black fiend. Seeing this, Rustem threw his kamund, and secured the
demon; and, drawing his sword, at once cut the body in two!

Fifth Stage.--

From thence proceeding onward, he approached
A region destitute of light, a void
Of utter darkness. Neither moon nor star
Peep'd through the gloom; no choice of path remained,
And therefore, throwing loose the rein, he gave
Rakush the power to travel on, unguided.
At length the darkness was dispersed, the earth
Became a scene, joyous and light, and gay,
Covered with waving corn--there Rustem paused
And quitting his good steed among the grass,
Laid himself gently down, and, wearied, slept;
His shield beneath his head, his sword before him.

When the keeper of the forest saw the stranger and his horse, he went to
Rustem, then asleep, and struck his staff violently on the ground, and
having thus awakened the hero, he asked him, devil that he was, why he
had allowed his horse to feed upon the green corn-field. Angry at these
words, Rustem, without uttering a syllable, seized hold of the keeper by
the ears, and wrung them off. The mutilated wretch, gathering up his
severed ears, hurried away, covered with blood, to his master, Aúlád,
and told him of the injury he had sustained from a man like a black
demon, with a tiger-skin cuirass and an iron helmet; showing at the same
time the bleeding witnesses of his sufferings. Upon being informed of
this outrageous proceeding, Aúlád, burning with wrath, summoned together
his fighting men, and hastened by the directions of the keeper to the