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Rose, such as that the sinewy wood-cutters
Make often in the forest's heart at morn,
Of hewing axes, crashing trees-such blows
Rustum and Sohrab on each other hail'd.
And you would say that sun and stars took part
In the unnatural conflict; for a cloud

Grew suddenly in heaven, and dark'd the sun;
The wind rose, and moaning swept the plain,
And in a sandy whirlwind wrapp'd the pair.
In gloom they twain were wrapp'd, and they alone;
But in the gloom they fought, with bloodshot eyes
And laboring breath. First Rustum struck the shield
Which Sohrab held stiff out; the steel-spiked spear
Rent the tough plates, but fail'd to reach the skin,
And Rustum pluck'd it back with angry groan.
Then Sohrab with his sword smote Rustum's helm,
Nor clove its steel quite through; but all the crest
He shore away, and that proud horse-hair plume,
Never till now defiled, sank to the dust;

And Rustum bow'd his head. But then the gloom
Grew blacker, thunder rumbled in the air,

And lightnings rent the cloud; and Ruksh, the horse,
Who stood at hand, utter'd a dreadful cry,-
No horse's cry was that, most like the roar
Of some pain'd desert-lion, who all day
Has trail'd the hunter's javelin in his side,
And comes at night to die upon the sand.
The two hosts heard that cry, and quaked for fear,
And Oxus curdled as he cross'd his stream.
But Sohrab heard, and quail'd not, but rush'd on
And struck again, and again Rustum bow'd
His head; but this time all the blade, like glass,
Sprang in a thousand shivers on his helm,
And in his hand the hilt remain'd alone.
Then Rustum raised his head; his dreadful eyes
Glared, and he shook on high his menacing spear,
And shouted: "Rustum!' 99 Sohrab heard that shout,

And shrank amazed. Back he recoil'd one step,
And scanned with blinking eyes the advancing form;
And then he stood bewilder'd, and he dropp'd
His covering shield,—and the spear pierced his side.
He reel'd, and staggering back, sank to the ground.
And then the gloom dispersed, and the wind fell,
And the bright sun broke forth, and melted all
The cloud; and the two armies saw the pair,
Saw Rustum standing, safe upon his feet,
And Sohrab, wounded, on the bloody sand.

Then, with a bitter smile, Rustum began:
66 Sohrab, thou thoughtest in thy mind to kill.
A Persian lord this day, and strip his corpse,
And bear thy trophies to Afrasiab's tent;
Or else that the great Rustum would come down
Himself to fight, and that thy wiles would move
His heart to take a gift, and let thee
And then that all the Tartar host would praise
Thy courage or thy craft, and spread thy fame,
To glad thy father in his weak old

go,

age.

Fool, thou art slain, and by an unknown man! "
And with a fearless mien, Sohrab replied:
"Unknown thou art; yet thy fierce vaunt is vain.
Thou dost not slay me, proud and boastful man!
No! Rustum slays me, and this filial heart.
For were I match'd with ten such men as thee,
And I were that which till to-day I was,
They should be lying here, I standing there.
But that beloved name unnerved my arm-
That name and something, I confess, in thee,
Which troubles all my heart, and made my shield
Fall; and thy spear transfix'd an unarm'd foe.
And now thou boastest, and insult'st my fate.
But hear thou this, fierce man, tremble to hear:
The mighty Rustum shall avenge my death!
My father, whom I seek through all the world

He shall avenge my death, and punish thee!"
And with a cold, incredulous voice, Rustum said:
"What prate is this of fathers and revenge?
The mighty Rustum never had a son.”
"Ah, yes, he had! and that lost son am I.
Surely the news will one day reach his ear,
And pierce him like a stab, and make him leap
To arms, and cry for vengeance upon thee.
What will that grief, what will that vengeance be?
Oh, could I live till I that grief have seen!
Yet him I pity not so much, as her,
My mother, who no more will see
Sohrab returning from the Tartar camp,
With spoils and honor, when the war is done.
But a dark rumor will be bruited up:
That Sohrab will rejoice her sight no more;
But that in battle with a nameless foe,
By the far-distant Oxus, he was slain."
And as he ceased, he wept aloud,
Thinking of her he left and his own death.
Nor yet did Rustum hold it was his son

