
Bijan Heaves Houman Aloft
From C3.15, Bijan Slays Houman. It illustrates C3.15.4–9:
- C3.15.4They strained with strength and every wrestler’s art,Till heaven’s hidden craft revealed its part.
- C3.15.5Though Houman was the stronger of the two,When fortune turns, what can mere strength then do?
- C3.15.6With leopard strength, Bijan held his man, braced,And reached from head to grip him round the waist.
- C3.15.7His left hand gripped the neck, his right the thigh;He bent that camel’s back and heaved him high.
- C3.15.8He dashed him down and laid his rival low,Then drew his khanjar, swift as winds that blow.
- C3.15.9He drove the khanjar in and sheared the head,Then cast him like a dragon, lifeless, dead.
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