Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 29, 2025
The song referred to was one hurled, as it were, at the head of an offending mullah who had derided Mirza-Schaffy for his tenderness to wine, and reads as follows: All other poems introduced into the Thousand and One Days in the Orient are entirely of Bodenstedt's own composition, were designed to add flavor to the picture of an Eastern divan of wisdom, and were usually written while the impression was fresh of intercourse with the wise man of Gjaendsha.
Such being the case, Mirza-Schaffy had no heart to brave the humiliation of an examination. Shortly after, however, he was honored with a call to the new school at Gjaendsha, and Hafisa's father dying about the same time, all obstacles were removed to a union with the maiden of his choice.
He appeared to comprehend intuitively the cause of the guest's presence, for he cast on Jussuf, who had become suddenly stricken with modesty, a glance of withering contempt, and was about giving vent to his emotions when Bodenstedt interposed with the words, "Mirza-Schaffy, wise man of Gjaendsha, what have my ears heard? You undertake to instruct me, and you can neither write nor sing!
One day, when inspired by choice wine and soothed by the fragrant fumes of his tschibuq, Mirza-Schaffy was moved to tell of the love his heart had cherished love such as man had never before known. The object of his adoration was Zuleikha, daughter of Ibrahim, the chan of Gjaendsha.
The handsomest boy in Gjaendsha was appointed to hand to each singer a silver plate, wherewith to conceal from the eye of beauty the emotions depicted in his countenance while singing. Twenty singers stood in a circle and stepped forth one after the other, Mirza-Schaffy, as the youngest of the number, coming last.
In course of time other friends joined the circle, so that finally arose a formal divan, where the wise man of Gjaendsha discoursed less on personalities, dwelling chiefly on general effusions of wisdom, interspersed with many a song.
Among the numerous teachers recommended to him, he selected one called Mirza-Schaffy, "the wise man of Gjaendsha," being attracted to him partly because of his calm, dignified demeanor, partly because he possessed a sufficient knowledge of Russian, with which Bodenstedt was perfectly familiar, to render intercourse easy and agreeable.
In his excess of national modesty the wise man of Gjaendsha only styled himself the first wise man of the East, but since the children of the West dwelt under a dark cloud of unbelief, it resulted as a matter of course that he must be the wisest of all men. "I, Mirza-Schaffy," said he to his pupil, "am the first wise man of the East, consequently thou, as my disciple, art the second.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking