Chapter XVII: Conclusion (5)

Now this servant was of royal extraction, and had fled from his country, by reason of some transgression, and had entered the service of King Bihkard. And this is what happened to him. By chance a person who knew him passed that way, and gave information to his father, who sent him a letter, which gratified his heart and disposition; and he returned to his father, who inclined indulgently towards him. Yatrū rejoiced, and his affairs were rectified.—Compare also Lescallier and Cazotte, cited in pp. 178, 179.

_Arabian Version of Abū Temām’s Mission._

(Comp. pp. 101–103, and 212, 213.)

According to Habicht’s text, the account of Abū Temām’s delicate—not to say dangerous—mission to the King of Turkistān is very different from that of the Persian version. The King desires him to enter the harem, and see and converse with the Princess; and he proceeds thither, reflecting on the way that “Wise men have averred that whoever deprives his sight [that is, closes his eyes] no evil can attach to him; and whoever bridles his tongue hears nothing disagreeable; and whoever restrains his hand, it can neither be shortened nor lengthened.” He accordingly enters the chamber of the Princess, and sits down on the floor, gathering together the extremities of his robe. When the King’s daughter requests him to raise his head, look upon and converse with her, Abū Temām remains mute, and with downcast eyes. She then requests him to take the pearls, and the gold and silver which lie near him, but he does not extend his hand towards anything. At this the Princess is vexed, and tells her father that they have sent a blind, and deaf, and foolish ambassador; whereupon the King of Turkistān demands of Abū Temām why he had not looked upon and conversed with his daughter: he replies that he had seen everything [he should see]; and in answer to the inquiry, why he had not taken the proffered pearls, he says that it was not proper for him to extend his hand to aught that belongs to another. The King, overjoyed at his prudence, embraces him, shows him the heads of former ambassadors (see page 214, line 4), consents to give his daughter in marriage to Abū Temām’s royal master, and presents him with a robe of honour, after which Abū Temām departs, and in due course the Princess is sent to the palace of Īlan Shāh.

_Arabian Version of the Conclusion of the Romance._

In Habicht’s Arabian text the conclusion is as follows (comp. pp. 115–117):

When the youth had finished his narrative, the King said: “Still thou wouldest bewilder us with thy discourses, but the time is now come for your execution.”—At the moment when they were conducting the youth to the gallows, the robber-chief who had educated him arrived in the town. When he observed the people assembling together, he inquired the cause, and they said to him: “The King has commanded a young culprit to be executed.” The robber-chief, who wished to see the youth, immediately recognised him, and kissed him on the mouth, and said: “This youth, when a child, I found near a fountain. I adopted him, and brought him up. One day we attacked a caravan, and were driven into flight, and he was taken prisoner. Since then I have sought everywhere for him, and never could gain any news respecting him.” When the King heard this he cried aloud, threw himself on the youth, embraced and kissed him, and said: “I should have put my own son to death, and in consequence should have died of grief.” The King then unfettered the Prince, took the crown from his own head, and placed it on that of his son. The news was made public by the beating of drums and the braying of trumpets, the town was illuminated, and there arose such a shouting of joy that the birds could scarcely support themselves in the air. All prisoners were released by order of the King, and a seven days’ festival proclaimed throughout the kingdom.

On the eighth day the King placed his son at his side, and summoned all his friends, the city notables, and the viziers. To these last the Prince said: “You see now the work of God’s providence—you now perceive His aid was near.” The Viziers were struck dumb, and the King added: “I observe that on this day all the people rejoice, even the birds of the air—ye only are downcast; that is truly a proof of rancour against me. Had I listened to your advice, I should have died from the effects of despair and repentance.” The King then summoned to his presence the robber-chief, made him many presents, and said: “Whoever loves the King, let him lavish gifts on this man.” Whereupon he was so overwhelmed with presents that he could not take any more; and the King then conferred upon him the governorship of the province in which he had dwelt.

