The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 10 by Sir Richard Francis Burton (essential reading TXT) 📖

of Baghdad and his Slave girl 896

161. King Jelyaad of Hind and his Vizier Shimas: whereafter ensueth the History of King Wird Khan son of King Jelyaad and his Women and Viziers 899

a. The Cat and the Mouse 900

b. The Fakir and his Pot of Butter 902

c. The Fishes and the Crab 903

d. The Crow and the Serpent 903

e. The Fox and the Wild Ass 904

f. The Unjust King and the Pilgrim Prince 905

g. The Crows and the Hawk 906

h. The Serpent-Charmer and his Wife 907

i. The Spider and the Wind 908

j. The Two Kings 909

k. The Blind Man and the Cripple 910

1. The Foolish Fisherman 918

m. The Boy and the Thieves 918

n. The Man and his Wilful Wife 919

o. The Merchant and the Thieves 920

p. The Foxes and the Wolf 921

q. The Shepherd and the Thief 921

r. The Heathcock and the Tortoises. 924

162. Aboukir the Dyer and Abousir the Barber 930

163. Abdallah the Fisherman and Abdallah the Merman 940

164. The Merchant of Oman 946

165. Ibrahim and Femileh 952

166. Aboulhusn of Khorassan 959

167. Kemerezzeman and the Jeweller’s Wife 963

168. Abdallah ben Fazil and his Brothers 978

169. Marouf the Cobbler and his Wife Fatimeh 989-1001

Conclusion

 

Index IV.—D.

 

Comparison of the Same with Mr. Lane’s and My Version.

Introduction and

Nos. 1 to 6 of the preceding list from Volume I. of my Edition.

Nos. 7 to 9aa of the preceding list from Volume II. of my Edition.

Nos. 9aa to 21 of the preceding list from Volume III. of my Edition.

Nos. 21 to 58 of the preceding list from Volume IV. of my Edition.

Nos. 59 to 131 of the preceding list from Volume V. of my Edition.

Nos. 132 to 136 of the preceding list from Volume VI. of my Edition.

Nos. 136 to 154a of the preceding list from Volume VII. of my Edition.

Nos. 154a to 158 of the preceding list from Volume VIII. of my Edition.

Nos. 158 to 168 of the preceding list from Volume IX. of my Edition.

Nos. 169 and conclusion of the preceding list from Volume X. of my Edition.

 

For full details, see contents pages of each of the respective Volumes.

 

Appendix II

 

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE THOUSAND AND

ONE NIGHTS, AND THEIR IMITATIONS, WITH A TABLE

SHOWING THE CONTENTS OF THE PRINCIPAL EDITIONS IND

TRANSLATIONS OF THE NIGHTS.

 

By W. F. KIRBY

Author of “Ed-Dimiryaht: an Oriental Romance,” “The New Arabian Nights,” &c.

 

The European editions of the Thousand and One Nights, even excluding the hundreds of popular editions which have nothing specially noticeable about them, are very numerous; and the following Notes must, I am fully aware, be incomplete, though they will, perhaps, be found useful to persons interested in the subject. Although I believe that editions of most of the English, French, and German versions of any importance have passed through my hands, I have not had an opportunity of comparing many in other languages, some of which at least may be independent editions, not derived from Galland. The imitations and adaptations of The Nights are, perhaps, more numerous than the editions of The Nights themselves, if we exclude mere reprints of Galland; and many of them are even more difficult of access.

 

In the following Notes, I have sometimes referred to tales by their numbers in the Table.

 

Galland’s Ms. and Translation.

 

The first MS. of The Nights known in Europe was brought to Paris by Galland at the close of the 17th century; and his translation was published in Paris, in twelve small volumes, under the title of “Les Mille et une Nuit: Contes Arabes, traduits en Francois par M. Galland.” These volumes appeared at intervals between 1704

and 1717. Galland himself died in 1715, and it is uncertain how far he was responsible for the latter part of the work. Only the first six of the twelve vols. are divided into Nights, vol. 6

completing the story of Camaralzaman, and ending with Night 234.

The Voyages of Sindbad are not found in Galland’s MS., though he has intercalated them as Nights 69-90 between Nos. 3 and 4. It should be mentioned, however, that in some texts (Bresl., for instance) No. 133 is placed much earlier in the series than in others.

 

The stories in Galland’s last six vols. may be divided into two classes, viz., those known to occur in genuine texts of The Nights, and those which do not. To the first category belong Nos.

7, 8, 59, 153 and 170; and some even of these are not found in Galland’s own MS., but were derived by him from other sources.

The remaining tales (Nos. 191-198) do not really belong to The Nights; and, strange to say, although they are certainly genuine Oriental tales, the actual originals have never been found. I am inclined to think that Galland may, perhaps, have written and adapted them from his recollection of stories which he himself heard related during his own residence in the East, especially as most of these tales appear to be derived rather from Persian or Turkish than from Arabian sources.

 

The following Preface appeared in vol. 9 which I translate from Talander’s German edition, as the original is not before me: “The two stories with which the eighth volume concludes do not properly belong to the Thousand and One Nights. They were added and printed without the previous knowledge of the translator, who had not the slightest idea of the trick that had been played upon him until the eighth volume was actually on sale. The reader must not, therefore, be surprised that the story of the Sleeper Awakened, which commences vol. 9, is written as if Scheherazade had related it immediately after the story of Ganem, which forms the greater part of vol. 8. Care will be taken to omit these two stories in a new edition, as not belonging to the work.”

