Zal and Rudabeh · A8.5

Zal and Rudabeh: A Secret Visit

A reciprocal meeting joins daring to care: Rudabeh offers her hair, Zal refuses to hurt her, and both bind themselves to an eventual public marriage.

F&R English · 58 couplets · 7 commentary entries

Parallel text ↓Commentary ↓

The chapter in five texts

Text	Chapter treatment and distinctive choices
F&R English	Fifty-eight couplets preserve invitation, careful ascent and reciprocal vows, with fuller hair-kiss and dawn material.
Moscow	Pp 171–174 retain the meeting, with several expanded descriptive and parting passages bracketed.
Mohl	Pp 133–136 support the hair kiss, the heroine’s gaze and extended dawn appeal; p 134 also retains the explicit limit on intimacy.
Ganjoor	Sh9 has 51 couplets and explicitly limits the lovers’ intimacy at 36.
Khaleghi	Pp 195–201 retain the meeting; p 199 records the hair kiss in the apparatus, while p 200 prints the limit on intimacy in the main text.

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.

1–9+

At dusk they barred the chamber, lost the key,

Then sent a maid to say: “She waits, come see.”

The hero, a restless lover newly stirred,

Set forth at once, obedient to her word.

Meanwhile Rudabeh, rosy-cheeked and bright,

A cypress bathed beneath the moon’s full light,

Ascended to the roof with watchful gaze,

She marked the son of Sahm through evening haze.

She loosed her coral lips and called his name:

“O noble youth, welcome, to love’s own flame!

May Heaven’s blessing rest upon your head,

And happy fortune on your pathways spread.

May lofty heaven bow beneath your feet,

And may your coming make this moment sweet.

May she who praised you live in joy and cheer;

From head to foot, as told, you now appear.

To come on foot from out your lordly place

Must weary well a prince of such high grace.”

چو خورشید تابنده شد ناپدید

در حجره بستند و گم شد کلید

پرستنده شد سوی دستان سام

که شد ساخته کار بگذار گام

سپهبد سوی کاخ بنهاد روی

چنان چون بود مردم جفت جوی

برآمد سیه چشم گلرخ به بام

چو سرو سهی بر سرش ماه تام

چو از دور دستان سام سوار

پدید آمد آن دختر نامدار

دو بیجاده بگشاد و آواز داد

که شاد آمدی ای جوانمرد شاد

درود جهان آفرین بر تو باد

خم چرخ گردان زمین تو باد

پیاده بدین سان ز پرده سرای

برنجیدت این خسروانی دو پای

Ganjoor · m9:1-8

10–17+

He heard her voice and lifted up his eyes,

And saw a radiant form against the skies!

A sun-cheeked maiden, radiant, refined,

Whose beauty dazzled eye and stunned the mind;

Her blush turned stone to ruby where she stood,

Her glow made night seem day and darkness good.

He cried: “O moon-faced one, O heaven’s art,

May grace eternal dwell within your heart.

How many nights beneath Simak on high

Have I looked upward, longing with a sigh,

Praying to Him who rules the stars above

To grant one glance, one moment of your love.

Now you have made my longing soul rejoice

With gentle words and music in your voice.

Yet why should distance still our meeting bar?

Why stand you there while I remain afar?”

سپهبد کزان گونه آوا شنید

نگه کرد و خورشید رخ را بدید

شده بام از آن گوهر تابناک

به جای گل سرخ یاقوت خاک

چنین داد پاسخ که ای ماه چهر

درودت ز من آفرین از سپهر

چه مایه شبان دیده اندر سماک

خروشان بدم پیش یزدان پاک

همی خواستم تا خدای جهان

نماید مرا رویت اندر نهان

کنون شاد گشتم به آواز تو

بدین خوب گفتار با ناز تو

یکی چارهٔ راه دیدار جوی

چه پرسی تو بر باره و من به کوی

Ganjoor · m9:9-15

18–27+

She heard, and smiling, loosed without delay

Her night-dark hair and cast its bonds away.

Coil upon coil, snake upon snake, it wound,

Her musk-dark tresses streaming toward the ground.

She lowered them from battlement to wall,

A fragrant kamand hanging through their fall.

Then from the wall she called to him again:

“O lion-born, exalted among men!

