The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights
Page 111
waiba a dry measure.
wali a local governor.
witr a prayer, performed between the evening and the dawn prayers, which is recommended but not compulsory.
Yahya ibn Khalid the Barmecide a Persian who was a senior government official under the ‘Abbasid caliphs al-Mansur and Harun. He was disgraced and executed in 805 for reasons that remain mysterious.
Zaid ibn Aslam a freed slave of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab.
Ziyad ibn Abihi ibn Abihi meaning ‘Son of his Father’ – the identity of his father being unknown – (d. 676), governor of Iraq under Mu‘awiya.
Zubaida (762–831) the granddaughter of the ‘Abbasid caliph al-Mansur and famous for her wealth. She became chief wife of the caliph Harun al-Rashid and was mother to al-Amin and al-Ma’mun, both later caliphs.
al-Zuhri Muhammad ibn Muslim al-Zuhri (d. 742), the transmitter of traditions concerning the Prophet and legal authority. He frequented the Umaiyad courts, where, among other things, he was a tutor.
The ‘Abbasid Caliphate in the Ninth Century
Baghdad in the Ninth Century
Cairo in the Fourteenth Century
294–6 ‘Ali the Persian 3
296–7 Harun al-Rashid, the slave girl and Abu Yusuf 6
297–9 Khalid ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Qushairi and the lover who confessed to theft 8
299 The generosity of Ja‘far the Barmecide to the bean seller 11
299–305 Abu Muhammad the sluggard 13
305–6 The generosity of Yahya ibn Khalid to Mansur 27
306–7 The generosity of Yahya to the forger 29
307–8 The caliph al-Ma’mun and the scholar 32
308–27 ‘Ali Shar and Zumurrud 33
327–34 Harun al-Rashid and ‘Ali ibn Mansur 68
328–34 (The story of Jubair ibn ‘Umair al-Shaibani and Budur) 69
334–8 The story of al-Ma’mun, the Yemeni and the six slave girls 83
338–40 Harun al-Rashid, the slave girl and Abu Nuwas 96
340–41 The man who stole the dog’s gold bowl 100
341–2 The wali and the clever thief in Alexandria 103
342–4 Al-Malik and his three walis 104
344–5 The money-changer and the thief 108
345–6 The wali of Qus and the trickster 109
346–7 Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi and the merchant 110
347–8 The woman who gave alms to a poor man 113
348–9 The pious Israelite 114
349–51 Abu’l-Hassan al-Ziyadi and the man from Khurasan 115
351 The poor man and his friends 118
351–2 The rich man who lost and then regained his money 119
352–3 The caliph al-Mutawakkil and the slave girl Mahbuba 120
353–5 Wardan the butcher, the woman and the bear 122
355–7 The princess and the ape 125
357–71 The ebony horse 127
371–81 Uns al-Wujud and al-Ward fi’l-Akmam 148
381–3 Abu Nuwas and the three boys 177
383 ‘Abd Allah ibn Ma‘mar al-Taimi, the Basran and the slave girl 181
383–4 The ‘Udhri lovers 182
384 The vizier of Yemen and his younger brother 183
384–5 The lovers in the school 184
385 Al-Mutalammis and his wife Umaima 185
385–6 Harun al-Rashid and the Lady Zubaida in the pool 186
386 Harun al-Rashid and the three poets 187
386–7 Mus‘ab ibn al-Zubair and ‘A’isha ibn Talha 189
387 Abu’l-Aswad and his slave girl 190
387 Harun al-Rashid and the two slave girls 190
387 Harun al-Rashid and the three slave girls 190
387–8 The miller and his wife 191
388 The fool and the knave 192
388–9 Abu Yusuf and the Lady Zubaida 193
389 The caliph al-Hakim and the merchant 194
389–90 Anushirwan and the peasant girl 195
390–91 The water carrier and the goldsmith’s wife 196
391 Chrosroe, Shirin and the fisherman 197
391–2 Yahya ibn Khalid the Barmecide and the poor man 198
392 Muhammad al-Amin and Ja‘far ibn Musa al-Hadi 199
392–3 The sons of Yahya ibn Khalid and Sa‘id ibn Salim al-Bahili 200
393–4 The trick played by a wife on her husband 201
394 The pious Jewish woman and the two evil old men 202
394–5 Ja‘far the Barmecide and the old Bedouin 203
395–7 The caliph ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab and the young Bedouin 204
397–8 The caliph al-Ma’mun and the Pyramids 208
398–9 The thief and the merchant 209
399–401 Masrur and Ibn al-Qaribi 211
401–2 The pious prince 213
402–3 The schoolmaster who fell in love through what he heard 217
403 The foolish schoolmaster 219
403–4 The schoolmaster who could neither read nor write 219
404 The king and the virtuous wife 221
404–5 ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Maghribi and the rukh 222
