#46 Sat (8/6/22) - The Nightmare of Zahhak from the Shahnama (Book of Kings)

This one has been hiding in plain sight for years!  The cover of Seven Nights is credited as "a detail from a Persian miniature, "The Nightmare of Zahhak." (Metropolitan Museum of Art)." The lectures contained within include one on Nightmares, in which there is no mention of Zahhak. Nor is it included in Book of Dreams (Libro de sueños).  Seems like a tantalizing and inexplicable oversight.  The copy I have is the Eleventh Printing, copyrighted as 1984, two years before his demise.  Did he select this cover, or did someone at New Directions choose it without his input.  Given his love of Persian poetry and myth, I seems fitting, and yet incredible, that he should have never spoken of it.  None of his poems mention Zahhak either.

{Addendum 8/8/22}: Aha, of course he knew! From the entry for The Simurgh in The Book of Imaginary Beings:

Firdausi in the Book of Kings, which compiles and sets to verse ancient Iranian legends, makes the bird the foster father of Zal, father of the poem’s hero....

 

 

The cover of Seven Nights, by Jorge Luis Borges is credited to "The Nightmare of Zahhak" The Met.

Folio 29v from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp ca. 1524 (the artist, not the author).

The evil king Zahhak faints when his wise men reveal the meaning of his nightmare: that one Faridun, as yet unborn, will justly bring about his downfall and death. 

ABOLQASEM FERDOWSI was born in Khorasan in a village near Tus, in 940 CE. His great epic the Shahnameh, to which he devoted most of his adult life, was originally composed for the Samanid princes of Khorasan, who were the chief instigators of the revival of Persian cultural traditions after the Arab conquest. During Ferdowsi’s lifetime, the Samanid dynasty was conquered by the Ghaznavid
Turks. Legend has it that Ferdowsi's lifework was not appreciated by King Mahmud of Ghazneh. He is said to have died around 1020 in poverty and embittered by royal neglect, though confident of his
poem’s ultimate fame.
 

There is a 2006 Penguin Classic edition translated by Dick Davis.

The story by Ferdowsi illustrated by Tahmasp and reproduced on the cover of Seven Nights is mirrored below:

Zahhak Sees Feraydun in a Dream 

See what God did to Zahhak, when he still had forty years to live. Late one
night he was sleeping with Arnavaz when he dreamed that three warriors
suddenly appeared from an imperial palace. The youngest of the three was
as tall as a cypress tree, the royal farr radiated from him, and he strode
forward between the other two like a prince, ready for battle and bearing an
ox-headed mace. He attacked Zahhak and smote him on the head with his
ox-headed mace. The young man flayed him from head to foot, tied his
hands behind his back, and set a yoke on his shoulders, then he dragged him
to Mount Damavand with a group of onlookers following. Zahhak writhed
in his sleep, and felt that his liver would split with terror; he cried out, and
his pillared chamber shook with the noise. His beautiful serving girls sprang
up at their master’s scream, and Arnavaz said to him, “Tell me, my lord,
what is troubling you; you are sleeping safely in your own house, it must be
something in your soul that has terrified you. The seven climes are yours to
rule, and animals, men, and demons watch over your safety.”

 
The king said to his womenfolk, “You will not be able to conceal what I
tell you, and when you hear this wonder you will despair of my life.”
Arnavaz replied, “You should tell us your secret; we might be able to
suggest some remedy, since no calamity is without a remedy.” The king
described his dream, and Arnavaz said, “You should not neglect this. But
your throne rules the world, which shines with your splendor, and all its
animals, men, demons, birds, and fairies pay homage to your seal ring.
Summon astrologers and magicians from every province; tell them what
you have seen, seek out the truth of the matter, see in whose hands your life
lies, and whether it is a man, a demon, or a fairy that threatens you. When
you know this, that will be the time to make plans; don’t tremble in fear at
your enemies’ malevolence.” The king liked the advice of this woman,
whose body was as elegant as a cypress tree, and whose face was as lovely
as the stars.

 
The world was black like a raven’s wing, when suddenly light appeared
above the mountains; it was as if the sun were scattering topazes in a purple
sky. The king summoned eloquent and learned sages from every quarter and
told them of his heart-wrenching dream.

 
He said, 

“Is it good or ill these signs portend?
When will my earthly life come to an end?
Who will come after me? Say who will own

 This royal diadem, and belt, and throne.
Reveal this mystery, and do not lie—
Tell me this secret or prepare to die.”

 

The sages’ lips were dry, and their cheeks wet with tears. They said to one
another, “If we tell him what will happen, our souls will be worthless, and if
he doesn’t hear from us, we must wash our hands of life here and now.”
 

Three days went by, and no one dared speak to Zahhak; on the fourth he
said, “Either be strung up on a gibbet alive or tell me my fate.” All the
sages bowed their heads, and their hearts were filled with terror, their eyes
with tears. One of them, a wise and prudent man named Zirak, stepped
forward. Anxiety seized his heart, but he spoke out fearlessly before
Zahhak: “Rid your mind of vain thoughts, since no man is born from his
mother but for death. Many worthy kings have sat on the throne before you
and experienced great sorrow and great joy; each of them died and left the
world in another’s hands. Surround yourself with iron walls reaching to the
sky, but you cannot remain here, another man will occupy your throne, and
your good fortune will lie in the dust. This celestial ruler’s name will be
Feraydun; he is not born yet, his mother’s time of anxiety and sighs is still
to come. But when he is born he will be like a fruitful tree; when he grows
to be a man he will lift his head up to the moon, and seek the crown and
throne and royal belt. He will be cypress-tall, and on his shoulders he will
carry an iron ox-headed mace, which he will bring down on your head; then
he will bind you and drag you from your palace into the streets.”
 

Zahhak asked, “Why should he bind me? What will make him hate me?”
The sage replied, “If you are wise, you will know that a man does not do
evil for no reason. His father will die at your hands, and this will fill him
with the desire for vengeance. A cow called Barmayeh will be his wet
nurse, and this too will be destroyed by you, and be an added cause of his
hatred.”
 

Zahhak heard him out, then fell from the throne in a faint, and the sage,
fearing for his life, fled from the royal presence. When Zahhak regained
consciousness he sat on his throne again and gave orders that the world be
scoured for signs of Feraydun. He knew no rest, and could neither eat nor
sleep; the brightness of his days had darkened.