One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  There can be no doubt, I think, that this story owes nothing to Galland, but that it is a popular Greek version of the original Asiatic tale, of which Galland’s “Ali Baba” is probably a fair reflection. The device of pretending to the servant that the dragon he had thrown into the sea was returned has its exact analogue in the humorous fabliau of “Les Trois Bossus,” where a rustic is made to believe that each of the hunchbacks had come back again, with the addition that, on returning from the river the third time, he seizes the lady’s hunchbacked husband and effectually disposes of him.

  Richard Francis Burton’s translation: detailed table of contents

  The Tale of Prince Ahmad.

  Though my paper on this tale is of considerable length, it would perhaps have been deemed intolerably long had I cited all the versions of the first part — the quest of the most wonderful thing — which are current in Europe, for it is found everywhere, though with few variations of importance. There are two, however, of which I may furnish the outlines in this place.

  In the “Pentamerone” of Basile,444 , a man sends his five sons into the world to learn something. The eldest becomes a master-thief; the second has learned the trade of shipwright; the third has become a skilful archer; the fourth has found an herb which brings the dead to life, and the youngest has learned the speech of birds. Soon after they have returned home, they set out with their father to liberate a princess who had been stolen by a wild man, and by the exercise of their several arts succeed in their adventure. While they quarrel as to which of them had by his efforts done most to deserve the princess for wife, the king gives her to the father, as the stock of all those branches.

  In the 45th of Laura Gonzenbach’s “Sicilianische Mõrchen,” the king’s daughter is stolen by a giant and recovered by the seven sons of a poor woman. The eldest can run like the wind, the second can hear, when he puts his ear to the ground, all that goes on in the world; the third can with a blow of his fist break through seven iron doors; the fourth is a thief; the fifth can build an iron tower with a blow of his fist; the sixth is an unfailing shot, the seventh has a guitar which can awaken the dead. Youths thus wonderfully endowed figure in many tales, but generally as the servants of the hero.

  By comparing the different European versions it will be found that some are similar to the first part of the tale of Prince Ahmad, insomuch as the brothers become possessed of certain wonderful things which are each instrumental in saving the damsel’s life; while others more closely approach the oldest known form of the story, in representing the heroes as being endowed with some extraordinary kind of power, by means of which they rescue the damsel from a giant who had carried her off. It is curious to observe that in the “Sindibßd Nßma” version the damsel is both carried off by a demon and at death’s door, which is not the case of any other Asiatic form of the story.

  Richard Francis Burton’s translation: detailed table of contents

  FOOTNOTES SUPPLEMENTAL VOLUME III.

  1 M. Zotenberg empowered me to offer his “Aladdin” to an “Oriental” publishing-house well-known in London, and the result was the “no-public” reply. The mortifying fact is that Oriental studies are now at their nadir in Great Britain, which is beginning to show so small in the Eastern World.

  2 P.N. of a Jinni who rules the insect-kingdom and who is invoked by scribes to protect their labours from the worm.

  3 Both name and number suggest the “Calc. Edit.” of 1814. See “Translator’s Foreword” vol. i., x)x.-xx. There is another version of the first two hundred Nights, from the “Calc. Edit.” into Urdu by one Haydar Ali 1 vol. roy. 8vo lithog. Calc. 1263 (1846). — R.F.B.

  4 “Alf Leilah” in Hindostani 4 vols. in 2, royal 8vo, lithographed, Lakhnau, 1263 (1846). — R. F. B.

  5 This is the “Alif” (!) Leila, Tarjuma-i Alif (!) Laila ba-Zuban-i-Urdu (Do Jild, baharfßt-i-Yurop), an Urdu translation of the Arabian Nights, printed entirely in the Roman character, etc., etc. — R.F.B.

  6 i.e., The Thousand Tales.

  7 From the MS, in the BibliochÞque Nationale (Supplement

  Arab. No. 2523) vol. ii., , verso to , verso. The

  Sisters are called DÝnßrzßd and Shahrßzßd, a style which I have

  not adopted.

  8 THe old versions read “Ornament (Adornment?) of the Statues,” Zierde der Pildsõulen (Weil). I hold the name to be elliptical, Zayn (al-Din = Adornment of The Faith and owner of) al-Asnßm = the Images. The omission of Al-Din in proper names is very common; e.g., Fakhr (Al-Din) Al-Iftakhßri (Iftikhßr-al-Din) and many others given by De Sacy (Chrest.i. 30, and in the Treatise on Coffee by Abdal-Kßdir). So Al-Kamßl, Al-Imßd, Al-Baha are = Kamal al-DÝn, etc. in Jbn Khallikan, iii 493. Sanam properly = an idol is popularly applied to all artificial figures of man and beast. I may note that we must not call the hero, after Galland’s fashion, unhappily adopted by Weil, tout bonnement “Zayn.”

  9 Galland persistently writes “Balsorah,” a European corruption common in his day, the childhood of Orientalism in Europe. The Hindostani versions have “Bansrß,” which is worse.

  10 For notes on Geomancy (Zarb Raml) see vol. iii. 269.

  11 THe Hindostani Version enlarges upon this:— “Besides this, kings cannot escape perils and mishaps which serve as warnings and examples to them when dealing their decrees.”

  12 In the XIXth century we should say “All the — ologies.”

  13 In the Hindostani Version he begins by “breaking the seal which had been set upon the royal treasury.”

  14 “Three things” (says Sa’di in the Gulistan) “lack permanency, Wealth without trading, Learning without disputation, Government without justice.” (chap. viii. max. 8). The Bakhtiyßr-nßmeh adds that “Government is a tree whose root is legal punishment (Siyßsat); its root-end is justice; its bough, mercy; its flower, wisdom; its leaf, liberality; and its fruit, kindness and benevolence. The foliage of every tree whose root waxeth dry (lacketh sap) taketh a yellow tint and beareth no fruit.”

  15 For this word, see vol. ix. 108. It is the origin of the

  Fr. “Douane” and the Italian “Dogana” through the Spanish Aduana

  (Ad-DÝwßn) and the Provencal “Doana.” MÚnage derives it from the

  Gr. {Greek} =a place where goods are received, and others from

  “Doge” (Dux) for whom a tax on merchandise was levied at Venice.

  LittrÚ (s.v.) will not decide, but rightly inclines to the

  Oriental origin.

  16 A Hadis says, “The dream is the inspiration of the True Believer;” but also here, as the sequel shows, the Prince believed the Shaykh to be the Prophet, concerning whom a second Hadis declares, “Whoso seeth me in his sleep seeth me truly, for Satan may not assume my semblance.” See vol. iv. 287. The dream as an inspiration shows early in literature, e.g.

  — {Greek} (Il. i. 63).

  and

  — {Greek} (Il. ii 55).

  in which the Dream is {Greek}.

  17 In the Hindostani Version he becomes a PÝr = saint, spiritual guide.

  18 A favourite sentiment. In Sir Charles Murray’s excellent novel, “Hassan: or, the Child of the Pyramid,” it takes the form, “what’s past is past and what is written is written and shall come to pass.”

  19 In the H. V. the Prince digs a vat or cistern-shaped hole a yard deep. Under the ringed slab he also finds a door whose lock he breaks with his pickaxe and seeing a staircase of white marble lights a candle and reaches a room whose walls are of porcelain and its floor and ceiling are of crystal.

  20 Arab. Khawßbi (plur. of Khßbiyah) large jars usually of pottery. In the H. V. four shelves of mother o’ pearl support ten jars of porphyry rangeed in rows and the Prince supposes (with Galland) that the contents are good old wine.

  21 Arab. “‘AtÝk”: the superficial similiarity of the words have produced a new noun in Arabic, e.g. Ab· AntÝkß = father of antiquities, a vendor of such articles mostly modern, “brand-new and intensely old.”

