Faridun Tests His Sons: The Dragon and the Naming
- Daniel R
- Jun 3
- 13 min read
Introduction
The testing of his sons by Faridun is one of the most memorable episodes of the early Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings: the famous trial in which the great king, taking the form of a dragon, judged the characters of his three sons and from that trial gave them their names, Salm, Tur, and Iraj.
In the tradition, Faridun, the just king who had overthrown the tyrant Zahhak, had three sons whom in his love he had left unnamed until they should prove their worth. When they came of age, he found them brides among the daughters of the king of Yemen, and on their journey home he tested them by appearing as a fearsome dragon. The differing responses of the three sons revealed their characters, and the king named each according to what he had shown, a naming that foreshadowed the great tragedy of the division of the world that would follow.
Like all the tales of the Book of Kings, this episode belongs to the shared epic and mythological heritage of the Iranian peoples, a tradition the Kurds hold in common with the Persians, the Lurs, and others of the Iranic world. To know the testing of Faridun's sons is to encounter one of the epic's great studies of character and destiny, the trial that named the three brothers and set in motion the fateful story of their rivalry.
Contents
What Is the Testing of Faridun's Sons?
The testing of Faridun's sons is the episode in the Shahnameh in which the king Faridun, wishing to know the true characters of his three grown sons, took the form of a dragon and confronted them on the road, observing how each responded to the fearsome threat. From the trial, he learned the nature of each son and gave them their names accordingly: the eldest, who prudently withdrew from danger, he named Salm; the second, who attacked with reckless daring, he named Tur; and the youngest, who showed prudent courage, he named Iraj. The episode is famous as a study of character, and the names and natures revealed in it foreshadow the great tragedy that follows, when the envy of the elder brothers leads to the murder of the youngest and the long war of vengeance. It is one of the best-known and most-illustrated episodes of the early epic.
The Three Nameless Sons
In the tradition, Faridun, after his great reign began, had three sons, described as tall and strong and fair. Yet in his deep love for them, and perhaps in his unwillingness to tempt fate, the king had refused to give them names until they should come of age and reveal their characters.
This detail of the nameless sons is significant, for it sets up the whole episode of the testing and the naming. The king wished that the names of his sons should reflect their true natures, and so he withheld them until those natures should be revealed. The three young men, grown tall and strong, remained without names until the time came to find them wives and to test their worth. This withholding of names until they should be earned is a striking motif, expressing the idea that a name should fit the character of the one who bears it, and that true nature is shown in how one meets a trial. The three nameless sons, awaiting the names that would reflect their characters, stand at the beginning of the episode, the sons whose natures would be tested and revealed. The motif of the nameless sons thus frames the whole tale of the testing, the sons who must prove their characters before they can receive the names that fit them. It is from this starting point, the three grown but nameless sons of the great king, that the episode of the testing and the naming unfolds.
Key Takeaways
Faridun tested his three sons by taking the form of a dragon.
He had left his sons unnamed until they should reveal their characters.
He first found them brides among the daughters of the king of Yemen.
The eldest withdrew prudently; the second attacked recklessly; the youngest showed prudent courage.
He named them Salm, Tur, and Iraj according to what each had shown.
The trial foreshadows the tragedy of the division of the world.
Quick Facts
Episode: The testing of Faridun's three sons
Tester: Faridun, in the form of a dragon
The sons: The three later named Salm, Tur, and Iraj
Brides: The three daughters of the king of Yemen
Salm: Named for seeking safety; withdrew from the dragon
Tur: Named for bold recklessness; attacked the dragon
Iraj: Named for prudent courage; faced it wisely
Outcome: The naming and then the division of the world
Foreshadows: The murder of Iraj and the war of vengeance
Heritage: Shared Iranic epic tradition
The Daughters of the King of Yemen
Before the trial of the dragon, Faridun sought wives for his three sons, and through an emissary found three suitable princesses, the daughters of the king of Yemen, a ruler named Sarv in the tradition. The three sons journeyed to Yemen to win and wed the princesses.
In the tradition, the king of Yemen at first was reluctant to give up his daughters, loving them dearly and fearing to lose them, and he set the young men tests of his own before consenting. But in the end the princesses were given in marriage to the three sons of Faridun, and the young men set out to bring their brides home. The three daughters of the king of Yemen thus became the wives of the three sons, joined to the royal house of Iran. In the tradition, the wife of the youngest son, the one who would be named Iraj, is remembered as Sahi, and the daughters are counted among the women of the epic. The episode of the daughters of Yemen is the prelude to the trial of the dragon, for it is on the journey home from winning these brides that Faridun tested his sons. The winning of the princesses of Yemen thus sets the stage for the famous trial, the marriages that bring the sons homeward into the path of their father's test. The daughters of the king of Yemen are part of the fabric of the episode, the brides of the three sons whose journey home would become the occasion of the testing and the naming.
The Trial of the Dragon
The central event of the episode is the trial of the dragon, in which Faridun, wishing to know the hearts of his sons, took the form of a fearsome, fire-breathing dragon and rushed upon them as they journeyed home with their brides.
