*campfire crackling*
A wail in the night.
A child's cry.
A birth.
Unexpected and strange.
*Extra Mythology intro music*
Once there was a great king named
Sam.
Yep, Sam. Now now now don't worry,
everybody else in this tale is going to get an epic mythological sounding name.
But this guy, this guy's name was Sam. Anyway, King Sam longed for his son.
But when at last a son was born to him, no one told him. Because you see,
they were afraid. Because the boy was different.
Finally, one of the nurses mustered great courage and said to him:
" O King whose days may always be prosperous,
you have had a son." But there was a pause there. Sam could tell something was wrong.
The nurse continued. "He is as fine as silver with a face like paradise and you will find no blemish on him."
Yet another pause.
"Except that his hair is pure white."
Now personally, I don't get what's wrong with having pure white hair.
I mean if Anna Mae has taught me anything, It's pretty rad.
But Sam clearly wasn't a fan. Because he threw himself onto the ground and cried out to God:
"What sin have I committed?! I rise in agony before you.
*sob*
How will I explain this white hair? I shall quit Persia in shame."
But you know, instead of him actually doing that, he gave the order to have his son taken far, far, away
and placed at the foot of the mountain where the great bird Simorgh had her roost.
Simorgh, whose body is that of a peacock,
whose head is that of a dog's,
and who's claws are those of a lion's.
Simorgh, who carried away elephants in her talons.
And so, the boy was brought to the mountain and left. The years passed, as years do,
and rumors began to flow from caravans passing the mountain that a noble youth
whose body was like a cypress tree and whose chest was like a boulder was seen running along the cliffs.
Then King Sam began to have prophetic dreams about his son.
So his seers told him to ask forgiveness from God and to go to the mountain where he'd left the child.
When King Sam arrived to the mountain he found this noble boy with pale, white hair.
It was indeed Zal, the child of Sam who Simorgh had taken pity on.
More pity than his father, as she raised him as her own.
Zal was reluctant to leave Simorgh.
But she urged him to rejoin his family and gave him two of her feathers,
that were he ever in need, he should merely light a blaze and she would aid him.
So Zal went to his father who embraced him, weeping and begging forgiveness.
Sam invested him as his heir.
Soon though, Sam was called off to war, and so Zal was left in charge of the kingdom.
And in this capacity, he went to visit various provinces that he ruled.
When he got to Kabul, however, he was told that the local ruler had a daughter lovelier than the moon.
And as they told him of her he found himself smitten, distracted from all his other duties.
Because that, that happens in myths.
Meanwhile, this very same daughter, named Rudabeh,
was being told by her attendants of the fine and handsome prince that had just come to their province.
Excitedly, she asked if any of them had actually seen this man that all the rumors were about, and they said no.
So she sent them on a mission.
A mission to check him out.
So they go down to the river across from Zal's camp where they come across a man hunting ducks.
And apparently he was pretty ace at duck hunt because they all nearly swooned,
and then asked his paige who he was.
And you guessed it. It was our boy Zal.
So the attendants began to run off to go tell Rudahbeh that Zal was everything the rumors had said,
not to mention a great slaughterer of ducks. Add that to the dating profile.
But Zal stopped them, knowing that they were Rudahbeh's servants.
He gave them jewels and asked them to take a message to her to see if the two of them could meet.
Now at this message in hand, Rudahbeh's attendants rushed back and set up the rendezvous.
Zal would sneak out of camp and show up before the princess's tower in the dead of night.
Night comes, and Zal rides off for the tower.
When he arrives, the princess steps out on a balcony, lets down her long hair and says
"Climb up my hair to me." But Zal is like "Nah I'm good, I brought a rope"
And he tosses the rope up, because what kind of ridiculous story would have
someone climbing someone's hair up a tower. Really, come on.
They spend the night together and decide that they should wed.
But Rudahbeh's father is from the line of Zahhak, the demon king and the dude from the last episode.
So, you know, Sam is totally going to oppose the marriage.
Zal writes his father, begging for consent. And in anguish Sam finally decides to atone for his former sins
by allowing his son miss marriage, despite his misgivings.
But now it's Rudabeh's father who's not yet convinced.
So he says Zal must face two tests: one physical and one mental.
The physical test Zal passes with great ease, taking on three of the Lord's warriors at once
without even breaking a sweat. And tossing a javelin with such force that it passes through
not one, but three shields. However, he was a mountain child. Could he pass the test of wits?
Six sages came to try him. The first one of them said,
"There are 12 flourishing, splendid cypress trees. Each of which has thirty branches.
The second said "There are two fine, swiftly galloping horses; one black as a sea of pitch,
the other white as clear crystal. They struggle and strive, but neither can overtake the other.
The third said "There is a group of riders who pass by the prince, and sometimes there are 30 of them
when you look. Sometimes 29. One is not there, and then you count again and there are 30."
The fourth said "You see a beautiful meadow, filled with green plants and threaded with streams.
A man comes there holding a huge scythe, and he cuts down the plants
whether they're fresh or dry, never swerving aside as he does so.
The fifth said "There are two Cypress's rising from the ocean. And a bird has build nests there.
He sits on one at night and the other during the day.
When he flies up from the one, its leaves wither and dry.
And when he sits on the other, it exhales the scent of musk.
One is always withered and the other always fresh and fragrant.
And the sixth and last one said "Oh, hey man! Uh, in the mountains I discovered a flourishing city,
buuut the people left it, preferring a thorny waste where they built houses towering up to the moon.
You know how it is. They forgot the flourishing city and never mentioned it.
Then an earthquake came and their houses disappeared and they longed for the city that they had left.
Now explain these sayings to us. If you can do so you'll be turning dust to musk.
Zal sat deep in thought and then said
"First, the twelve tall trees, each of which has 30 branches are the 12 months of the year.
12 times the moon is renewed in her place, like a new king seated on his throne, and each month has 30 days.
This is how time passes. As for the two horses who gallop swiftly as fire, the white and the black,
striving to overtake one another, they are night and day. Which pass over us across the heavens.
Third, the thirty horsemen you spoke of who pass before the Prince, one of whom vanishes and then appears again,
these signify the fact that in some months one night is sometimes lacking. now as for the bird the two
Now as for the bird, the two cypresses are the two halves of the heavens,
of which one half is always withered and one fresh.
The bird is the Sun, the city in the mountains is the eternal world, and the thorny waste is the fleeting world,
which gives us now riches and it now pain and suffering. Which means the man with the sharp scythe
who cuts down both fresh and withered plants and who listens to no atreides is Time the Reaper.
And we are like the plants that are cut down.
Grandfather and grandchild alike, since he looks at neither young nor old but cuts down all in his path.
This is the way of the world, and no man is born from his mother but to die.
They were all astounded by his wisdom, for he was exactly right. And so the two were allowed to marry.
The ceremony was grand and joyous, and it wouldn't be long before their son,
the famous Rostam would be born. And those feathers that Simorgh gave Zal would become pretty vital.
But we'll all have to hold on to that specific plumage. Because that's a story for another time.
*outro music*