One Thousand and One Nights
Page 528
When the king had read this letter, he rejoiced with an exceeding joy and bestowed on me great store of presents and entreated me with the utmost honour. Some days after this, I sought of him leave to depart, but he granted it not to me save after much pressing. So I took leave of him and shipped with divers merchants and others, intending for my own country and having no desire for travel or traffic. We sailed on, without ceasing, till we had passed many islands; but, one day, as we fared on over a certain tract of the sea, there came forth upon us a multitude of boats full of men like devils, clad in chain-mail and armed with swords and daggers and bows and arrows, and surrounded us on every side. They entreated us after the cruellest fashion, smiting and wounding and slaying those who made head against them, and taking the ship, with the crew and all that were therein, carried us to an island, where they sold us all for a low price. A rich man bought me and taking me into his house, gave me to eat and drink and clothed me and entreated me kindly, till my heart was comforted and I was somewhat restored.
One day my master said to me, ‘Knowest thou not some art or handicraft?’ And I answered, saying, ‘O my lord, I am a merchant and know nought but traffic.’ Quoth he, ‘Knowest thou how to shoot with a bow and arrows?’ And I replied, ‘Yes, I know that.’ So he brought me a bow and arrows and mounting me behind him on an elephant, set out with me, at the last of the night, and fared on till we came to a forest of great trees; whereupon he made me climb a high and stout tree and giving me the bow and arrows, said to me, ‘Sit here, and when the elephants come hither by day, shoot at them, so haply thou shalt hit one of them; and if any of them fall, come at nightfall and tell me.’ Then he went away and left me trembling and fearful. I abode hidden in the tree till the sun rose, when the elephants came out and fared hither and thither among the trees, and I gave not over shooting at them with arrows, till I brought down one of them. So, at eventide, I went and told my master, who rejoiced in me and rewarded me; then he came and carried away the dead elephant.
On this wise I abode a while of time, every day shooting an elephant, whereupon my master came and carried it away, till, one day, as I sat hidden in the tree, there came up elephants without number, roaring and trumpeting, so that meseemed the earth trembled for the din. They all made for the tree whereon I was and the girth whereof was fifty cubits, and compassed it about. Then a huge elephant came up to the tree and winding his trunk about it, tugged at it, till he plucked it up by the roots and cast it to the ground. I fell among the elephants, and the great elephant, coming up to me, as I lay aswoon for affright, wound his trunk about me and tossing me on to his back, made off with me, accompanied by the others; nor did he leave faring on with me, and I absent from the world, till he brought me to a certain place and casting me down from off his back, went away, followed by the rest. I lay there awhile, till my trouble subsided and my senses returned to me, when I sat up, deeming myself in a dream, and found myself on a great hill, stretching far and wide and all of elephants’ bones. So I knew that this was their burial-place and that they had brought me thither on account of the bones.
Then I arose and fared on a day and a night, till I came to the house of my master, who saw me pale and disfeatured for fear and hunger. He rejoiced in my return and said to me, ‘By Allah, thou hast made my heart ache on thine account; for I went and finding the tree torn up by the roots, doubted not but the elephants had destroyed thee. Tell me then how it was with thee.’ So I told him what had befallen me and he marvelled exceedingly and rejoiced, saying, ‘Knowst thou where this hill is?’ ‘Yes, O my lord,’ answered I. So he took me up with him on an elephant and we rode till we came to the elephants’ burial-place.
When he saw those many bones, he rejoiced therein with an exceeding joy and carried away what he had a mind to thereof. Then we returned to his house and he entreated me with increased favour and said to me, ‘Verily, O my son, thou hast directed us to a passing great gain, may God requite thee with all good! Thou art free for the sake of God the Most High. Every year these elephants used to kill of us much people on account of these bones; but God delivered thee from them and thou hast done us good service in the matter of these bones, of which thou hast given us to know; wherefore thou meritest a great recompense, and thou art free.’ ‘O my lord,’ answered I, ‘may God free thy neck from the fire! I desire of thee that thou give me leave to return to my own country.’ ‘So be it,’ replied he; ‘but we have a fair, on occasion whereof the merchants come hither to us and take of us these elephants’ bones. The time of the fair is now at hand, and when they come to us, I will send thee with them and give thee somewhat to bring thee to thine own country.’
I blessed him and thanked him and abode with him in all honour and consideration, till, after a little, the merchants came, even as he had said, and bought and sold and bartered; and when they were about to depart, my master came to me and said, ‘The merchants are about to depart; arise, that thou mayst go with them to thy country.’ So I betook myself to the folk, and behold, they had bought great store of elephants’ bones and bound up their loads and embarked in the ship; and my master took passage for me with them and paid my hire and all that was chargeable upon me. Moreover, he gave me great store of goods and we set sail and passed from island to island, till we traversed the sea and arrived at the port of our destination; whereupon the merchants brought out their goods and sold; and I also brought out that which was with me and sold it at a good profit.
Then I bought of the best and finest of the produce and rarities of the country and all I had a mind to and a good hackney and we set out again and traversed the deserts from country to country till we came to Baghdad. Then I went in to the Khalif and saluted him and kissed his hand; after which I acquainted him with all that had passed and that which had befallen me. He rejoiced in my deliverance and thanked God the Most High; then he caused write my story in letters of gold and I betook myself to my house and foregathered with my brethren and family. This, then,” added Sindbad, “is the last of that which befell me in my travels, and praise be to God, the One, the Creator, the Maker!”
When Sindbad the Sailor had made an end of his story, he bade his servant give the porter an hundred mithcals of gold and said to him, “How now, my brother! Hast ever in the world heard of one whom such calamities have betided as have betided me and hath any suffered that which I have suffered of afflictions or undergone that which I have undergone of hardships? Wherefore it behoveth that I have these pleasures in requital of that which I have undergone of travail and humiliations.” So the porter came forward and kissing the merchant’s hands, said to him, “O my lord, thou hast indeed suffered grievous perils and hast well deserved these bounteous favours [that God hath vouchsafed thee]. Abide, then, O my lord, in thy delights and put away from thee [the remembrance of] thy troubles; and may God the Most High crown thine enjoyments with perfection and accomplish thy days in pleasance until the hour of thine admission [to His mercy]!”
Therewithal Sindbad the Sailor bestowed largesse upon him and made him his boon-companion, and he abode, leaving him not night or day, to the last of their lives. Praise be to God the Glorious, the Omnipotent, the Strong, the Exalted of estate, Creator of heaven and earth and land and sea, to whom belongeth glorification! Amen. Amen. Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds! Amen.
John Payne’s translation: detailed table of contents
NOTE.
As stated In the Prefatory Note to my “Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night,” four printed Editions (of which three are more or less complete) exist of the Arabic text of the original work, namely those of Calcutta (1839-42), Boulac (Cairo), Breslau (Tunis) and Calcutta (1814-18). The first two are, for purposes of tabulation, practically identical, one whole story only, of those that occur in the Calcutta (1839-42) Edition, (which is the most complete of all,) being omitted from that of Boulac; and I have, therefore, given but one Table of Contents for these two Editions. The Breslau Edition, though differing widely from thos
e of Calcutta (1839-42) and Boulac in contents, resembles them in containing the full number (a thousand and one) of Nights, whilst that of Calcutta (1814-18) is but a fragment, comprising only the first two hundred Nights and the Voyages of Sindbad, as a separate Tale.
The subscribers to my “Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night” and the present “Tales from the Arabic” have now before them a complete English rendering (the first ever made) of all the tales contained in the four printed (Arabic) Texts of the original work and I have, therefore, thought it well to add to this, the last Volume of my Translation, full Tables of Contents of these latter, a comparison of which will show the exact composition of the different Editions and the particulars in which they differ from one another, together with the manner in which the various stories that make up the respective collections are distributed over the Nights. In each Table, the titles of the stories occurring only in the Edition of which it gives the contents are printed in Italics and each Tale is referred to the number of the Night on which it is begun.
