بخش 16

Esfandiyār, the mighty warrior, hearing his father’s cry from the mountain, entered the field with his head bowed and spear in hand, and swept upon the enemy like a storm; he scaled towers and bulwarks, and felled all who stood before him, so that men fled or perished at the sight of him. Meanwhile Bostur, son of Zarīr, sought from his father’s stableman a swift and steady horse, set a golden saddle on it, donned his mail, fastened his lariat to the fetrāk, and rode secretly to the battleground to find where his father had fallen. He asked the nobles along the way until a man named Ardeshir—a valiant and eminent rider—pointed out Zarīr’s place near the black standard. The prince spurred ahead, and when he saw his father’s lifeless body on the earth, the bright world grew dark to him; he lost his senses, tumbled from the saddle, and cast himself upon the ground. At his father’s side he lamented: O my shining moon, the light of my heart and eyes; we raised you with toil and hardship, and now, with your name ablaze in the world, you are slain, unfulfilled. Since the time when Lohrāsp entrusted the army to you and set the throne and crown upon Goshtāsp, you ordered the realm and sought war by desire; such ill-fate was not your due. I will go down to your brother, the auspicious king, to tell him of this grief and seek your vengeance upon the enemy. Then he reined his horse and, crying out, went to the king who sat by the battlefield. The king asked why his eyes were full of tears; he said: My father is ruined and lies upon the dry soil, his black beard scented like musk. Hearing the son’s words, Goshtāsp’s bright day turned dark; his elephant-like frame grew lean, and he ordered his black battle shirt, his war robe and crown to be brought, for he would, in his father’s vengeance, set the enemies’ blood flowing and kindle a fire whose smoke would reach Saturn. But the champions and the wise counselor declared that the king should not go to the field; they set the counselor upon a mount and sent him toward the enemy so that he would bring back the father’s vengeance better than the king himself.