New NaqqaliFereydoon and His Sons · A6.24
Kakouy Attacks the Iranians
A new champion from Zahhak’s line interrupts the campaign. Manuchehr’s personal combat tests the martial authority previously claimed in speech.
The chapter in five texts
| Text | Chapter treatment and distinctive choices |
|---|---|
| F&R English | Thirty-nine couplets retain the complete Kakouy interlude and its demanding single combat. |
| Moscow | P 128 note 20 registers the Kakouy battle as omitted from the continuous narrative and points to its transmission elsewhere. |
| Mohl | Pp 100–102 print the encounter and support the English chapter’s narrative substance. |
| Ganjoor | The captured sequence moves from the fortress capture to Salm’s flight; Kakouy has no poem-body chapter or intervening passage. |
| Khaleghi | Pp 148–150 retain Kakouy’s combat in the main narrative. Thus omission from Ganjoor is not evidence of omission from Khaleghi. |
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+
Then Gharan came and told the prince each deed,
The turns of battle and his hard-won speed.
Manuchehr blessed him: “May your honored place
Keep horse and saddle, gorz, and martial grace.
When you had gone, another army came,
Led by a youthful chief of battle-fame.
Kakouy, Zahhak’s grandson, bore command,
An avenger out of Gang Dezh-Hokht’s land.
One hundred thousand veteran riders massed,
All battle-tested through campaigns long past.
They struck our men; some lions of the fray
Were slain beneath their weapons that same day.
By that support Salm’s failing courage grew,
And once again his thoughts toward battle drew.
They call this Kakouy battle-div in name,
Strong-handed, fearless in the battle-flame.
I have not tested Kakouy in the field,
Nor weighed him by the blows that our gorz wield.
But when he turns again to face my line,
I shall weigh his strength and set it against mine.”
برو بر منوچهر کرد آفرین
که بی نام تو مباد تاب و گوپال و زین
از آن پس یکی نامور کینه خواه
به یاری برفتی به سلم سپاه
نبیره جهاندار ضحاک بود
شنیدم که کاکوی ناپاک بود
Selected Mohl p 100 · Kakouy’s arrival
11–17+
Gharan replied: “Who stands before your spear?
No man or beast could meet you without fear.
Even a nahang that has blocked your way
Would split its hide from terror that same day.
Who is this Kakouy? Let him prove his claim;
No man beneath the sky can match your fame.
Yet I will use clear judgment in this case,
So Dezh-Hokht sends no Kakouy to this place.”
Manuchehr said: “Do not disturb your heart;
You have already borne the harder part.
You led the army on the vengeance road,
And spent your strength beneath that heavy load.
Now battle calls on me to take the lead;
You rest and breathe; I shall answer to the need.”
بدو گفت بس نامور شهریار
که دل را بدین کار غمگین مدار
تو فرزند کین برده را ساختی
همه رنج بردن به ما ساختی
کنون گاه جنگ من آمد فراز
تو دم زن ای گرد گردنفراز
Selected Mohl p 100 · exchange before combat
18–27+
Then karnay and pipe sounded from the tent,
And through the ranks their brazen summons went.
From riders’ dust, tabiras, daylight died;
Earth turned to pitch, and ebony spread wide.
It seemed the diamond steel itself could speak,
While gorz and spear grew tongues amid the shriek.
The feathered arrows crowded all the height,
Like vultures wheeling hungry through the fight.
Blood clung to every hand that gripped a blade,
While crimson drops fell through the clouded shade.
Then earth appeared to heave and upward rise,
A mounting wave that threatened all the skies.
Then Kakouy roared, a battle-div in might,
And plunged among the warriors for the fight.
Manuchehr came, his Indian sword held high,
And strode to meet him underneath the sky.
Each gave a cry that seemed to split the height;
The troops around them trembled at the sight.
Like raging elephants they closed in fight,
Both girded hard for vengeance and for right.
برون رفت کاکوی با شاه غریب
تو گفتی دو پیل اندر آمد ز شیب
Selected Khaleghi p 149 · main text
28–34+
At Manuchehr’s belt Kakouy drove the spear;
Its force struck hard through all the armor near.
The Roman helmet rocked beneath the stroke;
His jowshan tore down to the belt, and broke.
The iron waist-belt showed beneath the tear;
The Shah stood fast and brought his sword to bear.
He struck at Kakouy’s neck in one fierce sweep,
And split the cuirass from the throat down deep.
Thus blade met spear until the hour of noon,
And neither yielded, nor would end it soon.
Then like two leopards they began to close,
And mixed the dust with blood beneath their blows.
When sunlight wheeled along the turning sphere,
The struggle passed all bounds as dusk drew near.
