New Naqqali MangaIssue 1 · The Seven Labors of RostamNew Naqqali MangaIssue 1 · The Seven Labors of Rostam
Cover: Rostam faces the colossal White Div in his cave. New Naqqali, Issue 1, Double Issue: The Seven Labors of Rostam. One hero. One horse. Seven trials on the short road to Mazandaran.
What is New Naqqali? A note on the naqqal, the Persian coffeehouse storyteller, and how to read this issue.
Contents of the seven labors, and Previously: Kay Kavus marched into Mazandaran against Zal’s counsel and was blinded and captured by the White Div. Rostam chose the short and deadly road to save him.
The cast: Rostam, Rakhsh, Kay Kavus, Ulad, Arzhang, the White Div and the witch, each in an ink portrait.
The Short Road: a map of Rostam’s route from Zabul to the White Div’s cave, with the seven labors numbered.
Title page: The Seven Labors of Rostam. “Then Rostam, world-illuming, left his sire, / And urged brave Rakhsh along with fierce desire.”
Colour page, The First Labor · Rakhsh Fights a Lion: Riding Through the Night.
He rode through darkest night as if by day,
And pressed ahead without a pause or stay.
Ink page, The First Labor · Rakhsh Fights a Lion: The Lasso Takes an Onager; Roasting the Kill at Dusk; The Bridle Comes Off; The Lion in the Reeds.
His Kayanian kamand flew and caught
One beast; none fled the speed with which he fought.
He roasted flesh until his hunger fled,
Then cast the bones beside the embers red.
He found a meadow green with grazing spread,
And slipped the bridle free from Rakhsh’s head.
One watch had passed; the lion neared his bed,
And saw brave Rakhsh beside the sleeper’s head.
Colour page, The First Labor · Rakhsh Fights a Lion: Rakhsh Strikes the Lion.
He struck its head with both forelegs in rage,
Then seized its back, his sharpened jaws a cage.
Ink page, The First Labor · Rakhsh Fights a Lion: Rostam Wakes to the Slain Lion; Rostam Scolds Reckless Rakhsh; Dawn Over the Dark Mountain.
Then Rostam woke and saw the lion slain,
Its shattered body stretched across the plain.
He cried: “O reckless Rakhsh, who told you to fight
A lion while I slept away the night?
He groomed and saddled Rakhsh, whose courage stood,
Then praised pure Yazdan, giver of all good.
Ink page, The Second Labor · Rostam Finds a Spring: The Burning Desert; Thirst Consumes the Rider; A Prayer in the Wasteland.
The waterless waste seethed in blinding heat,
And scorched the birds that crossed on failing feet.
His tongue was parched, his strength began to fail;
His sight grew dim, his senses weak and frail.
He raised his eyes: “O Judge who ends all woe,
Let this affliction too its ending know.
Ink page, The Second Labor · Rostam Finds a Spring: Fallen on the Dust; The Blessed Ram; Following the Hoofprints.
Thus spoke the hero, faint with thirst and heat,
Then sank upon the burning dust at his feet.
A blessed ram moved lightly on the ground,
Untouched by drought, in limb and body sound.
Through God’s own power he rose, though nearly dead,
And followed where the blessed ram had led.
Colour page, The Second Labor · Rostam Finds a Spring: The Ram Finds the Spring.
At last he reached the spring the ram had found,
And life returned beside its waters’ sound.
Ink page, The Second Labor · Rostam Finds a Spring: Thanks at the Water's Edge; Blessing the Ram; Rakhsh Washed Bright as Sunlight.
He looked to heaven: “O Judge whose rule is right,
Your mercy led me through this deadly plight.
Rostam said, “May heaven bring you no ill;
May fortune guard and favor you there still.
He washed him in the spring’s clear water bright,
Until Rakhsh shone like sunlight to the sight.
Ink page, The Second Labor · Rostam Finds a Spring: A Shaft Brings Down an Onager; Instructions to Rakhsh; Rakhsh Grazes Through the Night.
He loosed a shaft; a Gur-e-Khar went down,
Then stripped its hide upon the desert ground.
He spoke to Rakhsh: “If danger should draw near,
Come swiftly to my side and wake me here.
Proud Rakhsh went grazing through the silent night,
And fed until the midnight hour took flight.
Ink page, The Third Labor · Rostam Fights a Dragon: The Dragon Rises; It Sees the Sleeper; Rakhsh Raises the Alarm.
A dragon rose upon the barren sand,
No elephant could flee its dread command.
It saw the hero sleeping on the plain,
With restless Rakhsh beside him, tugging rein.
He lashed his tail and raised a thunderous cry;
His brazen hooves beat earth and dust on high.
Ink page, The Third Labor · Rostam Fights a Dragon: Nothing But Dust and Stone; The Dragon Returns; The Threat of the Sword.
Then anger seized him at his faithful steed;
He cursed him for his sudden, restless deed.
Again the dragon issued from the night;
Rakhsh pawed beside his lord with all his might.
“Disturb me once again and you shall fall;
My sharpened sword shall silence you for all.
Ink page, The Third Labor · Rostam Fights a Dragon: The Third Sleep, the Furnace Breath; Love Over Fear; The Dragon Revealed.
The dragon roared, its breath like furnace flame;
Rakhsh left the grass but near his lord scarce came.
He struck the ground with all his gathered might,
Till earth itself seemed shattered in the night.
He saw the dragon clearly in the night,
And drew his sharpened sword, prepared to fight.
Ink page, The Third Labor · Rostam Fights a Dragon: Declare Your Name; The Dragon Answers; I Am Rostam.
“Declare your name! Your death is drawing near;
No joy remains for you to cherish here.
The dragon roared: “None leaves my claws alive;
No beast that enters here can long survive.
“I am Rostam,” the fearless hero said,
“From Dastan, Sahm, and Nariman I am bred.
Ink page, The Third Labor · Rostam Fights a Dragon: Rostam Hard Pressed in the Grapple; Rakhsh Bites the Dragon.
It battled him with overwhelming might,
And Rakhsh beheld his master pressed in fight.
He tore its shoulder with his sharpened teeth,
Like lion’s jaws that rend the flesh beneath.
Colour page, The Third Labor · Rostam Fights a Dragon: One Resounding Blow.
Then Rostam struck with one resounding blow;
His flashing blade laid low the monstrous foe.
Ink page, The Third Labor · Rostam Fights a Dragon: The Fallen Monster; Washing at the Spring; Praise Above the Dragon.
The monstrous body covered all the ground;
The earth beneath its bulk could scarce be found.
He washed his head and body in the stream,
Till every limb beneath the water gleamed.
O righteous Judge, from You my powers are:
You gave me wisdom, strength, and royal farr.
Ink page, The Fourth Labor · Rostam Slays a Witch: Trees and Water on the Wizards' Track; A Feast Laid for No One; A Div Melts into Air.
For long across the farsang path he strode,
Till trees and running waters plainly showed.
Wine red as pigeon’s blood, wild mutton spread,
With salt and richal set beside the bread.
The feast was spread within the wizards’ lair;
A Div withdrew and vanished into air.
Ink page, The Fourth Labor · Rostam Slays a Witch: The Tanbur on the Sand; The Song of a Hard Life; Painted Like the Spring; A Young Companion at the Feast.
He struck its strings; the wilderness seemed all
Transformed around him to a feasting hall.
He sang: “Ill-starred, I wander year by year;
Few joyful days have ever brought me cheer.
She dressed her face in colors like the spring,
Though beauty was no gift that she could bring.
For feast and wine and tanbur graced the ground,
And now a youthful drinking friend he found.
Colour page, The Fourth Labor · Rostam Slays a Witch: The Borrowed Beauty Fails.
