The Khaqan of Chin

With Kamus dead, the eastern host loses heart. A Turanian named Changesh rides out to avenge him and shoots at Rostam, then loses his nerve and flees. Rostam catches his horse by the tail, and when Changesh falls he cuts off his head. Houman, Piran's brother, goes to the Iranian lines in disguise to learn the terrible stranger's name.

Then Piran himself comes to talk. He grieves for Siyavash, he says, and he asks for peace. Rostam names the price: the men guilty of Siyavash's blood must be sent to Kay Khosrow in chains, and Piran should come with Rostam to the king, who will give him ten times what he leaves behind. Piran knows the guilty are Afrasiab's own kin and the great lords of Turan; he cannot hand them over. In the Turanian camp the kinsmen of Kamus talk of burning Sistan, and Shangul asks why one Sistani should frighten them all. The armies form up again.

Shangul meets Rostam and flees. Sava, who comes to avenge Kamus, dies under Rostam's mace, and so does Gahar of Gahan. Rostam rides through the field with his lasso, and every time he drags a chief from the saddle the Iranian drums roll. The Khaqan, watching from the back of his white elephant, sends an envoy: the men of Chin, Shakni, Chaghan and Vahr have no quarrel with Iran; this is Afrasiab's war. Rostam answers that he will spare the Khaqan's life, but the elephants, the crown and the ivory throne are his. The Khaqan hurls a javelin at him. Rostam's noose drops round his neck, drags him from the elephant to the ground, and he is driven on foot to the river Shahd without elephant, crown, throne or litter. The poet pauses: this deceiving inn of a world raises some and throws down others.

Piran slips away. The captives and the spoil go to Kay Khosrow with Fariborz, and the king writes back in praise of his champion.

Kafur and Puladvand

Rostam marches on through Sughd and comes to Bidad, a castle whose king, Kafur, eats human flesh. Kafur kills many of the Iranians under Gostaham before Rostam arrives and smashes his head with a mace. The garrison shouts from the walls that Tur, son of Fereydun, built the place with sorcery and that no one has ever taken it. Rostam digs under the walls, props them on posts smeared with black naphtha and sets them alight, and the castle falls.

Afrasiab sends for Puladvand, a div. In one charge Puladvand throws Tus, Giv, Rohham and Bizhan to the ground and cuts the staff of the Kaviani banner, and old Gudarz takes off his helmet to mourn his sons. Rostam's mace and sword cannot finish him, so the two agree to wrestle, with no one to interfere. Afrasiab wants his champion to use a blade, and his son Shideh protests that the king is breaking his word. Rostam lifts Puladvand by the chest and neck and dashes him to the ground. Thinking him dead, he rides away; Puladvand gets up, flees, and takes his army with him.

Piran tells Afrasiab there is nothing left but flight, and the king goes off towards Chin and Machin. Rostam calls a halt to the killing, burns Afrasiab's palaces and rides home to a royal welcome. After a month of feasting he goes back to Zabolestan.