English
Part 19: Giv Captures Piran
Piran picked out a thousand riders, every one a fighter, every one renowned.
He told them: Move fast; grip the reins of your swift horses tight.
Ride day and night like raging lions; do not slacken your pace on the road.
For if Giv and Khosrow reach Iran, even the women there will turn into lions.
Nothing will be left of this land, water or soil, and that wound will grieve Afrasiab's heart.
At his words they lifted their heads and galloped without pause, day and night.
They found neither rest nor sleep, and word of this reached Afrasiab.
So they went on until they came to a deep river, and the army scattered like warp and weft.
Its bed was deep and its width narrow; crossing it was a hard and dangerous task.
Farangis was sitting on watch, while on the other bank Giv and the king lay asleep.
From that spot Farangis looked out and saw the banner of Turan's commander.
She ran to Giv and warned him, cutting short the sleep of the sleepers.
She said: Rise, man of hardship, for the hour of flight has come for you.
If they find you they will take your life, and twist our hearts with grief for you.
My eyes and my son's will fill with tears as I am carried bound before Afrasiab.
And after that I cannot tell what harm will come; no one knows the secret of the high heavens.
Giv said to her: Greatest among noblewomen, why have you troubled your spirit so?
Climb to the steep heights with the king, and fear nothing from Piran or his army.
The victorious Lord of the world is my helper; the star of fortune rests in my arms.
Kaikhosrow said: Warrior, now my case has grown a long burden upon you.
I have escaped the snare of ruin; do not fling yourself again into the dragon's jaws.
Now we must go out onto the plain and let the sun scatter their blood with the sword.
Giv said: Proud king, the whole world longs for your name.
My father is a hero and so am I; we would never twist away from the throne's cause.
I have seventy-eight brothers; but the whole world seems empty once your name is gone.
There are many heroes but only one king; what use are they all if the one is lost?
If I am killed, there will be another; but a crowned head, once gone, cannot be replaced.
If you were destroyed here, far from home, I would see no one fit for the crown and throne.
My seven years of toil would blow away in the wind, and I would bring shame upon my lineage.
Choose the high ground and watch the army; let the Creator of the world keep me in mind.
He put on his armor and came out like a lion, his trained warhorse beneath him.
On this side the king, on that side the army; between them ran the river, blocking the way.
Giv roared like spring thunder, calling out the commander of the enemy host to combat.
When Piran heard, he answered with insults: You demon-born, ill-natured wretch!
Since you have come alone to this battlefield, coming so boldly against a whole army,
now the tip of the javelin will be your food, and the falcon's claw your shroud.
Even if a single rider were a mountain of iron, a thousand would swarm around him like ants.
An ant is small yet its head grows dizzy in the crush; and these are not ants but armored men and horses.
They will tear that mail to shreds upon your body, and drag your carcass to the dust.
The raging lion told a parable: when a deer's time is near,
fate counts out its every breath; it comes running and passes right before me.
Fate has brought you now before me, and before this gathering of famous men.
Giv said to him: Lion of a commander, it would be fitting if you dared to enter the water.
You would see what one skilled rider can bring down upon your head, O renowned one.
You are a thousand and I am one famed warrior; yet I will bring the heads of the proud low.
When I swing my heavy, spinning mace, I will bring all their chiefs under my feet.
When Piran heard this his fury rose; his heart filled with blood and his eyes with tears.
He spurred his horse, pressed his thighs to its flanks, and lifted the heavy mace to his shoulder.
As he came from the plain into the river like a ship, he offered thanks to the Giver of good.
Giv made no haste in the test, so that the commander could climb out of the water.
Then Giv turned down from the height to the lowland, seeming to flee from the brave commander.
Once he had drawn him far from the water and his army, he flung his battle mace into the saddle.
As the tall hero fled before him, Giv loosed the coiling lasso from his saddle-strap.
He drew near to fight with Giv, and the world went dark as black night.
Giv, of the proud neck, wheeled around, cast the lasso and looped it fast.
The commander's head fell into the noose; with the coil of the lasso Giv lifted him from the saddle.
He drove him on foot before him, in scorn, and hauled him swiftly to the river's edge.
He threw him on the ground and bound his hands, put on his armor, and mounted his horse.
Gripping the banner in his fist, he rode to the bank of the Golzariyun.
When the Turks saw the banner of their commander, they were forced to advance.
There rose the clamor and wailing of trumpets, the blast of brass horns and Indian bells.
The world-tested Giv rode into the water like a ship driven fast by the wind.
He raised the heavy mace to his shoulder, and the army stood amazed at his deeds.
His rein went light and his stirrup heavy; the heads of the proud reeled with dread.
With sword and with the spinning spear the guiding hero cut them down.
The plain heaped up with the fallen like a mountain; those brave men were worn out by a single man.
The backs of the warriors all turned toward him, as he charged like a lion into the flock.
When that army fled before Giv, so dense a host, its men so valiant,
they turned back so bewildered and abandoned the water, as if they had never seen an army even in a dream.
Roaring, Giv reached Piran and was about to cut the head from his body.
In scorn he dragged him along on foot, raging, and full of pain like one senseless.
He said: This coward and faithless one has fallen into the dragon's jaws.
Siyavash lost his life through this man's counsel; if he was wind then, let this one be wind too.
Piran called down blessings on the king and, weeping, kissed the ground.
He said: O king who seeks wisdom, shining like the blazing sun among the throng,
you know my grief and my sorrow, and how for your sake I strove with the king.
It would be fitting if, by your fortune and glory, I found release from the claws of this dragon.
Giv looked toward Kaikhosrow to see what the brave king would command.
He saw Farangis, her eyes full of tears, her tongue full of curses on Afrasiab.
Then she said to Giv: Proud one, you have endured much hardship on the long road.
Know that this gray-haired hero is wise, generous, and bright of soul.
After the just Judge who guided us, know that it was he who saved us from bloodshed.
His love has been the veil that shields our lives, and for what he has done he begs for mercy.
Giv said to her: Chief among noblewomen, may your soul be blessed forever.
I swore a solemn oath by the moon, by the crown and throne of my good-willed king,
that if I ever got hold of him on the day of vengeance, I would make the earth purple with his blood.
Kaikhosrow said to him: Lion-like one, do not go back on your oath to God.
Now free yourself from the oath by a token: pierce his ear with your dagger.
When his blood drips from your dagger to the ground, you will remember both the love and the enmity.
Giv went and pierced his ear with the dagger, and beyond that oath spoke no harsh word.
Then Piran said to the king: Kolbad has surely gone off with the army.
Command that my horse be given back to me too; know that you would be granting me both life and property.
Giv said to him: Bold captain of the host, why did you turn weak on the field of battle?
You may get your horse back by an oath, or else I will bind your two hands with a long cord,
a knot that no one will untie; only Golshahr shall be the one to loosen it.
For she is the chief of your women; without her, neither your marrow nor your skin can act.
The hero agreed to that, and by an oath bought back his horse and his life:
that no one along the way would loosen that knot, and that Golshahr alone would arrange its undoing.
Giv gave him the horse and bound his two hands, and then ordered him to mount.