Long ago, Persia was a very peaceful and prosperous kingdom but it was ruled by a very restless and ambitious King named Kaiqus. One day, he heard that the neighbouring kingdom of Mazendaran was beautiful, with mountains, rivers, lush greenery, flowers and birds, and lovely maidens. But it was also inhabited by demons, under the ferocious White Demon! All the advice of his ministers could not stop him from wanting to conquer Mazendaran. Even the counsel of wise Zaal, the father of the great warrior Rustam, failed to stop him. The King of Mazendaran called up the White Demon and his hordes. They defeated King Kaiqus and imprisoned him in a dungeon inside a fortress guarded by hundreds of demons! Zaal was angry, but he was dutiful towards the King Kaiqus. Therefore, he called his son Rustam and told him to go on his special horse, Raksh, and rescue King Kaiqus.
Rustam’s Journey
Rustam took a dangerous route on his horse, Raksh, and, he slept tired out. He awoke to see Raksh kicking an attacking lion to death. Rustam thanked God and Raksh, and proceeded further. The next night, Raksh saved Rustam from an enormous snake. Rustam thanked God and Raksh and went on. The next day, Rustam saw a beautiful maiden at a spring and thanked God for the sparkling water. On hearing God’s name, the girl turned into a horrible witch and Rustam killed her. On the fourth day, Rustam’s horse was grazing when a gardener threatened him saying his master, the strong man, Oulad, would kill him for trespassing. When Oulad came, Rustam struck him down. Oulad was so frightened that he agreed to become his servant and lead him to King Kaiqus. On the sixth day, two demons attacked him, and Rustam killed them. Then, he rescued Kaiqus from the dungeon, slaughtering many of the demons.
The White Demon
Oulad told Rustam that the demons slept during the day and awoke at night to attack others. Therefore, on the seventh day, Rustam rested and then killed and scattered the guards of the White Demon. Then, he found the White Demon inside a cave and cut off his leg. The White Demon was ferocious and still strong. The terrible battle took place between Rustam and the White Demon. Then, Rustam caught the demon by his horns and dashed him to the ground. Taking out his dagger swiftly, Rustam stabbed the White Demon and killed him! His spell broke and all the demons died immediately. Once the White Demon and his hordes had been killed, Mazendaran could not hold out against Rustam who conquered it. Oulad, who had served Rustam faithfully, was rewarded by being placed on the throne of Mazendaran as the governor on behalf of the King of Persia.
Kaiqus returned to his throne richer and more powerful. He made fabulous palaces using the people till they got fed up of all the work he made them do. They wanted to destroy him and asked the devil’s help. The devil sent a demon in the guise of an astronomer and he got Kaiqus interested in astronomy. He tempted Kaiqus to go close to the stars and planets in the sky. Kaiqus was foolish enough to believe this! The false astronomer trained vultures to carry the throne into the sky and Kaiqus was delighted. But the vultures got tired and had nothing to eat. The throne started shuddering and the terrified Kaiqus would have fallen and died. But they dropped him down in a far-away forest of China! Rustam sent soldiers to look for the King and he was brought back to Persia, where he ruled quietly under Rustam’s counsel.
