A	>>	B	>>	C	>>	D	>>	E
F	>>	G	>>	H	>>	I	>>	J
K	>>	L	>>	M	>>	N	>>	O
P	>>	R	>>		S	>>		T
U	>>		V			>>		W

William Lyon Phelps - "Essays on Russian Novelists"

Plautus - "The Captiva and The Mostellaria"

Samuel Pepys - "Diary of Samuel Pepys, March 1663/64"

Frederic Remington - "Crooked Trails"

Supplemental Nights, Volume 5

R >> Richard F. Burton >> Supplemental Nights, Volume 5



This etext was scanned by JC Byers
(http://www.capitalnet.com/~jcbyers/index.htm) and proofread by
Nancy Bloomquist, Lynn Bornath, JC Byers, Wanda Champlin, Jeff
Ferrell, Janelle Miau, Jordan Roberts, Robert Sinton, Mats
Wernersson, Alexa Zimmerman, and Michelle.





SUPPLEMENTAL
NIGHTS
To The Book Of The Thousand
And One Nights With Notes
Anthropological And
Explanatory

By
Richard F. Burton

VOLUME FIVE
Privately Printed By The Burton Club


To The Curators of the Bodleian Library, Oxford
Especially Revd. B. Price and Professor Max Muller.



Gentlemen,

I take the liberty of placing your names at the Head of this
Volume which owes its rarest and raciest passages to your kindly
refusing the temporary transfer of the Wortley Montague MS. from
your pleasant library to the care of Dr. Rost, Chief Librarian,
India Office. As a sop to "bigotry and virtue," as a concession
to the "Scribes and Pharisees," I had undertaken, in case the
loan were granted, not to translate tales and passages which
might expose you, the Curators, to unfriendly comment. But,
possibly anticipating what injury would thereby accrue to the
Volume and what sorrow to my subscribers, you were good enough
not to sanction the transfer--indeed you refused it to me twice--
and for this step my clientele will be (or ought to be) truly
thankful to you.

I am, Gentlemen,
Yours obediently,
Richard F. Burton.

Bodleian Library, August 5th, 1888






Contents of the Fifteenth Volume.



1. The History of the King's Son of Sind and the Lady Fatimah
2. History of the Lovers of Syria
3. History of Al-Hajjaj Bin Yusuf and the Young Sayyid
4. Night Adventure of Harun Al-Rashid and the Youth Manjab
a. Story of the Darwaysh and the Barber's Boy and the
Greedy Sultan
b. Tale of the Simpleton Husband
Note Concerning the "Tirrea Bede," Night 655
5. The Loves of Al-Hayfa and Yusuf
6. The Three Princes of China
7. The Righteous Wazir Wrongfully Gaoled
8. The Cairene Youth, the Barber and the Captain
9. The Goodwife of Cairo and Her Four Gallants
a. The Tailor and the Lady and the Captain
b. The Syrian and the Three Women of Cairo
c. The Lady With Two Coyntes
d. The Whorish Wife Who Vaunted Her Virtue
10. Coelebs the Droll and His Wife and Her Four Lovers
11. The Gatekeeper of Cairo and the Cunning She-Thief
12. Tale of Mohsin and Musa
13. Mohammed the Shalabi and His Mistress and His Wife
14. The Fellah and His Wicked Wife
15. The Woman Who Humoured Her Lover At Her Husband's Expense
16. The Kazi Schooled By His Wife
17. The Merchant's Daughter and the Prince of Al-Irak
18. Story of the Youth Who Would Flutter His Father's Wives
19. Story of the Two Lack-Tacts of Cairo and Damascus
20. Tale of Himself Told By the King
Appendix A: - Catalogue of Wortley Montague Manuscript
Contents
Appendix B: - Notes on the Stories Contained in Volumes XIV.
and XV by W. F. Kirby






THE TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD.



This volume contains the last of my versions from the Wortley
Montague Codex, and this is the place to offer a short account of
that much bewritten MS.

In the "Annals of the Bodleian Library," etc., by the Reverend
William Dunn Macray, M.A. (London, Oxford and Cambridge, 1868:
8vo. p. 206), we find the following official notice:--

"A.D. 1803."

