The Influence of India and Persia on the Poetry of Germany | Page 9

is given in the
Quran or in the poems of Firdausi and Jami. The well-known episode
of the ladies cutting their hands instead of the lemons in consequence
of their confusion at the sight of Joseph's beauty is here narrated at
length.[69] In the preface the author states explicitly that he has drawn,

not only from the Bible, but from Hebrew, Arabic and Persian writings
as well.[70] That he should have made use of Arabic material is
credible enough, for Dutch Orientalists like Golius and Erpenius had
made this accessible.[71] That he had some idea of Persian poetry is
shown by his allusions to the fondness of Orientals for handsome
boys.[72] On the other hand, what he says of Zoroaster in the Musai
can all be found in Latin and Greek writers.[73] Here we get the
biography of Joseph's chief servant in the form of an appendix to the
novel, and the author displays all the learning which fortunately his
good taste had excluded from the story itself. Of the Iranian tradition
concerning Zoroaster's death as given in the Pahlavi writings or the
Shah Namah[74] Grimmelshausen knew absolutely nothing; nor can
we find the slightest evidence to substantiate his assertion that for the
work in question he drew from Persian or Arabic sources.

In the eighteenth century the Oriental tale was extremely popular in
France, and thence it spread to other countries. The translation of the
Thousand and One Nights by Galland (Paris, 1704-1712) and of the
Persian Tales by Pétis de La Croix called into being a host of similar
French productions, which in turn found their way into German
literature. The most fruitful writer in this genre was Simon Gueulette,
the author of _Soirées Bretonnes_ (1712) and Mille et un quart
d'heures (1715). The latter contains the story of a prince who is
punished for his presumption by having two snakes grow from his
shoulders. To appease them they are fed on fresh human brain.[75] Of
course, we recognize at once the story of the tyrant Zahhak familiar
from Firdausi. The material for the _Soirées_ was drawn largely from
Armeno's Peregrinaggio, which purports to be a translation from the
Persian, although no original is known to scholars.[76] From these
_Soirées_ Voltaire took the material for his Zadig.[77] In most cases,
however, all that was Oriental about such stories was the name and the
costume. So popular was the Oriental costume that Montesquieu used it
for satirizing the Parisians in his Lettres Persanes (1721). Through
French influence the Oriental story came to Germany, and so we get
such works as August Gottlob Meissner's tales of Nushirvan_,
_Massoud_, _Giaffar_, _Sadi and others,[78] or Klinger's Derwisch_.

Wieland used the Eastern costume in his Schach Lolo_ (1778) and in
his politico-didactic romance of the wise Danischmende. This fondness
for an Oriental atmosphere continues even into the nineteenth century
and may be seen in such works as Tieck's Abdallah_ and Hauff's
_Karawane. But this brings us to the time when India and Persia were
to give up their secrets, and when the influence of their literature begins
to be a factor in the literature of Europe.
FOOTNOTES:
[49] See Kunstmann, Die Fahrt der ersten Deutschen nach dem
portugiesischen Indien in Hist. pol. Blätter f. d. Kath. Deutschl.,
München, 1861, vol. 48, pp. 277-309.
[50] For title see Panzer, Annalen d. älteren deutsch. Litt., Nürnb. 1788.
[51] See Grässe, op. cit. ii. 2. pp. 773, 774.
[52] Des Welt-berühmten Adami Olearii colligirte und viel vermehrte
Reise-Beschreibungen etc., Hamb. 1696, chap. xxv.
[53] Ibid. chap. xxviii. p. 327 seq.
[54] Olearius, op. cit., Preface to the Rosenthal. Full title of
Ochsenbach's book in Buch der Beispiele, ed. Holland, p. 258, n. 1.
[55] Proverbiorum et Sententiarum Persicarum Centuria, Leyden, 1644.
In the preface the author says that he undertakes his work, "cum e
genuinis Persarum scriptis nihil hactenus in Latinam linguam sit
translatum."
[56] Iversen in op. cit. chap. xi. p. 157 seq. Cf. Jackson, Die iranische
Religion in Grdr. iran. Ph. iii. pp. 633, 634, 636.
[57] Sanson in op. cit. pp. 48, 49.
[58] Fr. Schlegel, Weisheit der Indier, Heidelb. 1808, Vorrede, p. xi.
[59] See preface to op. cit.

[60] Ideen zur Phil. d. Gesch. der Menschheit, chap. iv. ed. Suphan, vol.
13, p. 415.
[61] The story is given in Chardin's book, though this was not the
source. See Andreas Gryphius Trauerspiele, ed. Herm. Palm, BLVS.
vol. 162, pp. 138, 139.
[62] See Zoroasters Telescop oder Schlüssel zur grossen
divinatorischen Kabbala der Magier in Das Kloster ed. J. Scheible,
Stuttg. 1846, vol. iii. p. 414 seq., esp. p. 439.
[63] Widmann's Faust in Das Kloster, vol. ii. p. 296; Der Christlich
Meynende, ibid. ii. p. 85.
[64] Christoph. Wagners Leben, ibid. vol. iii. p. 78.
[65] Ibid. ii. p. 1004.
[66] Ed. by