part ii, p. 118.

[160] The canopy of a howdah, or chair for riding on an elephant, called _hauda-amári_—canopied howdah.

[161] See note on page 271.

[162] This recalls an incident in the Indian story of the virtuous Devasmitá, who entraps four suitors, during her husband’s absence on a trading journey, who visit her in succession, and, while they are insensible from the effects of a narcotic mixed with their wine, causes each to be branded on the forehead with a hot iron. The suitors return to their own country, where the lady’s husband is residing for a time, and Devasmitá soon after sets out thither, disguised as a man, where she claims all four as her slaves in presence of the king, causing them to remove their head-gear and expose the brands; and she “lets them off” on payment of a large sum of money.—(Tawney’s translation of the _Kathá Sarit Ságara_: Ocean of the Streams of Story, vol. i, pp. 85-92.)—Henceforward the four rascally brothers of Táj ul-Mulúk are, as the Icelandic story-tellers say, “out of this tale.”

[163] “Jasmine-face.”

[164] Shírín was the beautiful wife of Khusrau Parvíz, king of Persia, and Farhád, a famous sculptor, was madly enamoured of her. All the sculptures on the mountain of Bistán are ascribed to Farhád’s chisel. According to the popular tradition, King Parvíz promised that if he cut through the rock and brought a stream that flowed on the other side of the hill into the valley the lovely Shírín should be his reward. He was on the point of completing his Herculean labour when Khusrau Parvíz, fearing to lose Shírín, sent an old woman to inform him that she was dead. Farhád was then at the highest parts of the rocks, and on hearing this false report in despair threw himself down headlong, and was dashed to pieces.—The story of Farhád and Shírín is the subject of several beautiful (often, if not always, mystical) Persian and Turkish poems.

[165] G. de Tassy remarks that “a declaration of love on the part of a woman, and especially one so passionate, is not according to our manners, but it is so to those of the East; and the numerous Asiatic stories which have been translated into European languages have rendered it quite familiar to us.”—A very remarkable example is furnished in the immortal tale of Nala and Damayanti (_Mahábhárata_, section lvi of the “Vana Parva”), where the virtuous and beautiful daughter of Vidharba thus addresses Nala: “O King, love me with proper regard, and command me what I shall do for thee. Myself and what of wealth is mine are thine. Grant me, O exalted one, thy love in full trust. O giver of the proper honour, if thou forsake me who adore thee, for thy sake will I resort to poison, or fire, or water, or the rope!” Bakáwalí “spared her maiden blushes” (if she _could_ blush) by expressing her love for our hero in writing; but Damayanti—all truth and innocence—made her avowal to the god-like king of the Nishadhas in words from her own sweet mouth: and who would not be enraptured to hear such a soft confession made to him by such a peerless Queen of Beauty?

[166] Not the _images_ in Chinese temples, which are described by travellers as very hideous, but the beautiful women of China. Persian poets often term pretty girls _idols_, and themselves _idolators_, for worshipping them.

[167] _Surma_ is the black ore of antimony, or ter-sulphide. The Muslim men apply antimony to their eyelids, but their women use _kohl_, or lamp-black, for this purpose. It is a popular belief among Indian Muslims that the finest kind of _surma_ comes from Arabia—from the hills of Sinai or Tur, etc. They have a legend that when Moses was on Mount Sinai he asked that the glory of God should be shown to him. He was answered that his mortal sight could not bear the glory; but through a chink of the rock a ray of light was allowed to fall on him, and the rock on which the ray fell was melted into antimony. (Balfour’s _Cyclopædia of India_.)—There is a curious legend current in the Panjáb regarding the origin of the antimony which is found on the summit of Mount Karanglí, near Pind Dádan Khán, in the Jhelan district. A fakír (religious mendicant) once came from Kashmír and asked the name of the mountain, and was told that it was called Karanglí. He at once exclaimed: “_Karanglí sone ranglí!_” that is, Karanglí the gold-coloured; whereupon the mountain became all gold. This frightened the good people of the neighbourhood, who dreaded that the place should become a general battle-field for the sake of the gold. So the fakír said: “_Karanglí surme ranglí!_” that is, Karanglí the antimony-coloured, upon which the mountain became all antimony. This antimony is now to be found on the top of it, but as it is surrounded by precipices the antimony cannot be reached, and so the people have to wait until pieces of it are washed down by the rains. When procured it is most valuable, and will, if used for eight days, restore to sight all those who have become blind through sickness or accident. It cannot, however, cure those who are born blind.

[168] “Beautiful Lady”—“Lady Beautiful.”

[169] “Happy King”—“King Prosperous.”

[170] See note 1, page 259.

[171] In a Buddhist work entitled _Wæsakára-sataka_ (a hundred stanzas) is the following: “The evil man is to be avoided, though he be arrayed in the robe of all the sciences, as we flee from the serpent, though it be adorned with the _kantha_ jewel.” The natives of Ceylon, says Spence Hardy, believe that this gem is to be found in the throat of the _nayá_. “It emits a light more brilliant than the purest diamond; and when the serpent wishes to discover anything in the dark it disgorges the substance, swallowing it again when its work is done. It is thought possible to obtain the jewel by throwing dust upon it when out of the serpent’s mouth; but if the reptile should be killed to obtain it, misfortune would certainly follow.”—_Eastern Monachism_, p. 316. (See also note, _ante_, p. 232.)

[172] A kind of hill-starling.

[173] Our hero understood bird-language, and the author has probably omitted to mention that he acquired that knowledge by possessing the snake-stone. In the folk-tales of all countries we find that great benefits accrue to a forlorn hero by his overhearing the conversation of birds or beasts, and of demons in Indian stories. The reader will find much to interest him on this subject in an able paper on the Language of Animals by Mr. J. G. Frazer in the first vol. of the _Archæological Review_, 1888; and I may be permitted to refer him also to my Introduction to John Lane’s _Continuation of Chaucer’s Squire’s Tale_, published for the Chaucer Society.

[174] The transformed prince having given birth to a child was ceremonially unclean for the period of forty days.—See the note on pp. 140, 141.

[175] Here our author exhorts his readers.

[176] Káf is a range of mountains which, like a vast ring, enclose the Circumambient Ocean (_Bahru-’l-Muhít_) that surrounds the whole earth, which, according to the Muhammedan cosmography, is flat, not round. These mountains are composed of green chrysolite, the reflection of which causes the greenish (or blueish) tint of the sky. (See Mr. E. J. W. Gibb’s _Ottoman Poems_, note 6.)—“From Káf to Káf”: from end to end of the earth.—Bistán is the famous mountain on which Farhád chiselled figures.

[177] “Soul-expander”—“Vivifier.”

[178] “Victorious King.”

[179] Here we have a fairy island called “Paradise,” as we have before had a city of the same name, where the artful Dilbar resided—p. 244.

[180] A proud and wicked king of Yaman, called Shaddad, according to the Muhammedan legend, declared blasphemously: “There is no necessity for Paradise for me: I myself will make a Paradise of which no man can have beheld the like.” He sent his officers to find out a suitable spot for a garden, and they discovered such a place on the borders of Syria, where Shaddad, at an immense cost, caused a palace to be erected of gold and silver bricks in alternate courses, and adorned with the most precious stones. In the garden were placed trees of gold and silver, the fruit of which was amethysts, rubies, and other gems (see also _ante_, p. 166, note on Treasure-trees); and the ground was strewed with musk, ambergris, and saffron. They called this place the Rose Garden of Iram. When Shaddad was about to enter it, accompanied by a vast multitude of troops and attendants, he was met by the Angel of Death, who forthwith seized his impure soul, and then the lightnings of heaven destroyed all living creatures that were there, and the Rose Garden of Iram became hidden from the sight of men.—In the present romance the abode of the parents of Bakáwalí is called the Garden of Iram, to indicate its magnificence.

[181] One of the numerous legends told by Muslims regarding Solomon reappears in the Turkish story-book entitled _Qirq vezír taríkhí_, where we read that the sage Hebrew king despatched the símurgh—a fabulous bird, similar to the _rukh_ (or _roc_) of Arabian fictions—to bring the sparrow to his court. But the sparrow, being then with his mate, refused to obey the prophet, or his messenger, and vaunted his prowess and strength, declaring that he was able to pull down Solomon’s palace. When the símurgh reported this to Solomon he replied: “There is no harm in one thus bragging in his own house, and before his wife.”—See Gibb’s _Forty Vezírs_, p. 97 ff.

[182] The _mán_ has varied at different periods and in different parts of Persia and India; but our author means us to understand that the stone wielded by the demon was very ponderous—three or four hundred pounds’ weight at the least, which would doubtless be to _him_ as a mere “pebble out of the brook”!

[183] “Adorner of Beauty”; the wife of Muzaffar Sháh.

[184] Yet we are told that he is “a _little_ lower than the angels”; and if he was “created perfect,” he has “sought out many inventions”! It is amusing how Muslim writers exaggerate the “dignity” of man: generally he is the most contemptible creature on the face of the earth.

