nd One Nights by Galland (Paris, 1704-1712) and of the Persian
Tales by Petis de La Croix called into being a host of similar French
productions, which in turn found their way into German literature. The
most fruitful writer in this genre was Simon Gueulette, the author of
_Soirees Bretonnes_ (1712) and _Mille et un quart d'heures_ (1715). The
latter contains the story of a prince who is punished for his
presumption by having two snakes grow from his shoulders. To appease
them they are fed on fresh human brain.[75] Of course, we recognize at
once the story of the tyrant Zahhak familiar from Firdausi. The material
for the _Soirees_ was drawn largely from Armeno's _Peregrinaggio_, which
purports to be a translation from the Persian, although no original is
known to scholars.[76] From these _Soirees_ Voltaire took the material
for his _Zadig_.[77] In most cases, however, all that was Oriental about
such stories was the name and the costume. So popular was the Oriental
costume that Montesquieu used it for satirizing the Parisians in his
_Lettres Persanes_ (1721). Through French influence the Oriental story
came to Germany, and so we get such works as August Gottlob Meissner's
tales of _Nushirvan_, _Massoud_, _Giaffar_, _Sadi_ and others,[78] or
Klinger's _Derwisch_. Wieland used the Eastern costume in his _Schach
Lolo_ (1778) and in his politico-didactic romance of the wise
Danischmende. This fondness for an Oriental atmosphere continues even
into the nineteenth century and may be seen in such works as Tieck's
_Abdallah_ and Hauff's _Karawane_. But this brings us to the time when
India and Persia were to give up their secrets, and when the influence
of their literature begins to be a factor in the literature of Europe.

FOOTNOTES:

[49] See Kunstmann, Die Fahrt der ersten Deutschen nach dem
portugiesischen Indien in Hist. pol. Blaetter f. d. Kath. Deutschl.,
Muenchen, 1861, vol. 48, pp. 277-309.

[50] For title see Panzer, Annalen d. aelteren deutsch. Litt., Nuernb.
1788.

[51] See Graesse, op. cit. ii. 2. pp. 773, 774.

[52] Des Welt-beruehmten Adami Olearii colligirte und viel vermehrte
Reise-Beschreibungen etc., Hamb. 1696, chap. xxv.

[53] Ibid. chap. xxviii. p. 327 seq.

[54] Olearius, op. cit., Preface to the Rosenthal. Full title of
Ochsenbach's book in Buch der Beispiele, ed. Holland, p. 258, n. 1.

[55] Proverbiorum et Sententiarum Persicarum Centuria, Leyden, 1644. In
the preface the author says that he