  22 In
the text “Ashkhßs” (plural of Shakhs) vulgarly used, throughout India, Persia and other Moslem realms, in the sense of persons or individuals. For its lit. sig. see vols. iii. 26; and viii. 159. The H. V. follows Galland in changing to pedestals the Arab thrones, and makes the silken hanging a “piece of white satin” which covers the unoccupied base.

  23 The blessed or well-omened: in these days it is mostly a servile name, e.g. Sidi Mubßrak Bombay. See vol. ix. 58,330.

  24 In the test “MÝn” for “Man,” a Syro-Egyptian form common throughout this MS.

  25 “Ay Ni’am,” an emphatic and now vulgar expression.

  26 The MS. here has “‘Imßrah” = a building, probably a clerical error for Maghßrah,” a cave, a souterrain.

  27 Arab, “Zahab-ramlÝ,” explained in “Alaeddin.” So

  Al-Mutanabbi sang: —

  “I become not of them because homed in their ground: * Sandy

  earth is the gangue wherein gold is found.”

  28 WalÝmah prop. = a marriage-feast. For the different kinds of entertainments see vols. vi. 74; viii. 231.

  29 Arab. MukattaÝ al-Yadayn, a servile posture: see vols. iii. 218; ix. 320.

  30 Here the Arabic has the advantage of the English;

  “Shakhs” meaning either a person or an image. See supra, .

  31 Arab. “KawßrijÝ = one who uses the paddle, a paddler, a rower.

  32 In the Third Kalandar’s Tale (vol. i. 143) Prince ‘AjÝb is forbidden to call upon the name of Allah, under pain of upsetting the skiff paddled by the man of brass. Here the detail is omitted.

  33 Arab. “Wahsh,” which Galland translates “Tiger,” and is followed by his Hind. translator.

  34 Arab. “Laffa ‘l-isnayn bi-zul·mati-h,” the latter word = Khurt·m, the trunk of an elephant, from Zalm = the dewlap of sheep or goat.

  35 In the text “Yßmin,” a copyist’s error, which can mean nothing else but “YasimÝn.”

  36 The H. V. rejects this detail for “a single piece of mother-o’-pearl twelve yards long,” etc. Galland has une seule ecaille de poisson. In my friend M. Zotenberg’s admirable translation of Tabara (i. 52) we read of a bridge at Baghdad made of the ribs of Og bin ‘Unk (= Og of the Neck), the fabled King of Bashan.

  37 I have noted that this is the primitive attire of

  Eastern man in all hot climates, and that it still holds its

  ground in that grand survival of heathenry, the Meccan

  Pilgrimage. In Galland the four strips are of taffetas jaune, the

  Hind. “TaftÝ.”

  38 The word is Hizßm = girdle, sash, waist-belt, which

  Galland turns into nappes. The object of the cloths edged with

  gems and gums was to form a barrier excluding hostile Jinns: the

  European magician usually drew a magic circle.

  39 This is our corruption of the Malay Aigla = sandal wood.

  See vol. ix. 150.

  40 Lit. = the Day of Assembly, “Yaum al-Mahshar.” These lines were translated at Cannes on Feb. 22n, 1886, the day before the earthquake which brought desolation upon the Riviera. It was a second curious coincidence. On Thursday, July 10th, 1863 — the morning when the great earthquake at Accra laid in ruins the town and the stout old fort built in the days of James II — I had been reading the Koranic chapter entitled “Earthquakes” (No. XCIX.) to some Moslem friends who had visited my quarters. Upwards of a decade afterwards I described teh accident in “Ocean Highways” (New Series, No. II., Vol. I, p-461), owned by Trubner & Co., and edited by my friend Clements Markham, and I only regret that this able Magazine has been extinguished by that dullest of Journals, “Porceedings of the R. S. S. and monthly record of Geography.”

  41 Galland has un tremblement pareil Ó celui qu’Israfyel

  (IsrßfÝl) doit causer le jour du jugement.

  42 The idea is Lady M. W. Montague’s (“The Lady’s

  Resolve.”)

