VOLUME FIVE

Privately Printed By The Burton Club

To The Curators of the Bodleian Library, Oxford Especially Revd. B. Price and Professor Max Muller.

Gentlemen,

I take the liberty of placing your names at the Head of this Volume which owes its rarest and raciest passages to your kindly refusing the temporary transfer of the Wortley Montague MS. from your pleasant library to the care of Dr. Rost, Chief Librarian, India Office. As a sop to "bigotry and virtue," as a concession to the "Scribes and Pharisees," I had undertaken, in case the loan were granted, not to translate tales and passages which might expose you, the Curators, to unfriendly comment. But, possibly anticipating what injury would thereby accrue to the Volume and what sorrow to my subscribers, you were good enough not to sanction the transfer—indeed you refused it to me twice— and for this step my clientele will be (or ought to be) truly thankful to you.

I am, Gentlemen,

Yours obediently,

Richard F. Burton.

Bodleian Library, August 5th, 1888

CONTENTS

Original Table of Contents of the Fifteenth Volume.

THE TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD.

SUPPLEMENTAL NIGHTS TO THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT

THE HISTORY OF THE KING'S SON OF SIND AND THE LADY FATIMAH.[3]

The Four Hundred and Ninety-fifth Night,

The Four Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night,

The Four Hundred and Ninety-ninth Night,

HISTORY OF THE LOVERS OF SYRIA[17]

The Five Hundred and Third Night,

The Five Hundred and Fifth Night,

The Five Hundred and Seventh Night,

The Five Hundred and Ninth Night,

The Five Hundred and Twelfth Night,

The Five Hundred and Fourteenth Night,

The Five Hundred and Sixteenth Night,

The Five Hundred and Eighteenth Night,

NIGHT ADVENTURE OF HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE YOUTH MANJAB.[106]

The Six Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,

The Six Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,

The Six Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,

The Six Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,

The Six Hundred and Fortieth Night,

The Six Hundred and Forty-second Night,

The Six Hundred and Forty-third Night,

The Six Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,

The Six Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,

The Six Hundred and Forty-eighth Night,

The Six Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,

The Six Hundred and Fifty-first Night,

Story of the Darwaysh and the Barber's Boy and the Greedy Sultan.

The Six Hundred and Fifty-third Night,

The Six Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,

Tale of the Simpleton Husband.[167]

The Six Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,

NOTE CONCERNING THE "TIRREA BEDE," NIGHT 655.

VERSE.

The road to repose is that of activity and quickness.

THE LOVES OF AL-HAYFA AND YUSUF.[177]

The Six Hundred and Sixty-third Night,

The Six Hundred and Sixty-fifth Night,

The Six Hundred and Sixty-seventh Night,

The Six Hundred and Seventieth Night,

The Six Hundred and Seventy-second Night,

The Six Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,

The Six Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,

The Six Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,

The Six Hundred and Eightieth Night,

The Six Hundred and Eighty-second Night,

The Six Hundred and Eighty-fourth Night,

The Six Hundred and Eighty-sixth Night,

The Six Hundred and Eighty-seventh Night,

The Six Hundred and Eighty-ninth Night,

The Six Hundred and Ninety-first Night,

The Six Hundred and Ninety-third Night,

The Six Hundred and Ninety-fourth Night,

The Six Hundred and Ninety-sixth Night,

The Six Hundred and Ninety-eighth Night,

The Seven Hundredth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Second Night,

The Seven Hundred and Third Night,

The Seven Hundred and Fifth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Seventh Night,

The Seven Hundred and Ninth Night,

THE THREE PRINCES OF CHINA.[303]

The Seven Hundred and Eleventh Night,

The Seven Hundred and Twelfth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Fourteenth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Sixteenth Night,

THE RIGHTEOUS WAZIR WRONGFULLY GAOLED.[331]

The Seven Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Thirty-First Night,

The Seven Hundred and Thirty-Third Night,

THE CAIRENE YOUTH, THE BARBER, AND THE CAPTAIN.

The Seven Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Thirty-seventh Night,

THE GOODWIFE OF CAIRO AND HER FOUR GALLANTS.[354]

The Seven Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Forty-first Night,

THE TAILOR AND THE LADY AND THE CAPTAIN.[364]

The Seven Hundred and Forty-third Night,

The Seven Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,

THE SYRIAN AND THE THREE WOMEN OF CAIRO.[376]

The Seven Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,

THE LADY WITH TWO COYNTES.

The Seven Hundred and Fifty-first Night,

THE WHORISH WIFE WHO VAUNTED HER VIRTUE.

The Seven Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,

CÂLEBS THE DROLL AND HIS WIFE AND HER FOUR LOVERS.

The Seven Hundred and Fifty-eighth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Sixtieth Night,

THE GATE-KEEPER OF CAIRO AND THE CUNNING SHE-THIEF.[423]

The Seven Hundred and Sixty-first Night,

The Seven Hundred and Sixty-third Night,

The Seven Hundred and Sixty-fifth Night,

TALE OF MOHSIN AND MUSA.[434]

The Seven Hundred and Sixty-seventh Night,

The Seven Hundred and Sixty-ninth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Seventy-first Night,

MOHAMMED THE SHALABI AND HIS MISTRESS AND HIS WIFE.[455]

The Seven Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Seventy-sixth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,

THE FELLAH AND HIS WICKED WIFE.[466]

The Seven Hundred and Seventy-eighth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Seventy-ninth Night,

THE WOMAN WHO HUMOURED HER LOVER AT HER HUSBAND'S EXPENSE.[481]

The Seven Hundred and Eighty-first Night,

THE KAZI SCHOOLED BY HIS WIFE.

The Seven Hundred and Eighty-third Night,

The Seven Hundred and Eighty-fifth Night,

THE MERCHANT'S DAUGHTER AND THE PRINCE OF AL-IRAK.[497]

The Seven Hundred and Eighty-seventh Night,

The Seven Hundred and Ninetieth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Ninety-third Night,

The Seven Hundred nd Ninety-fifth Night,

The Seven Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night,

The Seven Hundred and Ninety-ninth Night,

The Eight Hundred and First Night,

The Eight Hundred and Third Night,

The Eight Hundred and Fifth Night,

The Eight Hundred and Seventh Night,

The Eight Hundred and Eighth Night,

The Eight Hundred and Tenth Night,

The Eight Hundred and Twelfth Night,

The Eight Hundred and Fourteenth Night,

The Eight Hundred and Seventeenth Night,

The Eight Hundred and Nineteenth Night,

The Eight Hundred and Twenty-first Night,

The Eight Hundred and Twenty-third Night,

STORY OF THE YOUTH WHO WOULD FUTTER HIS FATHER'S WIVES.[579]

The Eight Hundred and Thirty-second Night,

The Eight Hundred and Thirty-third Night,

The Eight Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,

The Eight Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,

The Eight Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,

STORY OF THE TWO LACK-TACTS OF CAIRO AND DAMASCUS.[593]

The Eight Hundred and Thirty-seventh Night,

The Eight Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,

The Eight Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,

The Eight Hundred and Fortieth Night,

TALE OF HIMSELF TOLD BY THE KING[607]

The Nine Hundred and Twelfth Night,

The Nine Hundred and Thirteenth Night,

The Nine Hundred and Fourteenth Night,

The Nine Hundred and Fifteenth Night,

The Nine Hundred and Sixteenth Night,

The Nine Hundred and Seventeenth Night,

APPENDIX I.

CATALOGUE OF WORTLEY MONTAGUE MANUSCRIPT CONTENTS.

VOL. I.,

VOL. II.

VOL. III.

VOL. IV.

VOL. VI.

VOL. VII.

APPENDIX II.

I.—NOTES ON THE STORIES CONTAINED IN VOLUME XIV.[640] By W. F. Kirby.

Story of the Sultan of Al-yaman and His Three Sons.

The Story of the Three Sharpers (pp. 17-35).

History of Mohammed, Sultan of Cairo (pp. 37-49).

The King of the Rats.[641]

Story of the Second Lunatic (pp. 67-74).

Story of the Broken-backed Schoolmaster (pp. 95-97).

Story of the Split-mouthed Schoolmaster (pp. 97-101).

