One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  Pigeons, The Hedgehog and the, iii.

  Pigeons, The Two, v.

  Platter-maker and his wife, The devout, v.

  Poets, Haroun er Reshid and the Three, iv.

  Police of Boulac, Story of the Chief of the, iv.

  Police of Cous and the Sharper, The Chief of the, iv.

  Police of New Cairo, Story of the Chief of the, iv.

  Police of Old Cairo, Story of the Chief of the, iv.

  Police (The Three Masters of), El Melik en Nasir and, iv.

  Poor man and his generous friend, The, iv.

  Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad, The, i.

  Portress, The Story of the, i.

  Power, The Man who saw the Night of, v.

  Prince, The Devout, iv.

  Prince (the Pilgrim), The Unjust King and, viii.

  Providence, The Justice of, v.

  Purse, The Stolen, v.

  Pyramids of Egypt, El Mamoun and the, iv.

  Queen of the Serpents, The, v.

  Quicksilver Ali of Cairo, The Adventures of, vi.

  Reyya, Otbeh and, vi.

  Rogueries of Delileh the Crafty and her daughter Zeyneb the Trickstress, The, vi.

  Roc, Abdurrehman the Moor’s Story of the, iv.

  Rose-in-bud, Uns el Wujoud and the Vizier’s Daughter, iv.

  Ruined Man of Baghdad and hi. Slave-girl, The, viii.

  Ruined Man who became rich again through a dream, The, iv.

  Said ben Salim and the Barmecides, iv.

  Saint to vhom God gave a cloud to serve him, The, v.

  Sandalwood Merchant and the Sharpers, The, v.

  Scavenger and the noble Lady of Baghdad, The, iii.

  School, The Loves of the Bog and Girl at, iv.

  Schoolmaster who fell in love by report, The, iv.

  Schoolmaster, The Foolish, iv.

  Schoolmaster, The ignorant man who set up for a, iv.

  Seif el Mulouk and Bediya el Jemal, vii.

  Serpent, The Crow and the, viii.

  Serpent-Charmer and his Wife, The, viii.

  Serpents, The Queen of the, v.

  Sexes, Relative excellence of the, iv.

  Sharper of Alexandria and the Master of Police, The, iv.

  Sharper, Ali the Persian and the Kurd, iii.

  Sharper, The Chief of the Cous Police and the, iv.

  Sharper, The Simpleton and the, iv.

  Sharpers, The Merchant and the Two, iii.

  Sharpers, The Sandalwood Merchant and the, v.

  Shehriyar and his brother, King, (Introduction), i.

  Shemsennehar, Ali ben Bekkar and, iii.

  Shepherd and the Thief, The, viii.

  Sherkan and Zoulmekan, The History of King Omar ben Ennuman and his Sons, ii.

  Shimas, King Jelyaad of Hind and his Vizier, viii.

  Shirin and the Fisherman, Khusrau and, iv.

  Shipwrecked Woman and her child, The, v.

  Simpleton and the Sharper, The, iv.

  Sindbad and his Falcon, King, i.

  Sindbad the Sailor and Sindbad the Porter, v.

  Sindbad the Sailor, First Voyage of, v.

  Sindbad the Sailor, Second Voyage of, v.

  Sindbad the Sailor, Third Voyage of, v.

  Sindbad the Sailor, Fourth Voyage of, v.

  Sindbad the Sailor, Fifth Voyage of, v.

  Sindbad the: Sailor, Sixth Voyage of, v.

  Sindbad the Sailor Seventh Voyage of, v.

  Singing-girl, The Goldsmith and the Cashmere, v.

  Six Slave-girls, The man of Yemen and his, iv.

  Slave, The pious black, v.

  Slave-girl, The ruined man of Baghdad and his, viii.

  Slave-girls, The man of Yemen and his six, iv.

  Sparrow and the Eagle, The, iii.

  Sparrow and the Peacock, The, iii.

  Spider and the Wind, The, viii.

  Springs, The Enchanted, v.

  Squinting slave-girl, Aboulaswed and his, iv.

  Stolen Necklace, The, v.

  Stolen Purse, The, v.

  Suitors, The Lady and her five, v.

  Tailor’s Story, The, i.

  Taj el Mulouk and the princess Dunya, ii.

  Taweddud, Abonlhusn and his slave-girl, iv.

  Thief, The Lover who feigned himself a, iv.

  Thief and the Money-changer, The, iv.

  Thief and his Monkey, The, iii.

  Thief, The Shepherd and the, viii.

