he abandoned the innocent babe in the Elburz mountains,
where, however, a great bird or griffin miraculously preserved the
infant and in time returned it to its father, who had repented of his
hasty action.

[183-14] _Ruksh_, also spelled _Raksh_.

[183-15] _Tale_ means _count_ or _reckoning_. The diver had gathered all
the pearls required from him for the day.

[184-16] This description by Arnold scarcely tallies with the idea we
have obtained of the powerful Sohrab from reading the accounts taken
from the _Shah Nameh_. Arnold's is the more poetic idea, and increases
the reader's sympathy for Sohrab.

[185-17] _Be governed_, that is, _take my advice_.

[189-18] It is not natural for father and son to fight thus.

[191-19] In the _Shah Nameh_ Rustum overpowers Sohrab and slays him by
his superior power and skill. Arnold takes the more poetic view that
Sohrab's arm is powerless when he hears his father's name.

[193-20] _Sole_ means _solitary, alone_.

[193-21] _Glass her_ means _reflect her_ as in a mirror.

[195-22] He sees that this young men, as far as age and appearance are
concerned, might be a son of his.

[196-23] Again Arnold departs from the Persian tale, in which Sohrab
wears a bracelet or amulet on his arm. Arnold's work gives a more
certain identification.

[196-24] The griffin spoken of in note 13.

[200-25] The Persian tradition is that over the spot where Sohrab was
buried a huge mound, shaped like the hoof of a horse, was erected.

[201-26] It is said that shortly after the death of Sohrab the king
himself died while on a visit to a famous spring far in the north, and
as the nobles were returning with his corpse all were lost in a great
tempest. Unfortunately for Sohrab's prophecy, Persian traditions do not
include Rustum among the lost.

[204-27] This beautiful stanza makes a peculiarly artistic termination
to the poem. After the storm and stress of the combat and the
heart-breaking pathos of Sohrab's death, the reader willingly rests his
thought on the majestic Oxus that still flows on, unchangeable, but ever
changing. The suggestion is that after all nature is triumphant, that
our pains and losses, our most grievous disappointments and greatest
griefs are but incidents in the great drama of life, and that, though
like the river Oxus, we for a time become "foiled, circuitous
wanderers," we at last see before us the luminous home, bright and
tranquil under the shining stars.

TH