of the fabulous and heroic kings of the country: of Karum (the Persian
Croesus), the immeasurably rich gold-maker, who, with all his
treasures, lies buried not far from the Pyramids, in the sea which bears
his name; of Jamschid, the binder of demons, whose reign lasted seven
hundred years; of Kai Kaus, in whose palace, built by demons on Alburz,
gold and silver and precious stones were used so lavishly, that in the
brilliancy produced by their combined effect, night and day appeared the
same; of Afrasiyab, strong as an elephant, whose shadow extended for
miles, whose heart was bounteous as the ocean, and his hands like the
clouds when rain falls to gladden the earth. The crocodile in the
rolling stream had no safety from Afrasiyab. Yet when he came to fight
against the generals of Kaus, he was but an insect in the grasp of
Rustem, who seized him by the girdle, and dragged him from his horse.
Rustem felt such anger at the arrogance of the King of Mazinderan, that
every hair on his body started up like a spear. The gripe of his hand
cracked the sinews of an enemy.

These legends,--with Chiser, the fountain of life, Tuba, the tree of
life,--the romances of the loves of Leila and Medschun, of Chosru and
Schirin, and those of the nightingale for the rose,--pearl-diving, and
the virtues of gems,--the cohol, the cosmetic by which pearls and
eyebrows are indelibly stained black,--the bladder in which musk is
brought,--the down of the lip, the mole on the cheek, the
eyelash,--lilies, roses, tulips and jasmines,--make the staple imagery
of Persian odes.

The Persians have epics and tales, but, for the most part, they affect
short poems and epigrams. Gnomic verses, rules of life conveyed in a
lively image, especially in an image addressed to the eye, and contained
in a single stanza, were always current in the East; and if the poem is
long, it is only a string of unconnected verses. They use an
inconsecutiveness quite alarming to Western logic, and the connection
between the stanzas of their longer odes is much like that between the
refrain of our old English ballads,

"The sun shines fair on Carlisle wall,"

or

"The rain it raineth every day,"

and the main story.

Take, as specimens of these gnomic verses, the following:--

"The secret that should not be blown
Not one of thy nation must know;
You may padlock the gate of a town,
But never the mouth of a foe."

Or this of Omar Chiam:--