Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/376

 216 OVER THE ANCIENT BATTLE-GROUND

therefore, an interest for everyone who is interested in Zoro-

astrianism; and as I looked at the ruins, I thought of Tom

Moore's well-known lines on the fortunes of the faith of ancient

Iran : —


 * Her towers, where Mithra once had burn'd.'

The scene before us was full of impressiveness, and I could imagine the white-robed Magians standing on the summit to chant their hymns of praise to the rising sun, which by this time had ascended high in the heavens and was warning us to return and resume our journey.

On reaching the village of Mihr again, with its shady trees and busy stream, I could not help thinking how the lazy ease of the peasants loitering around must have contrasted with the activity and zeal of the laborers in Zoroaster's day, who helped to make famous the Fire of Burzin Mihr, which was certainly in this region, if not precisely here, and which was especially consecrated to their work.^ Still, these simple people who were gathered around us had time to talk with us about the territory where their humdrum life was passed, and to tell us tales of the hills. There was, of course, a story of a Demon's House (Khanah-i Div) hidden somewhere back in the moun- tains ; and those who were best informed on local topography spoke of 'Gabr' ruins in the region round about, using the term commonly employed to designate the old Zoroastrians as unbelievers. Only one of the company, however, a priest, seemed to have any idea of what was conveyed by the name of Zoroaster (in Persian, Zardusht), and he vaguely associated the name in some way with Minuchihr in Firdausi's Shah Ndmah^ though he frankly confessed that he did not know whether Zar- dusht was a king or what. On the other hand, as might be expected from their residing in a region where so many of the scenes were laid, several knew in a general way about Zal and Rustam, the legendary heroes in the Shah Namah, though none could recite verses from the famous epic. 1 See my Zoroaster, p. 99.

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