The poet describes how the tale was first told to him to while away the depression caused by a sleepless night, and then narrates as follows: Kai Khusrau at a feast receives a petition for succour from the people of Irmán, whose country is being ravaged by wild boars, and sends Bízhan and Gurgín to clear the country of them. Bízhan, through the machinations of Gurgín, who envies him, falls in love with Afrásiyáb's daughter Manízha, who carries off Bízhan to Túrán and hides him in her palace. He is discovered and imprisoned in a pit with Manízha as his attendant. In the meantime Gurgín has returned to Irán, where his lame story rouses suspicion. Kai Khusrau, by means of the divining-cup, ascertains the situation of Bízhan and despatches Rustam to deliver him. This Rustam achieves, Gurgín is pardoned by Bízhan, Afrásiyáb is defeated, and all ends happily.
For the historical basis of this story, see p. 11.
The tale of Bízhan and Manízha is the second of the great love-stories of the Sháhnáma, that of Zál and Rúdába in Vol. I. being the first,*
and that of Gushtásp in Rúm, which will be given in Vol. IV., being the third. Mohl probably is right in considering the present story to be one of Firdausí's early works. “Le caractère de fraîcheur qui se remarque dans ce récit s'accorde bien avec la supposition que cet épisode est une œuvre de la jeunesse de Firdousi; et la versification porte quelques traces de manque d'experience, telles que l'emploi fréquent de l'élif final ajouté à cause de la rime ou du mètre. Cet expédient est recu dans la poésie persane; mais Firdousi n'en fait nulle part autant d'usage qu'au commencement de l'histoire de Bijen et de Menijeh.”*
The point as to the terminal alif perhaps may be exemplified sufficiently for the English reader by the following stanza:—
“Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way,
And merrily hent the stile-a:
A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad tires in a mile-a.”*
As in the English so in the Persian an “a” is added arbitrarily to help out the metre, but the analogy is not exact.
In addition to Mohl's reasons given above we may adduce the bold Zoroastrian allusions—the outcome perhaps of a youthful enthusiasm.*
The loss of Bízhan too is regarded as the first serious trouble of the Gúdarzian family,*
though it would not be prudent to lay much stress upon that in the absence of other indications.
§ 1. In Mohl's opinion the friend referred to both here and in the Prelude to the Sháhnáma (§ 10) was Muhammad Lashkarí.*
Firdausí, however, has left the sex indeterminate.
Hárút was an angel who, with his mate Márút, was suspended by the feet in a well at Babylon for practising magic arts.
§ 2. Such an appeal would be characteristic of the Armenians (Irmánians) who, broken by adversity, ceased long ago to be a self-reliant people.
§§ 10 and 23. For the dív Akwán see Part IV.
§ 12. According to Zoroastrian belief divine beings, men, the lower animals, plants, waters, sun and moon, &c., all had their immortal principle, known as their fravashí. These fravashís were worshipped especially at the beginning of the Zoroastrian year, and the month Farwardín obtained its name from the practice. At this season the spirits of deceased ancestors were supposed to revisit the houses of their descendants, and such fravashís, like the manes of the Romans, were objects of peculiar veneration.
§ 17. The divine beings whose blessings are invoked by Rustam on Kai Khusrau are members of a class formerly known as Yazatas (gods) and now as Izads. Some of them, among other functions, presided over the Zoroastrian Calendar, and gave their names to the days of the month and to the months of the year.*
They may be regarded as celestial satraps among whom
the divine qualities and the good creation of Urmuzd have
been parcelled out. Bahman presides over Good Thought, Ardí-
Bahrám presides over Victory, Tír over Mercury, Dai over Business, Ázar over Fire, Ábán over Waters, while Farwardín represents the Fravashís.*