[271] The Lost and Hostile Gospels, p. 83, by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, who has pointed out the gross anachronism of making the imaginary conflict take place in the presence of Queen Helena.
[272] This romance is ascribed by mere popular tradition, and on no solid authority, to the celebrated poet Mír Khusrau, who died in 1324, A.D. Authentic accounts of the poet make no mention of any such work, and it is probably to be assigned to a much later date. An incorrect copy of the Chehár Darvesh is described in Dr. Rieu’s Catalogue of the Persian MSS. in the British Museum, vol. ii, p. 762, Add. 8917. In the Bagh o Bahár (Garden and Spring), which is a modern Urdú amplification, by Mír Amman, not always in the best taste, the Story of the Second Darvesh is that of the Third in the Persian original.
[273] In another Persian version, translated by Jonathan Scott, in his Tales, Anecdotes, and Letters from the Arabic and Persian, p. 253, the prince happens to see the merchant’s wife in her litter, returning from the pilgrimage to Makka, and falls desperately in love with her. He afterwards makes the acquaintance of the merchant, who on learning the cause of his illness divorces his wife and makes her over to the prince. The rest of the story is much the same as the above, excepting that the prince does not put the merchant’s “luck” to trial but at once receives him heartily and restores to him his wife, whom he had adopted as his sister.
[274] The story is told in the first person, and the youth does not give his name, which is rather awkward in making an epitome of it.
[275] Iswara signifies Lord, Master, but is a designation by the Hindús for the particular deity, Bráhma, Vishnú, or Siva, whom they regard as the Supreme Being. In Southern India it is generally applied to Siva, also called Mahádeva.—Balfour.
[276] It is significant that the “maxims” of the beggars are identical in the Latin story, in Gower, and in the version from Western India. In Gower one beggar cries:
“Ha, Lord, wel may the man be riche
Whom that a king list for to riche”;
the other exclaims:
“But he is riche and wel bego