Now spread your lion-grip, your Kayan hand!

Climb where my tresses fall to your command.

These locks are yours, my pledge, my offered sign,

Take hold, ascend, and make your pathway mine.”

Zal gazed in wonder at that shining snare,

A face like dawn and night-enchanted hair.

He kissed the musk-dark strands with longing bliss;

Rudabeh heard the sound of that warm kiss.

Then love-sick Zal raised up his voice and said,

And spoke the plea that through his heart had spread:

“This is not right, that I should rise above

By seizing thus the very life I love.”

پری روی گفت سپهبد شنود

سر شعر گلنار بگشاد زود

کمندی گشاد او ز سرو بلند

کس از مشک زان سان نپیچد کمند

خم اندر خم و مار بر مار بر

بران غبغبش نار بر نار بر

بدو گفت بر تاز و برکش میان

بر شیر بگشای و چنگ کیان

بگیر این سیه گیسو از یک سوم

ز بهر تو باید همی گیسوم

نگه کرد زال اندران ماه روی

شگفتی بماند اندران روی و موی

چنین داد پاسخ که این نیست داد

چنین روز خورشید روشن مباد

که من دست را خیره بر جان زنم

برین خسته دل تیز پیکان زنم

بسایید مشکین کمندش ببوس

که بشنید آواز بوسش عروس

Ganjoor m9:16–23 + Mohl p 134 hair-kiss couplet

28–35+

He took his kamand from his servant’s hand,

And cast it upward where the walls did stand.

The loop caught fast upon the rampart stone;

From base to roof he climbed the wall alone.

He reached the roof; she came, her face aglow,

And greeted him with honor, bowing low.

She took his hand; like those made glad by wine,

They walked together toward the chamber’s shine.

Together then they passed, as in a dream,

Into the chamber’s soft and jeweled gleam.

A chamber rich with gold and scented bloom,

A paradise prepared, a lovers’ room.

Fair maidens stood like houris, soft and still,

While Zal beheld her beauty and drank his fill.

Her hair, her face, her beauty and her grace,

Her royal farr shone brightly through the place.

کمند از رهی بستد و داد خم

بیفگند خوار و نزد ایچ دم

به حلقه درآمد سر کنگره

برآمد ز بن تا به سر یکسره

چو بر بام آن باره بنشست باز

برآمد پری روی و بردش نماز

گرفت آن زمان دست دستان به دست

برفتند هر دو به کردار مست

فرود آمد از بام کاخ بلند

به دست اندرون دست شاخ بلند

سوی خانهٔ زرنگار آمدند

بران مجلس شاهوار آمدند

بهشتی بد آراسته پر ز نور

پرستنده بر پای و بر پیش حور

شگفت اندرو مانده بد زال زر

برآن روی و آن موی و بالا و فر

Ganjoor · m9:24-31

36–42+

Her armlet, torque, and earrings, gem-inlaid,

With gold, cast spring’s poor riches into shade.

Her cheeks were twin red tulips newly grown,

Her curls in ringlets over her shoulders thrown.

He sat beside that moon in royal grace,

Red-ruby crown and khanjar both in place.

She looked and looked again with bashful gaze,

Engulfed in love’s consuming, rising blaze,

At form and stature, strength and noble air,

At eyes whose glance could conquer hearts laid bare.

The more she gazed, the more her heart took fire;

His radiant face increased her fierce desire.

They kissed, embraced, and drank the flowing wine,

While love drew heart to heart in close design.

ابا یاره و طوق و با گوشوار

ز دینار و گوهر چو باغ بهار

دو رخساره چون لاله اندر سمن

سر جعد زلفش شکن بر شکن

همان زال با فر شاهنشهی

نشسته بر ماه بر فرهی

حمایل یکی دشنه اندر برش

ز یاقوت سرخ افسری بر سرش

همی بود بوس و کنار و نبید

مگر شیر کو گور را نشکرید

Ganjoor · m9:32-36

43–52+

Then spoke the prince: “O silver-bosomed fair,

O swaying cypress, musk within your hair,

Though Manuchehr should hear and answer no,

He will not bless the path on which we go.

And Sahm will roar and rise against me still,

But none of this can bend my heart or will.

