deg.85
There go deg.!—­Thou wilt not?  Yet my heart forebodes deg.86
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 90
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; 95
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 deg.; deg.99
And on his head he set his sheep-skin cap, 100
Black, glossy, curl’d, the fleece of Kara-Kul deg.; deg.101
And raised the curtain of his tent, and call’d
His herald to his side, and went abroad.

The sun by this had risen, and clear’d the fog
From the broad Oxus and the glittering sands. 105
And from their tents the Tartar horsemen filed
Into the open plain; so Haman deg. bade—­ deg.107
Haman, who next to Peran-Wisa ruled
The host, and still was in his lusty prime. 
From their black tents, long files of horse, they stream’d;
As when some grey November morn the files, 111
In marching order spread, of long-neck’d cranes
Stream over Casbin deg. and the southern slopes deg.113
Of Elburz, deg. from the Aralian estuaries, deg.114
Or some frore deg.  Caspian reed-bed, southward bound deg.115
For the warm Persian sea-board—­so they stream’d. 
The Tartars of the Oxus, the King’s guard,
First, with black sheep-skin caps and with long spears;
Large men, large steeds; who from Bokhara deg. come deg.119
And Khiva, deg. and ferment the milk of mares. deg. deg.120
Next, the more temperate Toorkmuns deg. of the south, deg.121
The Tukas, deg. and the lances of Salore, deg.122
And those from Attruck deg. and the Caspian sands; deg.123
Light men and on light steeds, who only drink
The acrid milk of camels, and their wells. 125
And then a swarm of wandering horse, who came
From far, and a more doubtful service own’d;
The Tartars of Ferghana, deg. from the banks deg.128
Of the Jaxartes, deg. men with scanty beards deg.129
And close-set skull-caps; and those wilder hordes 130