Chapter 17

trouble.

da. Story of Avicenna.

e. Story of the fair Arouya. Cf. Nos. 135q and 225.

f. Singular Adventures of Aboulfawaris, surnamed the Great

Traveller (2 Voyages).

6. Story of the Two Brother Genii, Adis and Dahy.

7. Story of Nasiraddolé, King of Moussel, of Abderrahman,

Merchant of Bagdad, and the Beautiful Zeineb.

8. Story of Repsima=No. 181r.

This work has many times been reprinted in France, where it holds a place only second to The Nights.

Sir R. F. Burton remarks, concerning the Persian and Turkish

Tales of Petis de la Crois (the latter of which form part of the

Forty Vazirs, No. 251), “Both are weak and servile imitations of

Galland by an Orientalist who knew nothing of the East. In one

passage in the story of Fadlallah, we read of Le Sacrifice du

Mont Arafáte,’ which seems to have become a fixture in the

European brain. I found the work easy writing and exceedingly

hard reading.”

The following tales require a passing notice:—

1. Story of Aboulcassem Bafry.—A story of concealed treasure; it has also some resemblance to No. 31.

2. Ruzvanchad and Cheheristani.—Cheheristani is a jinniyah, who is pursued by the King, under the form of a white doe; marries him, and becomes the mother of Balkis, the Queen of Sheba. She exacts a promise from him never to rebuke her for any of her actions: he breaks it, and she leaves him for a time.

2a. The Young King of Thibet.—Two imposters obtain magic rings by which they can assume the shapes of other persons.

2a, b. The Vazir Cavercha.—This is one of Scott’s stories (No. 223 of our Table). It goes back at least as far as the Ring of Polycrates. It is the 8th Vezir’s Story in Mr. Gibbs’ Forty Vezirs (pp. 200–205).

4. Prince Calaf.—This story is well known, and is sometimes played as a comedy. The Princess Turandot puts riddles to her suitors, and beheads them if they fail to answer.

5b. Story of Prince Seyj-el-Molouk.—This story is perhaps an older version than that which appears in The Nights (No. 154a). It is placed long after the time of Solomon; Saad is devoured by ants (Weber (ii. p. 426) has substituted wild beasts!); and when Seyf enters the palace of Malika (=Daulet Khatoon), the jinni surprises them, and is overpowered by Seyf’s ring. He then informs him of the death of Saad; and that Bedy al-Jernal was one of the mistresses of Solomon; and has also long been dead.

5b. Malek and Chirine.—Resembles No. 264; Malek passes himself off as the Prophet Mohammed; burns his box (not chair) with fireworks on his weddingday, and is thus prevented from ever returning to the Princess.

5f. Adventures of Aboulfawaris.—Romantic travels, resembling Nos. 132a and 133.

2. Antar.—This is the most famous of the Badawi romances. It resembles No. 137 in several particulars, but is destitute of supernaturalism. An English abridgment in 4 vols. was published in 1820; and the substance of vol. 1 had appeared, as a fragment, in the previous year, under the title of “Antar, a Bedoueen Romance translated from the Arabic by Terrick Hamilton, Esq., Oriental Secretary to the British Embassy at Constantinople.” I have also seen vol. 1 of a French translation, published about 1862, and extending to the death of Shas.

Lane (Modern Egyptians, ch. 21–23) describes several other Arab romances, which have not yet been translated; viz. Aboo-Zeyd; Ez-Zahir, and Delhemeh.

3. GLAIVE-DES-COURONNES (Seif el-Tidjân) Roman traduit de l’Arabe. Par M. le Dr. Perron (Paris, 1862).

A romantic story of Arab chivalry, less overloaded with supernaturalism than No. 137; but more supernatural than Antar. The hero marries (among other wives) two jinniyahs of the posterity of Iblis. In ch. 21 we have an account of a magical city much resembling the City of Brass (No. 134) and defended by similar talismans.