I count as little now this life and breath;

For you I take my shroud and welcome death.

Before the Just I bind myself and swear:

I shall not break the covenant we share.

To God I pray that hearts opposed may bend,

And all the wrath between our houses end.

And if He grants what faithful hearts implore,

You shall be mine, my bride for evermore.”

Rudabeh answered: “By the Just, the True,

No man shall ever claim me, none but you.

Let God bear witness to this vow I make:

No other lord shall my allegiance take,

Except Zal-e-Zar, the Pahlevan of fame,

With crown and treasure, farr and noble name.”

سپهبد چنین گفت با ماه‌روی

که ای سرو سیمین بر و رنگ بوی

منوچهر اگر بشنود داستان

نباشد برین کار همداستان

همان سام نیرم برآرد خروش

ازین کار بر من شود او بجوش

ولیکن نه پرمایه جانست و تن

همان خوار گیرم بپوشم کفن

پذیرفتم از دادگر داورم

که هرگز ز پیمان تو نگذرم

شوم پیش یزدان ستایش کنم

چو ایزد پرستان نیایش کنم

مگر کو دل سام و شاه زمین

بشوید ز خشم و ز پیکار و کین

جهان آفرین بشنود گفت من

مگر کاشکارا شوی جفت من

بدو گفت رودابه من همچنین

پذیرفتم از داور کیش و دین

که بر من نباشد کسی پادشا

جهان آفرین بر زبانم گوا

جز از پهلوان جهان زال زر

که با تخت و تاجست وبا زیب و فر

Ganjoor · m9:37-47

53–58+

Their love grew deeper with each passing hour;

Reason stood far; desire held all its power.

So passed the night until the dawn grew near

And morning’s tabiras rang in their ear.

Zal took his leave, yet held her close and long,

As warp to woof are bound in fabric strong.

They wept and cried to heaven in dismay:

“O lord of light, why will you not delay?

Grant us one hour before your beams arise,

Hold back the dawn a while beneath the skies.”

Then from the height he let his kamand fall,

And swiftly climbed down from the palace wall.

همی مهرشان هر زمان بیش بود

خرد دور بود آرزو پیش بود

چنین تا سپیده برآمد ز جای

تبیره برآمد ز پرده‌سرای

پس آن ماه را شید پدرود کرد

بر خویش تار و برش پود کرد

ز بالا کمند اندر افگند زال

فرود آمد از کاخ فرخ همال

Ganjoor m9:48–51; compare Mohl p 135 extended dawn appeal

Narrative and poetic form

The English is especially strong on reciprocal choice and care. Its implicit treatment of the limit on intimacy deserves a precise note, because a source-supported defense depends on reading what the Persian actually specifies.

Couplet commentary

Quoted text · evidence · interpretation

1–9Rudabeh initiates the welcome

1–9

At dusk they barred the chamber, lost the key,

Then sent a maid to say: “She waits, come see.”

The hero, a restless lover newly stirred,

Set forth at once, obedient to her word.

Meanwhile Rudabeh, rosy-cheeked and bright,

A cypress bathed beneath the moon’s full light,

Ascended to the roof with watchful gaze,

She marked the son of Sahm through evening haze.

She loosed her coral lips and called his name:

“O noble youth, welcome, to love’s own flame!

May Heaven’s blessing rest upon your head,

And happy fortune on your pathways spread.

May lofty heaven bow beneath your feet,

And may your coming make this moment sweet.

May she who praised you live in joy and cheer;

From head to foot, as told, you now appear.

To come on foot from out your lordly place

Must weary well a prince of such high grace.”

چو خورشید تابنده شد ناپدید

در حجره بستند و گم شد کلید

پرستنده شد سوی دستان سام

که شد ساخته کار بگذار گام

سپهبد سوی کاخ بنهاد روی

چنان چون بود مردم جفت جوی

برآمد سیه چشم گلرخ به بام

چو سرو سهی بر سرش ماه تام

چو از دور دستان سام سوار

پدید آمد آن دختر نامدار

دو بیجاده بگشاد و آواز داد

که شاد آمدی ای جوانمرد شاد

درود جهان آفرین بر تو باد

خم چرخ گردان زمین تو باد

پیاده بدین سان ز پرده سرای

برنجیدت این خسروانی دو پای

Ganjoor · m9:1-8

Textual evidence

The locked chamber, invitation, roof appearance, blessing and concern for Zal’s walk stand in the reference. Mohl p 133 adds the blessing on the woman who praised him.

