AND the first gray of morning filled the east,
And the fog rose out of the Oxus stream;*
But all the Tartar camp along the stream
Was hushed, and still the men were plunged in
sleep.

Sohrab alone, he slept not; all night along
He had lain wakeful, tossing on his bed;
But when the gray dawn stole into his tent,
He rose, and clad himself, and girt his sword,
And took his horseman's cloak, and left his tent,
And went abroad into the cold wet fog,
Through the dim camp to Peran-Wisa's tent.

Through the black Tartar tents he passed, which stood,

Clustering like bee-hives, on the low flat strand
Of Oxus, where the summer floods o'erflow
When the sun melts the snows in high Pamere:
Through the black tents he passed, o'er that low
strand,

And to a hillock came, a little back

From the stream's brink, the spot where first a boat,

Crossing the stream in summer, scrapes the land. The men of former times had crowned the top

With a clay fort. But that was fallen; and now
The Tartars built there Peran-Wisa's tent,
A dome of laths; and o'er it felts were spread,
And Sohrab came there, and went in, and stood
Upon the thick-piled carpets in the tent,
And 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 dulled; 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.
The sun is not yet risen, and the foe
Sleep; but I sleep not. All night long I lie
Tossing and wakeful; and I come to thee.
For so did King Afrasiab bid me seek
Thy counsel, and to heed thee as thy son,
In Samarcand, before the army marched;
And I will tell thee what my heart desires.
Thou knowest if, since from Ader-baijan first
I came among the Tartars, and bore arms,
I have still 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 alone -
Rustum, 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; but 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.
Dim is the rumor of a common fight,
Where host meets host, and many names are sunk;
But of a single combat fame speaks clear."

He spoke and Peran-Wisa took the hand

To find a father thou hast never seen?
That were far best, my son, to stay with us
Unmurmuring-in our tents, while it is war;
And when 'tis truce, then in Afrasiab's towns.
But, if this one desire indeed rules all,

499

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 Siestan, with Zal, his father old;
Whether that his own mighty strength at last
Feels the abhorred approaches of old age;
Or in some quarrel with the Persian king.
There go.-Thou wilt not? yet 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 dropped Sohrab's hand, and left
His bed, and the warm rugs whereon he lay;
| And o'er his chilly limbs his woolen coat
He passed, and tied his sandals on his feet,
And threw a white cloak round him; and he took
In his right hand a ruler's staff, no sword;
And on his head he placed his sheep-skin cap-
Black, glossy, curled, the fleece of Kara-Kul;
And raised the curtain of his tent, and called
His herald to his side, and went abroad.

The sun, by this, had risen, and cleared the fog
From the broad Oxus and the glittering sands;
And from their tents the Tartar horsemen filed
Into the open plain: so Haman bade-
Haman, who, next to Peran-Wisa, ruled
The host, and still was in his lusty prime.
From their black tents, long files of horse, they
streamed:

As when, some gray November morn, the files,
In marching order spread, of long-necked cranes,
Stream over Casbin, and the southern slopes
Of Elburz, from the Aralian estuaries,
Or some frore Caspian reed-bed-southward bound
For the warm Persian sea-board: so they streamed -
The Tartars of the Oxus, the king's guard,

spears;

Large men, large steeds; who from Bokhara come
And Khiva, and ferment the milk of mares.
Next the more temperate Toorkmuns of the south,
The Tukas, and the lances of Salore,

And those from Attruck and the Caspian sands-
Light men, and on light steeds, who only drink
The acrid milk of camels, and their wells.
And then a swarm of wandering horse, who came
From far, and a more doubtful service owned -
The Tartars of Ferghana, from the banks
Of the Jaxartes- - men with scanty beards
And close-set skull-caps; and those wilder hordes
Who roam o'er Kipchak and the northern waste,
Kalmuks and unkemped Kuzzaks, tribes who stray❘
Nearest the pole; and wandering Kirghizes,
Who come on shaggy ponies from Pamere.
These all filed out from camp into the plain,
And on the other side the Persians formed:
First a light cloud of horse, Tartars they seemed,
The Ilyats of Khorassan; and behind,
The royal troops of Persia, horse and foot,
Marshalled battalions bright in burnished steel.
But 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 checked his ranks, and fixed them where they
stood.

