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Updated: May 21, 2025
To such an extreme degree had his authority attained, that he became the sole director even in the royal kitchen, and prepared for Zohák the most delicious and savory food imaginable; for in those days bread and fruit only were the usual articles of food. Iblís himself was the original inventor of the cooking art.
He then ascended the empty throne of Zohák, which had been guarded by the talisman, and the Demons under his command; and when he heard that the tyrant had gone with an immense army toward Ind, in quest of his new enemy, and had left his treasury with only a small force at the seat of his government, he rejoiced, and appropriated the throne and the treasure to himself.
Zohák sunk into despair, upon the assurance of there being no remedy for him, but Iblís again roused him by saying, that if the serpents were fed daily with human brains, which would probably kill them, his life might be prolonged, and made easy. If life has any charm for thee, The brain of man their food must be!
He inquired of his mother why Zohák had put his father to death, and Faránuk then told him the melancholy story; upon hearing which, he resolved to be revenged on the tyrant. His mother endeavored to divert him from his determination, observing that he was young, friendless, and alone, whilst his enemy was the master of the world, and surrounded by armies. "Be not therefore precipitate," said she.
Iblís would no excuses hear The oath was sworn his death was near. "For if thou think'st to pass it by, The peril's thine, and thou must die!" Zohák was terrified and subdued by this warning, and asked Iblís in what manner he proposed to sacrifice his father. Iblís replied, that he would dig a pit on the path-way which led to Mirtás-Tázi's house of prayer.
Although he was a blacksmith that same man, Who, when the world could still boast of valour, Tore up the name-roll of the fiend Zohák, And gave the Persians freedom from the fangs Of the devouring serpents. He it was, Who raised the banner, and proclaimed aloud, Freedom for Persia! Need I blush for him? To him the empire owes its greatest blessing, The prosperous rule of virtuous Feridún."
The serpents still on human brains were fed, And every day two youthful victims bled; The sword, still ready thirsting still to strike, Warrior and slave were sacrificed alike. The career of Zohák himself, however, was not unvisited by terrors. One night he dreamt that he was attacked by three warriors; two of them of large stature, and one of them small.
They point to Kawâh, the blacksmith, who headed a revolt against the monstrously cruel usurper King Zohâk, using his apron as a banner, and finally overthrew and slew him, and placed Faridûn, a Prince of the Peshdâdian dynasty, on the throne which he might have occupied himself. This blacksmith's apron continued for ages to be the royal standard of Persia.
The tower of this edifice was so lofty that it might be seen at the distance of many leagues, and within that tower Zohák had formed a talisman of miraculous virtues. Feridún soon overthrew this talisman, and destroyed or vanquished successively with his mace all the enchanted monsters and hideous shapes which appeared before him.
Zohák received him with a scornful smile, Saying, "Where is thy diadem, thy throne, Where is thy kingdom, where thy sovereign rule; Thy laws and royal ordinances where, Where are they now? What change is this that fate Has wrought upon thee?"
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