book iii:

How nice comes this point in Sindibād, That “Love is a fire—O whirlwind-like sea!”

Footnote 10:

_Asiatic Journal, N.S._, vols. xxxv, xxxvi, 1841.—These titles also appear on this manuscript. _Mesneviyi Sindibād_, “The couplet-rhymed Sindibād;” _Nazmi hakim Sindibād_, “Rhymed Story of the Philosopher Sindibād;” and _Kitābi hakīm Sindibād_, “Book of the Philosopher Sindibād.”

Footnote 11:

Wilson’s _Descriptive Catalogue of the Mackenzie MSS._ vol. i, p. 220.

Footnote 12:

The Thousand and One Nights: Arabian Tales. For the first time completely and fully translated from a Tunisian Manuscript, &c.

Footnote 13:

In 1792 an English translation of this work was published at Edinburgh, in 4 vols., under the title: _Arabian Tales_. Translated from the original Arabic into French; and from the French into English, by Robert Heron.

Footnote 14:

An English rendering of the Turkī version of the story translated into French by M. Jaubert will be found at the end of Notes on Chapter VI, pp. 189–194.

Footnote 15:

_Political and Statistical Account of the British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca._ By T. J. Newbold. 2 vols. London, 1839.

Footnote 16:

Mr J. W. Redhouse has kindly furnished me, as follows, with the various meanings attached to the word _Ghulām_; which in the Malay romance seems to be employed as a proper name: “Gulām (not Ghulām), an Arabic word, signifies ‘a boy,’ ‘a lad.’ The Persians have made it, in their language, signify ‘a slave,’ and thence ‘a life-guardsman,’ and ‘a king’s messenger;’ whence ‘any post-messenger who travels on horse-back’—or by rail, now, in some places: all these really mean ‘a lad.’ The Turks use the word in the first and last senses—‘a lad,’ ‘a Persian post-courier.’”

Footnote 17:

_The Bakhtyar Nameh, or Story of Prince Bakhtyar and the Ten Viziers._ A series of Persian Tales. From a Manuscript in the Collection of Sir William Ouseley. London, 1800.—This edition includes the original text; in 1801, according to Lowndes’ _Bibliographer’s Manual_, an edition was published without the Persian text.

Footnote 18:

_Bakhtiar Nameh, ou le Favori de la Fortune._ Conte traduit du Persan. Par M. Lescallier. Paris, 1805.

Footnote 19:

See third note, page 184, and first note, p. 195.

Footnote 20:

Mr Platt would date the work a century earlier; he writes to me, as follows, on this question: “First, be it observed, the only titles of Kings mentioned in the Persian text are, Shāh, Pādishāh, Malik, and Kaisar; nowhere do we find the sovereign title of Sultān, but it occurs in Habicht’s Arabic text. This title was first borne by Mahmood ibn Sabuktakeer, A.D. 1002 (A.H. 393), and did not exist in Egypt until A.D. 1171 (A.H. 567). At page 184 of your Notes and Illustrations reference is made to the _Gulistān_ of Sa`dī: now that work was published A.D. 1257 (A.H. 655), and it is as well to bear in mind that the poet was born A.H. 1175 (A.H. 571), and by some said to have attained the advanced age of 102, by others 116 years. The work, therefore, is more likely to have been written towards the close of, rather than after, the 13th century. Next may be considered the arms of defence and offence, which required the appointment of an armour-bearer (see page 111, line 6), viz., bow, quiver—containing broad-bladed arrows—sword, or scimitar, mace, or bludgeon, shield, and a spear, or lance; all of which were employed by the Crusaders. Now the first of the eight crusades dates A.D. 1096 (A.H. 490), and the last A.D. 1270 (A.H. 669). These considerations are connected with the Seljukian kingdom of Rūm, of which the capital was Koniah (Iconium), founded A.D. 1074 (A.H. 467), and lasted until A.D. 1307 (A.H. 707); in all, 233 years. Much confusion arises from the Ruler of the Eastern Empire being called Kaisar-ī Rūm, a title also assumed by the Seljukian dynasty. The Kaisar-i Rūm of Chapter III may allude to any occupant of the Constantinopolitan throne between the years A.D. 1257 and 1434.”

Footnote 21:

In this entertaining book a Parrot is represented as relating stories night after night, in order to prevent a merchant’s wife from carrying on a criminal intrigue during her husband’s absence. Nakshabī’s work has not yet been wholly translated into English—see _foot_ note, page 197. Of Kāderī’s abridgment (which is very clumsily done) a translation, together with his Persian text, was published at Calcutta, and reprinted at London in 1801. Kāderī has certainly done Nakshabī’s literary reputation no small injury, by the manner in which he has cut down the stories, and by substituting his own inexpressive and bald style for the graceful composition of the original. It is to be hoped that ere long some competent scholar will present English readers with a fair translation of Nakshabī’s excellent work, which would prove of considerable service to those interested in tracing the migrations and transformations of popular tales.—Besides the _Suka Saptati_, above mentioned, there is another Indian book, in Tamul, on the same plan, entitled _Hamsa Vinsati_, Twenty Tales of a Hamsa, or Goose, told with the same object as that of the Parrot—to keep an amorous lady at home until her husband returns.

Footnote 22:

_Arabian Nights’ Entertainments._ To which is added a Selection of New Tales, now first translated from the Arabic originals; also an Introduction and Notes, by Jonathan Scott, LL.D. London, 1811. 6 vols.—This edition, says Lowndes, “was carefully revised and corrected from the Arabic,” but it is not easy to discover any of the Editor’s emendations: the sixth volume consists of Scott’s additional Tales, one or two of which had been better left in the “original Arabic.”

Footnote 23:

Evidently a misprint for “literal,” since Scott accuses Cazotte of taking “liberties” with his originals, and contrasts his work with Ouseley’s more accurate translation. It is curious to find, for once, at least, a misprint proving to be no error; for Ouseley’s translation is in fact very “liberal,” and Scott assuredly could never have compared it with the text.

Footnote 24:

As the Eleventh Day, is the Story of the Freed Slave.

Footnote 25:

In allusion to the name, compounded of _Bakht_, Fortune, and _yār_, a friend, or companion.

Footnote 26:

Bihrūz and Rūzbih are compounded of the words _bih_, good, excellent, and _rūz_, day; meaning “whose day is excellent.”—ED.

Footnote 27:

Veti-ver, Mr Platt writes to me, “is a French word, and yet I am unable to find it in any French Dictionary. It is a kind of grass, deriving its name from the Latin words _veto_ and _vermis_, as it is used when dry in keeping clothes, etc. free from moths. In the Mauritius, I believe, mats and table-covers are manufactured from it.”

Footnote 28:

Morier’s _Second Journey_.

Footnote 29:

This is Mr Bicknell’s almost literal rendering:

If the young Magian dally with grace so coy and fine, My eyes shall bend their fringes to sweep the house of wine.

Footnote 30:

_Kīl va kāl, par va bāl_, “question and answer,” “feather and wing:” a jingle of words which has a great charm to a Persian ear: “feather and wing,” pride of place; for the height of prosperity they say _pār va bāl-i ikbāl_.

Footnote 31:

_Manzil_, a day’s journey—about twenty miles.

Footnote 32:

Ottoman Poems. Translated, with Introduction, Biographical Notices, and Notes, by E. J. W. Gibb (Trübner & Co.) Page 211.

Footnote 33:

That is, a sword, the scabbard of which is ornamented with gold.

Footnote 34:

_Second Journey to Persia, &c._

Footnote 35:

He would be a “friend indeed” to submit to so much consultation!

Footnote 36:

This droll story is also domiciled in Italy: see D’Israeli’s _Curiosities of Literature_—“On the Philosophy of Proverbs”; but the probable original is found in the Talmud, where it occurs as an addendum to the well-known tale of the emperor Hadrian and the old man who planted a fig-tree.

Footnote 37:

Compare Scott:

“When pain and anguish wring the brow, A ministering angel thou!”

Footnote 38:

_History of Muhammedanism_, Second Edition, p. 322.

Footnote 39:

Sir John Malcolm’s _History of Persia_, vol. ii p. 585.

Footnote 40:

Russell’s _Natural History of Aleppo_, vol. i, chap. 3.

Footnote 41:

Meaning the Sultan himself; for the Turkish Sultans are all born of slave-women.

Footnote 42:

From _Ferdusi, his Life and Writings_, by S. R. (Mr Samuel Robinson), one of a series of admirable translations &c. of Persian Poetry, published some years ago, and now being reprinted for private circulation by the learned and venerable author, as a companion volume to my _Arabian Poetry for English Readers_.

Footnote 43:

_Essai sur les Fables Indiennes._

Footnote 44:

_A Century of Ghazels, or a Hundred Odes, selected and translated from the Divān of Hāfiz_, by S.R. (Preliminary Notice, pp. viii, ix.)

Footnote 45:

_Flowers from the “Gulistān” and “Bostān”_ of Sadi. By S. R.

Footnote 46:

It has long been a barbarous practice in Persia to _pluck out_ the eyes of political offenders. Morier, in his romance of _Zohrab the Hostage_, represents the brutal tyrant Aga Muhammad Shāh, during the horrible massacre which followed the capture of Astrābād, as coolly counting, with the handle of his riding-switch, the number of pairs of eyes placed before him on a tray; and a reference to the account of this monster’s conduct after the capture of Kirmān, in Sir John Malcolm’s _History of Persia_, will show that the novelist has not exaggerated in this matter.

Footnote 47:

Nigārīn: idol-like, beautiful, embellished, a beloved object.

Footnote 48:

Under the title of _Hindoo Tales_ (London: Strahan & Co.), Dr P. W. Jacob has issued a very readable translation of this entertaining romance.

Footnote 49:

_Tibetan Tales, derived from Indian Sources._ Translated from the Tibetan of the _Kah-Gyur_, by F. Anton Von Schiefner. Done into English, from the German, by W. R. S. Ralston, M.A. London: Trübner & Co.

Footnote 50:

_Descriptive Catalogue of the Mackenzie Collection of Oriental MSS._ By H. H. Wilson. Calcutta, 1828. Vol. i, p. 17.

Footnote 51:

Translated from the German of Bergmann, by Mr William J. Thoms, and published, in 1834, in his very interesting _Lays and Legends of Various Nations_, a work which is now become extremely scarce, and well merits being reprinted.

Footnote 52:

The King was wont to visit the well where Abū Saber lay, and to jeer and mock his practice of patience.

Footnote 53:

That is, the story of Abraha, obscurely referred to in the opening paragraph, page 56. Abraha, we are there informed, “was the son of the King of Zangībār, who, _by chance_, had fallen into slavery, and never disclosed the secret to any one.” Lescallier says, that he was reduced to slavery “by some extraordinary adventure,” but the text does not explain the nature of the “adventure.”

Footnote 54:

Khōja: in its more restricted meaning, a lord, a master; Muhammad is styled _Khōja-i bas o nashr_, literally, “lord of the raising and dispersing,” that is, the Resurrection. In its general signification, a man of distinction, doctor, professor, &c. But the title of Khōja, like our “Mr” is now very commonly applied to any respectable person.

Footnote 55:

“Zangistān.”—The Oriental adjunct _stān_ or _istān_, the participle of _istādan_, “to reside,” or “dwell,” denotes “place,” or “country,” whence Moghol-istān, a port of Tartary; Fars-istān, Persia; Khūz-istān, Susiana. The root of _stān_ may be seen in our English word “station.”

Footnote 56:

“Four parasangs.”—A Persian league, about 18,000 feet in length, is _Fars-sang_, that is, the Stone of Persia, which Herodotus and other Greek authors term _Parasanga_. It seems that in ancient times the distance of a league was marked in the East, as well as in the West, by large elevated stones.

Footnote 57:

The love of Jacob for his son Joseph, and his grief at his supposed death, are proverbial amongst Muslims, and very frequently alluded to by Persian poets. In the 12th sura of the Kur’ān it is stated that Jacob became blind through constant weeping for his lost son, and that his sight was restored by means of Joseph’s inner garment, which the Governor of Egypt sent to his father by his brethren. In the _Makamat_ of El-Hariri, the celebrated Arabian poet, are such allusions as “passed a night of sorrow like Jacob’s,” “wept more than Jacob when he lost his son.”

Footnote 58:

Probably the messenger went to Yemen in the assumed capacity of a merchant, which would render him least liable to suspicion, and also enable him to smuggle Abraha out of the city without attracting particular notice.

Footnote 59:

The same savage maxim occurs in the _Anvār-i Suhailī_: “When thou hast got thy enemy fast, show him no mercy.”

Footnote 60:

Islām is not, as is commonly believed in Europe, synonymous with Fatalism. “What Muhammad taught,” remarks Mr Redhouse, “what the Kur’ān so eloquently and so persistently sets forth, and what real faithful Muslims believe, conformably with what is contained in the Gospels and accepted by devout Christians, is—that God’s Providence pre-ordains, as His Omniscience foreknows, all events, and over-rules the designs of men, to the sure fulfilment of His all-wise purposes.”—_El-Esmā’u-’l-Husna_, “The Most Comely Names” [_i.e._ of God], by J. W. Redhouse, M.R.A.S. Trübner & Co., London.

Footnote 61:

There are many varieties of this amusing story in Europe as well as in Asia—whether Father Beschi found it in India or took it with him.

Footnote 62:

“The ‘Uygur’ language,” Mr J. W. Redhouse writes to me, “is simply Turkish; what we should term ‘a little provincial.’ It is very much more consistent with the Ottoman Turkish of to-day than the English of four hundred years ago was like the modern English.”

Footnote 63:

Here, surely, the Tātār translator—or adapter—anticipates the course of the narrative; since the King (unfortunately for the Vezīr Kārdār) did _not_ possess, at one and the same time, _two_ Vezīrs and a beautiful wife—if by the latter be meant the pious daughter of Kerdār.

Footnote 64:

Kārdān signifies “knowing affairs”—“experienced.” The meaning of Kerdār (as Kārdār is pronounced by Turks) is already given in the foregoing notes.

Footnote 65:

Lit: without whom she could not live.—_Jaubert._

Footnote 66:

In M. Cazotte’s rendering of the Arabian version (French translation of the _Continuation of the Thousand and One Nights_), it is also the cameleer of the King of Persia, and not of King Dādīn, as in the Persian _Bakhtyār_, who discovers the pious maiden in the desert, and from this point to the end of the narrative M. Cazotte’s and the Turkī versions correspond.

Footnote 67:

Husain Vā`iz, in his _Anvār-i-Suhailī_, had probably Sa`dī’s verses in mind when he wrote: “The arrow which has leapt from the string cannot be brought back, nor can the slain person be resuscitated either by strength or gold.”

Footnote 68:

Lane’s _Thousand and One Nights_, Introd. p. 27.—See a more just estimate of women, cited from the _Mahābharata_, p. 139 of the present volume.

Footnote 69:

Dr Jonathan Scott: Notes to vol. vi. of his edition of the _Arabian Nights_.

Footnote 70:

The 50th Night of the India Office MS. No. 2573; and the 35th tale of Muhammad Kaderi’s abridgment. Gerrans’ English translation, 1792, comprises barely one-fifth of the Tales, only the first volume of it having been published: he probably did not meet with sufficient encouragement to complete his work.

