Fereydoon and His Sons · A6.12

Iraj Is Slain

Iraj’s renunciation fails against a hatred that no concession can satisfy. The murder makes the limits of political and familial speech brutally visible.

F&R English · 47 couplets · 6 commentary entries

Parallel text ↓Commentary ↓

The chapter in five texts

Text	Chapter treatment and distinctive choices
F&R English	Forty-seven couplets preserve Iraj’s full moral appeal, the ant argument and the distinction between murderer and co-conspirator.
Moscow	The murder is a central main-text event; additional pleading material requires local distinction from the shorter reference.
Mohl	The inspected pp 79–81 carry the murder; p 80 supports the ant plea absent from Ganjoor.
Ganjoor	Sh10 has 43 couplets. It carries the murder and narrator’s lament but has no separate ant couplet.
Khaleghi	P 120 retains the ant plea in the main text with مکش موری, “do not kill an ant,” rather than Mohl’s میازار موری, “do not harm an ant.”

Parallel text

English left · Persian right. Ganjoor is the reference except where a row names a printed source. Select a number to open the relevant note. G identifiers distinguish digital sections across chapter boundaries.

1–10+

When dawn drew back the curtain from the sun,

The whitening light broke sleep for everyone.

Those two vain brothers warmed their hearts to crime,

And cast off shame at dawn’s appointed time.

They rose and strode together from their place,

And toward the screened pavilion set their pace.

When Iraj saw them coming on the way,

His heart brimmed love; he ran to them that day.

All three together entered in the tent,

And spoke of why they came and what it meant.

Tur said, “You are the youngest; why be king,

And wear the crown that sovereign honors bring?

Iran and Kayanian seat are yours to keep,

While I stand armed where Turkic borders sweep.

Our elder suffers far in Khavar’s land;

The crown is yours, with treasure at your hand.

Thus did our world-seeking father divide

The world and turn it toward the youngest side.”

Iraj heard Tur, then framed his answer clear;

A purer answer rose for all to hear.

چو برداشت پرده ز پیش آفتاب

سپیده برآمد بپالود خواب

دو بیهوده را دل بدان کار گرم

که دیده بشویند هر دو ز شرم

برفتند هر دو گرازان ز جای

نهادند سر سوی پرده‌سرای

چو از خیمه ایرج به ره بنگرید

پر از مهر دل پیش ایشان دوید

برفتند با او به خیمه درون

سخن بیشتر بر چرا رفت و چون

بدو گفت تور ار تو از ما کهی

چرا برنهادی کلاه مهی؟

ترا باید ایران و تخت کیان

مرا بر در ترک بسته میان؟

برادر که مهتر به خاور به رنج

به سر بر ترا افسر و زیر گنج؟

چنین بخششی کان جهان‌جوی کرد

همه سوی کهتر پسر روی‌کرد

چو از تور بشنید ایرج سخن

یکی پاک‌تر پاسخ افگند بن

Ganjoor · f10:1-9, f10:11

11–20+

“Great brother, if you seek your heart’s true ease,

Then seek repose and let your anger cease.

No crown, no royal seat, no lofty name;

No Iranian army, no great fame.

I want no Iran, Khavar, Chin, or land,

No kingship, no broad world beneath my hand.

Greatness whose end is darkness earns our tears;

Such height is grief when final night appears.

Though heaven lift your saddle to the sky,

A brick will be your pillow when you die.

Though once Iran’s high seat lay under me,

Of crown and royal seat I now am free.

I yield to you the crown and royal seal;

Bear me no rancor; let this quarrel heal.

Between us I seek neither war nor shame;

Do not torment the spirit for my name.

May Time not bring you sorrow for my sake,

Though I live far from every path you take.

I claim no more than younger brother’s part;

Let manly conduct, not greed, command my heart.”

