The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-09-05
DERVISH STORY TELLER.

beverage we became aware of a voice
crying in the desert below. That the
naib of the carayanSerai was venting
his spleen on his underlings was our
first guess at the strident din, and We
stuck fast to the conjecture until the
names of Zal, Rustum, Sohrab and
RukSh left room for no other thought
than that we were listening to a recita-
teller of the tragic fate of Sohrab, whom
his mighty father Rustum slew in ig-
norance. Now the reciter spoke in the
voice of the valiant son; now he thun-
BILE sire; but when he fell on a sudden
to neighing in the likeness of RukSh
the immortal war horse of the Persian
Hercules, there were two persons, but
only two, who burst out laughing-my
friend and I.
Leaping to our feet, we bestrode the
parapet of the roof and watched what
proved to be a picturesque scene of
Persian life and character. The COM
ing of the Dervish story teller to Agha
Bahia had attracted to the caravan
serai every soul in the neighborhood
save only the women folk The arched
inches, crowded with the elite, might
be described as the dress circle of the
rustic theater. There sat, in the most
conspicuous niche of all, the courtly
figure of the naib of the caravanSerai,
in whose kolah of black Iambskin glist-
ened the emblem Of the Lion and Sun.
Around him were grouped the grOOmS
and postboys in their yellow jenkins
and brinleSS felt hats. In the other
inches a couple of muleteers We're fin
gering their money bags meditatively;
and camel driver, brOnzed and wealth
full of stale bread in thin sheets, using
each hand in turn by way of a ramrod.
And out in the plain a row of peasants,
fresh from the fields, of a critical cast
of countenance and an economical turn
of mind, were leaning gracefully on
their tall spades in their long blue
smocks and baggy blue trousers.
Every eye was turned on the DerviSh
in the center, who addressed his thrill
ing story now to the men in the inches
and anon to the critics in the plain.
Save the blue turban on his head and
the green sash about his waist, he was
dressed all in flowing white to the gil
vahs on his feet. In a voice toned to
wiring pishkesh from an Armenian or
a Greek, the bearded Dervish rose to
the height of his argument when he fell
to reciting RuStun1S anguish of soul
what time that terrible man came to
recognize his only son by the seal in
guiSe of a griffin pricked en- Sohrab's
arm. The effect on the audience of this
hiStriOnic display was an eloquent COM
mentary on Persian character in the
raw. The naib of the caravanserai,
wrought to loosen the strings of his
purse relented slowly of his nOn-off1cial
generosity and gave the bag a shake
by way of a round of applause ere he
shed a sympathetic tear in tribute to
Sohrab's untimely death. A muleteer
scarcely less moved, putting his hand
into his money bag, drew out a copper
coin, turned it over slowly, eyed the
Dervish with moist eyes, then, restor-
ing the coin to its place of safety,
thrust the bag into his pocket. The
other muleteer followed suit. Then a
sigh of relief arose over the luminous
plain. Only the peasants remained
calm, greeting the narrative of Rus
tums despair with derisive cries of
A h -,
how many signs and tears in a Persian
would go to spell a copper shahi, my
friend and threw the Dervish a couple
of humans in silver coins. He did not
pick up the money at once. He rather
stayed to relate how Rustum, having
mOurned his sons death, laid him in
the fruitful earth and "heaped a stately
mound above his bones, and planted
over all a far-Seen pillar"
Then STOPPING to the silver coins in
the dust, he rose again in his wrath
and fell on those PersianS with the
whips of a righteous indignation that
they should learn a lessons in generos-
ity from the unclean Feringhis, whose
fathers had been burned in the lowest
he'll. The men in the inches, scattering
like chaff in the breath of the wind,
came back laden with sheets of bread,
which they laid at the feet of the Der
wish But the peasants murnured and
said: DO we SOW the seed that thou
shouldst reap the grain?" And the
fering asked for more. Bread is good, -
he said, but what is bread without
eggs, and what are eggs without tea ?''
When these things had been brought to
him he opened his mouth and said:
Here, indeed, is food for one person,
but would We that a father should eat
his fill while his son went hungry to
bed? What We have given to me give
We in like measure to my son, who is
even now in the caravanserai, and then
he shall sing to you in voice so sweet
and so alluring that the very nightin-
gales will come and settle on his head -
And the men in the inches obeyed; after
which the son. mere STRIPPING. came
out and sang his plaintive song in a
voice so shriI and so strident that the
very birds of the air sought refuge in
flight. Then night fell slowly over the
solemn waste, and the Persians, turn
ing their backs on the sun whom their
ancestors had worshipped, fell on their
knees in prayer and bowed their fore
heads to the dust