The Complete Collection
ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS
(c.700-900)
Contents
The Translations
ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS
JONATHAN SCOTT 1811 TRANSLATION
JOHN PAYNE 1884 TRANSLATION
RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON 1885 TRANSLATION
ANDREW LANG 1885 TRANSLATION
JULIA PARDOE 1857 ADAPTATION
The Guide
ARABIAN SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE AGES by Edward William Lane
The Delphi Classics Catalogue
© Delphi Classics 2015
Version 1
The Complete Collection
ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS
By Delphi Classics, 2015
COPYRIGHT
One Thousand and One Nights - Complete Collection
First published in the United Kingdom in 2015 by Delphi Classics.
© Delphi Classics, 2015.
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The Translations
A manuscript of the ‘One Thousand and One Nights’
An artistic portrayal of a city from the ‘One Thousand and One Nights’
ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS
This famous collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales was compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age and is often known in English as the Arabian Nights, due to the 1706 first English language edition being titled The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment. The tales were collected over many centuries by various authors, translators and scholars across West, Central and South Asia and North Africa, revealing influences from ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Mesopotamian, Indian and Egyptian literature. In particular, many tales were originally folk stories from the Caliphate era, while others, especially the frame story, are most likely drawn from the Pahlavi Persian work Hazār Afsān, which in turn relied partly on Indian elements.
The stories are connected by the frame story concerning the ruler Shahryār (Persian for “king”) and his wife Scheherazade (Persian for “of noble lineage”), while other tales are introduced within the frame story by its characters. Some editions of One Thousand and One Nights contain only a few hundred nights’ tales, while others include 1,001 or even more. The majority of the text is written in prose, though verse is occasionally used for songs and riddles and to express heightened emotion. Most of the poems are single couplets or quatrains, although some are longer.
The main frame story introduces Shahryar, whom the narrator calls a “Sasanian king” ruling in “India and China”, who is shocked to discover that his brother’s wife has been unfaithful. Discovering that his own wife’s infidelity has been even more flagrant, he has her executed and in his bitterness and grief decides that all women are the same. Shahryar begins to marry a succession of virgins only to execute each one the next morning, before she has a chance to dishonour him. Eventually, the vizier, whose duty it is to provide them, cannot find any more virgins. Devising a cunning plan, Scheherazade, the vizier’s daughter, offers herself as the next bride and her father reluctantly agrees. On the night of their marriage, Scheherazade begins to tell the king a tale, but does not end it. The king, curious about how the story will end, is thus forced to postpone her execution in order to hear the conclusion. The next night, as soon as she finishes the tale, she begins a new one, before pausing for the night, Eager to hear the conclusion, the king postpones her execution once again and so the pattern continues for a total of 1,001 nights.
The Arabian Nights tales vary widely, including historical tales, love stories, tragedies, comedies, poems, burlesques and various forms of erotica. Numerous stories depict jinns, ghouls, apes, sorcerers, magicians and legendary places, which are often intermingled with real-life people and geographical locations, though not always rationally. Typical protagonists include the historical Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, his Grand Vizier, Jafar al-Barmaki and the famous poet Abu Nuwas, despite the fact that these figures lived some 200 years after the fall of the Sassanid Empire in which the frame tale of Scheherazade is set. Sometimes a character in Scheherazade’s tale will begin telling other characters a story of his own, and that story may have another one told within it, resulting in a richly layered narrative texture.
Devices found in Sanskrit literature, including the use of frame stories and animal fables, have been identified by some scholars as lying at the root of the conception of the One Thousand and One Nights collection. Indian folklore is represented by certain animal stories, reflecting influence from ancient Sanskrit fables, while the influence of the Panchatantra and Baital Pachisi is particularly notable. The Jataka Tales are a collection of 547 Buddhist stories, which are for the most part moral stories with an ethical purpose.
The first European version (1704–1717) was translated into French by Antoine Galland from an Arabic text of the Syrian recension and other sources. The twelve volume work, Les Mille et une nuits, contes arabes traduits en français (Thousand and one nights, Arab stories translated into French), included stories that were not in the original Arabic manuscript. Aladdin’s Lamp and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, as well as several other, lesser known tales, actually appeared first in Galland’s translation and cannot be found in any of the original manuscripts of the collection. Galland recorded that he heard them from a Syrian Christian storyteller from Aleppo, a Maronite scholar whom he called “Hanna Diab.” Galland’s version of the One Thousand and One Nights proved to be so popular throughout Europe that later versions were issued by his publisher using Galland’s name without his consent.
As scholars were looking for the presumed “complete” and “original” form of the One Thousand and One Nights, they naturally turned to the more voluminous texts of the Egyptian recension, which soon came to be viewed as the standard version. The first translations of this kind, such as that published by Edward Lane (1840, 1859), were bowdlerized. Unabridged and unexpurgated translations were made, first by John Payne, under the title The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night (1882, nine volumes), and then by Sir Richard Francis Burton, entitled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (1885, ten volumes).
Another manuscript of ‘One Thousand and One Nights’ dating back to the 14th century
Queen Scheherazade, as painted in the 19th century by Sophie Anderson
Scheherazade and Shahryār by Ferdinand Keller, 1880
‘The story of Princess Parizade and the Magic Tree’ by Maxfield Parrish
‘Sindbad and the Valley of Diamonds, from the Second Voyage’ by Maxfield Parrish
‘The Story Of The Magic Hors
e’ by Maxfield Parrish
JONATHAN SCOTT 1811 TRANSLATION
Jonathan Scott (1754–1829) was an English orientalist, best known for the following translation of the One Thousand and One Nights. In 1802 Scott was appointed professor of oriental languages at the Royal Military College, but resigned that post in 1805. He held, about the same time, a similar position at the East India College at Haileybury. In 1805 the honorary degree of D.C.L. was conferred upon him by the University of Oxford in recognition of his attainments in oriental literature.
In 1811 Scott published his edition of the Arabian Nights Entertainments, after his friend Edward Wortley Montagu had brought back from Turkey a nearly complete manuscript of the work (now in the Bodleian Library), composed in 1764. Scott proposed to make a fresh translation from this manuscript, and printed a description of it, together with a table of contents, in William Ouseley’s Oriental Collection. He abandoned the idea later on, and contented himself with revising Antoine Galland’s French version (1704–1717), saying that he found it so correct that it would be pointless to go over the original again. He prefixed a copious introduction, and added some additional tales from other sources. The work was the earliest effort to render the Arabian Nights into literary English and was commercially popular, being republished in London in 1882 and again in 1890.
CONTENTS
VOLUME 1
THE PUBLISHERS’ PREFACE.
It is upon this text that the present edition is formed.
The Arabian Nights Entertainments.
The Ass, the Ox, and the Labourer.
THE MERCHANT AND THE GENIE.
The Story of the First Old Man and the Hind.
The Story of the Second old Man and the Two Black Dogs.
THE STORY OF THE FISHERMAN.
The Story of the Grecian King and the Physician Douban.
The Story of the Husband and the Parrot.
The Story of the Vizier that was Punished.
The History of the Young King of the Black Isles.
STORY OF THE THREE CALENDERS, SONS OF SULTANS; AND OF THE FIVE LADIES OF BAGDAD.
The History of the First Calender.
The Story of the Second Calender.
The Story of the Envious Man, and of him that he Envied.
The History of the Third Calender.
The Story of Zobeide.
The Story of Amene.
THE STORY OF SINBAD THE VOYAGER.
The First Voyage.
The Second Voyage.
The Third Voyage.
The Fourth Voyage.
The Fifth Voyage.
The Sixth Voyage.
The Seventh and Last Voyage.
THE THREE APPLES.
The Story of Noor ad Deen Ali and Buddir ad Deen Houssun.
Another was served up to the eunuch, and he gave the same judgment.
THE HISTORY OF GANEM, SON OF ABOU AYOUB, AND KNOWN BY THE SURNAME OF LOVE’S SLAVE.
VOLUME 2
THE STORY OF THE LITTLE HUNCH-BACK.
The Story told by the Christian Merchant.
The Story told by the Sultan of Casgar’s Purveyor.
The Story told by the Jewish Physician.
The Story told by the Tailor.
The Story of the Barber.
The Story of the Barber’s Eldest Brother.
The Story of the Barber’s Second Brother.
The Story of the Barber’s Third Brother.
The Story of the Barber’s Fourth Brother.
The Story of the Barber’s Fifth Brother.
The Story of the Barber’s Sixth Brother.
Letter from Schemselnihar to the Prince of Persia.
The Prince of Persia’s Answer to Schemselnihar’s Letter.
Letter from Schemselnihar to the Prince of Persia.
The Prince of Persia’s Answer to Schemselnihar.
The Story of the Princes Amgiad and Assad.
THE STORY OF NOOR AD DEEN AND THE FAIR PERSIAN.
VOLUME 3
THE STORY OF BEDER, PRINCE OF PERSIA, AND JEHAUN-ARA, PRINCESS OF SAMANDAL, OR SUMMUNDER.
THE HISTORY OF PRINCE ZEYN ALASNAM AND THE SULTAN OF THE GENII.
THE HISTORY OF CODADAD, AND HIS BROTHERS.
The History of the Princess of Deryabar.
THE STORY OF ABOU HASSAN, OR THE SLEEPER AWAKENED.
THE STORY OF ALLA AD DEEN; OR, THE WONDERFUL LAMP.
ADVENTURE OF THE CALIPH HAROON AL RUSHEED.
The Story of Baba Abdoollah.
The Story of Syed Naomaun.
The Story of Khaujeh Hassan al Hubbaul.
THE STORY OF ALI BABA AND THE FORTY ROBBERS DESTROYED BY A SLAVE.
THE STORY OF ALI KHAUJEH, A MERCHANT OF BAGDAD.
VOLUME 4
THE STORY OF THE ENCHANTED HORSE.
THE STORY OF PRINCE AHMED, AND THE FAIRY PERIE BANOU.