405–7 ‘Adi ibn Zaid and Princess Hind 223
407 Di‘bil al-Khuza‘i, the lady and Muslim ibn al-Walid 225
407–9 Ishaq al-Mausili, the singer and the merchant 227
409–10 The two unfortunate lovers 231
410–11 The lovers of Tayy 232
411–12 The mad lover 233
412–14 The abbot who converted to Islam 235
414–18 Abu ‘Isa and Qurrat al-‘Ain 239
418–19 Al-Amin and his uncle, Ibrahim al-Mahdi 245
419 The caliph al-Mutawakkil and al-Fath ibn Khaqan 246
419–23 The dispute about the merits of men and women 246
423–4 Abu Suwaid and the white-haired woman 254
424 ‘Ali ibn Muhammad and the slave girl, Mu’nis 254
424 The two women and their lovers 255
424–34 ‘Ali, the Cairene merchant 255
434–6 The pilgrim and the old woman 273
436–62 The slave girl Tawaddud 275
462 The angel of death, the rich king and the pious man 321
462–3 The angel of death and the rich king 322
463–4 The angel of death and the king of the Israelites 324
464 Alexander the Great and the poor king 325
464–5 King Anushirwan the Just 326
465–6 The Jewish judge and his virtuous wife 327
466–7 The shipwrecked woman 330
467–8 The pious black slave 332
468–70 The pious Israelite and his wife 335
470–71 Al-Hajjaj and the pious man 338
471–3 The smith who could put his hand in the fire 340
473–4 The pious man and his cloud 343
474–7 The Muslim hero and the Christian girl 345
477–8 The Christian princess and the Muslim 350
478–9 The prophet and the justice of God 353
479 The Nile ferryman 354
479–81 The pious Israelite who recovered his wife and children 356
481–2 Abu’l-Hasan al-Darraj and Abu Ja‘far, the leper 360
482–536 Hasib Karim al-Din and the snake queen 363
486–533 (The story of Buluqiya 367
499–531 (The story of Janshah)) 390
536–66 Sindbad the sailor 453
538–42 (The first journey of Sindbad 455
542–6 The second journey of Sindbad 463
546–55 The third journey of Sindbad 470
550–56 The fourth journey of Sindbad 479
556–9 The fifth journey of Sindbad 490
559–62 The sixth journey of Sindbad 498
563–6 The seventh journey of Sindbad 505
566 Alternative version of the seventh journey of Sindbad: Sindbad and the elephant graveyard) 513
566–78 The City of Brass 518
578–606 The wiles of women: the king and his seven viziers 546
578–9 (The story of the ki
ng and the wife of his vizier 547
579 The story of the merchant and his parrot 549
579 The story of the fuller and his son 550
580 The story of the chaste wife 551
580–81 The story of the mean man and the bread 552
581 The story of the woman and her two lovers 553
581–2 The story of the prince and the ghula 554
582 The story of the honey 556
582 The story of the wife who made her husband sieve dirt 557
582–3 The story of the enchanted spring 558
584 The story of the vizier’s son and the wife of the bath keeper 562
584–5 The story of the wife who cheated her husband 563
586–7 The story of the goldsmith and the Kashmiri singing girl 567
587–90 The story of the man who never laughed again 570
591–2 The story of the prince and the merchant’s wife 576
592 The story of the page who pretended to understand the speech of birds 578
593–6 The story of the woman and her five would-be lovers 580
596 The story of the three wishes 587
596–7 The story of the stolen necklace 588
597 The story of the two doves 589
597–8 The story of Prince Bahram and Princess al-Datma 589
598–602 The story of the old woman and the merchant’s son 593
602 The story of the ‘ifrit’s beloved 601
603–4 The story of the merchant and the blind old man 603
605 The story of the lewd man and the three-year-old child 607
605–6 The story of the stolen purse and the five-year-old child) 608
606–24 Judar and his brothers 610
624–80 ‘Ajib and Gharib 648
680–81 ‘Utba and Rayya 757
681–2 Hind, daughter of al-Nu‘man, and al-Hajjaj 762
683–4 Khuzaima ibn Bishr and ‘Ikrima ibn al-Fayyad 764
684–5 Yunus al-Katib and Walid ibn Sahl 768
685–6 Harun al-Rashid and the young Bedouin girl 771
686–7 Al-Asma‘i and the three Basran girls 773
687–8 Ishaq al-Mausili and his visitor 776
688–91 The ‘Udhri lovers 779
691–3 The Bedouin and his faithful wife 784
693–5 Harun al-Rashid and the story of the woman of Basra 789
695–6 Ishaq al-Mausili and the devil 794
696–7 The Medinese lovers 796
697–8 Al-Malik al-Nasir and his vizier 799
698–708 Dalila the wily 801
708–19 The adventures of ‘Ali al-Zaibaq 824
719– Ardashir and Hayat al-Nufus 855
* ‘Storks’ is used as a parody for ‘camels’.
