AND the first grey of morning fill'd the east,
 And the fog rose out of the Oxus stream.
 But all the Tartar camp along the stream
 Was hush'd, and still the men were plunged in sleep;
 Sohrab alone, he slept not; all night long
 He had lain wakeful, tossing on his bed;
 But when the grey dawn stole into his tent,
 He rose, and clad himself, and girt his sword,
 And took his horseman's cloak, and left his tent,
 And went abroad into the cold wet fog,
 Through the dim camp to Peran-Wisa's tent.

 Through the black Tartar tents he pass'd, which stood
 Clustering like bee-hives on the low flat strand
 Of Oxus, where the summer-floods o'erflow
 When the sun melts the snows in high Pamere;
 Through the black tents he pass'd, o'er that low strand,
 And to a hillock came, a little back
 From the stream's brink--the spot where first a boat,
 Crossing the stream in summer, scrapes the land.
 The men of former times had crown'd the top
 With a clay fort; but that was fall'n, and now
 The Tartars built there Peran-Wisa's tent,
 A dome of laths, and o'er it felts were spread.
 And Sohrab came there, and went in, and stood
 Upon the thick piled carpets in the tent,
 And found the old man sleeping on his bed
 Of rugs and felts, and near him lay his arms.
 And Peran-Wisa heard him, though the step
 Was dull'd; for he slept light, an old man's sleep;
 And he rose quickly on one arm, and said:--

 "Who art thou? for it is not yet clear dawn.
 Speak! is there news, or any night alarm?"

 But Sohrab came to the bedside, and said:--
 "Thou know'st me, Peran-Wisa! it is I.
 The sun is not yet risen, and the foe
 Sleep; but I sleep not; all night long I lie
 Tossing and wakeful, and I come to thee.
 For so did King Afrasiab bid me seek
 Thy counsel and to heed thee as thy son,
 In Samarcand, before the army march'd;
 And I will tell thee what my heart desires.
 Thou know'st if, since from Ader-baijan first
 I came among the Tartars and bore arms,
 I have still served Afrasiab well, and shown,
 At my boy's years, the courage of a man.
 This too thou know'st, that while I still bear on
 The conquering Tartar ensigns through the world,
 And beat the Persians back on every field,
 I seek one man, one man, and one alone--
 Rustum, my father; who I hoped should greet, 
 Should one day greet, upon some well fought field,
 His not unworthy, not inglorious son.
 So I long hoped, but him I never find.
 Come then, hear now, and grant me what I ask.
 Let the two armies rest to-day; but I
 Will challenge forth the bravest Persian lords
 To meet me, man to man; if I prevail,
 Rustum will surely hear it; if I fall--
 Old man, the dead need no one, claim no kin.
 Dim is the rumour of a common fight,
 Where host meets host, and many names are sunk;
 But of a single combat fame speaks clear."

 He spoke; and Peran-Wisa took the hand
 Of the young man in his, and sigh'd, and said:--

 O Sohrab, an unquiet heart is thine!
 Canst thou not rest among the Tartar chiefs,
 And share the battle's common chance with us
 Who love thee, but must press for ever first,
 In single fight incurring single risk,
 To find a father thou hast never seen?
 That were far best, my son, to stay with us
 Unmurmuring; in our tents, while it is war,
 And when 'tis truce, then in Afrasiab's towns.
 But, if this one desire indeed rules all,
 To seek out Rustum--seek him not through fight!
 Seek him in peace, and carry to his arms,
 O Sohrab, carry an unwounded son!
 But far hence seek him, for he is not here.
 For now it is not as when I was young,
 When Rustum was in front of every fray;
 But now he keeps apart, and sits at home,
 In Seistan, with Zal, his father old.
 Whether that his own mighty strength at last
 Feels the abhorr'd approaches of old age,
 Or in some quarrel with the Persian King.
 There go!--Thou wilt not? Yet my heart forebodes
 Danger or death awaits thee on this field.
 Fain would I know thee safe and well, though lost
 To us; fain therefore send thee hence, in peace
 To seek thy father, not seek single fights
 In vain;--but who can keep the lion's cub
 From ravening, and who govern Rustum's son?
 Go, I will grant thee what thy heart desires."

 So said he, and dropp'd Sohrab's hand, and left
 His bed, and the warm rugs whereon he lay;
 And o'er his chilly limbs his woollen coat
 He pass'd, and tied his sandals on his feet,
 And threw a white cloak round him, and he took
 In his right hand a ruler's staff, no sword;
 And on his head he set his sheep-skin cap,
 Black, glossy, curl'd, the fleece of Kara-Kul;
 And raised the curtain of his tent, and call'd
 His herald to his side, and went abroad.


 The sun by this had risen, a