Twice ToldDarmesteter, Études iraniennes, vol. 2 (Paris, 1883): the worm of Haftvâd, pp. 81 to 83
- Language
- French
- Reading
- transcribed from the page image
- Translation
- ours
- Retrieved
- 6 October 2026
James Darmesteter’s review-essay on Nöldeke’s 1878 translation. Warner (1912, p. 206) and the Encyclopaedia Iranica both cite it for the view that the story is an old dragon myth.
[p. 81] Firdousi la raconte toute au long : un homme nommé Haftvâd, ce qui, nous dit-il, signifie « l’homme aux sept fils », fait fortune, grâce à un ver trouvé par sa fille et qui lui file autant de coton qu’elle veut : nourri par Haftvâd, le ver grossit à une taille colossale, est adoré, et les armées envoyées contre lui sont détruites « par la fortune du ver » : Ardeshîr l’attaque et est repoussé : il en vient à bout par ruse en s’introduisant comme marchand dans la forteresse du ver et en lui versant du lait empoisonné.
[p. 82] Je ne saurais admettre pour ce dernier mot l’explication de M. Nöldeke … Voilà une explication bien ingénieuse, trop ingénieuse, je crains.
[p. 82] les prétentions du Kirman sont purement étymologiques : l’étymologie populaire en faisait le pays des Vers, Kirm-ân, et ainsi se forma l’opinion que le Varena, le séjour du serpent, pourrait bien être le Kirman.
[p. 83] Il est à peine besoin de dire que ces sept fils ne sont que des dédoublements du ver ; il a sept fils, c’est-à-dire qu’il est septuple : il a sept fils comme il aurait sept têtes.
[p. 83] M. Liebrecht a retrouvé la légende de Haftvâd dans la Saga scandinave : c’est le fameux Ragnar Lodbrok qui y joue le rôle d’Ardeshîr
Translation
[p. 81] Ferdowsi tells it at length: a man called Haftvad, which he tells us means “the man with seven sons”, makes his fortune thanks to a worm found by his daughter, which spins as much cotton for her as she likes. Fed by Haftvad, the worm grows to a colossal size, is worshipped, and the armies sent against it are destroyed “by the worm’s fortune”. Ardeshir attacks it and is driven back; he manages it by a ruse, entering the worm’s fortress as a merchant and pouring poisoned milk into it.
[p. 82] I could not accept Nöldeke’s explanation of this last word … That is an ingenious explanation, too ingenious I fear.
[p. 82] The claims of Kirman are purely etymological: popular etymology made it the country of the Worms, Kirm-an, and so the opinion formed that the Varena, the dwelling of the serpent, might well be Kirman.
[p. 83] There is hardly need to say that these seven sons are only doublings of the worm; he has seven sons, that is, he is sevenfold: he has seven sons as he would have seven heads.
[p. 83] Mr Liebrecht has found the Haftvad legend in the Scandinavian saga: the famous Ragnar Lodbrok plays the part of Ardeshir there
Notes
- Darmesteter’s one-paragraph summary of Ferdowsi has Ardeshîr pouring in “du lait empoisonné”, poisoned milk. Warner’s translation (pp. 243 to 244) and Mohl’s (pp. 260, 263) have molten metal, and the milk and rice are what the worm eats. The summary is Darmesteter’s; we have not found “poisoned milk” in any text of the story we read.
- On p. 82 the “dernier mot” in the first excerpt is bôkht in the name Haftân-bôkht; Darmesteter then argues that Ferdowsi’s own explanation, “who has seven sons”, is right and that Persian dictionaries give a word bôkht “son”.
- The passage in square brackets on p. 83 about Thora and Ragnar is printed in brackets in the book, as a note on Liebrecht’s find.