all like those of China, with tongues that spoke like the land of Makran.
In those cities the king rested a while and called for provisions to feed his army.
The king handed that land over to Giv and told him, 'You have won your reward from fortune.'
'Do not be harsh even with the guilty, for the people have suffered enough over wealth and goods.'
'From now on I will not set anyone above another; I will bow in worship before the One who answers our cries.'
He chose a renowned man from the army, one who could grasp and report what everyone said.
He sent word to the local kings: whoever seeks peace and prosperity,
let them come gladly to this court. And at the king's command they all set out.
Not one of those chiefs turned his head aside; they came to the court like humble subjects.
When the king saw them, he received them warmly and raised their standing as high as the sun.
From the fortress of Gang he sought word again about Afrasiab and the royal throne.
One of the men who could speak spoke up: 'From here on there is neither water nor mountain before you.'
'If you count it all out, the good and the bad, it is no more than a hundred leagues to Gang.'
'Now that the sea has been crossed, Afrasiab is at Gang with his people.'
That news gladdened the king, and all his hardships grew light in his heart.
In those borderlands they prepared robes of honor, then called for the horses of the seasoned veterans.
The king gave the order to turn back, and he set out for the fortress of Gang with that army.
In the region where the son of Siavash had marched, few people were left from all the injustice.
He arrayed the army and gave out pay, and he called to mind the goodness God bestows.
He kept saying that whoever seeks to do evil recoils from God's retribution.
'No one of you should stay in the town if from his hardship even an ant's path can profit.'
When the world seeker saw the fortress of Gang, his face vanished behind the tears in his eyes.
He got down from his horse and pressed his face to the ground, praising the Creator.
He said: 'O just and pure judge, I am a servant whose heart is full of dread and awe.'
'For I have seen this rampart of my father's city, raised up so high it lifts its head above the moon.'
'Siavash, who by the pure glory of God, drew such a rampart up out of the pit.'
'A tyrant was the one who reached out his hand to do evil; every heart was wounded by his killing.'
The whole army wept over that rampart for the blood of Siavash, who was innocent.
He was killed by the hand of an ill wisher, and so the seed of vengeance was sown in the world.