The monster that will be featured in this exhibit is the Speaking Tree from the Shahnameh, which is a tree living at the world’s end made of two intertwining trunks, one of whom speaks in a female voice and brings a pleasant scent when it is night, and another who speaks in a male voice when it is day.

The passage that most illuminates this monster in the context of the Shahnameh is:

“O king, favored by fortune, the leaves say, ‘However much Sekandar wanders in the world, he has already seen his share of blessings: when he has reigned for fourteen years, he must quit the royal throne’” At the guide’s words Sekandar’s heart filled with pain, and he wept bitterly. He was sad and silent then, speaking to no one, until midnight. Then the leaves of the other trunk began to speak, and Sekandar again asked the interpreter what they said. He replied, “The female tree says, ‘Do not puff yourself up with greed; why torment your soul in this way? Greed makes you wander the wide world, harass mankind, and kill kings. But you are not long for this earth now; do not darken and deaden your days like this.’” Then the king said to the interpreter, “Pure of heart and noble as you are, ask them one question: Will this fateful day come in Greece; will my mother see me alive again, before someone covers my face in death”

The speaking tree replied, “Few days remain;

You must prepare your final baggage train.

Neither your mother, nor your family,

Nor the veiled women of your land will see

Your face again. Death will come soon: you’ll die

In a strange land, with strangers standing by.

The stars and crown and throne and worldly

Are sated with Sekandar and his story.”

This passage appears in:

Ferdowsi, Abolqasem. "Shahnameh." Translated by Dick Davis. The Norton Anthology of World Literature, volume B. Martin Puchner, general editor. New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 200.

The main object that I will be using to relate to this text is a folio from a Shahnama depicting this scene by Firdawsi, currently in the Smithsonian. Using this object and text, I would like to analyse the relationship between prophecy and mortality as relating to leadership in mythological texts, as exemplified through the ways that they are portrayed in the Shahnameh, as well as the use of trees and nature in mythology.

I will then also connect the Shahnameh with other mythological depictions of Alexander the Great, using variations on the Alexander Romance from different countries in the medieval era, such as his depictions in Hebrew texts from Bekkum’s analysis (1986), in order to highlight the place that the Shahnameh has in the mythos of this figure.