Persian Literature, Volume 1, Comprising The Shah Nameh | Page 6

tells us, "but forget not the shade of the willow-tree and the fair margin of the fruitful field." He is very human; but his humanity is deeply ethical in character.
Much more than Omar and Sa'di, H��fiz was a thorough Sufi. "In one and the same song you write of wine, of Sufism, and of the object of your affection," is what Sh��h Shuja said to him once. In fact, we are often at an entire loss to tell where reality ends and Sufic vacuity commences. For this Mystic philosophy that we call Sufism patched up a sort of peace between the old Persian and the conquering Mohammedan. By using veiled language, by taking all the every-day things of life as mere symbols of the highest transcendentalism, it was possible to be an observing Mohammedan in the flesh, whilst the mind wandered in the realms of pure fantasy and speculation. While enjoying H��fiz, then, and bathing in his wealth of picture, one is at a loss to tell whether the bodies he describes are of flesh and blood, or incorporeal ones with a mystic background; whether the wine of which he sings really runs red, and the love he describes is really centred upon a mortal being. Yet, when he says of himself, "Open my grave when I am dead, and thou shalt see a cloud of smoke rising out from it; then shalt thou know that the fire still burns in my dead heart--yea, it has set my very winding-sheet alight," there is a ring of reality in the substance which pierces through the extravagant imagery. This the Persians themselves have always felt; and they will not be far from the truth in regarding H��fiz with a very peculiar affection as the writer who, better than anyone else, is the poet of their gay moments and the boon companion of their feasts.
Firdusi, Omar, Sa'di, H��fiz, are names of which any literature may be proud. None like unto them rose again in Persia, if we except the great Jami. At the courts of Sh��h Abbas the Great (1588-1629) and of Akbar of India (1556-1605), an attempt to revive Persian letters was indeed made. But nothing came that could in any measure equal the heyday of the great poets. The political downfall of Persia has effectually prevented the coming of another spring and summer. The pride of the land of the Sh��h must now rest in its past.
[Illustration: (Signature of Richard Gottheil)]
Columbia University, June 11, 1900.

CONTENTS
THE SH��H N��MEH
Introduction Kai��mers H��sheng Tah��mers Jemsh��d Mirt��s-T��z��, and His Son Zoh��k Kavah, the Blacksmith Ferid��n Ferid��n and His Three Sons Min��chihr Z��l, the Son of S��m The Dream of S��m R��d��beh Death of Min��chihr Nauder Afr��siy��b Marches against Nauder Afr��siy��b Zau Garsh��sp Kai-Kob��d Kai-K����s The Seven Labors of Rustem Invasion of Ir��n by Afr��siy��b The Return of Kai-K����s Story of Sohr��b The Story of Sai��wush Kai-Khosr��u Akw��n D��w The Story of Byzun and Man��jeh Barz��, and His Conflict with Rustem S��sen and Afr��siy��b The Expedition of G��darz The Death of Afr��siy��b The Death of Kai-Khosr��u Lohur��sp Gusht��sp, and the Faith of Zerdusht The Heft-Khan of Isfendiy��r Capture of the Brazen Fortress The Death of Isfendiy��r The Death of Rustem Bahman H��ma�� and the Birth of D��r��b D��r��b and D��r�� Sikander Firdusi's Invocation Firdusi's Satire on Mahmud
THE RUB��IY��T
Introduction Omar Khayy��m The Rub��iy��t
THE DIVAN
Introduction Fragment by H��fiz The Divan

THE SH��H N��MEH
by
FIRDUSI
(_Abul Kasim Mansur_)
[_Translated into English by James Atkinson_]

The system of Sir William Jones in the printing of Oriental words has been kept in view in the following work, viz.: The letter a represents the short vowel as in _bat, ��_ with an accent the broad sound of a in _hall, i_ as in _lily, ��_ with an accent as in _police, u_ as in _bull, ��_ with an accent as in _rude, ��_ with an accent as o in pole, the diphthong ai as in _aisle, au_ as in the German word kraut or ou in house.

INTRODUCTION
When Sir John Lubbock, in the list of a hundred books which he published, in the year 1886, as containing the best hundred worth reading, mentioned the "Sh��h N��meh" or "Book of Kings," written by the Persian poet Firdusi, it is doubtful whether many of his readers had even heard of such a poem or of its author. Yet Firdusi, "The Poet of Paradise" (for such is the meaning of this pen-name), is as much the national poet of Persia as Dante is of Italy or Shakespeare of England. Abul Kasim Mansur is indeed a genuine epic poet, and for this reason his work is of genuine interest to the lovers of Homer, Vergil, and Dante. The qualities that go to make up an epic poem are all to be found in this work of the Persian bard. In the first place,