(though considerably abridged) he omits many tales contained in
Zinserling and Habicht, but whether because his own work was
already too bulky, or because his original MSS. did not contain
them, I do not know; probably the first supposition is correct,
for in any case it was open to him to have translated them from
the printed texts, to which he refers in his Preface.
Two important stories (Nos. 200 and 201) are not found in any
other version; but as they are translated in my “New Arabian
Nights,” I need not discuss them here. I will, however, quote a
passage from the story of Judar and Mahmood, which I omitted
because it is not required by the context, and because I thought
it a little out of place in a book published in a juvenile
series. It is interesting from its analogy to the story of
Semele.
When King Kashuk (a Jinni) is about to marry the daughter of King
Shamkoor, we read (New Arabian Nights, p. 182), “Shamkoor
immediately summoned my father, and said, Take my daughter, for
you have won her heart.’ He immediately provided an outfit for
his daughter, and when it was completed, my father and his bride
rode away on horseback, while the trousseau of the Princess
followed on three hundred camels.” The passage proceeds (the
narrator being Daruma, the offspring of the marriage), “When my
father had returned home, and was desirous of celebrating his
marriage Kandarin (his Wazir) said to him, Your wife will be
destroyed if you touch her, for you are created of fire, and she
is created of earth, which the fire devours. You will then bewail
her death when it is too late. To-morrow,’ continued he, I will
bring you an ointment with which you must rub both her and
yourself; and you may then live long and happily together.’ On
the following day he brought him a white ointment, and my father
anointed himself and his bride with it, and consummated his
marriage without danger.”
I may add that this is the only omission of the smallest
consequence in my rendering of either story.
I have heard from more than one source that a complete German
translation of The Nights was published, and suppressed; but I
have not been able to discover the name of the author, the date,
or any other particulars relating to the subject.
VON HAMMER’S MS., AND THE TRANSLATIONS DERIVED FROM IT.
Several complete copies of The Nights were obtained by Europeans
about the close of the last or the beginning of the present
century; and one of these (in 4 vols.) fell into the bands of the
great German Orientalist, Joseph von Hammer. This MS. agrees
closely with the printed Bul. and Mac. texts, as well as with Dr.
Clarke’s MS., though the names of the tales sometimes vary a
little. One story, “The two Wazirs,” given in Von Hammer’s list
as inedited, no doubt by an oversight, is evidently No. 7, which
bears a similar title in Torrens. One title, “Al Kavi,” a story
which Von Hammer says was published in “Mag. Encycl.,” and in
English (probably by Scott in Ouseley’s Oriental Collections,
vide anteà p. 491) puzzled me for some time; but from its
position, and the title I think I have identified it as No. 145,
and have entered it as such. No. 9a in this as well as in several
other MSS., bears the title of the Two Lovers, or of the Lover
and the Beloved.
Von Hammer made a French translation of the unpublished tales,
which he lent to Caussin de Perceval, who extracted from it four
tales only (Nos. 21a, 22, 32 and 37), and only acknowledged his
obligations in a general way to a distinguished Orientalist,
whose name he pointedly suppressed. Von Hammer, naturally
indignant, reclaimed his MS., and had it translated into German
by Zinserling. He then sent the French MS. to De Sacy, in whose
hands it remained for some time, although he does not appear to
have made any use of it, when it was despatched to England for
publication; but the courier lost it on the journey, and it was
never recovered.
Zinserling’s translation was published under the title, “Der
Tausend und einen Nacht noch nicht übersetzte Mährchen,
Erzählungen und Anekdoten, zum erstenmale aus dem Arabischen in’s
Französische übersetzt von Joseph von Hammer, und aus dem
Französischen in’s Deutsche von Aug. E. Zinserling, Professor.”