Soon afterwards the King ordered nine sets of gallows to be erected near the one already set up, and said to his son: “Thou wast guiltless—these wicked Viziers slandered thee in my eyes.” The Prince rejoined: “My crime consisted of my loyalty to thee—seeing that I removed their hands from thy treasures, they envied me, and wished my death.” “On that account,” said the King, “let their punishment now be near, for their crime is great: to destroy thee, they did not scruple to disgrace my house in the opinion of all sovereigns.” He then turned to the Viziers, and said to them: “Woe be to you! Wherewith can you excuse yourselves?” They replied: “O King, there is no excuse for us—we were unkind to the youth, and wished his misfortune, which has recoiled on us;—for him we dug a grave and have fallen into it ourselves.” Hereupon the King issued an order for their execution—“for,” said he, “God is just, and all His judgments are true.” The King afterwards lived in happiness and peacefully with his spouse and his son, until the disturber of all earthly friends reached them likewise.

WILLIAM BURNS, PRINTER, LARKHALL, LANARKSHIRE.

-----

Footnote 1:

See Thoms’ _Lays and Legends of Germany_; Thorpe’s _Yule-Tide
Stories_; Roscoe’s _German Novelists_.

Footnote 2:

Grimm’s _German Popular Tales_.

Footnote 3:

Dasent’s _Popular Tales from the Norse_.

Footnote 4:

Perhaps one of the most curious instances of the migrations of popular
tales is the following. In Taylor’s _Wit and Mirth_, an excellent
jest-book, compiled by the celebrated Water-Poet (_temp._ James I of
England), we are told of a countryman who had come up to London on a
visit, and some wags having set a big dog at him in sport, the poor
fellow stooped to pick up a stone to throw at the brute, but finding
them all rammed hard and fast into the ground, he exclaimed in
astonishment: “What strange folk are these, who fasten the stones and
let loose their dogs!” More than three centuries before Taylor heard
this jest, the Persian poet Sa`dī related it in his _Gulistān_, or
Rose-Garden (ch. iv, story 10 of Eastwick’s translation): “A poet went
to the chief of a band of robbers, and recited a panegyric upon him.
He commanded them to strip off his clothes, and turn him out of the
village. The dogs, too, attacked him in the rear. He wanted to take up
a stone, but the ground was frozen. Unable to do anything, he said:
‘What a villanous set are these, who have untied their dogs, and tied
up the stones!’”—Here we have a jest, at the recital of which, in the
14th century, “grave and otiose” Easterns wagged their beards and
shook their portly sides, finding its way, three centuries later, to
London taverns, where Taylor probably heard it told amidst the
clinking of cans and fragrant clouds blown from pipes of Trinidado!
But how came it thither?—that is the question.

Footnote 5:

Of the numerous English translations of the _Arabian Nights_ which
have been published, that of the learned Arabist, Mr William Edward
Lane, made direct from the original text, is by far the best, and will
probably never be surpassed; while his elaborate and highly
interesting Notes to the translation furnish the most complete account
which we possess of the manners, customs, superstitions, &c., of the
modern Arabians in Egypt, with which his residence in that country,
and familiarity with the language as it is spoken, enabled him to
become intimately acquainted.

Footnote 6:

For example: before one story (1) is ended another (2) is begun, and
before it is finished another (3), springing out of the second, is
commenced; then out of story 3 springs yet another story (4), which
ended, number 3 is resumed and brought to an end, then number 2, after
which number 1 is resumed and concluded; and then the thread of the
_leading_ story—which runs throughout the whole work, like a brook
through a meadow, but often out of sight—is taken up once more;—to
lead presently to a fresh complication of stories, which “beget one
another to the end of the chapter!” The arrangement of the Tales in
the _Arabian Nights_ is on this plan; though not to be compared for
elaboration with that of the Indian Fables, above-mentioned, still
less so with the frame of _Kathá Sarit Ságara_.

Footnote 7:

A complete and unabridged translation of the _Thousand and One Nights_
(the first that has appeared in English), by Mr John Payne, author of
“The Masque of Shadows,” “Poems of Francis Villon,” &c., is in course
of publication. The first volume, now issued to subscribers, is well
printed on hand-made paper, and elegantly bound in gilt parchment.
This edition is limited to 500 copies, numbered, most of which, I
understand, have already been taken up.

Footnote 8:

The word _Nāma_ (often written _Namah_ and _Nameh_) signifies Book, or
History.

Footnote 9:

It is probably this version that is quoted by Sa`dī, in his _Bustān_,
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._

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Transcriber’s note:

1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.

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