Interpretation

The English preserves the heroine’s initiative and makes hospitality part of desire. The lost key is in the Persian; it need not be repaired into a modern account of how the household will retrieve it.

Return to parallel text

10–17A voice answers long expectation

10–17

He heard her voice and lifted up his eyes,

And saw a radiant form against the skies!

A sun-cheeked maiden, radiant, refined,

Whose beauty dazzled eye and stunned the mind;

Her blush turned stone to ruby where she stood,

Her glow made night seem day and darkness good.

He cried: “O moon-faced one, O heaven’s art,

May grace eternal dwell within your heart.

How many nights beneath Simak on high

Have I looked upward, longing with a sigh,

Praying to Him who rules the stars above

To grant one glance, one moment of your love.

Now you have made my longing soul rejoice

With gentle words and music in your voice.

Yet why should distance still our meeting bar?

Why stand you there while I remain afar?”

سپهبد کزان گونه آوا شنید

نگه کرد و خورشید رخ را بدید

شده بام از آن گوهر تابناک

به جای گل سرخ یاقوت خاک

چنین داد پاسخ که ای ماه چهر

درودت ز من آفرین از سپهر

چه مایه شبان دیده اندر سماک

خروشان بدم پیش یزدان پاک

همی خواستم تا خدای جهان

نماید مرا رویت اندر نهان

کنون شاد گشتم به آواز تو

بدین خوب گفتار با ناز تو

یکی چارهٔ راه دیدار جوی

چه پرسی تو بر باره و من به کوی

Ganjoor · m9:9-15

Textual evidence

The roof becomes bright, Zal names his nights under Simak and asks for a way to meet.

Interpretation

Simak is retained as a named stellar point rather than quietly replaced by a different star. The imagined transformation of stone to ruby extends the source’s precious-material radiance and should be read as visual hyperbole.

Return to parallel text

18–27Offered hair; a kiss before refusalFuller printed support

18–27

She heard, and smiling, loosed without delay

Her night-dark hair and cast its bonds away.

Coil upon coil, snake upon snake, it wound,

Her musk-dark tresses streaming toward the ground.

She lowered them from battlement to wall,

A fragrant kamand hanging through their fall.

Then from the wall she called to him again:

“O lion-born, exalted among men!

Now spread your lion-grip, your Kayan hand!

Climb where my tresses fall to your command.

These locks are yours, my pledge, my offered sign,

Take hold, ascend, and make your pathway mine.”

Zal gazed in wonder at that shining snare,

A face like dawn and night-enchanted hair.

He kissed the musk-dark strands with longing bliss;

Rudabeh heard the sound of that warm kiss.

Then love-sick Zal raised up his voice and said,

And spoke the plea that through his heart had spread:

“This is not right, that I should rise above

By seizing thus the very life I love.”

پری روی گفت سپهبد شنود

سر شعر گلنار بگشاد زود

کمندی گشاد او ز سرو بلند

کس از مشک زان سان نپیچد کمند

خم اندر خم و مار بر مار بر

بران غبغبش نار بر نار بر

بدو گفت بر تاز و برکش میان

بر شیر بگشای و چنگ کیان

بگیر این سیه گیسو از یک سوم

ز بهر تو باید همی گیسوم

نگه کرد زال اندران ماه روی

شگفتی بماند اندران روی و موی

چنین داد پاسخ که این نیست داد

چنین روز خورشید روشن مباد

که من دست را خیره بر جان زنم

برین خسته دل تیز پیکان زنم

بسایید مشکین کمندش ببوس

که بشنید آواز بوسش عروس

Ganjoor m9:16–23 + Mohl p 134 hair-kiss couplet

Textual evidence

Rudabeh lowers her hair; Zal refuses to use her person as a climbing aid. Mohl p 134 additionally prints his kiss on the musk-dark tresses and her hearing it; Khaleghi p 199 preserves this extra couplet in the apparatus.