(3 vols., Stuttgart and Tübingen, 1823.) The introductory matter
is of considerable importance, and includes notices of 12
different MSS., and a list of contents of Von Hammer’s MS. The
tales begin with No. 23, Nos. 9–19 being omitted, because Von
Hammer was informed that they were about to be published in
France. (This possibly refers to Asselan Riche’s “Scharkan,”
published in 1829.) The tales and anecdotes in this edition
follow the order of The Nights. No. 163 is incomplete, Zinserling
giving only the commencement; and two other tales (Nos. 132b and
168) are related in such a confused manner as to be
unintelligible, the former from transposition (perhaps in the
sheets of the original MS.) and the latter from errors and
omissions. On the other hand, some of the tales (No. 137 for
instance) are comparatively full and accurate.
A selection from the longer tales was published in English in 3
vols. in 1826, under the title of “New Arabian Nights
Entertainments, selected from the original Oriental MS. by Jos.
von Hammer, and now first translated into English by the Rev.
George Lamb.” I have only to remark that No. 132b is here
detached from its connection with No. 132, and is given an
independent existence.
A complete French re-translation of Zinserling’s work, also in 3
vols., by G. S. Trébutien (Contes inédits des Mille et une
Nuits), was published in Paris in 1828; but in this edition the
long tales are placed first, and all the anecdotes are placed
together last.
The various MSS. mentioned by Von Hammer are as follows:—
I. Galland’s MS. in Paris.
II. Another Paris MS., containing 870 Nights. (No. 9 is
specially noticed as occurring in it.) This seems to be the same
as a MS. subsequently mentioned by Von Hammer as consulted by
Habicht.
III. Scott’s MS. (Wortley Montague).
IV. Scott’s MS. (Anderson).
V. Dr. Russell’s MS. from Aleppo (224 Nights).
VI. Sir W. Jones’ MS., from which Richardson extracted No.
6ee for his grammar.
VII. A. MS. at Vienna (200 Nights).
VIII. MS. in Italinski’s collection.
IX. Clarke’s MS.
X. An Egyptian MS. at Marseilles.
XI. Von Hammer’s MS.
XII. Habicht’s MS. (==Bres. text).
XIII. Caussin’s MS.
XIV. De Sacy’s MS.
XV. One or more MSS. in the Vatican.
TRANSLATIONS OF THE PRINTED TEXTS.
These are noticed by Sir R. F. Burton in his “Foreword” (vol. i.,
pp. x-xii.) and consequently can be passed over with a brief
mention here.
Torrens’ edition (vol. 1) extends to the end of Night 50 (Burton,
ii., p. 118).
Lane’s translation originally appeared in monthly half-crown
parts, from 1839 to 1841. It is obvious that he felt himself
terribly restricted in space; for the third volume, although much
thicker than the others, is not only almost destitute of notes
towards the end, but the author is compelled to grasp at every
excuse to omit tales, even excluding No. 168, which he himself
considered “one of the most entertaining tales in the work”
(chap. xxix., note 12), on account of its resemblance to Nos. 1b
and 3d. Part of the matter in Lane’s own earlier notes is
apparently derived from No. 132a, which he probably did not at
first intend to omit. Sir R. F. Burton has taken 5 vols. to cover
the same ground which Lane has squeezed into his vol. 3. But it
is only fair to Lane to remark that in such cases the publisher
is usually far more to blame than the author.
In 1847 appeared a popular edition of Lane, entitled, “The
Thousand and One Nights, or the Arabian Nights Entertainments,
translated and arranged for family reading, with explanatory
notes. Second edition.” Here Galland’s old spelling is restored,
and the “explanatory notes,” ostentatiously mentioned on the
title page, are entirely omitted. This edition was in 3 vols. I
have seen a copy dated 1850; and think I have heard of an issue
in 1 vol.; and there is an American reprint in 2 vols. The
English issue was ultimately withdrawn from circulation in
consequence of Lane’s protests. (Mr. S. L. Poole’s Life of E. W.
Lane, p. 95.) It contains the woodcut of the Flying Couch, which
is wanting in the later editions of the genuine work; but not
Galland’s doubtful tales, as Poole asserts.
Several editions of the original work, edited by Messrs. E. S.
and S. L. Poole, have appeared at intervals from 1859 to 1882.
