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Show i-BOOKS IN BRIEF j Father Meets 'Stranger' Son InDeathFight ! By ELIZABETH C. JAMES i MCOHRAB AND RUSTUM" by ! Mathew Arnold is laid in the j days of long ago, when men fought j to gain personal glory and to be j known as the heroes of their tribes. ' The story opens in the gray light of ; approaching dawn, on a vast plain near the River OxuS of Persia. Two j armies sleep in their tents opposite each other on the spreading plain. They are the Persians and the Tartars Tar-tars who have been enemies these many - years. f . ' In the quietness of z. 1 1 night, one soldier . I does not sleep. All I j A I night he has lain 1 awake. Noiselessly J j he slips through the HH, 1 camp toward the tent of Peran Wisa, aged commander of i j the Tartar army. 1 JL. j "Who is there?" EIizabeth asks Peran Wisa, James rising in his bed. "It is I, Sohrab, coming to ask a favor of you, oh kind one," spoke the vibrant voice of the young soldier. sol-dier. "What is it that you want, my son?" Peran Wisa asked. "To fight in single combat against the champion of the Persian army," was the request. Peran Wisa sighed. "Can you not be satisfied to be as a son to me and to remain a leader in the Tartai army?" Story of Rustum. But Sohrab held to his request telling Peran Wisa the story of his life and why he sought to gain re-, nown in single combat. Sohrab's father was Rustum, mighty warrioi of ancient days, who had left his young wife for war before their child was born. He had instructed his bride to send him word concerning concern-ing their child, so that if it were a son, the father might return and teach him the art of warfare. But the young wife determined not to lose her son and when Sohrab was born, she sent word to Rustum that their child was a daughter. ENGLISH CRITIC AND POET Dr. Thomas Arnold, head master mas-ter of Rugby Chapel, in reality as well as in the novel "Tom Brown's School Days," was the father of Mathew Arnold, English Eng-lish poet and critic. Mathew Arnold was born in 1822. He attended Oxford university, uni-versity, where he later became professor of poetry. With his family background and his work as interpreter of poetry, he became be-came the leading literary critic of England. His personal attitude toward analyzing literature underlies un-derlies the best of literary criticism criti-cism today. In the early morning a flag of truce was carried onto the field that separated the two armies. An order or-der for peace for the day was given. Rustum Agrees to Fight. The Persian leader approached Rustum and told him of the challenge chal-lenge but the warrior shook his head and said that since the Persian Per-sian prince favored the young fighters fight-ers in court, he should favor them on the field of honor. But the leader implored Rustum for the glory of the Persian army, so that at last he yielded, but only if he fought disguised. dis-guised. The two warriors walked onto the center of the plain. They were armed with metal shields and breast plates, and carried swords and spears. Rustum wore no insignia in-signia on his weapons. He spoke: "I am a tired warrior. You may meet your death today, needlessly. Let us drop this fight and make peace between us and you come and live with me as my son." Feeling a strange sensation, Sohrab Soh-rab cried, "Are you the mighty Rustum?" Rustum then cried, "It does not matter who I am! On guard!" Sohrab Is Killed. They began to fight. Long and hard they waged back and forth over the plain. Then swinging his cudgel, Rustum hurled it and the shock threw him to his knees. Enraged at being on his knees with both armies watching, the older old-er man seized his spear and roared, "Rustum!" Sohrab was surprised to hear the name of his father and he dropped his shield and stepped backward. fThe charging spear of Rustum thrust through his side. Sohrab had received a death wound, but his spirit was not killed. Rustum taunted him, but Sohrab answered with burning tone, "Wait until my father, the mighty warrior Rustum learns that you have killed his only son!" Rustum turned pale. "Rustum never had a son," he cried. Sohrab showed the sign of the griffin on his arm. The other man fell to the ground. He seized his arms and would have killed himself had not Sohrab stopped him. The younger man in a weakening tone urged his father to live. Bell Syndicate WNU Servtc. |