When the King heard what had been done, he called one of his warriors, Kalahour by name, the strongest man in his dominions, and said to him, "Go and meet this messenger; show him your prowess, and cover his face with shame." So Kalahour rode to meet Rustem, and, taking him by the hand, wrung it with all the strength of an elephant. The hand turned blue with the pain, but the hero did not flinch or give any sign of pain. But when in his turn he wrung the hand of Kalahour, the nails dropped from it as the leaves drop from a tree. Kalahour rode back, his hand hanging down, and said to the King, "It will be better for you to make peace than to fight with this lion, whose strength is such that no man can stand against him. Pay this tribute, and we will make it good to you. Otherwise we are lost."

At this moment Rustem rode up. The King gave him a place at his right hand, and asked him of his welfare. Rustem, for answer, gave him the letter of Kei-Kaoeus. When the King had read the letter, his face became black as thunder. Then he said, "Carry back this answer to your master: 'You are lord of Persia, and I of Mazanderan. Be content; seek not that which is not yours. Otherwise your pride will lead you to your fall.'"

The King would have given Rustem royal gifts, robes of honor, and horses, and gold. But the hero would have none of them, but went away in anger. When he had returned to the King of Persia, he said to him, "Fear nothing, but make ready for battle. As for the warriors of this land of Mazanderan, they are nothing; I count them no better than a grain of dust."

Meanwhile the king of the magicians prepared for war. He gathered an army, horsemen and foot-soldiers and elephants, that covered the face of the earth, and approached the borders of Persia; and, on the other hand, King Kaoues marshaled his men of war and went out to encounter him. The King himself took his place in the center of the line of battle, and in front of all stood the great Rustem.

One of the nobles of Mazanderan came out of their line, with a great club in his hands, and approaching the Persian army, cried in a loud voice, "Who is ready to fight with me? He should be one who is able to change water into dust."

None of the Persian nobles answered him, and King Kaoues said, "Why is it, ye men of war, that your faces are troubled, and your tongues silent before this Genius?"

But still the nobles made no answer. Then Rustem caught the rein of his horse, and, putting the point of his lance over his shoulder, rode up to the King, and said, "Will the King give me permission to fight with this Genius?"

The King said, "The task is worthy of you, for none of the Persians dare to meet this warrior. Go and prosper!"

So Rustem set spurs to Raksh, and rode against the warrior who had challenged the Persians.

"Hear," he said, as soon as he came near, "your name is blotted out of the list of the living; for the moment is come when you shall suffer the recompense of all your misdeeds."

The warrior answered, "Boast not yourself so proudly. My sword makes mothers childless."

When Rustem heard this, he cried with a voice of thunder, "I am Rustem!" and the warrior, who had no desire to fight the champion of the world, turned his back and fled. But Rustem pursued him, and thrust at him with his lance where the belt joins the coat of mail, and pierced him through, for the armor could not turn the point of the great spear. Then he lifted him out of his saddle, and raised him up in the air, as if he were a bird which a man had run through with a spit. This done, he dashed him down dead upon the ground, and all the nobles of Mazanderan stood astonished at the sight.

After this the two armies joined battle. The air grew dark, and the flashing of the swords and clubs flew like the lightning out of a thunder-cloud, and the mountains trembled with the cries of the combatants. Never had any living man seen so fierce a fight before.

For seven days the battle raged, and neither the one side nor the other could claim the victory. On the eighth day King Kaoues bowed himself before God, taking his crown from his head, and prayed with his face to the ground, saying, "O Lord God, give me, I beseech thee, the victory over the Genii who fear thee not."

Then he set his helmet on his head, and put himself at the head of his army. First of all Rustem began the attack, charging the center of the enemy's army. He directed his course straight to the place where the King of Mazanderan stood, surrounded with his chiefs and a great host of elephants. When the King saw the shine of his lance, he lost courage, and would have fled. But Rustem, with a cry like a lion's roar, charged him, and struck him on the girdle with his spear. The spear pierced the steel, and would have slain the King, but that by his magic art he changed himself, before the eyes of all the Persian army, into a mass of rock. Rustem stood astonished to see such a marvel.

When King Kaoues came up with his warriors, he said to Rustem, "What is it? What ails you that you tarry here, doing no thing?"

"My lord," answered Rustem, "I charged the King of Mazanderan, spear in hand; I struck him on the girdle, but when I thought to see him fall from his saddle, he changed himself into a rock before my eyes, and now he feels nothing that I can do."

Then King Kaoues commanded that they should take up the rock and put it before his throne. But when the strongest men in the army came to handle the rock, or sought to draw it with cords, they could do nothing; it remained immovable. Rustem, however, without any one to help him, lifted it from the earth, and carrying it into the camp, threw it down before the King's tent, and said, "Give up these cowardly tricks and the art of magic, else I will break this rock into pieces."

When the King of Mazanderan heard this, he made himself visible, black as a thunder-cloud, with a helmet of steel upon his head and a coat of mail upon his breast. Rustem laughed, and caught him by the hand, and brought him before the King.

"See," said he, "this lump of rock, who, for fear of the hatchet has given himself up to me!"

When Kaoues looked at him and observed how savage of aspect he was, with the neck and tusks of a wild boar, he saw that he was not worthy to sit upon a throne, and bade the executioner take him away and cut him in pieces. This done, he sent to the enemies' camp, and commanded that all the spoil, the King's throne, and his crown and girdle, the horses and the armor, the swords and jewels, should be gathered together. Then he called up his army, and distributed to them rewards in proportion to what they had done and suffered. After this he spent seven days in prayer, humbling himself before God, and offering up thanksgiving. On the eighth day he seated himself on his throne, and opened his treasures, and gave to all that had need. Thus he spent another seven days. On the fifteenth day, he called for wine and cups of amber and rubies, and sat for seven days on his throne, with the wine-cup in his hand.

He sent for Rustem, and said, "It is of your doing, by your strength and courage, that I have recovered my throne."

Rustem answered, "A man must do his duty. As for the honors that you would give me, I owe them all to Aulad, who has always guided me on the right way. He hopes to be made king of Mazanderan. Let the King, therefore, if it please him, invest him with the crown."

And this the King did.

The next day Kaoues and his army set out to return to the land of Persia. When he had reached his palace, he seated himself upon his throne, and sending for Rustem, put him at his side.

Rustem said, "My lord, permit me to go back to the old man Zal, my father."

The King commanded that they should bring splendid presents for the hero. The presents were these: A throne of turquoise, adorned with rams' heads; a royal crown set about with jewels; a robe of brocade of gold, such as is worn by the King of kings; a bracelet and a chain of gold; a hundred maidens, with faces fair as the full moon, and girdles of gold; a hundred youths, whose hair was fragrant with musk; a hundred horses, harnessed with gold and silver; a hundred mules with black hair, with loads of brocade that came from the land of Room and from Persia. After these they brought and laid at the hero's feet a hundred purses filled with gold pieces; a cup of rubies, filled with pure musk; another cup of turquoise, filled with attar of roses; and, last of all, a letter written on pages of silk, in ink made of wine and aloes and amber and the black of lamps. By this letter the King of kings gave anew to Rustem the kingdom of the south. Then Kaoues blessed him, and said: "May you live as long as men shall see the sun and the moon in heaven! May the great of the earth join themselves to you! May your own soul be full of modesty and tenderness!"

Rustem prostrated himself on the earth, and kissed the throne; and so took his departure.



LIST OF BEST BOOKS OF MYTHS AND LEGENDS

ASHTON, T. Romances of Chivalry

BALDWIN, J. The Story of Siegfried

BALDWIN, J. The Story of Roland

BARING-GOULD, S. Curious Myths of the Middle Ages

BROOKS, E. The Story of the AEneid

BROOKS, E. The Story of the Odyssey

BULFINCH, T. The Age of Chivalry

BULFINCH, T. Legends of Charlemagne

BURNS, J. Popular Tales and Legends

CLODD, E. The Birth and Growth of Myths

CLODD, E. The Childhood of Religions

COOKER, F.J. Nature Myths and Stories

COX, G.W. Tales of Ancient Greece

COX, G.W. Popular Romances of the Middle Ages

CRANE, F.T. Italian Popular Tales

CROMMELIN, MARY Famous Legends

CURTIN, J. Myths and Folk Tales of the Russians

DRAKE, S.A. North-East Legends

DU MAURIER, GEORGE. Legend of Camelot

EDWARDSON, E. The Courteous Knight

EMMERSON, ELLEN RUSSELL Indian Myths

FISK, JOHN. Myths and Myth Makers

FRANCILLON, R.E. Gods and Heroes

GAYLEY, F. Classic Myths

GRINNEL, G.B. Blackfoot Lodge Tales

GUERBER, H.A. Myths of Northern Lands

GUERBER, H.A. Myths of Greece and Rome

HALL, J. Legends of the West

HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL Tanglewood Tales

HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL The Wonder Book

HEARN, LAFCADIO Some Chinese Ghosts

HOLBROOK, F. The Book of Nature's Myths

HULME, F.E. Mythland

HUNT, R. Popular Romances of the West of England

IRVING, WASHINGTON The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

JACOBS, JOSEPH The Book of Wonder Voyages

KENNEDY, PATRICK Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts

KINGSLEY, CHARLES. Greek Heroes

KUPLER, GRACE H.Stories of Long Ago

LANG, ANDREW Modern Mythology

LANIER, SYDNEY The Boy's King Arthur

LANIER, SYDNEY The Boy's Mabinogion

LANIER, SYDNEY The Boy's Percy

LANIER, SYDNEY The Boy's Froissart

LEITZ, A.F. Legends and Stories

LOVER, SAMUEL Legends and Stories of Ireland

MABIE, H.W. Norse Tales

MABIE, H.W. (ED.) Myths that Every Child should Know

MACAULAY, LORD Lays of Ancient Rome

MACDONALD, GEORGE The Light Princess

MAGNUSSON AND MORRIS The Saga Library

MITCHELL, S.W. Prince Little Boy

NUTT, ALFRED Folk Lore

PRATT-CHADWICK, M.L. Legends of the Red Children

PYLE, HOWARD. Story of King Arthur

RALSTON, W.R.S.Russian Folk Tales

SAINTINE, X.B. Myths of the Rhine

SCHRAMMEM, J. Legends of German Heroes of the Middle Ages

SCUDDER, H.E. The Book of Legends

SCUDDER, H.E. The Children's Book

SCUDDER, H.E. The Book of Folk Stories

SKINNER, C.M. Myths and Legends

SOUTHEY, R. Chronicles of the Cid

TANNER, D. Legends from the Red Man's Forest

TAPPAN, E.M. Robin Hood: His Book

WILDE, LADY Ancient Legends

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