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54
' SECOND
DISCOURSE. ON POETS
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; ANECDOTE XX. ,
Master Abu'l-Qasim Firdawsi 1 was ane of the Dihqans (landowners)
of Tus, from a village called Bazh 2 in the district of
Tabardn 3 a , large village capable of supplying a thousand men.
There Firdawsi enjoyed' an excellent position, so that he was
rendered quite independent of his neighbours by the income
which he derived from his lands, and he had but one child, a
daughter. His one desire in putting the Book of Kings (Shah- .
mima) mto verse was, out of the reward which he might obtain
for it, to supply her with an adequate dowry. He was engaged for
twenty-five years on this work ere he'(tA) finished tke book, and
to this end he left nothing undone,,. raising his verse as high as
heaven, and causing it in sweet fluency to resemble running
water. Whatgenius, indeed, could raise verse to such a height as
he does in the letter written by Zal to Sam the son of Nariman
in Mazandaran when he desired to ally himself with Ruddba the
daughter of the King of Kabul 4 :
"Then to Sdm straightway sent he a letter,
Filled with fair praises, prayers and good greeting.
First made he mention of the World^Maker, (
Who doom dispenseth and doom fulfilleth.
' On Nirants son Sdm,' wrote he, '
the sword-lord,
Mail-clad and mace-girt, may the Lord's fyeace rest!
1 This anecdote is cited by Ibn Isfandiyar in his History of Tabaristdn \'A. H. 613,
A.D. I2r6. See Rieu's Persian Catalogue^, pp. 202-204 and 533 b )> whence it was
excerpted and published, with a German translation, by Ethe (Z.D.M.d., vol. xlviii,
It
pp. 89-94). was also utilized by Noldeke in 1896 in his Iranische Natiotialepos
(Grundriss d. Iran. Philologie, vol. ii, pp. 150 et seqfi}. A revised edition of this
valuable monograph has just appeared (Berlin and Leipzig, 1920). The references
here given are, unless otherwise specified, to tbe original edition.
2 The Bwkdit-i-QdtP is the only Persian or Arabic book of referente which
makes mention of this place as situated near Tus.
3 See Noldeke, loc. fit., p. 151 (p. 25 of the new edition), and Yaqiit, s.v. The
city of Tus comprised the two districts of Tabaran (or Tabaran) and Niiqan. v
4 These verses (with some variants) will be found on pp. 124-125 qf vol. i qf
Turner Macan's edition of the Shdhndma (Calcutta, 1829).
5 The printed text
The text has i-j for