بخش 6

Goshtasp folded and sealed the letter, marked it, and entrusted it to the two champions, instructing them in courtly rite: act with wisdom and enter the audience hall together; when you behold the king upon the throne, bend yourselves double and render salutations as befits kingship; turn your gaze to his shining crown, deliver the auspicious message, listen to his reply in full, then kiss the earth and depart. Thereupon Bidrafsh, rancorous, drew his standard toward domed Balkh with his reckless companion Namkhvast, who would cast down the good straight path. From Turan they came to Balkh, dismounted at his gate, walked on foot to the threshold, and when they saw the king’s face upon the dais—bright as the sun and keen as an arrow over the moon—they bowed like servants before the chosen, fortunate sovereign and presented the royal letter written in Yabghu script. The king of the world opened the letter, grew wrathful, and began to writhe with anger; he summoned the elder Jamasp, guide to Goshtasp, and gathered Iran’s elect—commanders, battle-seasoned champions, and mobeds. He set the sacred text before them, called his prophet and his priest, and summoned Zarir, the chosen general—his brother and captain of the moving host. Zarir was the army’s refuge and its backbone, guarding the realm from evil, while Esfandiyar was yet a child, a rider to be. Then the world-seeking king addressed Zarir the blessed, Jamasp the auspicious, and the brave men: Arjasp, lord of the Turks of China, has written me such a letter and filled it with base words—what do you discern in this affair, and how do you judge its end? Friendship with one who lacks knowledge is ill; I am of Iraj’s pure seed, he of Tur’s sorcerous stock—how can peace stand between us? Yet a man of name and lasting renown must speak to all and give a fitting answer.