Zal and Rudabeh · A8.12

Sahm Comes to Manuchehr

A champion’s triumphant report becomes the prelude to an order against a whole lineage. Military service makes the coming conflict of obligations sharper.

F&R English · 57 couplets · 6 commentary entries

Parallel text ↓Commentary ↓

The chapter in five texts

Text	Chapter treatment and distinctive choices
F&R English	Fifty-seven couplets retain a fuller campaign report and the royal command that creates a collective danger.
Moscow	Pp 194–198 retain the audience; substantial battle narrative at pp 194–197 is bracketed rather than simply absent.
Mohl	Pp 150–152 support the added genealogy and larger army figure in the retrospective report.
Ganjoor	Sh14.36–85 provides the shorter continuous report and the same destructive command.
Khaleghi	The audience and command are consulted within pp 222–226, with critical presentation distinct from the larger transmitted narrative.

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+

Sahm reached the court, dismounted, bowing low,

And kissed the ground before the Shah’s bright glow.

Manuchehr rose from ivory carved and white,

His ruby crown above him burning bright.

He seated Sahm beside him, face to face,

And showed him every mark of royal grace.

He questioned Sahm with anxious, searching care,

And asked what news of war he came to share:

“Tell me of war, of Gorgasaran’s domain,

Of hostile armies gathered on the plain,

Of Mazandaran’s Divs, their strength and art,

Speak fully now, conceal no single part.”

The chief replied: “Live long, victorious king!

May evil never brush you with its wing.

I marched against those fierce and dreadful lands,

Where lion-like they fight with savage hands.

More swift than Tazi horses in their flight,

More brave than Iran’s champions in the fight.

The troops whom men call Sagzars barred our way,

Like fighting leopards eager for the fray.

چو آمد به نزدیکی بارگاه

پیاده شد و راه بگشاد شاه

چو شاه جهاندار بگشاد روی

زمین را ببوسید و شد پیش اوی

منوچهر برخاست از تخت عاج

ز یاقوت رخشنده بر سرش تاج

بر خویش بر تخت بنشاختش

چنان چون سزا بود بنواختش

وزان گرگ‌ساران جنگاور‌ان

وزان نره دیوان مازندران

بپرسید و بسیار تیمار خورد

سپهبد سخن یک به یک یاد کرد

که نوشه زی ای شاه تا جاودان

ز جان تو کوته بد بدگمان

برفتم بران شهر دیوان نر

نه دیوان که شیران جنگی به بر

که از تازی اسپان تکاور‌ترند

ز گردان ایران دلاور‌ترند

سپاهی که سگسار خوانندشان

پلنگان جنگی نمایندشان

Ganjoor · m14:36-45

11–25+

When news of my approach among them spread,

My very name drove reason from each head.

They raised a battle cry within the town,

Then left its walls and came to strike us down.

From ridge to ridge their countless troops were massed;

The very sun grew dark, its brightness passed.

They came upon us wild, without restraint,

And fear ran through my ranks; their hearts grew faint.

I thought: ‘How shall I bear this crushing blow?’

And saw no path, no refuge from this foe.

I shouted to my shaken ranks aloud,

And called them back before the hostile crowd.

I raised my hundred-man gorz for the fray,

And urged my iron charger on its way.

I rode among them, striking head on head,

And filled their shaken ranks with sudden dread.

Then came their chieftain, Kakouy, fierce and tall,

Like some dark wolf that howls the slaughter’s call;

Through Salm he sprang; through Zahhak came his dam,

And proud chiefs’ heads were dust before that man.

His army swarmed like ants and locusts near;

No plain, no hill, no rocky height stood clear.

When from that mass the heavy dust spread wide,

The color left the champions at my side.

Again I raised that heavy gorz in sight,

And held my shaken army for the fight.

I roared aloud, my voice across the plain;

The earth beneath them turned like grinding grain.

Then courage found its way to every heart,

And all resolved to take the battle’s part.

