The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1930-10-02
new VERSES OF /
omar TURN UP
Early Rubaiyat Has 1875
More Quatrains Than
Fitzgerald Translated.

Fitzgerald Translated.
Washington. = Another book of
verses to be read underneath the
bough with a loaf of bread and
thermos bottle of-well, lemonade
may be the product of the dis
covery in a Calcutta bookshop of an
early volume of Omar Khayyam's
Rubaiyat containing 1875 more.
quatrains than Fitzgerald trans
lated.
Only the volume in the Bodleian
library at Oxford is older than the
newly found illustrated manuscript
which, according to news from
india, bears the date 1905.
"Omar the Tentmaker, fast in his
grave on which the peach petals
blow at Nishpur, continues to be, de-
spite the gap of 900 years. Persia's
best ambassador to English-speak-
ing countries" says a bulletin OF
the National Geographic society.
"Yet he who sang:
I sometimes think that never blows
so red
The Rose as where some buried
Caesar bled;
Is little known as a poet in his own
country. Abu-'l.fat' h Omar, son or
Ibrahim the Tentmaker of Nishpur,
for such was his name, holds in
Persia some modest fame as q
mathematician, an ancient wise
man, who, about the time William
the Conqueror was conquering Eng
land, assisted in revising the Per-
sian calendar. But Omar. a poet
We have far better poets than he,
the Persians say. The western
world will never believe it.
Reasons for Persian Neglect.
"If Omar Khayyam is poet with
out honor in his own country there
are certain geographic reasons for
the neglect as we'll as for his ac-
eeptance by moderns. Persians
were in Omar's day and are to this
day dominated by Mohammedan
mysticism which Omar, who was as
much a doubter and a realist as
most Twentieth century scientists,
houted with verses.
Sonar Khayyam's verses ran
against the tide of opinion in Per-
STA of his day and still run against
| the tide. He was a hereto. So
Persia continues to think that Omar
as poet was a good mathemati-
clan.
much of the geography, the eli
mate. the flowers. the products and
customs of Persia can be found in
laid in Omars verses which have
become familiar to English readers.
His most famous quatrain:
A Book of Verses underneath the
! Bough,
A Jug of Wine, Loaf of Bread
and Thou Beside me singing
in the Wilderness
| oh, wilderness were Paradise enowi
supplies thumbnail picture OF
what passes for a picnic, and the
last word in holiday enjoyment
throughout Moslem North Africa,
the Near East and Persia-except-
ing the wine, which is still forbid
den.
"From TriDoli to Cairo. to Bag
| dad to Teheran and Tashkent, $500
miles, a bough and the shade il
gives are iuxuries in a land OF
eternal sun. Grass is even rarer
than trees: no such thing as an
American or English lawn exists
So when a holiday comes the peo-
nle leave the seclusion of their
| towns, wander down to the bank OF
a stream where there may be a few
trees and there star scattered on
the grass as Omar writes, they
rest and gossip.
Women Picnic in Cemeteries.
soften the greenest spots are the
cemeteries. To visit the graves
women of the harem are some
times permitted to go out once u
week, an opportunity they seldom
pass by. not so much to pay tribute
to the dead. as for an outing under
the trees. Graveyards are the ia
vorite picnic grounds of the Near
East.
"Omar sings of roses, tulips and
the hyacinths Of the garden; the
peach and the pear trees in bloom
The brushes of artists have added
some very definite ideas for us
about Persian gardens. Yet a trav.
eler to Persia reports that al
though he searched high and low
he has yet to find a Persian gar
den. On that dry plateau there
is no such thing as a garden in the
American or English sense.
"a garden to Persian is a grove
of trees kept alive by irrigation
bitches that receive precious water
from some creek fed by mountain
SHOWS.
persia is like a saucer. High
mountains rim the principal cities
hugging the mountains because OF
their dependence on the highlands
for water. The center is an up
land desert; the dead heart OF
Persia Crossing Persia requires
crossing the desert SO to a parchet
and sun-beaten traveller any bit OF
green he comes upon toward the
end of his journey seems a vision
of paradise, a garden of unpar