Page:Persian Literature (1900), vol. 1.djvu/315



Third Stage
Away went the prince, and having travelled a considerable distance, Kurugsar suddenly exclaimed: "I now begin to smell the stench of the dragon." Hearing this, Isfendiyár dismounted, ascended the machine, and shutting the door fast, took his seat and drove off. Bashútan and all the warriors upon witnessing this extraordinary act, began to weep and lament, thinking that he was hurrying himself to certain destruction, and begged that for his own sake, as well as theirs, he would come out of the machine. But he replied: "Peace, peace! what know ye of the matter;" and as the warlike apparatus was so excellently contrived, that he could direct the movements of the horses himself, he drove on with increased velocity, till he arrived in the vicinity of the monster.

The dragon from a distance heard The rumbling of the wain, And snuffing every breeze that stirred Across the neighbouring plain,

Smelt something human in his power, A welcome scent to him; For he was eager to devour Hot reeking blood, or limb.

And darkness now is spread around, No pathway can be traced; The fiery horses plunge and bound Amid the dismal waste.

And now the dragon stretches far His cavern throat, and soon Licks in the horses and the car, And tries to gulp them down.

But sword and javelin, sharp and keen, Wound deep each sinewy jaw; Midway, remains the huge machine, And chokes the monster's maw.

In agony he breathes, a dire Convulsion fires his blood, And struggling, ready to expire, Ejects a poison-flood!

And then disgorges wain and steeds, And swords and javelins bright; Then, as the dreadful dragon bleeds, Up starts the warrior-knight,