The Breslau Edition, which was printed from a Manuscript of the Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night alleged to have been furnished to the Editor by a learned Arab of Tunis, whom he styles “Herr M. Annaggar” (Qućre En Nejjar, the Carpenter), the lacunes found in which were supplemented from various other MS. sources indicated by Silvestre de Sacy and other eminent Orientalists, is edited with a perfection of badness to which only German scholars (at once the best and worst editors in the world) can attain. The original Editor, Dr. Maximilian Habicht, was during the period (1825- 1839) of publication of the first eight Volumes, engaged in continual and somewhat acrimonious controversy concerning the details of his editorship with Prof. H. L. Fleischer, who, after his death, undertook the completion of his task and approved himself a worthy successor of his whilom adversary, his laches and shortcomings in the matter of revision and collation of the text being at least equal in extent and gravity to those of his predecessor, whilst he omitted the one valuable feature of the latter’s work, namely, the glossary of Arabic words, not occurring in the dictionaries, appended to the earlier volumes.
As an instance of the extreme looseness with which the book was edited, I may observe that the first four Vols. were published without tables of contents, which were afterwards appended en bloc to the fifth Volume. The state of corruption and incoherence in which the printed Text was placed before the public by the two learned Editors, who were responsible for its production, is such as might well drive a translator to despair: the uncorrected errors of the press would alone fill a volume and the verse especially is so corrupt that one of the most laborious of English Arabic scholars pronounced its translation a hopeless task. I have not, however, in any single instance, allowed myself to be discouraged by the difficulties presented by the condition of the text, but have, to the best of my ability, rendered into English, without abridgment or retrenchment, the whole of the tales, prose and verse, contained in the Breslau Edition, which are not found in those of Calcutta (1839-42) and Boulac. In this somewhat ungrateful task, I have again had the cordial assistance of Captain Burton, who has (as in the case of my “Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night”) been kind enough to look over the proofs of my translation and to whom I beg once more to tender my warmest thanks.
Some misconception seems to exist as to the story of Seif dhoul Yezen, a fragment of which was translated by Dr. Habicht and included, with a number of tales from the Breslau Text, in the fourteenth Vol. of the extraordinary gallimaufry published by him in 1824-5 as a complete translation of the 1001 Nights and it has, under the mistaken impression that this long but interesting Romance forms part of the Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, been suggested that a complete translation of it should be included in the present publication. The Romance in question does not, however, in any way, belong to my original and forms no part of the Breslau Text, as will be at once apparent from an examination of the Table of Contents of the latter (see post, ), by which all the Nights are accounted for. Dr. Habicht himself tells us, in his preface to the first Vol. of the Arabic Text, that he found the fragment (undivided into Nights) at the end of the fifth Volume of his MS., into which other detached tales, having no connection with the Nights, appear to have also found their way. This being the case, it is evident that the Romance of Seif dhoul Yezen in no way comes within the scope of the present work and would (apart from the fact that its length would far overpass my limits) be a manifestly improper addition to it. It is, however, possible that, should I come across a suitable text of the work, I may make it the subject of a separate publication; but this is, of course, a matter for future consideration.
John Payne’s translation: detailed table of contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE UNFINISHED CALCUTTA (1814-18) EDITION (FIRST TWO HUNDRED NIGHTS ONLY) OF THE ARABIC TEXT OF THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT.
