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SUPPLEMENTAL
NIGHTS
To The Book Of The Thousand
And One Nights With Notes
Anthropological And
Explanatory
By
Richard F. Burton
VOLUME THREE
Privately Printed By The Burton Club
To Henry Edward John, Lord Stanley
of Alderley
This
The Most Innocent Volume of the Nights
is Inscribed by His Old Companion,
The Author.
Contents of the Thirteenth Volume.
1. The Tale of Zayn Al-Asnam
2. Alaeddin; or, The Wonderful Lamp
3. Khudadad and His Brothers
a. History of the Princess of Daryabar
4. The Caliph's Night Adventure
a. The Story of the Blind Man, Baba Abdullah
b. History of Sidi Nu'uman
c. History of Khwajah Hasan Al-Habbal
5. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
6. Ali Khwajah and the Merchant of Baghdad
7. Prince Ahmad and the Fairy Peri-Banu
8. The Two Sisters Who Envied Their Cadette
APPENDIX: VARIANTS AND ANALOGUES
of the Tales in Volume XIII.
By W. A. Clouston.
The Tale of Zayn Al-Asnam
Alaeddin; or, The Wonderful Lamp
Khudadad and His Brothers
The Story of the Blind Man, Baba Abdullah
History of Sisi Nu'uman
History of Khwajah Hasan Al-Habbal
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Ali Khwajah and the Merchant of Baghdad
Prince Ahmad and the Fairy Peri-Banu
The Two Sisters Who Envied Their Cadette
Additional Notes:--
The Tale of Zayn Al-Asnam
Alaeddin; or, The Wonderful Lamp
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Prince Ahmad and the Fairy Peri-Banu
The Translator's Foreword.
The peculiar proceedings of the Curators, Bodleian Library, 1
Oxford, of which full particulars shall be given in due time,
have dislocated the order of my volumes. The Prospectus had
promised that Tome III. should contain detached extracts from the
MS. known as the Wortley-Montague, and that No. IV. and part of
No. V. should comprise a reproduction of the ten Tales (or
eleven, including "The Princess of Daryábár"), which have so long
been generally attributed to Professor Galland. Circumstances,
however, wholly beyond my control have now compelled me to devote
the whole of this volume to the Frenchman's stories.
It will hardly be doubted that for a complete recueil of The
Nights a retranslation of the Gallandian histoires is necessary.
The learned Professor Gustav Weil introduced them all, Germanised
literally from the French, into the Dritter Band of his
well-known version--Tausend und eine Nacht; and not a few readers
of Mr. John Payne's admirable translation (the Villon) complained
that they had bought it in order to see Ali Baba, Aladdin, and
others translated into classical English and that they much
regretted the absence of their old favourites.
But the modus operandi was my prime difficulty. I disliked the
idea of an unartistic break or change in the style, ever
"Tâchnat de rendre mien cet air d'antiquité,"
and I aimed at offering to my readers a homogeneous sequel. My
first thought for securing uniformity of treatment was to tender
the French text into Arabic, and then to retranslate it into
English. This process, however, when tried was found wanting; so
I made inquiries in all directions for versions of the Gallandian
histories which might have been published in Persian, Turkish, or
Hindustani. Though assisted by the Prince of London Bibliopoles,
Bernard Quaritch, I long failed to find my want: the vernaculars
in Persian and Turkish are translated direct from the Arabic
texts, and all ignore the French stories. At last a friend,
Cameron McDowell, himself well known to the world of letters,
sent me from Bombay a quaint lithograph with quainter
illustrations which contained all I required. This was a version
of Totárám Sháyán (No. III.), which introduced the whole of the
Gallandian Tales: better still, these were sufficiently
orientalised and divested of their inordinate Gallicism,
especially their lonesome dialogue, by being converted into
Hindustani, the Urdu Zabán (camp or court language) of Upper
India and the Lingua Franca of the whole Peninsula.
During one of my sundry visits to the British Museum, I was
introduced by Mr. Alexander G. Ellis to Mr. James F. Blumhardt,
of Cambridge, who pointed out to me two other independent
versions, one partly rhymed and partly in prose.
Thus far my work was done for me. Mr. Blumhardt, a practical
Orientalist and teacher of the modem Prakrit tongues, kindly
undertook, at my request, to English the Hindustani, collating at
the same time, the rival versions; and thus, at a moment when my
health was at its worst, he saved me all trouble and labour
except that of impressing the manner with my own sign manual, and
of illustrating the text, where required, with notes
anthropological and other.
Meanwhile, part of my plan was modified by a visit to Paris in
early 1887. At the Bibliothèque Nationale I had the pleasure of
meeting M. Hermann Zotenberg, keeper of Eastern manuscripts, an
Orientalist of high and varied talents, and especially famous for
his admirable Chronique de Tabari. Happily for me, he had lately
purchased for the National Library, from a vendor who was utterly
ignorant of its history, a MS. copy of The Nights, containing the
Arabic originals of Zayn al-Asnam and Alaeddin. The two volumes
folio are numbered and docketed Suppl⁄ment Arabe, Nos. 2522-23;"
they measure 31 cent. by 20; Vol. i. contains 411 folios (822
pages) and Vol. ii. 402 (pp. 804); each page numbers fifteen
lines, and each folio has its catchword. The paper is French,
English and Dutch, with four to five different marks, such as G.