[185] Cf. Shakspeare: “tongues in trees,” etc. And the Persian poet Sa’dí: “The foliage of a newly-clothed tree, to the eye of a discerning man, displays a volume of the wondrous works of the Creator.”

[186] Joseph, the son of Jacob the Hebrew patriarch.—A most dutiful little speech this: O the hypocritical young creature!

[187] Although Muhammed strictly prohibited the drinking of wine, even more potent liquors are indulged in by many Muslims, especially those of the _shi’ah_ persuasion. The more strict _súnís_ create for themselves a “paradise of fools” with narcotics, such as _bang_ and other preparations of which opium is the principal ingredient, satisfying their “consciences” with the quibble that the holy Prophet does not forbid its use in express terms—an omission which is probably due to his ignorance of such deleterious drugs. The old pagan Arabs were inordinate wine-bibbers, as we learn from their poetry, and sanguinary fights were a frequent result between rival factions when they assembled from different districts at Makka. Muhammed at first attempted, by a “revelation” in the Kurán, to restrain this propensity within reasonable bounds, and finding this of no effect prohibited wine altogether. It seems to have been a very ancient custom among Asiatics to drink wine in the early morning, and in the _Mu’allaka_ poems, which were suspended in the Temple at Makka before the advent of Muhammed, the “morning draught” is frequently mentioned, with evident _gusto_. The prophet Isaiah exclaims: “Woe unto those that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue till night, till wine inflame them!”—ch. v, 11.

[188] See the note on p. 8.

[189] _Nau Ratn_: “the Nine Gems,” an ornament worn on the arm, which indicates the only gems that are esteemed as precious. They are: the diamond, ruby, emerald, sapphire, topaz, pearl, coral, hyacinth, carbuncle. The inferior gems, such as agate, bloodstone, etc., are mostly used for signet-rings.—There is a collection of tales, in the Urdú, entitled _Nauratan_, compiled by Mahjúr, and published at Lucknow in the year 1811. It consists of nine stories (hence the title, “Nine Jewels”), which all turn on the deceits (_charítr_) and tricks of women and are mostly taken from the Book of Sindibád.

[190] Frequent allusion is made in the _Arabian Nights_ and in Eastern amatory poetry to this singular kind of caress.

[191] The _henna_ of the Persians—see note on page 11. Mehndí is the _Lawsonia alba_ of botanists, and the water distilled from its flowers is used as a perfume.

[192] Indra, in the Hindú mythology, is the god of thunder—a personification of the sky. His paradise is Swerga, the capital of which is Armaràvati, or Amarnagar in Urdú.

[193] He could not, therefore, have been one of the “immortals,” but of a race like the jinn or the parís, who are subject to death, though their existence is prolonged greatly beyond that of mere human beings.

[194] This is quite after the manner of Asiatic despots—and the deity Indra is here nothing better—and at once recalls a similar incident, which cost a good man his head: when the daughter of Herodias danced before King Herod, he was so charmed with that young light-skirt’s performance that he said to her: “Ask whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee” (Mark vi, 22).

[195] This transformation will remind readers of the tale of the young King of the Ebony Isles in the _Arabian Nights_.—The deities of the Hindú mythology are frequently represented as condemning inferior celestials who have offended them to be re-born on the earth, in the form of a human being, or as some beast, bird, or reptile, so to remain for a certain period. But this punishment of Bakáwalí is more in accordance with Muslim ideas.

[196] “Mark of Beauty.”

[197] Like the one-eyed young men in the Arabian tale of the Second Kalander, or Royal Mendicant—only _they_ suffered for their curiosity while these (as we shall just see) were the victims of a hard-hearted beauty.

[198] “Picture-like.”

[199] This recalls Milton’s well-worn lines in his description of “our common mother” Eve:

“Grace was in every step, heaven in her eye, In every gesture dignity and love.”

The “witchery,” or “magic,” of a pretty girl’s eyes is quite as common a subject of complaint, or admiration, in Western as in Eastern amatory poetry: by Muslims it is called “Babylonian magic,” because the Chaldeans were past masters in magical arts.

[200] According to the Hindús, there are ten stages of love: (1) Love of the eyes; (2) attachment of the mind; (3) the production of desire; (4) sleeplessness; (5) emaciation; (6) indifference to objects of sense; (7) loss of shame; (8) distraction; (9) fainting; (10) death!

[201] Betel: the areca or Penang nut palm grown in many parts of the East Indies. Its kernel is used as a masticatory in India and elsewhere. The nut is carried in pouches and presented to guests in the houses of the rich on silver trays wrapped in gold and silver leaf, and in this form becomes an essential part in all ceremonial visits. Indeed, among some of the inhabitants of the Eastern Archipelago, to refuse the betel when offered would give unpardonable offence. It is believed to sweeten the breath, strengthen the stomach, and preserve the teeth; and when chewed with betel leaf (the Piper betel, _Linn._) it gives the saliva a red colour, which it imparts also to the lips and gums (_Balfour_). The presentation of betel to visitors is a signal that the audience or interview is ended.

[202] “Blameless”: “spotless.”

[203] “Bright.”

[204] See page 299.

[205] The story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, Zulaykhá (which was her name, according to Muslim legends), is a favourite subject of several Persian poems. She is said to have visited the young Hebrew slave in prison, but he would not gain his liberty at the cost of his chastity. Potiphar is represented to have been a eunuch. In the end Zulaykhá is united to her beloved Joseph.

[206] _’itr-i gul_—essence of roses. Our term “otto” is a corruption of _’itr_ or _’attár_, this latter word also signifies a perfumer, or druggist.—Most women, I suppose, are fond of perfumes, but Eastern ladies are passionately so, and the description of Chitrawat as being so highly “scented” that the finest odours were diffused around her, is fully borne out by travellers and Europeans who have resided in Egypt, Turkey, Persia, etc. The sole nourishment of parís, or fairies, it is said, consists of perfumes—a pretty idea, if nothing more.

[207] Because these were signs that he was newly married.

[208] A manly, straightforward, even touching statement in defence of his conduct in peculiar circumstances, and such as is rarely met with in an Eastern tale. Our author is here at his best, and this is saying not a little.

[209] “The falling out of faithful friends renewing is of love!”

[210] The doctrine of metempsychosis has no place in the creed of Islám and it is quite phenomenal to find such an incident as this in a Muhammedan work. Many Persian and Arabian fictions, like the present romance, are of Indian extraction, but the Hindú characters of the originals are always—with only this exception, as well as I can recollect—changed to good Muslims.

[211] In India early marriages of girls are the almost invariable rule; indeed they are often married, or betrothed, in infancy. A Bráhman girl who grows up without being married loses her caste. The duty of choosing a husband belongs in the first place to her father, and if he be dead, then to her paternal grandfather if he be alive, then to her brother, cousin, and lastly to her mother. If she have reached the age of eight years without having been provided with a husband, she may choose for herself.

[212] Oriental hyperbole, of which we have a very striking example in the last verse of the apostle John’s gospel.

[213] Bahrám is the Persian name of the planet Mars; and of all who have ever borne the name, the Persian king Bahrám-i Ghúr (so called from his passion for hunting the wild ass) is the most renowned in song or story.

[214] In the East no person ever visits his superior without carrying in his hand a present of some kind, called the _nazar_ in Persian.—See the First Book of Samuel, ix, 7.

[215] To wit, _Mulk-i Nighárín_, the country appropriated by Táj ul-Mulúk, where he caused his grand palace to be erected by the fairies.—See _ante_, p. 281.

[216] A much greater “crush” than even that in Ceylon!—see preceding page.

[217] See _ante_, notes on pp. 232 and 297.

[218] “Violet.”

[219] “To account for the allegorical passion entertained by the nightingale for the rose, which is the subject of so much beautiful imagery in Persian poetry, we must consider,” says Sir William Ouseley, “that the plaintive voice of that sweet bird is first heard at the same season of the year in which the rose begins to blow. By a natural association of ideas they are therefore connected as the constant and inseparable attendants of the spring. It is probable, too, that the nightingale’s favourite retreat may be the rose-garden, and the leaves of that flower occasionally its food; but it is certain that he is delighted with its odour and sometimes indulges the fragrant luxury (if I may be allowed the expression) to such excess as to fall from the branch intoxicated and helpless to the ground.”—_Persian Miscellanies_, p. 91.

[220] The transformation of a man into a bird occurs very often in Asiatic fictions: there are numerous instances in the _Kathá Sarit Ságara_ and other Indian collections. This is commonly done by fastening a string round the victim’s neck, or sticking a pin in his head, and uttering certain magical words; and by removing the string or the pin the man is at once restored to his natural form.

[221] Here, in the original, the pious author thus addresses his reader: “My friend, you are as blind as they! You seek at Heaven’s footstool for the Being who dwells, without your suspecting it, in the habitation of your own heart. You seek far, far away, when he is quite near.” Cf. Acts, xvii, 27.

[222] “Rose-cheek.”