ز من چون بدیشان رسید آگهی

از آواز من مغزشان شد تهی

به شهر اندرون نعره برداشتند

ازان پس همه شهر بگذاشتند

همه پیش من جنگ جوی آمدند

چنان خیره و پوی پوی آمدند

سپه جنب جنبان شد و روز تار

پس اندر فراز آمد و پیش غار

نبیره جهاندار سام بزرگ

به پیش سپاه اندر آمد چو گرگ

سپاهی به کردار مور و ملخ

نبد دشت پیدا نه کوه و نه شخ

چو برخاست زان لشکر گشن گرد

رخ نامداران ما گشت زرد

من این گرز یک زخم برداشتم

سپه را هم آنجای بگذاشتم

خروشی خروشیدم از پشت زین

که چون آسیا شد بریشان زمین

دل آمد سپه را همه بازجای

سراسر سوی رزم کردند رای

Ganjoor · m14:46-55

26–36+

When Kakouy heard my roar across the field,

And knew my gorz, he would not turn or yield.

He came like raging elephant to stand,

A long kamand held ready in his hand.

He cast it wide, but I was swift to turn,

And slipped aside while still his eyes did burn.

I took the great Kayanian bow to hold,

And set steel-headed arrows, keen and cold.

I loosed the eagle-arrow from the string,

Then rained down fire with every feathered wing.

His head seemed like an anvil under rain;

The arrows stitched his helmet to his brain.

Through dust he charged, an elephant drunk with fight,

An Indian sword was flashing in the light.

So fierce he seemed in rushing to the strife,

A mountain would have begged him for its life.

I drew him on, withdrew a measured pace,

Then seized him firmly, face to furious face.

I gripped his girdle, wrenched him from his place,

Like lion seizing quarry in the chase.

Like raging elephant I struck him down,

And all his bones were shattered on the ground.

چو بشنید کاکوی آواز من

چنان زخم سرباز کوپال من

بیامد به نزدیک من جنگ ساز

چو پیل ژیان با کمند دراز

مرا خواست کارد به خم کمند

چو دیدم خمیدم ز راه گزند

کمان کیانی گرفتم به چنگ

به پیکان پولاد و تیر خدنگ

عقاب تکاور برانگیختم

چو آتش بدو بر تبر ریختم

گمانم چنان بد که سندان سرش

که شد دوخته مغز تا مغفرش

نگه کردم از گرد چون پیل مست

برآمد یکی تیغ هندی به دست

چنان آمدم شهریارا گمان

کزو کوه زنهار خواهد بجان

وی اندر شتاب و من اندر درنگ

همی جستمش تا کی آید به چنگ

چو آمد به نزدیک من سرفراز

من از چرمه چنگال کردم دراز

گرفتم کمربند مرد دلیر

ز زین برگسستم بکردار شیر

زدم بر زمین بر چو پیل ژیان

بدین آهنین دست و گردی میان

Ganjoor · m14:56-67

37–44+

When thus their chief was hurled in shameful fall,

His army turned and fled beyond recall.

Through slope and plain, through wilderness and hill,

They scattered into bands and fled on still.

Twelve thousand, horse and foot, lay dead in sight;

We counted them when ended was the fight.

Three hundred thousand formed their gathered might,

Yet what are foes against your fortune’s light?

What stands against the fortune you command,

When I but serve the purpose of your hand?”

The Shah rejoiced to hear that victory’s boon,

And raised his shining crown toward the moon.

He spread the wine and feast in glad array,

And saw the world washed clean of foes that day.

That night was spent in merriment and song,

In wine and joy that carried hearts along.

چو افگنده شد شاه زین گونه خوار

سپه روی برگشت از کارزار

نشیب و فراز بیابان و کوه

به هر سو شده مردمان هم گروه

سوار و پیاده ده و دو هزار

فگنده پدید آمد اندر شمار

چو بشنید گفتار سالار شاه

برافراخت تا ماه فرخ کلاه

چو روز از شب آمد بکوشش ستوه

ستوهی گرفته فرو شد به کوه

می و مجلس آراست شد شادمان

جهان پاک دید از بد بدگمان

به بگماز کوتاه کردند شب

به یاد سپهبد گشادند لب

Ganjoor · m14:68-74

45–53+

At dawn the court was opened to the light;

Sahm stood before the throne in royal sight.