They differ little from the original edition except in their
slightly smaller size.
The short tales included in Lane’s notes were published
separately as one of Knight’s Weekly Volumes, in 1845, under the
title of “Arabian Tales and Anecdotes, being a selection from the
notes to the new translation of the Thousand and One Nights, by
E. W. Lane, Esq.”
Finally, in 1883, Mr. Stanley Lane Poole published a classified
and arranged edition of Lane’s notes under the title of “Arabian
Society in the Middle Ages.”
Mr. John Payne’s version of the Mac. edition was issued in 9
vols. by the Villon Society to subscribers only. It appeared from
1882 to 1884, and only 500 copies were printed. Judging from the
original prospectus, it seems to have been the author’s intention
to have completed the work in 8 vols., and to have devoted vol. 9
to Galland’s doubtful tales; but as they are omitted, he must
have found that the work ran to a greater length than he had
anticipated, and that space failed him. He published some
preliminary papers on the Nights in the New Quarterly Magazine
for January and April, 1879.
Mr. Payne subsequently issued “Tales from the Arabic of the
Breslau and Calcutta (1814–18) editions of the Thousand Nights
and One Night, not occurring in the other printed texts of the
work.” (Three vols., London, 1884.) Of this work, issued, like
the other, by the Villon Society, to subscribers only, 750 copies
were printed, besides 50 on large paper. The third volume
includes indices of all the tales in the four principal printed
texts.
Finally we have Sir R. F. Burton’s translation now in its
entirety before his subscribers. It is restricted to 1,000
copies. (Why not 1,001?) The five supplementary vols. are to
include tales wanting in the Mac. edition, but found in other
texts (printed and MS.), while Lady Burton’s popular edition will
allow of the free circulation of Sir R. F. Burton’s work among
all classes of the reading public.
COLLECTIONS OF SELECTED TALES.
There are many volumes of selections derived from Galland, but
these hardly require mention; the following may be noticed as
derived from other sources:
1. Caliphs and Sultans, being tales omitted in the usual editions
of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments. Re-written and re-arranged
by Sylvanus Hanley, F. L. S., etc., London, 1868; 2nd edition
1870.
Consists of portions of tales chiefly selected from Scott, Lamb,
Chavis and Cazotte, Trébutien and Lane; much abridged, and
frequently strung together, as follows:—
Nos. 246, 41, 32 (including Nos. 111, 21a, and 89); 9a (including
9aa [which Hanley seems, by the way, to have borrowed from some
version which I do not recognise], 22 and 248); 155, 156, 136,
162; Xailoun the Silly (from Cazotte); 132 and 132a; and 169
(including 134 and 135x).
2. Ilâm-en-Nâs. Historical tales and anecdotes of the time of the
early Kalîfahs. Translated from the Arabic and annotated by Mrs.
Godfrey Clerk, author of “The Antipodes, and Round the World.”
London, 1873.
Many of these anecdotes, as is candidly admitted by the authoress
in her Preface, are found with variations in the Nights, though
not translated by her from this source.
3. The New Arabian Nights. Select tales not included by Galland
or Lane. By W. F. Kirby, London, 1882.
Includes the following tales, slightly abridged, from Weil and
Scott: Nos. 200, 201, 264, 215, 209, and 208.
Two editions have appeared in England, besides reprints in
America and Australia.
SEPARATE EDITIONS OF SINGLE OR COMPOSITE TALES.
6e (ee).—The Barber’s Fifth Brother.
Mr. W. A. Clouston (in litt.) calls attention to the version of
this story by Addison in the “Spectator,” No. 535, Nov. 13, 1712,
after Galland. There is good reason to suppose that this is
subsequent to the first English edition, which, however, Addison
does not mention. There is also an English version in Faris’
little Arabic Grammar (London, 1856), and likewise in
Richardson’s Arabic Grammar. The latter author extracted it from
a MS. belonging to Sir W. Jones.
