fought for nine days. At last, Kirsāsp flayed the Gandarw and bound it with its own skin. Kirsāsp, weary from the combat, had his companion Axrūrag guard the Gandarw while he slept, but it proved too much for him – the Gandarw dragged Axrūrag and Kirsāsp's family into the sea. When Kirsāsp awakened, he rushed to the sea, freed the captives, and killed the Gandarw. Kirsāsp and Dahāg The Zoroastrian text called the Sūdgar tells that when the monster Dahāg, who is now bound in chains on Mount Damāvand, bursts free of his fetters at the end of the world, Kirsāsp will be resurrected (his corpse having been guarded from corruption) to destroy Dahāg and save the two thirds of the world that Dahāg has not devoured. In Persian literature In the Shāhnāma Garshasp or Garshasb was a king who ruled over parts of Greater Persia. Certain of his deeds are recounted in the epic poem Shāhnāma, which preserves, in late form, many of the legends and stories of Greater Persia. Garshasb had been ruling for more than 50 years when the royal family fell victim to black magic and were killed one after the other. Legend has it that there were a few members of the Garshasp clan who survived, but also that they remain enchanted to this day. Garshāsp is only tangentially mentioned in the Shāhnāma. There he appears as a distant ancestor of the hero Rostam, who lived at about the same time as King Fereydun. Garshāsp is the father of Narēmān, who is the father of Sām, father of Zāl, who is in turn Rostam's father. In the Garshāspnāma Garshāsp received his own poetic treatment at the hands of Asadi Tusi, who wrote a Garshāspnāma about this hero. In the Garshāspnāma, Garshāsp is the son of Esret (اثرط), the equivalent of the Avestan Θrita, and grandson of Sham (Avestan Sāma). His genealogy goes back through other characters not mentioned in the Avesta: Sham is the son of Tovorg (طورگ), son of Šēdasp, son of Tur, who was an illegitimate son of Jamshid by the daughter of Kurang, king of Zābolestān, begotten at the time that Jamshid had been deposed was fleeing from the forces of Zahhāk. Zahhāk reigned for 1000 years, and so was still king at the time that Garshāsp was born. On one occasion when Zahhāk was traveling in Zābolestān, he saw Garshāsp and