When Fereydun’s glorious reign reached its fiftieth year, fortune granted him three noble sons—two born to the radiant Shahrnaz and one to the graceful Arnavaz. Like towering cypresses they grew, spring-like in countenance and regal in bearing, yet their father had not yet bestowed names upon them. Desiring worthy matches for his princes, King Fereydun summoned Jandal, his most faithful and silver-tongued courtier, a counselor renowned for wisdom and discretion. Fereydun commanded him to travel the world in secret and find three royal sisters born of the same father and mother—three maidens so matched in beauty, stature, and grace that none could distinguish one from the other, worthy of joining the royal lineage of Iran.
Jandal set forth across many lands, discreetly investigating every noble house, until he received word of King Sarv of Yemen, the ruler of the Arabs, who possessed three immaculate daughters fulfilling Fereydun’s exact desire. Traveling swiftly to Yemen, Jandal entered the royal court like a pheasant approaching a rose garden. Bowing low before King Sarv, he eloquently delivered Fereydun’s proposal: to unite the noble bloodlines of Iran and Yemen through the marriage of Fereydun’s three nameless sons with Sarv’s three veil-bound daughters.
Upon hearing the proposal, King Sarv felt his heart wither like a lotus severed from water. The thought of parting with his three beloved daughters—the three bright candles of his life—filled him with sorrow. Requesting time to deliberate, Sarv closed his royal gates and convened an urgent council with the chieftains and seasoned warriors of the Desert of the Spear-Wielders. The hot-headed commanders urged him to resist, boasting that they could defend their honour with daggers and spears. Yet King Sarv knew the folly of defying Fereydun, the monarch of the world who had overthrown Zahhak. Torn between the terrifying power of the Iranian king and his devotion to his daughters, King Sarv sought a cunning middle path: to demand impossible conditions that no mortal could easily fulfill.