Peerless Sahm blessed the Shah with words of grace,

And sought to speak of Mehrab and Zal’s case.

But Manuchehr forestalled the words he planned,

And turned the speech at once to his command:

“Go with my chosen chiefs without delay;

Throughout Hind then let fire mark your way.

Burn Mehrab’s palace, Kabul with its wall;

Let none of dragon-seed escape at all.

From time to time that blood will raise its cry,

And war and tumult fill the earth thereby.

Kill all who stand connected to his line,

The nobles bound to him by bond and sign.

And all who spring from his accursed seed,

Or trace to sorcerer Zahhak their breed.

Sever their heads, and cleanse the earth’s domain

Of Zahhak’s kin and all his tainted strain.”

چو شب روز شد پردهٔ بارگاه

گشادند و دادند زی شاه راه

بیامد سپهدار سام سترگ

به نزد منوچهر شاه بزرگ

چنین گفت با سام شاه جهان

کز ایدر برو با گزیده مهان

به هندوستان آتش اندر فروز

همه کاخ مهراب و کابل بسوز

نباید که او یابد از بد رها

که او ماند از بچهٔ اژدها

زمان تا زمان زو برآید خروش

شود رام گیتی پر از جنگ و جوش

هر آنکس که پیوستهٔ او بود

بزرگان که در دستهٔ او بود

سر از تن جدا کن زمین را بشوی

ز پیوند ضحاک و خویشان اوی

Ganjoor · m14:75-82

54–57+

The Shah showed such sharp anger in his face,

Sahm dared not add one word within that place.

He kissed the throne, his face against its base,

Before the vengeful Shah, in fear’s embrace.

He answered, “I will do as you require,

And clear the Shah’s heart of avenging fire.”

Then homeward with his army Sahm was bound,

On wind-foot mounts that scarcely touched the ground.

چنین داد پاسخ که ایدون کنم

که کین از دل شاه بیرون کنم

ببوسید تخت و بمالید روی

بران نامور مهر انگشت اوی

سوی خانه بنهاد سر با سپاه

بدان باد پایان جوینده راه

Ganjoor · m14:83-85

Narrative and poetic form

The English makes an important structural connection: proven service precedes an order that the same champion must learn to question. Its fuller martial account increases the cost of dissent without making the order just.

Couplet commentary

Quoted text · evidence · interpretation

1–10Recognition followed by a report

1–10

Sahm reached the court, dismounted, bowing low,

And kissed the ground before the Shah’s bright glow.

Manuchehr rose from ivory carved and white,

His ruby crown above him burning bright.

He seated Sahm beside him, face to face,

And showed him every mark of royal grace.

He questioned Sahm with anxious, searching care,

And asked what news of war he came to share:

“Tell me of war, of Gorgasaran’s domain,

Of hostile armies gathered on the plain,

Of Mazandaran’s Divs, their strength and art,

Speak fully now, conceal no single part.”

The chief replied: “Live long, victorious king!

May evil never brush you with its wing.

I marched against those fierce and dreadful lands,

Where lion-like they fight with savage hands.

More swift than Tazi horses in their flight,

More brave than Iran’s champions in the fight.

The troops whom men call Sagzars barred our way,

Like fighting leopards eager for the fray.

