From the day the crowing of the rooster was first heard in Sialk, when Rud was seen beneath the olive trees on the slope of the hill by the lake, two great changes took place in the life of her people.
The first was that they began to use a creature called Aspa — meaning “slow-footed” — to carry loads and travel from one place to another.
The second was that they brought a short-bodied animal, the sheep, down from the mountains and began to raise it in Sialk.
When the sheep were brought, Rud said to the people:
“All living creatures, like human beings, are male and female. If you wish the number of a species to increase, its males and females must live together.”
From then on, the people of Sialk, in addition to mares, also kept rams and ewes so that their kind might multiply.
And since Sialk was connected by water routes and boats to the other settlements around the lake, the practice of breeding horses and sheep soon spread from Sialk to the surrounding lands.
One day, a boat appeared on the lake and sailed into Sialk. The people saw within it a young and beautiful woman accompanied by several men.
When they stepped ashore, everyone realized that this woman was the queen of the city of Giyan.
Rud went to greet her warmly, embraced her, and led her to her house to offer hospitality.
The name of this queen was Mazun.
Rud and Mazun spent several days together, speaking about the state of their lands.
Rud asked, “How do the people of your city live?”
Mazun replied,
“In our land the soil is rich, and plants grow of themselves. The people live on roots and the wild grains that sprout naturally. But we have recently discovered that if a seed is placed in the ground and watered, after some time the same plant will grow again.”
Rud was astonished.
“So you have learned the art of growing plants?” she said.
Mazun nodded.
“Yes, but we do not yet know how to prepare the earth so that the plants will grow better.”
Rud said thoughtfully,
“If you can make plants grow whenever you wish, people will no longer need to wander or hunt.”
Mazun answered,
“That is why I came to see you — to learn from your experience in the new crafts that you and your people have created.”
Rud asked,
“What new crafts?”
Mazun said,
“In my country we also make clay vessels, but we know nothing of colours that can endure fire. I have heard that you found a colour from pomegranate peel that remains after baking.”
Rud smiled.
“Yes, but that colour stays only black. If you can find from your plants a red that survives the fire, our art will be complete.”
“In the mountains of Giyan,” said Mazun, “there grows a plant with flowers redder than blood. Perhaps its colour will endure the fire.”
The two women promised that when Mazun returned to Giyan, she would send Rud that crimson plant so she might test it.
Thus began the first cultural and scientific exchange between two Iranian realms — born from the dialogue of two women.
In the following days, Rud took Mazun to her father’s workshop and showed her the simple wheel she had invented for making pottery.
Mazun was amazed.
“In my city,” she said, “we shape our pots by hand. I have never seen such a wheel. With this device, the work becomes ten times easier!”
Rud laughed.
“I made it out of laziness — so that my father’s hands would suffer less!”
Mazun smiled.
“If such laziness brings wisdom, then it is a blessing.”
Two women spoke about the condition of their cities, and from Mazun’s statements it appeared that the city of “Giyan” lay to the northwest of the lake, but its inhabitants were fewer than those of the city of Sialk; no one there used horses or sheep, and they still did not know that copper could be smelted—though the city did have master wood-carvers. Rud told her husband Zab that it would be good to take a horse, a mare, a ram, and a ewe by boat to Giyan so the people of that city would know what advantages the people of Sialk possessed. Zab accepted his wife’s suggestion, and when Mazun wished to return from Sialk, he placed a pair of horse and mare and a pair of ram and ewe in the boat and set out toward the city of Giyan.
Postscript
The word Mazun is of ancient Iranian origin. It means a woman who rules over men.
In later centuries, this name passed into European languages as Amazon, and the legends of warrior women who lived without men were born from it.
Thus, the word Amazon is originally Iranian.