[223] Oriental poetry abounds in conceits of this kind. Thus Wásif, the celebrated Persian historian and poet, apostrophises his lady-love: “The impression of the happy moments passed in thy loved presence will never be obliterated from the tablet of my heart, whilst the world revolves and the stars continue their course. The pen of intense love has so vividly written Eternal Affection on the page of my soul, that if my body languish, nay, even if my life expire, that soft impress will remain.”—But our own poet Cowley is not a whit less extravagant when he declares:

“Let Nature, if she please, disperse My atoms over all the universe; At the last they easily shall Themselves know, and together call; For thy love, like a mark, is stampt on all—

ALL OVER LOVE!”

[224] The _tika_ is a round piece of clay, paint, or tissue on the forehead of a Hindú, indicating his caste. Amongst Hindús generally it means the circular mark made with coloured earths, or unguents, on the forehead. It is curious that this purely Hindú term should have been retained by a Muslim writer; but it is another indication of the Indian origin of the romance.

[225] Although Bakáwalí and Rúh-afzá are supposed to be fairies, yet they act as real flesh-and-blood women. And how like is this charming little scene between the two affectionate girls to what has doubtless occurred thousands of times amongst ourselves! If there be, as that shrewd observer Sam Slick assures us, “a deal of human natur’ in man,” there is, as certainly, a deal of _woman_ nature in woman all the world over.

[226] For descriptions of the marriage ceremonies among the Muhammedans of India see Herklots’ translation of the _Qanoon-i Islám_, p. 93 ff.; _Observations on the Mussulmans of India_, by Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, vol. i, p. 352 ff.; and a paper on Hindú and Muhammedan marriage ceremonies, by Col. C. Mackenzie, in the _Trans. of the Royal Asiatic Society_, vol. iii, p. 170 ff.

[227] Truly a most promising beginning! Such is the inflated style which alone is appreciated by the modern Persians and the Muslims of India. For since the decline of literature in Persia—which began soon after the death of the justly-celebrated poet Jamí, in A.D. 1492—the compositions of Persian authors have been chiefly characterised by puerile conceits and meaningless plays upon words and phrases, for which indeed the language furnishes every facility. Nevertheless, the reader can hardly fail to be highly diverted with the following tale, which the writer has simply re-dressed in his own style, for assuredly he was not its inventor.

[228] Here the author is employing the various processes of the Eastern bath in describing the chattering of three ladies who have “foregathered” there.—“The Persian ladies,” says Sir R. Ker Porter, in his _Travels in Georgia, Persia_, etc., vol. i, 233, “regard the bath as the place of their greatest amusement; they make appointments to meet there, and often pass seven or eight hours together in the carpeted saloon, telling stories, relating anecdotes, eating sweetmeats, sharing their kalyouns [pipes] and embellishing their beautiful forms with all the fancied perfection of the East; dyeing their hair and eyebrows; and curiously staining their fair bodies with a variety of fantastic devices, not unfrequently with the figures of trees and birds, the sun, moon, and stars.”

[229] A purely imaginary personage, of course, invented and introduced by the author, because he had just mentioned a ring set with a fine gem.—The reader will find many similar absurdities in the course of the narrative, and I need make no farther remark upon them.

[230] Eastern baths are used by men and women on different days of every week.

[231] Shamsah is the name of a sorceress who figures in several Asiatic fictions.

[232] Banafshá: Violet, the name of the girl.

[233] Sums of money mean nothing in an Eastern story: 1000 dínars would be equivalent to about 500 pounds, English currency; but were the amount even in dirhams the carpenter would be giving the girl 25 pounds—a handsome “tip” indeed!

[234] Among Muslims when the moon is new or full is the preferable time for marriage, but she must be clear of the sign of the Scorpion, which is considered very unlucky.

[235] Bilkís, according to Muslim tradition, was the name of the celebrated Queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon “in all his glory.” Many curious legends, or stories, are related, both by the Rabbins and the Muslims, regarding Solomon and Bilkís. It is said that Solomon had been told by some slanderer that she had goats’ feet and legs. In order to ascertain the fact, he caused the floor of the audience-chamber to be laid with glass or crystal. When Bilkís entered the chamber and perceived what looked like clear water on the floor, she gracefully raised the skirt of her dress a few inches, to save it from being wetted, and Solomon saw, to his great relief, that she had a pair of “natty” little human feet. We are told in the Bible that the Queen of Sheba plied the sage monarch with “hard questions,” but he answered them every one (1 Kings, x, 1-3). So much was Solomon charmed with her sagacity, virtue, and modesty, that he ultimately married her.—Our friend the Kází, to mollify his wife, calls her a second Bilkís.

[236] The usual exclamation of a Muslim when he believes the Devil is playing him some mischievous trick.—See note on page 277.

[237] An abstract of this story will be found in the Appendix.

[238] The carpenter is a curious compound of shrewdness and simplicity: not content to vaunt his acquaintance with popular tales, he must add that his father daily passed by a famous school-house—implying that the _knowledge_ supposed to be thus obtained by his parent had been transmitted to himself! The Kází is no doubt “all there,” but for his love of money and jealousy of his artful wife. We have the authority of a certain noble poet that avarice is “a good old-gentlemanly vice”; but nobody can say a word in favour of jealousy, the “green-eyed monster,” who caused the death of sweet Desdemona.

[239] “Put a feather in his bonnet” is not quite the Eastern expression, though its meaning is thus fairly enough rendered in English: the carpenter may be said, in Biblical phrase, to have “exalted his horn”—as the poet Burns has it in his verses on his first visit to Lord Dare, “up higher yet my bannet!” We used also to say of a man who evidently thought highly of himself that he “cocked his beaver.”

[240] We have also seen in the story of Sháh Manssur, p. 18, how the unchaste woman made her husband believe that he was mad.—The Kází ascribes his imaginary ailment to over-eating, but also, as I understand it, to the fact that the food of which he partook too freely had been baked in _hog’s blood_. Swine’s flesh is an abomination to the Muslim as to the Jew, though the law allows the former to eat any kind of food if he be pressed by hunger and nothing else can be procured. Possibly the worthy Kází at the time he was in the house of the deceased Kávas the Armenian—where hog’s flesh and hog’s blood might well be found—thought that his condition, as to appetite, justified his eating of the “funeral baked meats,” though partly composed of the unclean animal.

[241] The muezzin was proclaiming the hour of prayer.

[242] Iblís: Satan. Possibly Iblís is a corruption of Diabolus.—Artful, intriguing women are often described as being able to pull out the Devil’s claws, and Satan himself would confess there was no escaping from their cunning!

[243] There is an omission in this tale which leaves it practically pointless, since it is not apparent how the lady’s words, “I remember,” should have sent her husband away without his having opened the chest. Much the same tale occurs in Mr. Gibb’s translation of the Turkish story-book, _Qirq vezír taríkhí_ (“History of the Forty Vazírs,” p. 401), in which a man and his wife are playing the game _yad est_, or “I remember”—a game that may continue for days, and even weeks, the conditions being that neither must accept of anything from the other without saying, “I remember”; should one of them do so, the other on repeating these words becomes entitled to a forfeit. In the Turkish story, as, quite obviously, in the foregoing, the husband has taken a _yad est_ with his wife, and is led by the latter to believe that she had made these preparations as for a feast, and trumped up the story about having concealed her lover in the chest, in order to take him by surprise when she should give him the key, and by his omitting to say “I remember” she should win the forfeit.

[244] Sumbul: Hyacinth, the name of the youth.

[245] An order of religious mendicants.

[246] Narkis: Narcissus, the name of one of his servants.

[247] See note on page 303, and note 1 on page 306.

[248] The Vazír forgot that he had previously told the king that the Khoja was “notorious for his immorality”—p. 392.

[249] Among the slanderous sayings about women ascribed (falsely, many of them, no doubt) to Muhammed is this: “They are deficient in sense and religion, and hence are more disposed than men to practise what is unlawful.”—In Eastern tales most magical things are done by women.

[250] In the “History of Farrukhrúz”—p. 179—we find that it is dangerous to open shops before sunrise, because if shopkeepers do so they become liable to be injured by genii and demons; and it will be seen from the present story that the wretched narrator had too much cause to regret his “early opening” practice.

[251] We see from this story that Oriental sharpers are not a whit behind their European brethren in swindling tricks—such as, despite the publicity given to them in the newspapers, continue to be perpetrated every day in great cities.

[252] Mahmúd ruled in Ghazní from A.D. 997 till A.D. 1030. It was at his request that the Persian poet Firdausí composed his grand epic, the _Sháh Náma_, or Book of Kings.

[253] It is seldom such a sentiment occurs in Eastern books. Alms-giving is enjoined by the Kurán on all who have anything to give, and the rapacity of Asiatic despots has not been conducive to a spirit of independence among their subjects.

[254] A parasang is a Persian measure of three or four miles, more or less in different countries.

[255] That is to say, all who are outside the pale of Islám; like Gentiles with the Jews, and Barbarians with the Greeks.

