Page:Fairy Tales Their Origin and Meaning.djvu/124

112 all tongues, and who knows everything that has happened, or that will happen. The Simūrg told him to fight for the Peris. Then the Simūrg gave him three feathers from her own breast, and also the magic shield of Jân-ibn-Jân, the Suleiman or King of the Jinns, and then she carried him on her back into the country of Jinnestân, where he fought with and conquered the king of the Dīvs. The account of this battle is given at great length in the Persian romance poems. Then Tamuras conquered another Dīv, named Demrush, who lived in a gloomy cavern, where he kept in prison the Peri Merjan, or the Pearl, a beautiful fairy, whom Tamuras set free. Rustem, however, is the great hero of Persian romance, and the greatest defender of the Peris. His adventures, as told by the Persian poets, would make a very large book, so that we cannot attempt to describe them. But there are two stories of him which may be told. One night, while he lay sleeping under a rock, a Dīv, named Asdiv, took the form of a dragon, and came upon him suddenly. Rustem's horse, Reksh, who had magic powers, knew the Dīv in this disguise, and awakened his master twice, at which Rustem was angry, and tried to kill the