idged version
of selected passages from the introductory chapters of Nidami's work
(_Isk._ tr. Clarke, canto ii, p. 18 seq. and canto vii, p. 53 seq.). In
"Kiess der Reue," p. 421, he paraphrases the episode of Alexander's
search for the fountain of life from the _Shah Namah_ (tr. Mohl, v. pp.
177, 178). The story of Bahramgur in the same work (tr. Mohl, v, pp.
488-492) appears in "Allwo nicht Zugethan," p. 397. It is not taken from
Firdausi, for it relates the story somewhat differently, and introduces
a love-episode of which the epic knows nothing.[182] Again, "Der in die
Stadt verschlagene Kurde," p. 229, is an anecdote which Rueckert had
already translated in the _Haft Qulzum_ (see his _Poet. u. Rhet. der
Perser_, pp. 72-74), while "Gluecksgueter," p. 233, may have been
suggested by a story of Attar which he published afterwards (1860, ZDMG.
vol. 14, p. 286). Some anecdotes of Persian princes or poets are also
utilized, e.g. "Das Kuechenfeldgeraethe des Fuersten Amer," p. 226 (d'Herb.
iv. 459; Malcolm i. p. 155), "Der Spiegel des Koenigs," p. 223
(Deguignes, ii. 171), and the story of Jami and the mulla, p. 224 (M.
Kuka, _The Wit and Humour of the Persians_, Bombay, 1894, pp. 165, 166).
In one poem, "Ormuzd und Ahriman," p. 344, an Avestan subject is
treated, the later Parsi doctrine of _zrvan akarana_.[183]

* * * * *

The great majority of the poems in this collection are concerned with
India, its literature, mythology, religious customs, geography and
history, and it will be convenient for our purpose to discuss them under
these heads.

In the first group, that which takes its material from Sanskrit
literature, we meet with the story of the flood, p. 298, from the
_Mahabharata_ (Vana Parva, 187) and the story of Rama's exploits and
Sita's love, p. 268, from the _Ramayana_. Also a number of fables from
the _Hitopadesa_ or _Pancatantra_ occur, e.g. that of the greedy jackal,
p. 249, familiar from Lafontaine (_Hit._ i. 6; _Panc._ ii. 3), and that
of the lion, the mouse and the cat, p. 250 (_Hit._ ii. 3). The story of
the ungrateful man and the grateful animals, p. 252, is found in the
_Kathasaritsagara_ (tr. Tawney, ii. pp. 103-108; cf. Pali version in
_Rasavahini_, Wollheim, _Die National-Lit. saemtlicher Voelker des
Orients_, Berl. 1873, vol. i. p. 370). "Katerstolz und Fuchses Rath," p.
243, has for its prototype the fable of the mouse changed into a girl in
_Pancatantra_ (iv. 9;