[256] A most absurd idea, and a foul slander on the “chosen people”—not to say that _all_ are to be considered as “Israelites indeed,” and so forth. During the middle ages in Europe it was generally believed that the Jews, on certain of their religious festivals, stole and murdered little Christian children!—See the Tale of the Prioress in Chaucer’s _Canterbury Tales_, and in _Originals and Analogues_ (printed for the Chaucer Society, pp. 251, 257), “The Boy killed by a Jew for singing ‘Gaude Maria!’” and “The Paris Beggar-boy murdered by a Jew for singing ‘Alma redemptoris mater!’” Such idle stories were invented and diligently circulated by the monks, and sore persecution had the unfortunate and innocent Jews to suffer in consequence!

[257] I have read an Indian story very similar to this, in which a brother and sister, children of a king, are accidentally separated, and the young prince falls into the hands of a rascal like the Jew in the above; but I cannot recollect the particular story-book in which it occurs.

[258] The first chapter of the Kurán; employed by Muslims as the Paternoster is among Christians.

[259] The Turks have the proverb: “Patience is of God; haste is of the Devil.”

[260] According to the Kurán, it was a hoopoe, or lapwing, that brought Solomon a description of Sabá (or Sheba) and of Bilkís, its celebrated queen.

[261] Yet once more the number _forty_, which the Jews and their Arabian cousins seem always to have regarded with peculiar veneration—see pages 140, 155, 188, and to the instances there noted I may here add a few others. In the Arabian tale of the Third Calender, his voyage is prosperous for _forty_ days, and he is entertained by _forty_ fairy damsels, who absented themselves for _forty_ days. In the tale of Aladdin and his Lamp, when his magic palace has disappeared the sultan allows him _forty_ days to find it and the princess.—Among other Biblical instances, “Isaac was _forty_ years old when he took Rebekah to wife,” Gen. xxv, 20, and Esau was of the same age when he wedded two Hittite damsels, Gen. xxvi, 34. Eli judged Israel _forty_ years, 1 Samuel, iv, 18. David and Solomon each reigned _forty_ years, 2 Samuel, v, 4; 1 Kings, ii, 11, xi, 42. The “curious” reader may farther refer to Exodus xxvi, 19; Joshua xiv, 7; Judges iii, 11, viii, 28, xiii, 1; 2 Samuel, xv, 7; 1 Kings, vi, 17, vii, 38; 2 Kings, viii, 9; Ezekiel xxix, 11, 12; Acts xxiii, 21; 2 Corinthians, xi, 24.—In Wales _forty_ loaves of bread and _forty_ dishes of butter are a common quantity in the records of rents paid to the bishops of Llandaff. The fee of a bard for his vocal song at a festival was _forty_ pence when he was a disciple, and _twice forty_ for a master. The “unthrifty Heir of Linne,” according to the fine old ballad, tried to borrow _forty_ pence of John o’ the Scales, who had become the owner of his lands. And who is not familiar with Wamba’s song, in praise of “Forty Years,” in Thackeray’s _Rebecca and Rowena_, where we are told that

“Forty times over let Michaelmas pass, Grizzling hair the brain doth clear; Then you know a boy is an ass, Then you know the worth of a lass, Once you’ve come to Forty Year!”

And do we not speak of a buxom dame as “fat, fair, and _forty_”?

[262] Still in man’s attire, of course.

[263] The painter not being permitted to behold her face. This often occurs in Persian stories; but I have seen many native pictures of Persian women of all classes, which were evidently portraits and could not all have been drawn in the manner above described. Judging from those pictures, the in-door clothing of Persian ladies is extremely scanty; but it should be recollected that they are not seen in the haram apartments by any but women and children and very near male relatives. The “full” dress of European ladies is much more reprehensible than the in-door dress of their Persian sisters (if indeed that of the latter maybe considered at all “improper”), since it exposes the greater part of the bosom and the shoulders and the spine to _public view_!

[264] “Cast thy bread upon the waters,” saith the Preacher, “and thou shalt find it after many days” (Eccl. xi, 1); but here the reformed robber finds it—or rather, more than its equivalent—every day. This notion of the loaves he threw daily into the river reappearing to him in the form of two celestial youths is certainly of Buddhist origin, and was, with many other essentially Buddhist ideas, adopted by the Bráhmans after they got the upper hand of their rivals and drove them out of India. In the _Hitopadesa_ (Friendly Counsel), a Sanskrit collection of apologues and tales, Book iii, fab. 10, a pious soldier is directed in a vision by Kuvera, the god of wealth, to stand in the morning behind his door, club in hand, and the beggar who should come into the court knock down with his club, when he will instantly become a pot full of gold. A similar story is found in the Persian _Tútí Náma_ (Parrot Book) of Nakhshabí, where a merchant is thus rewarded who had given away all his wealth to the poor.

[265] In another part of the romance we read of a wondrous stone, called the Shah-muhra, which, when fastened on the arm, enabled the wearer to see all the treasures of gold and gems that are hid in the bowels of the earth.

[266] An abridged and “improved” version of the romance of _Hatim Taï_ was printed at Calcutta about the year 1825, of which a translation—by James Atkinson, I understand—reprinted from the Calcutta _Government Gazette_, appeared in the _Asiatic Journal_, March-June 1829. Whoever may have been the learned Múnshí that made this version, he has certainly taken most unwarrantable liberties with his original. Thus: Husn Bánú’s father dies, leaving her “an orphan, _poor_, and unprotected.” She has the misfortune to “attract the admiration of a darvesh,” whom she “indignantly spurned from her presence.” The darvesh goes to the king and complains that “a certain woman has solicited me to marry her, and not being able to accomplish her object, enraged at my refusal, she has bitterly reproached and even beaten me”! The king orders her to be thrust out of the city, and so on. The “man” who appears to her in a vision is Khoja Khizar, which however is appropriate, that mystical personage being the tutelary friend of good Muslims in distress. He tells her where she may find the “treasure of the Seven Kings, buried in seven different places; seven splendid peacock thrones, adorned with gems beyond all price, and one precious pearl of unequalled beauty. All these are thine.” The king on hearing of her “find” attempts to seize the contents of six of the pits of treasure _by force_, but the gold and gems become serpents and dragons. In this version it does not appear that the queries, or rather tasks, were suggested by the nurse. Altogether it is much inferior to the story as translated by Forbes.

[267] Published at New-York, 1850.

[268] I am greatly indebted to the courtesy of Prof. E. Fagnan, of the École des Lettres, Algiers, for many interesting and important particulars regarding this Turkish work, of which several MS. copies are preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris—particulars of which I have already made some use in _Originals and Analogues of some of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales_, printed for the Chaucer Society, and I hope soon to make still farther use of them in another publication.

[269] Dr. Rieu, of the British Museum, kindly furnished me with the above outline of the story, so far as it exists in the MS.

[270] See note, page 163.

[271] _The Lost and Hostile Gospels_, p. 83, by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, who has pointed out the gross anachronism of making the imaginary conflict take place in the presence of Queen Helena.

[272] This romance is ascribed by mere popular tradition, and on no solid authority, to the celebrated poet Mír Khusrau, who died in 1324, A.D. Authentic accounts of the poet make no mention of any such work, and it is probably to be assigned to a much later date. An incorrect copy of the _Chehár Darvesh_ is described in Dr. Rieu’s _Catalogue of the Persian MSS. in the British Museum_, vol. ii, p. 762, Add. 8917. In the _Bagh o Bahár_ (Garden and Spring), which is a modern Urdú amplification, by Mír Amman, not always in the best taste, the Story of the Second Darvesh is that of the Third in the Persian original.

[273] In another Persian version, translated by Jonathan Scott, in his _Tales, Anecdotes, and Letters from the Arabic and Persian_, p. 253, the prince happens to see the merchant’s wife in her litter, returning from the pilgrimage to Makka, and falls desperately in love with her. He afterwards makes the acquaintance of the merchant, who on learning the cause of his illness divorces his wife and makes her over to the prince. The rest of the story is much the same as the above, excepting that the prince does not put the merchant’s “luck” to trial but at once receives him heartily and restores to him his wife, whom he had adopted as his sister.

[274] The story is told in the first person, and the youth does not give his name, which is rather awkward in making an epitome of it.

[275] Iswara signifies Lord, Master, but is a designation by the Hindús for the particular deity, Bráhma, Vishnú, or Siva, whom they regard as the Supreme Being. In Southern India it is generally applied to Siva, also called Mahádeva.—_Balfour._

[276] It is significant that the “maxims” of the beggars are identical in the Latin story, in Gower, and in the version from Western India. In Gower one beggar cries:

“Ha, Lord, wel may the man be riche Whom that a king list for to riche”;

the other exclaims:

“But he is riche and wel bego Whom that God wold sende wele.”

[277] In this tale Iram is used as the name of an island of the “upper world,” not that of a garden in fairyland—see p. 304.

[278] _Jazíra-i Firdaus_, that is, the Island of Paradise—see p. 244, where the crafty courtesan Dilbar is represented as dwelling in a city called Firdaus; and p. 304, note 3, where it is the name of an island in fairyland.

