The White Div's cave

The cave of the White Div is the destination of Rostam's Haft Khan, the Seven Labours. By the time he reaches it he has survived a lion, a desert, a dragon, a witch and the warrior Olad, who becomes his guide, and he has killed the div Arzhang. Olad tells him that the demons sleep in the heat of the day and are weakest then, so Rostam waits for the sun to climb before he goes in.

Inside it is dark as night. When his eyes adjust he sees the demon asleep, a huge shape filling the cave, with a white head and a body black as pitch. Rostam does not strike a sleeping enemy. He roars to wake him, and they wrestle in the dark. Rostam cuts off one of the demon's legs, and fights on until he lifts him and throws him down. He tears out the White Div's liver, and drops of its blood restore the sight of King Kay Kavus and his army, blinded and held captive in Mazandaran.

Where is it?

The poem places the cave beyond seven mountains in the land of Mazandaran and says no more. Local tradition in several parts of northern Iran has pointed to caves in the Alborz as the White Div's lair, but none has a claim older than the story's popularity. The point here, in the mountains south of Amol, is approximate and marks the poem's Mazandaran rather than a real site. The fight itself is painted on teahouse walls and recited by the naqqal storytellers across Iran, the white demon falling under the hero with the tiger-skin coat.