Night Adventure of Sultan Mohammed of Cairo (pp. 90-109).

Story of the Kazi Who Bare a Babe (pp. 167-185).

History of the Bhang-Eater and His Wife (pp. 202-209).

How Drummer Abu Kasim Became a Kazi (pp. 210-212).

Story of the Kazi and His Slipper (pp. 212-215).

History of the Third Larrikin (pp. 296-297).

Tale of the Fisherman and His Son (pp. 314-329).

The History of Abu Niyyah and Abu Niyyatayn (pp. 334-352).

Truth and Injustice.[645]

II.—NOTES ON THE STORIES CONTAINED IN VOLUME XV. By W. F. KIRBY.

History of the King's Son of Sind and the Lady Fatimah (pp. 1-18).

History of the Lovers of Syria (pp. 21-36).

History of Al-Hajjaj Bin Yusuf and the Young Sayyid (pp. 39-60).

Night Adventure of Harun Al-Rashid and the Youth Manjab (pp. 61-105).

Story of the Darwaysh and the Barber's Boy and the Greedy Sultan (pp. 105-114).

The Loves of Al-Hayfa and Yusuf (pp. 121-210).

The Goodwife of Cairo and Her Four Gallants (pp. 251-294).

Tale of Mohsin and Muss (pp. 232-241).

The Merchant's Daughter, and the Prince of Al-irak (pp. 264-317).

ARABIAN NIGHTS, VOLUME 15 FOOTNOTES

Original Table of Contents of the Fifteenth Volume.

1. The History of the King's Son of Sind and the Lady Fatimah 2. History of the Lovers of Syria 3. History of Al-Hajjaj Bin Yusuf and the Young Sayyid 4. Night Adventure of Harun Al-Rashid and the Youth Manjab a. The Loves of the Lovers of Bassorah b. Story of the Darwaysh and the Barber's Boy and the Greedy Sultan c. Tale of the Simpleton Husband d. Note Concerning the "Tirrea Bede," Night 655 5. The Loves of Al-Hayfa and Yusuf 6. The Three Princes of China 7. The Righteous Wazir Wrongfully Gaoled 8. The Cairene Youth, the Barber and the Captain 9. The Goodwife of Cairo and Her Four Gallants a. The Tailor and the Lady and the Captain b. The Syrian and the Three Women of Cairo c. The Lady With Two Coyntes d. The Whorish Wife Who Vaunted Her Virtue 10. Coelebs the Droll and His Wife and Her Four Lovers 11. The Gatekeeper of Cairo and the Cunning She-Thief 12. Tale of Mohsin and Musa 13. Mohammed the Shalabi and His Mistress and His Wife 14. The Fellah and His Wicked Wife 15. The Woman Who Humoured Her Lover At Her Husband's Expense 16. The Kazi Schooled By His Wife

17. The Merchant's Daughter and the Prince of Al-Irak 18. Story of the Youth Who Would Futter His Father's Wives 19. Story of the Two Lack-Tacts of Cairo and Damascus 20. Tale of Himself Told By the King Appendix A: - Catalogue of Wortley Montague Manuscript Contents Appendix B: - Notes on the Stories Contained in Volumes XIV. and XV by W. F. Kirby

THE TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD.

This volume contains the last of my versions from the Wortley Montague Codex, and this is the place to offer a short account of that much bewritten MS.

In the "Annals of the Bodleian Library," etc., by the Reverend William Dunn Macray, M.A. (London, Oxford and Cambridge, 1868: 8vo. p. 206), we find the following official notice:—

"A.D. 1803."

"An Arabic MS. in seven volumes, written in 1764-5, and containing what is rarely met with, a complete collection of the Thousand and one Tales (N.B. an error for "Nights") of the Arabian Nights Entertainments, was bought from Captain Jonathan Scott for £50. Mr. Scott published, in 1811, an edition of the Tales in six volumes (N.B. He reprinted the wretched English version of Prof. Galland's admirable French, and his "revisions" and "occasional corrections" are purely imaginative), in which this MS. is described (N.B. after the mos majorum). He obtained it from Dr. (Joseph) White, the Professor of Hebrew and Arabic at Oxford, who had bought it at the sale of the library of Edward Wortley Montague, by whom it had been brought from the East. (N.B. Dr. White at one time intended to translate it literally, and thereby eclipse the Anglo French version.) It is noticed in Ouseley's Oriental Collections (Cadell and Davies), vol. ii. p. 25."

The Jonathan Scott above alluded to appears under various titles as Mr. Scott, Captain Scott and Doctor Scott. He was an officer in the Bengal Army about the end of the last century, and was made Persian Secretary by "Warren Hastings, Esq.," to whom he dedicated his "Tales, Anecdotes and Letters, translated from the Arabic and Persian" (Cadell and Davies, London, 1800), and he englished the "Bahár-i-Dánish" (A.D. 1799) and "Firishtah's History of the Dakkhan (Deccan) and of the reigns of the later Emperors of Hindostan." He became Dr. Scott because made an LL.D. at Oxford as meet for a "Professor (of Oriental languages) at the Royal Military and East India Colleges"; and finally he settled at Netley, in Shropshire, where he died.

It is not the fault of English Orientalists if the MS. in question is not thoroughly well known to the world of letters. In 1797 Sir Gore Ouseley's "Oriental Collections" (vol. ii. pp. 25-33) describes it, evidently with the aid of Scott, who is the authority for stating that the tales generally appear like pearls strung at random on the same thread; adding, "if they are truly Oriental it is a matter of little importance to us Europeans whether they are strung on this night or that night."1 This first and somewhat imperfect catalogue of the contents was followed in 1811 by a second, which concludes the six volume edition of "The

ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS, Carefully revised and occasionally corrected from the Arabic. to which is added A SELECTION OF NEW TALES, Now first translated from the Arabic Originals. also, AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, Illustrative of the RELIGION, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE: MAHOMMEDANS."

The sixth volume, whose second title is "Tales | selected from the Manuscript copy | of the | 1001 Nights | brought to Europe by Edward Wortley Montague, Esq.," ends with a general Appendix, of which ten pages are devoted to a description of the Codex and a Catalogue of its contents. Scott's sixth volume, like the rest of his version, is now becoming rare, and it is regretable that when Messieurs Nimmo and Bain reprinted, in 1882, the bulk of the work (4 vols. 8vo) they stopped short at volume five.

Lastly we find a third list dating from 1835 in the "Catalogi | Codicum Manuscriptorum Orientalium | Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ | Pars Secunda | Arabicos | complectens. | Confecit | Alexander Nicoll, J.C.D. | Nuper Linguæ Heb. Professor Regius, necnon Ædis Christi Canonicus. | Editionem absolvit | et Catalogum urianum2 aliquatenus emendavit | G. B. Pusey S.T.B. | Viri desideratissimi Successor. | Oxonii, | E Typographio Academico | MDCCCXXXV." This is introduced under the head, "Codicis Arabici Mahommedani Narrationes Fictæ sive Historiæ Romanenses | in Quarto (pp . 145-150).

I am not aware that any attempt has been made to trace the history of the Wortley Montague MS.; but its internal evidence supplies a modicum of information.

By way of colophon to the seventh and last volume we have, "On this wise end to us the Stories of the Kings and histories of various folk as foregoing in the Thousand Nights and a Night, perfected and completed, on the eighteenth day of Safar the auspicious, which is of the months of (the year A.H.) one thousand one hundred and seventy-eight" (= A.D. 1764-65).

"Copied by the humblest and neediest of the poor, Omar-al-Safatí, to whose sins may Allah be Ruthful!

"An thou find in us fault deign default supply, And hallow the Faultless and Glorify."

The term "Suftah" is now and has been applied for the last century to the sons of Turkish fathers by Arab mothers, and many of these Mulattos live by the pen. On the fly-leaf of vol. i. is written in a fine and flowing Persian (?) hand, strongly contrasting with the text of the tome, which is unusually careless and bad, "This book | The Thousand Nights and a Night of the Acts and deeds (Sírat) of the Kings | and what befel them from sundry | women that were whorish | and witty | and various | Tales | therein." Below it also is a Persian couplet written in vulgar Iranian characters of the half-Shikastah type:

Chih goyam, o chih poyam? * Na mí-dánam hích o púch. (What shall I say or whither fly? * This stuff and this nonsense know not I.)

