is also a Persian proverb and is absolutely unintelligible, unless one happens to know that the Persian word for “ostrich” is [Arabic], literally “camel-bird.”

Again, to cite from other Stufen, Firdausi’s lines, already used by Goethe in his Divan (see p. 25 above), furnish the text for a moral poem, p. 487 (18).  The Persian notion of the peacock being ashamed of his ugly feet (cf. Gul. ii. 8, qit’ah) is put to a similar use on p. 463 (162).  Some poems are moralizingly descriptive of Indic customs, e.g., p. 157 (11), where reverence for the guru or “teacher” is inculcated (cf. Manu ii, 71, 228) and pp. 10, 11 (18, 19), where the conditions are set forth under which the Vedas may be read (cf. Manu iv. 101-126, or Yajn. i. 142-151).  A comparison is instituted between the famous court of Vikramaditya and his seven gems, of which Kalidasa was one, and that of Karl August of Weimar and his poetic circle, p. 148 (39).

Trivial and empty rhyming is of course abundant in such an uncritical mass of verse, and we also meet with insipid puns, like that on the Arabic word din, “religion,” and the German word dienen, p. 498 (48).

These examples, we believe, will suffice for our purpose.  With the philosophical part of the Weisheit we are not here concerned.

* * * * *

A great many Oriental poems are scattered throughout the collection which bears the title of Pantheon (vol. vii.).  We may mention “Die gefallenen Engel,” p. 286, the legend of Harut and Marut, “Wischnu auf der Schlange,” p. 286, “Die nackten Weisen,” p. 287, and others.  Some poems in this collection are in spirit akin to the Oestliche Rosen, e.g.  “Becher und Wein,” p. 291, “Der Traum,” p. 283, and the “Vierzeilen,” pp. 481, 482.  Besides this, the gazal-form occurs repeatedly, e.g.  “Fruehlingshymne,” p. 273.  So fond does Rueckert seem to have been of this form, that he employs it even for a poem on such an unoriental subject as Easter, p. 189 (2).

This collection is furthermore of interest from the biographical side, as often giving us Rueckert’s opinions.  Thus we find evidence that he was by no means onesidedly prejudiced in favor of things Oriental.  Referring to the myth of fifty-three million Apsarases having sprung from the sea,[190] he states (p. 24), that if he were to be the judge, these fifty-three million nymphs bedecked with jewels would have to bow before the one Aphrodite in her naked glory.  And again in “Rueckkehr,” p. 51, the poet confesses that having wandered to the East to forget his misery and finding thorns in the rose-gardens of Persia, and demons, misshapen gods and monkeys acting the parts of heroes in India, he is glad to return to the Iliad and Odyssey (cf. also “Zu den oestlichen Rosen,” p. 153).

Rueckert was evidently aware of his tendency to overproduction.  He offers an explanation in “Spruchartiges,” p. 157: