The first fruits of these studies were translations from the poems of Kaslow, Pushkin, and Lermontoff (1843); which were considered equal to the originals in poetic merit.  In Stuttgart, two years later, appeared his ‘Poetische Ukraine’ (Poetical Ukraine).  He went to Tiflis in 1842 as instructor in Latin and French in the Gymnasium.  Here he studied the Tartar and Persian languages, under the direction of the “wise man” Mirza-Schaffy (Scribe Schaffy), and began to translate Persian poems.  “It was inevitable,” he afterwards said, “that with such occupations and influences many Persian strains crept into my own poetry.”  Here he wrote his first poems in praise of wine.  Later he became an extensive traveler, and made long tours through the Caucasus and the East.  The fruit of these journeys was the book ’Die Voelker des Caucasus und ihre Freiheitskaempfe gegen die Russen’ (The People of the Caucasus and their Struggle for Freedom against the Russians), published in 1848.  After his return to Germany he settled in Muenich to study political economy in the University.

Two years later, in 1850, appeared his delightful book in prose and poetry, ‘Tausend und ein Tag im Orient’ (Thousand and One Days in the East), a reminiscence of his Eastern wanderings and his sojourn at Tiflis, The central figure is his Oriental friend Mirza-Schaffy.  “It occurred to me,” he says, “to portray with poetic freedom the Caucasian philosopher as he lived in my memory, with all his idiosyncrasies, and at the same time have him stand as the type of an Eastern scholar and poet; in other words, to have him appear more important than he really was, for he never was a true poet, and of all the songs which he read to me as being his own, I could use only a single one, the little rollicking song, ‘Mullah, pure is the wine, and it’s sin to despise it.’  For his other verse I substituted poems of my own, which were in keeping with his character and the situations in which he appeared.”  The poems by themselves, together with others written at different times and places, Bodenstedt published in 1856 under the title ’Lieder des Mirza-Schaffy’ (Songs of Mirza-Schaffy).  Quite unintentionally they have occasioned one of the most amusing of literary mystifications.  For a long time they were supposed to be real translations; and even to-day, despite the poet’s own words, the “Sage of Tiflis” is considered by some a very great poet.  A Tartar by birth, who had absorbed Persian culture, he was a skillful versifier, and could with facility translate simple songs from the Persian into the Tartar language.  Bodenstedt put into Mirza-Schaffy’s mouth the songs which were written during his intercourse with the Eastern sage, to give vividness to the picture of an Eastern divan of wisdom.

They portray Oriental life on its more sensuous, alluring side.  In most musical, caressing verse they sing of wine and love, of the charms of Zuleika and Hafisa, of earthly bliss and the delights of living.  Yet with all their warm Eastern imagery and rich foreign dress they are essentially German in spirit, and their prevailing note of joyousness is now and again tempered by more serious strains.