5.—Nur Al-din and Badr Al-din Hasan.
There are two Paris editions of the “Histoire de Chems-Eddine et
de NourEddine,” edited by Prof. Cherbonneau. The first (1852)
contains text and notes, and the second (1869) includes text,
vocabulary and translations.
7.—Nur Al-din and Anis Al-jalis.
An edition by Kasimiraki of “Enis’ el-Djelis, ou histoire de la
belle Persane,” appeared in Paris in 1867. It includes text,
translation and notes.
9.—King Omar Bin Al-nu’aman.
There is a French abridgment of this story entitled, “Scharkan,
Conte Arabe, suivi de quelques anecdotes orientales; traduit par
M. Asselan Riche, Membre de la Société Asiatique de Paris” (Paris
and Marseilles, 12mo, 1829, pp. 240). The seven anecdotes
appended are as follows: (1) the well-known story of Omar’s
prisoner and the glass of water; (2) Elhedjadj and a young Arab;
(3)=our No. 140; (4) Anecdote of Elhedjadj and a story-teller;
(5)=our No. 86; (6) King Bahman and the Moubed’s parable of the
Owls; (7)=our No. 145.
133.—Sindbad the Seaman.
This is the proper place to call attention to a work specially
relating to this story, “Remarks on the Arabian Nights
Entertainments; in which the origin of Sindbad’s Voyages and
other Oriental Fictions is particularly described. By Richard
Hole, LL.D.” (London, 1797, pp. iv. 259.)
It is an old book, but may still be consulted with advantage.
There are two important critical editions of No. 133, one in
French and one in German.
1. Les Voyages de Sind-bâd le marin et la ruse des Femmes. Contes
arabes. Traduction littérale, accompagnée du Texte et des Notes.
Par L. Langlès (Paris, 1814).
The second story is our No. 184.
2. Die beiden Sindbad oder Reiseabenteuer Sindbads des
Seefabrers. Nach einer zum ersten Male in Europa bedruckten
Aegyptischen Handschrift unmittelbar und wortlich treu aus den
Arabischen übersetzt und mit erklärenden Anmerkungen, nebst zwei
sprachlichen Beilagen zum Gebrauch für abgehende Orientalisten
herausgegeben von J. G. H. Reinsch (Breslau, 1826).
135.—The Craft and Malice of Women.
The literature of this cluster of tales would require a volume in
itself, and I cannot do better than refer to Mr. W. A. Clouston’s
“Book of Sindibad” (8vo, Glasgow, 1884) for further information.
This book, though privately printed and limited to 300 copies, is
not uncommon.
136.—Judar and His Brethren.
An edition of this story, entitled “Histoire de Djouder le
Pêcheur,” edited by Prof. Houdas, was published in the
Bibliothèque Algérienne, at Algiers, in 1865. It includes text
and vocabulary.
174.—The Ten Wazirs.
This collection of tales has also been frequently reprinted
separately. It is the Arabic version of the Persian Bakhtyar
Nameh, of which Mr. Clouston issued a privately-printed edition
in 1883.
The following versions have come under my notice:—
1. Nouveaux Contes Arabes, ou Supplement aux Mille et une Nuits
suivies de Mélanges de Littérature orientale et de lettres, par
l’Abbe * * * (Paris, 1788, pp. 425).
This work consists chiefly of a series of tales selected and
adapted from the Ten Vazirs. “Written in Europe by a European,
and its interest is found in the Terminal Essay, on the
Mythologia Aesopica” (Burton in litt.).
2. Historien om de ti Vezirer og hoorledes det gik dem med Kong
Azád Bachts Sön, oversat af Arabisk ved R. Rask (8vo, Kobenhavn,
1829).
3. Habicht, x. p. vi., refers to the following:—Historia decem
Vezirorum et filii regis Azad-Bacht insertis XIII. aliis
narrationibus, in usum tironum Cahirensem, edid. G. Knös,
Göttingen, 1807, 8vo.
