English
The Two Armies at the Frontier
When the king of the world learned the truth
from the reports of his alert scouts,
about the Turks and Afrasiyab's movements,
that he had brought his army to the river's near bank,
and dragged a force this way from the Oxus,
so vast that the world's sand and stone vanished beneath it,
when the king heard this, he summoned his champions
and told them all that had to be said.
He chose an army of warriors,
the nobles of Iran, just as was fitting,
men who had tasted much of the world's turmoil and bitterness,
to go and aid Gostaham son of Nozar at Balkh.
He ordered Ashkash to lead troops, elephants,
and a treasury of coins toward Zam,
so that no enemy force could close in from behind
and ruin the plans of Iran's lions.
After that he mounted all his champions,
struck the brazen war drum and marched the army out.
He advanced with judgment, care, and patience,
knowing that rashness in war brings regret.
When the commander reached the open desert,
he saw the enemy's proud advance, their gear and troops.
The army's path lay toward Khwarazm;
every color of the plain spoke of battle.
Dehestan lay to the left, the water to the right,
the sand between them, and ahead stood Afrasiyab.
When the sun rose from the sign of the Ram,
it adorned the whole face of the earth.
The Turkish commander saw the enemy force,
blew the brazen trumpet and drew up his ranks.
The world filled with the sound of horns and soldiers;
every man put on his iron helmet.
When Khosrow saw his grandfather's army,
the king's heart filled with cunning strategy.
He himself, with Rostam, Tus, Gudarz, and Giv,
and many renowned heroes from the army,
rode around that battlefield,
surveying the desert, the dust, the trackless ground and the roads.
The enemy force was larger than he had reckoned,
with its war elephants and its brave men.
He had a trench dug around his army
and scattered scouts on every side.
When night came he flooded the trench with water
on the side facing Afrasiyab.
So the two armies stood for two days and two nights,
and from neither did a single lip move.
You would have said the earth's face was iron,
and the air too was armored with spears.
On this side and that, men sat in the saddle,
and the foot soldiers stood ranked in front just the same.
You would have said the world had become a mountain of iron,
and the sky's covering had turned to chainmail.
The astrologers stood before the two kings,
full of anxious thought, their star tables at hand,
searching out the secrets of the heavens,
with their instruments, to see whom fortune would favor.
The sky itself stood watching that war,
and the astrologers were utterly helpless.
On the fourth day, when the situation grew tense,
brave Pashang went before his father.
He said to him: O master of the world,
exalted over both the low and the great,
under the sky no king matches your glory;
neither moon nor sun wishes you ill.
A mountain of iron turns to a sea of water
if it so much as hears the name of Afrasiyab.
The earth cannot bear the weight of your army,
nor can the shining sun bear the sight of your crown.
No king among kings would ever stand against you,
except this fatherless one of foul stock, your own blood.
You treated Siyavash as your own son,
you lavished on him a father's toil and love.
You would not have let so much as an unpleasant breeze
from the open sky pass over him.
You grew weary of him only when you learned for certain
that he was after your crown, throne, and army.
If you, the world's ruler, had not put him to death,
your signet ring and crown would have passed to him.
Now here he stands before you for war;
there should be no long delay in this world.
Whoever forgets a kindness done to him
is plotting against the very soul of Siyavash.
You raised this ill-omened, impure one,
you did not consign him to the earth like a true father would.
You kept him until he grew his wings,
then through the king's love he reached for the golden crown.
Like a bird he flew from Turan to Iran,
as if he had never even known his grandfather.
Look at the kindness Piran showed him,
and at what that faithless, unworthy man did in return.
He forgot all of Piran's affection,
his heart brimming with malice, his mind boiling with rage.
He kept silent until Piran was in his grip,
and then he killed that loving warrior.
Now with an army from Iran he has come to war,
fierce-clawed, right before his grandfather.
He wants no gold, no throne, no crown,
no horse, no sword, no treasure, no army.
From his kinsmen he wants nothing but their lives;
he will not soften his demand on that point.
My father is king and the wiser sovereign;
he himself is witness to the truth of my words.
There is no need for so much talk about the Iranians;
do not break the army's spirit like this.
What use are astrologers against such foes?
With the sword real men prove their worth.
The horsemen who ride on my right flank
are of one heart and one body for the fight.
If my king gives me leave,
I will not spare a single one of them alive.
I will pin their heads and helmets with arrows,
fearing neither the trench nor the flooded moat.
When Afrasiyab heard these words
he said to him: Do not rush, do not be hasty.
Everything you have said is true;
one should listen to nothing but the truth.
Yet you know how the hero Piran
walked only the path of goodness in this world.
There was no crookedness or fault in his heart;
he sought nothing but virtue and truth.
On the day of battle he was an elephant in strength,
with a heart like the sea and a face like the shining sun.
And his brother Human, a leopard of war,
like battle-hardened Lahhak and Farshidvard,
a hundred thousand vengeful Turkish riders,
all glory-seekers ready for the fray,
they marched out from here full of fury and clamor,
while I remained here, restless, in grief and lament.
So many were slain on this field of vengeance
that the earth beneath was soaked like clay with blood.
All the borderlands of Turan are broken-hearted;
their hearts are torn apart with sorrow.
In their sleep they see nothing but Piran's death;
no one calls out the name of Afrasiyab.
Let us wait until our renowned men,
our chiefs and the riders of our army,
look the Iranians in the eye;
then the mourning, the pain and anger, will ease in their hearts.
And let the Iranians too see this vast army
and the majesty of throne and crown.
The two armies stand like this, full of pain and rage,
while the star keeps its eye on us from the sky.
It is not wise to seek battle in a headlong crush;
there you suffer defeat and grasp nothing but wind.
Let us send out scattered champions instead
and fill the desert with their blood.
Pashang answered: O king,
if you would wage war in this manner,
then the first champion of the army is me,
for I hurl my horse against lion and elephant alike.
I know of no man who on the day of battle
could even scatter dust on my horse from afar.
My desire is to fight Kay Khosrow himself,
for he is the new sovereign of the world.
If he dares seek battle with me,
he will not escape my clutches.
Their heart and their backbone will be broken,
and that whole gathering's fate will be sealed.
And if any other comes against me in battle,
I will lay his head in the dust at once.
Afrasiyab said: O untried young man,
why would the king of kings seek combat with you?
And if he did seek a match, that match is mine;
I would trample his body and his name underfoot.
If he comes to the field to face me,
both armies will find rest from war.
Shide said to him: O man who has seen the world,
who has tasted much of its warmth and cold,
you have five living sons standing before you;
we will not let you be the one who plans to fight.
Neither the army nor the God-fearing would approve
of your being the first to enter battle against him.