Zal was born with white hair. His father Sam decided that meant a curse, had the baby carried up into the mountains, and left him there. The Simorgh took him back to her nest and brought him up with her own. Years later Sam turned up to collect the son he had thrown away, and it was the bird who had to decide whether to hand him over.

So the family line starts with a child nobody wanted and a bird that did. Zal grows up to hold Zabol, marries Rudabeh over the objections of everybody with an opinion, and fathers Rostam. He is also the one the poem sends for when a thing cannot be fixed by hitting it: Zal is the reader, the one who works problems out.

He comes down off the mountain with a feather, and instructions.