Of all the adventures that befell Rustam the great hero, perhaps one is worth telling here – that of his love for the princess Tahminah, and of the son that was born to them as a consequence of that love.

Once, tired after a long day’s riding and hunting, Rustam made camp in the wilderness of Turan in the land of the Turks, close by the city of Samengan. Rustam was alone, except for his faithful and devoted horse, Rakush. That night, as Rustam slept, and Rakush cropped the pasture near him, there rode by seven knights. They saw a man, fast asleep, and close by him the most magnificent horse ever. Now these seven knights did not realise that it was Rustam they saw asleep, or that it was Rakush cropping grass close by. Perhaps if they had known they would not have done what they did next – which was to throw their snares around Rakush’s neck and drag him, fighting and kicking, into the city of Samengan and then hiding him. Rakush could have overcome one man, and even two or three, but seven were too many for even this horse to fight.

Next morning, when Rustam awoke, he saw that Rakush had vanished. He looked around and saw the traces of the struggle and realised that Rakush had been stolen. Angry, worried and sad, Rustam followed the tracks left by Rakush and the seven knights, and by and by he found himself at the gates of the city of Samengan.

When the people and the king of Samengan saw Rustam, they recognised him at once, and came out in a procession to welcome him and lead him into their city with honour. But Rustam cried out in anger that he would kill each and every man of them unless they returned Rakush, whom he now knew they hid within their walls. The king reassured Rustam that neither he nor his people had stolen Rakush, but instead, would do all they could to find his horse. He welcomed Rustam with gentle words, and asked him to stay with him in the royal palace while his people searched for Rakush.

Rustam’s anger cooled, and he followed the king to the palace, where he was treated like an honoured guest. That night, as Rustam lay fast asleep in the large and comfortable room that he had been given, he was woken by a strange sensation. It seemed to him that the room was full of a strange and heady perfume. Rustam opened his eyes and saw, standing beside his bed, a woman more beautiful than the moon. The room was bathed in the soft light of the lamp that she was carrying. “Who are you?” asked Rustam in wonder. “You must be a peri for no mortal woman can be so fair!”

At this the woman smiled and said, “O Rustam, I am no peri, but the princess Tahminah, daughter of the King of Samengan. Long have I heard of your deeds, and long have I loved you from afar. Now that you have come, you must acknowledge my love, and ask my father for my hand in marriage.”

The very next morning Rustam asked his host, the King of Samengan, for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The King was overjoyed, and very soon Rustam and the Princess Tahminah were married.

Upon their wedding night, when they were alone, Rustam gave to Tahminah the onyx that he wore on his arm, and that was known to all the world as his. “Keep this jewel carefully,” Rustam told the princess. “If you bear me a daughter, fasten this in her hair and she will always be safe from evil. If you have a son, let him wear it on his arm like his father, and he will be as strong as Saum and as wise as Zal.”

Rustam and Tahminah spent many happy weeks together. Then one day, the King of Samengan sent word that Rakush had been found and was on his way to Rustam. Rustam knew his time for departure had come. He could stay no longer but must ride forth again into the world. Bidding farewell to Tahminah and reminding her about the jewel once more, Rustam saddled Rakush and rode off into the service of the Shah again. To no one did he mention his wedding with the Princess Tahminah.

Nine months later, there was born to Tahminah a beautiful little boy who looked exactly like Rustam his father. The baby was always smiling, so he was called Sohrab. Sohrab grew rapidly and was strong and handsome, just like his father. By the time he was five years old, Sohrab had learnt the use of every weapon and was skilled in the art of battle. And by the time he was ten years old, there was no one who could beat him in games of skill or strength.

Then one day Sohrab came to his mother. He was angry and troubled and said to her, “I am tall and strong and better than anyone else in all the skills of war. Yet you have not told me who my father is, and what my lineage. Why have you hidden it all these years?” And Sohrab demanded to know at once his father’s name, and the other men from he was descended.

