Again: "These standards show one champion more, Upon their centre flames the savage boar;[33]

The saffron-hued pavilion bright ascends, Whence many a fold of ta.s.selled fringe depends; Who there presides?"

"Guraz, from heroes sprung, Whose praise exceeds the power of mortal tongue."

Thus, anxious, he explored the crowded field, Nor once the secret of his birth revealed;[34]

Heaven will'd it so. Pressed down by silent grief, Surrounding objects promised no relief.

This world to mortals still denies repose, And life is still the scene of many woes.

Again his eye, instinctive turned, descried The green pavilion, and the warrior's pride.

Again he cries: "O tell his glorious name; Yon gallant horse declares the hero's fame!"

But false Hujir the aspiring hope repelled, Crushed the fond wish, the soothing balm withheld, "And why should I conceal his name from thee?

His name and t.i.tle are unknown to me."

Then thus Sohrab--"In all that thou hast said, No sign of Rustem have thy words conveyed; Thou sayest he leads the Persian host to arms, With him has battle lost its boisterous charms?

Of him no trace thy guiding hand has shown; Can power supreme remain unmark'd, unknown?"

"Perhaps returned to Zabul's verdant bowers, He undisturbed enjoys his peaceful hours, The vernal banquets may constrain his stay, And rural sports invite prolonged delay."

"Ah! say not thus; the Champion of the world, Shrink from the kindling war with banners furled!

It cannot be! Say where his lightnings dart, Show me the warrior, all thou know'st impart; Treasures uncounted shall be thy reward, Death changed to life, my friendship more than shared.

Dost thou not know what, in the royal ear, The Mubid said--befitting Kings to hear?

'Untold, a secret is a jewel bright, Yet profitless whilst hidden from the light; But when revealed, in words distinctly given, It shines refulgent as the sun through heaven.'"[35]

To him, Hujir evasive thus replies: "Through all the extended earth his glory flies!

Whenever dangers round the nation close, Rustem approaches, and repels its foes; And shouldst thou see him mix in mortal strife, Thou'dst think 'twere easier to escape with life From tiger fell, or demon--or the fold Of the chafed dragon, than his dreadful hold-- When fiercest battle clothes the fields with fire, Before his rage embodied hosts retire!"

"And where didst thou encountering armies see?

Why Rustem's praise so proudly urge to me?

Let us but meet and thou shalt trembling know, How fierce that wrath which bids my bosom glow: If living flames express his boundless ire, O'erwhelming waters quench consuming fire!

And deepest darkness, glooms of ten-fold night, Fly from the piercing beams of radiant light."

Hujir shrunk back with undissembled dread, And thus communing with himself, he said-- "Shall I, regardless of my country, guide To Rustem's tent this furious homicide?

And witness there destruction to our host?

The bulwark of the land for ever lost!

What Chief can then the Tartar power restrain!

Kaus dethroned, the mighty Rustem slain!

Better a thousand deaths should lay me low, Than, living, yield such triumph to the foe.

For in this struggle should my blood be shed, No foul dishonour can pursue me, dead; No lasting shame my father's age oppress, Whom eighty sons of martial courage bless![36]

They for their brother slain, incensed will rise, And pour their vengeance on my enemies."

Then thus aloud--"Can idle words avail?

Why still of Rustem urge the frequent tale?

Why for the elephant-bodied hero ask?

Thee, he will find--no uncongenial task.

Why seek pretences to destroy my life?

Strike, for no Rustem views th' unequal strife!"

Sohrab confused, with hopeless anguish mourned, Back from the lofty walls he quick returned, And stood amazed.

Now war and vengeance claim, Collected thought and deeds of mighty name; The jointed mail his vigorous body clasps, His sinewy hand the shining javelin grasps; Like a mad elephant he meets the foe, His steed a moving mountain--deeply glow His cheeks with pa.s.sionate ardour, as he flies Resistless onwards, and with sparkling eyes, Full on the centre drives his daring horse--[37]

The yielding Persians fly his furious course; As the wild a.s.s impetuous springs away, When the fierce lion thunders on his prey.

By every sign of strength and martial power, They think him Rustem in his direst hour; On Kaus now his proud defiance falls, Scornful to him the stripling warrior calls: "And why art thou misnamed of royal strain?

What work of thine befits the tented plain?

This thirsty javelin seeks thy coward breast; Thou and thy thousands doomed to endless rest.

True to my oath, which time can never change, On thee, proud King! I hurl my just revenge.

The blood of Zind inspires my burning hate, And dire resentment hurries on thy fate; Whom canst thou send to try the desperate strife?

What valiant Chief, regardless of his life?

Where now can Friburz, Tus, Giw, Gudarz, be, And the world-conquering Rustem, where is he?"

No prompt reply from Persian lip ensued-- Then rushing on, with demon-strength endued, Sohrab elate his javelin waved around, And hurled the bright pavilion to the ground; With horror Kaus feels destruction nigh, And cries: "For Rustem's needful succour fly!

This frantic Turk, triumphant on the plain, Withers the souls of all my warrior train."

That instant Tus the mighty Champion sought, And told the deeds the Tartar Chief had wrought; "'Tis ever thus, the brainless Monarch's due!

Shame and disaster still his steps pursue!"

This saying, from his tent he soon descried, The wild confusion spreading far and wide; And saddled Rakush--whilst, in deep dismay, Girgin incessant cried--"Speed, speed, away."

Reham bound on the mace, Tus promptly ran, And buckled on the broad Burgustuwan.

