Chapter 3: Rustam’s Journey to Mazandaran

On the back of swift Rakhsh the champion soon left his father’s country behind. He rode just as fast through black night or bright day, covering twice the distance of any other rider. When at last Rustam became tired he saw before him a green plain through which ran a cool stream. He let Rakhsh loose to run in the prairie and made himself a bed in the long reeds.

But the reeds concealed the den of a lion who was so ferocious that not even elephants dared graze nearby. At night the lion returned to his den and saw with astonishment a man lying in the reeds and a horse standing before him. He said to himself: “I’ll eat the horse first, and then the man will be at my mercy.” He bounded toward Rakhsh the brilliant, but Rakhsh raised his front hooves and gave the lion a swift kick. The horse seized the lion’s back with his sharp teeth and threw him against the ground, and in this way he killed the monstrous beast.

Rustam awoke and saw before him the body of the terrible lion. He said to Rakhsh: “O foolish animal, who told you to fight with lions? If you had died in the fight, who would have carried to Mazandaran my coat of mail, my helmet, my bow, my sword, and this heavy mace? Had you wakened me, I could have slain the beast with ease.” When the sun revealed its brilliant face, Rustam brushed Rakhsh down and set off again for Mazandaran.

Fast as an arrow they sped across the countryside until, exhausted, they came to the edge of a wide desert. Here Rustam lay down to sleep, saying to the ardent Rakhsh: “Do not fight with divs or lions while I am asleep. If an enemy appears, come and tell me.”