[279] See also Dasent’s _Popular Tales from the Norse_: “Boots and the Troll.”

[280] An adaptation, or imitation, of the Sanskrit series of stories entitled _Vetálapanchavinsati_, Twenty-five (Tales) of a Vetála, or Vampyre; called in Hindí, _Baital Pachísí_, and in Tamil, _Vedála Kadai_.

[281] Radloff’s _Proben der Volksliteratur der Türkischen Stamme des Süd-Siberiens_; St. Petersburg: 1870; iii, 389.—The story is also found in the Hebrew _Talmud_: Two slaves are overheard by their master conversing about a camel that had preceded them on the road. It was blind of an eye, and laden with two skin bottles, one of which contained wine, the other oil. (Hershon’s _Talmudic Miscellany_.)—See also M. Zotenberg’s _Chronique de Tabari_, t. ii, 357-361.

[282] In a curious catch-penny imitation of the _Seven Wise Masters_, compiled by one Thomas Howard, about the end of the 17th century, or early in the 18th, entitled the _Seven Wise Mistresses_ (of which I possess a well-thumbed copy printed in black letter), the story is told of a lady, and a lion who became attached to her in gratitude for her having pulled a thorn out of his foot—Androcles in petticoats! The lion kills a bear that would have slain the lady’s father, and the steward coming up and finding the old gentleman lying prone on the earth, apparently dead, but, as it turns out, only in a swoon from sheer fright, forthwith kills the lion.

[283] _Mahábhárata_, Book iii (‘Vana Parva’), section lxi.—Dean Milman has rendered the ever fresh story of Nala and Damayanti into the most elegant English verse.

[284] Possibly Shakuni used loaded dice when it came to his turn to throw. “Some of the virtues may be modern,” says Lord Lytton (I quote from memory), “but it is certain that all the vices are ancient: cogged dice were found at Pompeii!”

[285] The _Mahábhárata_ of Krishna-Dwapayana Vyasa. Translated into English Prose by Protáp Chandra Roy. Now in course of serial issue at Calcutta. _Sabha Parva_, fasic. xi, pp. 155-172; _Vana Parva_, fasic. xiv, pp. 174-177; 230.

[286] Translated by the Rev. Chas. Swynnerton, in the _Folk-Lore Journal_, vol. i, 1883, pp. 134-139.—The same story will be found, at much greater length, in Captain R. C. Temple’s most valuable collection, _Legends of the Panjáb_, vol. i, p. 48 ff.

[287] Chaupúr is the game of chess, played with 16 pieces, and throwing dice for each move. For a full description of this game see Captain R. C. Temple’s _Legends of the Panjáb_ vol. i, p. 243.

[288] Kokilan: “Cooing-dove.”

[289] The tragical story of Kokilan, with variants, will be found, under the title of “The Lover’s Heart,” in my _Popular Tales_, &c., vol. ii, p. 187 ff.

[290] _Popular Tales and Fictions_, vol. i, p. 262 ff.

[291] I follow M. Dubois’ transliteration of the proper names.

[292] Yakshas, in the Hindú mythology, are a species of jinn, who are ruled over by Kuvera, the god of wealth.

[293] Paddy (or pádí) is unhusked rice.

[294] Abridged from Protáp Chandra Roy’s translation of the _Mahábhárata_, fasciculus xxxiv, pp. 543-553.

[295] “Whether a carbuncle (which is esteemed the best and biggest of rubies) doth flame in the dark,” says Sir Thos. Browne, in his _Enquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors_, B. ii, ch. v, “or shine like a coal in the night, though generally agreed on by common believers, is very much questioned by many.” On this Wilkin, the editor of Browne’s works, 1835, vol. ii, p. 354, remarks: “That which Sir Thomas much doubted has since been subjected to the test of repeated observations and many curious experiments, by which the phosphorescence of the diamond, sapphire, ruby, and topaz, as well as of many minerals and metals, and various other bodies, is fully established. Mr. Wedgewood has treated the subject fully in the 82nd vol. of the _Philosophical Transactions_. This luminous property, which seems to be strictly phosphoric, is made apparent by subjecting the body in question to heat in various ways. Several fluids (oils, spermaceti, butter, etc.) are luminous at or below the boiling point: minerals and other bodies become so by being sprinkled on a thick plate of iron, heated just below visible redness. The gems and several of the harder minerals emit their light upon attrition.”

[296] The _Sham ha-maphrash_, or _Nomen tetragrammaton_—see the note on page 163.

[297] Rev. S. Baring-Gould’s _Lost and Hostile Gospels_, pp. 77, 78.

[298] See the old English translation, from the French, by Lord Berners, _The Boke of Duke Huon of Burdeux_, ably edited by Mr. Sidney L. Lee for the Early English Text Society, 1887, p. 153.

[299] In the _Catalogue des Manuscrits et Xylographes Orientaux de la Bibliothèque Imperiale Publique de St. Petersburg_, 1852, p. 410, this tale is described as a separate romance: ‘Histoire de Khavershah et de Mihr et Máh, ou de Roi de l’Orient, et du Soleil et de la Lune’; the only variations being that in place of the devotee is a philosopher called Abid; and Mukhtarí is the name of the minister of the King of Maghrab, the father of the original of the picture.—There are several mystical and erotic poems in Hindí also entitled _Mihr ú Máh_: see Garcin de Tassy’s _Histoire de la Littérature Hindouie_, second edition, tome i, 179, 187, and iii, 47.

[300] The self-same story also occurs in the Calcutta printed Arabic text of the ‘Thousand and One Nights,’ with no variation save that instead of smoked eels the husband gives his wanton wife a fresh fish to cook for his dinner on a Friday (the Muslim Sabbath), and then goes out. When the woman returns on the next Friday her husband begins to scold her, but she makes an outcry which brings in the neighbours, and showing them the fish still _alive_—she had, I suppose, either kept it in water or procured another one; though, how her husband came to give her a live fish does not appear—he is considered mad and loaded with fetters. (See Sir R. F. Burton’s translation, vol v, p. 96.)

[301] This seems to be an imperfect version of the story to which the Trick of the Kází’s Wife belongs, with the underground passage somehow omitted.

[302] It has not hitherto been found in any Arabic text of the ‘Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night,’ but there can be no doubt of its Asiatic origin.

[303] If there are but four players, and three have already been appointed as king, minister, and culprit, it surely follows that there is no necessity for the fourth to throw the sticks at all; else, if the others play along with him at throwing for the “honest man,” their former positions might, and probably would, be changed. Evidently Mr. Knowles has here described the game as it is played by any number of boys, so that when it came to throw for the “honest man,” the three already appointed would stand out and all the others play.

[304] In the _fabliau_ (Méon’s edition of Barbazan, 1808, iii, 126) the little bird says:

“Il a en mon cors une piere, Qui tant est précieuse et chiere, Bien est de trois onces pesans; La vertus est en il si grans, Qui en sa baillie l’aroit, Jà riens demander ne saroit, Que maintenant ne l’éust preste.”

[305] _Lydgate’s Minor Poems_, in vol. ii of the Percy Society’s publications, p. 179 ff.—Ritson, the censorious, styles honest Dan Lydgate “a voluminous, prosaic, drivelling monk.” This is hard measure. That the drivels is just as true as it would be to say that Ritson had no gall in his composition. That he is sometimes prosaic can’t be denied; but he has many fine passages of true poetry. If to be voluminous be a sin—then may Heaven pity our popular novel-spinners!

[306] _Anvár-i Suhaylí_, by Husain Vá’iz al-Káshifí. Translated by Edward B. Eastwick, 1854. Ch. i, story 19.

[307] Le Grand omits the bird’s lay, of which these verses are merely the exordium.

INDEX.

Abraham and Nimrod, 253.

Abú Síná (Avicenna), 242.

Afríts, 168.

Ahmed, 238.

Aino Folk-Tales, 503.

Ainsworth’s Old Saint Paul’s, 523.

Akhfash and his Goat, 177.

Akhlák-i Jalálí, 264.

Alakésa Kathá, xxix; a different Tamil story, xxx.

Alakésa, King, 193.

Albanian Tales, 539.

Alexander, Romance of, 167.

Al-Faraj ba’d al-Shiddah, 474, 493, 547.

Alf Layla wa Layla—_see_ Thousand and One Nights.

Alfonsus, Peter, 482, 564.

Alí, Muhammed’s son-in-law, 238.

Ali, Mrs. Meer Hasan, xxi, 175, 216, 351, 531.

Almsgiving enjoined by the Kurán, 430.

Amári, 284.

Antimony, Legends about, 292.

Anvár-i Suhaylí, 566.

Anvarí, The Persian poet, 175.

Apocryphal Gospel of the Saviour’s Infancy, 556.

Apollonius Tyanæus, 541.

Arabian Nights—_see_ Thousand and One Nights.

Arbuthnot, F. F., xxiii.

Archæological Review, 299.

Archery feats, 100.