At once her borrowed beauty left her face;
Her painted charms dissolved without a trace.
Ink page, The Fourth Labor · Rostam Slays a Witch: The Hag in the Coils; The Khanjar Stroke.
Within the coils a foul old hag was seen,
Deep-wrinkled, stinking, hideous in mien.
He drew his khanjar, struck without delay,
And cut her through the middle where she lay.
Ink page, The Fifth Labor · Rostam Takes Ulad Captive: Into the Realm of Night; He Loosed the Rein; A Land Like Painted Silk.
He journeyed on and reached a realm of night,
So black no star could lend the darkness light.
He loosed the rein and trusted Rakhsh to tread,
Where sight was lost and every landmark fled.
Like painted silk the fertile valley lay,
As though the world renewed its youth that day.
Ink page, The Fifth Labor · Rostam Takes Ulad Captive: Drying in the Sun; The Watchman Sees the Horse; A Blow to the Hero's Foot; Rostam Rises in Fury.
He took his sweat-soaked helmet from his head,
And set them in the sunlight where it spread.
The watchman saw the charger in the grain,
And hurried toward the sleeper in disdain.
He struck the hero’s foot with sudden force,
And cursed both sleeping man and grazing horse.
Then Rostam rose in fury at his jeers,
And tore out by the roots the watchman’s ears.
Ink page, The Fifth Labor · Rostam Takes Ulad Captive: Fleeing with His Ears; Ulad at the Chase; The Watchman's Tale.
He clutched them in his hands and fled in pain,
His blood and cries pursuing him across the plain.
He found Ulad engaged upon the chase,
With famed companions riding at his pace.
His severed ears he carried in each hand,
While blood ran down his face upon the land.
Ink page, The Fifth Labor · Rostam Takes Ulad Captive: The Hunt Turns Back; Like a Thundercloud; Who Are You?; My Name Is Cloud.
He left the hunt and followed Rostam’s trace,
With chosen chiefs who rode at hunting pace.
He armed and mounted, sword drawn from its shroud,
And rode to meet them like a thundercloud.
“What is your name?” cried Ulad. “Who are you?
What king protects you, whom do you pursue?
Rostam replied: “My name is Cloud in fight,
A lion-cloud that fills the field with night.
Ink page, The Fifth Labor · Rostam Takes Ulad Captive: Such Empty Words Win Shame; Rostam Charges the Riders; Lion Among Sheep; Two Heads in One Sweep.
You brought an army, boasting as you came;
Such empty words will win you only shame.”
With that he drew his sword of deadly light,
And rode among them eager for the fight.
Like lion among sheep he tore their rank,
And horsemen fled before him, flank from flank.
He struck so hard two heads fell in one sweep,
And rolled together, tumbling in a heap.
Ink page, The Fifth Labor · Rostam Takes Ulad Captive: Fleeing to Caves and Mountains; Sixty Coils Wound Tight; Ulad Sees Rakhsh Close.
The plain and hills were veiled in clouds of sand,
As horsemen fled to cave and mountain land.
Around his arm lay sixty coils wound tight;
He chased them like an elephant in fight.
When Rakhsh drew near, Ulad’s bright day turned night;
The fleeing chief saw darkness close his sight.
Colour page, The Fifth Labor · Rostam Takes Ulad Captive: The Kamand Takes Ulad.
Rostam cast out the long kamand ahead,
And caught the fleeing Ulad by the head.
Ink page, The Fifth Labor · Rostam Takes Ulad Captive: Bound and Driven; Guide Me Truly; Be Merciful Today; A Hundred Farsangs to Kavus.
He hauled him from the saddle, bound each hand,
And drove him on before him through the land.
“If you speak truth and harbor no deceit,
And guide me where the White Div keeps his seat,
Ulad replied: “Be merciful today;
I shall reveal whatever marks the way.
