By this Deev, Saiamuk, the son of Kaiumers, was slain, and the king
himself died of grief at the loss of his son.
Husheng, his grandson, who succeeded Kaiumers, was a great and wise king,
who gave fire to his people, taught them irrigation, instructed them how
to till and sow, and gave names to the beasts. His son and successor,
Tahumers, taught his people the arts of spinning, weaving, and writing,
and when he died left his throne to his son Jemschid.
Jemschid was a mighty monarch, who divided men into classes, and the years
into periods, and builded mighty walls and cities; but his heart grew
proud at the thought of his power, and he was driven away from his land by
his people, who called Zohak to the throne of Iran.
Zohak, who came from the deserts of Arabia, was a good and wise young man
who had fallen into the power of a Deev. This Deev, in the guise of a
skillful servant, asked permission one day to kiss his monarch between the
shoulders, as a reward for an unusually fine bit of cookery. From the spot
he kissed sprang two black serpents, whose only nourishment was the brains
of the king's subjects.
The serpent king, as Zohak was now called, was much feared by his
subjects, who saw their numbers daily lessen by the demands of the
serpents. But when the children of the blacksmith Kawah were demanded as
food for the serpents, the blacksmith defied Zohak, and raising his
leathern apron as a standard,--a banner ever since honored in Persia,--he
called the people to him, and set off in search of Feridoun, an heir of
Jemschid.
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