Zahhak

Long, dark ages rolled by while the dragon-faced Zahhak cast his oppressive shadow across the world, bringing hardship and grief upon mankind. Yet amidst this era of dread, auspicious Fereydun was born, giving the weary earth a renewed nature and a dawn of hope. He grew upright as a noble cypress, and from his countenance gleamed the supreme divine glory of kingship. Endowed with the radiant farr of Jamshid, his countenance shone like the blazing sun. To the earth he was as essential as timely rain, and to the human soul as worthy as wisdom itself. Above his head, the revolving heavens turned in quiet reverence, yielded in deep affection to his cosmic destiny.

In those same days, a wondrous cow named Barmayeh came into being, holding the highest rank among all beasts. She was born resembling a magnificent male peacock, with a vibrant, unique color adorning every single hair upon her hide. Wise men, astrologers, and Zoroastrian priests gathered around her in marvel, confessing that no eye in all the world had ever beheld such a creature, nor had any of the ancient elders ever heard of her equal.

Meanwhile, Zahhak filled the world with dread chatter and relentless searches, dispatching his henchmen into every corner of the realm to hunt down the promised child who was destined to overthrow him. In these dire times, Aptin—the noble father of Fereydun—found the earth narrowed around him. Weary of his precarious life and constantly fleeing, he suddenly fell into the jaws of catastrophe. A band of the tyrant's ruthless guards crossed his path, seized him, bound him tightly like a hunted cheetah, and dragged him before Zahhak, who brought a swift and gruesome end to his life.

When Faranak, the wise and noble mother of Fereydun, learned of the tragic end that had befallen her beloved husband, her heart was pierced with sorrow. Desperate to shield her helpless infant from the bloodthirsty king, she took her babe and journeyed swiftly to that verdant meadow where the famed cow Barmayeh grazed. Falling before the keeper of the lush pasture, she wept aloud, shedding tears of grief upon her lap. She implored him: 'Take this suckling child into your protection for a time. Receive him from his mother as a devoted father would, and nourish him with the wondrous milk of this cow. And if you demand a recompense, my very soul is yours—I shall pledge my life for whatever you desire.'

The pure-minded guardian of the wood and the marvelous cow listened to the grief-stricken mother and replied: 'I shall stand before your child as a humble servant and execute your counsel with total devotion.' For three full years, this vigilant and faithful guardian reared Fereydun on the sweet milk of Barmayeh, shielding the future king from the shadow of the serpent crown.