Tradition narrates that Firdausi was a sep tuagenarian when he finished the last line 'of the 60,000 rhyming couplets that make up the 'Shah Namah.' He now looked for the reward of his life's work. But jealousy and intrigue against him had not been idle during his long residence at court. The grand vizier appears to have induced the sultan to send Firdausi 60,000 silver dirhems, instead of the promised' gold. Firdausi is said to have been in the bath when the elephant laden with the money-bags arrived. • On discovering the 'deception, the in jured poet rejected the gift with scorn, and dividing the silver into three portions, he pre sented one of these to the bath steward, the second to the elephant-driver and he gave the lait to the man who brought him a glass of cordial. He thee wrote the famous satire upon Maluniid, and fled from the city for' his life. For'10 years the aged singer was an exile, and he would have been a wanderer but for the friendly protection extended to him by a prince of Iraq, who apparently also tried, without ef fect, to reconcile the sultan and the aged poet. Enjoying the solace of this prince's shelter, Firdausi composed his last work, the 'Yusut and Zulikha,) a romantic poem nearly as long as the Iliad, on Joseph and the passionate love of Potiphar's wife for him as related in the Koran.
But Firdausi was now•advanced to his 80th year, and he seems to have longed to visit his native town of Tits once more. A sad awry is preserved of 'his death of .a broken heart. It is also told that Mahmad relented and sent to the city of Tas a magnificent caravan conveying gifts• and robes for the aged singer, and bearing likewise the 60,000 gold pieces that had once. been promised. But all too late. The treasure laden camel procession met at the city gate the funeral cortege that was conducting the dead poet's body to the grave. Firdausi's death curred in 102Q His tomb at Tin is still a place of pious pilgrimage.
The story of the 'Shah Namah,'— Book of Kings,- may be described in briefest words the chronicle»history of the empire of Iran, from the moment of its rise in legendary antiq uity and during the golden reign of Kaair Jamshid, through its glorious ascendency under the majesty of the Kayanian rulers, and down to the days of Zoroaster; thence onward to invasion of Persia by Alexander the Great, The poem from this point follows. the various fortunes and changes of the Persian sover eignty, until its downfall and ruin before the. Mohammedans and Islam. Firdausi naturally treats his subject as a poetic chronicler, as a historian; but there is history in the poem, and he has given a certain unity to his long epic by keeping. sight of the aim that he 'had in view, which was to exalt the fallen gloryof Iran. The epic is written in a style befitting the theme.
Up to the beginning"of the 19th century the poem existed only in manuscript form. At the
expense of the French government it was then published with a French translation in a very elaborate folio edition by J. Mohl (6 vols., Paris 1831-68). A separate, less expensive edi tion of this French translation was published in seven .volumes (Paris 1876-78) under the title 'Le. Livre des Rois:' Other editions of the original are by T: Macau (4 vols., Calcutta 1829) and by J. A. Vullers and S. Landauer (unfinished in 3 'Vols:, Leyden 1877-84).
merous translations • are ' also in existende. There is an Eaglish abridgment with versions in prose and in rhyme by James Atkinson, 'Shah Namah) (1832; cheaply reprinted in the (Chandos Series,' New York 1886). Several' versified; selections ate.' Mend • Robinson, 'Persian :;Poetry .for :Englisa ReaAers! vately --printedto Glasgow. -.48fi3a Tartly-.
rhymed and partly unrhymed translation has been published by A. G. and E. Warner (6 vols., London 1905-12). A partial translation was made by A. Rogers (London 1907). Matthew Arnold used one of the episodes of the epic for his famous poem 'Sohrab and Rustum' (1853). An Italian prose rendering, the only entirely complete translation, has been made by halo Pizzi (Firdusi, Il Libro dei Rei) (8 vols., Turin 1886-89) ; and Pizzi has given ex tensive metrical renderings in his 'Storia della Poesia Persiana) (Turin 1894). In German there is a running paraphrase of the story by Gorres, von Iran' (2 vols., Berlin 1820). Spirited renderings of selections have also' appeared in German; by A. F. von Schack, 'Heldensagen des Firdusi' (3 vols., Stuttgart 1877) ; and -by Riickert (unfinished), 'Firdosi's Konigsbuch Schahname' (ed. Bayer, 3 vols., Berlin 1890-95). Of the 'Yusuf and Zulflcha) there is a complete German translation into rhymed verse by O. Schlechta-Wssehrd, 'Jussuf and Suleicha' (Vienna 1889). A critical edi tion of this poem has been published by H. Ethe (Oxford 1908). The latter also pub lished some fragments of Firdausi's lyric poems with German translations (in KgI. Bayer. Mead. der Wissenschaften, Sitzungiberichte der Philosophisch-Philologischen und Historischen Clause, Vol. II, p. 275, Munich 1872). Con sult Browne, E. G., 'A Literary History of Persia) C2 vols., London 1902-06) ; Ethe, H., 'Neupersische Litteratur' (in 'Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie,' Vol. II, p. 130, Strass burg 1896-1904) ; Guerber, H. A., 'Book of the Epic) (Philadelphia 1913); Horn, P. 'Cie schiehte der Persischen Litteratur' (Leipzig 1901) ; Noldeke, T., 'Das Iranische National epos' (in 'Grundriss der Iranischen Philolo gie,> Vol. II, p. 212, Strassburg 1896-1904) ; Pickering, C. J., 'Lyrical Poetry of Firdausi' (in National Review, Vol. XIV, p. 798, London 1889-90) ; Robinson, S., 'Sketch of the Life and Writings of Ferdusi) (London 1876).