Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1886 — DID SHAKSPEARE BORROW! [ARTICLE]

DID SHAKSPEARE BORROW!

An Anclont Arabian Parallel to the Hirn.im Wood Incident. The traveler and writer, Mes’udiyy, who composed his “Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems” in A. IL 332 (A. D. 943), relates, in Chapter XLVIL of that work the following incident as having occurred at the time ' of the total destruction of the ancient Arabian tribe of Jedis, who inhabited Yemama, Central Arabia, not very long ■ after the confusion of tongues at Babel. j They had been shamefully tyrannized | over by the King of their kindred tribe, Tasm, and at length had treacherously avenged their wrongs by the extermination of their tyrants. One noble of that tribe had escaped massacre, and : had journeyed to Yemeu (our Arabian Felix). He presented himself to the Himyerite King of that country, and prayed him to avenge Tasm by the de- i struction of Jedis. The King consent- I ed, marshaled his forces* and set out from Yemen. Arrived at a distance of three days’ march from Yemama, the refugee noble of Tasm informed the King that a sister of his, married to a > chieftain of Jedis, and then living in , Yemama, was possessed of so acute a j power of vision as to be able to distin- j guish a horseman at the distance of , three days’ journey. He therefore sug- j gested that the King should command ' the troops to pltick up by the roots ; every man a young tree from a forest j they had to pass through, and carry I this before him, so 'as to hide the advancing host and mask it from his sister’s piercing glance. The King gavo the order, and each man of the army i plucked up a tree, carrying it in front ! of him. The quick-eyed lady, however, from an outlook on her house-top, saw the advancing wood. Sharply scru- I tinizing it, and distinguishing behind >j the foliage a large number of men, sho ; informed the townsmen of what she ' saw. They took no notice of her warn- ' ing. The army advanced, surprised the town, slaughtered all the men, and j made captives of the women and chil- I dren. Thus the tribe was extirpated. Mes’udiyy’s story was written in the year that is exactly half way to the present date, 943—1386, A. D.: apdthe question naturally arises: Is there any ■ mediaeval channel known to seekers , after folklore by which this incident , could have become known to the writer , of Macbeth, or to any-monkish chron- i icier through whom the iirnam Wood story may have been handed down, i Macbeth’s 'death and Malcolm Can- ' more’s accession in A. D. 1057 was so ; long anterior to the crusades that it is not likely the Eastern story bad reached Scotland or England. If the Birnam Wood incident really occurred it j was a surprising coincidence; and if it ' was a monkish embellishment, it would be interesting to trace the story from ' the East, if possible. Mes’udiyy’s ver-j sion was most probably based upon j some older story that may be found in [ Egyptian or Babylonian remains, or ■ that may have come from Persia, India, ■ or China. This is a problem for the j adepts of folkloreto solve, if the means can be fohnd.— Academy.