4. MEHEMET THE KURD, and other tales, from Eastern sources, by Charles Wells, Turkish Prizeman of King’s College, London, and Member of the Royal Asiatic Society (London, 1865).

The first story, taken from an Arabic MS., is a narrative of a handsome simpleminded man, with whom Princesses fall in love, and who is raised to a mighty throne by their enchantments. Some of the early incidents are not unlike those in the well-known German story of Lucky Hans (Hans im Glück). In one place there is an enchanted garden, where Princesses disport themselves in feather-dresses (as in No. 155, &c.), and where magic apples grow. (Note that apples are always held in extraordinary estimation in The Nights, cf. Nos. 4 and 264.) Among the shorter stories we find No. 251h; a version of Nos. 9a and 152 (probably that referred to by Mr. Clouston as in the Tuti Nama); a story “The Prince Tailor,” resembling No. 251; No. 256, and one or two other tales not connected with The Nights. (Most of Wells’ shorter tales are evidently taken from the Forty Vezirs.)

5. RECUEIL DES CONTES POPULAIRES de la Kabylie du Djardjara, recueillis et traduits par J. Rivière (Paris, 1882). I have not seen this book; but it can hardly fail to illustrate The Nights.

6. THE STORY OF JEWAD, Romance by ’Ali ’Aziz Efendi the Cretan. Translated from the Turkish by E. J. W. Gibb, M.R.A.S., &c. (Glasgow, 1884).

A modern Turkish work, written in A. H. 1211 (1796–97). It contains the following tales:—

The Story of Jew d.

1. The Story of Eb -’Ali-Sin. 2. The Story of Monia Em n. 3. The Story of Ferah-N z, the daughter of the King of China. a. The Story of Khoja ’Abdu-llah. 4. The Story told by Jew d to Iklilu’l Mulk. a. The Story of Sh b r and Hum . c. The Story of Ghazanfer and R hila. 5. The Story of Qara Khan.

The following deserve notice from our present point of view:—

The Story of Jewad.—Here we have magical illusions, as in Nos. 247 and 251a. Such narratives are common in the East; Lane (Nights, ch. i., note 15) is inclined to attribute such illusions to the influence of drugs; but the narratives seem rather to point to so-called electro-biology, or the Scotch Glamour (such influences, as is notorious, acting far more strongly upon Orientals than upon Europeans).

2. The Story of Monia Em n corresponds to the Story of Naerdan and Guzulbec, in Caylus’ Oriental Tales. A story of magical illusions.

3. The Story of Ferah N z.—Here again we have a variant of Nos. 9a and 152.

3a. Khoja ’Abdu-ltab.—This is a version of the Story of Aboulcassem in the Thousand and One Days.

4a. Sh b r and Hum .—The commencement of this story might have suggested to Southey the adventures of Thalaba and Oneida in the Gardens of Aloadin; the remainder appears to be taken from the Story of the young King of Thibet, in the Thousand and One Days.

5. Qara Khan.—The principal part of this story is borrowed from the First Voyage of Aboulfawaris in the Thousand and One Days; it has some resemblance to the story of the Mountain of Loadstone in No. 3c.

7. FRÜCHTE DES ASIATISCHEN GEIST, von A. T. Hartmann. 2 vols., 12mo (Münster) 1803. A collection of anecdotes, &c., from various Eastern sources, Arabic, Indian, &c. I think it not impossible that this may be the work referred to by Von Hammer in the preface to Zinserling’s “1001 Nacht” (p. xxvii. note) as “Asiatische Perleuschnur von Hartmann.” At least I have not yet met with any work to which the scanty indication would apply better.

8. TUTI-NAMA. I could hardly pass over the famous Persian and Turkish “Parrot-Book” quite without notice; but its tales have rarely any direct connection with those in The Nights, and I have not attempted to go into its very extensive bibliography.

DR. CLARKE’S M.S.

Dr. Edward Daniel Clarke has given an account of an important MS. nearly agreeing with Bul. and Mac., which he purchased in Egypt, in his “Travels in various countries of Europe, Asia and Africa.”