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haghighi F. The Mouse and Cat Attributed to Obaid Zakani and its Various Narrations. CFL 2020; 8 (35) :189-219
URL: http://cfl.modares.ac.ir/article-11-43465-en.html

Abstract
Many manuscripts and editions of Mush-o Gorbeh [Mouse and Cat] have been listed or published as the most famous work of Obaid Zakani; however, its comparison and examination clarifies that these various editions of Mouse and Cat are significantly different in terms of language, style, and even story. These narrations are largely considered as belated and folkloric compared to Obaid Zakani’s era and language. Therefore, many people have hesitated to attribute Mouse and Cat to Obaid. In order to investigate this attribution, these works should be compared, so that their shared roots can be identified. This paper merely follows this in three phases. In the first section, different editions of Mouse and Cat are compared and grouped based on the ending verses of the story. In the second section, the ending of the story is examined in all narrations. In the final section, some hypotheses are given regarding the relationship of these narrations, their origins, and other possible narrations based on the verses recorded in these editions of Mouse and Cat. They are, then, compared with the incomplete but older manuscripts. These editions of Mouse and Cat can be grouped in nine categories in terms of narration, and in two general classes in terms of story, based on the style and language. These very differences and a few ancient recordings that can only be seen in some of the belated and folkloric manuscripts indicate that none of these editions of Mouse and Cat can be attributed to Obaid.
 Introduction
Research Background
Unfortunately, we cannot find an ancient, complete edition of Mouse and Cat today. The oldest manuscript can be found in the Anthology of Ali Ibn Ahmad No. 3528 (written in the ninth century AH) which is kept in the Central Library and Documentation Center of the University of Tehran, and the other manuscript is Obaid’s generalities of works (written in the ninth century-the early tenth AH century) which is kept in Mahdavi Library, and microfilm No. 1547 kept in the Central Library and Documentation Center of the University of Tehran. Both works are incomplete.
Since ancient manuscripts cannot be found, there are lots of debates over the attribution of this work to Obaid Zakani. Many studies have been conducted on Obaid, and some researchers, such as Mahjoob and Mohades have tried to reject the attribution of Mouse and Cat to Obaid in the introduction on Obaid Zakani’s Generalities of Works (Obaid Zakani, 1999), and the introduction on Mouse and Cat (Uppsala, 2011), respectively. 
However, no study has been conducted on different Mouse and Cat narrations so far and this study is going to fill this gap.
Aims, questions, assumptions
Dozens of manuscripts of Mouse and Cat are attributed to Obaid. However, a comparison reveals that these manuscripts of Mouse and Cat are significantly different and cannot be considered as a single work. This paper tries to answer three main questions on this issue.
Although there are dozens of manuscripts and printed editions of Mouse and Cat, a comparison manifests that these editions are to a large extent different and cannot be considered as a single work. A thorough understanding of Mouse and Cat can be achieved by examining these editions, examining whether this work can be attributed to Obaid Zakani. This paper tries to answer three main questions.
1. How many narrations of Mouse and Cat are identified?
2. How are these narrations different from each other?
3. Do these different narrations share a common ground?
 
Results and discussion
The most ancient, complete manuscript of Mouse and Cat which is kept in the National Library of Tunisia was written in 1153 AH. Comparisons made between this manuscript and the other manuscripts as well as the lithography and prints that date back to the Qajar era reveal that there are various narrations of Mouse and Cat that can be classified into nine categories. These narrations differ in terms of the number of verses and vocabularies as well as the story.
Some of them are more difficult while the others are weak and folkloric. The handwritten narration which is kept in Tunisia can be considered more intact compared to the other narrations in terms of story and language. The manuscripts and the printed copies manifest the popularity of the Tunisian narration in the 12^th, and particularly in the 13^th and 14^th centuries. However, it (or it could be said the other narrations of Mouse and Cat) cannot be considered as an ancient narration attributed to Obaid Zakani due to its linguistic distinctions with the eighth-century poetry. However, some conclusions can be drawn after reflecting on some of the ancient elements of other narrations that cannot be seen in the Tunisian narration, and some similarities could be found between this edition and the manuscript that can be found in the Anthology of Ali Ibn Ahmad and the edition which is kept in Mahdavi Library. If a narration can be attributed to Obaid Zakani, it should be one of those two incomplete manuscripts. Although some other narrations of Mouse and Cat were released in the interval between the release of these two manuscripts and the 13^th century, none of them have survived.
 
Conclusion
There are various narrations of Mouse and Cat which are attributed to Obaid Zakani, but none of them can be considered as a work from the eighth century. The differences in these narrations are the results of the interferences that scribes made in collecting this work. Nine narrations of Mouse and Cat are available. The most ancient one is a narration originating from the Tunisian manuscript and since some manuscripts and prints of the 13^th century are based on this version, it can be concluded that the Tunisian manuscript was the most popular narration in the 13^th and the early 14^th centuries.
In addition, there is a narration in the printed editions of Mouse and Cat that should be considered as an independent narration despite its general similarities with the Tunisian narration. This narration has been published frequently during the current century and today everyone recognizes it as the Mouse and Cat attributed to Obaid Zakani. Seven other narrations were released in the interval between the release of the Tunisian narration and the printed narrations, which were abandoned and less read for some reasons such as weak verses, weak plot, etc.
References
Obaid Zakani. (1999). Generalities of works (in Farsi) (edited by Mohammad Jafar Mahjuob). Bibliotheca Persica Pres.