Zal · Chapter 1 of 7
The White-Haired Child
Sam · An omen misread · Exposure
Nothing was wrong with the child. Something was wrong with the reading.
The Persian epic tradition opens Zal's life with an abandonment. In Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, the child of Sam, a great champion, is born perfect and with hair already white, and nobody in the household will tell the father. When Sam is finally told, he reads it as a mark of the evil spirit rather than as a child who looks unusual, and he has the boy carried up Mount Alborz and left there. The poem does not soften it or supply an excuse. A man of enormous reputation is frightened by his own son's appearance and disposes of him.
- An omen misread
- A child put out
- A reputation protected
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