took the fancy of Byron, who was a great admirer of Vathek, and
he has mixed it with genuine Oriental features in a powerful
passage in the Giaour, beginning:
“But thou, false infidel! shalt writhe
Beneath avenging Monkir’s scythe;
And from its torment ’scape alone
To wander round lost Eblis’ throne;
And fire unquenched, unquenchable,
Around, within thy heart shall dwell;
Nor ear can hear, nor tongue can tell
The tortures of that inward hell!” &c.
How errors relative to Eastern matters are perpetuated is
illustrated by the fact that I have seen these lines quoted in
some modern philosophical work as descriptive of the hell in
which the Mohammedans believe!
Southey, in Thalaba, b. 1., speaks of the Sarsar, “the Icy Wind
of Death,” an expression which he probably borrowed from Vathek.
3. The Count of Hamilton’s Fairy Tales. Written shortly after
the first publication of Galland’s work. There is an English
Translation among Bohn’s Extra Volumes.
4. Les Mille et un Fadaises, par Cazotte. Class 1. I have not
seen them.
5. La Mille et deuxième Nuit, par Theophilus Gautier (Paris,
1880). Probably Class 1 or 2; I have not seen it.
B.—English.
1. The Vision of Mirza (Addison in the “Spectator”). Class 3.
2. The Story of Amurath. Class 3. I do not know the author. I
read it in a juvenile book published about the end of last
century, entitled the Pleasing Instructor.
3. The Persian Tales of Inatulla of Delhi. Published in 1768,
by Colonel Alexander Dow at Edinburgh. A French translation
appeared at Amsterdam in two vols. and in Paris in one vol.
(1769). Class 6. Chiefly founded on a wellknown Persian work, of
which a more correct, though still incomplete, version was
published in 3 vols. by Jonathan Scott in 1799, under the title
of Bahar Danush, or Garden of Knowledge.
5. Rasselas, by Samuel Johnson. Class 3. Too well known to need
comment.
6. Almoran and Hamet, by Dr. Hawksworth. Class 3. Very popular
at the beginning of the present century, but now forgotten.
7. Oriental Fairy Tales (London, 1853). Class 4. A series of
very pretty fairy tales, by an anonymous author, in which the
scene is laid in the East (especially Egypt).
8. The Shaving of Shagpat, by George Meredith (London, 1855).
Class 5. I prefer this to most other imitations of an Oriental
tale.
9. The Thousand and One Humbugs. Classes 1 and 2. Published in
“Household Words,” vol. xi. (1855) pp. 265–267, 289–292, 313–316.
Parodies on Nos. 1, 195, 6d, and 6e, f.
10. Eastern Tales, by many story-tellers. Compiled and edited
from ancient and modern authors by Mrs. Valentine, author of “Sea
Fights and Land Battles,” &c. (Chandos Classics.)
In her preface, the authoress states that the tales “are gathered
from both ancient and modern French, Italian and English
sources.”
Contains 14 tales, some genuine, others imitations, One,
“Alischar and Smaragdine,” is a genuine story of The Nights (No.
41 of our Table), and is probably taken from Trébutien. Three
tales, “Jalaladeen,” “Haschem,” and “Jussuf,” are Grimm’s
imitations, taken probably from the composite English edition of
1847, and with the same illustrations. “The Seven Sleepers” and
the “Four Talismans” are from the Count de Caylus’ tales;
“Halechalbe” and “Bohetzad” (our No. 174) are from Chavis and
Cazotte; “The Enchanters” and “Urad” are from the “Tales of the
Genii”; and “The Pantofles” is the well-known story of the miser
Casem and his slippers, but I know not where it first appeared.
The remaining three tales are unknown to me, and as I have seen
no volume of Italian Oriental tales, some, no doubt, are derived
from the Italian sources of which the authoress spoke. They are
the following: “The Prince and the Lions,” “The City of the
Demons” (a Jewish story purporting to have been written in
England) and “Sadik Beg.”
11. New Arabian Nights, by R. L. Stevenson (London, 1882).
12. More New Arabian Nights. The Dynamiter. By R. L. Stevenson
and Vander Grift (London, 1882). Class 4.
Of these tales, Sir R. F. Burton observes, “The only visible
connection with the old Nights is in the habit of seeking
adventures under a disguise. The method is to make the main idea
possible and the details extravagant. In another New Arabian
Nights,’ the joint production of MM. Brookfield, Besant and
Pollock, the reverse treatment is affected, the leading idea
being grotesque and impossible, and the details accurate and
lifelike.”
C.—German.
