The Execution of Nozar

News reached the king of the Turks: the world had lost those famous champions. His heart filled with fire from grief and pain, and blood from his liver wet both his cheeks. He raged and cried, 'Where is Nozar? I will take revenge for Viseh from him.' 'What choice is there but to spill his blood and set a fresh vengeance in motion?' He ordered the executioner: 'Drag him off, so he learns to lose his head.' When Nozar the commander understood, he knew his days had run short. An army full of uproar and murmuring turned its face toward King Nozar. They bound his arms tight with rope and dragged him from his place before the crocodile of a king. They brought him from his tent to the plain, humiliated, bareheaded and barefoot, his fortune overturned. When Afrasiab saw him from afar he loosed his tongue, recalling the old feud of their ancestors. He began with Tur and Salm, washing his heart and eyes clean of any shame before kings. He told him, 'Whatever evil comes to you is deserved.' He spoke, flew into a rage, and called for his sword. He struck off the head of the crowned king and flung his body down in the dust in disgrace. So perished the heir of King Manuchehr, and Iran was left empty of throne and crown. O learned man of deep intelligence, do not wrap yourself in the cloak of greed. For throne and crown have seen many like you; how many such tales will you keep hearing? You rushed to reach a certain height, and there it ended, having granted your wish. What do you seek from this dark, wretched dust, which will only return you to it, grieving? For even if the turning sky sets your saddle high, in the end the dust is your pillow. Then they dragged the prisoners forward in disgrace, and the captives begged for their lives. When Aghrirath, the gifted one, saw this, his heart burned in his chest like fire. He kept saying: so many innocent heads will be severed from their bodies by the king's command. He came crying out to plead, and put his case with reasoned judgment to the mighty king. 'So many proud warriors and horsemen, without helmet or armor, not on the battlefield,' 'to be captured and killed is not noble; where there is a height, there is also a descent.' 'It would be fitting to spare their lives; hand them over to me in chains just the same.' 'I will turn a cave into a prison for them and set wise men to guard them.' 'In Sari they will live out their days in misery. Pull your hand back from bloodshed, do not press for this so hard.' He spared their lives at his brother's words, once he heard, with pain, of his opposition to the killing. He ordered them taken to Sari, hauled off in fetters and nailed shackles and disgrace. When this was done, he prepared to set out; the earth began to vanish beneath the horses' hooves. From near Dehestan he marched toward Ray, driving the horses hard until they sweated with strain. He set the royal crown upon his head and, by handing out gold, opened doors to himself.