This companion aims to guide the reader into this labyrinth of storytelling. It traces the development of the stories from prehistoric India and Pharaonic Egypt to modern times, and explores the history of translation and imitation. Above all, it uses the stories as a guide to the social history and counter-culture of the medieval Near East and the world of the storyteller, the snake charmer, the burglar, the sorcerer, the drug-addict, the treasure hunter and the adulterer.
Score: 2. Since then, the "Nights" have occupied the minds of scholars world-wide, in particular the questions of origin, composition, language and literary form. In this book, Muhsin Mahdi, whose critical edition of the text brought so much praise, explores the complex literary history of the "Nights," bringing to fruition the search for the archetype that constituted the core of the surviving editions, and treating the fascinating story of the growth of the collection of stories that we now know as "The Thousand and One Nights,".
The stories of? The Arabian Nights? Collected over the centuries from India, Persia, and Arabia, and ranging from adventure fantasies, vivacious erotica, and animal fables, to pointed Sufi tales, these stories provided the daily entertainment of the medieval Islamic world at the height of its glory. No one knows exactly when a given story originated, and many circulated orally for centuries before being written down; but in the process of telling and retelling, they were modified to reflect the general life and customs of the Arab society that adapted them—a distinctive synthesis that marks the cultural and artistic history of Islam.
This translation is of the complete text of the Mahdi edition, the definitive Arabic edition of a fourteenth-century Syrian manuscript, which is the oldest surviving version of the tales and considered to be the most authentic.
Score: 5. Now Shah takes us deeper into the heart of this exotic and magical land to uncover mysteries that have been hidden from Western eyes for centuries. As he wends his way through the labyrinthine medinas of Fez and Marrakesh, traverses the Sahara sands, and tastes the hospitality of ordinary Moroccans, Tahir collects a dazzling treasury of traditional stories, gleaned from the heritage of A Thousand and One Nights.
The tales, recounted by a vivid cast of characters, reveal fragments of wisdom and an oriental way of thinking that is both enthralling and fresh. It has been stated, that, by means of talismans, or certain invocations, men are said to obtain the services of Jinn; and the manner in which the latter are enabled to assist magicians, by imparting to them the knowledge of future events, has been explained. This he did by virtue of a most wonderful talisman, which is said to have come down to him from heaven.
It was a seal-ring, upon which was engraved "the most great name" of God; and was partly composed of brass, and partly of iron. With the brass he stamped his written commands to the good Jinn; with the iron for a reason before mentioned , those to the evil Jinn, or Devils.
Over both orders he had unlimited power; as well as over the birds and the winds, 85 and, as is generally said, the wild beasts. Many of the evil Jinn he converted to the true faith; and many others of this class, who remained obstinate in infidelity, he confined in prisons. He is said to have been monarch of the whole earth. The injuries related to have been inflicted upon human beings by evil Jinn are of various kinds.
Jinnees are said to have often carried off beautiful women, whom they have forcibly kept as their wives or concubines. I have mentioned in a former work, that malicious or disturbed Jinnees are asserted often to station themselves on the roofs, 32 or at the windows, of houses, and to throw down bricks and stones on persons passing by.
Many learned and devout persons, to secure their property from such depredations, repeat the words "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful! To complete this sketch of Arabian mythology, an account must be added of several creatures generally believed to be of inferior orders of the Jinn. The Ghools are said to appear in the forms of various animals, and of human beings, and in many monstrous shapes; to haunt burial-grounds and other sequestered spots; to feed upon dead human bodies; and to kill and devour any human creature who has the misfortune to fall in their way: whence the term "Ghool" is applied to any cannibal.
An opinion quoted by a celebrated author, respecting the Ghool, is, that it is a demoniacal animal, which passes a solitary existence in the deserts, resembling both man and brute; that it appears to a person travelling alone in the night and in solitary places, and, being supposed by him to be itself a traveller, lures him out of his way. It is said that it is mostly found in forests, and that when it captures a man, it makes him dance, and plays with him as the cat plays with the mouse. It is said that it entices a man to it, and either tortures him in a manner not to be described, or merely terrifies him, and leaves him.
It eats the flesh of men whom the sea casts on the shore from wrecks. It is only generated in their country. It is generally the communicator of some intelligence in the way of advice, or direction, or warning. Here terminating this long note, I must beg the reader to remark, that the superstitious fancies which it describes are prevalent among all classes of the Arabs, and the Muslims in general, learned as well as vulgar. I have comprised in it much matter not necessary to illustrate the introductory portion of this work, in order to avoid frequent recurrence to the same subject.
Another apology for its length may also be offered:—its importance as confuting Schlegel's opinion, that the frequent mention of Genii is more consistent with Indian than with Arab notions. This chest is described in some copies as formed of glass. The term "'Efreet" has been explained above, in Note Most of the copies of the original, it appears, make the number of rings ninety-eight; therefore, I have substituted this, as less extraordinary, for five hundred and seventy, which is the number mentioned in the Cairo edition.
Almost every Muslim who can afford it has a seal-ring, for a reason shewn in a former note No. The wickedness of women is a subject upon which the stronger sex among the Arabs, with an affected feeling of superior virtue, often dwell in common conversation.
That women are deficient in judgment or good sense is held as a fact not to be disputed even by themselves, as it rests on an assertion of the Prophet; but that they possess a superior degree of cunning is pronounced equally certain and notorious. Their general depravity is pronounced to be much greater than that of men. When woman was created, the Devil, we are told, was delighted, and said, "Thou art half of my host, and thou art the depository of my secret, and thou art my arrow, with which I shoot, and miss not.
They are, however, unfrequent among most tribes of Bedawees, and among the descendants of those tribes not long settled as cultivators.
I remember being roused from the quiet that I generally enjoyed in an ancient tomb in which I resided at Thebes, by the cries of a young woman in the neighbourhood, whom an Arab was severely beating for an impudent proposal that she had made to him.
I wish that I could accuse the author of inventing, in this case, an incident of an incredible nature, and entirely unparalleled; but, alas, acts of equal cruelty are recorded of Arab princes: traits of benevolence, and crimes of the blackest hue, are related in their histories, sometimes 35 in the same page. I have not read of any case exactly resembling that to which this note relates; but the following anecdote will shew, that if conduct still more atrocious had been described in the latter, it might have been founded on fact.
They did so; and there was not a single one that did not come. He then placed them in a chamber, and, calling some masons, made them build up the door of the chamber upon them, and so they all died. The number of them was two thousand six hundred and sixty female slaves. After they had remained six months, he heaped lighted combustibles upon them, and burned them, together with their clothes and ornaments. May God [says the narrator] shew no mercy to him!
In the houses of persons of the middle classes in Arabian countries, there is generally an apartment on the ground-floor fitted up as a stable for a horse, mule, or ass, or for two or more such animals; and the cattle of the farmer, if not very numerous, are usually lodged during the night in similar quarters, or in an open court enclosed within, or immediately adjacent to, his house. It is a common custom in the East to sprinkle the ground, during the summer, in order to cool the air.
Cut straw is the usual fodder of asses and other beasts of burden in Egypt and other countries of the East. The phrase with which the bull commences his address to the ass, is one dictated by an indispensable rule of Muslim politeness, which requires that these or some similar words should be uttered by a person whenever he sees another with food before him, and does not partake of it.
If this were not done, it would be feared that the food had been poisoned, or rendered of no avail, by an envious eye. The peasants in the East use a hand-mill for grinding their corn. The larger mills used for this and other purposes are turned by cattle. In the Calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights, the ass is made to quote verses to the bull.
Hast thou not, he asks him, heard the poet say:—. It is particularly convenient, and therefore much used, in travelling. Around the edge is a running string, which, being drawn, converts it into a bag to hold what is left of the food. This he generally does, in the present day, in accordance with the decision of a Muftee, or doctor of the law. In small towns and villages, he is often employed to draw up written contracts of various kinds.
To perform the ablution preparatory to prayer in the expectation of almost immediate death, is a supererogatory act which, I believe, is seldom observed.
Both religion and climate make the Muslim an early riser. It is his duty to perform the first of the five daily prayers at, or soon after, daybreak; and he generally awakes before this period. That he should be described as thus strict with regard to religious exercises, when about to give orders for the murder of his innocent wife, needs not excite our surprise: such conduct is consistent with the character of many Muslims.
The religious ceremony was designed as preparatory to this act, though the punishment of the woman was contrary to the law, since her husband neither produced four witnesses of the imputed crime, nor allowed her to clear herself of the charge by her own oath.
Another case of diligence in the performance of a religious duty, accompanied by the contemplation of murder, but murder on a larger scale, occurred in the same city shortly after.
His scheme, however, but partially succeeded, and no lives were sacrificed. This man was notorious for cruelty, but he was a person of pleasing and venerable countenance, and engaging manners: whenever I chanced to meet him, I received from him a most gracious salutation. He died before I quitted Egypt. These numbers agree excepting in a few cases, where a disagreement was found absolutely necessary with those in Hinckelmann's edition, which is that most commonly quoted by the learned.
I am sorry to see that Marracci's numbers have been adopted in a late edition of Sale's translation, and that the distinction between the words of the text and the explanatory interpolations has there been neglected. Its utility to Arabic scholars, and its general fidelity, have been thus greatly lessened; and it appears to me very desirable that it should be superseded as soon as possible by another edition.
As the tradition is related in Ibn-El-Wardee, this bull takes a breath twice in the course of every day or twenty-four hours ; when he exhales, the sea flows; and when he inhales, it ebbs.
But it must not be imagined that none of the Arabs have any notion of the true theory of the tides: the more learned among them explain this phenomenon by the influence of the moon. See "Modern Egyptians," vol. Early in the night a number of people come from the water, and having made preparation for an entertainment, retire; a Yaksha, a genie, then comes out of the lake with his two wives, and spends the night there: when he and one of his wives are asleep, the other, seeing the youths, invites them to approach her, and to encourage them, shews them a hundred rings received from former gallants, notwithstanding her husband's precautions, who keeps her locked up in a chest at the bottom of the lake.
The Hindu story-teller is more moral than the Arab. The youths reject her advances; she wakes the genie, who is going to put them to death, but the rings are produced in evidence against the unfaithful wife, and she is turned away with the loss of her nose.
The story is repeated in the next section with some variation; the lady has ninety and nine rings, and is about to complete the hundredth, when her husband, who is here a Naga, a snake-god, wakes, and consumes the guilty pair with fire from his mouth.
The old men of the place asserted that they remembered him to have had the same appearance when they were children, and that their fathers and grandfathers had said the same. Having eaten the date, he threw aside the stone, 3 and immediately there appeared before him an 'Efreet, of enormous height, who, holding a drawn sword in his hand, approached him, and said, Rise, that I may kill thee, as thou hast killed my son.
The merchant asked him, How have I killed thy son? He answered, When thou atest the date, and threwest aside the stone, it struck my son upon the chest, 4 and, as fate had decreed against him, he instantly died. There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great!
If I killed him, I did it not intentionally, but without knowing it; and I trust in thee that thou wilt pardon me. The merchant, upon this, wept bitterly, and said to the Jinnee, I commit my affair unto God, for no one can avoid 40 what He hath decreed:—and he continued his lamentation, repeating the following verses:—.
Then said the merchant, Know, O 'Efreet, that I have debts to pay, and I have much property, and children, and a wife, and I have pledges also in my possession: let me, therefore, go back to my house, and give to every one his due, and then I will return to thee: I bind myself by a vow and covenant that I will return to thee, and thou shalt do what thou wilt; and God is witness of what I say.
The merchant, therefore, returned to his town, accomplished all that was upon his mind to do, paid every one what he owed him, and informed his wife and children of the event which had befallen him; upon hearing which, they and all his family and women wept.
He appointed a guardian over his children, and remained with his family until the end of the year; when he took his grave-clothes under his arm, 7 bade farewell to his household and neighbours, and all his relations, and went forth, in spite of himself; his family raising cries of lamentation, and shrieking. He proceeded until he arrived at the garden before mentioned; and it was the first day of the new year; and as he sat, weeping for the calamity which he expected soon to befall him, a sheykh, 9 advanced in years, approached him, leading a gazelle with a chain attached to its neck.
This sheykh saluted the merchant, wishing him a long life, and said to him, What is the reason of thy sitting alone in this place, seeing that it is a resort of the Jinn? The merchant therefore 41 informed him of what had befallen him with the 'Efreet, and of the cause of his sitting there; at which the sheykh, the owner of the gazelle, was astonished, and said, By Allah, O my brother, thy faithfulness is great, and thy story is wonderful!
So he sat down, and conversed with him. And the merchant became almost senseless; fear entered him, and terror, and violent grief, and excessive anxiety. And he had hardly sat down when there approached them a third sheykh, with a dapple mule; and he asked them the same question, which was answered in the same manner.
Immediately after, the dust was agitated, and became an enormous revolving pillar, approaching them from the midst of the desert; and this dust subsided, and behold, the Jinnee, with a drawn sword in his hand; his eyes casting forth sparks of fire. He came to them, and dragged from them the merchant, and said to him, Rise, that I may kill thee, as thou killedst my son, the vital spirit of my heart.
He answered, Yes, O sheykh; if thou relate to me the story, and I find it to be as thou hast said, I will give up to thee a third of my claim to his blood. Then said the sheykh, Know, O 'Efreet, that this gazelle is the daughter of my paternal uncle, 11 and she is of my flesh and my blood. I took her as my wife when she was young, 12 and lived with her about thirty years; but I was not blessed with a child by her; so I took to me a concubine slave, 13 and by her I was blessed with a male child, like the rising full moon, with beautiful eyes, and delicately-shaped eyebrows, and perfectly-formed limbs; and he grew up by little and little until he attained the age of fifteen years.
At this period, I unexpectedly had occasion to journey to a certain city, and went thither with a great stock of merchandise. Now my cousin, 14 this gazelle, had studied enchantment and divination from her early years; and during my absence, she transformed the youth above mentioned into a calf; and his mother, into 43 a cow; 15 and committed them to the care of the herdsman: and when I returned, after a long time, from my journey, I asked after my son and his mother, and she said, Thy slave is dead, and thy son hath fled, and I know not whither he is gone.
After hearing this, I remained for the space of a year with mourning heart and weeping eye, until the Festival of the Sacrifice; 16 when I sent to the herdsman, and ordered him to choose for me a fat cow; and he brought me one, and it was my concubine, whom this gazelle had enchanted.
I tucked up my skirts and sleeves, and took the knife 17 in my hand, and prepared myself to slaughter her; upon which she moaned and cried so violently that I left her, and ordered the herdsman to kill and skin her: and he did so, but found in her neither fat nor flesh, nor anything but skin and bone; and I repented of slaughtering her, when repentance was of no avail.
I therefore gave her to the herdsman, and said to him, Bring me a fat calf: and he brought me my son, who was transformed into a calf. And when the calf saw me, he broke his rope, and came to me, and fawned upon me, and wailed and cried, so that I was moved with pity for him; and I said to the herdsman, Bring me a cow, and let this—.
Her sister said to her, How excellent is thy story! Thus they pleasantly passed the night until the morning, when the King went forth to his hall of judgment, and the Wezeer went thither with the grave-clothes under his arm: and the King 44 gave judgment, and invested and displaced, until the close of the day, without informing the Wezeer of that which had happened; and the minister was greatly astonished.
The court was then dissolved; and the King returned to the privacy of his palace. And as I was sitting, on the following day, he came to me, and said, O my master, I have to tell thee something that thou wilt be rejoiced to hear; and a reward is due to me for bringing good news.
She answered, This calf that is with thee is the son of our master, the merchant, and the wife of our master hath enchanted both him and his mother; and this was the reason of my laughter; but as to the reason of my weeping, it was on account of his mother, because his father had slaughtered her.
When I heard, O Jinnee, the words of the herdsman, I went forth with him, intoxicated without wine, from the excessive joy and happiness that I received, and arrived at his house, where his daughter welcomed me, and kissed my hand; and the calf came to me, and fawned upon me. And I said to the herdsman's daughter, Is that true which thou hast said respecting this calf? She answered, Yes, O my 45 master; he is verily thy son, and the vital spirit of thy heart.
Upon this, she smiled, and said, O my master, I have no desire for the property unless on two conditions: the first is, that thou shalt marry me to him; and the second, that I shall enchant her who enchanted him, and so restrain her; otherwise, I shall not be secure from her artifice. On hearing, O Jinnee, these her words, I said, And thou shalt have all the property that is under the care of thy father besides; and as to my cousin, even her blood shall be lawful to thee.
So, when she heard this, she took a cup, and filled it with water, and repeated a spell over it, and sprinkled with it the calf, saying to him, If God created thee a calf, remain in this form, and be not changed; but if thou be enchanted, return to thy original form, by permission of God, whose name be exalted! And as I happened to pass this way, I saw this merchant, and asked him what had happened to him; and when he had informed me, I sat down to see the result.
The Jinnee said, This is a wonderful tale; and I give up to thee a third of my claim to his blood. The second sheykh, the owner of the two hounds, then advanced, and said to the Jinnee, If I relate to thee the story of myself and these hounds, and thou find it to be in like manner wonderful, wilt thou remit to me, also, a third of thy claim to the blood of this merchant?
The Jinnee answered, Yes. My father died, and left to us three thousand pieces of gold; 21 and I opened a shop 22 to sell and buy. But one of my brothers made a journey, with a stock of merchandise, and was absent from us for the space of a year with the caravans; after which, he returned destitute.
I said to him, Did I not advise thee to abstain from travelling? But he wept, and said, O my brother, God, to whom be ascribed all might and glory, decreed this event; and there is no longer any profit in these words: I have nothing left.
So I took him up into the shop, and then went with him to the bath, and clad him in a costly suit of my own clothing; after which, we sat down together to eat; and I said to him, O my brother, I will calculate the gain of my shop during the year, and divide it, exclusive of the principal, between me and thee.
Accordingly, I made the calculation, and found my gain to amount to two thousand pieces of gold; and I praised God, to whom be ascribed all might and glory, and rejoiced exceedingly, and divided the gain in two equal parts between myself and him. After this, when we had lived together for some time, my brothers again wished to travel, and were desirous that I should accompany 47 them; but I would not. What, said I, have ye gained in your travels, that I should expect to gain?
They importuned me; but I would not comply with their request; and we remained selling and buying in our shops a whole year. Still, however, they persevered in proposing that we should travel, and I still refused, until after the lapse of six entire years, when at last I consented, and said to them, O my brothers, let us calculate what property we possess. We did so, and found it to be six thousand pieces of gold: and I then said to them, We will bury half of it in the earth, that it may be of service to us if any misfortune befall us, in which case each of us shall take a thousand pieces, with which to traffic.
So I took the money and divided it into two equal portions, and buried three thousand pieces of gold; and of the other half, I gave to each of them a thousand pieces.
We then prepared merchandise, and hired a ship, and embarked our goods, and proceeded on our voyage for the space of a whole month, at the expiration of which we arrived at a city, where we sold our merchandise; and for every piece of gold we gained ten. And when we were about to set sail again, we found, on the shore of the sea, a maiden clad in tattered garments, who kissed my hand, and said to me, O my master, art thou possessed of charity and kindness?
If so, I will requite thee for them. I answered, Yes, I have those qualities, though thou requite me not. Then said she, O my master, accept me as thy wife, and take me to thy country; for I give myself to thee: 24 act kindly towards me; for I am one who requires to be treated with kindness and charity, and who will requite thee for so doing; and let not my present condition at all deceive thee.
When I heard these words, my heart was moved with tenderness towards her, in order to the accomplishment of a purpose of God, to whom be ascribed all might and glory; and I took her, and clothed her, and furnished for her a place in the ship in a handsome manner, and regarded her with kind and respectful attention.
We then set sail; and I became most cordially attached to my wife, so that, on her account, I neglected the society of my brothers, who, in consequence, became jealous of me, and likewise envied me my wealth, and the abundance of my merchandise; casting the eyes of covetousness upon the whole of the property. They therefore consulted together to kill me, and take my wealth; saying, Let us kill our brother, and all the property shall be ours:—and the devil made these actions to seem fair in their eyes; so they came to me while I was sleeping by the side of my wife, and took both of us up, and threw us into the sea.
But as soon as my wife awoke, she shook herself, and became transformed into a Jinneeyeh. In the morning, however, she returned, and said to me, I am thy wife, who carried thee, and rescued thee from death, by permission of God, whose name be exalted.
Know that I am a Jinneeyeh: I saw thee, and my heart loved thee for the sake of God; for I am a believer in God and his Apostle, God bless and save him! But I am incensed against thy brothers, and I must kill them. I then related to her all that had happened between myself and them from first to last; and when she had heard it, she said, I will, this next night, fly to them, and sink their ship, and destroy them. But I said, I conjure thee by Allah that thou do it not; for the author of the proverb saith, O thou benefactor of him who hath done evil, the action that he hath done is sufficient for him: 27 —besides, they are at all events my brothers.
She still, however, said, They must be killed;—and I continued to propitiate her towards them: and at last she lifted me up, and soared through the air, and placed me on the roof of my house. Having opened the doors, I dug up what I had hidden in the earth; and after I had saluted my neighbours, and bought merchandise, I opened my shop. And in the following night, when I entered my house, I found these two dogs tied up in it; and as soon as they saw me, they came to me, and wept, and clung to me; but I knew not what had happened until immediately my wife appeared before 50 me, and said, These are thy brothers.
And who, said I, hath done this unto them? She answered, I sent to my sister and she did it; and they shall not be restored until after the lapse of ten years. And I was now on my way to her, that she might restore them, as they have been in this state ten years, when I saw this man, and, being informed of what had befallen him, I determined not to quit the place until I should have seen what would happen between thee and him. Upon this, the third sheykh, the owner of the mule, said to the Jinnee, 29 As to me, break not my heart if I relate to thee nothing more than this:—.
The mule that thou seest was my wife: she became enamoured of a black slave; and when I discovered her with him, she took a mug of water, and, having uttered a spell over it, sprinkled me, and transformed me into a dog.
In this state, I ran to the shop of a butcher, whose daughter saw me, and, being skilled in enchantment, restored me to my original form, and instructed me to enchant my wife in the manner thou beholdest. Divinely was he gifted who said,.
When the sheykh had thus finished his story, the Jinnee shook 51 with delight, and remitted the remaining third of his claim to the merchant's blood. The merchant then approached the sheykhs, and thanked them, and they congratulated him on his safety; and each went his way. The King asked her, And what is the story of the fisherman? And she related it as follows:—. The words "in a garden" are omitted in my original; but they are required by the sequel. I may here remark, that, in future, when I find trifling insertions of this kind to be requisite in my translation, I shall not deem it necessary to mention them in a note.
Note 2. An Eastern traveller often makes a long journey with no other encumbrance than a well-filled pair of saddle-bags: in one bag he puts his provisions; and in the other, such articles of clothing as he may require in addition to those in which he sets out, including a spare shirt, and perhaps no other clean linen: for he is as indifferent with regard to this comfort as he is careful respecting his personal cleanliness. Perhaps no reader of this work will require to be told that the date has not a shell.
I only make this remark on account of an error in the old translation. The merchant was culpably careless: before throwing aside the date-stone with sufficient force to kill a Jinnee who happened to be near him though at the time invisible , he should have asked permission by the exclamation "Destoor!
I use two words perhaps the best that our language affords to express corresponding Arabic terms, which some persons regard as synonymous, but others distinguish by different shades of meaning. On what I consider the best authority, the word which I render "fate" respects the decrees of God in a general sense; while that which I translate "destiny" relates to the particular applications of those decrees.
In such senses these terms are here to be understood when separately employed. Many Muslims hold that fate is, in some respects, absolute and unchangeable; in others, admitting of alteration; and almost all of them act , in many of the affairs of life, as if this were their belief.
Many doctors have argued, that destiny respects only the final state of a certain portion of men believers and unbelievers ; and that, in general, man is endowed with free will, which he should exercise according to the laws of God and his own conscience and judgment, praying to God for a blessing on his endeavours, or imploring the intercession of the Prophet, or of any of the saints, in his favour, and propitiating them by offering alms or sacrifices in their names; relying upon God for the result, which he may then, and then only, attribute to fate or destiny.
They hold, therefore, that it is criminal to attempt resistance to the will when its dictates are conformable with the laws of God and our natural consciences and prudence, and so passively to await the fulfilment of God's decrees. But still it must be held that He hath not predestined the will ; though He sometimes inclines it to good, and the Devil sometimes inclines it to evil.
It is asked, then, If we have the power to will, but not the power to perform otherwise than as God hath predetermined, how can we be regarded as responsible beings? The answer to this is, that our actions are judged good or evil according to our intentions, if we have faith: good actions or intentions, it should be added, only increase, and do not cause, our happiness, if we are believers; and evil actions or intentions only increase our misery if we are unbelievers or irreligious: for the Muslim holds that he is to be admitted into heaven only by the mercy of God, on account of his faith; and to be rewarded in proportion to his good works.
The Arabs in general constantly have recourse both to charms and medicines, not only for the cure, but also for the prevention of diseases. They have, indeed, a strange passion for medicine, which shows that they do not consider fate as altogether unconditional. Nothing can exceed the earnestness with which they often press a European traveller for a dose; and the more violent the remedy, the better are they pleased.
Thinking that they had poisoned themselves, but not liking to rely upon fate, they persuaded a man to come to me for medicine. He introduced the subject by saying, "O Efendee, do an act of kindness: there are three men poisoned; in your mercy give them medicine, and save their lives:" and then he related the whole affair, without concealing the theft. I replied, that they did not deserve medicine; but he urged that, by giving it, I should obtain an immense reward. I gave him three strong doses of tartar emetic; and he soon came back to thank me, saying that the medicine was most admirable, for the men had hardly swallowed it, when they almost vomited their hearts and livers, and everything else in their bodies.
From a distrust in faith, some Muslims even shut themselves up during the prevalence of plague; but this practice is generally condemned. A Syrian friend of mine, who did 55 so, nearly had his door broken open by his neighbours. Why did he say, 'Enter it not? Why did he say, 'Go not out from it? The Prophet was tenderly considerate of our welfare: but the present Muslims in general are like bulls [brute beasts]; and they hold the meaning of this command to be, Go not into a city where there is pestilence, because this would be rashness; and go not out from it, because this would be distrusting God's power to save you from it.
Many of the vulgar and ignorant among modern Muslims, believe that the unchangeable destinies of every man are written upon his head, in what are termed the sutures of the skull. The paragraph thus commencing, and the verses comprised in it, are translated from the Calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights. It is a common custom for a Muslim, on a military expedition, or during a long journey, especially in the desert, to carry his grave-linen with him; for he is extremely careful that he may be buried according to the law.
It is thus that the Arab women generally do on the occasion of a funeral. In every case, it is a title of respect, and never given to any but a Muslim. A cousin the daughter of a paternal uncle is often chosen as a wife, on account of the tie of blood, which is likely to attach her more strongly to her husband; or on account of an affection conceived in early years.
The various customs relating to marriage, I shall describe on a future occasion. A bride is called young, by the Arabs, when she is about twelve years of age. In the Calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights, the wife in this tale is said to have been of this age when she was first married.
A slave, among Muslims, is either a person taken captive in war, or carried off by force, and being at the time of capture an infidel; or the offspring of a female slave by another slave, or by any man who is not her owner, or by her owner, if he does not acknowledge himself to be the father: but the offspring of a male slave by a free woman is free.
A person who embraces the Mohammadan faith after having been made a slave, does not by this act become free, unless he flees from a foreign infidel master to a Muslim country, and there becomes a Mohammadan.
A person cannot have as a slave one whom he acknowledges to be within the prohibited degrees of marriage. Slaves have no civil liberty; but are entirely under the authority of their owners, 56 whatever may be the religion, sex, or age, of the latter; and can possess no property, unless by the owner's permission.
The owner is entire master, while he pleases, of the person and goods of his slave; and of the offspring of his female slave, which, if begotten by him or presumed to be so, he may recognise as his own legitimate child, or not: the child, if recognised by him, enjoys the same privileges as the offspring of a free wife; and if not recognised by him, is his slave.
The master may even kill his own slave with impunity for any offence; and he incurs but a slight punishment as imprisonment for a period at the discretion of the judge if he kills him wantonly. This is one of the most wonderful compilations of ancient traditional middle east folk tales.
They are NOT difficult to understand, unless you are not paying attention and, on the other hand, they are not easy to follow. Meaning that you have to be focused on the reading, something you usually do when reading I completely recomend this compilation to understand the core of story telling, and have fun!!
GOD, if you didnt like this book than your are just wierd, and if it was confusing than your stupid cuz i got it and im only Nealtwins It is somehow difficult because it has been manipulated by arabs. The story is originally Persian.
But understandable. This book was confusing to read, either through the efforts of my teacher or Lang. The stories skipped from one to the next with impunity, confusing even the most clever mind.
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