نه تاج کیان مانم اکنون نه گاه

نه نام بزرگی نه ایران سپاه

بدو گفت کای مهتر کام‌جو‌ی

اگر کام دل خواهی‌، آرام جوی

من ایران نخواهم نه خاور نه چین

نه شاهی نه گسترده روی زمین

بزرگی که فرجام او تیرگی‌ست

بر آن مهتری بر بباید گریست

سپهر بلند ار کشد زین تو

سرانجام‌، خشت است بالین تو

مرا تخت ایران اگر بود زیر

کنون گشتم از تاج و از تخت سیر

سپردم شما را کلاه و نگین

بدین روی با من مدارید کین

مرا با شما نیست ننگ و نبرد

روان را نباید برین رنجه کرد

زمانه نخواهم به آزار‌تان

اگر دور مانم ز دیدار‌تان

جز از کهتری نیست آیین من

مباد آز و گردن‌کشی دین من

Ganjoor · f10:10, f10:12-20

21–29+

Tur heard his brother; anger creased his brow;

No peace could find a welcome in him now.

Iraj’s words found nothing he could prize;

For truth held little value in his eyes.

In rage Tur struck his foot against the chair,

Then sprang upright, his fury open, bare.

He seized the heavy chair of beaten gold,

And raised it in his hands with savage hold.

He brought it down upon the prince’s head;

And Iraj begged for life, then pleading said:

“Have you no fear of God before your eyes?

No shame before our father, old and wise?

Do not kill me; God will turn the course

Against you for my blood with righteous force.

Do not join the ranks of those who slay;

Once I am gone, no trace of me will stay.

Would you approve, while you still draw your breath,

Of taking life and sending one to death?

چو بشنید تور از برادر چنین

به ابرو ز خشم اندر آورد چین

نیامدش گفتار ایرج پسند

نبد راستی نزد او ارجمند

به کرسی به خشم اندر آورد پای

همی‌گفت و برجست هزمان ز جای

یکایک برآمد ز جای نشست

گرفت آن گران کرسی زر به‌دست

بزد بر سر خسرو تاجدار

از او خواست ایرج به جان زینهار

نیایدت گفت ایچ بیم از خدای؟

نه شرم از پدر خود همین است رای

مکش مر مرا که‌ت سرانجام کار

بپیچاند از خون من کردگار

مکن خویشتن را ز مردم‌کشان

کزین پس نیابی ز من خود نشان

Ganjoor · f10:21-28

30+

Do not harm the ant that bears its grain;

It loves sweet life and shrinks from death and pain.

میازار موری که دانه کش است

که جان دارد و جان شیرین خوش است

Mohl p 80 · ant couplet

31–39+

I shall take one small corner for my share,

And by my labor gather needed fare.

Why gird yourself to spill your brother’s blood?

Why drown our aged father in grief’s flood?

You sought the world; the world is yours today;

Spill no blood; do not fight with God this way.”

Tur heard, but not one answering word was said;

Rage filled his heart and wind possessed his head.

He drew from his boot a water-hued blade;

A shroud of blood across Iraj was laid.

That poison-bright and sharpened khanjar tore

The Kayanian breast and opened up its core.

The slender cypress toppled to the earth;

The royal girdle broke and lost its worth.

Blood streamed across his pomegranate face;

The famed young sovereign fell from life’s embrace.

With khanjar Tur then cut off his crowned head,

From elephant-like body drenched in red.

بسنده کنم زین جهان گوشه‌ای

به کوشش فراز آورم توشه‌ای

به خون برادر چه بندی کمر؟

چه سوزی دل پیر گشته پدر؟

جهان خواستی یافتی خون مریز

مکن با جهاندار یزدان ستیز

سخن را چو بشنید پاسخ نداد

همان گفتن آمد همان سرد باد

یکی خنجر آبگون برکشید

سراپای او چادر خون کشید

بدان تیز زهر‌آبگون خنجر‌ش

همی‌کرد چاک آن کیانی برش

فرود آمد از پای سرو سهی

گسست آن کمرگاه شاهنشهی

روان خون از آن چهرهٔ ارغوان

شد آن نامور شهریار جوان

سر تاجور ز آن تن پیلوار

به خنجر جدا کرد و برگشت کار

Ganjoor · f10:29-36, f10:39

40–47+

O world, you reared him cradled at your side,

Then gave his precious life no place to hide.

I do not know whom secretly you prize;

Your open deeds draw tears from mortal eyes.

You too, old man, whose wits are worn and thin,

Why grieve for worldly things and burn within?

When vengeance drives you blindly on to kill,

Take these two tyrants as a warning still.

With musk and ambergris they filled the head;

To aged Fereydoon the gift was sped.

“Here is the head you cherished and adored,

Through him ancestral crown was once restored.

Now give him crown or throne; the deed is done:

The Kayanian shade has left its son.”

From that grim place the two unjust withdrew;

One rode to Rum, one Chinward out of view.

جهانا بپروردیش در کنار

وز آن پس ندادی به جان زینهار

نهانی ندانم ترا دوست کیست

بدین آشکارت بباید گریست

بیاگند مغز‌ش به مشک و عبیر

فرستاد نزد جهان‌بخش پیر

چنین گفت کاینت سر آن نیاز

که تاج نیاگان بدو گشت باز

کنون خواه تاجش ده و خواه تخت

شد آن سایه‌گستر نیازی درخت

برفتند باز آن دو بیداد شوم

یکی سوی ترک و یکی سوی روم

Ganjoor · f10:37-38, f10:40-43

Narrative and poetic form

The English’s added space is most effective as a sequence of failed appeals. The golden chair and boot-hidden blade make the catastrophe physical, while the ant argument states the moral premise that the killers refuse.

Couplet commentary

Quoted text · evidence · interpretation

1–10An accusation after a false welcome

1–10

When dawn drew back the curtain from the sun,

The whitening light broke sleep for everyone.

Those two vain brothers warmed their hearts to crime,

And cast off shame at dawn’s appointed time.

They rose and strode together from their place,

And toward the screened pavilion set their pace.

When Iraj saw them coming on the way,

His heart brimmed love; he ran to them that day.

All three together entered in the tent,

And spoke of why they came and what it meant.

Tur said, “You are the youngest; why be king,

And wear the crown that sovereign honors bring?

Iran and Kayanian seat are yours to keep,

While I stand armed where Turkic borders sweep.

Our elder suffers far in Khavar’s land;

The crown is yours, with treasure at your hand.

Thus did our world-seeking father divide

The world and turn it toward the youngest side.”

Iraj heard Tur, then framed his answer clear;

A purer answer rose for all to hear.

چو برداشت پرده ز پیش آفتاب

سپیده برآمد بپالود خواب

دو بیهوده را دل بدان کار گرم

که دیده بشویند هر دو ز شرم

برفتند هر دو گرازان ز جای

نهادند سر سوی پرده‌سرای

چو از خیمه ایرج به ره بنگرید

پر از مهر دل پیش ایشان دوید

برفتند با او به خیمه درون

سخن بیشتر بر چرا رفت و چون

بدو گفت تور ار تو از ما کهی

چرا برنهادی کلاه مهی؟

ترا باید ایران و تخت کیان

مرا بر در ترک بسته میان؟

برادر که مهتر به خاور به رنج

به سر بر ترا افسر و زیر گنج؟

چنین بخششی کان جهان‌جوی کرد

همه سوی کهتر پسر روی‌کرد

چو از تور بشنید ایرج سخن

یکی پاک‌تر پاسخ افگند بن

Ganjoor · f10:1-9, f10:11

Textual evidence

The brothers approach at dawn; Iraj runs lovingly to meet them. Tur then indicts the territorial division.

Interpretation

The English retains the asymmetry of intent. Iraj does not enter a fair contest about shares: one party is still attempting reconciliation while the others have already planned a killing.

Return to parallel text

11–20Renunciation without safety

11–20

“Great brother, if you seek your heart’s true ease,

Then seek repose and let your anger cease.

No crown, no royal seat, no lofty name;

No Iranian army, no great fame.

I want no Iran, Khavar, Chin, or land,

No kingship, no broad world beneath my hand.

Greatness whose end is darkness earns our tears;

Such height is grief when final night appears.

Though heaven lift your saddle to the sky,

A brick will be your pillow when you die.

Though once Iran’s high seat lay under me,

Of crown and royal seat I now am free.

I yield to you the crown and royal seal;

Bear me no rancor; let this quarrel heal.

Between us I seek neither war nor shame;

Do not torment the spirit for my name.

May Time not bring you sorrow for my sake,

Though I live far from every path you take.

I claim no more than younger brother’s part;

Let manly conduct, not greed, command my heart.”

نه تاج کیان مانم اکنون نه گاه

نه نام بزرگی نه ایران سپاه

بدو گفت کای مهتر کام‌جو‌ی

اگر کام دل خواهی‌، آرام جوی

من ایران نخواهم نه خاور نه چین

نه شاهی نه گسترده روی زمین

بزرگی که فرجام او تیرگی‌ست

بر آن مهتری بر بباید گریست

سپهر بلند ار کشد زین تو

سرانجام‌، خشت است بالین تو

مرا تخت ایران اگر بود زیر

کنون گشتم از تاج و از تخت سیر

سپردم شما را کلاه و نگین

بدین روی با من مدارید کین

مرا با شما نیست ننگ و نبرد

روان را نباید برین رنجه کرد

زمانه نخواهم به آزار‌تان

اگر دور مانم ز دیدار‌تان

جز از کهتری نیست آیین من

مباد آز و گردن‌کشی دین من

Ganjoor · f10:10, f10:12-20

Textual evidence

Iraj offers to relinquish Iran, China, the West, crown and arms, preferring life and peace to royal rivalry.

Interpretation

The offer removes the stated material grievance, exposing the deeper drive to destroy the person. The verse’s accumulated negatives are functional: each abandoned possession leaves less excuse for violence.

Return to parallel text

21–29The chair becomes a weapon

21–29

Tur heard his brother; anger creased his brow;

No peace could find a welcome in him now.

Iraj’s words found nothing he could prize;

For truth held little value in his eyes.

In rage Tur struck his foot against the chair,

Then sprang upright, his fury open, bare.

He seized the heavy chair of beaten gold,

And raised it in his hands with savage hold.

He brought it down upon the prince’s head;

And Iraj begged for life, then pleading said:

“Have you no fear of God before your eyes?

No shame before our father, old and wise?

Do not kill me; God will turn the course

Against you for my blood with righteous force.

Do not join the ranks of those who slay;

Once I am gone, no trace of me will stay.

Would you approve, while you still draw your breath,

Of taking life and sending one to death?

چو بشنید تور از برادر چنین

به ابرو ز خشم اندر آورد چین

نیامدش گفتار ایرج پسند

نبد راستی نزد او ارجمند

به کرسی به خشم اندر آورد پای

همی‌گفت و برجست هزمان ز جای

یکایک برآمد ز جای نشست

گرفت آن گران کرسی زر به‌دست

بزد بر سر خسرو تاجدار

از او خواست ایرج به جان زینهار

نیایدت گفت ایچ بیم از خدای؟

نه شرم از پدر خود همین است رای

مکش مر مرا که‌ت سرانجام کار

بپیچاند از خون من کردگار

مکن خویشتن را ز مردم‌کشان

کزین پس نیابی ز من خود نشان

Ganjoor · f10:21-28

Textual evidence

The source turns from argument to the golden seat as a weapon; Iraj pleads for life even without sovereignty.

Interpretation

The royal object used to strike him makes the crime an inversion of kingship. The English’s direct speech keeps Iraj a moral agent to the end, not a silent emblem of innocence.

Return to parallel text

30The ant and the right to livePrinted support; absent from digital reference

Do not harm the ant that bears its grain;

It loves sweet life and shrinks from death and pain.

میازار موری که دانه کش است

که جان دارد و جان شیرین خوش است

Mohl p 80 · ant couplet

Textual evidence

Mohl p 80 prints the ant couplet within Iraj’s plea. It has no separate couplet in the captured Ganjoor sh10. Khaleghi p 120 also retains the small-creature plea in the main text, but reads “Do not kill the little ant that gathers sustenance.” This is a local wording difference within a shared appeal, not general omission of the appeal from the printed editions.

Moscow p 104 ↗ Moscow p 105 ↗ Moscow p 106 ↗ Moscow p 107 ↗ Mohl p 79 ↗ Mohl p 80 ↗ Mohl p 81 ↗ Khaleghi p 118 ↗ Khaleghi p 119 ↗ Khaleghi p 120 ↗ Khaleghi p 121 ↗ Khaleghi p 122 ↗

Interpretation

The movement from a prince’s life to an ant’s life gives the plea universal reach: power does not create the basic value of living. The English’s inclusion has textual support, whatever judgment a future detailed transmission study may reach.

Return to parallel text

31–39Tur kills; both brothers bear responsibility

31–39

I shall take one small corner for my share,

And by my labor gather needed fare.

Why gird yourself to spill your brother’s blood?

Why drown our aged father in grief’s flood?

You sought the world; the world is yours today;

Spill no blood; do not fight with God this way.”

Tur heard, but not one answering word was said;

Rage filled his heart and wind possessed his head.

