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“TO THE PURE ALL THINGS ARE PURE.” (Puris omnia pura)
—Arab Proverb.
“Niuna corrotta mente intese mai sanamente parole.”
—“Decameron”—conclusion.
“Erubuit, posuitque meum Lucretia librum Sed coram Bruto. Brute! recede, leget.”
—Martial.
“Mieulx est de ris que de larmes escripre, Pour ce que rire est le propre des hommes.”
—RABELAIS.
“The pleasure we derive from perusing the Thousand-and-One Stories makes us regret that we possess only a comparatively small part of these truly enchanting fictions.”
—CRICHTON’S “History of Arabia.”
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A PLAIN AND LITERAL TRANSLATION OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS. NOW ENTITULED
THE BOOK OF THE =Thousand Nights and a Night=
_WITH INTRODUCTION EXPLANATORY NOTES ON THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF MOSLEM MEN AND A TERMINAL ESSAY UPON THE HISTORY OF THE NIGHTS_
VOLUME V.
BY RICHARD F. BURTON
PRINTED BY THE BURTON CLUB FOR PRIVATE SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
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Shammar Edition
Limited to one thousand numbered sets, of which this is
Number 547
PRINTED IN U. S. A.
TO DOCTOR GEORGE BIRD.
MY DEAR BIRD,
This is not a strictly medical work, although in places treating of subjects which may modestly be called hygienic. I inscribe it to you because your knowledge of Egypt will enable you to appreciate its finer touches; and for another and a yet more cogent reason, namely, that you are one of my best and oldest friends.
Ever yours sincerely.
RICHARD F. BURTON.
ATHENÆUM CLUB, October 20, 1885.
CONTENTS OF THE FIFTH VOLUME.
PAGE
THE EBONY HORSE 1
(Lane, Vol. II., Chapt. XVII. Story of the Magic Horse: pp. 517–545.)
UNS AL-WUJUD AND THE WAZIR’S DAUGHTER ROSE-IN-HOOD 32
(Chapt. XVIII. Story of Uns el-Wujood and El-Ward fi’l-Akmam: p. 549.)
ABU NOWAS WITH THE THREE BOYS AND THE CALIPH HARUN AL-RASHID 64
ABDALLAH BIN MA’AMAR WITH THE MAN OF BASSORAH AND HIS SLAVE-GIRL 69
(Anecdote of a Man and his Slave-Girl: p. 578.)
THE LOVERS OF THE BANU OZRAH 70
(Anecdote of Two Victims of Love: p. 579.)
THE WAZIR OF AL-YAMAN AND HIS YOUNG BROTHER 71
THE LOVES OF THE BOY AND GIRL AT SCHOOL 73
(Love in a School: p. 580.)
AL-MUTALAMMIS AND HIS WIFE UMAYMAH 74
HARUN AL-RASHID AND ZUBAYDAH IN THE BATH 75
HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE THREE POETS 77
MUS’AB BIN AL-ZUBAYR AND AYISHAH HIS WIFE 79
ABU AL-ASWAD AND HIS SLAVE-GIRL 80
HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE TWO SLAVE-GIRLS 81
HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE THREE SLAVE-GIRLS 81
THE MILLER AND HIS WIFE 82
(Lane, Vol. II. Anecdote of a Faithless Wife: p. 582.)
THE SIMPLETON AND THE SHARPER 83
(Anecdote of a Simpleton and a Sharper: p. 582.)
THE KAZI ABU YUSUF WITH HARUN AL-RASHID AND QUEEN ZUBAYDAH 85
THE CALIPH AL HAKIM AND THE MERCHANT 86
(Anecdote of El-Hakim bi-amri-llah and a Merchant of Cairo: p. 583.)
KING KISRA ANUSHIRWAN AND THE VILLAGE DAMSEL 87
(Anecdote of Anooshirwán: p. 884.)
THE WATER-CARRIER AND THE GOLDSMITH’S WIFE 89
KHUSRAU AND SHIRIN AND THE FISHERMAN 91
(Anecdote of Khusrow and Sheereen and a Fisherman: p. 585.)
YAHYA BIN KHALID AND THE POOR MAN 92
(Anecdote of Yahya el-Barmekee: p. 586.)
MOHAMMED AL-AMIN AND THE SLAVE-GIRL 93
(Mohammad el-Emeen and the Slave-Girl El-Bedr el-Kebeer: p. 587.)
THE SONS OF YAHYA BIN KHALID AND SAID BIN SALIM 94
(Anecdote of El-Fadl and Ja’afar the Barmekee: p. 588.)
THE WOMAN’S TRICK AGAINST HER HUSBAND 96
(Anecdote of a Deceitful Wife: p. 589.)
THE DEVOUT WOMAN AND THE TWO WICKED ELDERS 97
JA’AFAR THE BARMECIDE AND THE OLD BADAWI 98
OMAR BIN AL-KHATTAB AND THE YOUNG BADAWI 99
(Anecdote of a Homicide: p. 589.)
AL-MAAMUN AND THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT 105
THE THIEF AND THE MERCHANT 107
(Anecdote of an Impudent Thief: p. 592.)
MASRUR THE EUNUCH AND IBN AL-KARIBI 109
(Compact of Mesroor with Ibn el-Karibee: p. 594.)
THE DEVOTEE PRINCE 111
(Lane, Vol. II. Anecdote of a Devotee Son of Harun er-Rasheed: p. 595.)
THE SCHOOLMASTER WHO FELL IN LOVE BY REPORT 117
THE FOOLISH DOMINIE 118
THE ILLITERATE WHO SET UP FOR A SCHOOLMASTER 119
(Anecdote of an Illiterate Schoolmaster: p. 599.)
THE KING AND THE VIRTUOUS WIFE 121
ABD AL-RAHMAN THE MAGHRIBI’S STORY OF THE RUKH 122
(The Rukh: p. 600.)
ADI BIN ZAYD AND THE PRINCESS HIND 124
DI’IBIL AL-KHUZA’I WITH THE LADY AND MUSLIM BIN AL-WALID 127
ISAAC OF MOSUL AND THE MERCHANT 129
THE THREE UNFORTUNATE LOVERS 133
HOW ABU HASAN BRAKE WIND 135
THE LOVERS OF THE BANU TAYY 137
(Result of Restraint upon Two Lovers: p. 601.)
THE MAD LOVER 138
(Anecdote of a Distracted Lover: p. 602.)
THE PRIOR WHO BECAME A MOSLEM 141
(The Converted Prior: p. 603.)
THE LOVES OF ABU ISA AND KURRAT AL-AYN 145
(Aboo’Esa and Kurrat el-‘Eyn: p. 606.)
AL-AMIN AND HIS UNCLE IBRAHIM BIN AL-MAHDI 152
AL-FATH BIN KHAKAN AND AL-MUTAWAKKIL 153
THE MAN’S DISPUTE WITH THE LEARNED WOMAN CONCERNING THE RELATIVE 154 EXCELLENCE OF MALE AND FEMALE
ABU SUWAYD AND THE PRETTY OLD WOMAN 163
ALI BIN TAHIR AND THE GIRL MUUNIS 164
THE WOMAN WHO HAD A BOY AND THE OTHER WHO HAD A MAN TO LOVER 165
ALI THE CAIRENE AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE IN BAGHDAD 166
(Lane, Vol. II., Chapt. XIX. Story of ‘Alee of Cairo: p. 609.)
THE PILGRIM MAN AND THE OLD WOMAN 186
(Anecdote of a Townsman and a Bedaweeyeh: p. 635.)
ABU AL-HUSN AND HIS SLAVE-GIRL TAWADDUD 189
THE ANGEL OF DEATH WITH THE PROUD KING AND THE DEVOUT MAN 246
THE ANGEL OF DEATH AND THE RICH KING 248
THE ANGEL OF DEATH AND THE KING OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL 250
(A Tyrannical King and the Angel of Death: p. 636.)
ISKANDAR ZU AL-KARNAYN AND A CERTAIN TRIBE OF POOR FOLK 252
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF KING ANUSHIRWAN 254
THE JEWISH KAZI AND HIS PIOUS WIFE 256
THE SHIPWRECKED WOMAN AND HER CHILD 259
THE PIOUS BLACK SLAVE 261
THE DEVOUT TRAY-MAKER AND HIS WIFE 264
(Advantages of Piety and Industry: p. 637.)
AL-HAJJAJ BIN YUSUF AND THE PIOUS MAN 269
THE BLACKSMITH WHO COULD HANDLE FIRE WITHOUT HURT 271
THE DEVOTEE TO WHOM ALLAH GAVE A CLOUD FOR SERVICE AND THE DEVOUT 274 KING
THE MOSLEM CHAMPION AND THE CHRISTIAN DAMSEL 277
(Lane, Vol. II. Anecdote of a Moslem Warrior and a Christian Maiden: p. 639.)
THE CHRISTIAN KING’S DAUGHTER AND THE MOSLEM 283
THE PROPHET AND THE JUSTICE OF PROVIDENCE 286
(The Justice of Providence: p. 612.)
THE FERRYMAN OF THE NILE AND THE HERMIT 288
THE ISLAND KING AND THE PIOUS ISRAELITE 290
ABU AL-HASAN AND ABU JA’AFAR THE LEPER 294
THE QUEEN OF THE SERPENTS 298
a. THE ADVENTURES OF BULUKIYA 304
b. THE STORY OF JANSHAH 329
THE EBONY HORSE.[1]
There was once in times of yore and ages long gone before, a great and puissant King, of the Kings of the Persians, Sábúr by name, who was the richest of all the Kings in store of wealth and dominion and surpassed each and every in wit and wisdom. He was generous, open handed and beneficent, and he gave to those who sought him and repelled not those who resorted to him; and he comforted the broken-hearted and honourably entreated those who fled to him for refuge. Moreover, he loved the poor and was hospitable to strangers and did the oppressed justice upon the oppressor. He had three daughters, like full moons of shining light or flower-gardens blooming bright; and a son as he were the moon; and it was his wont to keep two festivals in the twelvemonth, those of the Nau-Roz, or New Year, and Mihrgán the Autumnal Equinox,[2] on which occasions he threw open his palaces and gave largesse and made proclamation of safety and security and promoted his chamberlains and viceroys; and the people of his realm came in to him and saluted him and gave him joy of the holy day, bringing him gifts and servants and eunuchs. Now he loved science and geometry, and one festival-day as he sat on his kingly throne there came in to him three wise men, cunning artificers and past masters in all manner of craft and inventions, skilled in making things curious and rare, such as confound the wit; and versed in the knowledge of occult truths and perfect in mysteries and subtleties. And they were of three different tongues and countries, the first a Hindi or Indian,[3] the second a Roumi or Greek and the third a Farsi or Persian. The Indian came forwards and, prostrating himself before the King, wished him joy of the festival and laid before him a present befitting his dignity; that is to say, a man of gold, set with precious gems and jewels of price and hending in hand a golden trumpet. When Sabur[4] saw this, he asked, “O sage, what is the virtue of this figure?”; and the Indian answered, “O my lord, if this figure be set at the gate of thy city, it will be a guardian over it; for, if an enemy enter the place, it will blow this clarion against him and he will be seized with a palsy and drop down dead.” Much the King marvelled at this and cried, “By Allah, O sage, an this thy word be true, I will grant thee thy wish and thy desire.” Then came forward the Greek and, prostrating himself before the King, presented him with a basin of silver, in whose midst was a peacock of gold, surrounded by four-and-twenty chicks of the same metal. Sabur looked at them and turning to the Greek, said to him, “O sage, what is the virtue of this peacock?” “O my lord,” answered he, “as often as an hour of the day or night passeth, it pecketh one of its young and crieth out and flappeth its wings, till the four-and-twenty hours are accomplished; and when the month cometh to an end, it will open its mouth and thou shalt see the crescent therein.” And the King said, “An thou speak sooth, I will bring thee to thy wish and thy desire.” Then came forward the Persian sage and, prostrating himself before the King, presented him with a horse[5] of the blackest ebony-wood inlaid with gold and jewels, and ready harnessed with saddle, bridle and stirrups such as befit Kings; which when Sabur saw, he marvelled with exceeding marvel and was confounded at the beauty of its form and the ingenuity of its fashion. So he asked, “What is the use of this horse of wood, and what is its virtue and what the secret of its movement?”; and the Persian answered, “O my lord, the virtue of this horse is that, if one mount him, it will carry him whither he will and fare with its rider through the air and cover the space of a year in a single day.” The King marvelled and was amazed at these three wonders, following thus hard upon one another on the same day, and turning to the sage, said to him, “By Allah the Omnipotent, and our Lord the Beneficent, who created all creatures and feedeth them with meat and drink, an thy speech be veritable and the virtue of thy contrivance appear, I will assuredly give thee whatsoever thou lustest for and will bring thee to thy desire and thy wish!”[6] Then he entertained the sages three days, that he might make trial of their gifts; after which they brought the figures before him and each took the creature he had wroughten and showed him the mystery of its movement. The trumpeter blew the trump; the peacock pecked its chicks and the Persian sage mounted the ebony horse, whereupon it soared with him high in air and descended again. When King Sabur saw all this, he was amazed and perplexed and felt like to fly for joy and said to the three sages, “Now I am certified of the truth of your words and it behoveth me to quit me of my promise. Ask ye, therefore, what ye will, and I will give you that same.” Now the report of the King’s daughters had reached the sages, so they answered, “If the King be content with us and accept of our gifts and allow us to prefer a request to him, we crave of him that he give us his three daughters in marriage, that we may be his sons-in-law; for that the stability of Kings may not be gainsaid.” Quoth the King, “I grant you that which you wish and you desire,” and bade summon the Kazi forthright, that he might marry each of the sages to one of his daughters. Now it fortuned that the Princesses were behind