According to Iranian mythology, Persia, in south of modern-day Iran, had a king named Kay-Kavus.
The story goes that Kay-Kavus was never statisfied even though Persia was a prosperous nation and at peace. One day his court singer sang about the natural beauty of Mazenderan( in the north, near Caspian sea), its strong warriors and enchanting damsels.
The desire in Kay-Kavus to annex Mazenderan became so obsessive that all of his ministers failed to dissuade him. His veteran ally Zal of Seestan, the father of prince Roostam also failed to counsel the Persian king. Kay-Kavus was willing to risk fighting against the demons and their cheif Deev-e-Safeed who defended Mazenderan,
When Kay-Kavus embarked on this mission, he was defeated by the deevs who held him as a prisoner in a guarded fortress. The stories of how Kay-Kavus was getting tortured reached Zal and he asked his pious son Roostam to go rescue Kay-Kavus. Roostam embarked on this dangerous rescue mission with his horse Reksh, without further delay. He chose a difficult route to reach the mountainous region of Mazenderan.
The first day’s journey made him tired. Finding a meadow, Roostam laid down to get some rest after letting Reksh loose to graze around the meadow. A furious lion suddenly attacked the horse when Roostam has gone off to sleep. The amazing Reksh faught with the ferocious animal and finally defeated him by biting his throat. But Roostam scolded him when he woke up and saw the dead lion. ” Why did you not wake me up to help? You could have been killed and that would end my mission!!”
When on the second day Roostam’s journey was through arid regions and he could not find water for many hours. Nearly dying of thirst, Roostam prayed to the Almighty to save his life. As if by magic he spotted a fawn who led him to a clear stream. He was able to kill a game with his bow and save himself from hunger and thirst. As the night fell Roostam fell into a deep slumber. A monstrous serpert lived near by. It came out in the middle of the night and tried to kill Roostam. Reksh alerted him with his loud neighing but the serpent hid away before Roostam saw it. This happened a few times which made Roostam very frustrated as he was trying to catch some rest for the next day’s journey. He scolded Reksh and asked him not to neigh. When the serpent came again, Reksh tried to fight him on his own. The serpent was huge and formidable. Luckily Roostam was woken up by the noise. The two teamed up and finally killed the enormous serpent. Saved again Roostam, offered his thanks to the Almighty with his heartfelt sincere prayers.
Next morning, a beautiful girl accosted him and offered him a glass of wine. Roostam could not resist the enchanting beauty. He joined in an intimate conversation with her when he mentioned to her how he was saved by the kind grace of the Almighty. On hearing the name of God, the damsel turned into an ugly sorceress. Roostam bould her hands and demanded an explanation. She divulged that she was employed by the evil spirit Aharman. Roostam killed her in a hurry and offered his gratitude to Almighty for saving him again.
On the fourth day, Roostam got lost and finally came to a clearing that had a garden growing fruits and grains. The owner of the garden was a cruel warrior, pehloovan Oulaad. After a long fierce fight, Roostam succeeded in defeating him too. On the fifth day, Oulaad begged for his life in exchange for information about the fortress where Kay-Kavus was imprisoned and Deev-e-Safeed’s strength and whereabouts.
On the sixth day Roostam arrived at the city of Mazenderan. Before reaching the fortress, Roostam fought valiantly with the two chief at the entrance of the city and defeated them. However, when he reached the fortress, he found that the Deev guards were asleep. Roostam sneeked in and cut the chains and rescued Kay- Kavus. The king was overjoyed to see Roostam and thanked him with tears in his eyes. The deevs were woken by the noise but could not win in the fight. So they fled away.
Oulad had told him that Deev’s stay awake during night and sleep during the day. Evening had approached when he reached Deev-e-Safeed’s camp. Seeing a huge army gathered, Roostam choose to rest for the night and regain his strength to prepare for the big fight next day with the “White demon”. .
Finally on the seventh day, Roostam woke up when the sun was high and day was warm. After fighting the sleepy disoriented deevs, he proceeded to the cavern where their chief Deev-e-Safeed lay in deep slumber. Roostam had to handle his guards and that noise woke up the chief. He soon appeared before Roostem clothed in heavy armor and raising his terrible weapon. Roostam prayed to God for removing his fear and giving him strength to fight the terrible monster. At first Roostam got clever break and ran his sword to cut off one of his legs. This did not deter him and the fierce fight continued. Fortunately, Roostam was able to pin his enemy down on the ground and pierce the sword through his heart. As the chief died all the other deevs died with him as their lives were linked to the life of the chief of deevs.
Thus after 7 days of struggle Roostam saved the king of Persia and Mazenderan was added to the kingdom of Persia.
A LEAF IN THE WIND 