Ashrafí, a gold coin, 43.

Asiatic Journal, 470, 513.

Astrologers’ Predictions, xxxviii, 175.

Astrology, 8, 12, 175, 240, 313, 362.

Atkinson, James, 470.

Avaiyar, The Tamil poetess, xxx.

Babylonian magic, 324.

Backgammon, 250, 522.

Badakshán, 263.

Bagh o Bahár, 478, 495.

Bahá-ed-Dín Zuhayr, 164.

Bahár-i Dánish, 569.

Bahrám, 339.

Bakáwalí, Romance of: Persian and Urdú versions and translations, xxxv; its construction, 519, 571.

Bakhtyár Náma, xxxi, 8.

Balfour’s Cyclopædia of India, 226, 292, 325, 492.

Bambú-rice, 231.

Banafshá, 343, 359.

Bandow, C. J., 545.

Barbary Tales, 498.

Barbazan’s Fabliaux, 549, 565, 566, 570.

Baring-Gould’s Lost and Hostile Gospels, 476, 542.

Barlaam and Joasaph, 563.

Basset’s Contes Populaires Berbères, 498.

Bath, Eastern Ladies at the, 356.

Bazár-Master’s Wife, 376, 548.

Beal, Dr. Samuel, 516.

Beggar, The Blind, 402.

Bebelianæ Facetiæ, 551.

Beggars, The Two, 492.

Benfey school of folk-lorists, xx.

Bengal, Folk-Tales of, 504.

Beryn, Tale of, 167.

Betel, 325.

Bhaváni, 197.

Bible, xxi, 27, 70, 140, 212, 218, 253, 310, 313, 320, 339, 340, 347, 368, 456, 464, 568.

Bilkís, Queen of Sheba, 367, 450, 473.

Billah, Al-Mu’tasim, 93.

Bird, The Gardener and the, 448, 563.

Bird-language, 299.

Bird-Maidens, 58, 476.

Birds, Transformation into, 298, 299, 346, 545.

Bismillah, etc., 259.

Bistán, 289, 303.

Biting the cheek, 314.

Blind Beggar, 402.

Blind Man’s Story, 60, 464, 477.

Blind Man, The Ungrateful, 215, 516, 532.

Blind Men and Elephant, 195.

Boccaccio’s Decameron, 483.

Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato, 167, 548.

Bráhman and Lion, 254, 518, 531.

Bráhman and Rescued Snake, 231, 518.

Bráhman’s Wife and the Mungús, 211, 515.

Brandan, Voyage of St., 475.

Brown, John P., 472.

Brothers, Romance of Four, 530.

Brothers, The Ungrateful, 149, 152, 493.

Browne’s (Sir Thomas) Vulgar Errors, 259, 540.

Buchan’s Scottish Ballads, 545.

Buddhist works, 8, 297, 515, 563.

Búlbúl and Rose, 122, 345.

Burák, Muhammed’s celestial steed, 238.

Burmese Tales, 545.

Burton, Sir R. F., xxxii, 277, 512, 550, 561.

Busk’s (Miss) Sagas from the Far East, 500, 556.

Bustán of Sa’dí, 245, 257, 278.

Butler, Samuel, 121.

Calenders, 385.

Camel, The Lost, 194, 511.

Camel-driver’s Story, 531.

Caylus’ (Comte de) Contes Orientaux, 540.

Cazotte’s Arabian Tales, 571.

Cento Novelle Antiche, 560.

Chamberlain, Basil Hall, 503.

Chapalá, 325.

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Analogues of, xxxii, 166, 299, 439, 474.

Chaupúr, 526.

Chehár Darvesh, 478, 495.

Children, Want of, 212, 568.

Chitrasan, 322.

Chitrawat, 324.

Chodzko’s Popular Poetry of Persia, 101.

Chosroes, 278.

Clarke’s Sikandar Náma, 238.

Confessio Amantis, 492.

Conrad of Wartzburg, 521.

Contes pour Rire, 551.

Convivales Sermones, 551.

Cookery, Kings formerly skilled in, 108, 261.

Cowley’s amatory poetry, 348.

Crore (or karor), in Indian and Persian numeration, 251.

Cypress, 265.

Damascenus, Johannes, 563.

Danae, Story of, xxxix.

Danish Ballads, 523, 545.

Darveshes, Dancing, 105.

Darveshes, often rogues, 67.

Darveshes, History of the Four, 478, 495.

Dasent’s Popular Tales from the Norse, xxxix, 497, 562.

Day’s Journey, 271.

Day’s (Lal Behári) Folk Tales of Bengal, 504.

Deaf Man and his Sick Friend, 446, 561.

Decameron, 483.

Defoe on Fate, xxvi.

D’Herbelot’s Bibliothèque Orientale, 238.

Délices de Verboquet, 551.

Demonologia, 241.

Dice-playing, 522.

Dilbar Lakhí, 244.

Dínar, a gold coin, 47.

Dirham, a silver coin, 360.

Disciplina Clericalis, 482, 564.

Dívs, 253.

Dog, The Faithful, 206, 509, 513.

Dog-worshipping Merchant, Story of the, 494.

Doménichi’s (Lod.) Facetiæ, 551.

D’Ouville’s (Sieur) Tales, 551.

Dowson’s Hindú Mythology, 228.

Dozon’s Contes Albanais, 539.

Dravidian Nights Entertainments, 544, 545.

Dubois’ Tamil Panchatantra, 532.

Dunlop’s History of Fiction, 167, 530.

Durga, 197.

Eastern Story-Tellers, xxi.

Eastwick, Edward B., 566.

Elephant, Four Blind Men and the, 195.

Errors, Browne’s Vulgar, 259, 540.

European Romances—_see_ Romances.

Eve, Milton’s, 324.

Expeditions, The Three, 496.

Fabliaux, 483, 521, 549, 566.

Facetiæ: Bebelianæ, 551; Doménichi, 551.

Fagnan, Prof. E., 474.

Fairies, not immortal, 318.

Faithless Wife and Ungrateful Blind Man, 215, 516, 532.

Falcon, The Faithful, 510, 570.

Farhád and Shirín, 289.

Farídún, 69.

Farrukh, 274.

Farrukhrúz, History of, 147, 493.

Fars, or Farsistán, 69.

Fate, or Destiny, xxv, 121.

Fátihá, 447, 561.

Firdaus, 244, 304, 495.

Firdausí, 240, 414.

Fírúz Sháh, 295.

Fírúz Sháh, Story of, 571.

Flowers, etc., Magical, 242, 467, 520, 572.

Folk-Lore Journal, 479, 570.

Forbes, Dr. Duncan, 455.

Forbes’ Oriental Memoirs, 215.

Fortune and Misfortune, xxv.

Forty, The number, 140, 155, 188, 300, 456.

Forty Vazírs, History of the, xxxi, xxxix, 3, 158, 306, 383.

Frazer, James G., 299.

Friends, The Two, 89, 480.

Friday, the Muslim Sabbath, 139.

Fruit, Magical, 220, 298, 507, 517.

Gambling maniacs, 522.

Game of Vazír Pádisháh, 557.

Ganas, xxxiv.

Ganesa, xxxiii.

Garcin de Tassy, xxxv, 256, 281, 290, 547, 569, 570.

Gardener and Little Bird, 448, 563.

Geldart’s Folk-Lore of Modern Greece, 496.

Gems from Snakes, 232, 297, 341, 540.

Gems, Secreting, 299, 541.

Gems, The Nine, 313.

Genie and Solomon’s Ring, 163.

Geomancy, 60.

German Popular Tales, 521.

Gesta Romanorum, xxxii, 482, 564.

Ghatika, 200.

Gibb, E. J. W., xxxi, 3, 303, 306, 383.

Gladwin’s Persian Moonshee, 561.

God, the Merciful, etc., xxxiii, 259, 296.

Goldsmiths, rogues in stories, 224.

Gospels, Lost and Hostile, 476, 542.

Gower’s Confessio Amantis, 492.

Greek Popular Tales, 496, 498, 540.

Grimm, The Brothers, 521.

Guerin de Monglave, 523.

Gueulette’s Soirées Bretonnes, 511.

Gulistán of Sa’dí, xxiv, 101, 253, 311.

Gul-rukh, 347.

Gunadhya, xxii.

Hair of demon as a charm, 269.

Hahn’s Greek Tales, 540.

Hammalá, 262.

Hardy’s Eastern Monachism, 297.

Hartland, E. Sidney, 479.

Haste and Patience, 449.

Hatim and his enemy, 478; and the thorn-cutter, 569; his mother and brother, 455.

Hatim Taï, Story of, 46, 455, 520.

Hauda-amári, 284.

Hazár ú Yek Rúz, 474.

Head, Shaving the, 172.

Heavenly orbs, 264.

Henna, 11, 314.

Herklot’s Qanoon-i Islám, 351.

Hermit, The Foolish, 112.

Herodias’ Daughter, 319.

Herrtage’s Gesta Rom., 483.

Hershon’s Talmudic Miscellany, 512.

