Then Gew, when he heard the words of his father, replied unto him:
“O Glorious Sire! Verily my heart leapeth forth unto this adventure, even as a flame darteth hungrily unto the sun. Give me, therefore, thy blessing, and lo! I will depart this very hour.”
But Gudarz, smiling at the ardor of his son, said:
“What about thy companions, O Impetuous One?”
To which Gew replied:
“My horse and my cord, O my father, will suffice unto me for company. For behold! if I lead out a host unto Turan, men will ask who I am, and why I have come forth, while if I go alone, these doubts will surely slumber.”
Then Gudarz, well pleased at the discretion of valiant Gew, said:
“Go, my son, and may all the hosts of Heaven accompany thee, strengthening thine arm and directing thy way.”
So Gew set forth, but no easy task was his, as he soon found. For, though he wandered through the length and breadth of Turan, he could learn naught of KaiKhosrau. Now seven years rolled thus above the head of Gew, until he grew lean and sorrowful; yea, even like unto a man distraught. For lo, in all this time, naught had he for a house save only his saddle; for food and clothing but the flesh and skin of the wild ass; and in place of wine, naught but bad water had he to drink. So finally the Hero began to lose heart, fearing that his father’s dream had been sent unto him by a wicked Deev.
But arriving one day in a desert, the Valiant One happened to fall in with several persons who, upon being questioned, said that they had been sent by Piran-Wisa in search of the great Shah Kaikous. Now Gew doubted their story, and so took care to ascertain from them the direction in which they were travelling, passing himself off unto them as a huntsman, interested only in the amusement of snaring the wild ass.