Footnote 71:

See Lane’s _Thousand and One Nights_, Introduction, note 21, ch. iii, note 14; Kur’ān ii, 96.

Footnote 72:

It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that Muhammad did not profess to introduce a new religion, but simply to restore the original and only true faith, which was held and taught by Abraham, David, Solomon, and the other great prophets.

Footnote 73:

See Dr Weil’s interesting little work, entitled, _The Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud_, where also will be found the curious legend of how the demon Sakhr, above mentioned, by obtaining possession of Solomon’s magical signet, personated the great Hebrew King, and of the wonderful recovery of the seal-ring, and Solomon’s restoration to his kingdom.

Footnote 74:

Sir Gore Ouseley’s _Biographical Notices of Persian Poets_.

Footnote 75:

_Arabian Nights’ Entertainments_, edited by Jonathan Scott. 6 vols, 8vo. London, 1811. Vol. vi, _Notes_.

Footnote 76:

Morier’s _Second Journey to Persia_, &c.

Footnote 77:

See Lane’s _Modern Egyptians_.—In my _Arabian Poetry for English Readers_ is a translation (the first that has appeared in English) of the famous Burda-Poem of El-Busīrī, contributed by Mr J. W. Redhouse, with Preface and Notes.

Footnote 78:

Called _El-Fātiha_; according to Sale’s translation, it is as follows:

IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.

PRAISE be to God, the Lord of all creatures; the most merciful, the King of the Day of Judgment. Thee do we worship, and of thee do we beg assistance. Direct us in the right way, in the way of those to whom thou hast been gracious; not of those against whom thou art incensed, nor of those who go astray.

Footnote 79:

_The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night._ Translated by Henry Torrens. Calcutta: 1838. Vol. I. Notes.—This excellent translation comprises only the first 50 Nights, and it is much to be regretted that Torrens did not live to complete a task so well begun.

Footnote 80:

Malcolm’s _History of Persia_, vol. ii.

Footnote 81:

_Sketches of Persia_, 1861 ed., page 134.

Footnote 82:

Folk-Lore students will perhaps “make a note of this.”

Footnote 83:

No. xliv of “Pleasant Stories,” in Gladwin’s _Persian Moonshee_, 1801.

Footnote 84:

Malcolm’s _History of Persia_, vol. ii, pp. 594, 5.

Footnote 85:

This Rabbinical tale has been adopted in France, where it is told of a gentleman who left his wealth to a convent, provided they gave his son “whatever they chose”—_they_ chose the bulk of the money, which, of course, they had to restore.

Footnote 86:

_Dissertation on the Literature, Languages, and Manners of Eastern Nations._

Footnote 87:

_Anvar-i Suhaili_, or Lights of Canopus. By Hussain Vā’iz.

Footnote 88:

The Story of Semiletka, in Mr Ralston’s _Russian Folk-Tales_, bears so close a resemblance to this rabbinical story, in the stratagem adopted by the wife, that we must conclude it cannot be a mere coincidence.

Footnote 89:

Chardin’s _Voyages en Perse_, &c., vol. ii, pp. 149, 220.

Footnote 90:

_History of Persia_, vol. ii, pp. 576–7.

Footnote 91:

A cunning man, hight Sidrophel, That deals in Destiny’s dark counsels, And sage opinions of the moon sells.—_Hudibras._

Footnote 92:

Should the reader feel any curiosity to ascertain the sentiments entertained by Muhammadans regarding the influence of the planets upon men’s dispositions and fortunes, he will find the fullest information on the subject in _Qanoon-e-Islam, or the Customs of the Moosulmans of India_. By Jaffer Shureef. Translated by G. A. Herklots, M.D. London, 1832.

Footnote 93:

Dr Dasent’s _Popular Tales from the Norse_.

Footnote 94:

Thorpe’s _Northern Mythology_, vol. iii.

Footnote 95:

_Popular Poetry of Persia._

Transcriber’s note:

1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.

2. Retained anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.