  In part she is to blame that has been tried:

  He comes too near that comes to be denied.

  As an unknown correspondent warns me the sentiment was probably suggested by Sir Thomas Overbury (“A Wife.” St. xxxvi): —

  — In part to blame is she

  Which hath without consent bin only tride:

  He comes too near that comes to be denide.

  43 These highly compromising magical articles are of many kinds. The ballad of The Boy and the Mantle is familiar to all, how in the case of Sir Kay’s lady: —

  When she had tane the mantle

  With purpose for to wear;

  It shrunk up to her shoulder

  And left her backside bare.

  Percy, Vol. I., i and Book III.

  Percy derives the ballad from “Le COurt Mantel,” an old French piece and Mr. Evans (Specimens of Welsh Poetry) from an ancient MS, of Tegan Earfron, one of Arthur’s mistresses, who possessed a mantle which would not fit immodest women. See also in Spenser, Queen Florimel’s Girdle (F.Q. iv. 5,3), and the detective is a horn in the Morte d’Arthur, translated from the French, temp. Edward IV., and first printed in A. D. 1484. The Spectator (No. 579) tells us “There was a Temple upon Mount Etna which was guarded by dogs of so exquisite a smell, that they could discover whether the Persons who came thither were chaste or not;” and that they caused, as might be expected, immense trouble. The test-article becomes in the Tuti-nßmeh the Tank of Trial at Agra; also a nosegay which remains fresh or withers; in the Kathß Sarit Sßgara, the red lotus of Shiva; a shirt in Story lxix. Gesta Romanorum; a cup in Ariosto; a rose-garland in “The Wright’s Chaste WIfe,” edited by Mr. Furnival for the Early English Text Society; a magic picture in Bandello, Part I., No. 21; a ring in the Pentamerone, of Basile; and a distaff in “L’Adroite Princesse,” a French imitation of the latter.

  44 Looking glasses in the East are mostly made, like our travelling mirrors, to open and shut.

  45 In Eastern countries the oarsman stands to his work and lessens his labour by applying his weight which cannot be done so forcibly when sitting even upon the sliding-seat. In rowing as in swimming we have forsaken the old custom and have lost instead of gaining.

  46 I have explained this word in vol. iii. 100; viii. 51, etc., and may add the interpretation of Mr. L. C. Casartelli () “La Philosophie Religieuse du MazdÚisme, etc., Paris Maisonneuve, 1884.” “A divine name, which has succeeded little (?) is the ancient title Bagh, the O. P. Baga of the Cuneiforms (Baga vazraka Auramazda, etc.) and the Bagha of the Avesta, whose memory is preserved in Baghdad — the city created by the Gods (?). The Pahlevi books show the word in the compound Bagh¶bakht, lit. = what is granted by the Gods, popularly, Providence.”

  47 The H. V. makes the old woman a “finished procuress whose skill was unrivalled in that profession.”

  48 In the text “Al-SßdÝ w’al-GhßdÝ:” the latter may mean those who came for the morning meal.

  49 An antistes, a leader in prayer (vols. ii. 203, and iv. 227); a reverend, against whom the normal skit is directed. The H. V. makes him a Muezzin, also a Mosque-man; and changes his name to Murad. Imßm is a word with a host of meanings, e.g., model (and master), a Sir-Oracle, the Caliph, etc., etc.

  50 i.e. being neighbours they would become to a certain extent answerable for the crimes committed within the quarter.

  51 Arab. “Nakshat” and “Sifrat.”

  52 Arab. “FarajÝyah,” for which see vol. i. 210, 321.

  53 For this aphrodisiac see vol. vi. 60.

  54 In the text “Ay ni’am,” still a popular expression.

  55 Arab. “‘Ilm al-HÝah,” gen. translated Astrology, but here meaning scientific Physiognomy. All these branches of science, including Palmistry, are nearly connected; the features and the fingers, mounts, lines, etc. being referred to the sun, moon and planets.

