d great affliction in his family,
and he said: "Alas! that in my old age such a misfortune should have
befallen us, and that with my own eyes I should see these gaping
wounds!" He then rubbed Rustem's feet, and applied healing balm to the
wounds, and bound them up with the skill and care of a physician. Rustem
said to his father: "I never met with a foe, warrior or demon, of such
amazing strength and bravery as this! He seems to have a brazen body,
for my arrows, which I can drive through an anvil, cannot penetrate his
chest. If I had applied the power which I have exerted to a mountain,
the mountain would have moved from its base, but he sat firmly upon his
saddle and scorned my efforts. I thank God that it is night, and that I
have escaped from his grasp. To-morrow I cannot fight, and my secret
wish is to retire unseen from the struggle, that no trace of me may be
discovered."--"In that case," replied Zal, "the victor will come and
take me and all my family into bondage. But let us not despair. Did not
the Simurgh promise that whenever I might be overcome by adversity, if I
burned one of her feathers, she would instantly appear? Shall we not
then solicit assistance in this awful extremity?" So saying, Zal went up
to a high place, and burnt the feather in a censer, and in a short time
the Simurgh stood before him. After due praise and acknowledgment, he
explained his wants. "But," said he, "may the misfortune we endure be
far from him who has brought it upon us. My son Rustem is wounded almost
unto death, and I am so helpless that I can do him no good." He then
brought forward Rakush, pierced by numerous arrows; upon which the
wonderful Bird said to him, "Be under no alarm on that account, for I
will soon cure him;" and she immediately plucked out the rankling
weapons with her beak, and the wounds, on passing a feather over them,
were quickly healed.

To Rustem now she turns, and soothes his grief,
And drawing forth the arrows, sucks the blood
From out the wounds, which at her bidding close,
And the illustrious champion is restored
To life and power.

Being thus reinvigorated by the magic influence of the Simurgh, he
solicits further aid in the coming strife with Isfendiyar; but the
mysterious animal laments that she cannot assist him. "There never
appeared in the world," said she, "so brave and so perfect a hero as
Isfendiyar. The favor of Heaven is with him, for in his Heft-khan he, by
some artifice, suc