He also states that Knös published the commencement in 1805, in
his “Disquisitio de fide Herodoti, quo perhibet Phoenices Africam
navibus circumvectos esse cum recentiorum super hac re sententiis
excussis.—Adnexurn est specimen sermonis Arabici vulgaris s.
initium historiae filii regis Azad-Bacht e Codice inedito.”
4. Contes Arabes. Histoire des dix Vizirs (Bakhtyar Nameh)
Traduite et annotée par René Basset, Professeur A l’école
superieure des lettres d’Algérie. Paris, 1883.
Chavis and Cazotte (anteà pp. 471, 472) included a version of the
Ten Vazirs in their work; and others are referred to in our Table
of Tales.
248.—The Wise Heycar.
Subsequently to the publication of Gauttier’s edition of The
Nights, Agoub republished his translation under the title of “Le
sage Heycar, conte Arabe” (Paris, 1824).
A few tales published by Scott in Ouseley’s Oriental Collections
have already been noticed (anteà, pp. 434, 435).
TRANSLATIONS OF COGNATE ORIENTAL ROMANCES ILLUSTRATIVE
OF THE NIGHTS.
1. Les Mille et Un Jours. Contes Persanes.
“In imitation of the Arabian Nights, was composed a Persian
collection entitled Hazár Yek Rúz or the Thousand and One Days,’
of which Petis de la Croix published a French rendering [in
1710], which was done into English [by Dr. King, and published in
2 vols. (with the Turkish Tales=Forty Vezirs) as early as 1714;
and subsequently] by Ambrose Phillips” (in 1738) (Clouston, in
litt). Here, and occasionally elsewhere, I have quoted from some
MSS. notes on The Nights by Mr. W. A. Clouston, which Sir R. F.
Burton kindly permitted me to inspect. Mr. Clouston then quotes
Cazotte’s Preface (not in my edition of the Thousand and One
Days), according to which the book was written by the celebrated
Dervis Moclès (Mukhlis), chief of the Sofis (Sufis?) of lspahan,
founded upon certain Indian comedies. Petis de la Croix was on
friendly terms with Mukhlis, who allowed him to take a copy of
his work in 1675, during his residence in Ispahan. (I find these
statements confirmed in the Cabinet des Fées, xxxvii. pp. 266,
274, 278, and in Weber’s “Tales of the East,” i. pp. xxxvi.,
xxxxii.)
The framework of the story is the same as Nos. 9a and 152: a
Princess, who conceives an aversion to men from dreaming of the
self-devotion of a doe, and the indifference and selfishness of a
stag. Mr. Clouston refers to Nakhshabí’s Tútí Náma (No. 33 of
Káderí’s abridgment, and 39 of India Office MS. 2,573 whence he
thinks it probable that Mukhlis may have taken the tale.) But the
tale itself is repeated over and over again in many Arabic,
Persian, and Turkish collections; in fact, there are few of
commoner occurrence.
The tales are told by the nurse in order to overcome the aversion
of the Princess to men. They are as follows:
Introduction and Conclusion: Story of the Princess of Cashmir.
1. Story of Aboulcassem Bafry.
2. Story of King Ruzvanchad and the Princess Cheheristani.
a. Story of the young King of Thibet and the Princess of
the Naimans.
b. Story of the Vazir Cavercha.
3. Story of Couloufe and the Beautiful Dilara.
4. Story of Prince Calaf and the Princess of China.
a. Story of Prince Fadlallah, son of Bei-Ortoc, King of
Moussel=Nos. 184 and 251.
5. Story of King Bedreddin-Lolo, and his Vazir Atalmulk,
surnamed the Sad Vazir.
a. Story of Atalmulk and the Princess Zelica Beghume.
b. Story of Prince Seyf-el-Molouk.
c. Story of Malek and the Princess Chirine.
d. Story of King Hormuz, surnamed the King without
trouble.
da. Story of Avicenna.
e. Story of the fair Arouya. Cf. Nos. 135q and 225.
f. Singular Adventures of Aboulfawaris, surnamed the Great
Traveller (2 Voyages).