  56 Arab. “Mihaffah bi-takhtrawßn”: see vols. ii. 180; v. 175.

  57 The H. V. is more explicit: “do not so, or the King of the Jann will slay thee even before thou canst enjoy her
and will carry her away.”

  58 Arab. “Shahwah” the rawest and most direct term. The Moslem religious has no absurd shame of this natural passion. I have heard of a Persian Imam, who, suddenly excited as he was sleeping in a friend’s house, awoke the master with, “Shahwah dßram” = “I am lustful” and was at once gratified by a “Mut’ah,” temporary and extempore marriage to one of the slave-girls. These morganatic marriages are not, I may note, allowed to the Sunnis.

  59 Arab. “Min ba’di an” for “Min ba’di mß” = after that, still popular in the latter broad form.

  60 The word has been used in this tale with a threefold sense Egypt, old Cairo (Fostat) and new Cairo, in fact to the land and to its capital for the time being.

  61 Arab. “Kabbaltu” = I have accepted, i.e., I accept emphatically. Arabs use this form in sundry social transactions, such as marriages, sales, contracts, bargains, and so forth, to denote that the engagement is irrevocable and that no change can be made. De Sacy neglected to note this in his Grammar, but explains it in his Chrestomathy (i. 44, 53), and rightly adds that the use of this energetic form peut-Ûtre serait susceptible d’applications plus Útendues.

  62 La nuit de l’entrÚe, say the French: see Lane “Leylet ed-dukhlah” (M.E. chapt. vi.).

  63 This MS. uses “Milßh” (pleasant) for “Mubßh” (permitted). I must remark, before parting with Zayn al-Asnam, that its object is to inculcate that the price of a good wife is “far above rubies” (Prov. xxxi. 10: see the rest of this fine chapter), a virtuous woman being “a crown to her husband” (ibid. xxii. 4); and “a prudent wife is from the Lord” (Prov. xix. 4). The whole tale is told with extreme delicacy and the want of roughness and energy suggests a European origin.

  64 i.e. the “Height or Glory (‘Alß) of the Faith (al-DÝn)” pron. Alßaddeen; which is fairly represented by the old form “Aladdin;” and better by De Sacy’s “Ala-eddin.” The name has occurred in The Nights, vol. iv. 29-33; it is a household word in England and who has not heard of THomas Hood’s “A-lad-in?” Easterns write it in five different ways and in the Paris MS. it is invariably “æAlÝ al-dÝn,” which is a palpable mistake. The others are (1) ‘Alß al-DÝn, (2) ‘Alß yadÝn, (3) ‘Alah DÝn in the H. V. and (4) ‘Alßa al-DÝn (with the Hamzah), the last only being grammatical. In Galland the Histoire de la Lampe merveilleuse is preceded by the Histoire du Dormeur EveillÚ which, being “The Story of Ab· al-Hasan the Wag, or the Sleeper awakened,” of the Bresl. Edit. (Nights cclxxi.-ccxc.), is here omitted. The Alaeddin Story exists in germ in Tale ii. of the “Dravidian Nights Entertainments,” (Madana Kamara-Sankßdßj), by Pandit S. M. Natisa Shastri (Madras, 1868, and London, Tr³bner). We are told by Mr. Coote that it is well represented in Italy. The Messina version is by PittÞ, “La Lanterna Magica,” also the Palermitan “Lanterne;” it is “Il Matrimonio di Cajussi” of Rome (R. H. Busk’s Folk-lore); “Il Gallo e il Mago,” of Visentini’s “Fiabe Mantovane,” and the “Pesciolino,” and “Il Contadino che aveva tre FÝgli,” of Imbriana. In “La Fanciulla c il Mago,” of De Gubernatis (“Novelline di Sante Stefano de Calcenaja,” ), occurs the popular incident of the original. “The Magician was not a magician for nothing. He feigned to be a hawker and fared through the streets, crying out, ‘Donne, donne, chi baratta anelli di ferro contra anelli di argento?’”