And the old Tartar 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 pearled 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,
Cross underneath the Indian Caucasus,
That vast sky-neighboring mountain of milk snow,
Winding so high that, as they mount, they pass
Long flocks of travelling birds dead on the snow,

"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."

So spake he; and Ferood stood forth and said:-
"Old man, be it agreed as thou hast said.
Let Sohrab arm, and we will find a man."
He spoke; and Peran-Wisa turned, and strode
Back through the opening squadrons to his tent.
But through the anxious Persians Gudurz ran,
And crossed the camp which lay behind, and
reached,

Out on the sands beyond it, Rustum's tents.
Of scarlet cloth they were, and glittering gay,
Just pitched. The high pavilion in the midst
Was Rustum's; and his men lay camped around.
And Gudurz entered Rustum's tent, and found
Rustum. His morning meal was done; but still
The table stood beside him, charged with food —
A side of roasted sheep, and cakes of bread,
And dark-green melons. And there Rustum sate
Listless, and held a falcon on his wrist,
And played with it; but Gudurz came and stood
Before him; and he looked and saw him stand;
And with a cry sprang up, and dropped the bird,
And greeted Gudurz with both hands, and said:-
"Welcome! these eyes could see no better sight.
What news? But sit down first, and eat and
drink."

But Gudurz stood in the tent-door, and said:

501

Are not they mortal? Am not I myself?

But who for men of nought would do great deeds! Come, thou shalt see how Rustum hoards his fame. But I will fight unknown, and in plain arms.

name

Sohrab men call him, but his birth is hid.

O Rustum, like thy might is this young man's!
He has the wild stag's foot, the lion's heart,
And he is young, and Iran's chiefs are old,
Or else too weak; and all eyes turn to thee.
Come down and help us, Rustum, or we lose."
He spoke. But Rustum answered with a smile:
"Go to! if Iran's chiefs are old, then I
Am older. If the young are weak, the king
Errs strangely; for the king, for Kai-Khosroo,
Himself is young, and honors younger men.
And lets the aged moulder to their graves.
Rustum he loves no more, but loves the young-
The young may rise at Sohrab's vaunts, not I.
For what care I, though all speak Sohrab's fame?
For would that I myself had such a son,
And not that one slight helpless girl I have-
A son so famed, so brave, to send to war,
And I to tarry with the snow-haired Zal,
My father, whom the robber Afghans vex,
And clip his borders short, and drive his herds;
And he has none to guard his weak old age.
There would I go, and hang my armor up,
And with my great name fence that weak old man,
And spend the goodly treasures I have got,
And rest my age, and hear of Sohrab's fame,
And leave to death the hosts of thankless kings,
And with these slaughterous hands draw sword no
more."

In single fight with any mortal man."

He spoke, and frowned; and Gudurz turned and

ran

Back quickly through the camp in fear and joy-
Fear at his wrath, but joy that Rustum came.
But Rustum strode to his tent-door, and called
His followers in, and bade them bring his arms,
And clad himself in steel. The arms he chose
Were plain, and on his shield was no device;
Only his helm was rich, inlaid with gold;
And from the fluted spine, atop, a plume
Of horse-hair waved, a scarlet horse-hair plume.
So armed, he issued forth; and Ruksh, his horse,
Followed him, like a faithful hound, at heel-
Ruksh, whose renown was noised through all the
earth-

The horse whom Rustum on a foray once
Did in Bokhara by the river find,

A colt beneath its dam, and drove him home
And reared him; a bright bay, with lofty crest,
Dight with a saddle-cloth of broidered green
Crusted with gold; and on the ground were worked
All beasts of chase, all beasts which hunters know.
So followed, Rustum left his tents, and crossed
The camp, and to the Persian host appeared.
And all the Persians knew him, and with shouts
Hailed but the Tartars knew not who he was.
And dear as the wet diver to the eyes

Of his pale wife, who waits and weeps on shore,
By sandy Bahrein, in the Persian Gulf —

Having made up his tale of precious pearls,
Rejoins her in their hut upon the sands-
So dear to the pale Persians Rustum came.

And Rustum to the Persian front advanced :
And Sohrab armed in Haman's tent, and came.
And as a-field the reapers cut a swathe
Down through the middle of a rich man's corn,
And on each side are squares of standing corn,
And in the midst a stubble, short and bare:

| So on each side were squares of men, with spears Bristling; and in the midst the open sand. And Rustum came upon the sand, and cast