In the tradition, Faridun, longing to know the true characters of his sons and to set his mind at rest, used his power to take the shape of a terrible dragon, so mighty that it seemed no one could stand against it, and came roaring upon the three young men on the road. The trial lay in how each son responded to this sudden and overwhelming threat. The eldest son, on seeing the dragon, turned and fled to safety, saying that a wise man does not fight a dragon. The second son, by contrast, stood his ground and attacked the monster with reckless boldness, preparing to fight it as he would a human foe. The youngest son met the threat with a combination of courage and prudence, standing firm and declaring that they were the sons of the great Faridun and would not be cowed by a mere beast, challenging the dragon to be gone. Having thus observed the differing responses of his three sons, and learned the character of each, Faridun withdrew, resumed his own form, and welcomed the young men, revealing that the dragon had been himself, sent to test them. The trial of the dragon is the heart of the episode, the test by which the king discerned the natures of his sons, the prudence of the eldest, the rash boldness of the second, and the balanced courage of the youngest. It is a famous and much-depicted scene, the dragon-trial that reveals the characters that would shape the tragedy to come.
The Naming of Salm, Tur, and Iraj
From the trial of the dragon, Faridun gave his three sons the names that would reflect the characters each had shown, the names by which they are known in the epic: Salm, Tur, and Iraj.
In the tradition, the king named each son according to what he had revealed in the trial. The eldest, who had sought safety and withdrawn from the dragon, he named Salm, a name connected with the idea of safety or seeking peace. The second, who had attacked with reckless and headstrong daring, he named Tur, a name linked with boldness and rash courage. And the youngest, who had shown the right balance of prudence and bravery, facing the threat wisely without either fleeing or rushing rashly, he named Iraj, the name of the son he judged most worthy. The naming is the culmination of the trial, the giving of names that fit the characters revealed, so that each son carries in his very name the nature he displayed. This naming is significant not only as the resolution of the test but as a foreshadowing, for the characters revealed and named, the prudence of Salm, the boldness of Tur, and the balanced worth of Iraj, prefigure the roles they would play in the tragedy to come, when the envy of the two elder brothers would turn against the worthy youngest. The naming of Salm, Tur, and Iraj is thus the meaningful outcome of the trial, the names that capture the characters that would shape the great drama of the division of the world.
The Division of the World
After the trial and the naming, Faridun divided his great realm among his three sons, an act that, given their differing characters, would lead to the tragedy of envy, murder, and war.
In the tradition, Faridun apportioned the world among his sons: to Salm he gave the West, the lands of Rum; to Tur he gave the lands of the East, Turan and China; and to the youngest and most worthy, Iraj, he gave the choicest portion, the land of Iran itself, with the royal throne and crown. This division, giving the best to the youngest, kindled the envy of the two elder brothers, Salm and Tur, who could not bear that Iraj should have the choicest share. Their envy grew into hatred, and at last the two elder brothers murdered the noble Iraj, a crime recounted soberly in the tradition as a great wrong. The murder of Iraj set in motion the long war of vengeance, carried on by Iraj's grandson Manuchehr, who slew Salm and Tur to avenge his grandfather, and beyond that into the centuries-long enmity of Iran and Turan that runs through the epic. The division of the world is thus the fateful consequence of the episode of the testing and the naming, the apportioning that, given the characters revealed in the trial, led to envy, murder, and the great war. The trial that named the sons foreshadowed this tragedy, and the division of the world brought it to pass, the dark sequel to the famous episode of the dragon and the naming.
Symbolism and Meaning
The testing of Faridun's sons embodies, above all, the theme that character is revealed in how one meets a trial, and that a name should fit the nature of the one who bears it. The three sons, faced with the dragon, reveal their true characters, and from those characters Faridun gives them their names, so that prudence, rashness, and balanced courage are each named and known.
The episode embodies, too, the wisdom and the limits of the wise king, for Faridun, though he discerns the characters of his sons truly, cannot by that knowledge avert the tragedy that their natures will bring, the envy and murder that follow the division of the world. In this, the episode reflects the epic's deep sense of character as destiny, the way that the natures revealed in the trial work themselves out in the tragedy to come. And in the figure of the youngest son, whose balanced courage marks him as the worthy heir, the episode embodies the ideal of prudent bravery, the right mean between cowardice and recklessness, that the epic prizes in its kings and heroes. In all this, the testing of Faridun's sons is a profound episode, embodying character revealed in trial, the naming that fits nature, the wisdom and limits of the wise king, and the ideal of prudent courage. It is one of the great studies of character in the early epic, the famous trial of the dragon that named the three brothers and set the stage for the fateful drama of their rivalry and the long war that followed.
The Episode and the Kurds
The testing of Faridun's sons, like all the tales of the Shahnameh, belongs to the shared epic and mythological heritage of the Iranian peoples, a tradition that the Kurds hold in common with the Persians, the Lurs, and others of the Iranic world. The story of Faridun and his sons is part of the common inheritance of these peoples.