Interpretation

English 25 is supported by a fuller printed couplet absent from Ganjoor. The refusal is ethical and practical: his ascent must not injure the beloved. Retellings in which he actually climbs her hair misrepresent this scene.

Return to parallel text

28–35The ascent uses his own rope

28–35

He took his kamand from his servant’s hand,

And cast it upward where the walls did stand.

The loop caught fast upon the rampart stone;

From base to roof he climbed the wall alone.

He reached the roof; she came, her face aglow,

And greeted him with honor, bowing low.

She took his hand; like those made glad by wine,

They walked together toward the chamber’s shine.

Together then they passed, as in a dream,

Into the chamber’s soft and jeweled gleam.

A chamber rich with gold and scented bloom,

A paradise prepared, a lovers’ room.

Fair maidens stood like houris, soft and still,

While Zal beheld her beauty and drank his fill.

Her hair, her face, her beauty and her grace,

Her royal farr shone brightly through the place.

کمند از رهی بستد و داد خم

بیفگند خوار و نزد ایچ دم

به حلقه درآمد سر کنگره

برآمد ز بن تا به سر یکسره

چو بر بام آن باره بنشست باز

برآمد پری روی و بردش نماز

گرفت آن زمان دست دستان به دست

برفتند هر دو به کردار مست

فرود آمد از بام کاخ بلند

به دست اندرون دست شاخ بلند

سوی خانهٔ زرنگار آمدند

بران مجلس شاهوار آمدند

بهشتی بد آراسته پر ز نور

پرستنده بر پای و بر پیش حور

شگفت اندرو مانده بد زال زر

برآن روی و آن موی و بالا و فر

Ganjoor · m9:24-31

Textual evidence

A servant supplies the kamand; it catches the battlement, and the lovers go hand in hand to the chamber.

Interpretation

The English distinguishes offered metaphorical hair-rope from the rope actually used. The apparent drunkenness of their movement is a simile before the later wine-drinking, not evidence of an omitted drinking scene on the roof.

Return to parallel text

36–42Intimacy with an explicit Persian limitImportant implicit-versus-explicit difference

36–42

Her armlet, torque, and earrings, gem-inlaid,

With gold, cast spring’s poor riches into shade.

Her cheeks were twin red tulips newly grown,

Her curls in ringlets over her shoulders thrown.

He sat beside that moon in royal grace,

Red-ruby crown and khanjar both in place.

She looked and looked again with bashful gaze,

Engulfed in love’s consuming, rising blaze,

At form and stature, strength and noble air,

At eyes whose glance could conquer hearts laid bare.

The more she gazed, the more her heart took fire;

His radiant face increased her fierce desire.

They kissed, embraced, and drank the flowing wine,

While love drew heart to heart in close design.

ابا یاره و طوق و با گوشوار

ز دینار و گوهر چو باغ بهار

دو رخساره چون لاله اندر سمن

سر جعد زلفش شکن بر شکن

همان زال با فر شاهنشهی

نشسته بر ماه بر فرهی

حمایل یکی دشنه اندر برش

ز یاقوت سرخ افسری بر سرش

همی بود بوس و کنار و نبید

مگر شیر کو گور را نشکرید

Ganjoor · m9:32-36

Textual evidence

The adornments, Zal’s dagger and ruby crown, kissing, embrace and wine are in the reference. Mohl p 134 supplies the additional description of Rudabeh gazing at him, but also prints the limiting lion/wild-ass half-line found in Ganjoor 36. Khaleghi p 200 retains that limit in the main text while recording fuller descriptive wording below it. English 42 omits that limitation.

Interpretation

The Persian metaphor indicates that the encounter stops short of consummation. The English retains the affectionate actions but leaves the limit implicit. Rudabeh’s later account that nothing more occurred reinforces the restrained reading; it should not be inferred merely from a favorable view of either character.

Return to parallel text

43–52Mutual vows seek a public future

43–52

Then spoke the prince: “O silver-bosomed fair,

O swaying cypress, musk within your hair,

Though Manuchehr should hear and answer no,

He will not bless the path on which we go.

And Sahm will roar and rise against me still,

But none of this can bend my heart or will.

I count as little now this life and breath;

For you I take my shroud and welcome death.

Before the Just I bind myself and swear:

I shall not break the covenant we share.