 

It is, perhaps, not to be wondered at that when the new edition was actually published, subsequently to Galland’s death, the condemned stories were retained, and the preface withdrawn; though No. 170 still reads as if it followed No. 8.

 

The information I have been able to collect respecting the disputed tales is very slight. I once saw a MS. advertised in an auction catalogue (I think that of the library of the late Prof.

H. H. Wilson) as containing two of Galland’s doubtful tales, but which they were was not stated. The fourth and last volume of the MS. used by Galland is lost; but it is almost certain that it did not contain any of these tales (compare Payne, ix. 265 note).

 

The story of Zeyn Alasnam (No. 191) is derived from the same source as that of the Fourth Durwesh, in the wellknown Hindustani reading-book, the Bagh o Bahar. If it is based upon this, Galland has greatly altered and improved it, and has given it the whole colouring of a European moral fairy tale.

 

The story of Ali Baba (No. 195) is, I have been told, a Chinese tale. It occurs under the title of the Two Brothers and the Forty-nine Dragons in Geldart’s Modern Greek Tales. It has also been stated that the late Prof. Palmer met with a very similar story among the Arabs of Sinai (Payne, ix. 266).

 

The story of Sidi Nouman (No 194b) may have been based partly upon the Third Shaykh’s Story (No. 1c), which Galland omits. The feast of the Ghools is, I believe, Greek or Turkish, rather than Arabic, in character, as vampires, personified plague, and similar horrors are much commoner in the folk-lore of the former peoples.

 

Many incidents of the doubtful, as well as of the genuine tales, are common in European folk-lore (versions of Nos. 2 and 198, for instance, occur in Grimm’s Kinder und Hausm�rchen), and some of the doubtful tales have their analogues in Scott’s MS., as will be noticed in due course.

 

I have not seen Galland’s original edition in 12 vols.; but the Stadt-Bibliothek of Frankfort-on-Main contains a copy, published at La Haye, in 12 vols. (with frontispieces), made up of two or more editions, as follows:—

 

Vol. i. (ed. 6) 1729; vols. ii. iii. iv. (ed. 5) 1729; vols. v.

vi. viii. (ed. 5) 1728; vol. vii. (ed. 6) 1731; vols. ix. to xi, (ed. not noted) 1730; and vol. xii. (ed. not noted) 1731.

 

The discrepancies in the dates of the various volumes look (as Mr. Clouston has suggested) as if separate volumes were reprinted as required, independently of the others. This might account for vols. v. vi. and viii. of the fifth edition having been apparently reprinted before vols. ii. iii. and iv.

 

The oldest French version in the British Museum consists of the first eight vols., published at La Haye, and likewise made up of different editions, as follows:—

 

i. (ed. 5) 1714; ii. iii. iv. (ed. 4) 1714; v. vi. (ed. 5) 1728; vii. (ed. 5) 1719; viii. (“suivant la copie imprim�e � Paris”) 1714.

 

Most French editions (old and new) contain Galland’s Dedication, “� Madame la Marquise d’O., Dame du Palais de Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne,” followed by an “Avertissement.” In addition to these, the La Haye copies have Fontenelle’s Approbation prefixed to several volumes, but in slightly different words, and bearing different dates. December 27th, 1703 (vol. i.); April 14th, 1704

(vol. vi.); and October 4th, 1705 (vol. vii.). This is according to the British Museum copy; I did not examine the Frankfort copy with reference to the Approbation. The Approbation is translated in full in the old English version as follows: “I have read, by Order of my Lord Chancellor, this Manuscript, wherein I find nothing that ought to hinder its being Printed. And I am of opinion that the Publick will be very well pleased with the Perusal of these Oriental Stories. Paris, 27th December, 1705

[apparently a misprint for 1703] (Signed) FONTENELLE.”

 

In the Paris edition of 1726 (vide infr�), Galland says in his Dedication, “Il a fallu le faire venir de Syrie, et mettre en Fran�ois, le premier volume que voici, de quatre seulement qui m’ont �t� envoyez.” So, also, in a Paris edition (in eight vols.

12mo) of 1832; but in the La Haye issue of 1714, we read not “quatre” but “six” volumes. The old German edition of Talander (vide infr�) does not contain Galland’s Dedication (Epitre) or Avertissement.

 

The earliest French editions were generally in 12 vols., or six; I possess a copy of a six-volume edition, published at Paris in 1726. It may be the second, as the title-page designates it as “nouvelle edition, corrig�e.”

 

Galland’s work was speedily translated into various European languages, and even now forms the original of all the numerous popular editions. The earliest English editions were in six volumes, corresponding to the first six of Galland, and ending with the story of Camaralzaman; nor was it till nearly the end of the 18th century that the remaining half of the work was translated into English. The date of appearance of the first edition is unknown to bibliographers; Lowndes quotes an edition of 1724 as the oldest; but the British Museum contains a set of six vols., made up of portions of the second, third and fourth editions, as follows:—

 

Vols. i. ii. (ed. 4) 1713; vols. iii. iv. (ed. 2) 1712; and vols.

v. vi. (ed. 3) 1715.

 

Here likewise the separate volumes seem to have been reprinted independently of each other; and it is not unlikely that the English translation may have closely followed the French publication, being issued volume by volume, as the French appeared,