It is worth noting that Faridun himself, as the overthrower of the tyrant Zahhak, is a figure especially cherished in the wider Iranian tradition, and the Kurds share in the heritage of his tale. The episode of the testing and naming of his sons, and the tragic division of the world that follows, belong to this shared tradition. It is honest and accurate to understand this episode as part of the shared Iranic heritage, rather than as a uniquely Kurdish tale; the figures of Salm, Tur, and Iraj, and the lands apportioned to them, belong to the common epic of all the Iranic peoples. It should be remembered, too, that Tur and his land of Turan are legendary, the Turanians being a people of the epic and not any modern nation, and the rivalry of the brothers a feud within one family rather than a matter of present-day peoples. As an Iranian people, the Kurds share in the broad heritage of the epic, of which this famous episode is a part, alongside their neighbours. In presenting the testing of Faridun's sons, then, we present a tale of the shared Iranian heritage to which the Kurds, as an Iranic people, are heirs alongside their neighbours.
Debates and Misconceptions
Did Faridun really become a dragon? Within the tale, yes; Faridun is said to have used his power to take the form of a dragon in order to test his sons. This is, of course, a feature of the legendary and mythological character of the epic, in which the great king possesses such powers. The dragon-trial is best understood as a narrative device for revealing the characters of the three sons, a memorable and symbolic episode rather than a historical event. Faridun, as a legendary figure, is shown with the power to take such a form, and the trial serves the purpose of the story, the revealing of the natures that would shape the tragedy to come.
Do the names Salm, Tur, and Iraj really come from the trial? In the epic's telling, the names are given by Faridun to reflect the characters his sons showed in the trial, with the names connected to ideas of safety, boldness, and worth. This is the epic's own explanation of the names, a literary etymology that fits the characters to their names. Scholars note that the actual origins of the names lie in older tradition, with Tur connected to the Turanians and the names having deep roots in Iranian legend, but within the Shahnameh the naming-from-the-trial is the meaningful account, fitting each name to the nature revealed.
Is this episode specifically Kurdish? No; like all the tales of the Shahnameh, it belongs to the shared epic heritage of the Iranian peoples, a tradition the Kurds hold in common with the Persians, the Lurs, and others of the Iranic world, rather than a uniquely Kurdish tale. As an Iranian people, the Kurds share in the broad heritage of the epic, of which this episode is a part, alongside their neighbours.
Related Topics
Faridun: the king who tested and named his three sons
Salm: the eldest son, named for seeking safety
Tur: the second son, named for bold recklessness
Iraj: the youngest and worthiest son, murdered by his brothers
Manuchehr: the grandson of Iraj who avenged his murder
Zahhak: the tyrant whom Faridun overthrew
The Farr: the royal glory borne by the worthy
The Shahnameh: the Persian Book of Kings, the great epic of Iran
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the testing of Faridun's sons?
It is the episode in the Shahnameh in which the king Faridun, wishing to know the true characters of his three grown sons, took the form of a fearsome dragon and confronted them on the road home, observing how each responded. From the trial he learned the nature of each son and named them accordingly: Salm, who withdrew prudently; Tur, who attacked recklessly; and Iraj, who showed prudent courage. It is one of the best-known episodes of the early epic.
Why did Faridun test his sons?
Faridun tested his sons because he wished to know their true characters before naming them and dividing his realm among them. In the tradition, he had left his sons unnamed until they should reveal their natures, wishing their names to fit their characters. The dragon-trial was the means by which he discerned the heart of each, the prudence of the eldest, the rashness of the second, and the balanced courage of the youngest, so that he might name them truly and judge their worth.
How did the three sons respond to the dragon?
The three sons responded differently, revealing their characters. The eldest, on seeing the dragon, turned and fled to safety, saying a wise man does not fight a dragon. The second stood and attacked the monster with reckless boldness. The youngest met the threat with prudent courage, standing firm and declaring that they were the sons of Faridun and would not be cowed, challenging the dragon to be gone. From these responses Faridun named them Salm, Tur, and Iraj.
What do the names Salm, Tur, and Iraj mean in the episode?
In the epic's telling, Faridun gave the names to reflect the characters his sons showed. Salm, the eldest who sought safety, was named with a sense connected to safety or peace; Tur, the second who attacked with rash daring, was named for boldness; and Iraj, the youngest who showed balanced prudent courage, received the name of the son judged most worthy. The epic offers these as literary etymologies fitting each name to the nature revealed in the trial.
What happened after the testing?
After the trial and the naming, Faridun divided the world among his sons: the West to Salm, the East and Turan to Tur, and the choicest portion, Iran with the royal throne, to the worthy Iraj. This division kindled the envy of the two elder brothers, who could not bear that Iraj had the best share, and they murdered him. The murder set in motion the long war of vengeance, carried on by Iraj's grandson Manuchehr and beyond into the enmity of Iran and Turan.
Is the testing of Faridun's sons a Kurdish tale?
It belongs to the shared epic heritage of the Iranian peoples, a tradition the Kurds hold in common with the Persians, the Lurs, and others of the Iranic world, rather than a uniquely Kurdish tale. Faridun, the overthrower of Zahhak, is cherished across the Iranic world, and the episode of his sons belongs to this shared tradition. As an Iranian people, the Kurds share in the broad heritage of the epic, of which this famous episode is a part, alongside their neighbours.
References and Further Reading
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