Tahminah smiled when she saw Sohrab so angry. He reminded her of his father, Rustam. “Do not let anger take over your spirit, my son,” said Tahminah. “You are the son of Rustam, and descended from Saum the Mighty and Zal the White-Haired. In all the world there is no man to equal your father.”

Then Tahminah showed him a letter that Rustam had written to her, and the gold and jewels that he had sent at his birth. And then she said to him, “My son, cherish these gifts of your father, but let no one know that you are his son. The wicked Afrasiyab, who is Rustam’s greatest enemy, now rules Turan and Samengan, our home. Afrasiyab covets also the crown of Persia. He would kill you if he knew who your father is. And if Rustam heard that you were grown so tall and strong, he himself may take you away with him. Either way, I would lose you – and my heart could not bear that. And these are the reasons I have remained silent all these years.”

But Sohrab said, “You cannot hide the truth forever. I will raise an army of loyal men, and go out in search of my father. I will ride to his aid, and together we will crush the wicked Afrasiyab and deliver Turan and Samengan. Rustam is the noblest man in all the land, and it is right that he wear the crown of Persia. I will help him see him crowned king of Persia, and you his queen.”

When Tahminah heard her ten-year old son speak in this way, she smiled through her tears, and gave him her blessing to go in search of his father.

“I will need a horse to carry me,” said Sohrab, just as his father had done. Tahminah ordered the herds of horses to be led before her son so that he may choose his own. Sohrab tested the horses just as his father had done, by placing his hand upon their backs. But he could not find a single horse that could resist his strength. At last there was brought to him a colt who, said its keeper, was the son of Rakush, Rustam’s horse. Sohrab tested the animal, and found that it was strong. He saddled it and leapt upon its back, crying, “Now that I have a horse like yours, my father, the world will soon be a dangerous place for our enemies!”

Then Sohrab went before his grandfather, the wise and kindly king of Samengan, Tahminah’s father, and told him what he intended to do. The king gave his permission and his blessing, and put at Sohrab’s disposal all the riches of Samengan.

But the wicked Afrasiyab, under whose yoke groaned Turan and Samengan, and who aspired for the crown of Persia, also heard of Sohrab’s plan. He knew that if Sohrab ever came together with Rustam, the two would be invincible. So, calling together all the sly and evil men in his pay, he hatched a plot to make sure that Sohrab would never unite with Rustam. “Make sure that Sohrab does not recognise his father, or Rustam his son,” commanded Afrasiyab.

Sohrab, unaware that Afrasiyab knew who he was and was planning to trick him, marched out at the head of a small, strong but loyal army to search for Rustam and then combine with him.

Sohrab had many adventures along the way, and with each his fame grew, so that people began to say that another hero had arisen, this time from among the Turks.

But Sohrab, for all his valour, was still a boy, and unused to the guile and trickery of older men. Afrasiyab and his agents managed to trick him at every turn, with the result that one day, Sohrab found himself facing the army of Rustam, not as a friend but as a foe. And Sohrab did not know that the man whose army he challenged was none other than Rustam his father.

Rustam wondered at the young hero who defied him. He too had heard the tales of his deeds. It was said that the mighty Sohrab looked as though he came from the line of Saum and Zal, though he came out of Turan at the head of an army of Turks. “Who is this Sohrab?” wondered Rustam. “Could it be my son, the child of the princess Tahminah of Samengan?” But then he dismissed this thought from his mind. “My son would be but an infant, barely ten years old,” said Rustam. “It could not be him at the head of an army! He is still too young!” So Rustam prepared for battle against the Turks of Turan, little knowing his son Sohrab led them.

Thus it happened that Rustam and Sohrab faced each other in single combat, each unaware of who the other was, yet both uneasy in their minds.

Then Rustam said, “O young man, you are strong and brave and would not kill you. Leave the Turks of Turan and join me, or otherwise you will die at my hands.”

When Rustam spoke to him, Sohrab’s heart went out to him and he asked, “Tell me who you are. Are you Rustam, son of Zal, descended from Saum the Mighty?”

Rustam, thinking that his reputation might frighten the boy, and wishing to spare him, pretended to be someone else. “Rustam is a great hero,” he said. “I am nothing, merely a slave.”

Sohrab bent his head in disappointment. He had been convinced that this mighty warrior before him was Rustam, but the man said he was but a slave!

Then Sohrab and Rustam made ready for combat. They fought long and hard, till all their weapons lay shattered around them. They were evenly matched, and as night fell, neither was the winner. So they agreed to meet again the following day.

Both father and son spent the night racked with doubt.

“Was that not Rustam, my father?” wondered Sohrab. But Afrasiyab’s agents convinced Sohrab he was mistaken – that the man he fought was not the great hero Rustam but an unknown king from the border.

“Could that have been my son Sohrab?” wondered Rustam. But remembering that his son was but a child, Rustam let it go.

The following day, and then the day after that, the two heroes fought each other in single combat. The heart of Sohrab was full of doubt – and again and again he sought to find out the true identity of his opponent. But fate and Afrasiyab’s wicked schemes kept the truth from him.

At last Rustam won the upper hand. Sohrab lay hurt and bleeding on the ground, and he knew his last hour had come. As Rustam drew his sword for the final blow, Sohrab sighed and spoke, “All this fighting is my fault. I had no desire for glory, yet I let myself be tricked into this pointless battle. I had set out to find my father, and now I will never see him. But no matter who you are and where you go, whether you turn yourself into a star and hide in the sky, or become a fish and hide in the sea, my father will find you and kill you. For he is no other than the great hero Rustam, son of Zal the White-Haired and grandson of Saum the Mighty.”

When Rustam heard these words, the sword fell from his hand. He groaned aloud in his anguish, and fell down lifeless beside his son. But soon he came to again and said to Sohrab, “Do you carry with you a token showing that you are indeed the son of Rustam? For I am Rustam, the father you say you seek.”

Sohrab cried aloud in his misery. “If you are indeed Rustam, you have killed your own son! And you did it out of your strange reluctance to tell me who you are! Every time I asked you whether you were Rustam, you denied it, and now it is too late. But to see your token, open my armour and upon my arm you will see the onyx you left with Tahminah my mother.”

Rustam did as Sohrab said, and when he saw the jewel upon the boy’s arm, he wept. “Do not weep,” said Sohrab. “There is no point in grief any more. It is too late to mend matters.”

Rustam stayed by the side of his dying son, till night fell. Then the men in his camp wondered why he had not returned. “If he has been killed by this Sohrab, we will destroy the Turks,” they cried. And Rustam’s men set out to see what had become of their hero.

Sohrab, when he heard Rustam’s men approaching cried out to Rustam for one last favour. “Do not let your men or the Shah of Persia punish my men of Turan. They came not in enmity to the Shah, but followed me in my search for you, my father. I am dying, and I cannot protect them. So you must promise that you will not let any harm come to them.”

Rustam promised, and rising, went to meet his men. He told them what had happened, and how by mistake he had killed his own son. The men grieved with him and shared his pain. Then Rustam sent a messenger to the men of Turan, and asked them to return peacefully to their homes. But he realised the treachery of Afrasiyab, and how he had tricked his son to fight against him.

Rustam stayed by Sohrab in all the long hours of his agony. And at last, when Sohrab died, Rustam was inconsolable. He laid Sohrab on a bier and carried him home to Zal his father.

Zal saw the army returning, their heads bowed in sorrow, and carrying a bier. Zal knew the mourning was not for his son, for he could see Rustam with the bier, his clothes torn, his head covered with ashes in his grief. Then Rustam told Zal all that had happened, and how he had killed his own son, who was but a child in years though a hero in battle.

Zal and Rustam built for Sohrab a magnificent tomb in the shape of a horse’s hoof, and laid him within it, covered in rich brocades. The house of Zal became a house of mourning, and it was a long long time before Rustam could hold his head high again.