Geniza Lab

Bifolium from a Judaeo-Persian commentary, including sections on Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, and Lamentations.

Literary text in Judaeo-Persian: "The Tale of the Stonecutter" (حکایت سنگ تراش). Dating: Late, perhaps 18th or 19th century. This poem is a masnavi that has been attributed to ʿUbayd Allāh al-Zākānī (d. 1370). It tells of a stonecutter on Mount Sinai who loves God so much that he weeps from lovesickness and invites Him down to earth and promises him a beautiful stone cottage and all sorts of mountain delights (e.g., the choicest sheep-tail). He will minister to God: "I will wash Your hands and feet; I will make the earth you tread into my tutty (=an ophthalmic ointment)"; the Persian versions available online give "kīmiyā" instead of "tutty," as in elixir of life. The stonecutter tells God not to be scared of apostates and wild animals, for he will protect Him. Moses wanders by and chastises the stonecutter for these ravings. But God then chastises Moses for what he has told the stonecutter, whose simple faith is more profound than that of Moses. The story is a variation of Rumi's earlier tale of Moses and the shepherd (موسی و شبان); in fact, some of Rumi's verses are transplanted into the ending of this Judaeo-Persian version. On the verso of fol. 128, there is a different text in a more informal script in Judaeo-Persian. ASE.