  Thief turned merchant and the other Thief, The, iv.

  Thieves, The boy and the, viii.

  Thieves, The Merchant and the, viii.

  Thieves, The two, iv.

  Three-year-old child, The Debauchee and the, v.

  Tortoise, The Waterfowl and the, iii.

  Tortoises, The Heathcock and the, viii.

  Trick (The Lover’s) against the chaste wife, v.

  Trick (The Wife’s) against her husband, iv.

  Two Kings, The) viii.

  Umeimeh, El Mutelemmis and his wife, iv.

  Unfortunate Lovers, The Three, iv.

  Unjust King and the Pilgrim Prince, The, viii.

  Uns el Wujoud and the Vizier’s Daughter Rose-in-bud, iv.

  Upper Egypt (The man of) and his Frank wife, viii.

  Vizier, El Melik en Nasir and his, vi.

  Vizier of Yemen and his young brother, The, iv.

  Vizier’s Son and the Bathkeeper’s Wife, The, v.

  Vizier’s Wife, The King and his, v.

  Water-carrier and the goldsmith’s wife, The, iv.

  Waterfowl and the Tortoise, The, iii.

  Weasel, The Mouse and the, iii.

  Weaver, The Foolish, iii.

  Welid ben Sehl, Younus the Scribe and the Khalif, vi.

  Werdan the Butcher’s adventure with the Lady and the Bear, iv.

  Wife, The Bedouin and his, vi.

  Wife (the Chaste), The Lover’s Trick against, v.

  Wife, The King and his Vizier’s, v.

  Wife, The Man and his wilful, viii.

  Wife (The Merchant’s) and the Parrot, v.

  Wife (The virtuous) and the King, iv.

  Wife’s device to cheat her husband, The, v.

  Wife’s trick against her husband, The, iv.

  Wild Ass, The Fox and the, viii.

  Wilful Wife, The Man and his, viii.

  Wind, The Spider and the, viii.

  Wird Khan (King) and his Women and Viziers, viii.

  Wolf and the Fox, The, iii.

  Wolf, The Foxes and the, viii.

  Woman (The shipwrecked) and her child, v.

  Woman who made her husband sift dust, The, v.

  Woman whose hands were cut off for Almsgiving, The, iv.

  Women, The Malice of, v.

  Women, The two, iv.

  Yemen (The Man of) and his six slave-girls, iv.

  Yemen (The Vizier of) and his young brother, iv.

  Yehya ben Khalid and the Forger, iv.

  Yehya ben Khalid and Mensour, iv.

  Yehya ben Khalid and the poor man, iv.

  Younus the Scribe and the Khalif Welid ben Sehl, vi.

  Youth, The Enchanted, i.

  Zein el Mewasif, Mesrour and, viii.

  Zeyneb the Trickstress, The Rogueries of Delileh the Craft, and her daughter, vi.

  Zoulmekan, The History of King Omar ben Ennuman and his Sons Sherkan and, ii.

  Zubeideh in the Bath, Haroun er Reshid and, iv.

  Zumurrud, Ali Shar and, iv.John Payne’s translation: detailed table of contents

  THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT: ITS HISTORY AND CHARACTER.

  I.

  It is now a hundred and eighty years since M. Antoine Galland first introduced to the notice of European readers the most popular collection of narrative fiction in existence, by his translation, published in the year 1704, of an Arabic manuscript alleged to have been procured by him from Syria, which contained something less than a quarter of the tales that compose the work known as “The
Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night.” M. Galland was aware of the imperfection of the MS. used by him, and (unable to obtain a more perfect copy) he seems to have endeavoured to supply the place of the missing portions by incorporating in his translation a number of Persian, Turkish and Arabic tales, which had no connection with his original and for which it is generally supposed that he probably had recourse to various Oriental MSS. (as yet unidentified) contained in the Royal Libraries of Paris. These interpolated tales occupy more than a third part of the entire work known as the “Arabian Nights’ Entertainments” and comprise some of the most popular portions of the work, as will be seen from the following list of them.

  1. The History of Prince Zeyn Alasnam and the King of the Genii.

  2. The History of Codadad and the Princess of Deryabar.

  3. The Story of the Sleeper Awakened.

  4. Aladdin or the Wonderful Lamp.

  5. The Story of the Blind Man Baba Abdalla.

  6. The Story of Sidi Nouman.

  7. The Story of Cogia Hassan Alhabbal.

  8. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

  9. Ali Cogia, the Merchant of Baghdad.

  10. Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Pari-Banou.

  11. The Sisters who envied their younger Sister.

  Of these, the Story of the Sleeper Awakened is the only one which has been traced to an Arabic original, existing either separately or in connection with the Thousand Nights and One Night, and is found in the Breslau edition of the complete work, printed by Dr. Habicht from a manuscript of Tunisian origin, apparently of much later date than the other known copies. It also occurs in a MS. copy in the British Museum and will be found translated among the stories from printed texts of the Thousand Nights and One Night (not contained in my standard text or in the Boulac edition) which it is proposed to issue as a supplement to the present work. Galland himself cautions us that the stories of Zeyn Alasnam and Codadad do not belong to the Thousand and One Nights and were published (how he does not explain) without his authority; and the concluding portion of his MS., presumably containing the larger half of Camaralzaman, the whole of Ganem and the Enchanted Horse, as well as all the intercalated tales (that is to say, nearly one-half of the French translation), being unfortunately lost, it appears impossible to ascertain the precise source from which he drew the latter. Opinions differ upon this point, some Orientalists holding (with De Sacy) that the originals of the added tales were found by Galland in the public libraries of Paris (whence, however, no researches have as yet availed to unearth them), and others (with the late Mr. Chenery) that he procured them from the recitation of story-tellers in the bazaars of Smyrna and other towns in the Levant, during his travels there. It was stated by the late Professor Palmer that he found the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves current, in a slightly different form, among the Bedouins of Sinai; but, although the names of the personages of the story (Ali, Abdallah, Mustafa, Morgiana (Merjaneh), Cassim, Hussein) are purely Arabic, the use of the Persian titles Baba and Cogia (see post) seems to point to a Turkish or Persian origin, and it will be noted that the scene is laid in “a city of Persia” and that the story differs widely in style and character from any known to belong to the genuine text. Mr. Palmer also expressed a doubt whether the most popular story of the old book, Aladdin, was an Eastern story at all; but the only evidence we possess upon the subject, that of the tale itself, does not appear to offer any reasonable confirmation of his scepticism. The names (Mustafa, Alaeddin, Bedrulbudour, Fatimeh, etc.) are without exception Arab, and the story follows the familiar lines of Arabic fiction, of which, in particular, the introduction of the African (or Persian) magician, the finding of the enchanted treasure and ring, the marriage of the finder with the King’s daughter, the magical building of the palace, the discovery of the unknown by geomancy, the loss of the talisman through the heedlessness of a third party and its recovery by stratagem, the disgrace of the hero at the instance of the envious vizier, the drugging of the magician and the assumption of the disguise of a devotee for the vilest purposes, are all familiar incidents and find their counterparts in many genuine stories of the Thousand and One Nights, whilst the manners and customs described, allowing for the extreme licence and looseness of Galland’s version, do not seem essentially to differ from those pourtrayed in tales of unquestioned authenticity, such as Camaralzaman or Beder. It may also be observed that there is a considerable resemblance between the plan and details of the story, as given by Galland, and those of Jouder and his brothers (Vol. VI.) and Marouf (in the present volume) and that Scott’s meagre abstract (published in 1811) of a few of the unknown tales contained in the Wortley Montague MS. of the Thousand Nights and One Night includes the skeleton of a story (“The Fisherman’s Son”), which bears some resemblance to Aladdin and a still greater one to the well-known German Mährchen of the White Stone; but, in my opinion, this story is a modern fabrication and has no connection with the original work. The Wortley Montague MS., indeed, appears to be, as a whole, of doubtful authenticity, if we may judge from Scott’s translations from it and the detailed account given (in Ouseley’s Oriental Collections) of its contents by the translator himself, who states that it bears at end a note to the effect that it was written (or transcribed) in the year 1178 of the Hegira (A.D. 1766 ) by Omar es Sufti (Sufta). Sufta (popularly Softa) signifies, in Turkish, a divinity student, and this, together with the evidently modern style of the copy, the incoherent jumble of adventure of which the stories (as rendered by Scott) appear to consist and which is much more characteristic of modern Turkish fiction than of the more artistic kind peculiar to the Arabs, and the frequent correspondence of the incidents with German and other popular stories, (a correspondence which, only in the most rudimentary form, is found in the genuine work), appear to stamp this MS. as being, at least as far as the latter portion (which differs greatly from any other copy known to myself) is concerned, as a modern Turkish rifacimento.