یکی نیزه زد بر کمربند شاه
بجنبید بر سرش رومی کلاه
زره با کمربند او بردرید
از آهن تن پاکش آمد پدید
یکی تیغ زد شاه بر گردنش
همه چاک شد جوشن اندر تنش
Selected Khaleghi pp 149–150
35–39+
The Shah grew straitened by the endless fight;
He pressed his thighs and reached with all his might.
He caught fierce Kakouy by the warrior’s belt,
And held him fast; no mercy then was dealt.
That elephant-bodied man he lifted high,
Clear from the saddle underneath the sky.
He hurled him wounded on the burning sand,
Then split his breast wide open, sword in hand.
Thus sharp steel claimed that Arab as its prey;
His mother bore him for so dark a day.
دل شاه از آن جنگ برگشت تنگ
بپیچید از آن و بیازید چنگ
کمربند کاکوی بگرفت خوار
ز زین برگسست آن تن پیلوار
بینداخت خسته بر آن گرم خاک
به شمشیر کردش برو سفت چاک
Selected Khaleghi p 150; compare Mohl pp 101–102
Narrative and poetic form
This is a decisive case for the project’s multi-text method. The English preserves a real transmitted episode, and Khaleghi’s presence alongside Mohl prevents a misleading shorthand in which every fuller narrative is assigned to one edition and every shorter one to another.
Couplet commentary
Quoted text · evidence · interpretation1–10Kakouy enters from the old enemy’s line
1–10
Then Gharan came and told the prince each deed,
The turns of battle and his hard-won speed.
Manuchehr blessed him: “May your honored place
Keep horse and saddle, gorz, and martial grace.
When you had gone, another army came,
Led by a youthful chief of battle-fame.
Kakouy, Zahhak’s grandson, bore command,
An avenger out of Gang Dezh-Hokht’s land.
One hundred thousand veteran riders massed,
All battle-tested through campaigns long past.
They struck our men; some lions of the fray
Were slain beneath their weapons that same day.
By that support Salm’s failing courage grew,
And once again his thoughts toward battle drew.
They call this Kakouy battle-div in name,
Strong-handed, fearless in the battle-flame.
I have not tested Kakouy in the field,
Nor weighed him by the blows that our gorz wield.
But when he turns again to face my line,
I shall weigh his strength and set it against mine.”
برو بر منوچهر کرد آفرین
که بی نام تو مباد تاب و گوپال و زین
از آن پس یکی نامور کینه خواه
به یاری برفتی به سلم سپاه
نبیره جهاندار ضحاک بود
شنیدم که کاکوی ناپاک بود
Selected Mohl p 100 · Kakouy’s arrival
Textual evidence
Mohl p 100 presents the returned Gharan and Manuchehr’s account of Kakouy, a descendant of Zahhak from Gang Dezh-Hokht. Khaleghi pp 148–149 retains the encounter in its main narrative. Ganjoor has no intervening Kakouy episode.
Moscow p 128 ↗ Moscow p 129 ↗ Mohl p 100 ↗ Mohl p 101 ↗ Mohl p 102 ↗ Khaleghi p 148 ↗ Khaleghi p 149 ↗ Khaleghi p 150 ↗
Interpretation
The English restores an attested narrative strand that connects the present war to the earlier defeated tyranny. “Battle-div” describes a human warrior’s ferocity; it does not make Kakouy a supernatural Div.
11–17The king takes the burden from his general
11–17
Gharan replied: “Who stands before your spear?
No man or beast could meet you without fear.
Even a nahang that has blocked your way
Would split its hide from terror that same day.
Who is this Kakouy? Let him prove his claim;
No man beneath the sky can match your fame.
Yet I will use clear judgment in this case,
So Dezh-Hokht sends no Kakouy to this place.”
Manuchehr said: “Do not disturb your heart;
You have already borne the harder part.
You led the army on the vengeance road,
And spent your strength beneath that heavy load.
Now battle calls on me to take the lead;
You rest and breathe; I shall answer to the need.”
بدو گفت بس نامور شهریار
که دل را بدین کار غمگین مدار
تو فرزند کین برده را ساختی
همه رنج بردن به ما ساختی
کنون گاه جنگ من آمد فراز
تو دم زن ای گرد گردنفراز
Selected Mohl p 100 · exchange before combat
Textual evidence
Mohl p 100 gives Gharan’s offer and Manuchehr’s response that Gharan has already borne enough of the difficult task.
Moscow p 128 ↗ Moscow p 129 ↗ Mohl p 100 ↗ Mohl p 101 ↗ Mohl p 102 ↗ Khaleghi p 148 ↗ Khaleghi p 149 ↗ Khaleghi p 150 ↗
Interpretation
The English makes command reciprocal rather than merely hierarchical. The king’s decision to fight expresses responsibility toward an exhausted subordinate as well as confidence in his own strength.
