The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 10, Sir Richard Francis Burton [ebook audio reader TXT] 📗

Prince Seyj-el-Molouk.—This story is perhaps an older version than that which appears in The Nights (No. 154a).

It is placed long after the time of Solomon; Saad is devoured by ants (Weber (ii. p. 426) has substituted wild beasts!); and when Seyf enters the palace of Malika (=Daulet Khatoon), the jinni surprises them, and is overpowered by Seyf’s ring. He then informs him of the death of Saad; and that Bedy al-Jernal was one of the mistresses of Solomon; and has also long been dead.

 

5b. Malek and Chirine.—Resembles No. 264; Malek passes himself off as the Prophet Mohammed; burns his box (not chair) with fireworks on his weddingday, and is thus prevented from ever returning to the Princess.

 

5f. Adventures of Aboulfawaris.—Romantic travels, resembling Nos. 132a and 133.

 

2. Antar.—This is the most famous of the Badawi romances. It resembles No. 137 in several particulars, but is destitute of supernaturalism. An English abridgment in 4 vols. was published in 1820; and the substance of vol. 1 had appeared, as a fragment, in the previous year, under the title of “Antar, a Bedoueen Romance translated from the Arabic by Terrick Hamilton, Esq., Oriental Secretary to the British Embassy at Constantinople.” I have also seen vol. 1 of a French translation, published about 1862, and extending to the death of Shas.

 

Lane (Modern Egyptians, ch. 21-23) describes several other Arab romances, which have not yet been translated; viz. Aboo-Zeyd; Ez-Zahir, and Delhemeh.

 

3. GLAIVE-DES-COURONNES (Seif el-Tidj�n) Roman traduit de l’Arabe. Par M. le Dr. Perron (Paris, 1862).

 

A romantic story of Arab chivalry, less overloaded with supernaturalism than No. 137; but more supernatural than Antar.

The hero marries (among other wives) two jinniyahs of the posterity of Iblis. In ch. 21 we have an account of a magical city much resembling the City of Brass (No. 134) and defended by similar talismans.

 

4. MEHEMET THE KURD, and other tales, from Eastern sources, by Charles Wells, Turkish Prizeman of King’s College, London, and Member of the Royal Asiatic Society (London, 1865).

 

The first story, taken from an Arabic MS., is a narrative of a handsome simpleminded man, with whom Princesses fall in love, and who is raised to a mighty throne by their enchantments. Some of the early incidents are not unlike those in the wellknown German story of Lucky Hans (Hans im Gl�ck). In one place there is an enchanted garden, where Princesses disport themselves in feather-dresses (as in No. 155, &c.), and where magic apples grow. (Note that apples are always held in extraordinary estimation in The Nights, cf. Nos. 4 and 264.) Among the shorter stories we find No. 251h; a version of Nos. 9a and 152 (probably that referred to by Mr. Clouston as in the Tuti Nama); a story “The Prince Tailor,” resembling No. 251; No. 256, and one or two other tales not connected with The Nights. (Most of Wells’ shorter tales are evidently taken from the Forty Vezirs.)

 

5. RECUEIL DES CONTES POPULAIRES de la Kabylie du Djardjara, recueillis et traduits par J. Rivi�re (Paris, 1882). I have not seen this book; but it can hardly fail to illustrate The Nights.

 

6. THE STORY OF JEWAD, Romance by ‘Ali ‘Aziz Efendi the Cretan.

Translated from the Turkish by E. J. W. Gibb, M.R.A.S., &c.

(Glasgow, 1884).

 

A modern Turkish work, written in A. H. 1211 (1796-97). It contains the following tales:—

 

The Story of Jew d.

 

1. The Story of Eb -‘Ali-Sin ;.

2. The Story of Monia Em n.

3. The Story of Ferah-N z, the daughter of the King of China.

a. The Story of Khoja ‘Abdullah.

4. The Story told by Jew d to Iklilu’l Mulk.

a. The Story of Sh b r and Hum .

c. The Story of Ghazanfer and R hila.

5. The Story of Qara Khan.

 

The following deserve notice from our present point of view:—

 

The Story of Jewad.—Here we have magical illusions, as in Nos.

247 and 251a. Such narratives are common in the East; Lane (Nights, ch. i., note 15) is inclined to attribute such illusions to the influence of drugs; but the narratives seem rather to point to so-called electro-biology, or the Scotch Glamour (such influences, as is notorious, acting far more strongly upon Orientals than upon Europeans).

 

2. The Story of Monia Em n corresponds to the Story of Naerdan and Guzulbec, in Caylus’ Oriental Tales. A story of magical illusions.

 

3. The Story of Ferah N z.—Here again we have a variant of Nos. 9a and 152.

 

3a. Khoja ‘Abdu-ltab.—This is a version of the Story of Aboulcassem in the Thousand and One Days.

 

4a. Sh b r and Hum .—The commencement of this story might have suggested to Southey the adventures of Thalaba and Oneida in the Gardens of Aloadin; the remainder appears to be taken from the Story of the young King of Thibet, in the Thousand and One Days.

 

5. Qara Khan.—The principal part of this story is borrowed from the First Voyage of Aboulfawaris in the Thousand and One Days; it has some resemblance to the story of the Mountain of Loadstone in No. 3c.

 

7. FR�CHTE DES ASIATISCHEN GEIST, von A. T. Hartmann. 2 vols., 12mo (M�nster) 1803. A collection of anecdotes, &c., from various Eastern sources, Arabic, Indian, &c. I think it not impossible that this may be the work referred to by Von Hammer in the preface to Zinserling’s “1001 Nacht” (p. xxvii. note) as “Asiatische Perleuschnur von Hartmann.” At least I have not yet met with any work to which the scanty indication would apply better.

 

8. TUTI-NAMA. I could hardly pass over the famous Persian and Turkish “Parrot-Book” quite without notice; but its tales have rarely any direct connection with those in The Nights, and I have not attempted to go into its very extensive bibliography.

 

DR. CLARKE’S M.S.

 

Dr. Edward Daniel Clarke has given an account of an important MS.

nearly agreeing with Bul. and Mac., which he purchased in Egypt, in his “Travels in various countries of Europe, Asia and Africa.”

Part ii. Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land. Section i. (1812) App.

iii., pp. 701-704. Unfortunately, this MS. was afterwards so damaged by water during a shipwreck that it was rendered totally illegible. The list of tales (as will be seen by the numbers in brackets, which correspond to our Table, as far as the identifications are safe) will show the approximate contents of the MS., but the list (which is translated into German by Habicht in the preface to his vol. 12) was evidently compiled carelessly by a person nearly ignorant of Arabic, perhaps with the aid of an interpreter, Maltese, or other, and seems to abound with the most absurd mistakes. The full text of Clarke’s App. iii. is as follows: “List of One Hundred and Seventy-two Tales, contained in a manuscript copy of the ��lif Lila va Lilin,’ or �Arabian Nights,’ as it was procured by the Author in Egypt.”

 

N.B.—The Arabic words mentioned in this list are given as they appeared to be pronounced in English characters, and of course, therefore, adapted to English pronunciation.

 

The number of tales amounts to 172, but one tale is supposed to occupy many nights in the recital, so that the whole number is divided into “One Thousand and One Nights.” It rarely happens that any two copies of the Alif Lila va Lilin resemble each other. This title is bestowed upon any collection of Eastern tales divided into the same number of parts. The compilation depends upon the taste, the caprice, and the opportunities of the scribe, or the commands of his employer. Certain popular stories are common to almost all copies of the Arabian Nights, but almost every collection contains some tales which are not found in every other. Much depends upon the locality of the scribe. The popular stories of Egypt will be found to differ materially from those of Constantinople. A nephew of the late Wortley Montague, living in Rosetta, had a copy of the Arabian Nights, and upon comparing the two manuscripts it appeared that out of the 172 tales here enumerated only 37 were found in his manuscript. In order to mark, therefore, the stories which were common to the two manuscripts, an asterisk has been prefixed to the thirty-seven tales which appeared in both copies.

 

1. The Bull and the Ass (a).

2. The Merchant and the Hobgoblin (1; Habicht translates Kobold!).

3. The Man and the Antelope (1a).

4. The Merchant and Two Dogs (1b).

5. The Old Man and the Mule (1c).

*6. The History of the Hunters (2).

7&8. The History of King Unam and the Philosopher Reinan (2a).

* 9. History of King Sinbad and Elbase (2a, ab).

*10. History of the Porter (3).

*11. History of Kar nduli.

12. Story of the Mirror.

13. Story of the Three Apples (4).

*14. Of Shensheddin Mohammed, and his Brother Noureddin (5).

*15. Of the Taylor, Little Hunchback, the Jew and the Christian (6).

16. The History of Noureddin Ali (7).

17. Ditto of Gaumayub, &c. (8).

*18. The History of King Omar and Oman and his Children.

(This tale is extremely long, and occupies much of the manuscript) (9).

*19. Of the Lover and the Beloved (9a).

20. Story of the Peacock, the Goose, the Ass, the Horse, &c.

(10).

21. Of the Pious Man (11).

22. Of the Pious Shepherd.

23. Of the Bird and the Turtle (12).

24. Of the Fox, the Hawk, &c. (13).

25. Of the Lord of the Beasts.

*26. Of the Mouse and the Partridge (14).

27. Of the Raven and the Cat (15).

28. Of the Raven, the Fox, the Mouse, the Flea, &c., &c. (16).

29. Story of the Thief (18).

*30. Of Aul Hassan and the Slave Shemsney Har (20).

*31. Of Kamrasaman, &c. (21).

32. Of Naam and Nameto la (21a).

*33. Of Aladin Abuskelmat (22).

*34. Of Hallina Die (23).

35. Story of Maan Jaamnazida (24).

36. History of the Town Litta (26).

37. Story of Hassan Abdulmelac (27).

38. Of Ibrahim Elmachde, Brother of Haroun al Raschid (28).

39. History of the Famous Garden Ezem (Paradise) (29).

40. Of Isaac of Mossul (30).

41. Of Hasli Hasli.

42. Of Mohammed Eli Ali (32).

43. Of Ali the Persian (33).

44. History of the Raschid and his Judge (34).

45. Of Haled Immi Abdullah.

46. Of Jafaard the Bamasside (36).

47. Of Abokohammed Kurlan (37).

48. Of Haroun al-Raschid and Sala.

49. History of Mamoan (40).

50. Of Shar and the Slave Zemroud (41).

51. Of the Lady Bedoor (literally Mrs. Moon-face) and Mr.

Victorious (42).

52. Of Mammon and Mohammed of Bassorah.

53. Of Haroun al-Raschid and his Slave (44).

54. Of the Merchant in Debt (45).

55. Of Hassoun Medin, the Governor (46).

56. Of King Nassir and his Three Children—the Governor of Cairo, the Governor of Bulac, and the Governor of Old Cairo (47).

57. History of the Banker and the Thief (48).

58. Of Aladin, Governor of Constantinople.

59. Of Mamoon and Ibrahim (50).

60. Of a certain King (51).

61. Of a Pious Man (52).

62. Of Abul Hassan Ezeada (53). 63. Of a Merchant (54).

64. Of a Man of Bagdad (55).

65. Of Modavikil (56).

*66. Of Virdan in the time of Hakim Veemrelack (N.B.—He built the Mosque in going from Cairo to Heliopolis) (57).

67. Of a Slave and an Ape (58).

*68. Story of the Horse of Ebony (59).

*69. Of Insilvujud (60).

70. Of Eban Vas (61).

71. Of an Inhabitant of Bassora (62).

72. History of a Man of the tribe of Arabs of Beucadda (63).

73. History of Benriddin, Vizir of Yemen (64).

74. Of a Boy and a Girl (65).

75. Of Mutelmis (66).

76. Of Haroun al