a curtain, looking on; and when they heard this, the youngest considered her husband to be and behold, he was an old man,[7] an hundred years of age, with hair frosted, forehead drooping, eyebrows mangy, ears slitten, beard and mustachios stained and dyed; eyes red and goggle; cheeks bleached and hollow; flabby nose like a brinjall, or egg-plant[8]; face like a cobbler’s apron, teeth overlapping and lips like camel’s kidneys, loose and pendulous; in brief a terror, a horror, a monster, for he was of the folk of his time the unsightliest and of his age the fright-fullest; sundry of his grinders had been knocked out and his eye-teeth were like the tusks of the Jinni who frighteneth poultry in hen-houses. Now the girl was the fairest and most graceful of her time, more elegant than the gazelle however tender, than the gentlest zephyr blander and brighter than the moon at her full; for amorous fray right suitable; confounding in graceful sway the waving bough and outdoing in swimming gait the pacing roe; in fine she was fairer and sweeter by far than all her sisters. So, when she saw her suitor, she went to her chamber and strewed dust on her head and tore her clothes and fell to buffeting her face and weeping and wailing. Now the Prince, her brother, Kamar al-Akmár, or the Moon of Moons hight, was then newly returned from a journey and, hearing her weeping and crying came in to her (for he loved her with fond affection, more than his other sisters) and asked her, “What aileth thee? What hath befallen thee? Tell me and conceal naught from me.” So she smote her breast and answered, “O my brother and my dear one, I have nothing to hide. If the palace be straitened upon thy father, I will go out; and if he be resolved upon a foul thing, I will separate myself from him, though he consent not to make provision for me; and my Lord will provide.” Quoth he, “Tell me what meaneth this talk and what hath straitened thy breast and troubled thy temper.” “O my brother and my dear one,” answered the Princess, “Know that my father hath promised me in marriage to a wicked magician who brought him, as a gift, a horse of black wood, and hath bewitched him with his craft and his egromancy; but, as for me, I will none of him, and would, because of him, I had never come into this world!” Her brother soothed her and solaced her, then fared to his sire and said, “What be this wizard to whom thou hast given my youngest sister in marriage, and what is this present which he hath brought thee, so that thou hast killed[9] my sister with chagrin? It is not right that this should be.” Now the Persian was standing by and, when he heard the Prince’s words, he was mortified and filled with fury and the King said, “O my son, an thou sawest this horse, thy wit would be confounded and thou wouldst be amated with amazement.” Then he bade the slaves bring the horse before him and they did so; and, when the Prince saw it, it pleased him. So (being an accomplished cavalier) he mounted it forthright and struck its sides with the shovel-shaped stirrup-irons; but it stirred not and the King said to the Sage, “Go show him its movement, that he also may help thee to win thy wish.” Now the Persian bore the Prince a grudge because he willed not he should have his sister; so he showed him the pin of ascent on the right side of the horse and saying to him, “Trill this,” left him. Thereupon the Prince trilled the pin and lo! the horse forthwith soared with him high in ether, as it were a bird, and gave not overflying till it disappeared from men’s espying, whereat the King was troubled and perplexed about his case and said to the Persian, “O sage, look how thou mayst make him descend.” But he replied, “O my lord, I can do nothing, and thou wilt never see him again till Resurrection-day, for he, of his ignorance and pride, asked me not of the pin of descent and I forgot to acquaint him therewith.” When the King heard this, he was enraged with sore rage; and bade bastinado the sorcerer and clap him in jail, whilst he himself cast the crown from his head and beat his face and smote his breast. Moreover, he shut the doors of his palaces and gave himself up to weeping and keening, he and his wife and daughters and all the folk of the city; and thus their joy was turned to annoy and their gladness changed into sore affliction and sadness. Thus far concerning them; but as regards the Prince, the horse gave not over soaring with him till he drew near the sun, whereat he gave himself up for lost and saw death in the skies, and was confounded at his case, repenting him of having mounted the horse and saying to himself, “Verily, this was a device of the Sage to destroy me on account of my youngest sister; but there is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! I am lost without recourse; but I wonder, did not he who made the ascent-pin make also a descent-pin?” Now he was a man of wit and knowledge and intelligence; so he fell to feeling all the parts of the horse, but saw nothing save a screw, like a cock’s head, on its right shoulder and the like on the left, when quoth he to himself, “I see no sign save these things like buttons.” Presently he turned the right-hand pin, whereupon the horse flew heavenwards with increased speed. So he left it and looking at the sinister shoulder and finding another pin, he wound it up and immediately the steed’s upwards motion slowed and ceased and it began to descend, little by little, towards the face of the earth, while the rider became yet more cautious and careful of his life.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.