چو آمد به نزدیکی بارگاه

پیاده شد و راه بگشاد شاه

چو شاه جهاندار بگشاد روی

زمین را ببوسید و شد پیش اوی

منوچهر برخاست از تخت عاج

ز یاقوت رخشنده بر سرش تاج

بر خویش بر تخت بنشاختش

چنان چون سزا بود بنواختش

وزان گرگ‌ساران جنگاور‌ان

وزان نره دیوان مازندران

بپرسید و بسیار تیمار خورد

سپهبد سخن یک به یک یاد کرد

که نوشه زی ای شاه تا جاودان

ز جان تو کوته بد بدگمان

برفتم بران شهر دیوان نر

نه دیوان که شیران جنگی به بر

که از تازی اسپان تکاور‌ترند

ز گردان ایران دلاور‌ترند

سپاهی که سگسار خوانندشان

پلنگان جنگی نمایندشان

Ganjoor · m14:36-45

Textual evidence

The king seats Sahm beside him and asks about the campaign. Sahm says the enemies are not merely Divs but fighters comparable to lions, faster than horses and braver than Iranian warriors.

Interpretation

The English preserves the praise of hostile strength within the champion’s own report. Div-language should not erase the passage’s explicit recognition of formidable opponents.

Return to parallel text

11–25A fuller account changes the campaign’s texture

11–25

When news of my approach among them spread,

My very name drove reason from each head.

They raised a battle cry within the town,

Then left its walls and came to strike us down.

From ridge to ridge their countless troops were massed;

The very sun grew dark, its brightness passed.

They came upon us wild, without restraint,

And fear ran through my ranks; their hearts grew faint.

I thought: ‘How shall I bear this crushing blow?’

And saw no path, no refuge from this foe.

I shouted to my shaken ranks aloud,

And called them back before the hostile crowd.

I raised my hundred-man gorz for the fray,

And urged my iron charger on its way.

I rode among them, striking head on head,

And filled their shaken ranks with sudden dread.

Then came their chieftain, Kakouy, fierce and tall,

Like some dark wolf that howls the slaughter’s call;

Through Salm he sprang; through Zahhak came his dam,

And proud chiefs’ heads were dust before that man.

His army swarmed like ants and locusts near;

No plain, no hill, no rocky height stood clear.

When from that mass the heavy dust spread wide,

The color left the champions at my side.

Again I raised that heavy gorz in sight,

And held my shaken army for the fight.

I roared aloud, my voice across the plain;

The earth beneath them turned like grinding grain.

Then courage found its way to every heart,

And all resolved to take the battle’s part.

ز من چون بدیشان رسید آگهی

از آواز من مغزشان شد تهی

به شهر اندرون نعره برداشتند

ازان پس همه شهر بگذاشتند

همه پیش من جنگ جوی آمدند

چنان خیره و پوی پوی آمدند

سپه جنب جنبان شد و روز تار

پس اندر فراز آمد و پیش غار

نبیره جهاندار سام بزرگ

به پیش سپاه اندر آمد چو گرگ

سپاهی به کردار مور و ملخ

نبد دشت پیدا نه کوه و نه شخ

چو برخاست زان لشکر گشن گرد

رخ نامداران ما گشت زرد

من این گرز یک زخم برداشتم

سپه را هم آنجای بگذاشتم

خروشی خروشیدم از پشت زین

که چون آسیا شد بریشان زمین

دل آمد سپه را همه بازجای

سراسر سوی رزم کردند رای

Ganjoor · m14:46-55

Textual evidence

The enemy sallies, the troops fear, Sahm restores courage and the hostile multitude fills the terrain. Mohl p 150 adds introductory fighting and the Kakouy genealogy through Salm and Zahhak, beyond Ganjoor’s shorter sequence.

Interpretation

English 19–20 follows that fuller genealogy rather than inventing parentage to rhyme. The recurring name Kakouy should not by itself be used to identify this opponent with every earlier similarly named fighter. The report remains Sahm’s retrospective self-presentation.

Return to parallel text

26–36Arrow and girdle-lift defeat the chieftain

26–36

When Kakouy heard my roar across the field,

And knew my gorz, he would not turn or yield.

He came like raging elephant to stand,

A long kamand held ready in his hand.

He cast it wide, but I was swift to turn,

And slipped aside while still his eyes did burn.

