Editing Simurgh (section)

===In the ''Shahnameh''===
The simurgh made its most famous appearance in [[Ferdowsi]]'s epic ''[[Shahnameh]]'' (Book of Kings), where its involvement with Prince [[Zal]] is described. According to the ''Shahnameh'', [[Zal]], the son of [[Saam]], was born albino. When Saam saw his albino son, he assumed that the child was the spawn of devils, and abandoned the infant on the mountain ''[[Hara Berezaiti|Alborz]]''.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Flights of Imagination: How Birds Have Been Reinvented As Mythical Creatures Around The World — Object Lessons Space |url=https://objectlessons.space/Flights-of-Imagination-How-Birds-Have-Been-Reinvented-As-Mythical |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=objectlessons.space |language=en}}</ref>

The child's cries were heard by the tender-hearted simurgh, who lived atop this peak, and she retrieved the child and raised him as her own. Zal was taught much wisdom from the loving simurgh, who has all knowledge, but the time came when he grew into a man and yearned to rejoin the world of men. Though the simurgh was terribly saddened, she gave him three golden feathers which he was to burn if he ever needed her assistance.<ref name=":2" />
[[File:Tahmasp-Shahnamah-fol63v-LTS1995 2 46alt.jpg|thumb|Simurgh returning to nest to Zal and its chicks (detail).<br>
{{right|{{small|—"Zal is Sighted by a Caravan" (''[[Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp|Tahmasp Shahnamah]]'', fol. 62v), Sackler Gallery LTS1995.2.46}}}}]]

Upon returning to his kingdom, Zal fell in love and married the beautiful [[Rudaba]]. When it came time for their son to be born, the labor was prolonged and terrible; Zal was certain that his wife would die in labour. Rudaba was near death when Zal decided to summon the simurgh. The simurgh appeared and instructed him upon how to perform a [[cesarean section]] thus saving Rudaba and the child, who became one of the greatest Persian heroes, [[Rostam]].

Simurgh also shows up in the story of the [[Seven Trials of Esfandiyar]] in the latter's 5th labor. After killing the wicked enchantress, [[Esfandiyar]] fights a simurgh, and despite the simurgh's many powers, Esfandiyar strikes it in the neck, [[decapitating]] it. The simurgh's offspring then rise to fight Esfandiyar, but they, too, are slain.<ref name=":2" />