hat to Kalidasa's drama Schiller was
indebted for the motive of his "Alpenjaeger," but it cannot be said to
have been successful.[117]

* * * * *

Though there was no direct Oriental influence on Schiller's poetry,
there is one dramatic poem of his which indirectly goes back to a
Persian source. It is _Turandot_. The direct source for this composition
was Gozzi's play of the same name in the translation of August Clemens
Werthes, which Schiller, however, used with such freedom that his own
play may be regarded as an original production rather than a version.
The Italian poet based his _fiaba_ on the story of Prince Kalaf in the
Persian tales of Petis de La Croix.[118] Now, as has been pointed out
by scholars,[119] the name of the heroine, who gives the name to the
play, is genuinely Persian, _Turan-ducht_, "the daughter of Turan,"[120]
and although the scene is laid in China, most of the proper names, both
in Gozzi and Schiller, are not at all Chinese, but Persian or Arabic.
The oldest known model for the story is the fourth romance of Nidami's
_Haft Paikar_, the story of Bahramgur and the Russian princess, written
1197.[121] Whether Schiller was aware of the ultimate origin of the
legend or not, he certainly made no attempt to give Persian local color
to his piece, but on the contrary he studiously tried to impart to it a
Chinese atmosphere.[122] It is interesting nevertheless to notice that
when _Turandot_ was given at Hamburg (July 9 to Sept. 9, 1802) its real
provenence was recognized, and, accordingly Turandot was no longer the
princess of China, but that of Shiraz, her father being transformed into
the Shah of Persia and the doctors of the _divan_ into Oriental
Magi.[123] At Dresden the same thing happened, and here even Tartaglia
and Brigella, who had been allowed to retain their Italian names in
Hamburg, were made to assume the Oriental names of Babouk and Osmin. The
specifically Chinese riddles disappeared, and instead of Tien and Fohi,
Hormuz was now invoked.[124]

FOOTNOTES:

[116] A Letter dated from Weimar, Feb. 20, 1802. Briefwechsel zwischen
Schiller u. Goethe. Stuttg. (Cotta) s. A., vol. iv. p. 98.

[117] W. Sauer in Korrespondenzblatt f. d. Gelehrten u. Realschulen
Wuerttembergs, XL. pp. 297-304. Against this view Ernst Mueller in
Zeitschr. fuer vgl. Litteraturgesch., Neue Folge, viii. pp. 271-278.

[118] Les Mille et Un Jours, tr. Petis de La Croix, ed.
Loiseleur