116
FIRDUSI
When lo! it chanced amid that woodland chase,
A band of horsemen, rambling near the place,
Saw, with surprise, superior game astray,
And rushed at once to seize the noble prey;
But, in the imminent struggle, two beneath
His steel-clad hoofs received the stroke of death;
One proved a sterner fate-for downward borne,
The mangled head was from the shoulders torn.
Still undismayed, again they nimbly sprung,
And round his neck the noose entangling flung:
Now, all in vain, he spurns the smoking ground,
In vain the tumult echoes all around;
They bear him off, and view, with ardent eyes,
His matchless beauty and majestic size;
Then soothe his fury, anxious to obtain,
A bounding steed of his immortal strain.
A band of horsemen, rambling near the place,
Saw, with surprise, superior game astray,
And rushed at once to seize the noble prey;
But, in the imminent struggle, two beneath
His steel-clad hoofs received the stroke of death;
One proved a sterner fate-for downward borne,
The mangled head was from the shoulders torn.
Still undismayed, again they nimbly sprung,
And round his neck the noose entangling flung:
Now, all in vain, he spurns the smoking ground,
In vain the tumult echoes all around;
They bear him off, and view, with ardent eyes,
His matchless beauty and majestic size;
Then soothe his fury, anxious to obtain,
A bounding steed of his immortal strain.
When Rustem woke, and miss’d his favourite horse,
The loved companion of his glorious course;
Sorrowing he rose, and, hastening thence, began
To shape his dubious way to Samengán;
“Reduced to journey thus, alone!” he said,
“How pierce the gloom which thickens round my head;
Burthen’d, on foot, a dreary waste in view,
Where shall I bend my steps, what path pursue?
The scoffing Turks will cry, ‘Behold our might!
We won the trophy from the Champion-knight!
From him who, reckless of his fame and pride,
Thus idly slept, and thus ignobly died.’”
Girding his loins he gathered from the field,
His quivered stores, his beamy sword and shield,
Harness and saddle-gear were o’er him slung,
Bridle and mail across his shoulders hung.[1]
Then looking round, with anxious eye, to meet,
The broad impression of his charger’s feet,
The track he hail’d, and following, onward prest,
While grief and hope alternate filled his breast.
The loved companion of his glorious course;
Sorrowing he rose, and, hastening thence, began
To shape his dubious way to Samengán;
“Reduced to journey thus, alone!” he said,
“How pierce the gloom which thickens round my head;
Burthen’d, on foot, a dreary waste in view,
Where shall I bend my steps, what path pursue?
The scoffing Turks will cry, ‘Behold our might!
We won the trophy from the Champion-knight!
From him who, reckless of his fame and pride,
Thus idly slept, and thus ignobly died.’”
Girding his loins he gathered from the field,
His quivered stores, his beamy sword and shield,
Harness and saddle-gear were o’er him slung,
Bridle and mail across his shoulders hung.[1]
Then looking round, with anxious eye, to meet,
The broad impression of his charger’s feet,
The track he hail’d, and following, onward prest,
While grief and hope alternate filled his breast.
O’er vale and wild-wood led, he soon descries,
The regal city’s shining turrets rise.
And when the Champion’s near approach is known,
The usual homage waits him to the throne.
The king, on foot, received his welcome guest
With proferred friendship, and his coming blest:
The regal city’s shining turrets rise.
And when the Champion’s near approach is known,
The usual homage waits him to the throne.
The king, on foot, received his welcome guest
With proferred friendship, and his coming blest:
- ↑ In this hunting excursion he is completely armed, being supplied with spear, sword, shield, mace, bow and arrows. Like the knight-errants of after times, he seldom even slept unarmed. Single combat and the romantic enterprises of European Chivalry may indeed be traced to the East. Rustem was a most illustrious example of all that is pious, disinterested, and heroic. The adventure now describing is highly characteristic of a chivalrous age. In the Dissertation prefixed to Richardson’s Dictionary, mention is made of a famous Arabian Knight-errant called Abu Mahommud Albatal, “who wandered everywhere in quest of adventures, and redressing grievances. He was killed in the year 738.”