Rustem, meanwhile, the thickening tumult hears And in his heart, untouched by human fears, Says: "What is this, that feeling seems to stun!

This battle must be led by Ahirmun,[38]

The awful day of doom must have begun."

In haste he arms, and mounts his bounding steed, The growing rage demands redoubled speed; The leopard's skin he o'er his shoulders throws, The regal girdle round his middle glows.[39]

High wave his glorious banners; broad revealed, The pictured dragons glare along the field Borne by Zuara. When, surprised, he views Sohrab, endued with ample breast and thews, Like Sam Suwar, he beckons him apart; The youth advances with a gallant heart, Willing to prove his adversary's might, By single combat to decide the fight; And eagerly, "Together brought," he cries, "Remote from us be foemen, and allies, And though at once by either host surveyed, Ours be the strife which asks no mortal aid."

Rustem, considerate, view'd him o'er and o'er, So wondrous graceful was the form he bore, And frankly said: "Experience flows with age, And many a foe has felt my conquering rage; Much have I seen, superior strength and art Have borne my spear thro' many a demon's heart; Only behold me on the battle plain, Wait till thou see'st this hand the war sustain, And if on thee should changeful fortune smile, Thou needst not fear the monster of the Nile![40]

But soft compa.s.sion melts my soul to save, A youth so blooming with a mind so brave!"

The generous speech Sohrab attentive heard, His heart expanding glowed at every word: "One question answer, and in answering show, That truth should ever from a warrior flow; Art thou not Rustem, whose exploits sublime, Endear his name thro' every distant clime?"

"I boast no station of exalted birth, No proud pretensions to distinguished worth; To him inferior, no such powers are mine, No offspring I of Nirum's glorious line!"[41]

The prompt denial dampt his filial joy, All hope at once forsook the Warrior-boy, His opening day of pleasure, and the bloom Of cherished life, immersed in shadowy gloom.

Perplexed with what his mother's words implied;-- A narrow s.p.a.ce is now prepared, aside, For single combat. With disdainful glance Each boldly shakes his death-devoting lance, And rushes forward to the dubious fight; Thoughts high and brave their burning souls excite; Now sword to sword; continuous strokes resound, Till glittering fragments strew the dusty ground.

Each grasps his ma.s.sive club with added force,[42]

The folding mail is rent from either horse; It seemed as if the fearful day of doom Had, clothed in all its withering terrors, come.

Their shattered corslets yield defence no more-- At length they breathe, defiled with dust and gore; Their gasping throats with parching thirst are dry, Gloomy and fierce they roll the lowering eye, And frown defiance. Son and Father driven To mortal strife! are these the ways of Heaven?

The various swarms which boundless ocean breeds, The countless tribes which crop the flowery meads, All know their kind, but hapless man alone Has no instinctive feeling for his own!

Compell'd to pause, by every eye surveyed, Rustem, with shame, his wearied strength betrayed; Foil'd by a youth in battle's mid career, His groaning spirit almost sunk with fear; Recovering strength, again they fiercely meet; Again they struggle with redoubled heat; With bended bows they furious now contend; And feather'd shafts in rattling showers descend; Thick as autumnal leaves they strew the plain, Harmless their points, and all their fury vain.

And now they seize each other's girdle-band; Rustem, who, if he moved his iron hand, Could shake a mountain, and to whom a rock Seemed soft as wax, tried, with one mighty stroke, To hurl him thundering from his fiery steed, But Fate forbids the gallant youth should bleed; Finding his wonted nerves relaxed, amazed That hand he drops which never had been raised Uncrowned with victory, even when demons fought, And pauses, wildered with despairing thought.

Sohrab again springs with terrific grace, And lifts, from saddle-bow, his ponderous mace; With gather'd strength the quick-descending blow Wounds in its fall, and stuns the unwary foe; Then thus contemptuous: "All thy power is gone; Thy charger's strength exhausted as thy own; Thy bleeding wounds with pity I behold; O seek no more the combat of the bold!"

Rustem to this reproach made no reply, But stood confused--meanwhile, tumultuously The legions closed; with soul-appalling force, Troop rushed on troop, o'erwhelming man and horse; Sohrab, incensed, the Persian host engaged, Furious along the scattered lines he raged; Fierce as a wolf he rode on every side, The thirsty earth with streaming gore was dyed.

Midst the Turanians, then, the Champion sped, And like a tiger heaped the fields with dead.

But when the Monarch's danger struck his thought, Returning swift, the stripling youth he sought; Grieved to the soul, the mighty Champion view'd His hands and mail with Persian blood imbrued; And thus exclaimed with lion-voice--"O say, Why with the Persians dost thou war to-day?

Why not with me alone decide the fight, Thou'rt like a wolf that seek'st the fold by night."

To this Sohrab his proud a.s.sent expressed-- And Rustem, answering, thus the youth addressed.

"Night-shadows now are thickening o'er the plain, The morrow's sun must see our strife again; In wrestling let us then exert our might!"

He said, and eve's last glimmer sunk in night

Thus as the skies a deeper gloom displayed, The stripling's life was hastening into shade!

The gallant heroes to their tents retired, The sweets of rest their wearied limbs required: Sohrab, delighted with his brave career, Describes the fight in Human's anxious ear: Tells how he forced unnumbered Chiefs to yield, And stood himself the victor of the field!

"But let the morrow's dawn," he cried, "arrive, And not one Persian shall the day survive; Meanwhile let wine its strengthening balm impart, And add new zeal to every drooping heart."