The next day, he ordered Giv and Tus

To prepare for war at night on war elephants.

He opened the treasury and gave provisions,

He mounted the army and prepared the equipment.

A hundred thousand shield-bearers and armored warriors,

Came to the battlefield as counted riders.

An army came from the side to the plain,

That the air became dark from their dust.

They pitched tents and pavilions over two miles,

The world was covered with horseshoes and elephants.

The air became indigo and the mountain ebony,

The sea boiled from the sound of the war drums.

The world went from stage to stage (they marched),

Becoming hidden like night and day.

The shining of bricks and javelins from the dust,

Like fire behind a lapis lazuli curtain.

From the many kinds of spears and banners,

Golden shields and golden shoes.

You would say that a cloud of ebony color,

Rose and rained down sandarac (a type of resin, here meaning dust).

Night and day were not apparent to the world,

You would say that the sky and the Pleiades were not there.

In this way they went until they reached the fortress gate,

The earth and stones disappeared from the world (covered by the army).

A loud cry came from the watchtower,

They told Sohrab that the army had come.

When Sohrab heard the sound from the watchtower,

He came to the wall and looked at the army.

He pointed out the army to Homan,

An army that had no end.

When Homan saw that army from afar,

His heart became full of fear and he drew a breath (sighed).

The brave Sohrab said thus to Homan,

That worry must be removed from the heart.

You will not see from this boundless army,

One warrior or one with a heavy mace.

Who will come before me to the battlefield,

If the sun and the moon give help.

There are many weapons and many people,

I do not know anyone with a glorious name.

Now I, by the fortune of the rejection of Afrasiab,

Will make the plain like a sea of water.

Sohrab did not give his heart to distress at all,

He came down from the wall with a cheerful heart.

He asked for a cup of wine from the wine-drinker,

He did not make his heart troubled at all from the battle.

And from that side, the king's pavilion,

They pitched on the plain before the fortress.

From the many tents, men, and curtained houses,

No place remained on the plain and on the mountain.