The Meeting on the Battlefield

When he heard these harsh words, he turned his face away and showed his back. He struck the man hard from above with the back of his hand, knocked him down, and returned to his seat. He put on his armor and set on his head a Chinese helmet swift as the wind. His blood boiled with fury, and he mounted his swift steed. He roared, took the spear in hand, and went to the battlefield like a raging elephant. Not one of the famed warriors of the Iranian army dared to look him in the face. From his feet and stirrups, from his hands and reins, from his arms and his water-tempered lance-tip, the brave men then gathered and said: here is a hero with the body of an elephant. It is no easy thing even to gaze at him; who would dare go to battle before him? Then Sohrab the warrior roared out, calling upon King Kavus. He said to that noble man: how goes your work on the field of war? Why did you take the title Kavus the king, when in battle you have neither strength nor stamina? I will roast your body on this spear; I will make the stars weep at the deed. I swore a solemn oath at the feast, on that night when Zhande-Razm was killed, that I would leave not one spearman alive in Iran, and would hang Kavus the king upon the gallows. Which of the Iranians do you have with fierce claws who will come before me when war begins? He kept speaking, boiling with rage, but no one from Iran gave an answer. Roaring, he came to the royal pavilion and lifted its wall from the ground with his spear. Then he bent low, thrust the lance-tip up, drove in the spear, and tore out seventy pegs. One whole section of the royal tent collapsed, and from every side the trumpets blared. That brave and daring army fled like wild asses from a lion's claws. Kavus was distressed and cried out: among these famed men of noble blood, carry word at once to Rostam that this Turk has emptied the brains of our heroes. I have no rider to match him; no one in Iran can do this task. Tus went and carried Kavus's message, laying before Rostam the words he had heard. Rostam said to him: every king who has ever suddenly summoned me, sometimes offered treasure, sometimes the pleasures of feasting; but from Kavus I have seen nothing but the hardship of war. He ordered that Rakhsh be saddled and that his riders wrinkle their brows with anger. Rostam looked out from his tent toward the plain and saw Giv passing along the road. He set the gleaming saddle on Rakhsh while Gorgin kept urging: hurry, quick now. Rahham was tightening his horse's girth, and Tus gripped his armored coat. One kept telling this to that and that to this in haste, when the mighty hero heard the uproar from his tent. He said to himself: this is the work of Ahriman; this turmoil is not raised for one man alone. He reached out and put on his tiger-skin armor, and fastened that royal belt around his waist. He mounted Rakhsh and took the road, leaving Zavare to guard his position and the army. They carried his banner along with him as he rode, hungry for battle and grim of face. When he saw Sohrab with his mane and stature, his chest broad as that of warlike Sam, he said to him: let us step aside from here, and both go together to the battleground. Sohrab rubbed his palms together and went out from before the ranks to the field. He said to Rostam: it has come to pass that war and combat have turned from me toward you. You will need no other ally from Iran; when I face you, that is enough for the fight. There is no place for you on the battlefield; you cannot even stand against one blow of mine. You are tall of stature, with shoulders and mane, but your body has suffered from the weight of many years. Rostam looked at that proud youth, at those hands, that mane, and those long stirrups. He said to him gently: soft now, hot-blooded young man; the ground is cold and dry, and your words are hot and smooth. In my old age I have seen many a battlefield; I have laid many an army low in the dust. Many a demon has perished in my fighting; I never saw defeat on any side where I stood. Watch me if you see me in battle; if you stay alive, then do not fear the crocodile. Sea and mountain have watched me in war, when I fought against the famed champions of Turan. What I did, the stars are my witness; by my courage the world lies beneath my feet. Sohrab said to him: I will ask you a question, and only the truth must be laid as its foundation. I truly believe that you are Rostam, and of the renowned line of Nariman. He answered thus: I am not Rostam, nor am I of the line of Sam and Nariman. For he is the great champion, and I am lesser; I have neither throne nor high seat nor crown. Sohrab lost the hope he had held, and the bright day turned dark before his eyes.