I took the great Kayanian bow to hold,

And set steel-headed arrows, keen and cold.

I loosed the eagle-arrow from the string,

Then rained down fire with every feathered wing.

His head seemed like an anvil under rain;

The arrows stitched his helmet to his brain.

Through dust he charged, an elephant drunk with fight,

An Indian sword was flashing in the light.

So fierce he seemed in rushing to the strife,

A mountain would have begged him for its life.

I drew him on, withdrew a measured pace,

Then seized him firmly, face to furious face.

I gripped his girdle, wrenched him from his place,

Like lion seizing quarry in the chase.

Like raging elephant I struck him down,

And all his bones were shattered on the ground.

چو بشنید کاکوی آواز من

چنان زخم سرباز کوپال من

بیامد به نزدیک من جنگ ساز

چو پیل ژیان با کمند دراز

مرا خواست کارد به خم کمند

چو دیدم خمیدم ز راه گزند

کمان کیانی گرفتم به چنگ

به پیکان پولاد و تیر خدنگ

عقاب تکاور برانگیختم

چو آتش بدو بر تبر ریختم

گمانم چنان بد که سندان سرش

که شد دوخته مغز تا مغفرش

نگه کردم از گرد چون پیل مست

برآمد یکی تیغ هندی به دست

چنان آمدم شهریارا گمان

کزو کوه زنهار خواهد بجان

وی اندر شتاب و من اندر درنگ

همی جستمش تا کی آید به چنگ

چو آمد به نزدیک من سرفراز

من از چرمه چنگال کردم دراز

گرفتم کمربند مرد دلیر

ز زین برگسستم بکردار شیر

زدم بر زمین بر چو پیل ژیان

بدین آهنین دست و گردی میان

Ganjoor · m14:56-67

Textual evidence

A lasso attack is evaded; steel-headed arrows strike the helmet; the opponent closes with an Indian sword; Sahm takes his belt and throws him down.

Interpretation

The English lets a sequence of different martial skills remain distinct. The anvil-head image magnifies resistance and force, while the belt-lift anticipates the son’s later performance at court. It is not necessary to turn every impossible bodily detail into naturalistic combat reporting.

Return to parallel text

37–44Victory counted and celebratedFuller report; editorial qualification

37–44

When thus their chief was hurled in shameful fall,

His army turned and fled beyond recall.

Through slope and plain, through wilderness and hill,

They scattered into bands and fled on still.

Twelve thousand, horse and foot, lay dead in sight;

We counted them when ended was the fight.

Three hundred thousand formed their gathered might,

Yet what are foes against your fortune’s light?

What stands against the fortune you command,

When I but serve the purpose of your hand?”

The Shah rejoiced to hear that victory’s boon,

And raised his shining crown toward the moon.

He spread the wine and feast in glad array,

And saw the world washed clean of foes that day.

That night was spent in merriment and song,

In wine and joy that carried hearts along.

چو افگنده شد شاه زین گونه خوار

سپه روی برگشت از کارزار

نشیب و فراز بیابان و کوه

به هر سو شده مردمان هم گروه

سوار و پیاده ده و دو هزار

فگنده پدید آمد اندر شمار

چو بشنید گفتار سالار شاه

برافراخت تا ماه فرخ کلاه

چو روز از شب آمد بکوشش ستوه

ستوهی گرفته فرو شد به کوه

می و مجلس آراست شد شادمان

جهان پاک دید از بد بدگمان

به بگماز کوتاه کردند شب

به یاد سپهبد گشادند لب

Ganjoor · m14:68-74

Textual evidence

Ganjoor counts twelve thousand fallen. Mohl p 152 additionally prints the force of three hundred thousand and the credit to royal fortune, corresponding to English 40–41. Moscow pp 194–197 places much of the expanded battle report within brackets.

Interpretation

The English’s larger army number is printed tradition, not an inference from twelve thousand deaths. Such figures establish epic scale and should not be presented as independently verified military statistics.

