Under the cloak of a pitch-black night, Prince Goshtasp—aggrieved by his father King Lohrasp's reluctance to grant him royal sovereignty—executed a secret escape. He brought forth Lohrasp's own swift black steed, Shabdiz, and saddled it with his personal gear. Arrayed in a gold-brocaded tunic of Roman silk and adorning his headpiece with the auspicious feather of the Homa bird, he gathered a rich store of royal jewels and gold coins. With a heart longing for a crown and a spirit set upon the open road, he turned his face from Iran toward the realm of Rome.
When dawn broke and word of Goshtasp's flight reached King Lohrasp, all joy withered from the monarch's heart. Filled with foreboding, he hastily summoned his valiant son Zarir and the wisest mobads of the court. Lohrasp confessed his deepest fears, declaring that this lion-hearted prince possessed such formidable strength that he could cast the heads of crowned kings into the dust, and warned that his departure must not be taken lightly.
The head Mobad stepped forward with sage counsel, reminding the king: 'No monarch has ever been blessed with a son like Goshtasp, nor has any champion of renown rivaled him. Save for the glorious Rustam himself, no knight in all the world can match Goshtasp in stature, countenance, intellect, and chivalric culture. Should he return, refrain from tight-fisted stinginess and guard against greed, for the Kianian crown has rested upon many brows and its affection abides with no man forever. Grant him a kingdom of his own and place a noble diadem upon his brow.'
Accepting this wisdom, King Lohrasp dispatched a company of noble chieftains across the world to search for the prince. Yet after traversing distant lands, the searchers returned hopeless and empty-handed, thwarted by an unyielding fate. Thus, public reproach and blame became the burden of King Lohrasp, while exile, toil, and physical hardship became the lonely lot of Prince Goshtasp.