What the Rose did to the Cypress is a Persian

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

. Andrew Lang included it in ''

The Brown Fairy Book ''The Langs' Fairy Books'' are a series of 25 collections of true and fictional stories for children published between 1889 and 1913 by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne. The best known books of the series are the 12 collections ...

'' (1904), with the note "Translated from two Persian MSS. in the possession of the British Museum and the India Office, and adapted, with some reservations, by Annette S. Beveridge."

Alternate names

The story is also named ''Rose and Cypress'', ''Gul o Sanaubar'', ''Qissa Gul-o-Sanaubar'' or ''What the Rose did to the Pine''. The tale is described as having "

Hindustan ''Hindūstān'' ( , from '' Hindū'' and ''-stān''), also sometimes spelt as Hindōstān ( ''Indo-land''), along with its shortened form ''Hind'' (), is the Persian-language name for the Indian subcontinent that later became commonly used by ...

i" origin and was previously translated to French by

Garcin de Tassy Garcin may refer to: ; People with the surname * Éric Garcin (born 1965), French football player and coach * Estève Garcin (1784–1859), Occitan language writer * Federico Garcín (born 1973), Uruguayan basketball player * Gilles Garcin (164 ...

, titled ''Rose & Cyprès''. A German translation of the tale, named ''Rose und Cypresse'', was written by

Felix Liebrecht Felix Liebrecht (13 March 1812 – 3 August 1890) was a German folklorist. Biography Liebrecht was born in Namslau, Prussian Silesia. He studied philology at the universities of Breslau, Munich, and Berlin, and in 1851 became professor of ...

and published in ''Orient und Occident.''

Synopsis

A king had

three sons ''Three Sons'' is a 1939 American drama film directed by Jack Hively using a screenplay by John Twist, based on the novel, ''Sweepings'' by Lester Cohen. Produced and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, and released on October 13, 1939, it is a re ...

. The oldest went hunting and chased a deer, giving orders that it should be captured rather than killed. It led him to a sandy waste where his horse died. He found a tree with a spring beneath it and drank. A faqir asked him what he did there. He told him his story and asked the faqir's, repeating when the faqir put him off, until the faqir told him he had been a king, and his seven sons had all tried to win a princess whose hand could only be won by answering the riddle, "What did the rose do to the cypress?" and died for their failure. His grief sent him into the desert. This inspired the son with a love for the same princess. His attendants found him and brought him back, but he grew ill for love, and his confidants found this out and revealed it to the king. The king made arrangements for him to go. At the city, the princess's father tried to dissuade him. He was asked, failed, and was executed. His second brother followed and likewise died. Finally the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

went, but having reached the city, he saw his brothers' heads and went to a nearby village, where he took shelter with an ancient, childless couple. Disguising himself, he searched the city for the secret, and found he could get into the princess's garden by a stream. There he hid, but when the princess sent her maids for water, they saw his reflection and were terrified. The princess had her nurse bring him to her. He answered her questions at random, convincing her that he was mad, but his beauty made her protect him as her own. Dil-aram, who had seen him first, grew fond of him and begged him to tell her what he was about; finally, he was convinced she was in love with him, told her his story, and promised to marry her and keep her among his favorites. She could not answer the riddle, but knew that a certain African from Waq of the Caucasus had told the princess it. The prince set out to Waq of the Caucasus. An old man advised him on how to arrive there, despite the

jinn Jinn ( ar, , ') – also Romanization of Arabic, romanized as djinn or Anglicization, anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are Invisibility, invisible creatures in early Arabian mytho ...

s, demons, and

peri In Persian mythology, peris (singular: peri; from fa, پَری, translit=parī, , plural , ; borrowed in European languages through ota, پَری, translit=peri) are exquisite, winged spirits renowned for their beauty. Peris were later ado ...

s. He should take this road until it split, then take the middle road for a day and a night, where he would find a pillar. He should do what was written on the pillar. He found a warning where the roads split, against the middle road, but took it and came to a garden. He had to pass a giant man to reach it, and a woman there tried to persuade him from his way. When she failed, she enchanted him into a

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

. As a deer, he came to lead a band of deer. He tried to jump from the enchanted garden but found that it would bring him back where he had jumped from. The ninth time, however, the other deer vanished. A beautiful woman there took him as a pet. He wept, and the woman realized he had been enchanted by her sister. She turned him back, gave him a bow and arrows, a sword, and a dagger, that had all belonged to heroes, and told him that he must seek out the home of the Simurgh, but she could not direct him to it. He obeyed her directions about the Place of Gifts, where wild animals lived, and a lion-king gave him some hairs, saying he must burn them for aid. He disobeyed her directions to avoid the castle of clashing swords, because whatever was fated to happen to him would happen, and fought the people there. With the lion's aid, he defeated them, rescuing a princess, and gave it all into the lion's care until he was done with his quest. He found the Simurgh's nest, where only the young ones were, and killed a