Introduction.
a. The Ox and the Ass
1. The Merchant and the Genie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .i
a. The First Old Man’s Story . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
b. The Second Old Man’s Story. . . . . . . . iv
2. The Fisherman and the Genie. . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
a. The Physician Douban. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
aa. The Merchant and the Parrot . . . . . . . .xiv
ab. The King’s Son and the Ogress . . . . . . . xv
b. The Enchanted Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxi
3. The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad . . . . xxviii
a. The First Calender’s Story. . . . . . . . . . .xxxix
b. The Second Calender’s Story . . . . . . . . . . xlii
ba. The Envier and the Envied . . . . . . . . xlvi
c. The Third Calender’s Story. . . . . . . . . . . liii
d. The Eldest Lady’s Story . . . . . . . . lxiv
4. The Three Apples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxviii
5. Noureddin Ali of Cairo and his Son Bedreddin Hassan.lxxii
6. Isaac of Mosul’s Story of Khedijeh and the Khalif El Mamounxciv
7. Story of the Hunchback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ci
a. The Christian Broker’s Story. . . . . . . . . . .cix
b. The Cook’s Story. . . . . . . . . . . . cxxi
c. The Jewish Physician’s Story. . . . . . . . . .cxxix
d. The Tailor’s Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxxxvi
e. The Barber’s Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxliii
ea. Story of the Barber’s First Brother . . . cxlv
eb. Story of the Barber’s Second Brother. .cxlviii
ec. Story of the Barber’s Third Brother . . . .cli
ed. Story of the Barber’s Fourth Brother. . . clii
ee. Story of the Barber’s Fifth Brother . . . cliv
ef. Story of the Barber’s Sixth Brother . . clviii
8. Ali ben Bekkar and Shemsennehar. . . . . . . . . . clxiii
9. Noureddin Ali and the Damsel Ennis el Jelis. . . . clxxxi
10. Women’s Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .cxcv-cc
11. Sindbad the Sailor and Hindbad the Porter
a. The First Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor
b. The Second Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor
c. The Third Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor
d. The Fourth Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor
e. The Fifth Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor
f. The Sixth Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor
g. The Seventh Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor
John Payne’s translation: detailed table of contents
ALPHABETICAL TABLE OF THE FIRST LINES OF THE VERSE IN THE “TALES FROM THE ARABIC.”
N.B. — The Roman numerals denote the volume, the Arabic the page
A Damsel made for love and decked with subtle grace, iii. 192.
A fair one, to idolaters if she herself should show, iii. 10.
A sun of beauty she appears to all who lo
ok on her, iii. 191.
A white one, from her sheath of tresses now laid bare, ii. 291.
After your loss, nor trace of me nor vestige would remain, iii. 41.
Algates ye are our prey become; this many a day and night, iii. 6.
All intercessions come and all alike do ill succeed, ii. 218.
An if my substance fail, no one there is will succour me, i. 6.
An if ye’d of evil be quit, look that no evil ye do, ii. 192.
Assemble, ye people of passion, I pray, iii. 31.
Awaken, O ye sleepers all, and profit, whilst it’s here, ii. 234.
Beard of the old he-goat, the one-eyed, what shall be, ii. 231.
Behold, I am clad in a robe of leaves green, ii. 242.
But for the spying of the eyes [ill-omened,] we had seen, i. 50.
By Allah, but that I trusted that I should meet you again, ii. 266.
By Him whom I worship, indeed, I swear, O thou that mine eye dost fill, ii. 213.
Damascus is all gardens decked for the pleasance of the eyes, iii. 9.
Drink ever, O lovers, I rede you, of wine, ii. 230.
El Abbas from Akil his stead is come again, iii. 108.
Endowed with amorous grace past any else am I, ii 253.
Fair fall the maid whose loosened locks her cheeks do overcloud! iii. 191.
Fair patience practise, for thereon still followeth content, iii. 116.
Fair patience use, for ease still followeth after stress, iii. 117.
For the uses of food I was fashioned and made, ii. 223.
“Forget him,” quoth my censurers, “forget him; what is he?” iii. 42.
Fortune its arrows all, through him I love, let fly, iii. 31.
Full many a man incited me to infidelity, i. 205.
God judge betwixt me and her lord! Away, i. 48.
God keep the days of love-delight! How dearly sweet they were! i. 225.