He drew from his boot a water-hued blade;

A shroud of blood across Iraj was laid.

That poison-bright and sharpened khanjar tore

The Kayanian breast and opened up its core.

The slender cypress toppled to the earth;

The royal girdle broke and lost its worth.

Blood streamed across his pomegranate face;

The famed young sovereign fell from life’s embrace.

With khanjar Tur then cut off his crowned head,

From elephant-like body drenched in red.

بسنده کنم زین جهان گوشه‌ای

به کوشش فراز آورم توشه‌ای

به خون برادر چه بندی کمر؟

چه سوزی دل پیر گشته پدر؟

جهان خواستی یافتی خون مریز

مکن با جهاندار یزدان ستیز

سخن را چو بشنید پاسخ نداد

همان گفتن آمد همان سرد باد

یکی خنجر آبگون برکشید

سراپای او چادر خون کشید

بدان تیز زهر‌آبگون خنجر‌ش

همی‌کرد چاک آن کیانی برش

فرود آمد از پای سرو سهی

گسست آن کمرگاه شاهنشهی

روان خون از آن چهرهٔ ارغوان

شد آن نامور شهریار جوان

سر تاجور ز آن تن پیلوار

به خنجر جدا کرد و برگشت کار

Ganjoor · f10:29-36, f10:39

Textual evidence

The boot-drawn blade, final attack, severing of the head and preparation of the head for dispatch complete the murder. Several actions are expanded in English.

Interpretation

The narrative identifies Tur as the immediate killer. Salm’s prior design and participation remain part of the crime. Embalming or perfuming the head prepares a terrible message; it is not an act of compassion that mitigates the killing.

Return to parallel text

40–47The narrator’s judgment

40–47

O world, you reared him cradled at your side,

Then gave his precious life no place to hide.

I do not know whom secretly you prize;

Your open deeds draw tears from mortal eyes.

You too, old man, whose wits are worn and thin,

Why grieve for worldly things and burn within?

When vengeance drives you blindly on to kill,

Take these two tyrants as a warning still.

With musk and ambergris they filled the head;

To aged Fereydoon the gift was sped.

“Here is the head you cherished and adored,

Through him ancestral crown was once restored.

Now give him crown or throne; the deed is done:

The Kayanian shade has left its son.”

From that grim place the two unjust withdrew;

One rode to Rum, one Chinward out of view.

جهانا بپروردیش در کنار

وز آن پس ندادی به جان زینهار

نهانی ندانم ترا دوست کیست

بدین آشکارت بباید گریست

بیاگند مغز‌ش به مشک و عبیر

فرستاد نزد جهان‌بخش پیر

چنین گفت کاینت سر آن نیاز

که تاج نیاگان بدو گشت باز

کنون خواه تاجش ده و خواه تخت

شد آن سایه‌گستر نیازی درخت

برفتند باز آن دو بیداد شوم

یکی سوی ترک و یکی سوی روم

Ganjoor · f10:37-38, f10:40-43

Textual evidence

The closing address turns to the unfaithful world and records the dispatch of the head. English gives the curse and its aftermath additional scope.

G f10 37 ↗ G f10 38 ↗ G f10 40 ↗ G f10 41 ↗ G f10 42 ↗ G f10 43 ↗ Moscow p 104 ↗ Moscow p 105 ↗ Moscow p 106 ↗ Moscow p 107 ↗ Mohl p 79 ↗ Mohl p 80 ↗ Mohl p 81 ↗ Khaleghi p 118 ↗ Khaleghi p 119 ↗ Khaleghi p 120 ↗ Khaleghi p 121 ↗ Khaleghi p 122 ↗

Interpretation

The lament is not speech continuing from the now-dead Iraj. Its shift of speaker enlarges a family crime into a question about worldly justice without erasing the named killers’ responsibility.

Return to parallel text

Chapter source record

English original ↗ Ganjoor f10 ↗ Moscow p 104 ↗ Moscow p 105 ↗ Moscow p 106 ↗ Moscow p 107 ↗ Mohl p 79 ↗ Mohl p 80 ↗ Mohl p 81 ↗ Khaleghi p 118 ↗ Khaleghi p 119 ↗ Khaleghi p 120 ↗ Khaleghi p 121 ↗ Khaleghi p 122 ↗