The Armband

Rostam prays at running water to have back the strength he had once asked to have taken away, and the Shahnameh grants it. They tie the horses and wrestle again the same day. This time Rostam throws him and, knowing he cannot hold him down, uses the sword at once. Dying, Sohrab names his father, asks that the Turanian army be spared and Hojir not punished, and tells him to open the mail and look. Rostam sees the armband. He sends to Kavus for the medicine that would save the boy; the king weighs what a Rostam with such a son would mean, and hesitates. Rostam sets out to ask in person, and is met on the road.