It is quite possible that there are many imitations in German,
but I have not met with them. I can only mention one or two tales
by Hauff (the Caliph turned Stork, and the Adventures of Said); a
story called “Ali and Gulhindi,” by what author I do not now
remember; and some imitations said to be by Grimm, already
mentioned in reference to the English composite edition of 1847.
They are all European fairy tales, in an Eastern dress.
CONCLUSION.
Among books specially interesting to the student of The Nights, I
may mention Weil’s “Biblische Legenden der Muselmänner, aus
arabischen Quellen zusammengetragen, und mit jüdischen Sagen
verglichen” (Frankfort-on-Main, 1845). An anonymous English
translation appeared in 1846 under the title of “The Bible, the
Koran, and the Talmud,” and it also formed one of the sources
from which the Rev. S. Baring-Gould compiled his “Legends of Old
Testament Characters” (2 vols., 1871). The late Prof. Palmer’s
“Life of Haroun Al-Raschid” (London, 1881), is not much more than
a brief popular sketch. The references to The Nights in English
and other European literatures are innumerable; but I cannot
refrain from quoting Mark Twain’s identification of Henry the
Eighth with Shahryar (Huckleberry Finn, chap. xxiii).
“My, you ought to have seen old Henry the Eighth when he was in
bloom. He was a blossom. He used to marry a new wife every day,
and chop off her head next morning. And he would do it just as
indifferent as if he was ordering up eggs. “Fetch up Nell Gwynn,”
he says. They fetch her up. Next morning, “Chop off her head.”
And they chop it off. “Fetch up Jane Shore,” he says; and up she
comes. Next morning, “Chop off her head.” And they chop it off.
“Ring up Fair Rosamun.” Fair Rosamun answers the bell. Next
morning, “Chop off her head.” And he made every one of them tell
him a tale every night, and he kept that up till he had hogged a
thousand and one tales that way, and then he put them all in a
book, and called it Domesday Book—which was a good name, and
stated the case. You don’t know kings, Jim, but I know them, and
this old rip of ourn is one of the cleanest I’ve struck in
history. Well, Henry, he takes a notion he wants to get up some
trouble with this country. How does he do it—give notice?—give
the country a show? No. All of a sudden he heaves all the tea in
Boston Harbour overboard, and whacks out a declaration of
independence, and dares them to come on. That was his style—he
never give anybody a chance. He had suspicions of his father, the
Duke of Wellington. Well, what did he do?—ask him to show up?
No—drownded him in a butt of mamsey, like a cat. Spose people
left money laying around where he was—what did he do? He
collared it. Spose he contracted to do a thing, and you paid him,
and didnt set down there and see that he done it—what did he do?
He always done the other thing. Spose he opened his mouth—what
then? If he didnt shut it up powerful quick, he’d lose a lie,
every time. That’s the kind of a bug Henry was.”
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF THE TALES IN THE PRINCIPAL
EDITIONS OF THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, viz.:—
1. Galland.
2. Caussin de Perceval.
3. Gauttier.
4. Scott’s MS. (Wortley Montague).
5. Ditto (Anderson; marked A).
6. Scott’s Arabian Nights.
7. Scott’s Tales and Anecdotes (marked A).
8. Von Hammer’s MS.
9. Zinserling.
10. Lamb.
11. Trébutien.
12. Bul. text.
13. Lane.
14. Bres. text.
15. Habicht.
16. Weil.
17. Mac. text.
18. Torrens.
19. Payne.
20. Payne’s Tales from the Arabic (marked I. II. III.)
21. Calc.
22. Burton.
As nearly all editions of The Nights are in several volumes, the
volumes are indicated throughout, except in the case of some of
the texts. Only those tales in No. 5, not included in No. 4, are
here indicated in the same column. All tales which there is good
reason to believe do not belong to the genuine Nights are marked
with an asterisk.
The blank column may be used to enter the contents of some other
edition.
| Galland. |“Bul.” Text. Burton.
| |Caussin de Perceval. | |Lane. |
| | |Gauttier. | | |“Bres.” Text. |
| | | |Scott’s MS. | | | |Habicht. |
| | | | |Scott. | | | | |Weil. |
| | | | | |Von Hammer’s MS. | | | | |“Mac.” Text |
| | | | | | |Zinserling.| | | | | | |Torrens. |
| | | | | | | |Lamb. | | | | | | | |Payne. |
| | | | | | | | |Trébutien | | | | | | |Calc. |
[| 1.| 2.| 3.|4,5|6,7| 8.| 9.|10.|11.|12.|13.|14.|15.|16.|17.|18.|19.|20.| |22.]