6. Story of the Two Brother Genii, Adis and Dahy.
7. Story of Nasiraddolé, King of Moussel, of Abderrahman,
Merchant of Bagdad, and the Beautiful Zeineb.
8. Story of Repsima=No. 181r.
This work has many times been reprinted in France, where it holds
a place only second to The Nights.
Sir R. F. Burton remarks, concerning the Persian and Turkish
Tales of Petis de la Crois (the latter of which form part of the
Forty Vazirs, No. 251), “Both are weak and servile imitations of
Galland by an Orientalist who knew nothing of the East. In one
passage in the story of Fadlallah, we read of Le Sacrifice du
Mont Arafáte,’ which seems to have become a fixture in the
European brain. I found the work easy writing and exceedingly
hard reading.”
The following tales require a passing notice:—
1. Story of Aboulcassem Bafry.—A story of concealed treasure; it
has also some resemblance to No. 31.
2. Ruzvanchad and Cheheristani.—Cheheristani is a jinniyah, who
is pursued by the King, under the form of a white doe; marries
him, and becomes the mother of Balkis, the Queen of Sheba. She
exacts a promise from him never to rebuke her for any of her
actions: he breaks it, and she leaves him for a time.
2a. The Young King of Thibet.—Two imposters obtain magic rings
by which they can assume the shapes of other persons.
2a, b. The Vazir Cavercha.—This is one of Scott’s stories (No.
223 of our Table). It goes back at least as far as the Ring of
Polycrates. It is the 8th Vezir’s Story in Mr. Gibbs’ Forty
Vezirs (pp. 200–205).
4. Prince Calaf.—This story is well known, and is sometimes
played as a comedy. The Princess Turandot puts riddles to her
suitors, and beheads them if they fail to answer.
5b. Story of Prince Seyj-el-Molouk.—This story is perhaps an
older version than that which appears in The Nights (No. 154a).
It is placed long after the time of Solomon; Saad is devoured by
ants (Weber (ii. p. 426) has substituted wild beasts!); and when
Seyf enters the palace of Malika (=Daulet Khatoon), the jinni
surprises them, and is overpowered by Seyf’s ring. He then
informs him of the death of Saad; and that Bedy al-Jernal was one
of the mistresses of Solomon; and has also long been dead.
5b. Malek and Chirine.—Resembles No. 264; Malek passes himself
off as the Prophet Mohammed; burns his box (not chair) with
fireworks on his weddingday, and is thus prevented from ever
returning to the Princess.
5f. Adventures of Aboulfawaris.—Romantic travels, resembling
Nos. 132a and 133.
2. Antar.—This is the most famous of the Badawi romances. It
resembles No. 137 in several particulars, but is destitute of
supernaturalism. An English abridgment in 4 vols. was published
in 1820; and the substance of vol. 1 had appeared, as a fragment,
in the previous year, under the title of “Antar, a Bedoueen
Romance translated from the Arabic by Terrick Hamilton, Esq.,
Oriental Secretary to the British Embassy at Constantinople.” I
have also seen vol. 1 of a French translation, published about
1862, and extending to the death of Shas.
Lane (Modern Egyptians, ch. 21–23) describes several other Arab
romances, which have not yet been translated; viz. Aboo-Zeyd; Ez-Zahir,
and Delhemeh.
3. GLAIVE-DES-COURONNES (Seif el-Tidjân) Roman traduit de
l’Arabe. Par M. le Dr. Perron (Paris, 1862).
A romantic story of Arab chivalry, less overloaded with
supernaturalism than No. 137; but more supernatural than Antar.
The hero marries (among other wives) two jinniyahs of the
posterity of Iblis. In ch. 21 we have an account of a magical
city much resembling the City of Brass (No. 134) and defended by
similar talismans.
4. MEHEMET THE KURD, and other tales, from Eastern sources, by
Charles Wells, Turkish Prizeman of King’s College, London, and
Member of the Royal Asiatic Society (London, 1865).