To Kavus is a hundred farsangs’ road;
A hundred more to the White Div’s abode.
Ink page, The Fifth Labor · Rostam Takes Ulad Captive: Ten Ropes Around His Chest; Though You Were Forged of Iron; Rostam Laughs at the Tale; Ulad Runs Ahead Like Wind.
Ten ropes would span his chest and shoulders wide;
No living foe could match him side to side.
Though you were forged of iron head to heel,
Ahriman’s file would grind you down like steel.”
Rostam laughed loudly at the tale he heard:
“One man stands firm where armies have been stirred.
He sprang on Rakhsh; Ulad ran on ahead,
Like wind before him down the road he fled.
Ink page, The Fifth Labor · Rostam Takes Ulad Captive: Watchfires of Mazandaran; What Place Is This?; Ulad Bound, Rostam Rides at Dawn.
Then watchfires flamed through Mazandaran wide,
And countless candles burned on every side.
“What place is this that blazes left and right?
Why do these fires consume the face of night?”
His fathers’ gorz he laid across the seat,
Then rode, his heart with stratagem replete.
Ink page, The Sixth Labor · Rostam Fights the Div Arzhang: Rostam Rides Into Arzhang's Camp; The Cry That Splits the Sky; Arzhang Springs From His Tent.
In royal helm and Babr-e Bayan sweat-stained,
He sought out Arzhang where the Divs all reigned.
He entered camp and gave so vast a cry,
It seemed to split the sea and vaulted sky.
At that great cry, from out his tent he sprang,
While through the camp the dreadful tumult rang.
Ink page, The Sixth Labor · Rostam Fights the Div Arzhang: Rostam Seizes the Warlord; The Lion's Wrench; The Head Flung Before the Divs.
He seized his head, his ears, his hair, and drove
The warlord backward, though he fought and strove.
Then lion-like he tore the head away,
And cast the lifeless trunk aside as prey.
Before the gathered Divs he flung the head,
Its blood still flowing as their courage fled.
Colour page, The Sixth Labor · Rostam Fights the Div Arzhang: The Camp Cleared by the Sword.
Then Rostam drew revenge’s sharpened blade,
And cleared the field of Divs who stood arrayed.
Ink page, The Sixth Labor · Rostam Fights the Div Arzhang: Ulad Freed at Sunset; Rakhsh Thunders at the City; The Blind King Hears; The Captives Despair.
Beneath a lofty tree, with gentle hand,
He freed Ulad from the binding kamand.
They reached the city; Rakhsh gave out a cry
Like thunder rolling through the darkened sky.
Kavus heard and knew that thunderous sound,
And raised his weary head from captive ground.
The captives said, “These bonds have crushed his mind,
And ruined the soul that suffering confined.
Ink page, The Sixth Labor · Rostam Fights the Div Arzhang: Rostam Bows at the King's Feet; Hide Rakhsh From Sight; Seven Mountains, One Cave; Eyes in Endless Darkness; Rostam Girds for the White Div.
He wept, then bowed in homage at his feet,
And asked what trials had made their grief complete.
Then Kavus whispered, “Hide brave Rakhsh from sight;
Let no sorcerer behold him day or night.
Beyond lie seven mountains in a chain,
With bands of Divs arrayed on every plain.
Grief darkened every captive warrior’s eye;
My own, too, sunk in endless darkness lie.
Then Rostam rose and girded for the fight,
His purpose fixed, his warrior’s spirit bright.
Ink page, The Seventh Labor · Rostam Slays the White Div: Toward the Seven Mountains; The Divish Camps Below; The Cavern Black as Night.
He girded for revenge and took the way,
And urged brave Rakhsh toward the coming fray.
When he had crossed the seven mountain chains,
He saw the Divish camps across the plains.
Before a cavern black as starless night,
He paused and judged the ground and guarded site.
