Hedayat, Sadeq - The Mongol's Shadow

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    THE MONGOL'S SHADOW

    "0 undefiled Zoroastrian! KnoUJ that al th(" end 0/ a tllOtUand Y"(lffthe worst era shall begin; that hundreds, thousands, ten rhollSands ofdevils tt;/th disheveled hair, born 0/ the race of Evil, fllall overrun the'Mlion oj iran from the Eu,t. TIII:Y will burn and destmy all: l(w,.',possession, manliness, generosity, faith, rrlithfulncH, happiness, rau,cC?mforf, mirth: they (vill violate al! the works d o / 1 . ~ in tile name v!Ahuni M,nda and put

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    in the ,llr was that of mu\ty cdhn; It came from Ihe hrowll(oIOleodleavES, under which there were hnrues. of insects, black 'lnu bl

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    The blood spurted up in f(Jllntains, Then 11[e'dJ l : . l l l 1 ~ t his own. Now and then if [witched. H ItlrnnllJL

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    Shahrokh became;] diJtrrtnt penon, all right. Up till then he anda small group of young Iranians who h:Jd held onto the ways ar,d beliefsot their nnce,tors-lhose who hndn't been corrupted-were plotting theoverthrow of Arab rule At fint they welcomed the Mongol advancesas a ~ i g n of hope, as il f:ll,11 threat to the race of Sam. But when theMongols arriH:d. when the yeJluw,skinntd race of bloadthirsty savilgtS,1CluaU)' iJ,vaded dwir s011-thtse sheep trolters anointed with filth, withslanted eyes and grubby bces, who h ~ mastered the art of the swordto perfeclion, and w h o ~ e nJrrow millds envisioned nothing other thanriding in hordes, setting fire>, butchering and inAlCtlllg misery whereverthey went-then th,,: knew that no matter what they did . . the Mongol WJS the emmy uf all things moving, of man, the enemy of lifeitself 'Then Ihe\' .':11\' what h.ld to be done. For Sh:;hrokh it was. first ofall, m:d,ing 1hose yellow bastards p:ry for the (kllh of Golsnad. He

    wanted to ~ e t!ltir klder-not HJbc Nuy:in , .. Chekh:iqutu . . .Chekh:igLIIC;'i Kh;IT1, none of those types-but that bloody one: the one'whose I1Jnw \Vas ,() foul ;ll,J repubve to the tongue that he couldn'leven brmg h i m ~ t l f t'l pronOUllce it. He \v:lnttU to kill that man.Sh;jhrokh p1hered a force of seven men on horseback; he be-came

    ..heir leader, Then that d:Jy in the buslles, while their horses were rest"jng, they set their amhu>h. They knew that the Mungols passrd by thatway. Everv day their leader left his black felt tent and rode into thevillage with a det:lchment of ten lllen. They :III looked ;11il.:e. They allhad the S.lnH: colOring and \\'ore dog,kiI15 or he':lfhides Ilcd about themWith ioul-m1dlil1g k:uher, BUl the hC1Chnl.ln had the diHinguishing:nark (Jf a reel cloth slung over his shoulders.When they he.:nd the souno of hoofs in the distance, they gOl ready

    to spring tiltH .:lttack. ShJhrokh's he:rrt was potllHhng out of fear andjoy. He put t\\'o fingers to his hI'S and let out a whistle, The six ofthem that were there hurled themselves at Ihe party passing by. Two ofthe Mongols fell to the ground; the other eight were surrounded.There were yells of surprise. Bhdes flashed in the sunlight. Clouds ofdust enveloped them:l1l. Shiinrokh caught sight of lhe one with the redelmh and went after him. His first strike caught the Mongol's swordlull on Jnd hath Iheir weJpons fell from thm h:rllds. Then he felt thebiceps of his right :Irm pierced from behind, He pulled out his secondSWord with his left hand and ran it through the enemy's stomach. TheMongol howled like a jackal ~ n fell, red doth and all, to the ground.All these C\'ents came to his mind as though they had happenedb.rely :lrt hour ago. After the Mongol fell, his own horse shied and

    carried him ca. Two other Mongols rode after him, yelling like women.99

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    Beyond that h,: relllcmbered nothing.When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in the Jungle, up

    in:l tree, caught in a [;logic of v i l 1 l ~ s . Blood was funning down his armand drlpping onto a [hi

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    beard lying in bed, with two canJles over his head. He and his b ! O ~ h e r swere grouped around him with tears in their eyes. The old man lookedat them wide-eyed, then w i ~ h lremenac,us effort pulled himself up.

