, a
sign at which the servant usually brought him a fresh pipe, but
this time he demanded his thick-soled slippers. With one of these he
proceeded to so unmercifully belabor the wise man of Bagdad that the
latter besought mercy with the most appealing words and gestures. But
the chastiser was inexorable. "What?" said he. "I cannot sing, dost
thou say? Wait, I will make music for thee! And I cannot write,
either? Let it be, then, on thy head!" Whimpering and writhing beneath
the blows accompanying these words, the wise man of Bagdad staggered
toward the door and vanished from sight.

More calmly than might have been anticipated did Mirza-Schaffy return
from the contest of wisdom, and promptly taking his usual seat on the
divan, he began to exhort his German disciple to lend no ear to such
false teachers as Jussuf and his fellows, whose name, he said, was
legion, whose avarice was greater than their wisdom, and whose aim was
to plunder, not teach, their pupils.

Later, Jussuf strove to win Bodenstedt by repeated messages,
accompanied by songs in the most exquisite handwriting.
Mirza-Schaffy's opinion concerning these compositions is embodied in
quite a number of songs, of which space must be found for one:

Forsooth! is Mirza-Jussuf a very well-read man!
Now searcheth he Hafiz, now searcheth the Koran,
Now Dshamy and Chakany, and now the _Guelistan_.
Here stealeth he a symbol, and there doth steal a flower,
Here robbeth precious thoughts, and there a true word's power.
He giveth as his own what has been said before,
Transplanted! the whole world into his tedious lore;
And proudly decketh he his prey with borrowed plumes,
Then flauntingly that this is poetry assumes.

How differently lives and sings Mirza-Schaffy!
A glowing star his heart to lighten paths of gloom,
His mind a blooming garden, filled with sweet perfume,
And in his rich creations no plagiarist is he:
His songs are full of beauty, and perfect as can be.

Mirza-Schaffy himself was a miracle of skill in chirography: none
could equal him in wielding the _kalem_. His aim was not to impart a
precise regularity to the characters, but to indicate by the writing
the matter and style. Proverbs or utterances of wisdom were indited
by him in a firm, bold hand with unadorned simplicity; love-songs with
delicate, clear-cut lines, attractive capricious curves, enigmatical,
almost illegible minuteness, designed to set forth the type of fe