Page:Persian Literature (1900), vol. 1.djvu/347

 Fate would have it so, and thus it is! I now consign to thy care and guardianship my son Bahman: instruct him in the science of government, the customs of kings, and the rules and stratagems of the warrior, for thou art exceedingly wise and experienced, and perfect in all things," Rustem readily complied, and said:--

"That duty shall be mine alone, To seat him firmly on the throne."

Then Isfendiyár murmured to Bashútan, that the anguish of his wound was wearing him away, and that he had but a short time to live.

"The pace of death is fast and fleet,   And nothing my life can save,  I shall want no robe, but my winding sheet,    No mansion but the grave.

"And tell my father the wish of his heart   Has not been breathed in vain,  The doom he desired when he made me depart,    Has been sealed, and his son is slain!

"And, O! to my mother, in kindliest tone,   The mournful tidings bear,  And soothe her woes for her warrior gone,    For her lost Isfendiyár."

He now groaned heavily, and his last words were:--

"I die, pursued by unrelenting fate, The hapless victim of a father's hate."

Life having departed, his body was placed upon a bier, and conveyed to Irán, amidst the tears and lamentations of the people.

Rustem now took charge of Bahman, according to the dying request of Isfendiyár, and brought him to Sístán. This was, however, repugnant to the wishes of Zúára, who observed to his brother: "Thou hast slain the father of this youth; do not therefore nurture and instruct the son of thy enemy, for, mark me, in the end he will be avenged."--"But did not Isfendiyár, with his last breath, consign him to my guardianship? how can I refuse it now? It must be so written and determined in the dispensations of