This has been my favourite out of the myth collections so far, for several reasons. Firstly, Elizabeth D. Renninger recreates the tales of Ferdowski's 'Book of Kings' in an accessible and engaging manner. She retains many of the rhyming couplets throughout, woven into the prose to a give a taste of the original lyrical epic. Secondly, the source material itself is completely new to me, so stumbling into a whole new system of mythology is akin to unearthing a buried treasure trove. Thirdly, the stories are actually good - clever, lively, funny, tragic, they display a sophistication and imagination far surpassing what I expected to find here, and what was woefully lacking in the Egyptian texts. The world of Persian myth, here largely consigned to Ancient Iran, is a legendary past populated by great shahs, or kings, their proud warriors, larger than life heroes, the evil Deevs - a cat-headed race of magicians or demons, genii, dragons, and giant god birds called the Simurgh. Sadly, we do not hear anything of the twelve Persian gods, besides their king, Ormuzd.
The first two stories in the collection are my favourite, and introduce the reader to Zohak, a good prince corrupted by Iblis, the Evil One. After wormtonguing his way into the virtuous prince's confidence, Iblis convinces him to slay his father, so that he can take the throne. Once installed, Zohak is further corrupted, is introduced to the concept of eating meat (I love this for the root of evil) and after being kissed on both shoulders by Iblis, sprouts a pair of thick black snakes. Zohak screams and tries to have them cut off, only for them to grow back thicker and nastier than before, craving human brains. This unexpected slice of body horror transforms Zokak into the Serpent King, and forms a compelling villain origin story that cautions of the polluting of innocence and subsequent fall from grace. Most of the rest of the book is about the hero Rustem, a thoroughly unlikable chap based on modern values, but I'm guessing the ideal of Persian masculinity and virility. His exploits are numerous and suitably heroic, up until the tragic killing of his son and ignoble death at the hands of a treacherous brother. This book is heavily abridged, and sometimes refers to characters and events not covered.
No comments:
Post a Comment