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

there; then he fed the hungry young birds on it, and they slept, being full. When their parents returned, the lack of noise convinced them that the prince had killed and eaten their young, but the mother bird insisted on checking to discover the truth, and the young ones woke. The Simurgh carried him to Waq, and gave him three feathers, any of which would summon him. At Waq, he learned that only the king knew the riddle and went to court. He gave the king a diamond and said it was his last treasure. The king wished to please him, but the prince wanted only the answer to the riddle. When he asked, the king said he would have killed anyone else, but when the king went on asking what the prince wanted, the prince refused to ask for anything. Finally, the king told him that he could have what he wanted, if he consented to die afterward. He was the cypress, and his wife, whom he had brought before them in chains and rags, was the rose. He had once rescued

s and restored their sight, and in return, they had arranged for his marriage to a peri princess. She had betrayed him, riding off every night to a man who beat her. The king had killed him and his fellows, except the one who escaped to tell the princess with the riddle. He then told the prince to prepare for execution. The prince asked only for a final washing, but when washing, he summoned the Simurgh, and it carried him off. He returned. On the way, he married the princess from the castle of clashing swords, and the woman who had disenchanted him. At the city, he demanded the African whom the princess hid beneath her throne to confirm the truth of his words. He told the story, and the king having found the African, he confirmed it. Instead of marrying the princess, he took her captive, had the head decently buried, and sent for Dil-aram. At home, the prince had the African torn apart between four horses. The princess begged for mercy; those who had died had been fated to die, and it was her fate to be his. He forgave her, married her and Dil-aram, and lived happily with his four wives.

Variants

Orientalist Garcin de Tassy himself noted, in an 1868 publication, that he knew at least six translations of the story: one from a man named "Nem Chand" or "Prem Chand", which he translated in 1860, in ''Revue orientale et américaine''; another supposedly translated from

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

; at least two versions penned by escrivener Ahmad Ali. Scholars point that the Persian tale is parallel to the story ''The Splendid Tale of Prince Diamond'', and ''The Tender Tale of Prince Yasamîn and Princess Almond'', both present in '' The Arabian Nights''. A variant from the Caucasus region was collected by Adolf Dirr, titled ''Von Balai und von Boti''. In a Georgian variant, ''Gulambara and Sulambara'', after a prince is banished by his father and meets a mysterious yet helpful boy in his wanderings, both reach a city. One day, the prince goes out and sees a tower with a row of spiked heads nearby. The prince asks the meaning of a gruesome sight: the princess asks any potential suitor a riddle, "Who are Gulambara and Sulambara?". The prince knows Gulambara and Sulambara are names of flowers, but he is given a chance to answer correctly.

Analysis

The tale of a princess who challenges her suitors with deadly riddles is similar to the story of '' Turandot''. As such, it belongs in a series of folktales involving riddles. The heroic prince helping the mythical creature and it repaying the favour is a motif that echoes the Roman

fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular mo ...

of Androcles and the Lion. Angelo de Gubernatis analysed the motif of the rose and the cypress of the story, postulating that the cypress is a phallic symbol or representative of the male prince, and the rose the symbol of the female beloved.Gubernatis, Angelo de. ''La mythologie des plantes; ou, Les légendes du règne végétal''. Tome Second. Paris, C. Reinwald. 1878. pp. 115-121 and 317-319.

Adaptations

A number of films have been made in India based on the fable. These include: ''Gul Sanobar'' (1928) silent film by

Homi Master Homi Master (?–1949) was an actor-director of early Indian cinema. His work extended from the silent era to the talkie era and up to his death. He produced his best films for Kohinoor Film Company and he has been referred to as "silent cinema's ...

, ''Gul Sanobar'' (1934) remade in sound by Homi Master, ''Gul Sanobar'' (1953) by Aspi Irani. ''

Gul Sanobar ''Gul Sanobar'' is an Indian fantasy adventure television series created by Dhirubhai Gohil which aired on DD national from 1999 to 2000. It is based on the Persian legend of ''Gul o Sanaubar'' and the ''Arabian Nights''. Cast * Asif Sheikh a ...

'', an Indian television series based on the legend was aired by the national public broadcaster

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...

DD National DD National (formerly DD1) is a state-owned public entertainment television channel in India. It is the flagship channel of Doordarshan, India's public service broadcaster, and the oldest and most widely available terrestrial television channel ...

in the early 2000s.

References

Bibliography

* Goldberg, Christine. ''Turandot's Sisters: A Study of the Folktale AT 851''. Garland Folklore Library, 7. New York and London: Routledge 2019. ew York: Garland, 1993 * Krappe, A. Haggerty. "Arthur and Gorlagon." Speculum 8, no. 2 (1933): 209-22. doi:10.2307/2846751. * Lecoy, Félix. "Un épisode du Protheselaus et le conte du mari trompé". In: ''Romania'', tome 76 n°304, 1955. pp. 477–518. OI: https://doi.org/10.3406/roma.1955.3478www.persee.fr/doc/roma_0035-8029_1955_num_76_304_3478 * Perrin, J.-M. "L'afghon, dialecte indo-aryen parlé au Turkestan (à propos d'un livre récent de I. M. Oranski)". In: ''Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient''. Tome 52 N°1, 1964. pp. 173–181. OI: https://doi.org/10.3406/befeo.1964.1594www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_0336-1519_1964_num_52_1_1594 * Pierer's Universal-Lexikon, Band 8. Altenburg. 1859. pp. 387–391

External links

''What the Rose did to the Cypress''
Persian fairy tales Riddles Traditional stories Female characters in fairy tales Legendary birds Persian legendary creatures Indian fairy tales Indian folklore Indian legends