Kāveh Āhangar: Qesseh-hā-ye Shāhnāmeh 1 Persian 2025

The story of Kaveh the Blacksmith, adapted from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, takes place in ancient times when Zahhak ruled the world with cruelty and tyranny. Each day, a boy and a girl were taken to be sacrificed so that their brains could be fed to the serpents growing on Zahhak’s shoulders. The people, exhausted by this injustice, lived in constant fear.

Kaveh, a blacksmith who had already lost several children to these sacrifices, finally rose up. He walked into the streets and cried out: “The spirits of our lost children call to us… Curse Zahhak! Curse the demon of oppression!” The people joined him, seeing the sky filled with the spirits of the victims. While Zahhak watched silently from his palace, the crowds marched toward him, only to be beaten back by the royal guards.

Kaveh then lifted his leather blacksmith’s apron on a spear—raising it as a flag of resistance—and began his march toward freedom.

Shahnameh, one of the foundational texts of Persian mythology, has long been retold for children through storytelling, theatre, and illustrated books. This new edition of The Tale of Kaveh the Blacksmith, illustrated by Mohammad-Ali Keshavarz and rewritten by Maziar Baghlani and Eilnaz Ebrahimi, is published by Barf Publishing for young readers.