270 ARNOLD
Fool, thou art slain, and by an unknown man ! Dearer to the red jackets shalt thou be Than to thy friends, and to thy father old. '
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 matched 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 an unarmed foe. And now thou boastest, and insultest 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 ! '
As when some hunter in the spring hath found A breeding eagle sitting on her nest, Upon the craggy isle of a hill-lake, And pierced her with an arrow as she rose, And followed her to find her where she fell Far off; anon her mate comes winging back From hunting, and a great way off decries His huddling young left-sole; at that he checks His pinion, and with short uneasy sweeps Circles above his eyry, with loud screams Chiding his mate back to her nest; but she Lies dying, with the arrow in her side,
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