Moreover, at the beginning of vol. i. is a list of fifteen tales written in Europeo-Arabic characters, after schoolboy fashion, and probably by Scott. In vol. ii. there is no initial list, but by way of Foreword we read, "This is volume the second of the Thousand Nights and a Night from the xciiid. Night, full and complete." And the Colophon declares, "And this is what hath been finished for us of the fourth (probably a clerical error for "second") tome of the Thousand Nights and a Night to the clxxviith. Night, written on the twentieth day of the month Sha'bán A.H., one thousand one hundred and seventy-seven" (=A.D. 1764). This date shows that the MS. was finished during the year after incept.

The text from which our MS. was copied must have been valuable, and we have reason to regret that so many passages both of poetry and prose are almost hopelessly corrupt. Its tone and tenor are distinctly Nilotic; and, as Mr. E. Wortley Montague lived for some time in Egypt, he may have bought it at the Capital of the Nile-land. The story of the Syrian (v. 468) and that of the Two Lack-tacts (vi. 262), notably exalt Misr and Cairo at the expense of Shám and Damascus; and there are many other instances of preferring Kemi the Black Soil to the so called "Holy Land." The general tone, as well as the special incidents of the book, argues that the stories may have been ancient, but they certainly have been modernised. Coffee is commonly used (passim) although tobacco is still unknown; a youth learns archery and gunnery (Zarb al-Risás, vol. vii. 440); casting of cannon occurs (vol. v. 186), and in one place (vol. vi. 134) we read of "Taban-jatayn," a pair of pistols; the word, which is still popular, being a corruption of the Persian "Tabáncheh" = a slap or

blow, even as the French call a derringer coup de poing. The characteristic of this Recueil is its want of finish. The stories are told after perfunctory fashion as though the writer had not taken the trouble to work out the details. There are no names or titles to the tales, so that every translator must give his own; and the endings are equally unsatisfactory, they usually content themselves, after "native" fashion, with "Intihá" = finis; and the connection with the thread of the work must be supplied by the story-teller or the translator. Headlines were not in use for the MSS. of that day, and the catchwords are often irregular, a new word taking the place of the initial in the following page.

The handwriting, save and except in the first volume, has the merit of regularity, and appears the same throughout the succeeding six, except in the rare places (e.g. vi. 92-93), where the lazy copyist did not care to change a worn-out pen, and continued to write with a double nib. On the other hand, it is the character of a village-schoolmaster whose literary culture is at its lowest. Hardly a sheet appears without some blunder which only in rare places is erased or corrected, and a few lacunæ are supplied by several hands, Oriental and European, the latter presumably Scott's. Not unfrequently the terminal word of a line is divided, a sign of great incuria or ignorance, as "Sháhr | baz" (i. 4), "Shahr | zád" (v. 309, vi. 106), and "Fawa | jadtu-h" = so I found him (V. 104). Koranic quotations almost always lack vowel points, and are introduced without the usual ceremony. Poetry also, that crux of a skilful scribe, is carelessly treated, and often enough two sets of verse are thrown into one, the first rhyming in úr, and the second in ír (e.g. vol. v. 256). The rhyme-words

also are repeated within unlawful limits (passim and vol. v. 308, ll. 6 and 11). Verse is thrust into the body of the page (vii. 112) without signs of citation in red ink or other (iii. 406); and rarely we find it, as it should be, in distichs divided by the normal conventional marks, asterisks and similar separations. Sometimes it appears in a column of hemistichs after the fashion of Europe (iv. 111; iv. 232, etc.): here (v. 226) a quotation is huddled into a single line; there (v. 242) four lines, written as monostichs, are followed by two distichs in as many lines.

As regards the metrical part Dr. Steingass writes to me, "The verses in Al-Hayfá and Yúsuf, where not mere doggerel, are spoiled by the spelling. I was rarely able to make out even the metre and I think you have accomplished a feat by translating them as you have done."