Ink page, The Seventh Labor · Rostam Slays the White Div: Wait for the Noon; Ulad Bound at Noon; His Name Like Thunder; The Hell-Like Pit.
Ulad replied: “When noon burns fierce and high,
The Divs grow weary and in slumber lie.
He waited till the noonday Sun blazed hot,
Bound Ulad head to foot in tightened knot.
He cried his name like thunder wrapped in flame,
And charged among the Divs who heard that name.
A hell-like pit yawned cavernous and deep;
Its bottom vanished where the shadows sleep.
Ink page, The Seventh Labor · Rostam Slays the White Div: Eyes Learning the Dark; A Mountain in the Dark; Face Black as Jet; Rostam Wakes the Div.
He rubbed his lashes, cleared his eyes of haze,
Then through the heavy dark he fixed his gaze.
Like some vast mountain, dark and huge, it lay;
Its monstrous breadth concealed the cave away.
Its face was black as jet within the lair,
And like a lion’s mane hung down its hair.
He found it sleeping, yet refused to slay;
He roared like leopard, calling it to fray.
Ink page, The Seventh Labor · Rostam Slays the White Div: The Hurled Millstone; One Breath of Dread; The Stroke at the Thigh.
A millstone in its grasp it raised and threw,
Then rushed on Rostam as the missile flew.
For one brief breath his heart knew sudden dread;
He saw what mortal peril lay ahead.
Like raging lion Rostam struck away
One thigh and leg from White Div in the fray.
Ink page, The Seventh Labor · Rostam Slays the White Div: The Grip at the Throat; Wrestling in Blood and Mud; Two Thoughts in the Dark.
It seized at Rostam’s neck with crushing grip,
And strove to make the Pahlevan’s footing slip.
They grappled close and tore at flesh and bone,
Each fought as though the world were his alone.
Then Rostam thought: “If I survive today,
I shall live forever after this affray.”
Colour page, The Seventh Labor · Rostam Slays the White Div: Lifted on High.
He seized the White Div, lifted him on high,
And hurled him down with force that shook the sky.
Ink page, The Seventh Labor · Rostam Slays the White Div: The Liver Torn Out; The Cure in Ulad's Care; Ulad Asks His Reward; The Captives Rush to Greet Him; Kavus Weeps on His Breast.
He ripped the liver from the monster’s side,
While blood like rivers streamed both deep and wide.
He placed the liver in Ulad’s own care,
And said: “Guard well the cure that you now bear.”
The marks of your kamand still score my side;
To break your pledged word would your fame deride.”
He reached the Shah; a joyful cry rang clear,
And all the captive champions gathered near.
Kavus embraced him, tears upon his brow:
“May crown and army never lack you now.
Colour page, The Seventh Labor · Rostam Slays the White Div: Sight Returns to Kavus.
He touched the blood to every darkened lid,
And sight returned; the darkness from them slid.
Ink page, The Seventh Labor · Rostam Slays the White Div: The Shah on Mazandaran's Throne; A Week of Feasting; The City of Mazandaran Burns; Enough of Killing.
The Shah then took Mazandaran’s royal seat,
With Rostam and the chiefs before his feet.
For one full week they feasted, cup in hand,
With wine and rud resounding through the land.
Their sharpened swords struck sparks and kindled flame;
The city burned wherever warriors came.
They have received the fruit their deeds increase;
Enough of killing; let the slaughter cease.
Afterword: the Naqqal’s Note, on Ferdowsi, the Seven Labors and how this issue was made.
From the Poem: the Third Labor, Rostam Fights a Dragon, in full verse, with an ink vignette of the dragon.
From the Poem: the Third Labor in full verse, continued.
Glossary: words and names of the Seven Labors, with pronunciation.
Next issue: Rostam and Sohrab. Two champions meet on an empty plain. Neither knows the other’s name. Credits and rights.
Back cover: Rostam rides Rakhsh along a ridge at dawn toward Mazandaran.