    " W h a ~ arc you crying for?" he S

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    hordes of insects, surging in waves and tearing into it with ravenousappetites.All around him were trees. Fast-growing vine, were tied around

    them, their powerful lips dasped about branches and sucking theirjuice with quiet relidl.For a moment there was a heavy silence; it had become hot. Hishead and arm were burning; he was sOJking with sweat. There was

    nothing he could do to make h i m ~ e 1 f comfortable. He looked abouthim again. H.: shook his head and swore in a grating voice at Ahrlmanand the whole of c r e a t i o n ~ n a t u r e , suil, w:tler, all that kept calamitythriving: peslllence, sickness, black leprosy . . . and along with all these,the h-longol.

    Insects of various sizes Atw :mmnd in the beam (,L sunlight over ther,tre.1m, making huzzing sounds with their wings. One would have

    thought that they were celebrating a teJst. The damp e;\[th beneathwas covered with leaves, worts and wtllJ sh,)rdived Auwers witholJlany smell. Shahrokh got up and pulled hImself to the hoilow of Ihetree. He peered inside GlUtiously. A person c(,ultl ":lsily fit into it. Thebase of it was full of dry leaves. He picked up a s t i d ~ ancl rllmed theleaves, sweeping out the thorns Jncl odd hits of wood. H Jug the endof the stick into the sandy hottom, which had cither lxen bruught inwith the rising water or aceumuLlted there through lime. Sevcralcrickets with brown backs jumped nut and darted away in fear uf theirlives. When the hollow W;1S cle:Jn to his satisfaction, he stepped insideJnd sat down. Scattered about the foot of the tree were llltlShroomslooking like soft grey-culored umbrellas. This WJ$ ,1 good place to be inas far as shelters went; he hadn't done badly consiJ"ring his circumstances. But then mddenly he was aware that hc wasn't afraid anymore. The leopard was no longer a thr"at. H one were to show up noW,then so much the e:tsier for him: his end would be quicker.He was gett ing weaker, but thoughts came to his minu rapidly.

    Again he glanced about him: this tlllle h" felt :IS though he W;lS lrl thecare of something compassion;lle and klllu; he W:lS in the bCJ>()JTI of :;tree. For a brief moment he sensed Ih:n he was a p;nt of l1:1ture. Hebreathed in the damp air which wafted cluwn through the branches,;lcquiring a fragrance that filled him with pe;lce.Shiihrokh leaned hIS back against the wall of Ihe hollow. His facewas the color of the d"ad. He gazed in front of him with eyes wideopen. Gradually he felr his blood congealing lllSlde him. His eyelidsbegan to droop. Red Joci violet spots circled in front of his eyes, danced102

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    around. disappeared a moment later and appeared again, leaving apamful impression on his nerves.

    Slowly he rai.led his left h8nd 811d covered his eyes. His mind becamedark. The r;\in in his upper arm had subsided. He though! back tolhe lime when he had gone \\':llking with Gohh5d through the ricepaJdies. The sky was heJ\'v with clouds. Golshjd was blowingthrough a blade fA grJ,s cupped between her hands and gushed withlaughter at the ludicrous ~ o u n d it made. The laughter in her eyes, herarched brows. rcd cheeb, her beautiful ,J(hletic build which was visiblethrough her sdk d r e s ~ ~ a l l thoe he.\.1w clearly now. He took her handand helped her cross the d J ; ( h e ~ . Just then the sky rumbled. The mistsettled in. Drops of rain fo.:)l. 'l'la

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    one became pale. He tapped his friend on the elbow and pointed to atissue in an oak tree."Abra, look at thatl"In the fissure ot the tree was the skelt'ton ot a man in a sitting po

    sition, with the skull poking out and grinning hideously.They went up to it slowly. Acrms i t knuckles :lnd shinbones lay asword with an ivory handle. "God h a v ~ mercy on him," the older one

    said.He leaned forward and drew the ~ w ( l r d over to him with the blade

    of his axe, then picked it up. II was as it he was afraid that the skel("tonwould suddenly reach out and grab him by the wrist. Then he tuggedat his friend's elbow again and continued his way. Whell thev got tothe branches blocking their path, they turned around to look .1g;tin.The skull sticking up through the fissure was grinlling at them with Itssand-blown teeth. . . .The older of the two beckoned tht" younger aheaJ: "Let's get Out ofhere, brother. It's the Mongol's sh;ldol\'!"

    Tehr'ln, 1310/11)31

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