as having Persian material. The most important source is the
great historical work _Raudat us-safa_ of Mirch, portions of which
had been edited and translated before 1837 by scholars like de
Sacy,[164] Wilken,[165] Vullers[166] and others.[167]

Other sources to be mentioned are d'Herbelot's _Bibliotheque
Orientale_,[168] de Sacy's version of the _Tarich-i-Yamini_[169] and
Hammer's _Geschichte der schoenen Redekuenste Persiens_.

* * * * *

The first poem of the fourth book goes back to the legendary period of
Iran. Its hero is Gustasp, the patron and protector of Zoroaster.
Rueckert calls him Kischtasp. He does not give the story directly
according to Firdausi (tr. Mohl, iv. 224, 278-281) but makes his hero go
to Turan, whence he returns at the head of a hostile army. At the
boundary he is met, not by his brother Zarir, but simply by messengers
who offer him Iran's crown. This he accepts and thus becomes king and
protector of the realm he was about to assail.[170]

Most of the other poems in this book deal with legends of the Sassanian
dynasty. Thus "Schapurs Ball," p. 114 (_Mem._ pp. 282-285); "Die Woelfe
und Schakale Nuschirwans," p. 115 (_Mem._ p. 381); "Die abgestellte
Hungersnoth," p. 116 (_Mem._ pp. 345, 346); "Die Heerschau," p. 117
(_Mem._ p. 373). The two stories about Bahram Cubin, pp. 119-122, are
also in _Mem._ p. 395 and pp. 396, 397 respectively.[171] "Der Mann mit
einem Arme," p. 124, is in _Mem._ pp. 348, 349. In the last poem
"Yesdegerd," p. 126, Rueckert gives the story of the sad end of the last
Sassanian apparently according to different accounts, and not simply
according to Firdausi or Mirchvand.

The sixth book opens with the story of Muntasir, p. 198, (from d'Herb.
vol. iii. pp. 694, 695) and then we enter the period of the Saffarid
dynasty. Its founder Ya'qub is the subject of a poem, p. 207 (d'Herb.
iv. 459). "Zu streng und zu milde" and "Schutz und Undank," both p. 210,
tell of the fortunes of Prince Qabus (Wilken, _Sam._ p. 181 and pp.
79-81, 91, 198-200, n. 47). "Die aufgehobene Belagerung," p. 211, brings
us to the Buyids (d'Herb. ii. pp. 639, 640). The story of Saidah and
Mahmud, p. 212, is from Wilken's _Buj._ c. xii. pp. 87-90, but the order
of the events is changed. Then we come to the history of the Ghaznavid
dynasty, in connection with which the story of Alp Tagin is told in
"Lokman's Wort," p. 214, according to the account of Haidar in Wilk.
Gasnev