Close Reading
Ferdowsi describes the dragon by saying “His massive maw breathes fire, and he could snare an elephant with his two locks of hair”. The creature is evidently quite fearsome however the author does not discuss any details about the dragon’s body and only describes aspects of the dragon’s head. The reason for this could be that the dragon is simply a vehicle for evil, since evil takes many forms. Ferdowsi could be representing an evil person, but he could also be representing an evil spirit. It is interesting that the author did not choose to evoke imagery we generally see in dragons where they are a large reptilian creature. This leads me to believe that the dragon in this poem is symbolic.
The worlds king says the following: “Beyond the crest lies a dragon’s lair, his poison sickens birds that venture there.” I can interpret the meaning of the dragon as problems in one’s life. When the author says beyond the crest, that could mean problems that are being repressed and these individuals are choosing not to deal with them because they know it will be difficult to face trouble. Something else I find interesting and unexpected is that the dragon is described as poisoning birds that venture towards him, and still Sekandar ends up poisoning the dragon himself. The king also says “The noxious vapours reach the moon, there’s no safe route by which your warriors could go”. This sentence is interpreted as although problems are being cast away, they still exist. The vapour of the problem overflows and cannot be contained when one decides not to deal with it. My point is further validated when through the lines “Our city doesn’t have strength to fight, we take up five cows every night.” This demonstrates how the people give into their personal temptations instead of fighting against them.
The theme in this passage is using strategy in combat. When the people of Narmpay were in the middle of the storm they couldn’t think straight. They could only cope short term by giving the dragon the cows he wanted. This passage demonstrates that Sekandar is using his logic when making decisions. This aids him in making the right decisions. When Sekandar decided to come from a place of level-headedness, he had victory against the dragon. Sekandar was able to hold out baits because he knew the dragon was hungry from not being fed the previous day. Sekandar was able to identify that the dragon was stronger than them on the first day when they lost men in battle, therefore the only way he could win the battle was to outsmart him. The community needed a plan to know when the battle is over. They did not have a plan and they were foolishly exhausting their resources on the dragon with no end in sight. Sekandar found out that the dragons weakness was hunger and that he was going to defeat him this way.