To God I pray that hearts opposed may bend,

And all the wrath between our houses end.

And if He grants what faithful hearts implore,

You shall be mine, my bride for evermore.”

Rudabeh answered: “By the Just, the True,

No man shall ever claim me, none but you.

Let God bear witness to this vow I make:

No other lord shall my allegiance take,

Except Zal-e-Zar, the Pahlevan of fame,

With crown and treasure, farr and noble name.”

سپهبد چنین گفت با ماه‌روی

که ای سرو سیمین بر و رنگ بوی

منوچهر اگر بشنود داستان

نباشد برین کار همداستان

همان سام نیرم برآرد خروش

ازین کار بر من شود او بجوش

ولیکن نه پرمایه جانست و تن

همان خوار گیرم بپوشم کفن

پذیرفتم از دادگر داورم

که هرگز ز پیمان تو نگذرم

شوم پیش یزدان ستایش کنم

چو ایزد پرستان نیایش کنم

مگر کو دل سام و شاه زمین

بشوید ز خشم و ز پیکار و کین

جهان آفرین بشنود گفت من

مگر کاشکارا شوی جفت من

بدو گفت رودابه من همچنین

پذیرفتم از داور کیش و دین

که بر من نباشد کسی پادشا

جهان آفرین بر زبانم گوا

جز از پهلوان جهان زال زر

که با تخت و تاجست وبا زیب و فر

Ganjoor · m9:37-47

Textual evidence

Zal anticipates both fathers’ opposition, risks life and vows constancy; Rudabeh answers with her own exclusive pledge.

Interpretation

The English’s reciprocal formulation is faithful to the scene’s moral structure. Rudabeh’s language of no other lord asserts a chosen attachment within this world’s idiom; it is neither a new coronation nor an agreement that the public marriage has already happened.

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53–58Parting resists the dawn

53–58

Their love grew deeper with each passing hour;

Reason stood far; desire held all its power.

So passed the night until the dawn grew near

And morning’s tabiras rang in their ear.

Zal took his leave, yet held her close and long,

As warp to woof are bound in fabric strong.

They wept and cried to heaven in dismay:

“O lord of light, why will you not delay?

Grant us one hour before your beams arise,

Hold back the dawn a while beneath the skies.”

Then from the height he let his kamand fall,

And swiftly climbed down from the palace wall.

همی مهرشان هر زمان بیش بود

خرد دور بود آرزو پیش بود

چنین تا سپیده برآمد ز جای

تبیره برآمد ز پرده‌سرای

پس آن ماه را شید پدرود کرد

بر خویش تار و برش پود کرد

ز بالا کمند اندر افگند زال

فرود آمد از کاخ فرخ همال

Ganjoor m9:48–51; compare Mohl p 135 extended dawn appeal

Textual evidence

Desire distances reason, morning sounds rise and warp/woof imagery accompanies departure. Mohl p 135 additionally prints the appeal asking the sun for one more hour.

G m9 48 ↗ G m9 49 ↗ G m9 50 ↗ G m9 51 ↗ Moscow p 171 ↗ Moscow p 172 ↗ Moscow p 173 ↗ Moscow p 174 ↗ Mohl p 133 ↗ Mohl p 134 ↗ Mohl p 135 ↗ Mohl p 136 ↗ Khaleghi p 195 ↗ Khaleghi p 196 ↗ Khaleghi p 197 ↗ Khaleghi p 198 ↗ Khaleghi p 199 ↗ Khaleghi p 200 ↗ Khaleghi p 201 ↗

Interpretation

The extra English leave-taking has Persian support. Its slower cadence belongs to an established expansion in the transmitted episode, while the final descent correctly returns to the rope rather than the hair.

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Chapter source record

English original ↗ Ganjoor m9 ↗ Moscow p 171 ↗ Moscow p 172 ↗ Moscow p 173 ↗ Moscow p 174 ↗ Mohl p 133 ↗ Mohl p 134 ↗ Mohl p 135 ↗ Mohl p 136 ↗ Khaleghi p 195 ↗ Khaleghi p 196 ↗ Khaleghi p 197 ↗ Khaleghi p 198 ↗ Khaleghi p 199 ↗ Khaleghi p 200 ↗ Khaleghi p 201 ↗