A blacksmith’s leather apron became Iran’s national flag after he led a revolt

Evidence

For a thousand years Zahhak ruled by terror, and every day two families lost their children. At last there came a blacksmith named Kaveh, who had already lost sixteen sons to the serpents. When the king’s men came for his last boy, Kaveh roared his refusal before the whole court. He tore the leather apron from his waist, lifted it high on the point of a spear, and carried it through the streets like a banner. The people who had been silent for a thousand years rose and followed the blacksmith’s apron. They marched to find the rightful heir — a young man named Feridun — and the reign of the serpent king began to end. — , A Year of World Stories, 10937

Categorization

• XREF: The Derafsh Kaviani (Kaveh’s apron banner) connects to real vexillology — Iran’s pre-Islamic national standard derives from this very legend.
• SEED: Angle on how ‘ordinary people’s tools’ become national symbols — a commoner’s apron as the origin of a flag that outlasts kings.