Belongs to Class 5 (Imitations). Consists of fictitious adventures supposed to
have happened to Harun Al-Rashid, chiefly during his nocturnal rambles.
Separate Editions of Single or Composite Tales (Pp. 439
441).
P. 440.--No. 184 was published under the title of "Woman's Wit" in the
"Literary Souvenir" for 1831, pp.217-237.derived from Langles' version (Mr.
L.C. Smithers in litt.).
Translation of Cognate Oriental Romances Illustrative
of the Nights (Pp. 441-443).
P. 441, No. 1. Les Mille et un Jours.
Mr. L. C. Smithers (in litt.) notes English editions published in 1781 and
1809, the latter under the title of "The Persian and Turkish Tales."
P. 443, No. 5. Recueil de Contes Populaires de la Kabylie du Djurdjura
recueillis et traduits par J. Riviere. 12mo. Paris: Leroux. 1882.
This collection is intended to illustrate the habits and ideas of the people.
The tales are very short, and probably very much abridged, but many of them
illustrate the Nights. I may note the following tales as specially interesting
from their connection with the Nights, or with important tales in other
collections, Oriental or otherwise.
Thadhillala. A brief abstract of No. 151.
Les deux Frères. A variant of Herodotus' Story of Rhampsinitus.
L'homme de bien et le méchant. A variant of No. 262; or Schiller's Fridolin.
Le Corbeau et l'Enfant. Here a child is stolen and a crow left in its place.
H'ab Sliman. Here an ugly girl with foul gifts is substituted for her
opposite.
Le roi et son fils. Here we find the counterpart of Schaibar (from No. 197),
who, however, is a cannibal and devours everybody.
Les Enfants et la Chauve-sourie. Resembles No. 198.
Le Joueur de Flute. Resembles Grimm's story of the Jew in the Bramble-Bush.
Jésus-Christ et la femme infidels (=261 b.; cf. Nights, x., p. 420).
Le Roitelet. This is the fable of the Ox and the Frog.
L'idiot et le coucou (=No. 206a).
Moh'amed teen Soltan. This is one of the class of stories known to
folk-lorists as the Punchkin series. The life of a Ghúl is hidden in an egg,
the egg in a pigeon, the pigeon in a camel, and the camel in the sea.
Les deux Frères. A Cinderella story. The slayer of a hydra is discovered by
trying on a shoe.
Les trots Frères. Here a Ghúl is killed by a single blow from a magic dagger,
which must not be repeated. (Cf. Nights, vii., p. 361.) In this story, too,
the protection of a Ghúlah is secured by tasting her milk, a point which we
find in Spitta Bey's "Comes Arabes Modernes," but not in the Nights.
9. Turkish Evening Entertainments. "The Wonders of Remarkable Incidents and
the Rarities of Anecdotes," by Ahmed ibn Hemdem the Kethhoda called
"Sobailee." Translated from the Turkish by John F. Brown. 8vo., New York,
1850.
Contains a great number of tales and anecdotes, divided into 37 chapters, many
of which bear such headings as "Illustrative of intelligence and piety," "On
justice and fostering care," "Anecdotes about the Abbaside Caliphs," &c.
"A translation of the Turkish story-book, 'Aja'ib al-ma'ásir wa ghará 'ib
ennawádir,' written for Muád the Fourth Ottoman Sultan who reigned between
1623-40. A volume of interesting anecdotes from the Arabic and Persian" (Mr.
L. C. Smithers, in litt.).
10. Contes Arabes Modernes, recueillis et traduits par Guillaume Spitta-Bey.
8vo., Leyden and Paris, 1883.
This book contains 12 orally collected tales of such great importance from a
folk-lore point of view that I have given full abstracts of all. They are
designed to illustrate the spoken Egyptian dialect, and are printed in Roman
character, with translation and glossary. The hero of nearly all the tales is
called "Mohammed l'Avisé," which Mr. Sydney Hartland renders "Prudent," and
Mr. W. A. Clouston "Discreet." The original gives "Essâtir Mehammed."
(Al-Shátir Mohammed, i.e., M. the Clever.) The frequent occurrence of the
number 39 (forty less one) may also be noted. Ghúls often play the part which
we should expect Jinn to fill. The bear, which occurs in two stories, is not
an Egyptian animal. Having called attention to these general features we may
leave the tales to speak for themselves.