Hikáyát-i ’Ajíb ú Gharíb, 474, 546.

Hindústán—_see_ India.

Historia Sept. Sap. Rom., 548.

Hitopadesa, 121, 464.

Hoopoe (or lapwing) and Solomon, 450.

Horoscope, 240.

Horse, The faithful, 507.

Hospitality, Three Days’, 9.

Howdah, 284.

Hubbí’s Persian Tales, 474, 546.

Humaï, 5.

Hunter and Dog, 206, 509, 513.

Hunter’s Imperial Gazetteer of India, 199.

Húrís, 23.

Huon of Bordeaux, 264, 518, 521, 544.

Husain Vá’iz, 566.

Husn-árá, 308.

Hyperbole, Oriental, 339, 340, 348.

Iblís, 376.

Idols, Lovely women called, 291.

’Ifríts (Afríts), 168.

Imáms, 238.

Independent Man, Story of 425, 569.

India, Balfour’s Cyclopædia of, 226, 292, 325, 492.

India: Dowson’s Hindú Mythology, 228.

India, Hunter’s Imperial Gazetteer of, 199.

India, Marriages in, 337, 351.

India, Observations on the Mussulmans of, xxi, 175, 216, 351, 531.

India, Past Days in, 493, 516.

Indian Antiquary, 489, 499, 541, 543.

Indian drama, 224.

Indian Notes and Queries, 197, 515.

Indian story-books: Alakésa Kathá, xxix, xxxii; Bengalí Folk Tales, 504; Dravidian Nights Entertainments (Madanakámarájankadai), 544, 545; Hitopadesa, 121, 464; Kashmírí Folk-Tales, 507, 524, 544, 557; Kathá Manjarí, 517; Kathá Sarit Ságara, xxi, 166, 287, 346, 516, 558; Panchatantra, 532; Panjábí Legends, 524, 526, 570; Sinhasana Dwatrinsati, 517; Vetálapanchavinsati, 500, 518; Vrihat Kathá, xxii.

Irán, 43.

Indra’s Paradise, 316, 544.

Infernal Machines, 201.

Infancy, Apocryphal Gospel of the, 556.

Infidels, all who are not Muslims, 439.

Iram, Rose-Garden of, 304, 494.

Iskandar, 173.

Istikbál, 271.

Iswara, 492.

Italian story-books: Decameron, 483; Cento Novelle Antiche, 560.

’Itr-igul, 330.

Ivanhoe, 100.

Jacob’s sorrow, 242.

Jamí, the Persian poet, 356.

Jamíla Khatún, 294.

Jamshíd, Cup of, 173.

Játakas, 8, 563.

Jeshu, Toldoth, 475, 542.

Jewellers, rogues in stories, 224.

Jews, Absurd charges against, 439.

Joseph, the son of Jacob, 244, 312; and Potiphar’s Wife, 330.

Jülg’s Mongolian Tales, 500, 556.

Káf, Mountains of, 303, 387.

Kalandars, 385.

Kálí, the Hindú goddess, 197.

Kasharkasha, Story of Prince, 69, 479.

Kashmír, Folk-Tales of, 507, 524, 544, 557.

Kathá Manjarí, 517.

Kází and Merchant’s Wife, 414, 555.

Kází’s Wife, 358, 548.

Kalmuk Tales, 500, 556.

Kashank, the Afrít, 173.

Kathá Sarit Ságara, xxi, 166, 287, 346, 516, 558.

Khil’at 99.

Khiyabán-i Rayhán, 571.

Khizar, 470, 521.

Khoja, 3.

King and his faithful Horse, 507; and his Falcon, 510, 570.

King and his Four Ministers: plan of the frame-story, xxix; Bengalí oral version, 504; Kashmírí variant, 507; analogues of the tales, 511.

King who learned a trade, 434.

Kings abdicating the throne, 80.

Kings in Eastern stories, 123.

Kings going about in disguise, 128, 427.

Kings, Good Indian, 193.

Kings, Rapacious, 40.

Knowles, Rev. J. H., 507, 524, 544, 557.

Kokilan, 530.

Kurán, 187, 238, 253, 265, 312, 447, 450, 561.

Kurán, MS. copies of the, 134.

Kurroglú, the bandit-poet, 101.

Kutwál, 278.

Kutwál’s Wife, 384, 549.

Kuvera, 464, 535.

Lady and her Suitors, 287.

Lady’s Story, 64.

Lakh, 244.

Lamp-black as a collyrium, 266.

Lane’s Modern Egyptians, xxi, 11, 60, 105, 238.

Language of Birds, etc., 299, 505, 510.

Laylá and Majnún, 122, 237.

Leaves of the palm used as dishes, 202.

Lee, Sidney L., 518, 544.

Leg, Standing on one, 254.

Le Grand’s Fabliaux, 483, 521, 549, 565, 566, 570.

Legrand’s Contes Populaires Grecs, 498.

Life, or heart, extraneous from the body, 30.

Life, Water of, 520, 521.

Lion and Bráhman, 254, 518, 531.

Llewellyn and his Dog, 515.

Longfellow, xxvi.

Love declarations in the East, 290.

Love, Ten Stages of, 324.

Love, Victims of, 323.

Lukman the Wise, 122.

Luminous Jewels, 540.

Lydgate, John, 483, 564.

Lytton, Lord, 523.

Mackenzie, Colonel Colin, 351.

Madanakámarájankadai, 544.

Maghrabí country, 6.

Magic, Babylonian, 324.

Magic Staff, 156.

Magicians, Egyptian, 27.

Magical Fruits, 220, 298, 507, 517.

Magical Flowers etc., 242, 467, 520, 572.

Magical Transformations, 158, 171, 299, 300, 301, 320, 346, 544, 545.

Mahábhárata, 108, 194, 290, 517, 518, 523, 534.

Mahámayi, 197.

Mahbúb ul-Kalúb, xxii, xl.

Mahfil-árá, xxiii.

Mahmúd of Ghazní, 414.

Mahmúda, 262.

Maina, 298.

Majnún and Laylá, 122, 237.

Malay version of the Mungús story, 516.

Malcolm’s Sketches of Persia, 141.

Mally Whuppie, 570.

Mán, a Persian weight, 306.

Mango Fruit, The wonderful, 220, 507, 517.

Mangoes, 215.

Man’s dignity, 310.

Marie de France, 545.

Marriages in India, 337, 351.

Mas’údí, 511.

Mehndí, 314.

Men smuggled into harams, 117.

Metempsychosis, 218, 223, 336.

Mihr-ú Máh, Story of, 370, 546.

Miles Gloriosus, 548.

Mille et Un Jours, 474, 480, 547.

Milman, Dean, 517.

Milton’s Eve, 324.

Moir, James, 570.

Money in Eastern Tales, 360.

Moon of Canaan, 312.

Moth and Candle, 245, 257.

Mu’allaka Poems, 313.

Muezzin, 104.

Muhammad, 9, 23, 67, 69, 106, 112, 187, 238, 312, 401.

Muir’s (Sir Wm.) Life of Mahomet, 238.

Mukhlis, of Isfahán, 474.

Mulk-i Nighárín, 281, 340.

Mungús, The Faithful, 211, 515.

Muslim Sabbath, 139.

Mu’tasim Billah, the Octonary, 93.

Muzaffar Sháh, 304.

Nakhshabí, xxii. 464, 517.

Nala and Damayanti, 108, 290, 517, 518, 523.

Name, The Ineffable, 163, 476, 542.

Narkis, 386.

Nassar, History of, its _motif_, xxv.

Naubut, 273.

Nau Ratn, 313.

Netherlandish Ballad, 545.

Nightingale and Rose, 122, 345.

Nimrod and Abraham, 253.

Nirmalá, 325.

Nizamí, 173, 238.

Norse Tales, xxxix, 497, 562.

Nostradamus, 241.

Novel writers, xxii.

Nú Rúz, 173.

Nushírván, 278.

Octonary, The, 93.

Oriental hyperbole, 339, 340, 348.

Oriental sharpers, 411.

Orientaux, Contes, 540.

Orlando Innamorato, 167, 548.

Ouseley, Sir Wm., 345.

Oyster and Pearl, 257.

Paddy, or pádí, 536.

Pagoda, a gold coin, 196.

Painter and Woodcarver, Story of, 500.

Painter’s Story, 53, 471.

Panchatantra, 532.

Panjáb, Legends of the, 524, 526, 570, 572.

Paradise, Expedition to, 183, 500.

Parasang, 430.

Parrot-Book, xvii, 464, 517.

Parvati, xxxiii, 197.

Patience and haste, 449.

Payne’s (John) Tales from the Arabic, 561.

Pearls from rain-drops, 257.

Penha, G. F. D., 499.

Perfumes, 330.

Persian amatory poetry, 348.

Persian and Hindústání Proverbs, 283.

Persian Portraits (Arbuthnot’s), xxiii.

Persian pictures of women, 460.