THE STORY OF THE SISTERS WHO ENVIED THEIR YOUNGER SISTER.
STORY OF THE SULTAN OF YEMEN AND HIS THREE SONS.
STORY OF THE THREE SHARPERS AND THE SULTAN.
The Adventures of the Abdicated Sultan.
History of Mahummud, Sultan of Cairo.
Story of the First Lunatic.
Story of the Second Lunatic.
Story of the Broken-backed Schoolmaster.
Story of the Wry-mouthed Schoolmaster.
Story of the Sisters and the Sultana their Mother.
STORY OF THE BANG-EATER AND THE CAUZEE.
Story of the Bang-eater and His Wife.
THE SULTAN AND THE TRAVELLER MHAMOOD AL HYJEMMEE.
The Koord Robber.
Story of the Husbandman.
Story of the Three Princes and Enchanting Bird.
Story of a Sultan of Yemen and his three Sons.
Story of the First Sharper in the Cave.
History of the Sultan of Hind.
STORY OF THE FISHERMAN’S SON.
STORY OF ABOU NEEUT AND ABOU NEEUTEEN; OR, THE WELL-INTENTIONED AND THE DOUBLE-MINDED.
ADVENTURE OF A COURTIER, RELATED BY HIMSELF TO HIS PATRON, AN AMEER OF EGYPT.
STORY OF THE PRINCE OF SIND, AND FATIMA, DAUGHTER OF AMIR BIN NAOMAUN.
STORY OF THE LOVERS OF SYRIA; OR, THE HEROINE.
STORY OF HYJAUJE, THE TYRANNICAL GOVERNOR OF COUFEH, AND THE YOUNG SYED.
STORY OF INS AL WUJJOOD AND WIRD AL IKMAUM, DAUGHTER OF IBRAHIM, VIZIER TO SULTAN SHAMIKH.
THE ADVENTURES OF MAZIN OF KHORASSAUN.
STORY OF THE SULTAN, THE DERVISH, AND THE BARBER’S SON.
ADVENTURES OF ALEEFA, DAUGHTER OF MHEREJAUN, SULTAN OF HIND, AND EUSUFF, SON OF SOHUL, SULTAN OF SIND.
ADVENTURES OF THE THREE PRINCES, SONS OF THE SULTAN OF CHINA.
STORY OF THE GOOD VIZIER UNJUSTLY IMPRISONED.
STORY OF THE LADY OF CAIRO AND HER FOUR GALLANTS.
The Cauzee’s Story.
STORY OF THE MERCHANT, HIS DAUGHTER, AND THE PRINCE OF EERAUK.
ADVENTURES OF THE CAUZEE, HIS WIFE, &c.
The Sultan’s Story of Himself.
CONCLUSION.
VOLUME 1
THE PUBLISHERS’ PREFACE.
This, the “Aldine Edition” of “The Arabian Nights Entertainments,” forms the first four volumes of a proposed series of reprints of the Standard works of fiction which have appeared in the English language.
It is our intention to publish the series in an artistic way, well illustrating a text typographically as perfect as possible. The texts in all cases will be carefully chosen from approved editions.
The series is intended for those who appreciate well printed and illustrated books, or who are in want of a handy and handsome edition of such works to place upon their bookshelves.
The exact origin of the Tales, which appear in the Arabic as “The Thousand and One Nights,” is unknown. The Caliph Haroon al Rusheed, who, figures in so lifelike a manner in many of the stories, was a contemporary of the Emperor Charlemagne, and there is internal evidence that the collection was made in t
he Arabic language about the end of the tenth century.
They undoubtedly convey a picturesque impression of the manners, sentiments, and customs of Eastern Mediaeval Life.
The stories were translated from the Arabic by M. Galland and first found their way into English in 1704, when they were retranslated from M. Galland’s French text and at once became exceedingly popular.
This process of double translation had great disadvantages; it induced Dr. Jonathan Scott, Oriental Professor, to publish in 1811, a new edition, revised and corrected from the Arabic.
It is upon this text that the present edition is formed.
It will be found free from that grossness which is unavoidable in a strictly literal translation of the original into English; and which has rendered the splendid translations of Sir R. Burton and Mr. J. Payne quite unsuitable as the basis of a popular edition, though at the same time stamping the works as the two most perfect editions for the student.
The scholarly translation of Lane, by the too strict an adherence to Oriental forms of expression, and somewhat pedantic rendering of the spelling of proper names, is found to be tedious to a very large number of readers attracted by the rich imagination, romance, and humour of these tales.
The Arabian Nights Entertainments.
The chronicles of the Sassanians, ancient kings of Persia, who extended their empire into the Indies, over all the adjacent islands, and a great way beyond the Ganges, as far as China, acquaint us, that there was formerly a king of that potent family, who was regarded as the most excellent prince of his time. He was as much beloved by his subjects for his wisdom and prudence, as he was dreaded by his neighbours, on account of his velour, and well-disciplined troops. He had two sons; the elder Shier-ear, the worthy heir of his father, and endowed with all his virtues; the younger Shaw-zummaun, a prince of equal merit.
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