* Quran 27.12.
† Quran 3.103.
* Quran 9.1–2.
* Quran 51.26.
* Quran 2.64.
* The phantom of the beloved is a frequent visitor in Arabic love poetry.
* Pun on ‘Ja‘far’, Arabic for ‘stream’.
* cf. Quran 113.1.
* Al-Ward fi’l-Akmam is Arabic for ‘rose in the bud’.
* Pun on the name ‘al-Ward’, Arabic for ‘rose’.
* Burton notes: ‘His majesty wrote sad doggerel.’
* A pun on the name Badr, Arabic for ‘full moon’.
* Quran 26.225.
* Quran 38.2.
* An early Arabian idol.
* Quran 7.195.
* Quran 10.36.
* Quran 4.38.
† Quran 2.282.
‡ Quran 4.175.
* Quran 12.51.
* Quran 26.166.
* Quran 8.66.
* Quran 39.67.
* Quran 78.19.
* cf. Quran 105.3.
† Quran 2.159.
‡ Quran 16.92.
§ Quran 70.38.
* Quran 39.54.
† Quran 12.18.
‡ Quran 2.107.
§ Quran 51.56.
¶ Quran 2.28.
** Quran 16.100.
* Quran 17.110.
† Quran 96.
‡ Quran 74.
§ Quran 110.1.
* Quran 5.4.
† Quran 5.116.
‡ Quran 5.89.
§ Quran 4.124.
* Quran 11.50.
† Quran 2.282.
‡ Quran 7.154.
§ Arabic for ‘eye’ is ‘ain.
¶ In Arabic, ‘udma.
** In Arabic, adim.
* Quran 17.39.
* Quran 5.92.
* The reference to egg-laying is perhaps to the eel.
* Quran 70.40.
† Quran 10.5.
‡ Quran 36.40.
§ Quran 22.60, 57.6.
* Quran 31.34.
* Tuba, Barmahat, Kaihak, Barmuda, Misra, Hatur and Amshir are months in the Coptic (solar) calendar.
† Quran 67.5.
* Quran 36.37–8
* Quran 22.7.
† It is not clear which Simeon Tawaddud is referring to. The camel sent by God to the early Arabian prophet Salih emerged from a rock but was killed by the wicked people of Thamud (Quran 7.73–9, 11.61–8). According to the Quran (but not to the Bible, which has Isaac as the sacrifice), at the last moment a ram was substituted for Ishmael as Abraham’s sacrifice. ‘The bird seen by Abu Bakr the Truthful’ refers to the legend of a bird that made its nest at the mouth of a cave to protect the Prophet and Abu Bakr from discovery by hostile members of the Quraish tribe.
‡ According to legend, Jacob’s wolf spoke to Jacob and told him that Joseph’s brothers were not telling the truth when they claimed that Joseph had been torn to pieces by a wolf. ‘The dog of the Seven Sleepers’ refers to the dog (who was called Kitmir) and seven Christians who took refuge from persecution in the reign of the emperor Decius in a cave in the vicinity of Ephesus. There they fell into a miraculous sleep and awoke centuries later. It is not clear what Tawaddud had in mind when she referred to Ezra’s donkey. Duldul, the grey mule of the Prophet, was famous for its longevity.
* Quran 81.18.
* Quran 20.19.
* Quran 41.10.
* Quran 36.82.
* Quran 6.44.
* Quran 36.81.
* Quran 13.41.
* Quran 38.34.
* The name given by Galland to Sindbad the porter/landsman.
* Real name Ziyad ibn Mu‘awiya, a celebrated pre-Islamic poet.
† (AD 640–717) governor of north Africa at the time of the Arab invasion of Spain.
* Quran 12.28.
† Quran 4.78.
* Quran 12.28.
* Quran 9.51.
* Reference to Malik ibn Anas, founder of one of the principal schools of Islamic law.
* Arabic for ‘stranger’.
* Quran 6.103.
* Arabic for ‘morning star’.
* ‘Until the two acacia gatherers return’ is a proverbial expression for ‘never’.
* The Ansar were the Medinese who helped Muhammad after his flight from Mecca.
* Reigned AD 715–17.
† i.e. ‘the curer of the afflictions of the generous’.
* Reigned AD 724–43.
* The devil.
* Literally ‘Evil of the Road’.
* i.e. ‘You wicked fellow!’
* A reference to a sentence omitted in the text.