A Group of Eastern Romances and Stories from the Persian, Tamil and Urdu

FOOTNOTES

[1] Story-telling has been quite an art in the East time out of mind. Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, in her Observations on the Mussulmans of India, vol. ii, pp. 81, 82, says: “Many of the ladies entertain women companions, whose chief business is to tell stories and fables to their employer when she is composing herself to sleep. When the lady is fairly asleep the story is stayed, and the companion resumes her employment when the next nap is sought by her mistress. Among the higher classes the males also indulge in the same practice of being talked to sleep by their men slaves, and it is a certain introduction, with either sex, to the favour of their employer when one of these dependants has acquired the happy art of ‘telling the khÁnie’ (fable) with an agreeable voice and manner. The more they embellish a tale by flights of their versatile imaginations, so much the greater the merit of the rehearser in the opinion of the listeners.”—In the Book of Esther, ch. vi, 1, we read that on a certain night “could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles, and they were read before the king.” Well was it for the Hebrew bondsmen that Ahasuerus did not call for a story-teller instead of the “state journal”!—The practice of sleepless khalÍfs and sultans sending for story-tellers is referred to in many Eastern tales. For an account of public reciters of tales and romances see Lane’s Modern Egyptians.

[2] But are even the best novels of these days of grace marked by very much “originality”? Do not prolific novelists repeat themselves? Have they not, for the most part, a limited set of characters, which reappear in each succeeding novel? In short, may it not be truly said of them, as Burton (not he of The Nights, but he of The Melancholy) says of authors in general: “They weave the same web, twist and untwist the same rope, and make new books as apothecaries make new mixtures, by pouring out of one vessel into another”?

[3] The following particulars regarding the author and his work are derived from Dr. Charles Rieu’s Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, vol. ii, pp. 767-8, Add. 7619, and Or. 1370; and from Mr. F. F. Arbuthnot’s useful and interesting little work, Persian Portraits: a Sketch of Persian History, Literature, and Politics (London: Quaritch), p. 119. The title of Shamsah Ú Kahkahah, under which Mr. Arbuthnot describes this collection, is taken from the names of a Witch and a VazÍr who figure in the second bÁb.

[4] There is another, but wholly different, Tamil tale, with the same title, which is described in Taylor’s Catalogue RaisonnÉ of Oriental Manuscripts in the Government Library, Madras, vol. iii, page 460: “A king’s daughter forms an attachment at first sight to the stupid son of another king, who cannot read the writing which she conveys to him, but shows it to a diseased wretch, who tells him it warns him to flee for his life. The king’s daughter is imposed upon by the leper, kills herself, and becomes a disembodied evil spirit, haunting a choultry (or serai for travellers), whom during the night, if they do not answer aright to her cries, she strangles, and vampyre-like sucks their blood.” To be brief, the famous Tamil poetess Avaiyar gets leave of the people to sleep in the choultry in order to put an end to this calamity, and having three times composed a recondite stanza from the strange cries, the evil spirit owns herself conquered and departs. She is re-born as an exceedingly clever princess, and tests the learning and poetical skill of her suitors, till at last she is won by a poor student.—It will be readily supposed that the chief merit of this story consists in the poetical contests.

[5] The stories related to the king by Prince BakhtyÁr, though calculated to caution him against rash judgments, have nothing in common with those contained in the Book of SindibÁd; while the tales told by Er-Rahwan (which have been translated by Sir Richard F. Burton, and included in the first volume of his Supplemental Nights) are of a miscellaneous character—grave and gay, wise and witty—his sole object being to prolong his life by thus amusing the king. The VazÍr’s recitals are of considerable importance to “storiologists”: we find among them analogues of Chaucer’s Man of Law’s Tale, Pardoner’s Tale, and Merchant’s Tale, and of the well-known legend of St. Eustache (or Placidus), which occurs in the Gesta Romanorum, and from which the mediÆval metrical romances of Sir Isumbras, Octavian, Sir Eglamour, and Sir Torrent of Portugal were derived.

[6] The Tamil text of The King and his Four Ministers has been printed. Through the kindness of the Pandit, I possess two copies, of different dates, one of which, printed in 1887, has, by way of frontispiece, four figures, in profile, like those in Egyptian paintings, all looking in the same direction, with their hands raised and the palms joined, in respect to the prayer to Ganesa, which is on the opposite page. The first is the minister; the second is the king, with a crown not unlike the Pope’s tiara, and a sword on his shoulder; the third and fourth are devotees, whose clothing is rather scanty.

[7] “AbrÉgÉ du roman hindoustani intitulÉ la Rose de BakÂwalÎ, par M. le professeur Garcin de Tassy”: in Nouveau Journal Asiatique, tome xvi, p. 193ff. and p. 338ff. This has been reprinted along with other translations by the learned Professor.

[8] A Khoja is a master of a household, also a teacher; in the former acceptation it is somewhat equivalent to the old English “goodman.”—Gibb’s History of the Forty VezÍrs, p. 33.

[9] The humÁi is a fabulous bird, supposed to bestow prosperity on any person who is overshadowed by its wings.

[10] Oriental writers frequently descant on the advantages of travel; not only because it enlarges the mind (for “home-keeping youths have ever homely wits”), but as a means of acquiring wealth. For some examples, see my Book of SindibÁd.

[11] The name generally given by the Arabs and Persians to the districts of Northern Africa west of Egypt.

[12] Belief in judicial astrology—in the influence of the planets over the fortunes of men—prevails throughout the East, as it did in Europe until comparatively recent times; indeed the delusion appears to have its adherents in our own country, even in these “double-distilled” days, if it be true that Zadkiel’s Almanack has a very large circulation. Truly “error dies hard!”—An Asiatic, before setting out on a journey, being married, or beginning any important affair, always consults an astrologer to learn the precise lucky moment. In one of the JÁtakas, or Buddhist Birth-Stories, a man having missed making a good match for his son, because he had been told by a spiteful astrologer that the day proposed for the nuptials was inauspicious, a wise old fellow shrewdly remarked: “What is the use of luck in the stars? Surely getting the girl is the luck!” and recited this stanza:

While the star-gazing fool is waiting for luck, the luck goes by;

The star of luck is luck, and not any star in the sky.

In the appendix to my edition of the Persian story-book entitled BakhtyÁr NÁma, pp. 218-223, may be found some rather droll anecdotes of the blunders of astrologers.

[13] This custom is observed by Muslims in compliance with the precept of Muhammed: “Whoever,” said he, “believes in God and the day of resurrection, must respect his guest; and the time of being kind to him is one day and one night; and the period of entertaining him is three days; and after that, if he does it longer, it benefits him more; but it is not right for a guest to stay in the house of his host so long as to incommode him.” In the introduction to the Arabian Nights, King ShahriyÁr entertains his brother, Shah ZamÁn, three days, and on the fourth he accompanies him a day’s journey and takes leave of him.

[14] Henna is a preparation made from the leaves of the Egyptian privet (Lawsonia inermis), with which women in the East stain the tips of their fingers, the palms of their hands, etc. It imparts a yellowish red or deep orange colour, which disappears in a fortnight or three weeks, when it has to be renewed.—See Lane’s Modern Egyptians, ch. i.

[15] See note on page 8.—We have in this passage the motif of the romance throughout.

[16] “Hell has no fury like a woman scorned!” Besides, the virtuous youth might not keep the secret of her intended intrigue (for such is evidently to be understood) to himself.

[17] Stories, such as this, of unfaithful wives outwitting their husbands, with similar mischances, are common in Eastern collections; and the present well-told tale would probably have been very eagerly adapted by the early Italian novelists, had they known it, among whom, indeed, it has more than one analogue.

[18] A tomÁn is a Persian gold coin which has varied much in value at different periods; at present it is worth about 7s. 2d. of our money.

[19] The hÚrÍs (or, as the term is often written, houries) are the black-eyed nymphs of the Muslim Paradise, of whom Muhammed has promised seventy to each believer.

[20] One of the Egyptian magicians who “withstood Moses,” mentioned by Arabian writers: their chief was called Simeon, and among the eminent masters of the “art magic” were SadhÚr and GhadÚr, Jaath and Mossa, Waran and LamÁn, each of whom came attended with his disciples, amounting in all to several thousands.—St. Paul, in his second epistle to Timothy, iii, 8, gives the names of two of the magicians as Jannes and Jambres.

[21] The notion of the life or heart of an ogre, witch, etc., being extraneous to the body and concealed in some object—usually very difficult to reach by the heroes who are in their power—is often the subject of the popular fictions of all countries. What is probably the oldest extant instance of this occurs in an Egyptian romance, preserved among the hieratic papyri in the British Museum, which bears to have been written more than 3000 years ago, or about the period when Moses was, in his youth, at the court of Pharaoh. The “curious” reader may find numerous other examples cited in my Popular Tales and Fictions, vol. i, pp. 347-351.

[22] Parrots often play important parts in Asiatic tales: here, however, the “intelligent” bird, as will be seen presently, works only mischief.

[23] It does not appear from the preceding part of the narrative that the hero received any ring from a “neighbour’s wife.” Perhaps something has been omitted by a copyist of the Persian text.

[24] Many an honest fellow, besides the generous-hearted Obayd, having been thus beggared by the rapacity of an Asiatic despot, has turned robber in self-defence.

[25] i.e., Persia.

[26] An ashrafÍ is worth about ten shillings.

[27] It is a favourite plan for extricating an impecunious hero out of his difficulties in Eastern fictions to represent him as finding a great treasure in a ruin. And no doubt such an incident has often occurred in Asiatic countries, where—in the absence of such institutions as banks—money and jewels are usually concealed in the earth, old wells, etc., lest the sovereign or one of his greedy ministers should come to know of any person possessing much wealth, and forthwith confiscate it.

[28] By “RÚm” (or Roum) Asiatics generally mean Europe, at least Eastern Europe, and “the land of the Franks” has the same meaning.

[29] This incident recalls popular tales current in our own country of witches turning themselves into cats, and some bold fellow smiting off a paw of one of the unholy sisterhood thus transformed, and next day a woman suspected of witchcraft being found in her bed with one of her hands apparently newly amputated.—Similar stories are told of werwolves, or men having the power of transforming themselves for a time into wolves.

[30] Hatim was chief of the Arab tribe of TaÏ, shortly before the advent of Muhammed, and so highly celebrated for his boundless generosity that at the present day in Muslim countries no greater compliment can be paid to an open-handed man than to call him “another Hatim.”

[31] A gold dÍnar is worth about ten shillings.

[32] “Darb er-Ramal, or geomancy, by which, from certain marks made at random on paper, or on sand (whence, according to some, its name), the professors pretend to discover past, passing, and future events, is, I am informed, mainly founded on astrology.”—Lane’s Modern Egyptians, ch. xii.

[33] In the East, as in the West, religion is often assumed as a cloak of villainy; and the half-naked darveshes who prowl through Muslim towns and villages, blowing their horns and bellowing their eternal “hakk! hakk!” are for the most part lewd rascals; and not a whit better are most of those who affect to live as hermits. Muhammed said that “there is no monkery in IslÁm,” which is true in one respect, viz., that while a monk must remain a monk all his life, a darvesh may at any time toss away his begging-bowl and return to his former station in society.

[34] Fars, or FarsistÁn, is a province of Persia, the capital of which is ShÍrÁz, so much celebrated by HÁfiz and other Persian poets. As the Neapolitans have their favourite saying, “See Naples, and die,” so the Persians say that “If Muhammed had tasted the pleasures of ShÍrÁz, he would have begged Allah to make him immortal there.”

[35] This monarch is not to be confounded with that FarÍdÚn who was the sixth of the first dynasty (PÍshdÁdÍ) of ancient Persian kings.

[36] Signet-rings were commonly used throughout the East from the earliest period of which any records have been preserved. When a king gave his signet to any one he was thereby empowered to act in the king’s name. Thus in the Book of Esther we read that King Ahasuerus took his ring from off his finger and gave it first to Haman and afterwards to Mordecai.

[37] In other words, the king resigned his throne in favour of the prince. It seems to have been a common practice for Oriental potentates, at a certain period of life, to retire from the cares of state and turn ascetics—which was very proper, if all the tales be true of their sanguinary doings!

[38] Al-Mu’tasim Billah, was the fourth son of the KhalÍf HarÚn er-RashÍd, and succeeded his second brother, Al-MÁmÚn, A.D. 833. He was the first of the KhalÍfs who added to his name the title of Billah, which is equivalent to the Dei Gracia of Christian sovereigns. Al-Mu’tasim was the 8th KhalÍf of the house of Abbas; was born on the 8th month (Shaban) of the year; ascended the throne in the 218th year of the Hijra; lived 48 years; and died on the 18th of the month RabÍ I; he fought 8 battles; built 8 palaces; begat 8 sons and 8 daughters; had 8,000 slaves; and had 8,000,000 dÍnars and 80,000 dirhams [a dirham is a silver coin of the value of sixpence] in his treasury at his death;—whence Oriental historians gave him the name of Al-Musamman, or the Octonary.

[39] When a Persian monarch desires to show his special regard for any great man who has come to his court, he presents him with a khil’at, or robe of honour, which is often very valuable.

[40] Compared with this what was the archery feat of Locksley (alias Robin Hood), as described in Ivanhoe? It seems to have been a common practice in Persia to suspend a finger-ring as the mark and prize in an archery competition. A story is told of a ShÁh who, while on a pleasure excursion to Massala ShÍrÁz, appointed an archery contest for the amusement of himself and his courtiers. He caused a gold ring, set with a valuable gem, to be fixed on the dome of ’AsÁd, and it was announced that whosoever should send an arrow through the ring should obtain it as the reward of his skill. The four hundred skilled archers forming the royal body-guard each shot at the ring without success. It happened that a boy on a neighbouring house-top was at the same time diverting himself with a little bow, when one of his arrows, shot at random, went through the ring. The boy, having thus obtained the prize, immediately burned his bow, shrewdly observing that he had done so in order that the reputation of this his first feat should never be impaired. (Sa’dÍ’s GulistÂn, or Rose-Garden, ch. iii). The famous Persian poet and robber-chief KurroglÚ had a band of 777 men under his command, and Demurchy-oglÚ (i.e. the son of the blacksmith) offered himself for a vacancy. KurroglÚ, in order to test the nerve of the candidate, bade him sit down; then taking an apple from his pocket and a ring from his finger, he stuck the ring in the apple, and ordered one of his men to remove the cap from the head of the new comer. Having placed the apple on the young man’s head, KurroglÚ rode to one side and bent his bow and continued to pass one arrow after another through the ring. Out of sixty arrows that were shot not one went astray. (Chodzko’s Popular Poetry of Persia, pp. 88, 89). Here we have the feat of William Tell—with a difference.

[41] The duty of the muezzin is to chant the call to prayer (adÁn) from the minaret of the mosque five times every day. Blind men are generally employed as muezzins, in order that they should not overlook the terraces, or flat roofs, of the houses, where the inmates generally sleep during very hot weather.

[42] The SÚfÍs are the mystics of IslÁm, and profess to have attained, by meditation, so advanced a stage of spiritual perfection as to render the teachings of the KurÁn and the ordinary religious observances quite unnecessary to them. They are generally considered by the “orthodox” as arrant infidels. For an interesting account of some of their public “religious” performances, see the chapter on the Dancing Darveshes in Lane’s Modern Egyptians.

[43] Muhammed.

[44] In primitive times even kings were proud of their skill in the art of cookery. Thus in the charming story of Nala and Damayanti (an episode of the great HindÚ epic, the MahÁbhÁrata) the good RÁjÁ is recognised by his devoted wife, who had been long separated from him, by some meat of his dressing. And in the other grand Indian epic, the RÁmÁyana, the demi-god RÁmÁ is represented as killing and cooking the dinner of his spouse SitÁ and himself:

Their thirst allayed, the princes ply the chase,

And a fat stag soon falls beneath their arrows.

A fire they kindle next, and dress their prize;

Then, offering to the gods and manes made,

With SitÁ they the social banquet share.

And readers of the Arabian Nights will remember how young Bedr ed-DÍn Hasan was discovered by the delicious tarts for the making of which he had been always famed.

[45] One of the signs of the Zodiac.

[46] Wrestling has been from the most ancient times a favourite sport in Persia, as it has also been among the Japanese. Due allowance must, of course, be made for the Oriental exaggeration here indulged in, of representing our hero as throwing two hundred men in succession;—still, the author is not inconsistent, for did not he, single-handed, lay about him boldly and scatter the gang of robbers in the mosque and prove more than a match for the townsfolk?

[47] I presume by the “Sun of Prophecy” is meant Muhammed. The “Court of Unity” is Heaven.

[48] This little story is evidently intended as a satire on ascetics whose notions of religious duties spring from their own foolish minds, and who are often held up to ridicule by the most eminent Persian poets and moralists.

[49] In spite of the vigilance with which women in the East are guarded from communication with lovers, it is said that men frequently gain access to harams disguised in female apparel, with or without the connivance of the “neutral personages” who are appointed to keep watch and ward over the private apartments.

[50] This recalls an incident in the Muslim legend of King Solomon’s temporary degradation, in consequence of his having fallen into the heinous sin of idolatry—a legend adapted from the Jewish traditionists—when “the wisest man the world e’er saw” became an outcast and a vagrant, and took service with a fisherman; his wages being two fishes each day.

[51] The wise and witty author of Hudibras partly expresses the same sentiment in these lines:

Man is supreme lord and master

Of his own ruin and disaster,

Controls his fate, but nothing less

In ordering his own happiness:

For all his care and providence

Is too feeble a defence

To render it secure and certain

Against the injuries of fortune;

And oft, in spite of all his wit,

Is lost with one unlucky hit,

And ruined with a circumstance

And mere punctilio of a chance.

Butler’s Remains.

But the HindÚ sages give forth no uncertain sound on this subject, as may be seen from these verses, which are cited in the Hitopadesa, a Sanskrit version of the celebrated Fables of BidpaÏ:

“As from a lump of clay a workman makes whatever he pleases, in like manner a man obtains the destiny prepared by himself.”

“Fortune waits upon that lion of a man who exerts himself. Abject fellows say: ‘It is to be given by destiny.’ Put forth manliness with all your strength. If when effort has been made it succeed not, what blame is there in such a case?”

[52] Muslims regard Lukman as the type of human wisdom. He is said to have been an Ethiopian slave and served in the army of the Hebrew king David. Many striking sayings and fables are ascribed to him, but it is more than doubtful whether he composed any apologues.

[53] The loves of LaylÁ and MajnÚn—the Romeo and Juliet of the East—have formed the theme of several very beautiful Persian and Turkish poems. MajnÚn (which means “mad from love:” his proper name was Kays) was the son of an Arab chief and deeply enamoured of a maiden of another tribe; and on her being married to a foreign and wealthy suitor he became distraught, and fled to the wilderness. When LaylÁ became a widow and met her lover once more she found him a raving maniac and died soon after. MajnÚn expired on her tomb.

[54] Muslim poets are never weary of harping on the fancied love of the nightingale (bulbul) for the rose, to which he is supposed to pour out his nightly plaint.

[55] “The philosopher,” says a Persian poet, “died of grief and distress, while the blockhead found a treasure in a ruin.”

[56] It is rare indeed to find in Eastern tales such sensible observations put in the mouths of sultans, who are for the most part mere lay figures or credulous fools. Mr. R. L. Stevenson has happily described the monarchs that figure in the Arabian Nights as “wooden kings.” Here, however, we have in this sultan a really sagacious man.

[57] The renowned HarÚn er-RashÍd was not the only Oriental monarch fond of prowling through his capital after nightfall in disguise: Indian kings of the olden time, long before the Muhammedan invasion and subjugation, are said to have made it their regular practice. King James the Fifth of Scotland was wont to adopt all sorts of disguises and go about in quest of amorous adventures.

[58] Blighted, as they firmly believed, by the mere sight of the unlucky man.

[59] Copies of the KurÁn are always very beautifully written and often illuminated with great taste and splendour, and are very costly. Poor Shoayb may, however, have been induced to select a KurÁn out of the robbers’ booty rather from motives of piety than from any desire of gain.—I may mention that, although the art of printing is now practised both in Persia and Turkey, copies of the KurÁn are still multiplied (or were so till very lately) by handwriting, from a superstitious notion that the impure materials employed in printing would profane the sacred text.

[60] Friday is the Muslim Sunday—called El-Jum’Á, or the Assembly; but it is not observed as a day exclusively devoted to religious exercises, like the “Lord’s Day” among our Protestant “evangelicals,” whose motto seems to be, “Let us all be unhappy together,” on that day which they ought rather to regard as a day of pious rejoicing, could they be consistent; nor are the superstitious notions associated with the Sabbath in Jewish minds entertained by Muslims regarding the day of El-Jum’Á.

[61] The number forty seems to have been always a favourite among Eastern peoples, and it occurs in the Bible many times in connection with important events. Thus the Flood continued forty days (Gen. vii, 17); Joseph and his kinsmen mourned forty days for their father Jacob (Gen. l, 3); thrice Moses fasted forty days (Exod. xxiv, 18, xxxiv, 28, and Deut. ix, 9-25); during forty days the Hebrew spies searched Canaan (Numb. xiii, 25); Goliath defied the Hebrew army for forty days (1 Sam. xvii, 16); Elijah fasted forty days (1 Kings xix, 8); Nineveh was to be destroyed after forty days (Jonah iii, 4); forty days Ezekiel bore the iniquities of the house of Judah, a day for a year (Ezek. iv, 6); Christ was tempted by Satan during forty days (Matt. iv, 2, and Mark i, 13), and he continued forty days on earth after his resurrection (Acts i, 3); the Israelites were condemned to wander in the wilderness forty years (Numb. xiv, 33).—Muslims mourn forty days for their dead; and they deem a woman ceremonially unclean during forty days after childbirth: among the Israelites the period was forty days when she had given birth to a male child and eighty days in the case of a female child.—In the present romance, our unlucky hero, Nassar, is directed by the hermit’s “last will,” as above, to spend forty days in prayer for the restoration of the fairies’ fountain; he shoots an arrow through a finger-ring forty times (p. 100); but his too expert archery caused an accident to the king, from the effects of which his majesty did not recover until he had been “forty days under medical treatment” (p. 102); poor Shah Manssur was in the power of the cruel sorceress for nearly forty days (p. 26); and the son of the king of Tytmyran was tossed about on the sea in a boat for forty days (p. 73). To conclude this long note: forty is the usual number of a gang of robbers in Eastern tales—that of “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” will at once occur to the reader; and we have another example in the diverting story of “Ahmed the Cobbler” (Malcolm’s Sketches of Persia), where the king’s treasury is plundered by forty robbers.

[62] Excepting, surely, “the shark and the sun-fish dark”!

[63] “Sometimes it happens,” says our author, “that a man is such a favourite of fortune that if another try to injure him even that will turn to his advantage. Good men refrain in thought and word and deed from injuring their fellow men; but evil-minded men resemble scorpions in their nature, stinging everybody without cause, and with no profit to themselves, while the objects of their hatred nevertheless prosper;—as will appear from the following story of the adventures of FarrukhrÚz, whose success was promoted by the enmity which the vazÍrs of the king of Yaman entertained against him.”

[64] A sensible man! He was well aware that frequently “riches take unto themselves wings and flee away.” The sons of “self-made” men seldom turn out to be of much account—probably because fathers such as Khoja MarjÁn are not often found among those whose sole aim in life has been to “mak’ siller”!

[65] Or Yemen: the ancient Arabia Felix.

[66] “Forty days” again!—see ante, note on pp. 140, 141.

[67] A kind of witch’s broomstick, apparently. It is to be regretted that our author (or the holy hermit) did not specify the other properties of this wonderful staff! Doubtless it also provided the possessor with “meat, drink, and clothing,” in common with similar magical articles which figure in the fairy tales of all peoples.

[68] Muslims have derived from the Jewish cabbalists the notion of the marvellous efficacy of the “unutterable Name” of God—called by the Arabs El-Ism el-Aazam, “the Most Great Name.” It was, they say, engraved on Solomon’s signet-ring, by means of which he subdued all the genii and demons, save one rebellious and powerful genie called Sakhr, who concealed himself in an island in mid-ocean. But the Wise King “took up” with strange women—with the daughters of idolatrous kings whom he had conquered in battle; and to one of those he gave his ring one unlucky day, to keep for him while he was at his bath. The demon Sakhr, who had been prowling invisibly about the palace, in hopes of catching his royal enemy at an unguarded moment, assumed Solomon’s form and readily obtained possession of the wonder-working ring, and sat on the throne of Israel, while Solomon—whose appearance was at once changed—was driven forth, to wander up and down the land as a beggar. To be brief, the ring was, after long years, found in the maw of a fish—Sakhr having thrown it away when he fled, on being detected as an imposter by the reading of the Law in his presence—and Solomon “came to his own again.” Solomon’s signet-ring figures frequently in Muslim romances and stories: it was with this magical ring that he sealed the copper vessels into which he conjured certain rebellious genii, and then caused them to be thrown into the sea; it also gave him power over all creatures on the earth and in the waters, and over the eight winds, which, at his command, wafted through the air, whithersoever he pleased, himself and his army on the marvellous carpet woven for him by genii—to which the poet BahÁ-ed-DÍn Zuhayr, of Egypt, thus alludes in an address to his lady-love:

“And now I bid the very wind

To speed my loving message on,

As though I might its fury bind,

Like Solomon.”

The wind is a common messenger of love in the amatory poetry of the East;—thus a pre-Islamite Arabian poet exclaims in apostrophising his beloved: “O may the western breeze tell thee of my ardent desire to return home!”

[69] I reproduce the following notes on treasure-trees from my paper on the Franklin’s Tale (entitled “The Damsel’s Rash Promise”) in Originals and Analogues of some of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” printed for the Chaucer Society, p. 336:

In the KathÁ Sarit SÁgara—an ancient Sanskrit story-book—we read of trees with golden trunks, branches of jewels, the clear white flowers of which were clusters of pearls; golden lotuses, etc. Aladdin, it will be remembered, found in the cave, where was deposited the magic lamp, trees bearing “fruit” of emeralds and other gems of great price, with which he took care to stuff his pockets.

In the mediÆval romance of Alexander we are told how the world-conqueror jousted with Porus for his kingdom, and having overthrown him, he found in the palace of the vanquished monarch innumerable treasures, and amongst others a vine of which the branches were gold, the leaves emerald, and the fruit of other precious stones—a fiction, says Dunlop, which seems to have been suggested by the golden vine which Pompey carried away from Jerusalem.

The garden of Duke Isope, as described in the Tale of Beryn (Supp. Canterbury Tales: Ch. Soc., p. 84), had a similar tree:

“In mydward of this garden stant a feire tre,

Of alle maner levis that under sky [there] be,

I-forgit and i-fourmyd, eche in his degre,

Of sylvir, and of goldÈ fyne, that lusty ben to see.”

As the treasures coveted by the Arimaspians were guarded by griffins, and the golden apples of the Hesperides by a dragon, so this garden of Duke Isope was kept by eight “tregetours,” or magicians, who looked like “abominabill wormys,” enough to frighten the bravest man on earth.

The Italian poet Boiardo, in the 12th canto of his Orlando Innamorato, represents the virtuous Tisbina as promising her love to Iroldo, who is madly enamoured of her, on condition that he perform a certain task for her: “Beyond the forest of Barbary,” says she, “is a fair garden, which has an iron wall. Herein entrance can be obtained by four gates: one Life keeps, Death, another, Poverty, another, and Riches, another. Whoso goes therein must depart by the opposite gate. In the midst is a tree of vast height, far as an arrow may mount aloft; that tree is of marvellous price, for whenever it blossoms it puts forth pearls, and it is called the Treasure-Tree, for it has apples of emerald and boughs of gold. A branch of this tree,” adds the fair Tisbina, “I must have, otherwise I am in heavy case.”

[70] A species of inferior jinni, or genie.

[71] It is a general practice of Muslim men to shave their heads, leaving in front a kakull, or tuft of hair, in order, according to some writers, that an enemy, in the day of battle, after cutting off the head of any of the faithful whom he had slain, should have wherewithal to carry it, and not require to pollute it by thrusting his fingers into the mouth. This bears some resemblance to the tuft which North American Indians wear, as a defiance to their foes—to scalp them if they can! The tuft on the Muslim’s head, however, serves another purpose, in being allowed to grow for some time before he sets out on the pilgrimage to Makka, so that, arrived there, he can twist it round his head like a turban, as a guard against the fierce Arabian sun. The BrÁhmans also shave their heads, leaving a similar tuft, which, like the “pig-tail” of a Chinaman, is a mark of respectability, and its removal is a very great disgrace.

[72] Iskandar, or Sikandar: Alexander the Great, of whom Muslim writers relate many wonderful stories—especially the Persian poet NizamÍ, in his famous Sikandar-NÁma, or Alexander-Book.—JamshÍd was the fourth of the first (or PÍshdÁdÍ) dynasty of ancient Persian kings. He is said to have founded Persepolis, and introduced the solar year, and ordered the first day of it, when the sun entered Aries, to be celebrated by a magnificent festival, which is still observed in Persia, and is called the NÚ RÚz, or the New Day. Of his goblet, above referred to, Jam-i-JamshÍd, or the Cup of JamshÍd, marvellous things are related: it mirrored the whole world, foreshadowed future events, and so forth. It is said that such was its lustre that it dazzled all beholders, and hence poets have found it a convenient simile for the brilliant eyes of a pretty girl.

[73] It does not appear that the astrologer’s prediction was fulfilled—though a blind man once shot a crow, but, like the astrologer, for one hit he missed a thousand times. A good story is told of an essay in the capacity of astrologer on the part of AnvarÍ, the celebrated Persian poet. It so happened that in 1186 A.D. (581 or 582 A.H.) there was a conjunction of all the planets in the sign of Libra. AnvarÍ predicted a storm which would eradicate trees and destroy all buildings. When the fatal day arrived, it was perfectly calm, and there was the whole year so little wind that the people were unable to winnow their corn. The unlucky poet-astrologer was obliged to fly to Balkh, where he died, in the reign of Sultan AlÁ-ed-DÍn Takash, A.D. 1200 (A.H. 596).

Astrologers having predicted for the year 1523 incessant rains and disastrous floods, the good abbot of St. Bartholomew, in Smithfield, London, built a house at Harrow-on-the-Hill, and stored it with provisions. Many people followed his example and repaired to high places, in order to escape the expected deluge. But no extraordinary rains occurring, the disappointed soothsayers pacified the people by confessing themselves mistaken just one hundred years in their calculation!—Readers of Chaucer will remember how the arch-rogue Clerk Nicolas, for his own wicked ends, predicted, to his simple landlord, the carpenter, that a flood was presently to come upon the earth, greater than that which Noah and his family “rode-out” in the Ark.

Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, in her interesting Observations on the Mussulmans of India, says: “It is wonderful the influence which a najÚm [i.e. astrologer] acquires in the houses of many great men in India. Wherever one of those idlers is entertained he is the oracle to be consulted on all occasions. I know those who submit with a childlike docility to the najÚm’s opinion, when their better reason, if allowed sway, would decide against the astrologer’s prediction. If the najÚm says it is not proper for NawÁb Sahib and his lady to eat, drink, or sleep, to take medicine, to give away or accept any gift, the najÚm has said it, and the najÚm must be right.” (Vol. i, pp. 69, 70.)

[74] Akhfash was a Muhammedan professor of grammar and literature who was so unlucky as not to be able to attract any disciples; he therefore trained a goat and lectured to it, the docile animal approving, doubting, or denying his propositions as occasion required, and in course of time, when it had attracted a very large number of scholars, its functions ceased.—E. Rehatsek, the translator.

[75] We have in this scene, between the simple dweller in the desert, the infatuated FarrukhrÚz, and the AmÍr, a capital example of Oriental humour.

[76] Thus the sultan received our hero on a footing of equality with himself, and the scene recalls the meeting of the two brothers, King ShÁhriyÁr and ShÁh ZamÁn in the opening of the Arabian Nights.

[77] Notwithstanding all that has been written by European orientalists during the last half-century regarding the Muhammedan religion, the notion is still widely prevalent that, according to the KurÁnic teachings, women have not souls. The idea is quite preposterous, and must have been set afloat by bigoted Christian “champions” who wished to throw discredit on the doctrines of IslÁm. In the KurÁn future rewards are promised and future punishments are threatened to men and women alike. And in Muslim stories, which may be considered as faithfully reflecting the general religious belief, women are often spoken of as having gone to Paradise at their death, while it is not unusual for the transcriber of a book to insert at the end a prayer for the souls of his father and mother. Moreover, among the traditions preserved of Muhammed is the following, which shows that the Founder of IslÁm could occasionally indulge in a little harmless pleasantry: An old woman came to him one day, and asked what should be the lot of such as she in Paradise. The Prophet replied, that no old women would be there, upon which the poor crone set up a loud wail, but Muhammed presently soothed her by smilingly explaining that all the old women would become young when they entered Paradise.

[78] Yet again “forty days”!

[79] The name of the king is derived from AlakÁpuri, the city of KavÉra, the god of riches, and AlakÉsa is therefore an appellation signifying a wealthy king.

[80] The Pandit remarks that this kind of statement often occurs in stories in proof of the just reign of a monarch. The HindÚ idea is, that so long as justice and equity characterised a king’s rule, even beasts naturally inimical were disposed to live in friendship. When timely rain fails or famine stalks through the land, turning his eyes from the natural causes, the orthodox HindÚ will say that such a king is now reigning over them unjustly, and hence the calamity.

[81] According to a Persian writer, “she is a perfect woman who considers her husband as the most accomplished of men, and thinks all the sons of Adam beside quite unworthy of a transient glance from the corner of her half-shut eyes.” And in the MahÁbhÁrata we are told that “she is a good wife whose husband is as her very life.”

[82] “Distinguishing the peculiarities of an animal by its footsteps, etc.,” says the Pandit, “is often met with in Indian stories. Precisely the reverse of this is the tale of the four blind men who disputed about the form of an elephant. One of them had felt only the elephant’s ear, and said it was like a winnow; another examined the breast and a foreleg, and said it was like a thick stump of wood; the third felt the trunk and said it was like a heavy crook; while the fourth, having touched only the tail, declared it was like a sweeping rake.”

[83] A pagoda is now of the value of about 7s. 6d.

[84] Sambhavi and MahÁmayi are among the numerous names of KÁlÍ, the goddess of destruction, called also Parvati and Durga: the daughter of HimÁlaya, sovereign of the snowy mountains. She is described as terrible in form and very irascible in temper. In her amiable form she is called BhavÁni. To address a deity by a number of appellations, as above, is considered as the readiest way to secure favour.—Mr. NatÉsa SÁstrÍ, in a note in Indian Notes and Queries for Sept. 1887, p. 215, states that “the goddess KÁlÍ is much worshipped in the Madras Presidency, and especially so during an epidemic. During an outbreak of cholera in Madras in 1884, the KÁlÍ image in the MinakshÍ temple, near the Dvaja Stambha, was daily propitiated by a thousand pots each of ghÍ (clarified butter) milk, oil, etc.”

[85] Vijanajara, now a village in Hospet tÁluk, Bellary district, Madras Presidency. The proper name of this village is Hampi, but Vijanajara was the name of the dynasty and the kingdom which had its capital there, and was the last great HindÚ power in the South. Founded by two adventurers in the middle of the 14th century, it lasted for two centuries, till its sun went down at TÁlikot in 1565 A.D. The ruins of Hampi cover nine square miles.—Sir W. W. Hunter’s Imperial Gazetteer of India.

[86] A ghatika is twenty-four minutes.

[87] Apparently the arrows were attached to some kind of mechanism which should discharge them on the opening of the pot. “There is nothing new under the sun”! Dynamite is perhaps a discovery of our own times, but “infernal machines,” which served the purpose of king-killers, are of ancient date.

[88] HindÚs, at their meals, squat on the ground, with leaves in place of earthenware dishes, on which their food is served. The leaves of the palm are very large, and each may be cut into a number of “plates.”

[89] A long cloth, which is often the only covering worn by HindÚs.

[90] The women’s apartments; called by Muslims generally “the haram.”

[91] A sum of money varying, says the Pandit, in different localities in the south of India. In old Chola grants “two pons” occurs.

[92] i.e. “Lion among beasts.”

[93] Setti, or Sethi, is a term applied respectfully to many of the races engaged in trade or financial transactions; to the Zoroastrian ParsÍ, the Muhammedan Bora, and to HindÚs in the north and south of the Madras Presidency, occupied as bankers, merchants and shopkeepers.

[94] A species of weasel, commonly, but incorrectly, written “mungoose,” as though the animal was of the goose kind. The mungÚs is very expert in killing snakes.

[95] Visvesvara: “Lord of all,” a name of Siva, the third deity of the HindÚ triad.

[96] The want of children is doubtless felt more or less keenly by all the races of mankind, but the HindÚ is taught to believe that he cannot attain ultimate salvation without leaving a son behind him. The Chinese who hold to their old religion have also a great horror of dying and leaving no male offspring to sacrifice to their manes, and to avoid such a calamity they adopt children when they have none of their own. Among most Asiatic peoples, indeed, a childless wife is generally but most unjustly despised, hence the thousand and one nostrums in which HindÚ women vainly put faith in expectation of having their sterility removed. We have four notable instances in the Bible of women bearing famous sons after having been long sterile: Sarah, mother of Isaac, the Hebrew patriarch; Rachel, mother of Joseph, viceroy of Egypt; the wife of Manoah, mother of Samson, the Hercules of the Hebrews; and Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist.—After all, sterile wives may console themselves with the reflection that children are not always an unalloyed blessing!

[97] “The most useful, plentiful, and best fruit,” says Forbes, in his Oriental Memoirs, vol. i, p. 30, “is the mango, which grows abundantly all over HindÚstÁn, even in the forests and hedge-rows, on trees equal in size to a large English oak, but in appearance and foliage more resembling the Spanish chestnut. This valuable fruit varies in shape, colour, and flavour as much as apples do in Europe. The superior kinds are extremely delicious, and in the interior resemble the large yellow peach of Venice, heightened by the flavour of the orange and agana; and so plentiful are mangoes in the hot season throughout most parts of India that during my residence in Guzerat they were sold in the public markets for one rupee the cusly, or 600 lbs. in English weight for half-a-crown. They are a delicacy to the rich, a nutritious food for the poor, who in the mango season require but little other sustenance.”—The skin of the mango is described as being smooth and tough; its colour when ripe is grass green, or yellow in many shades, with occasional tinges and streaks of bright red; the pulp is as juicy as our wall-fruit. The kernel is of a hot and rather offensive flavour, but the poor people collect it, and when dried grind it into flour for bread, which is more wholesome than agreeable. An orchard of mango-trees is a small fortune to the possessor, and when they are in blossom it forms a luxurious resort to the lovers of Nature.—Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali.

[98] “Alas!” says Somadeva, “fickle is the mind of woman!” Again: “A woman desires fresh men, as the humble bee wanders from flower to flower.” And again: “A fickle dame is like a sunset—momentarily aglow for everyone.”

[99] Compare with this the question asked of Jesus Christ by his disciples (John ix, 2): “Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” from which it would appear some of the Jews in those days entertained notions akin to the HindÚ (and Pythagorean) doctrine of metempsychosis.

[100] The parrot, of course, was a human being re-born in that form, in accordance with the doctrine of metempsychosis, which is a fundamental article of the HindÚ religion.

[101] It is curious to find goldsmiths and jewellers invariably represented in HindÚ stories as arrant rogues. In the fine old Indian drama entitled Mrichchakati, or the Toy-Cart, it is said: “There is no lotus that has not a stalk, no trader that is not a cheat, no goldsmith that is not a thief.”

[102] Tope, or stupa, a sepulchral memorial monument; a mound-like building erected for the preservation of relics. They are found in AfghanistÁn, Tibet, NepÁl, and Western Asia; also in various parts of Southern India. On the demise of Gautama [the founder of Buddhism], B.C. 543, his body was consumed, divided into eight portions, and distributed amongst applicants, who erected topes over them. The word tope is the same as st’hupo in Pali—a mound or tumulus; st’hupo, or tope, is therefore a name common to each kind of tumulus, whether it be the solid temple dedicated to the Supreme Being or the massive mound erected over the relics of Buddha, or those of one of his more eminent followers.—Balfour’s CyclopÆdia of India.

[103] Vedas: “divine knowledge.” The Vedas are the holy books which are the foundations of the HindÚ religion. They consist of hymns written in the old form of Sanskrit, and, according to the most generally received opinion, were composed between 1500 and 1000 B.C. Some scholars have thought the oldest of the hymns may be carried back a thousand years farther. The four Vedas are: the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Veda, and the Atharva-Veda, the last being of comparatively modern date.—See Dowson’s Classical Dictionary of HindÚ Mythology.

[104] The six Sastras comprise philosophical systems of the HindÚs: the term Sastra signifies a treatise or rule.

[105] “It is a very common practice,” remarks the Pandit, “to dupe ordinary people in this manner in HindÚ temples. Some impostor will proclaim to the crowd that the god, or goddess, is then upon him, and utter whatever comes uppermost in his mind. He occasionally contrives to accomplish his private ends by such revelations. The ignorant are greatly misled by those impostors, and learned HindÚs condemn the practice as gross superstition.”

[106] “Fiat experimentum in corpore vili.”

[107] Full grown and ripe bambÚ bears a kind of corn which when collected and husked resembles wheat. Hunters cook a most delicious food of bambÚ grain and honey.

[108] Not only are serpents popularly believed by Asiatics to be guardians of hidden treasures, but they are also said to have most valuable gems in their heads, which they sometimes present to persons who have rendered them good service. This notion was once prevalent in Europe regarding toads; and readers of Shakspeare will remember his comparison of the uses of adversity to the “toad, ugly and venomous, which yet wears a precious jewel in its head.” A curious serpent legend is current in KandahÁr regarding ’AlÍ MardÁn KhÁn, when governor of that city: A cowherd of KandahÁr lost two or three of his cattle in a certain pasture and came to the governor to complain about it. ’AlÍ MardÁn KhÁn ordered him to fill some cowhides with lime, leaving a hole in each, and to place them in the meadow. It appeared that a serpent came daily and carried off the cattle, and on this occasion took away one of the hides, but leaving a track of lime behind him was traced to his lair. The lime in the hide disagreed with him and so he died. Beside his carcase was found a great heap of treasures and the philosopher’s stone, which immensely enriched ’AlÍ MardÁn KhÁn.

[109] See note 2, p. 122.

[110] Ahmed: “Praiseworthy”; one of the appellations of Muhammed.

[111] “Had it not been for thee, verily the heavens had not been created.”—KurÁn.

[112] BurÁk was the name of the animal that carried Muhammed on his famous (and fabulous) Night Journey through the Seven Heavens; for an account of which see Muir’s Life of Mahomet, ii, 219-222; Lane’s Modern Egyptians; and D’Herbelot’s BibliothÈque Orientale, art. Borak.—According to the Sikandar NÁma (Alexander-Book) of NizamÍ, BurÁk was silken as to body, silvern as to hoof, and to such a degree swift moving that nothing could equal him.—Canto iv, 12, p. 32 of Clarke’s translation.

[113] AlÍ was the son-in-law of Muhammed, having married Fatima, the beloved daughter of the Prophet. Of the two great sects of Muslims the shi’ahs consider AlÍ and his immediate descendants (eleven in number) as “the true and only imÁms” in succession of Muhammed, while the sÚnÍs regard the khalÍfs—’Umar, AbÚ Bakr, etc.—as the lawful representatives of the Prophet. The Persians and the Indian Muslims are (like our present author) shi’ahs; the Turks and Arabs are sÚnÍs.

[114] “Ornament of kings.”

[115] The Hercules of the Persians, and the principal hero of the ShÁh NÁma (Book of Kings), FirdausÍ’s great epic.

[116] “Crown of kings.”

[117] It is still a common practice in Persia and India when a child is born—especially a son—for an astrologer to be employed to “cast his horoscope” and thereby foretell the child’s career in life. “In 1670 the passion for horoscopes and expounding the stars prevailed in France among persons of the first rank. The new-born child was usually presented naked to the astrologer, who read the first lineaments in its forehead and the transverse lines in its hands, and thence wrote down its future destiny. Catherine de Medicis brought Henry IV, then a child, to old Nostradamus, whom antiquaries esteem more for his Chronicle of Provence than for his vaticinating powers. The sight of the reverend seer, with a beard which ‘streamed like a meteor in the air,’ terrified the future hero, who dreaded a whipping from so grave a personage. Will it be credited that, one of these magicians having assured Charles IX that he should live as many days as he should turn about on his heel in an hour, standing on one leg, his majesty every morning performed that solemn exercise for an hour, the principal officers of the court, the judges, the chancellors, and the generals likewise, in compliment standing on one leg and turning round!”—Demonologia, by J. S. F.

[118] AbÚ-SÍnÁ, or AbÚ ’AlÍ SÍnÁ, or Ibn-SÍnÁ, called generally in Europe Avicenna, was a famous physician and philosopher at the court of BaghdÁd. Born, at BukhÁrÁ, A.H. 373 (A.D. 983), died, at HamadÁn, A.H. 427 (A.D. 1035). He wrote nearly one hundred books on medicine, most of which are now lost. He was also a poet, and some of his verses are still extant.

[119] The patriarch’s grief for the loss of his favourite son Joseph is proverbial among Muslims; but our author has done the “Man of Uz” a great injustice when he likens him to the blind king, as “waiting with impatient anxiety”!

[120] A comely youth is always said by Muslim writers to resemble Joseph, the son of Jacob the Hebrew patriarch, who is considered as the type of manly beauty.

[121] Firdaus: Paradise. Here it is probably used as the name of an imaginary city; at all events I cannot find that there is any town of the name in Persia or India.

[122] Dilbar: “heart-stealer”; and surnamed LakhÍ (as will be seen presently) because she required to be paid a lakh (100,000) of rupÍs by every man who sought her society. The rupÍ (rupee) is nominally valued at two shillings, but at present it is at considerable discount, being only worth from 1s. 6d. to 1s. 8d. of English currency.

[123] The fascination of the moth for the flame of the candle is a favourite simile with Asiatic writers for the love-struck youth and the beauty whose charms have ensnared him. Sa’dÍ, in his BustÁn, has a fine mystical poem on this subject.

[124] See note on pp. 187-8.

[125] Persian writers are extremely fond of far-fetched conceits. In describing sunrise they almost invariably borrow metaphors from the incidents last related. We have had several examples of this peculiarity in the romance of Nassar, as (pp. 6, 7) in the case of the robbery of the royal treasury by one of the eunuchs of the haram, where the author begins his account of next day’s events thus: “When the eunuch of night had retired and the prince of morn established himself in the palace of the horizon,” and so forth. And here we have the game of backgammon between the hero and Dilbar utilised for a description of the natural phenomenon of sunset.

[126] “ShÁh-zÁda:” lit. “king-born,” or son of the king; the usual term applied to royal princes in Persia.

[127] A crore is 100 lakhs, or ten millions, according to the HindÚ system of numeration; but in Persia it is only 5 lakhs, or 500,000. The artful Dilbar must have had an enormous amount of wealth, if she lost to our hero a hundred crores of rupÍs, which even according to the Persian computation would be equal to five millions of pounds, English money, estimating the rupÍ at two shillings. After this she’d be fully justified in describing herself, as honest Dogberry does with some pride, as “one who has had losses too!”

[128] DÍvs (or deevs) are similar to the Jinn (or Genii) of Arabian mythology. Some are good demons, being faithful Muslims, but those who are unbelievers are for the most part malignant and delight in working evil on mankind.

[129] A quotation from the GulistÁn, or Rose Garden, of the celebrated Persian poet and philosopher Sa’dÍ, ch. iii.—Sa’dÍ was born, at ShÍrÁz, towards the close of the 12th century, and died, in his native city, about 1291 A.D., having lived upwards of a hundred years.

[130] According to the KurÁn, because Abraham would not worship idols, Nimrod cast him into a blazing furnace, which was turned into a rose-garden—evidently a distorted version of the story of Nebuchadnezzar and the three devout Hebrew youths, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.

[131] Standing on one leg in presence of a superior is a mark of profound respect in India.

[132] This fable is omitted by Garcin de Tassy.

[133] It is the common belief in the East that pearls are formed in the oyster out of drops of rain falling into it when the shells are open. This notion is the subject of a mystical poem in Sa’dÍ’s BustÁn, or Garden of Odours, Book iv, which has been thus translated:

“A drop of rain trickled from a cloud into the ocean; when it beheld the breadth of its waters it was utterly confounded.

‘What a place this sea is, and what am I? If it is existent, verily I am non-existent.’

Whilst it was thus regarding itself with the eye of contempt, an oyster received it into its bosom.

Fortune preferred it to a place of honour; for it became a renowned royal pearl.

Because it was humble, it found exaltation;—it knocked at the door of nonentity, that it might arise into being.”—Robinson’s Persian Poetry for English Readers, p. 328.

[134] Here our author makes the courtesan Dilbar discourse most eloquently and in a highly moral strain. It has always been much easier to preach than to practise, I ween!

[135] Good Muslims never commence any undertaking of importance or danger without first reciting the formula—which is also invariably placed at the beginning of all their writings—“In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate!” (Bismillahi er-rahmani er-rahimi).

[136] “That a salamander is able to live in flames,” says Sir Thomas Browne, “to endure and put out fire, is an assertion not only of great antiquity but confirmed by frequent and not contemptible authority.… All which notwithstanding, there is on the negative authority and experience.… The ground of this opinion might be some sensible resistance of fire observed in the salamander; which being, as Galen determineth, cold in the fourth and moist in the third degree, and having also a mucus humidity above and under the skin, by virtue thereof it may a while endure flame, which being consumed it can resist no more.”—Enquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors, ch. xiv.

[137] See the note on pp. 108-9.

[138] To swear by Solomon, especially by Solomon’s signet-ring, is the most binding oath which the jinn and the fairies can take, since its breach would entail a dreadful punishment.

[139] “HammÁla” may mean a woman who carries: Garcin de Tassy calls her “porteuse.”

[140] “Praiseworthy”: “Belauded.”

[141] BadakshÁn is a mountainous tract of country in AfghÁn TÚrkestÁn, famous for mines yielding the finest rubies, lapis-lazuli, etc.

[142] The romance writers of mediÆval Europe, after the first Crusade, drew largely from Oriental fictions. Thus, for example, in The Boke of Duke Huon of Burdeux, among the many wonders which the hero sees in his journey to the court of the Soudan of Babylon is an underground river, the bed of which was composed of the most precious stones, which possessed a variety of curative properties.

[143] “The heavenly orbs, according to the principles of philosophy, possess a reasonable mind.”—AkhlÁk-i JalÁlÍ. “This,” remarks W.F. Thomson, the translator, “is inferred from continuity of motion and influence without perceptible external cause, and it seems men’s earliest conclusion and the origin of star-worship. Admitting Plato’s notion that souls were introduced, or perhaps kindled, by the heavenly bodies, nothing could be more reasonable than to attempt, by observation and induction, to ascertain the influence contributed by each. The premises only are to be attacked; and for these the chiefs of classical as well as Oriental literature are responsible.”

[144] The cypress, which is in Europe associated with sombre ideas, is by Asiatics commonly employed as a comparison for the graceful stature of a pretty girl.

[145] Muslims are perfectly familiar with the principal narratives in the Bible, from which the KurÁn is largely composed.

[146] Asiatic ladies tinge the inner edges of their eyelids with lamp-black in order to increase the lustre of the eyes; it is believed, moreover, to strengthen the sight.

[147] See note 1, p. 250.

[148] This incident is common to folk-tales almost everywhere: sometimes it is a bird who gives the hero one of his feathers, which serves the same purpose.

[149] This was a very unusual condescension on the part of the monarch, even though in honour of his own sons. The common practice (in Persia) is for the shÁh to send a deputation the distance of two days’ journey to meet and welcome any distinguished visitors. The deputation is called istikbÁl, and those sent, pÍsh vÁz, openers of the way. A day’s journey is twenty miles.

[150] Kettle-drum.

[151] “Happy.”

[152] Similar question and answer occur in the story of “The Sultan of Yaman and his Three Sons,” one of the tales translated by Jonathan Scott from the Wortley-Montague MS. text of the Alf Layla wa Layla, or Thousand and One Nights, which are comprised in the sixth vol. of his edition of the Arabian Nights Entertainments, p. 81.

[153] According to Muslim ideas, the shooting stars are stones flung at demons who approach the portals of heaven to listen to the divine communications; and Satan is “stoned” every year by the pilgrims at Makka—for which see Burton’s Pilgrimage to Meccah and Medinah.

[154] Chief of police.

[155] See note on p. 46.

[156] NÚshÍrvÁn, surnamed ’Adil, or the Just (the Chosroes of the Greeks), was of the Sassanian dynasty of ancient Persian kings, and died, after a very prosperous reign of 48 years, A.D. 579. Muhammed was wont to boast of his good fortune in having been born during the reign of so wise and just a prince. His dying injunctions to his son and successor, Hormuz, are thus recorded by Sa’dÍ (BustÁn, B. i): “Be thou in heart the guardian of the poor. Be not in bondage to thine own ease. No one will live in comfort in thy kingdom if thou desirest only thine own comfort and sayest, ‘It is enough.’ He will receive no praise from the wise who passeth his nights in sleep whilst the wolf is amidst his flock. Keep watch over the necessitous poor; for the peasant it is from which the king deriveth his throne. The king is the tree, the peasant the root: the tree, O my son, deriveth its strength from the root.”

[157] Garcin de Tassy omits this curious story, and another which immediately follows in the original text, related by the vazÍr, of the Darvesh and the Nightingale, which I also omit here, as a much better version will be found among the Persian Stories which follow the present romance.

[158] “Beautiful kingdom.”

[159] In other words: “Succeed in this affair without compromising my dignity; according to the proverb, ‘Take care while shunning one evil of falling into another.’”—See Roebuck’s Persian and HindÚstanÍ Proverbs, part ii, p. 118.

[160] The canopy of a howdah, or chair for riding on an elephant, called hauda-amÁri—canopied howdah.

[161] See note on page 271.

[162] This recalls an incident in the Indian story of the virtuous DevasmitÁ, who entraps four suitors, during her husband’s absence on a trading journey, who visit her in succession, and, while they are insensible from the effects of a narcotic mixed with their wine, causes each to be branded on the forehead with a hot iron. The suitors return to their own country, where the lady’s husband is residing for a time, and DevasmitÁ soon after sets out thither, disguised as a man, where she claims all four as her slaves in presence of the king, causing them to remove their head-gear and expose the brands; and she “lets them off” on payment of a large sum of money.—(Tawney’s translation of the KathÁ Sarit SÁgara: Ocean of the Streams of Story, vol. i, pp. 85-92.)—Henceforward the four rascally brothers of TÁj ul-MulÚk are, as the Icelandic story-tellers say, “out of this tale.”

[163] “Jasmine-face.”

[164] ShÍrÍn was the beautiful wife of Khusrau ParvÍz, king of Persia, and FarhÁd, a famous sculptor, was madly enamoured of her. All the sculptures on the mountain of BistÁn are ascribed to FarhÁd’s chisel. According to the popular tradition, King ParvÍz promised that if he cut through the rock and brought a stream that flowed on the other side of the hill into the valley the lovely ShÍrÍn should be his reward. He was on the point of completing his Herculean labour when Khusrau ParvÍz, fearing to lose ShÍrÍn, sent an old woman to inform him that she was dead. FarhÁd was then at the highest parts of the rocks, and on hearing this false report in despair threw himself down headlong, and was dashed to pieces.—The story of FarhÁd and ShÍrÍn is the subject of several beautiful (often, if not always, mystical) Persian and Turkish poems.

[165] G. de Tassy remarks that “a declaration of love on the part of a woman, and especially one so passionate, is not according to our manners, but it is so to those of the East; and the numerous Asiatic stories which have been translated into European languages have rendered it quite familiar to us.”—A very remarkable example is furnished in the immortal tale of Nala and Damayanti (MahÁbhÁrata, section lvi of the “Vana Parva”), where the virtuous and beautiful daughter of Vidharba thus addresses Nala: “O King, love me with proper regard, and command me what I shall do for thee. Myself and what of wealth is mine are thine. Grant me, O exalted one, thy love in full trust. O giver of the proper honour, if thou forsake me who adore thee, for thy sake will I resort to poison, or fire, or water, or the rope!” BakÁwalÍ “spared her maiden blushes” (if she could blush) by expressing her love for our hero in writing; but Damayanti—all truth and innocence—made her avowal to the god-like king of the Nishadhas in words from her own sweet mouth: and who would not be enraptured to hear such a soft confession made to him by such a peerless Queen of Beauty?

[166] Not the images in Chinese temples, which are described by travellers as very hideous, but the beautiful women of China. Persian poets often term pretty girls idols, and themselves idolators, for worshipping them.

[167] Surma is the black ore of antimony, or ter-sulphide. The Muslim men apply antimony to their eyelids, but their women use kohl, or lamp-black, for this purpose. It is a popular belief among Indian Muslims that the finest kind of surma comes from Arabia—from the hills of Sinai or Tur, etc. They have a legend that when Moses was on Mount Sinai he asked that the glory of God should be shown to him. He was answered that his mortal sight could not bear the glory; but through a chink of the rock a ray of light was allowed to fall on him, and the rock on which the ray fell was melted into antimony. (Balfour’s CyclopÆdia of India.)—There is a curious legend current in the PanjÁb regarding the origin of the antimony which is found on the summit of Mount KaranglÍ, near Pind DÁdan KhÁn, in the Jhelan district. A fakÍr (religious mendicant) once came from KashmÍr and asked the name of the mountain, and was told that it was called KaranglÍ. He at once exclaimed: “KaranglÍ sone ranglÍ!” that is, KaranglÍ the gold-coloured; whereupon the mountain became all gold. This frightened the good people of the neighbourhood, who dreaded that the place should become a general battle-field for the sake of the gold. So the fakÍr said: “KaranglÍ surme ranglÍ!” that is, KaranglÍ the antimony-coloured, upon which the mountain became all antimony. This antimony is now to be found on the top of it, but as it is surrounded by precipices the antimony cannot be reached, and so the people have to wait until pieces of it are washed down by the rains. When procured it is most valuable, and will, if used for eight days, restore to sight all those who have become blind through sickness or accident. It cannot, however, cure those who are born blind.

[168] “Beautiful Lady”—“Lady Beautiful.”

[169] “Happy King”—“King Prosperous.”

[170] See note 1, page 259.

[171] In a Buddhist work entitled WÆsakÁra-sataka (a hundred stanzas) is the following: “The evil man is to be avoided, though he be arrayed in the robe of all the sciences, as we flee from the serpent, though it be adorned with the kantha jewel.” The natives of Ceylon, says Spence Hardy, believe that this gem is to be found in the throat of the nayÁ. “It emits a light more brilliant than the purest diamond; and when the serpent wishes to discover anything in the dark it disgorges the substance, swallowing it again when its work is done. It is thought possible to obtain the jewel by throwing dust upon it when out of the serpent’s mouth; but if the reptile should be killed to obtain it, misfortune would certainly follow.”—Eastern Monachism, p. 316. (See also note, ante, p. 232.)

[172] A kind of hill-starling.

[173] Our hero understood bird-language, and the author has probably omitted to mention that he acquired that knowledge by possessing the snake-stone. In the folk-tales of all countries we find that great benefits accrue to a forlorn hero by his overhearing the conversation of birds or beasts, and of demons in Indian stories. The reader will find much to interest him on this subject in an able paper on the Language of Animals by Mr. J. G. Frazer in the first vol. of the ArchÆological Review, 1888; and I may be permitted to refer him also to my Introduction to John Lane’s Continuation of Chaucer’s Squire’s Tale, published for the Chaucer Society.

[174] The transformed prince having given birth to a child was ceremonially unclean for the period of forty days.—See the note on pp. 140, 141.

[175] Here our author exhorts his readers.

[176] KÁf is a range of mountains which, like a vast ring, enclose the Circumambient Ocean (Bahru-’l-MuhÍt) that surrounds the whole earth, which, according to the Muhammedan cosmography, is flat, not round. These mountains are composed of green chrysolite, the reflection of which causes the greenish (or blueish) tint of the sky. (See Mr. E. J. W. Gibb’s Ottoman Poems, note 6.)—“From KÁf to KÁf”: from end to end of the earth.—BistÁn is the famous mountain on which FarhÁd chiselled figures.

[177] “Soul-expander”—“Vivifier.”

[178] “Victorious King.”

[179] Here we have a fairy island called “Paradise,” as we have before had a city of the same name, where the artful Dilbar resided—p. 244.

[180] A proud and wicked king of Yaman, called Shaddad, according to the Muhammedan legend, declared blasphemously: “There is no necessity for Paradise for me: I myself will make a Paradise of which no man can have beheld the like.” He sent his officers to find out a suitable spot for a garden, and they discovered such a place on the borders of Syria, where Shaddad, at an immense cost, caused a palace to be erected of gold and silver bricks in alternate courses, and adorned with the most precious stones. In the garden were placed trees of gold and silver, the fruit of which was amethysts, rubies, and other gems (see also ante, p. 166, note on Treasure-trees); and the ground was strewed with musk, ambergris, and saffron. They called this place the Rose Garden of Iram. When Shaddad was about to enter it, accompanied by a vast multitude of troops and attendants, he was met by the Angel of Death, who forthwith seized his impure soul, and then the lightnings of heaven destroyed all living creatures that were there, and the Rose Garden of Iram became hidden from the sight of men.—In the present romance the abode of the parents of BakÁwalÍ is called the Garden of Iram, to indicate its magnificence.

[181] One of the numerous legends told by Muslims regarding Solomon reappears in the Turkish story-book entitled Qirq vezÍr tarÍkhÍ, where we read that the sage Hebrew king despatched the sÍmurgh—a fabulous bird, similar to the rukh (or roc) of Arabian fictions—to bring the sparrow to his court. But the sparrow, being then with his mate, refused to obey the prophet, or his messenger, and vaunted his prowess and strength, declaring that he was able to pull down Solomon’s palace. When the sÍmurgh reported this to Solomon he replied: “There is no harm in one thus bragging in his own house, and before his wife.”—See Gibb’s Forty VezÍrs, p. 97 ff.

[182] The mÁn has varied at different periods and in different parts of Persia and India; but our author means us to understand that the stone wielded by the demon was very ponderous—three or four hundred pounds’ weight at the least, which would doubtless be to him as a mere “pebble out of the brook”!

[183] “Adorner of Beauty”; the wife of Muzaffar ShÁh.

[184] Yet we are told that he is “a little lower than the angels”; and if he was “created perfect,” he has “sought out many inventions”! It is amusing how Muslim writers exaggerate the “dignity” of man: generally he is the most contemptible creature on the face of the earth.

[185] Cf. Shakspeare: “tongues in trees,” etc. And the Persian poet Sa’dÍ: “The foliage of a newly-clothed tree, to the eye of a discerning man, displays a volume of the wondrous works of the Creator.”

[186] Joseph, the son of Jacob the Hebrew patriarch.—A most dutiful little speech this: O the hypocritical young creature!

[187] Although Muhammed strictly prohibited the drinking of wine, even more potent liquors are indulged in by many Muslims, especially those of the shi’ah persuasion. The more strict sÚnÍs create for themselves a “paradise of fools” with narcotics, such as bang and other preparations of which opium is the principal ingredient, satisfying their “consciences” with the quibble that the holy Prophet does not forbid its use in express terms—an omission which is probably due to his ignorance of such deleterious drugs. The old pagan Arabs were inordinate wine-bibbers, as we learn from their poetry, and sanguinary fights were a frequent result between rival factions when they assembled from different districts at Makka. Muhammed at first attempted, by a “revelation” in the KurÁn, to restrain this propensity within reasonable bounds, and finding this of no effect prohibited wine altogether. It seems to have been a very ancient custom among Asiatics to drink wine in the early morning, and in the Mu’allaka poems, which were suspended in the Temple at Makka before the advent of Muhammed, the “morning draught” is frequently mentioned, with evident gusto. The prophet Isaiah exclaims: “Woe unto those that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue till night, till wine inflame them!”—ch. v, 11.

[188] See the note on p. 8.

[189] Nau Ratn: “the Nine Gems,” an ornament worn on the arm, which indicates the only gems that are esteemed as precious. They are: the diamond, ruby, emerald, sapphire, topaz, pearl, coral, hyacinth, carbuncle. The inferior gems, such as agate, bloodstone, etc., are mostly used for signet-rings.—There is a collection of tales, in the UrdÚ, entitled Nauratan, compiled by MahjÚr, and published at Lucknow in the year 1811. It consists of nine stories (hence the title, “Nine Jewels”), which all turn on the deceits (charÍtr) and tricks of women and are mostly taken from the Book of SindibÁd.

[190] Frequent allusion is made in the Arabian Nights and in Eastern amatory poetry to this singular kind of caress.

[191] The henna of the Persians—see note on page 11. MehndÍ is the Lawsonia alba of botanists, and the water distilled from its flowers is used as a perfume.

[192] Indra, in the HindÚ mythology, is the god of thunder—a personification of the sky. His paradise is Swerga, the capital of which is ArmarÀvati, or Amarnagar in UrdÚ.

[193] He could not, therefore, have been one of the “immortals,” but of a race like the jinn or the parÍs, who are subject to death, though their existence is prolonged greatly beyond that of mere human beings.

[194] This is quite after the manner of Asiatic despots—and the deity Indra is here nothing better—and at once recalls a similar incident, which cost a good man his head: when the daughter of Herodias danced before King Herod, he was so charmed with that young light-skirt’s performance that he said to her: “Ask whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee” (Mark vi, 22).

[195] This transformation will remind readers of the tale of the young King of the Ebony Isles in the Arabian Nights.—The deities of the HindÚ mythology are frequently represented as condemning inferior celestials who have offended them to be re-born on the earth, in the form of a human being, or as some beast, bird, or reptile, so to remain for a certain period. But this punishment of BakÁwalÍ is more in accordance with Muslim ideas.

[196] “Mark of Beauty.”

[197] Like the one-eyed young men in the Arabian tale of the Second Kalander, or Royal Mendicant—only they suffered for their curiosity while these (as we shall just see) were the victims of a hard-hearted beauty.

[198] “Picture-like.”

[199] This recalls Milton’s well-worn lines in his description of “our common mother” Eve:

“Grace was in every step, heaven in her eye,

In every gesture dignity and love.”

The “witchery,” or “magic,” of a pretty girl’s eyes is quite as common a subject of complaint, or admiration, in Western as in Eastern amatory poetry: by Muslims it is called “Babylonian magic,” because the Chaldeans were past masters in magical arts.

[200] According to the HindÚs, there are ten stages of love: (1) Love of the eyes; (2) attachment of the mind; (3) the production of desire; (4) sleeplessness; (5) emaciation; (6) indifference to objects of sense; (7) loss of shame; (8) distraction; (9) fainting; (10) death!

[201] Betel: the areca or Penang nut palm grown in many parts of the East Indies. Its kernel is used as a masticatory in India and elsewhere. The nut is carried in pouches and presented to guests in the houses of the rich on silver trays wrapped in gold and silver leaf, and in this form becomes an essential part in all ceremonial visits. Indeed, among some of the inhabitants of the Eastern Archipelago, to refuse the betel when offered would give unpardonable offence. It is believed to sweeten the breath, strengthen the stomach, and preserve the teeth; and when chewed with betel leaf (the Piper betel, Linn.) it gives the saliva a red colour, which it imparts also to the lips and gums (Balfour). The presentation of betel to visitors is a signal that the audience or interview is ended.

[202] “Blameless”: “spotless.”

[203] “Bright.”

[204] See page 299.

[205] The story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, ZulaykhÁ (which was her name, according to Muslim legends), is a favourite subject of several Persian poems. She is said to have visited the young Hebrew slave in prison, but he would not gain his liberty at the cost of his chastity. Potiphar is represented to have been a eunuch. In the end ZulaykhÁ is united to her beloved Joseph.

[206] ’itr-i gul—essence of roses. Our term “otto” is a corruption of ’itr or ’attÁr, this latter word also signifies a perfumer, or druggist.—Most women, I suppose, are fond of perfumes, but Eastern ladies are passionately so, and the description of Chitrawat as being so highly “scented” that the finest odours were diffused around her, is fully borne out by travellers and Europeans who have resided in Egypt, Turkey, Persia, etc. The sole nourishment of parÍs, or fairies, it is said, consists of perfumes—a pretty idea, if nothing more.

[207] Because these were signs that he was newly married.

[208] A manly, straightforward, even touching statement in defence of his conduct in peculiar circumstances, and such as is rarely met with in an Eastern tale. Our author is here at his best, and this is saying not a little.

[209] “The falling out of faithful friends renewing is of love!”

[210] The doctrine of metempsychosis has no place in the creed of IslÁm and it is quite phenomenal to find such an incident as this in a Muhammedan work. Many Persian and Arabian fictions, like the present romance, are of Indian extraction, but the HindÚ characters of the originals are always—with only this exception, as well as I can recollect—changed to good Muslims.

[211] In India early marriages of girls are the almost invariable rule; indeed they are often married, or betrothed, in infancy. A BrÁhman girl who grows up without being married loses her caste. The duty of choosing a husband belongs in the first place to her father, and if he be dead, then to her paternal grandfather if he be alive, then to her brother, cousin, and lastly to her mother. If she have reached the age of eight years without having been provided with a husband, she may choose for herself.

[212] Oriental hyperbole, of which we have a very striking example in the last verse of the apostle John’s gospel.

[213] BahrÁm is the Persian name of the planet Mars; and of all who have ever borne the name, the Persian king BahrÁm-i GhÚr (so called from his passion for hunting the wild ass) is the most renowned in song or story.

[214] In the East no person ever visits his superior without carrying in his hand a present of some kind, called the nazar in Persian.—See the First Book of Samuel, ix, 7.

[215] To wit, Mulk-i NighÁrÍn, the country appropriated by TÁj ul-MulÚk, where he caused his grand palace to be erected by the fairies.—See ante, p. 281.

[216] A much greater “crush” than even that in Ceylon!—see preceding page.

[217] See ante, notes on pp. 232 and 297.

[218] “Violet.”

[219] “To account for the allegorical passion entertained by the nightingale for the rose, which is the subject of so much beautiful imagery in Persian poetry, we must consider,” says Sir William Ouseley, “that the plaintive voice of that sweet bird is first heard at the same season of the year in which the rose begins to blow. By a natural association of ideas they are therefore connected as the constant and inseparable attendants of the spring. It is probable, too, that the nightingale’s favourite retreat may be the rose-garden, and the leaves of that flower occasionally its food; but it is certain that he is delighted with its odour and sometimes indulges the fragrant luxury (if I may be allowed the expression) to such excess as to fall from the branch intoxicated and helpless to the ground.”—Persian Miscellanies, p. 91.

[220] The transformation of a man into a bird occurs very often in Asiatic fictions: there are numerous instances in the KathÁ Sarit SÁgara and other Indian collections. This is commonly done by fastening a string round the victim’s neck, or sticking a pin in his head, and uttering certain magical words; and by removing the string or the pin the man is at once restored to his natural form.

[221] Here, in the original, the pious author thus addresses his reader: “My friend, you are as blind as they! You seek at Heaven’s footstool for the Being who dwells, without your suspecting it, in the habitation of your own heart. You seek far, far away, when he is quite near.” Cf. Acts, xvii, 27.

[222] “Rose-cheek.”

[223] Oriental poetry abounds in conceits of this kind. Thus WÁsif, the celebrated Persian historian and poet, apostrophises his lady-love: “The impression of the happy moments passed in thy loved presence will never be obliterated from the tablet of my heart, whilst the world revolves and the stars continue their course. The pen of intense love has so vividly written Eternal Affection on the page of my soul, that if my body languish, nay, even if my life expire, that soft impress will remain.”—But our own poet Cowley is not a whit less extravagant when he declares:

“Let Nature, if she please, disperse

My atoms over all the universe;

At the last they easily shall

Themselves know, and together call;

For thy love, like a mark, is stampt on all—

ALL OVER LOVE!”

[224] The tika is a round piece of clay, paint, or tissue on the forehead of a HindÚ, indicating his caste. Amongst HindÚs generally it means the circular mark made with coloured earths, or unguents, on the forehead. It is curious that this purely HindÚ term should have been retained by a Muslim writer; but it is another indication of the Indian origin of the romance.

[225] Although BakÁwalÍ and RÚh-afzÁ are supposed to be fairies, yet they act as real flesh-and-blood women. And how like is this charming little scene between the two affectionate girls to what has doubtless occurred thousands of times amongst ourselves! If there be, as that shrewd observer Sam Slick assures us, “a deal of human natur’ in man,” there is, as certainly, a deal of woman nature in woman all the world over.

[226] For descriptions of the marriage ceremonies among the Muhammedans of India see Herklots’ translation of the Qanoon-i IslÁm, p. 93 ff.; Observations on the Mussulmans of India, by Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, vol. i, p. 352 ff.; and a paper on HindÚ and Muhammedan marriage ceremonies, by Col. C. Mackenzie, in the Trans. of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. iii, p. 170 ff.

[227] Truly a most promising beginning! Such is the inflated style which alone is appreciated by the modern Persians and the Muslims of India. For since the decline of literature in Persia—which began soon after the death of the justly-celebrated poet JamÍ, in A.D. 1492—the compositions of Persian authors have been chiefly characterised by puerile conceits and meaningless plays upon words and phrases, for which indeed the language furnishes every facility. Nevertheless, the reader can hardly fail to be highly diverted with the following tale, which the writer has simply re-dressed in his own style, for assuredly he was not its inventor.

[228] Here the author is employing the various processes of the Eastern bath in describing the chattering of three ladies who have “foregathered” there.—“The Persian ladies,” says Sir R. Ker Porter, in his Travels in Georgia, Persia, etc., vol. i, 233, “regard the bath as the place of their greatest amusement; they make appointments to meet there, and often pass seven or eight hours together in the carpeted saloon, telling stories, relating anecdotes, eating sweetmeats, sharing their kalyouns [pipes] and embellishing their beautiful forms with all the fancied perfection of the East; dyeing their hair and eyebrows; and curiously staining their fair bodies with a variety of fantastic devices, not unfrequently with the figures of trees and birds, the sun, moon, and stars.”

[229] A purely imaginary personage, of course, invented and introduced by the author, because he had just mentioned a ring set with a fine gem.—The reader will find many similar absurdities in the course of the narrative, and I need make no farther remark upon them.

[230] Eastern baths are used by men and women on different days of every week.

[231] Shamsah is the name of a sorceress who figures in several Asiatic fictions.

[232] BanafshÁ: Violet, the name of the girl.

[233] Sums of money mean nothing in an Eastern story: 1000 dÍnars would be equivalent to about 500 pounds, English currency; but were the amount even in dirhams the carpenter would be giving the girl 25 pounds—a handsome “tip” indeed!

[234] Among Muslims when the moon is new or full is the preferable time for marriage, but she must be clear of the sign of the Scorpion, which is considered very unlucky.

[235] BilkÍs, according to Muslim tradition, was the name of the celebrated Queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon “in all his glory.” Many curious legends, or stories, are related, both by the Rabbins and the Muslims, regarding Solomon and BilkÍs. It is said that Solomon had been told by some slanderer that she had goats’ feet and legs. In order to ascertain the fact, he caused the floor of the audience-chamber to be laid with glass or crystal. When BilkÍs entered the chamber and perceived what looked like clear water on the floor, she gracefully raised the skirt of her dress a few inches, to save it from being wetted, and Solomon saw, to his great relief, that she had a pair of “natty” little human feet. We are told in the Bible that the Queen of Sheba plied the sage monarch with “hard questions,” but he answered them every one (1 Kings, x, 1-3). So much was Solomon charmed with her sagacity, virtue, and modesty, that he ultimately married her.—Our friend the KÁzÍ, to mollify his wife, calls her a second BilkÍs.

[236] The usual exclamation of a Muslim when he believes the Devil is playing him some mischievous trick.—See note on page 277.

[237] An abstract of this story will be found in the Appendix.

[238] The carpenter is a curious compound of shrewdness and simplicity: not content to vaunt his acquaintance with popular tales, he must add that his father daily passed by a famous school-house—implying that the knowledge supposed to be thus obtained by his parent had been transmitted to himself! The KÁzÍ is no doubt “all there,” but for his love of money and jealousy of his artful wife. We have the authority of a certain noble poet that avarice is “a good old-gentlemanly vice”; but nobody can say a word in favour of jealousy, the “green-eyed monster,” who caused the death of sweet Desdemona.

[239] “Put a feather in his bonnet” is not quite the Eastern expression, though its meaning is thus fairly enough rendered in English: the carpenter may be said, in Biblical phrase, to have “exalted his horn”—as the poet Burns has it in his verses on his first visit to Lord Dare, “up higher yet my bannet!” We used also to say of a man who evidently thought highly of himself that he “cocked his beaver.”

[240] We have also seen in the story of ShÁh Manssur, p. 18, how the unchaste woman made her husband believe that he was mad.—The KÁzÍ ascribes his imaginary ailment to over-eating, but also, as I understand it, to the fact that the food of which he partook too freely had been baked in hog’s blood. Swine’s flesh is an abomination to the Muslim as to the Jew, though the law allows the former to eat any kind of food if he be pressed by hunger and nothing else can be procured. Possibly the worthy KÁzÍ at the time he was in the house of the deceased KÁvas the Armenian—where hog’s flesh and hog’s blood might well be found—thought that his condition, as to appetite, justified his eating of the “funeral baked meats,” though partly composed of the unclean animal.

[241] The muezzin was proclaiming the hour of prayer.

[242] IblÍs: Satan. Possibly IblÍs is a corruption of Diabolus.—Artful, intriguing women are often described as being able to pull out the Devil’s claws, and Satan himself would confess there was no escaping from their cunning!

[243] There is an omission in this tale which leaves it practically pointless, since it is not apparent how the lady’s words, “I remember,” should have sent her husband away without his having opened the chest. Much the same tale occurs in Mr. Gibb’s translation of the Turkish story-book, Qirq vezÍr tarÍkhÍ (“History of the Forty VazÍrs,” p. 401), in which a man and his wife are playing the game yad est, or “I remember”—a game that may continue for days, and even weeks, the conditions being that neither must accept of anything from the other without saying, “I remember”; should one of them do so, the other on repeating these words becomes entitled to a forfeit. In the Turkish story, as, quite obviously, in the foregoing, the husband has taken a yad est with his wife, and is led by the latter to believe that she had made these preparations as for a feast, and trumped up the story about having concealed her lover in the chest, in order to take him by surprise when she should give him the key, and by his omitting to say “I remember” she should win the forfeit.

[244] Sumbul: Hyacinth, the name of the youth.

[245] An order of religious mendicants.

[246] Narkis: Narcissus, the name of one of his servants.

[247] See note on page 303, and note 1 on page 306.

[248] The VazÍr forgot that he had previously told the king that the Khoja was “notorious for his immorality”—p. 392.

[249] Among the slanderous sayings about women ascribed (falsely, many of them, no doubt) to Muhammed is this: “They are deficient in sense and religion, and hence are more disposed than men to practise what is unlawful.”—In Eastern tales most magical things are done by women.

[250] In the “History of FarrukhrÚz”—p. 179—we find that it is dangerous to open shops before sunrise, because if shopkeepers do so they become liable to be injured by genii and demons; and it will be seen from the present story that the wretched narrator had too much cause to regret his “early opening” practice.

[251] We see from this story that Oriental sharpers are not a whit behind their European brethren in swindling tricks—such as, despite the publicity given to them in the newspapers, continue to be perpetrated every day in great cities.

[252] MahmÚd ruled in GhaznÍ from A.D. 997 till A.D. 1030. It was at his request that the Persian poet FirdausÍ composed his grand epic, the ShÁh NÁma, or Book of Kings.

[253] It is seldom such a sentiment occurs in Eastern books. Alms-giving is enjoined by the KurÁn on all who have anything to give, and the rapacity of Asiatic despots has not been conducive to a spirit of independence among their subjects.

[254] A parasang is a Persian measure of three or four miles, more or less in different countries.

[255] That is to say, all who are outside the pale of IslÁm; like Gentiles with the Jews, and Barbarians with the Greeks.

[256] A most absurd idea, and a foul slander on the “chosen people”—not to say that all are to be considered as “Israelites indeed,” and so forth. During the middle ages in Europe it was generally believed that the Jews, on certain of their religious festivals, stole and murdered little Christian children!—See the Tale of the Prioress in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and in Originals and Analogues (printed for the Chaucer Society, pp. 251, 257), “The Boy killed by a Jew for singing ‘Gaude Maria!’” and “The Paris Beggar-boy murdered by a Jew for singing ‘Alma redemptoris mater!’” Such idle stories were invented and diligently circulated by the monks, and sore persecution had the unfortunate and innocent Jews to suffer in consequence!

[257] I have read an Indian story very similar to this, in which a brother and sister, children of a king, are accidentally separated, and the young prince falls into the hands of a rascal like the Jew in the above; but I cannot recollect the particular story-book in which it occurs.

[258] The first chapter of the KurÁn; employed by Muslims as the Paternoster is among Christians.

[259] The Turks have the proverb: “Patience is of God; haste is of the Devil.”

[260] According to the KurÁn, it was a hoopoe, or lapwing, that brought Solomon a description of SabÁ (or Sheba) and of BilkÍs, its celebrated queen.

[261] Yet once more the number forty, which the Jews and their Arabian cousins seem always to have regarded with peculiar veneration—see pages 140, 155, 188, and to the instances there noted I may here add a few others. In the Arabian tale of the Third Calender, his voyage is prosperous for forty days, and he is entertained by forty fairy damsels, who absented themselves for forty days. In the tale of Aladdin and his Lamp, when his magic palace has disappeared the sultan allows him forty days to find it and the princess.—Among other Biblical instances, “Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife,” Gen. xxv, 20, and Esau was of the same age when he wedded two Hittite damsels, Gen. xxvi, 34. Eli judged Israel forty years, 1 Samuel, iv, 18. David and Solomon each reigned forty years, 2 Samuel, v, 4; 1 Kings, ii, 11, xi, 42. The “curious” reader may farther refer to Exodus xxvi, 19; Joshua xiv, 7; Judges iii, 11, viii, 28, xiii, 1; 2 Samuel, xv, 7; 1 Kings, vi, 17, vii, 38; 2 Kings, viii, 9; Ezekiel xxix, 11, 12; Acts xxiii, 21; 2 Corinthians, xi, 24.—In Wales forty loaves of bread and forty dishes of butter are a common quantity in the records of rents paid to the bishops of Llandaff. The fee of a bard for his vocal song at a festival was forty pence when he was a disciple, and twice forty for a master. The “unthrifty Heir of Linne,” according to the fine old ballad, tried to borrow forty pence of John o’ the Scales, who had become the owner of his lands. And who is not familiar with Wamba’s song, in praise of “Forty Years,” in Thackeray’s Rebecca and Rowena, where we are told that

“Forty times over let Michaelmas pass,

Grizzling hair the brain doth clear;

Then you know a boy is an ass,

Then you know the worth of a lass,

Once you’ve come to Forty Year!”

And do we not speak of a buxom dame as “fat, fair, and forty”?

[262] Still in man’s attire, of course.

[263] The painter not being permitted to behold her face. This often occurs in Persian stories; but I have seen many native pictures of Persian women of all classes, which were evidently portraits and could not all have been drawn in the manner above described. Judging from those pictures, the in-door clothing of Persian ladies is extremely scanty; but it should be recollected that they are not seen in the haram apartments by any but women and children and very near male relatives. The “full” dress of European ladies is much more reprehensible than the in-door dress of their Persian sisters (if indeed that of the latter maybe considered at all “improper”), since it exposes the greater part of the bosom and the shoulders and the spine to public view!

[264] “Cast thy bread upon the waters,” saith the Preacher, “and thou shalt find it after many days” (Eccl. xi, 1); but here the reformed robber finds it—or rather, more than its equivalent—every day. This notion of the loaves he threw daily into the river reappearing to him in the form of two celestial youths is certainly of Buddhist origin, and was, with many other essentially Buddhist ideas, adopted by the BrÁhmans after they got the upper hand of their rivals and drove them out of India. In the Hitopadesa (Friendly Counsel), a Sanskrit collection of apologues and tales, Book iii, fab. 10, a pious soldier is directed in a vision by Kuvera, the god of wealth, to stand in the morning behind his door, club in hand, and the beggar who should come into the court knock down with his club, when he will instantly become a pot full of gold. A similar story is found in the Persian TÚtÍ NÁma (Parrot Book) of NakhshabÍ, where a merchant is thus rewarded who had given away all his wealth to the poor.

[265] In another part of the romance we read of a wondrous stone, called the Shah-muhra, which, when fastened on the arm, enabled the wearer to see all the treasures of gold and gems that are hid in the bowels of the earth.

[266] An abridged and “improved” version of the romance of Hatim TaÏ was printed at Calcutta about the year 1825, of which a translation—by James Atkinson, I understand—reprinted from the Calcutta Government Gazette, appeared in the Asiatic Journal, March-June 1829. Whoever may have been the learned MÚnshÍ that made this version, he has certainly taken most unwarrantable liberties with his original. Thus: Husn BÁnÚ’s father dies, leaving her “an orphan, poor, and unprotected.” She has the misfortune to “attract the admiration of a darvesh,” whom she “indignantly spurned from her presence.” The darvesh goes to the king and complains that “a certain woman has solicited me to marry her, and not being able to accomplish her object, enraged at my refusal, she has bitterly reproached and even beaten me”! The king orders her to be thrust out of the city, and so on. The “man” who appears to her in a vision is Khoja Khizar, which however is appropriate, that mystical personage being the tutelary friend of good Muslims in distress. He tells her where she may find the “treasure of the Seven Kings, buried in seven different places; seven splendid peacock thrones, adorned with gems beyond all price, and one precious pearl of unequalled beauty. All these are thine.” The king on hearing of her “find” attempts to seize the contents of six of the pits of treasure by force, but the gold and gems become serpents and dragons. In this version it does not appear that the queries, or rather tasks, were suggested by the nurse. Altogether it is much inferior to the story as translated by Forbes.

[267] Published at New-York, 1850.

[268] I am greatly indebted to the courtesy of Prof. E. Fagnan, of the École des Lettres, Algiers, for many interesting and important particulars regarding this Turkish work, of which several MS. copies are preserved in the BibliothÈque Nationale, Paris—particulars of which I have already made some use in Originals and Analogues of some of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, printed for the Chaucer Society, and I hope soon to make still farther use of them in another publication.

[269] Dr. Rieu, of the British Museum, kindly furnished me with the above outline of the story, so far as it exists in the MS.

[270] See note, page 163.

[271] The Lost and Hostile Gospels, p. 83, by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, who has pointed out the gross anachronism of making the imaginary conflict take place in the presence of Queen Helena.

[272] This romance is ascribed by mere popular tradition, and on no solid authority, to the celebrated poet MÍr Khusrau, who died in 1324, A.D. Authentic accounts of the poet make no mention of any such work, and it is probably to be assigned to a much later date. An incorrect copy of the ChehÁr Darvesh is described in Dr. Rieu’s Catalogue of the Persian MSS. in the British Museum, vol. ii, p. 762, Add. 8917. In the Bagh o BahÁr (Garden and Spring), which is a modern UrdÚ amplification, by MÍr Amman, not always in the best taste, the Story of the Second Darvesh is that of the Third in the Persian original.

[273] In another Persian version, translated by Jonathan Scott, in his Tales, Anecdotes, and Letters from the Arabic and Persian, p. 253, the prince happens to see the merchant’s wife in her litter, returning from the pilgrimage to Makka, and falls desperately in love with her. He afterwards makes the acquaintance of the merchant, who on learning the cause of his illness divorces his wife and makes her over to the prince. The rest of the story is much the same as the above, excepting that the prince does not put the merchant’s “luck” to trial but at once receives him heartily and restores to him his wife, whom he had adopted as his sister.

[274] The story is told in the first person, and the youth does not give his name, which is rather awkward in making an epitome of it.

[275] Iswara signifies Lord, Master, but is a designation by the HindÚs for the particular deity, BrÁhma, VishnÚ, or Siva, whom they regard as the Supreme Being. In Southern India it is generally applied to Siva, also called MahÁdeva.—Balfour.

[276] It is significant that the “maxims” of the beggars are identical in the Latin story, in Gower, and in the version from Western India. In Gower one beggar cries:

“Ha, Lord, wel may the man be riche

Whom that a king list for to riche”;

the other exclaims:

“But he is riche and wel bego

Whom that God wold sende wele.”

[277] In this tale Iram is used as the name of an island of the “upper world,” not that of a garden in fairyland—see p. 304.

[278] JazÍra-i Firdaus, that is, the Island of Paradise—see p. 244, where the crafty courtesan Dilbar is represented as dwelling in a city called Firdaus; and p. 304, note 3, where it is the name of an island in fairyland.

[279] See also Dasent’s Popular Tales from the Norse: “Boots and the Troll.”

[280] An adaptation, or imitation, of the Sanskrit series of stories entitled VetÁlapanchavinsati, Twenty-five (Tales) of a VetÁla, or Vampyre; called in HindÍ, Baital PachÍsÍ, and in Tamil, VedÁla Kadai.

[281] Radloff’s Proben der Volksliteratur der TÜrkischen Stamme des SÜd-Siberiens; St. Petersburg: 1870; iii, 389.—The story is also found in the Hebrew Talmud: Two slaves are overheard by their master conversing about a camel that had preceded them on the road. It was blind of an eye, and laden with two skin bottles, one of which contained wine, the other oil. (Hershon’s Talmudic Miscellany.)—See also M. Zotenberg’s Chronique de Tabari, t. ii, 357-361.

[282] In a curious catch-penny imitation of the Seven Wise Masters, compiled by one Thomas Howard, about the end of the 17th century, or early in the 18th, entitled the Seven Wise Mistresses (of which I possess a well-thumbed copy printed in black letter), the story is told of a lady, and a lion who became attached to her in gratitude for her having pulled a thorn out of his foot—Androcles in petticoats! The lion kills a bear that would have slain the lady’s father, and the steward coming up and finding the old gentleman lying prone on the earth, apparently dead, but, as it turns out, only in a swoon from sheer fright, forthwith kills the lion.

[283] MahÁbhÁrata, Book iii (‘Vana Parva’), section lxi.—Dean Milman has rendered the ever fresh story of Nala and Damayanti into the most elegant English verse.

[284] Possibly Shakuni used loaded dice when it came to his turn to throw. “Some of the virtues may be modern,” says Lord Lytton (I quote from memory), “but it is certain that all the vices are ancient: cogged dice were found at Pompeii!”

[285] The MahÁbhÁrata of Krishna-Dwapayana Vyasa. Translated into English Prose by ProtÁp Chandra Roy. Now in course of serial issue at Calcutta. Sabha Parva, fasic. xi, pp. 155-172; Vana Parva, fasic. xiv, pp. 174-177; 230.

[286] Translated by the Rev. Chas. Swynnerton, in the Folk-Lore Journal, vol. i, 1883, pp. 134-139.—The same story will be found, at much greater length, in Captain R. C. Temple’s most valuable collection, Legends of the PanjÁb, vol. i, p. 48 ff.

[287] ChaupÚr is the game of chess, played with 16 pieces, and throwing dice for each move. For a full description of this game see Captain R. C. Temple’s Legends of the PanjÁb vol. i, p. 243.

[288] Kokilan: “Cooing-dove.”

[289] The tragical story of Kokilan, with variants, will be found, under the title of “The Lover’s Heart,” in my Popular Tales, &c., vol. ii, p. 187 ff.

[290] Popular Tales and Fictions, vol. i, p. 262 ff.

[291] I follow M. Dubois’ transliteration of the proper names.

[292] Yakshas, in the HindÚ mythology, are a species of jinn, who are ruled over by Kuvera, the god of wealth.

[293] Paddy (or pÁdÍ) is unhusked rice.

[294] Abridged from ProtÁp Chandra Roy’s translation of the MahÁbhÁrata, fasciculus xxxiv, pp. 543-553.

[295] “Whether a carbuncle (which is esteemed the best and biggest of rubies) doth flame in the dark,” says Sir Thos. Browne, in his Enquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors, B. ii, ch. v, “or shine like a coal in the night, though generally agreed on by common believers, is very much questioned by many.” On this Wilkin, the editor of Browne’s works, 1835, vol. ii, p. 354, remarks: “That which Sir Thomas much doubted has since been subjected to the test of repeated observations and many curious experiments, by which the phosphorescence of the diamond, sapphire, ruby, and topaz, as well as of many minerals and metals, and various other bodies, is fully established. Mr. Wedgewood has treated the subject fully in the 82nd vol. of the Philosophical Transactions. This luminous property, which seems to be strictly phosphoric, is made apparent by subjecting the body in question to heat in various ways. Several fluids (oils, spermaceti, butter, etc.) are luminous at or below the boiling point: minerals and other bodies become so by being sprinkled on a thick plate of iron, heated just below visible redness. The gems and several of the harder minerals emit their light upon attrition.”

[296] The Sham ha-maphrash, or Nomen tetragrammaton—see the note on page 163.

[297] Rev. S. Baring-Gould’s Lost and Hostile Gospels, pp. 77, 78.

[298] See the old English translation, from the French, by Lord Berners, The Boke of Duke Huon of Burdeux, ably edited by Mr. Sidney L. Lee for the Early English Text Society, 1887, p. 153.

[299] In the Catalogue des Manuscrits et Xylographes Orientaux de la BibliothÈque Imperiale Publique de St. Petersburg, 1852, p. 410, this tale is described as a separate romance: ‘Histoire de Khavershah et de Mihr et MÁh, ou de Roi de l’Orient, et du Soleil et de la Lune’; the only variations being that in place of the devotee is a philosopher called Abid; and MukhtarÍ is the name of the minister of the King of Maghrab, the father of the original of the picture.—There are several mystical and erotic poems in HindÍ also entitled Mihr Ú MÁh: see Garcin de Tassy’s Histoire de la LittÉrature Hindouie, second edition, tome i, 179, 187, and iii, 47.

[300] The self-same story also occurs in the Calcutta printed Arabic text of the ‘Thousand and One Nights,’ with no variation save that instead of smoked eels the husband gives his wanton wife a fresh fish to cook for his dinner on a Friday (the Muslim Sabbath), and then goes out. When the woman returns on the next Friday her husband begins to scold her, but she makes an outcry which brings in the neighbours, and showing them the fish still alive—she had, I suppose, either kept it in water or procured another one; though, how her husband came to give her a live fish does not appear—he is considered mad and loaded with fetters. (See Sir R. F. Burton’s translation, vol v, p. 96.)

[301] This seems to be an imperfect version of the story to which the Trick of the KÁzÍ’s Wife belongs, with the underground passage somehow omitted.

[302] It has not hitherto been found in any Arabic text of the ‘Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night,’ but there can be no doubt of its Asiatic origin.

[303] If there are but four players, and three have already been appointed as king, minister, and culprit, it surely follows that there is no necessity for the fourth to throw the sticks at all; else, if the others play along with him at throwing for the “honest man,” their former positions might, and probably would, be changed. Evidently Mr. Knowles has here described the game as it is played by any number of boys, so that when it came to throw for the “honest man,” the three already appointed would stand out and all the others play.

[304] In the fabliau (MÉon’s edition of Barbazan, 1808, iii, 126) the little bird says:

“Il a en mon cors une piere,

Qui tant est prÉcieuse et chiere,

Bien est de trois onces pesans;

La vertus est en il si grans,

Qui en sa baillie l’aroit,

JÀ riens demander ne saroit,

Que maintenant ne l’Éust preste.”

[305] Lydgate’s Minor Poems, in vol. ii of the Percy Society’s publications, p. 179 ff.—Ritson, the censorious, styles honest Dan Lydgate “a voluminous, prosaic, drivelling monk.” This is hard measure. That the drivels is just as true as it would be to say that Ritson had no gall in his composition. That he is sometimes prosaic can’t be denied; but he has many fine passages of true poetry. If to be voluminous be a sin—then may Heaven pity our popular novel-spinners!

[306] AnvÁr-i SuhaylÍ, by Husain VÁ’iz al-KÁshifÍ. Translated by Edward B. Eastwick, 1854. Ch. i, story 19.

[307] Le Grand omits the bird’s lay, of which these verses are merely the exordium.

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