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The fire-worshipers’ chief god was called Mazda and that is where we get the name for our electric-light bulbs. According to their religion, everything that was light was good and everything that was dark was bad. Afew Persians are still fire-worshipers, but most are now Mohammedans.
The good part of Persia, like the little girl who had a little curl, is very, very good, but the bad part ishorrid. In the part that is good, beautiful roses, fine melons and peaches grow, but much of Persia is desert. Most rivers get bigger and bigger as they flow along, but the Persian rivers get smaller and smaller and at last dwindle away to nothing. There are a great many mountains in Persia, and when the melted snows come down from these mountains they form streams, but many of these streams do not empty anywhere; they just dry up; they have no mouths.
Did you ever play charades? Here is a word we used to act out when I played charades, though we pronounced the word incorrectly. In the first act two girls would play drinking tea. In the second act a boy would run across the room. The two acts made the capital of Persia. Can you guess it? It is “Tehran.” Another charadecan be acted out in only one act. A boy runs across the room and then points to himself. Can you guess this one? It is “Iran,” the Persian name of the country.
The ruler of Persia is called, not a king, but a Shah. Once upon a time the Shah could do anything he wishedwith his people. He could take all their money away from them and put them to death, if he wished to do so; but all that has long been changed.
