Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-10-09
THE DERvIsH sTORY-TEALER.
Mingled Emotions in a Caravansera1
at the Tale of Rustum.

Mingled Emotions in CaraYansera1
at the Tale of Rustum.
While we were drinking the steam
ing beverage we became aware of
voice crying in the desert below.
That the naib of the caravanserai 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 recitation by some wan
dering dervish story teller of the
tragic fate of Sohrab, whom his
mighty father Rustum slew in igno-
rance. Now the reciter spoke in the
voice of the valiant son; now he
Numbered in the terrific tones Of the
terrible sire, but when he fell on
sudden to neighing in the likeness of
Ruksh, the immortal war horse of the
Persian Hercules, there we're two per-
sons, 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
laCnbskin glistened the emblem of the
Lion and the Sun. Around him were
grouped the grooms and postboys in
their yellow jenkins and brimless felt
hats. In the other inches a couple Of
muleteers were lingering their money
bags meditatively, and camel driver,
brnzed and weather beaten, was cram
ming his mouth 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 adj
dressed his thrilling story now to the
men in the inches and anon to the
critics in the plain.
Save the blue turban on his head
oh h Ic ict ho
was dressed all in flowing white to the
givahs on his feet. In a voice toned
to wiring pishkesh from an Armenian
or Greek the bearded dervish rose to
the height of his argument when he
fell to reciting Rustum's anguish of
soul at the time that terrible man came
to recognize his only son by the seal
in guise of a griffin pricked on Sohrabs
arm. The effect on the audience of
this histrionic display was an eloquent
commentary on Persian character in
the raw. The naib of the caravan
serai, wrought to loosen the strings Of
his purse, relented slowly of his nom
official generosity and gave the bag a
shake by way of a. round of applause
ere he shed a sympathetic tear in trib-
ute to Sohrab's untmely death. A
muleteer, scarce less moved, putting
his hand into his money-bag, drew out
copper coin, turned it over slowly,
eyed the dervish with moist eyes, then,
restoring the coin to It's 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
tum's despair with derisive cries Of
"Ajab!" (wonderfuD. Pondering as to
how many signs and tears in a Persian
would go to spell copper shahi, my
friend and I 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 incurred his sons death, laid
him in the fruitful earth and "heaped
stately mound above his bones, and
planted over all 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 lesson in gen
crosby from the unclean Feringhis,
whose fathers had been buried in the
lowest hell. The men in the niches
scattering like chaff in the breath Of
the wind, came back laden with sheets
Of bread, which they laid at the feet
of the dervish. But the peasants MUIR
INJURED and said: 'Do we SOW the seed
that thou shouldst reap the grain?"
And the dervish, not whit appeased
by the offering, asked for more. BREAD
is good" he said, 'Fbut what is bread
without eggs, and what are eggs with
out 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
father should eat his fill while his
son went hungry to bed? What We
have given to me give We in like meas
ure to my son, who is even now in the