An obscure but well-researched work, Der Zahirsage de Geschichte del zur de Urkunden (Documents and Tales: the History of the Zahir) is an account of the Islamic myth of the Zahir, the word that signifies "beings or things which possess the terrible property of being unforgettable, and whose image finally drives one mad." It is, essentially, a collection of every story, myth, and reference to the Zahir from around the world, from the early eighteenth century to the time of composition. Included are excerpts from Luft Ali Azur's Temple of Fire, Meadow Taylor's comprehensive study while in the service of the Nizam of Hyderabad, and the verses from the Asrar Nama which claim that to see the Zahir is to soon see God.

The original book itself is a handsome octavo edition, published first in Breslau, and reprinted in Berlin in 1935 under the direction of Dr. Julius Niemand, a close associate of Dr. Rudolf Steiner, who provided a few illustrations. Dr. Niemand added a few more references, including the celebrated "Weimar Bierstein des Weisen" story, and insouciantly edited a few of the stories out of existence. These stories -- all Jewish in origin -- were later reintroduced for the third printing in 1953. Dr. Niemand -- who would be arrested as a Nazi after WW II, was one of the "Spear of Destiny" conspirators, and can be seen in a famous photograph along with his associates Karl Holz, Julius Streicher, Willi Liebel, Hans von Obernitz, and Dr. Benno Martin. This photo, from the Stadtarchiv Nürnberg, is the only known picture of Dr. Niemand, who hung himself during the trials.

During a lecture at Columbia University in 1971, Borges admitted that he owned a copy of the original, which is where he got the idea for his famous story "The Zahir." His copy is now on display in the Buenos Aires Writer's Museum, opened to the page where, across the margin in Borges's cramped handwriting, this ironic note is scrawled: "The Zahir as a story! - make it a tiger. Stripes all over the walls. Eyes in gemstones. Yellow and gold! It would be impossible to forget a tiger!".

Allen B. Ruch

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