Who spoke, although he call'd back names he knew;
For he had had sure tidings that the babe
Which was in Ader-baijan born to him
Had been a puny girl, no boy at all,-

So that sad mother had sent word to him lest
Rustum should seek the boy to train in arms.
And so Rustum deem'd that either Sohrab took,
By a false boast, the style of Rustum's son;
Or that men gave it him to swell his fame.
So deem'd he; yet he listened, plunged in thought.
"O Sohrab, thou indeed art such a son

Whom Rustum, wert thou his, might well have loved!

Yet thou errest, Sohrab, or else men

Have told thee false-thou art not Rustum's son;

For Rustum had no son; one child he had

But one-a girl, who with her mother now

Plies some light female task, nor dreams of us."
But Sohrab, rising sternly on one arm, replied:
"Man, who art thou who dost deny my words?
Truth sits upon the lips of dying men,

And falsehood, while I lived, was far from mine.
I tell thee, prick'd upon this arm I bear ·
That seal which Rustum to my mother gave,
That she might prick it on the babe she bore."
He spoke and all the blood left Rustum's cheeks,
And his knees totter'd, and he smote his hand
Agains his breast, his heavy mailèd hand,
That the hard, iron corselet clank'd aloud;
And to his heart he press'd the other hand,
And in a hollow voice, he spake and said :

Sohrab, that were a proof which could not lie!
If thou show this, then art thou Rustum's son."
Then, with weak, hasty fingers, Sohrab loosed
His belt, and near the shoulder bared his arm.
And show'd a sign in faint vermilion points
Prick'd,—the sign of Rustum's seal.

And Sohrab touch'd it with his hand and said:
"How say'st thou? Is that sign the proper sign
Of Rustum's son, or of some other man's?"

But Rustum gazed, and gazed, and stood
Speechless; and then he utter'd one sharp cry:
"O boy-thy father!"—and he sank down to earth.
But Sohrab crawl'd to where he lay, and cast
His arms about his neck, and kiss'd his lips,
And with fond, faltering fingers stroked his cheeks,
Trying to call him back to life; and life

Came back to Rustum, and he oped his eyes,
And they stood wide with horror.

sword,

To draw it, and forever let life out.

Then he clutch'd his

But Sohrab saw his thought, and held his hands,
And with a soothing voice he spake, and said:

"Father, forbear! for I but meet to-day aday
The doom which at my birth was written down.
Surely my heart cried out that it was thou,
When first I saw thee; and thy heart spoke, too,
I know it! but fate trod these promptings down.
But let us speak no more of this! I find
My father; let me feel that I have found!
Come, sit beside me on this sand, and take
My head betwixt thy hands, and kiss my cheeks,
And wash them with thy tears, and say: My son!'
Quick, quick! for numbered are my sands of life."
And his voice released the heart

Of Rustum, and his tears broke forth.

He cast

His arms round his son's neck, wept aloud, and kiss'd him.
Then, with a heavy groan, Rustum bewail'd:
"Oh, that great Oxus were flowing over me!
Oh, that I saw its grains of yellow silt
Roll tumbling in the current o'er my head!"
But with a grave, mild voice, Sohrab replied:
"Desire not that, my father, thou must live;
For some are born to do great deeds, and live,
As some are born to be obscured, and die..
Do thou the deeds I die too young to do,
And reap a second glory in thine age;
Thou art my father, and thy gain is mine.
But come! thou seest this great host of men
Which follow me; I pray thee, slay not these!sy
They follow'd me, my hope, my fame, my star.
Let them all cross the Oxus back in peace.

K

But me thou must bear hence, not send with them,
But carry me with thee to Seistan,

And thou must lay me in that lovely earth,

And plant a far-seen pillar over all,

That so the passing norseman on the waste

May see my tomb a great way off, and crying 'Sohrab, the mighty Rustum's son, lies there, Whom his great father did in ignorance kill!