Kaveh- Persian HeroHero"The Blacksmith"

Under the Serpent's Shadow

For a thousand years, the serpent-shouldered tyrant Zahhak had ruled the world. He was not born a monster: once a young Arab prince, he had been corrupted by Ahriman in human guise, who kissed his shoulders and from the kiss-marks sprouted two black serpents that could not be removed. To quiet the serpents' hunger, two young men were slaughtered each day so their brains could feed the creatures. The nobles had submitted and signed false declarations praising the tyrant's rule. The wise had fled or hidden. Fear ruled every heart, and no one spoke against the throne.

The Eighteen Sons

In the city of Isfahan lived Kaveh, a blacksmith who worked his forge with honest labor. He was a common man, not a prince, not a warrior, not a priest. His wealth was his sons. He had fathered eighteen boys, and seventeen of them had been taken to Zahhak's palace to feed the serpents. Year after year the soldiers came to his forge, and year after year another son was led away and never returned. His hammering on the anvil echoed through a house that grew emptier with each passing season.

When the soldiers came for his eighteenth and last surviving son, something in the blacksmith broke. Not into despair. Into fury. Kaveh left his hammer on the anvil, wiped the soot from his hands, and went to find the king.

Before the Tyrant

Kaveh burst into Zahhak's court while the king held audience, pushing past guards and nobles alike. Zahhak had just commanded his courtiers to sign a declaration attesting to his righteous rule, and the terrified nobles were lining up to add their names when a soot-stained blacksmith shoved through their ranks and stood before the throne.

"I am Kaveh, a blacksmith," he cried. "I seek justice! You have killed seventeen of my sons to feed your serpents. Now you demand my last child? What crime have my sons committed? If you are a king, you should protect your people, not devour them!"

Zahhak, stunned by this defiance from a commoner, attempted to mollify the blacksmith. He ordered Kaveh's last son released and offered the blacksmith his royal favor, on one condition: that Kaveh sign the declaration attesting to the justice of his rule. Kaveh seized the document from the royal scribes and tore it to shreds before the assembled court.

"Those who fear you may call you just," he declared, "but I will not add my name to this lie."

Then he strode from the palace. The Shahnameh notes that some of the nobles watched him go with something other than disapproval, though none yet dared follow.

The Raising of the Banner

Outside the palace, Kaveh raised his leather blacksmith's apron on the point of a spear and cried out for the people to rally against the tyrant. The crowd in the streets surged toward the banner. What had been one man's defiance became a revolt. Kaveh led the gathering crowd out of Isfahan, and as word spread from village to village, more joined the march. Farmers left their fields and old soldiers found their weapons.

The destination was the Alborz Mountains, where prophecy held that a deliverer was hidden. The deliverer was Fereydun, heir to Jamshid's royal line, who had been raised in secret and nursed by the wondrous cow Barmayeh. For years the young prince had waited in concealment, knowing his destiny but lacking the followers to challenge Zahhak's power. When Kaveh arrived with the people of Isfahan at his back, Fereydun recognized the leather banner's meaning at once.

The Derafsh Kaviāni

Fereydun had the simple leather apron decorated with gold, jewels, and ribbons of red, yellow, and violet. This transformed banner became the Derafsh Kaviāni, the royal standard of Iran. Each new king who came to the throne added jewels to the leather, and the blacksmith's apron grew into a standard of legendary richness that flew over Persian armies for more than a millennium.

The Fall of the Tyrant

Fereydun forged the ox-headed mace, the gūrz-e gāvsār, and with Kaveh's army behind him, marched against Zahhak. The divine farr settled upon the young prince, and wherever he passed, the tyrant's support crumbled. Nobles who had served Zahhak from fear abandoned his cause. Soldiers whose families had suffered the serpents' appetite deserted to Fereydun's side.

Fereydun's forces crossed the Arvand River and stormed Zahhak's palace, where he liberated Jamshid's daughters Shahrinaz and Arnavaz, who had been the tyrant's captives for a thousand years. Zahhak returned to find his throne seized and his power broken. He attempted to infiltrate the palace in disguise but was recognized and captured. Following the counsel of the angel Sorush, Fereydun did not kill the serpent-tyrant, for his demonic nature might corrupt the earth. Instead, he dragged Zahhak to Mount Damavand and chained him in a deep cave, where he remains imprisoned until the end of time.