  Of the remaining six interpolations, the tenth and eleventh (Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Pari-Banou and The Three Sisters) are evidently Persian and comparatively modern (as a Yankee would say) “at that.” The use of the Persian prefix, “Cogia” (Khwajeh, master or lord, Arabic equivalent ustadh or muallim), improperly applied to a ropemaker and a merchant of Baghdad, would also point to a Persian or Turkish origin of Nos. 7 and 9 (Cogia Hassan Alhabbal and Ali Cogia), as also the title “Baba” (Gaffer, Daddy, Arabic equivalent Sheikh) given to the blind man Abdalla[h] in No. 5, and the general tone of these three stories, as well as that of Sidi Nouman (No. 6), testifies to the probability of their having been composed, at a comparatively recent period, by a person not an inhabitant of Baghdad, in imitation of the legends of Haroun er Reshid and other well-known tales of the original work. It is possible that an exhaustive examination of the various MS. copies of the Thousand and One Nights known to exist in the public libraries of Europe might yet cast some light upon the question of the origin of the interpolated tales; but, in view of the strong presumption afforded by internal evidence that they are of modern composition and form no part of the authentic text, it can hardly be expected, where the result and the value of that result are alike so doubtful, that any competent person will be found to undertake so heavy a task, except as incidental to some more general enquiry. The only one of the eleven, which seems to me to bear any trace of possible connection with the Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, is Aladdin, and it may be that an examination of the MS. copies of the original work within my reach will yet enable me to trace the origin of this favourite story.

  Having at his command the earlier portion only of the collection, Galland was in some measure compelled to invent a denouement, in which he represents the Sultan as pardoning Sheherazade, in consideration of the pleasure her story-telling talents had afforded him. If we turn to the authentic text, we find a totally different version. It appears that Sheherazade had (somewhat irreconcileably) during the progress of the story-telling (extending over nearly
three years) borne the Sultan three male children; and in concluding the story of the thousand and first night, she presents these latter to him, begging him to spare her life and not leave her infants motherless. To this he consents in the most gracious fashion, telling her that he had, before their birth, resolved to spare her, in consideration of the great qualities of virtue, wisdom and nobility of mind he had discovered in her (an assertion, by the way, completely borne out by the record of Night cxlviii, in which he is represented as informing Sheherazade that she has by her wise saws and moral instances put him out of conceit with his kingdom and made him repent of having killed so many women and girls), and concludes by bestowing high honours on her father the Vizier, for having given him a wife of such worth and intelligence, and ordering the city to be decorated and general rejoicings to be celebrated. A rather amusing trait in this conclusion is the empliasis with which the author insists upon the gratifying fact that the whole cost of the rejoicings was defrayed from the royal treasury, and that not a penny came out of the pockets of the Sultan’s subjects; no doubt a sufficiently remarkable exception to the practice of Oriental despots like his hero Haroun er Reshid, who was generally careful to make some unfortunate or other provide the money which he lavished upon his favourites or flung away on the caprices, sometimes laudable, but more often extravagant and senseless, that have won him his most ill-deserved reputation.

  It is much to be regretted that the French translator, in accordance with the literary licence of an age in which the principles of the art of translation were perhaps less generally understood than at any known literary epoch, should have thought himself entitled to deal with the original text in a manner which in the present day, more strict upon the question of fidelity and local colouring, would certainly have been visited with the severest repro bation. Both in abridgment and amplification of the original, his sins of omission and commission are innumerable; and he permits himself not unfrequently the most inexplicable and apparently wilful perversions, as in the story of the Merchant and the Genie, where he makes the former throw away the shell, instead of the stone, of the date (which of course has no shell), and in that of Bedreddin Hassan, where he substitutes a cream-tart for the true corpus delicti, a mess of pomegranate-seed (a dish repeatedly mentioned in the Nights), and represents the hero as going to bed in his trousers, going out of his way solemnly to assure us, in a special footnote, that the Eastern nations invariably sleep in those garments, although it is distinctly stated in the text that Bedreddin, before getting into bed, took off his trousers, wrapped up in them the purse of a thousand dinars he had received of the Jew and placed them under the pillow of the couch, retaining only one garment, a shirt of fine silk. These are a fair specimen of the many inexcusable alterations he permits himself, and in addition to this he did not scruple to correct and adorn what doubtless seemed to him the frequently repulsive artlessness and crude simplicity of the original, expanding, abridging, amplifying and substituting in the most wholesale and uncompromising manner. To give only one example, where I might cite many, of the liberties he allowed himself in this kind, there is perhaps no passage in the old version more generally admired than the description of Egypt contained in the story of the Jewish Physician. I quote the passage as it stands in the old translation of Galland’s version, edited by Scott: