"O Sohrab, thou indeed art such a son Whom Rustum, wert thou his, might well have loved. Yet here thou errest, Sohrab, or else men Have told thee false--thou art not Rustum's son. For Rustum had no son; one child he had-- 645 But one--a girl; who with her mother now Plies some light female task, nor dreams of us-- Of us she dreams not, nor of wounds, nor war."
But Sohrab answer'd him in wrath; for now The anguish of the deep-fix'd spear grew fierce, 650 And he desired to draw forth the steel, And let the blood flow free, and so to die-- But first he would convince his stubborn foe; And, rising sternly on one arm, he said:--
"Man, who art thou who dost deny my words? 655 Truth sits upon the lips of dying men, And falsehood, while I lived, was far from mine. I tell thee, prick'd upon this arm° I bear °658 That seal which Rustum to my mother gave, That she might prick it on the babe she bore." 660
He spoke; and all the blood left Rustum's cheeks, And his knees totter'd, and he smote his hand Against his breast, his heavy mailed hand, That the hard iron corslet° clank'd aloud; °663 And to his heart he press'd the other hand, 665 And in a hollow voice he spake, and said:--
"Sohrab, that were a proof which could not lie! If thou show this, then art thou Rustum's son."
Then, with weak hasty fingers, Sohrab loosed His belt, and near the shoulder bared his arm, 670 And show'd a sign in faint vermilion points Prick'd; as a cunning° workman, in Pekin, °672 Pricks with vermilion some clear porcelain vase, An emperor's gift--at early morn he paints, And all day long, and, when night comes, the lamp 675 Lights up his studious forehead and thin hands-- So delicately prick'd the sign appear'd On Sohrab's arm, the sign of Rustum's seal. It was that griffin,° which of old rear'd Zal, °679 Rustum's great father, whom they left to die, 680 A helpless babe, among the mountain-rocks; Him that kind creature found, and rear'd, and loved-- Then Rustum took it for his glorious sign. And Sohrab bared that image on his arm, And himself scann'd it long with mournful eyes, 685 And then he touch'd it with his hand and said:--
"How say'st thou? Is that sign the proper sign Of Rustum's son, or of some other man's?"