18–27A human warrior described with monstrous force
18–27
Then karnay and pipe sounded from the tent,
And through the ranks their brazen summons went.
From riders’ dust, tabiras, daylight died;
Earth turned to pitch, and ebony spread wide.
It seemed the diamond steel itself could speak,
While gorz and spear grew tongues amid the shriek.
The feathered arrows crowded all the height,
Like vultures wheeling hungry through the fight.
Blood clung to every hand that gripped a blade,
While crimson drops fell through the clouded shade.
Then earth appeared to heave and upward rise,
A mounting wave that threatened all the skies.
Then Kakouy roared, a battle-div in might,
And plunged among the warriors for the fight.
Manuchehr came, his Indian sword held high,
And strode to meet him underneath the sky.
Each gave a cry that seemed to split the height;
The troops around them trembled at the sight.
Like raging elephants they closed in fight,
Both girded hard for vengeance and for right.
برون رفت کاکوی با شاه غریب
تو گفتی دو پیل اندر آمد ز شیب
Selected Khaleghi p 149 · main text
Textual evidence
Mohl pp 100–101 and Khaleghi p 149 give the instruments, darkened air, arrows, blood and the two champions’ elephant-like encounter.
Moscow p 128 ↗ Moscow p 129 ↗ Mohl p 100 ↗ Mohl p 101 ↗ Mohl p 102 ↗ Khaleghi p 148 ↗ Khaleghi p 149 ↗ Khaleghi p 150 ↗
Interpretation
The figurative creatures intensify human combat. They should not be turned into literal transformations, and the two fighters’ opposing causes should not be collapsed merely because both are described in the same heroic idiom.
28–34Armor yields; the duel continues
28–34
At Manuchehr’s belt Kakouy drove the spear;
Its force struck hard through all the armor near.
The Roman helmet rocked beneath the stroke;
His jowshan tore down to the belt, and broke.
The iron waist-belt showed beneath the tear;
The Shah stood fast and brought his sword to bear.
He struck at Kakouy’s neck in one fierce sweep,
And split the cuirass from the throat down deep.
Thus blade met spear until the hour of noon,
And neither yielded, nor would end it soon.
Then like two leopards they began to close,
And mixed the dust with blood beneath their blows.
When sunlight wheeled along the turning sphere,
The struggle passed all bounds as dusk drew near.
یکی نیزه زد بر کمربند شاه
بجنبید بر سرش رومی کلاه
زره با کمربند او بردرید
از آهن تن پاکش آمد پدید
یکی تیغ زد شاه بر گردنش
همه چاک شد جوشن اندر تنش
Selected Khaleghi pp 149–150
Textual evidence
Khaleghi pp 149–150 and Mohl p 101 describe the spear at the belt, broken armor, answering sword-stroke and prolonged fight.
Moscow p 128 ↗ Moscow p 129 ↗ Mohl p 100 ↗ Mohl p 101 ↗ Mohl p 102 ↗ Khaleghi p 148 ↗ Khaleghi p 149 ↗ Khaleghi p 150 ↗
Interpretation
The English distinguishes damage to equipment from a decisive injury. The extended exchange makes Kakouy a credible danger; the eventual victory is not won simply because the enemy bears an evil pedigree.
35–39Strength resolves the duelEpisode has different editorial extent
35–39
The Shah grew straitened by the endless fight;
He pressed his thighs and reached with all his might.
He caught fierce Kakouy by the warrior’s belt,
And held him fast; no mercy then was dealt.
That elephant-bodied man he lifted high,
Clear from the saddle underneath the sky.
He hurled him wounded on the burning sand,
Then split his breast wide open, sword in hand.
Thus sharp steel claimed that Arab as its prey;
His mother bore him for so dark a day.
دل شاه از آن جنگ برگشت تنگ
بپیچید از آن و بیازید چنگ
کمربند کاکوی بگرفت خوار
ز زین برگسست آن تن پیلوار
بینداخت خسته بر آن گرم خاک
به شمشیر کردش برو سفت چاک
Selected Khaleghi p 150; compare Mohl pp 101–102
Textual evidence
Khaleghi p 150 and Mohl pp 101–102 end the fight with a belt-grip, lifting from the saddle and fatal sword action. Moscow p 128 note 20 refers to the Kakouy battle as an omitted episode in its continuous text rather than printing the complete combat there.
Moscow p 128 ↗ Moscow p 129 ↗ Mohl p 100 ↗ Mohl p 101 ↗ Mohl p 102 ↗ Khaleghi p 148 ↗ Khaleghi p 149 ↗ Khaleghi p 150 ↗
Interpretation
The English’s full chapter has Mohl and Khaleghi support, though it is absent from Ganjoor and from Moscow’s continuous narrative at this point. This is an important difference of extent, not grounds for treating the chapter as an English invention.