Return to parallel text

45–53The order extends beyond the lovers

45–53

At dawn the court was opened to the light;

Sahm stood before the throne in royal sight.

Peerless Sahm blessed the Shah with words of grace,

And sought to speak of Mehrab and Zal’s case.

But Manuchehr forestalled the words he planned,

And turned the speech at once to his command:

“Go with my chosen chiefs without delay;

Throughout Hind then let fire mark your way.

Burn Mehrab’s palace, Kabul with its wall;

Let none of dragon-seed escape at all.

From time to time that blood will raise its cry,

And war and tumult fill the earth thereby.

Kill all who stand connected to his line,

The nobles bound to him by bond and sign.

And all who spring from his accursed seed,

Or trace to sorcerer Zahhak their breed.

Sever their heads, and cleanse the earth’s domain

Of Zahhak’s kin and all his tainted strain.”

چو شب روز شد پردهٔ بارگاه

گشادند و دادند زی شاه راه

بیامد سپهدار سام سترگ

به نزد منوچهر شاه بزرگ

چنین گفت با سام شاه جهان

کز ایدر برو با گزیده مهان

به هندوستان آتش اندر فروز

همه کاخ مهراب و کابل بسوز

نباید که او یابد از بد رها

که او ماند از بچهٔ اژدها

زمان تا زمان زو برآید خروش

شود رام گیتی پر از جنگ و جوش

هر آنکس که پیوستهٔ او بود

بزرگان که در دستهٔ او بود

سر از تن جدا کن زمین را بشوی

ز پیوند ضحاک و خویشان اوی

Ganjoor · m14:75-82

Textual evidence

At the next audience Manuchehr commands the burning of Kabul and Mehrab’s palace and the killing of associated nobles and Zahhak kin.

Interpretation

The English correctly makes the collective scope unmistakable. This is not merely a request to separate two young people. The breadth of the threatened destruction gives Sindokht’s later distinction between rulers and innocent inhabitants its ethical force.

Return to parallel text

54–57Obedience postpones the champion’s petition

54–57

The Shah showed such sharp anger in his face,

Sahm dared not add one word within that place.

He kissed the throne, his face against its base,

Before the vengeful Shah, in fear’s embrace.

He answered, “I will do as you require,

And clear the Shah’s heart of avenging fire.”

Then homeward with his army Sahm was bound,

On wind-foot mounts that scarcely touched the ground.

چنین داد پاسخ که ایدون کنم

که کین از دل شاه بیرون کنم

ببوسید تخت و بمالید روی

بران نامور مهر انگشت اوی

سوی خانه بنهاد سر با سپاه

بدان باد پایان جوینده راه

Ganjoor · m14:83-85

Textual evidence

Sahm answers that he will obey, bows and departs. The English makes explicit that the angry command prevents his intended intervention.

G m14 83 ↗ G m14 84 ↗ G m14 85 ↗ Moscow p 194 ↗ Moscow p 195 ↗ Moscow p 196 ↗ Moscow p 197 ↗ Moscow p 198 ↗ Mohl p 150 ↗ Mohl p 151 ↗ Mohl p 152 ↗ Khaleghi p 222 ↗ Khaleghi p 223 ↗ Khaleghi p 224 ↗ Khaleghi p 225 ↗ Khaleghi p 226 ↗

Interpretation

His answer is a genuine obligation he has accepted, however unwillingly. The following change of course must therefore be understood as a conflict between service, paternal promise and justice, not as proof that the order was never issued.

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Chapter source record

English original ↗ Ganjoor m14 ↗ Moscow p 194 ↗ Moscow p 195 ↗ Moscow p 196 ↗ Moscow p 197 ↗ Moscow p 198 ↗ Mohl p 150 ↗ Mohl p 151 ↗ Mohl p 152 ↗ Khaleghi p 222 ↗ Khaleghi p 223 ↗ Khaleghi p 224 ↗ Khaleghi p 225 ↗ Khaleghi p 226 ↗