Persian story-books: Anvár-i Suhaylí, 566; Bahár-i Dánish, 569; Bakhtyár láma, xxxi, xxxii, 8; Bustán, 245, 257, 278; Chehár Darvesh, 478, 495; Fírúz Sháh, 570; Gul-i Bakáwalí, xxxv; Gulistán, xxiv, 101, 253, 311; Hatim Taï, 455, 456; Hazár ú Yak Rúz (Thousand and One Days), 474, 479, 547; Hikáyát-i ’Ajíbú Gharíb, 474, 546.

Persian writers’ style, 250, 267, 348, 350.

Petis de la Croix, 474, 479, 547.

Plautus, 548.

Poisoned Food, 226, 518.

Pon, an Indian coin, 206, 568.

Popular Tales and Fictions (Clouston’s), 30, 474, 476, 515, 530, 531, 548, 558.

Porter’s Travels in Georgia, 357.

Potiphar’s Wife, 330.

Predictions, of Astrologers, xxxviii, 175.

Presents to superiors, 340.

Princess and Dív, 279, 532.

Prior’s Danish Ballads, 523, 545.

Proverbs: Roebuck’s Pers. and Hind., 283; Sinhalese, about luck, xxvii, xxviii.

Qanoon-i Islám, 351.

Radloff’s Siberian Tales, 512.

Ralston’s Tibetan Tales, xxxi.

Rámáyana, 108.

Rasálú, Legend of Rájá, 524, 572.

Rayhán ed-Dín, 571.

Rehatsek, E., xxv, xl, 177.

Religious trickery, 229.

Reyes, M. de los, 486.

Rieu, Dr. Chas., xxiii, 474, 475, 478, 546.

Ring, The, 355, 546.

Rings, Signet, 70.

Road to the Mosque, 547.

Robe of honour, 99.

Robinson’s Persian Poetry, 257.

Robles, Isidro de, 551, 561.

Roebuck’s Persian and Hindústání Proverbs, 283.

Romance writers, European, 264.

Romances, European: Alexander, 167; Agravain, etc., 530; Eglamour (Sir), xxxii; Guerin de Monglave, 523; Huon of Bordeaux, 264, 518, 521, 544; Isumbras (Sir), Octavian, Torrent of Portugal, xxxii.

Roscoe’s Spanish Novelists, 486, 552, 561.

Rose and Nightingale, 122, 345.

Roses, Otto of, 330.

Roy, Protáp Chandra, 523, 539.

Rúh-afzá, 304.

Rukh (or roc), 306.

Rúm, Country of, 44.

Rupí, Value of, 244.

Rustam, 240.

Sa’dí, the Persian poet, 101, 245, 253, 257, 278, 311.

Sagas from the Far East, 500, 556.

Sakhr, the demon, and Solomon, 163.

Salamander, 259.

Saman-rú, 288.

Sambhavi, 197.

Sastras, The six, 228.

Sástrí, Pandit S. M. Natésa, xxix, 193, 195, 197, 229, 544, 545.

Satan, Artful women compared to, 376.

Satan, the stoned one, 277, 369.

Satanæ, Tela Ignea, 475.

Sayf ul-Mulúk, Story of, 370, 547.

Scottish Ballad, 545.

Scott’s edition of the Arabian Nights, 275; his Tales from the Arabic and Persian, 455, 482.

Self-made men, 148.

Serpents, Fight between Two, 53, 471, 475.

Serpents, Gems in the heads of, 232, 297, 341, 540.

Setti caste, 207.

Seven Wise Masters, xxx, 515, 548.

Seven Wise Mistresses, 515.

Sexes, The Exchanged, 279, 532.

Shaddad’s Paradise, 304.

Sháhábád, 459.

Shah Bakht and his Vazír, xxxii.

Shah Manssur, Story of, 12.

Shah-muhra, 466.

Sháh-Náma, 240, 414.

Sháh-záda, 250.

Shamsah the Witch, 357, 493, 546.

Shamsah ú Kahkahah, xxiii.

Shaving the head, 172.

Shi’ahs and Súnís, 238.

Shíráz, 69.

Shírín and Farhád, 289.

Shoayb, Story of, 118, 489.

Siberian Tales, 512.

Siddhí Kúr, Relations of, 500.

Signet Rings, 70.

Sikandar-Náma, 173, 238.

Simon Magus, 476.

Simurgh, 306, 387.

Sindibád, Book of (Clouston’s), 5, 515, 518, 548, 569.

Sinhalese proverbs about luck, xxvii, xxviii.

Sinhasana Dwatrinsati, 517.

Sirikop and Rasálú, 524.

Siva, xxxiii, 212.

Snake and Bráhman, 231, 518.

Snake-gems—_see_ Serpents.

Solomon: as a fisherman, 119; his magic carpet, 164; his signet ring, 163, 261; and the símurgh, 306; and the Queen of Sheba, 367, 450; and the Water of Life, 520.

Somadeva, xxi, 216.

Spanish Novelists, 486, 552, 561.

Sparks, Capt. T. P., 545.

Spheres, Music of the, 264.

Stephenson, R. L., 123.

Story-Tellers, Eastern, xxi.

Súfís, 105.

Sumbul, 384.

Sun and Moon, Story of the, 370, 546.

Sunrise, Superstition regarding, 179, 404.

Surma, 292.

Swedish Tales, 497.

Swine’s flesh, 373.

Swynnerton, Rev. Chas., 524.

Tabari, Chronique de, 512.

Táhir and the Witch Shamsah, 493.

Táj ul-Mulúk, 240.

Talmudic Miscellany, 512.

Tawney, Prof. C. H., 287, 558.

Taylor’s Catalogue of Oriental MSS., xxx.

Tela Ignea Satanæ, 475.

Tell’s feat eclipsed, 101.

Temple, Capt. R. C., 524, 526, 570.

Thackeray, W. M., 457.

Thigh, Jewels etc. concealed in, 299, 541.

Thirty-two Tales of a Throne, 517.

Thompson’s Akhlák-i Jalálí, 264.

Thorpe’s Yule-Tide Stories, 497.

Thousand and One Days, 474, 480, 547.

Thousand and One Nights, xxxii, 9, 109, 141, 166, 182, 275, 314, 320, 323, 456, 475, 477, 511, 522, 542, 547, 549, 550, 556, 561.

Tibetan Tales, xxxix.

Tika, 349.

Toldoth Jeshu, 475, 542.

Tomán, a gold coin, 23.

Tongues in Trees, etc., 311.

Topes, or stupas, 226.

Transformations, Magical, 158, 171, 299, 300, 301, 320, 346, 544, 545.

Travel, Advantages of, 5.

Treasure guarded by dragons and serpents, 167, 232.

Treasure, The Hidden, 442, 558.

Treasure-trees, 166, 304.

Treasure-trove, 43, 123.

Turkish story-books: the Forty Vazírs, xxxi, xxxix, 3, 158, 306, 383; Turkish Evening Entertainments, 472, 512; Al-Faraj ba’d al-Shiddah, 474, 547.

Tútí Náma, xxii, 464, 517.

Unity, Court of, 112.

Vazír, The Envious, 390, 569.

Vazír, The Treacherous, 114.

Vazírs, The Forty, xxxi, xxxix, 3, 306, 383.

Vedas, The Four, 228.

Verboquet, Délices de, 551.

Vermieux’ Indian Tales, 516.

Vetálapanchavinsati, 500, 518.

Vijanajara, 199.

Virtuous Devasmitá and her Suitors, 287.

Visitors, Meeting, 271, 285.

Visvesvara, 212.

Vogelritter, Ballad of the, 545.

Voltaire’s Zadig, 511.

Wadia, P. D. H., 489, 543.

Wagenseil’s Tela Ignea Satanæ, 475.

Walhouse, M. J., 541.

Washerman’s Story, 58, 476.

Wasíf’s amatory poetry, 348.

Water of Life, 520, 521.

Way’s Fabliaux, 567.

Wilson, Dr. H. H., xxix, 571.

Wind as messenger of love, 164.

Wine forbidden to Muslims, 312.

Witch Shamsah, 357, 493, 546.

Witches and werwolves, 45.

Wives, Unfaithful, 19, 216.

Woman-nature, 350.

Woman, The perfect, 194.

Woman who knew the language of animals, 505, 510.

Woman’s love scorned, 13.

Women, The Three Deceitful, 355, 546.

Women, addicted to Magic, 401.

Women’s condition in the Muslim Paradise, 187, 248.

Woodcarver and Painter, Story of the, 500.

Wordsworth, xxvi.

Wrestling in Persia, 110.

Wright’s Latin Stories, 492.

Yad-est, Game of, 383.

Yakshas, 535.

Yaman, 152.

Youth, Fountain of, 521.

Yule-Tide Stories, 497.

Zadig, 511.

Zanána, 206.

Zayn ul-Mulúk, 240.

Zeus and the new-born Dionysus concealed in his thigh, 543.

Zotenberg’s Chronique de Tabari, 512; his Barlaam and Joasaph, 563.

Zulaykhá, Potiphar’s Wife, 330.

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