MY endeavor has been to compile a collection of recitations
that would be suitable for use both in schools and by
reciters. For that purpose, only literature of a high order
has been chosen, but with as great a variety as possible-
dramatic, dialect, humorous, society, and children's pieces. All
of the abridgments, with one exception, have been made by me.

My special thanks are due Messrs. John Brisben Walker,
Edgar Fawcett, Fred Emerson Brooks, Edgar Saltus, and the
other authors whose excellent pieces help to give value to this
collection.

F. M.

WERNER'S

Readings and Recitations

No. 16.

SOHRAB AND RUSTUM.

MATTHEW ARNOLD.

[The scene of the following episode is laid in Central Asia at a time when the Tartars and the Persians are at war. Sohrab is the commander of the Tartars and Rustum the champion of the Persians. Sohrab is Rustum's son, a fact unknown to the latter who believes that his one child is a girl, having been so informed by its mother, who thus forged the lie in order to prevent Rustum from making a warrior out of him. Sohrab, however, knows that Rustum is his father and has been always searching for him. As the epic opens the two armies are encamped opposite each other.]

ND the first gray of morning fill'd the east,

And the fog rose out of the Oxus stream.
But all the Tartar camp along the stream

Was hush'd, and still the men were plunged in sleep.
Sohrab alone, he slept not; all night long
He had lain wakeful, tossing on his bed;
But when the gray dawn stole into his tent,
He rose and took his horseman's cloak
And went abroad into the cold, wet fog,
Through the dim camp to Peran-Wisa's tent.
He found the old man sleeping on his bed

Of
rugs and felts, and near him lay his arms.
And Peran-Wisa heard him, though the step
Was dull'd, for he slept light, an old man's sleep;
And he rose quickly on one arm, and said:
"Who art thou? for it is not yet clear dawn.

Speak! Is there news, or any night-alarm?"
But Sohrab came to the bedside, and said:
"Thou know'st me, Peran-Wisa! It is I.
Thou know'st if, since from Ader-baijan first
I came among the Tartars and bore arms,
I still have served Afrasiab well, and shown,
At my boy's years, the courage of a man.
This, too, thou know'st: That while I still bear on
The conquering Tartar ensigns through the world,
And beat the Persians back on every field,

I seek one man,

-one man and one aloneRustum, my father, who, I hoped, should greet, Should one day greet, upon some well-fought field, His not unworthy, not inglorious son.

So I long hoped, but him I never find.

Come, then, hear now, and grant me what I ask.
Let the two armies rest to-day; and I

Will challenge forth the bravest Persian lords
To meet me, man to man. If I prevail,
Rustum will surely hear it; if I fall-

Old man, the dead need no one, claim no kin."

And Peran-Wisa took the hand

Of the young man in his and said:

"O Sohrab, an unquiet heart is thine!

Canst thou not rest among the Tartar chiefs,
And share the battle's common chance with us
Who love thee, but must press forever first,
To find a father thou hast never seen?
But, if this one desire indeed rules all,-
To seek out Rustum-seek him not through fight!
Seek him in peace, and carry to his arms,
O Sohrab, carry an unwounded son!
But far hence seek him, for he is not here.
For now it is not as when I was young,
When Rustum was in front of every fray;
But now he keeps apart, and sits at home,

In Seistan, with Zal, his father old.

Whether that his own mighty strength at last
Feels the abhorr'd approaches of old age;

Or he has quarrel'd with his King, I know not.
There go! Thou wilt not? My heart forebodes
Danger or death awaits thee on this field.

Fain would I know thee safe and well, though lost
To us; fain, therefore, send thee hence, in peace
To seek thy father, not seek single fights
In vain. But who can keep the lion's cub
From ravening, and who govern Rustum's son?
Go, I will grant thee what thy heart desires.'

So said he, and dropp'd Sohrab's hand,
And rais'd the curtain of his tent, and call'd
His herald to his side, and went abroad.

The sun by this had risen and clear'd the fog
From the broad Oxus and the glittering sands.
And from their tents the Tartar horsemen filed
Into the open plain.

And Peran-Wisa with his herald came,
Threading the Tartar squadrons to the front,
And with his staff kept back the foremost ranks.
And when Ferood, who led the Persians, saw
That Peran-Wisa kept the Tartars back,
He took his spear, and to the front he came,

And check'd his ranks, and fix'd them where they stood.
And Peran-Wisa came upon the sand

Betwixt the silent hosts, and spake, and said:
"Ferood, and ye, Persians and Tartars, hear!
Let there be truce between the hosts to-day;
But choose a champion from the Persian lords
To fight our champion Sohrab, man to man."

As, in the country, on a morn in June,
When the dew glistens on the pearlèd ears,
A shiver runs through the deep corn for joy,-

So, when they heard what Peran-Wisa said,
A thrill through all the Tartar squadrons ran,
Of pride and hope for Sohrab, whom they loved.
But, as a troop of pedlars from Cabool,
Crossing the snow-capped Indian Caucasus,

In single file do move, and hold their breath,
For fear they should dislodge the o'erhanging snows,-
So the pale Persians held their breath with fear.

Then Gudurz, a brother-chief to Ferood, said:
"Ferood, shame bids us take their challenge up,
Yet champion have we none to match this youth.
He has the wild stag's foot, the lion's heart.
But Rustum came last night; aloof he sits
And sullen, and has pitched his tents apart.
Him will I seek, and carry to his ear

The Tartar challenge, and this young man's name;
Haply he will forget his wrath, and fight.

Stand forth the while, and take their challenge up.
And Ferood stood forth and cried:

"Old man, be it agreed as thou hast said!
Let Sohrab arm, and we will find a man.

And Peran-Wisa turn'd, and strode

Back through the opening Tartar squadrons to his tent. But through the anxious Persians Gudurz ran,

And cross'd the camp which lay behind, and reach'd, Out on the sands beyond it, Rustum's tent.

And Gudurz enter'd and found Rustum.

Listless he sate and held a falcon on his wrist, And play'd with it; but Gudurz came and stood Before him; and Rustum look'd, and saw him stand, And with a cry sprang up and dropp'd the bird, And greeted Gudurz with both hands, and said: "Welcome! these eyes could see no better sight. What news? but first sit down and eat and drink. "Not now!" said Gudurz, " said Gudurz, "to-day has other needs.