Chosen from the Herd

Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, an eleventh-century Persian poem, introduces the horse before the hero needs him. Rostam has grown too heavy for any mount, so the herds of Zabol and Kabol are driven past him and he presses his hand down on each back until the animal sags. One colt does not: a young horse the poem describes as the colour of rose-leaves scattered on saffron, with a mare who charges anyone coming near. The herdsman says the colt has no owner and no price — that his price is Iran itself. Rostam takes him and names him Rakhsh.