Gautier; D. and C. Blaew; Pro Patriâ and others. The highly
characteristic writing, which is the same throughout the two
folios, is easily recognised as that of Michel (Mikhaíl) Sabbágh,
the Syrian, author of the Colombe Messagère, published in Paris
A.D. 1805, and accompanied by a translation by the celebrated
Silvestre de Sacy (Chrestomathie iii. 365). This scribe also
copied, about 1810, for the same Orientalist, the Ikhwán al-Safá.
I need say nothing more concerning this MS., which M. Zotenberg
purposes to describe bibliographically in volume xxviii. of
Notices et extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque rationale
publi⁄s par l'Academie des inscriptions et belles lettres. And
there will be a tirage à part of 200-300 copies entitled Histoire
d' 'Alá al-Dîn ou La Lampe Merveilleuse, Texte Arabe, publi⁄ par
H. Zotenberg, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1888; including a most
important contribution:--Sur quelques Manuscrits des Mille et une
Nuits et la traduction de Galland.[FN#1]
The learned and genial author has favoured me with proof sheets
of his labours: it would be unfair to disclose the discoveries,
such as the Manuscript Journals in the Bibliothèque Nationale
(Nos. 15277 to 15280), which the illustrious Garland kept
regularly till the end of his life, and his conversations with
"M. Hanna, Maronite d'Halep," alias Jean Dipi (Dippy, a
corruption of Diab): suffice it to say that they cast a clear and
wholly original light upon the provenance of eight of the
Gallandian histories. I can, however, promise to all
"Aladdinists" a rich harvest of facts which wholly displace those
hitherto assumed to be factual. But for the satisfaction of my
readers I am compelled to quote the colophon of M. Zotenberg's
great "find" (vol. ii.), as it bears upon a highly important
question.
"And the finishing thereof was during the first decade of Jamádi the Second,
of the one thousand and one hundred and fifteenth year of the Hegirah (= A.D.
1703) by the transcription of the neediest of His slaves unto Almighty Allah,
Ahmad bin Mohammed al-Tarádí, in Baghdad City: he was a Sháfi'í of school, and
a Mosuli by birth, and a Baghdadi by residence, and he wrote it for his own
use, and upon it he imprinted his signet. So Allah save our lord Mohammed and
His Kin and Companions and assain them! Kabíkaj."[FN#2]
Now as this date corresponds with A.D. 1703, whereas Galland did begin
publishing until 1705-1705 the original MS. of Ahmad al-Tarádí could
not have been translated or adapted from the French; and although the
transcription by Mikhail Sabbagh, writing in 1805-10, may have
introduced modification borrowed from Galland, yet the scrupulous
fidelity of his copy, shown by sundry marginal and other notes, lays
the suspicion that changes of importance have been introduced by him.
Remains now only to find the original codex of Al-Tarádí.
I have noticed in my translation sundry passages which appear to
betray the Christian hand; but these are mostly of scanty
consequence in no wise affecting the genuineness of the text.
The history of Zayn al Asnam was copied from the Sabbágh MS. and
sent to me by M. Houdas, Professeur d'Arabe vulgaire a l'Ecole
des langues orientales vivantes; an Arabist, whose name is
favourably quoted in the French Colonies of Northern Africa M.
Zotenberg kindly lent me his own transcription of Alaeddin before
sending it to print; and I can only regret that the dilatory
proceedings of the Imprimerie Nationale, an establishment
supported by the State, and therefore ignoring the trammels of
private industry, have prevented my revising the version now
submitted to the public. This volume then begins with the two
Gallandian Tales, "Zeyn Alasnam" and "Aladdin," whose Arabic
original was discovered by M. Zotenberg during the last year:
although separated in the French version, I have brought them
together for the sake of uniformity. The other eight (or nine,
including the Princess of Daryabar), entitled History of Khudadad
and his Brothers, and the Princess of Daryabar;
History of Khudadad and his Brothers, and the Princess of
Daryabar;
History of the Blind Man, Baba Abdullah;
History of Sidi Nu'uman;
History of Khwajah Hasan al-Habbal;
History of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves;
History of Ali Khwajah and the Merchant of Baghdad;
History of Prince Ahmad and the Fairy Peri-banu;
History of the two Sisters who envied their Cadette,
are borrowed mainly from the Indian version of Totárám Sháyán.
And here I must quote the bibliographical notices concerning the
sundry versions into Urdu or Hindustani which have been drawn up
with great diligence by Mr. Blumhardt.
"The earliest attempt to translate the Arabian Nights was made by Munshi Shams
al-Dín Ahmad Shirwáni. A prose version of the first two hundred Nights made by
him 'for the use of the College at Fort St. George' was lithographed at Madras
in the year A.H. 1252 (A.D. 1836) and published in 8vo volumes (pp. 517, 426)
under the title 'Hikayat ool jaleeah'[FN#3] (Hikáyát al-jalílah). The
translation was made from an Arabic original but it does not appear what
edition was made use of. The translator had intended to bring out a version of
the entire work, but states in his preface that, being unable to procure the
Arabic of the other Nights, he could not proceed with the translation, and had
to be content to publish only two hundred Nights. This version does not appear
to have become popular, for no other edition seems to have been published. And
the author must not be confounded with Shaykh Ahmad Shirwáni, who, in A.D.
1814, printed an Arabic edition of the Arabian Nights Entertainments
(Calcutta, Pereira) which also stopped at No. CC.
"The next translation was made by Munshi al-Karím, likewise in prose. From the
preface and colophon to this work it appears that 'Abd al-Karím obtained a
copy of Edward Foster's English version of the Arabian Nights, and after two
years' labour completed a translation of the whole work in A.H. 1258 (A.D.
1842). It was lithographed at the Mustafai Press at Kanpúr (Cawnpore) in the
year A.H. 1263 (A.D. 1847) and published in four vols., in two royal 8vos,
lithographed; each containing two Jilds (or parts, pp. 276, 274; 214 and 195).
"A second edition appeared from the same press in A.H. 1270 (A.D. 1853) also
in two vols. 8vo of two Jilds each (pp. 249, 245; 192, 176). Since then
several other editions have been published at Cawnpore, at Lakhnau[FN#4] and
also at Bombay. This translation is written in an easy fluent style, omitting
all coarseness of expression or objectionable passages, in language easily
understood, and at the same time in good and elegant Hindustani. It is
therefore extremely popular, and selections from the 4th Jild have been taken
as text books for the Indian Civil Service examinations. A Romanised Urdu
version of the first two Jilds according to Duncan Forbes' system of
transliteration, was made 'under the superintendence of T. W. H. Tolbort,' and
published under the editorship of F. Pincott in London, by W. H. Allen and Co.
in 1882.[FN#5] There has been no attempt to divide this translation into
Nights: there are headings to the several tales and nothing more. To supply
this want, and also to furnish the public with a translation closer to the
original, and one more intelligible to Eastern readers, and in accordance with
Oriental thought and feeling, a third translation was taken in hand by Totárám
Sháyán, at the instance of Nawal Kishore, the well-known bookseller and
publisher of Lucknow. The first edition of this translation was lithographed
at Lucknow in the year A.H. 1284 (A.D. 1868) and published in a 4to vol. of
1,080 pages under the title of Hazár Dastán.[FN#6] Totárám Sháyán has followed
'Abd al-Karim's arrangement of the whole work into four Jilds, each of which
has a separate pagination (pp. 304; 320, 232, and 224.) The third Jild has 251
Nights: the other three 250 each. The translation is virtually in prose, but
it abounds in snatches of poetry, songs and couplets taken from the writings
of Persian poets, and here and there a verse-rendering of bits of the story.
This translation, though substantially agreeing in the main with that of 'Abd
al-Karim, yet differs widely from it in the treatment. It is full of flowery
metaphors and is written in a rich, ornate style full of Persian and Arabic
words and idioms, which renders it far less easy to understand than the simple
language of 'Abd al-Karim. Some passages have been considerably enlarged and
sometimes contain quite different reading from that of 'Abd al-Karim with
occasional additional matter. In other places descriptions have been much
curtailed so that although the thread of the story may be the same in both
translations it is hard to believe that the two translators worked from the
same version. Unfortunately Totárám Sháyán makes no mention at Ali the source
whence he made his translation whether English or Arabic. This translation
reached its fourth edition in 1883, and has been published with the addition
of several badly executed full-page illustrations evidently taken from English
prints.
"Yet another translation of The Nights has been made into Hindustani, and this
a versified paraphrase, the work of three authors whose takhallus or noms de
plume, were as follows: "Nasím" (Muhammad Asghar Ali Khán), translator of the
first Jild, "Sháyán" (Totárám Sháyán), who undertook the second and third
Jilds, and "Chaman" (Shádí Lál) by whom the fourth and last Jild was
translated. The work is complete in 1,244 pages 4to, and was lithographed at
Lucknow; Jilds i.-iii. in A.H. 1278 (A.D. 1862) and Jild iv. in 1285 (A.D.
1869). This translation is also divided into Nights, differing slightly from
the prose translation of Totárám Sháyán, as the first Jild has 251 Nights and
the others 250 each."
And now I have only to end this necessarily diffuse Foreword with
my sincerest thanks to Mr. Clouston, the Storiologist, who has
brought his wide experience of Folk-lore to bear upon the tales
included in my Third Supplemental Volume; and to Dr. Steingass,
who during my absence from England kindly passed my proofs
through the press.