Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c10.31

c10.31

verses for which the Sulṭān gave him 1000 dīnārs, when they were shown to him for approval. When Firdausī finished the poem, the verses amounted to 60,000, and he expected to get a dīnār for each verse. The Sulṭān, however, on the advice of a few persons of mean disposition sanctioned only 60,000 dirhams to be given to Firdausī as his remuneration. This amount was brought to the poet when he was just coming out of a bath. He was so much disappointed at the reward which fell so short of his ambition that he gave a third of the sum to the bath-keeper, another third to a sherbet-seller who had brought him some beverage, and the rest to the person who brought the money.