The Fatal Confrontation of Rustam and Esfandiyār——Comparison of Three Versions of the Legend in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, Tarikh al-Tabari and the Story Narrated in Davani Dialect

摘要

This paper is a comparison and analysis of three versions of the fatal confrontation of Rustam and Esfandiyār in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and Tarikh al-Tabari as well as the one narrated in Davani dialect. In the first part, a general yet comparatively complete summary of the story in Shahnameh is given, which contains the most details and plots of the story. The second part and the third part investigate the confrontation as presented in Tarikh al-Tabari and in the story told by a villager in Davani dialect;both of these two versions are compared with the one in Shahnameh separately. Following that, a comparison of the three versions is conducted in terms of the content, forms of narration and images of the characters as presented in them. Apart from that, the possible reasons for these differences among the three versions of the story are also investigated. The last part concludes the significance of the story as both in Shahnameh and in Iranian folklore tradition, and also attempts to look into the metaphor behind the story and more importantly the essential conflicts that lie in the confrontation between these two heroes.