Rostam and Sohrab

Ferdowsi opens this episode with a warning, the way a storyteller tells you a tale will be hard to bear. Then he begins with a lost horse. Rostam, hunting near the border, falls asleep, and Rakhsh is stolen. Following the trail, he comes to the city of Samangan, where the king welcomes him as a guest. That night the king's daughter, Tahmineh, comes to his room. She has heard of him all her life, she tells him, and she wants a child by him. They are married. Before he leaves, Rostam gives her a token to give their child, an armband in most tellings, so that he may be known. Then Rakhsh is found and he rides home. He never returns.

The child is Sohrab, who grows with astonishing speed and strength. When he learns who his father is, he forms a plan: lead an army into Iran, put Rostam on the throne, and then take Turan too. Afrasiyab, king of Turan, sees an opportunity and gives him an army, along with secret orders to his commanders that father and son must not recognise each other. On the way Sohrab fights at the White Castle, where a woman warrior, Gordafarid, rides out in armour to meet him, and nearly escapes his grasp. In Iran's camp, the captive Hojir is asked to point out Rostam's tent and lies to protect him. Rostam, for his part, refuses to give his name.

They fight across several days. In one bout Sohrab throws Rostam and could kill him; Rostam tells him it is the custom to spare a man the first time, and Sohrab lets him go. In the next, Rostam throws Sohrab and plunges his dagger into his chest. Dying, Sohrab says his father will avenge him, and names him. Rostam sees the armband. There is one hope: the nushdaru, a healing potion, held by Kay Kavus. Rostam sends for it. The king, wary of a hero with so powerful a son, delays, and Sohrab dies before it arrives. To this day "the nushdaru after Sohrab's death" is a Persian phrase for help that comes too late.

Why it still matters

Sohrab and Tahmineh are widely used names. Matthew Arnold retold the story in English verse as Sohrab and Rustum in 1853, and it has been staged, filmed and set to music many times since. In Iran, the naqqal storyteller who reaches this scene still expects silence.