I was given a copy of Vis and Ramin by a good friend of mine – thankyou!
This is a wonderful book (written in the 11th century, almost certainly Parthian, and with tantalising parallels to the – later – Tristan and Iseult)
Seeing as so few people seem to read it (click here or here if you want to buy, buy, buy!), I thought I’d share some of my favourite bits with you.
The book starts:
I found an ancient tale that men recite To while away the watches of the nightOne of the things I like is how Gorgani doesnt make Vis a saccharine heroine. He explicitly asks readers not to blame his lovers.
Here’s a warts and all account of Vis, in a letter her nurse wrote to her mother:
I have brought her up with dignity She’s used to every kind of luxury … … But she’s so wilful now, I hardly know her, She doesn’t like the gorgeous robes I show her . Whatever lovely clothes I offer her, Be they brocade or silk or softest fur, There’s always something wrong. ‘But this is yellow, Its only suitable for some mean fellow; And this is blue, blue’s right for someone who Is in deep mourning, no one else wears blue. This parti-coloured robe is only fit For scribes; who else would even look at it? And this is white, the colour old crones wear’. Her pickiness will drive me to despair! When she wakes up from sleep her morning fad Is a silk gown made in Astarabad. Then around noon she’ll stubbornly declare That filmy Chinese silk is all she’ll wear; At night it has to be a rich brocade That’s double-sided and superbly made. She’s eighty friends to keep her company (Since less than eighty’s a catastrophe). And when they eat together all the dishes Must be of gold. since that’s what madam wishes. She’s fifty chambermaids who, come what may, Must be prepared to serve her night and day, All belted and all crowned, all stood before her And ready to do any service for her I can’t supply her needs now. I’m not fit For this job, and I wont put up with it!