with great valor against Byzun; and whilst
they were engaged in deadly battle, Bahram, the hero, sprang up from his
ambuscade, and striking furiously upon the head of Ferud, killed that
unfortunate youth on the spot. The mother, the beautiful Gulshaher,
seeing what had befallen her son, rushed out of the fort in a state of
frenzy, and flying to him, clasped him in her arms in an agony of grief.
Unable to survive his loss, she plunged a dagger in her own breast, and
died at his feet. The Persians then burst open the gates, and plundered
the city. Bahram, when he saw what had been done, reproached Tus with
being the cause of this melancholy tragedy, and asked him what account
he would give of his conduct to Kai-khosrau. Tus was extremely
concerned, and remaining three days at that place, erected a lofty
monument to the memory of the unfortunate youth, and scented it with
musk and camphor. He then pushed forward his army to attack another
fort. That fort gave way, the commandant being killed in the attack; and
he then hastened on toward Afrasiyab, who had ordered Nizad with thirty
thousand horsemen to meet him. Byzun distinguished himself in the
contest which followed, but would have fallen into the hands of the
enemy if he had not been rescued by his men, and conveyed from the field
of battle. Afrasiyab pushed forward another force of forty thousand
horsemen under Piran-wisah, who suffered considerable loss in an
engagement with Giw; and in consequence fell back for the purpose of
retrieving himself by a shubkhun, or night attack. The resolution proved
to be a good one; for when night came on, the Persians were found off
their guard, many of them being intoxicated, and the havoc and
destruction committed among them by the Tartars was dreadful. The
survivors were in a miserable state of despondency, but it was not till
morning dawned that Tus beheld the full extent of his defeat and the
ruin that surrounded him. When Kai-khosrau heard of this heavy reverse,
he wrote to Friburz, saying, "I warned Tus not to proceed by the way of
Kullab, because my brother and his mother dwelt in that place, and their
residence ought to have been kept sacred. He has not only despised my
orders, but he has cruelly occasioned the untimely death of both. Let
him be bound, and sent to me a prisoner, and do thou assume the command
of the army." Friburz accordingly placed Tus in confinement, and sent
him to Khosrau, who received and treated him with