"An Arabic MS. in seven volumes, written in 1764-5, and
containing what is rarely met with, a complete collection of the
Thousand and one Tales (N.B. an error for "Nights") of the
Arabian Nights Entertainments, was bought from Captain Jonathan
Scott for œ50. Mr. Scott published, in 1811, an edition of the
Tales in six volumes (N.B. He reprinted the wretched English
version of Prof. Galland's admirable French, and his "revisions"
and "occasional corrections" are purely imaginative), in which
this MS. is described (N.B. after the mos majorum). He obtained
it from Dr. (Joseph) White, the Professor of Hebrew and Arabic at
Oxford, who had bought it at the sale of the library of Edward
Wortley Montague, by whom it had been brought from the East.
(N.B. Dr. White at one time intended to translate it literally,
and thereby eclipse the Anglo French version.) It is noticed in
Ouseley's Oriental Collections (Cadell and Davies), vol. ii. p.
25."

The Jonathan Scott above alluded to appears under various titles
as Mr. Scott, Captain Scott and Doctor Scott. He was an officer
in the Bengal Army about the end of the last century, and was
made Persian Secretary by "Warren Hastings, Esq.," to whom he
dedicated his "Tales, Anecdotes and Letters, translated from the
Arabic and Persian" (Cadell and Davies, London, 1800), and he
englished the "Bahar-i-Danish" (A.D. 1799) and "Firishtah's
History of the Dakkhan (Deccan) and of the reigns of the later
Emperors of Hindostan." He became Dr. Scott because made an LL.D.
at Oxford as meet for a "Professor (of Oriental languages) at the
Royal Military and East India Colloges"; and finally he settled
at Netley, in Shropshire, where he died.

It is not the fault of English Orientalists if the MS. in
question is not thoroughly well known to the world of letters. In
1797 Sir Gore Ouseley's "Oriental Collections" (vol. ii. pp.
25-33) describes it, evidently with the aid of Scott, who is the
authority for stating that the tales generally appear like pearls
strung at random on the same thread; adding, "if they are truly
Oriental It is a matter of little importance to us Europeans
whether they are strung on this night or that night."[FN#1] This
first and somewhat imperfect catalogue of the contents was
followed in 1811 by a second, which concludes the six volume
edition of "The

ARABIAN NIGHTS
ENTERTAINMENTS,
Carefully revised and occasionally corrected
from the Arabic.
to which is added
A SELECTION OF NEW TALES,
Now first translated
from the Arabic Originals.
also,
AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES,
Illustrative of the
RELIGION, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE: MAHOMMEDANS."

The sixth volume, whose second title is "Tales | selected from
the Manuscript copy | of the | 1001 Nights | brought to Europe by
Edward Wortley Montague, Esq.," ends with a general Appendix, of
which ten pages are devoted to a description of the Codex and a
Catalogue of its contents. Scott's sixth volume, like the rest of
his version, is now becoming rare, and it is regretable that when
Messieurs Nimmo and Bain reprinted, in 1882, the bulk of the work
(4 vols. 8vo) they stopped short at volume five.

Lastly we find a third list dating from 1837 in the "Catalogi |
Codicum Manuscriptorum Orientalium | Bibliothecae Bodleianae |
Pars Secunda | Arabicos | complectens. | Confecit | Alexander
Nicoll, J.C.D. | Nuper Linguae Heb. Professor Regius, necnon
AEdis Christi Canonicus. | Editionem absolvit | et Catalogum
urianum[FN#2] aliquatenus emendavit | G. B. Pusey S.T.B. | Viri
desideratissimi Successor. | Oxonii, | E Topographio Academico |
MDCCCXXXV." This is introduced under the head, "Codicil Arabici
Mahommedani Narrationes Fictae sive Historiaes Romanenses | in
Quarto (pp . 145-150).

I am not aware that any attempt has been made to trace the
history of the Wortley Montague MS.; but its internal evidence
supplies a modicum of information.

By way of colophon to the seventh and last volume we have, "On
this wise end to us the Stories of the Kings and histories of
various folk as foregoing in the Thousand Nights and a Night,
perfected and completed, on the eighteenth day of Safar the
auspicious, which is of the months of (the year A.H.) one
thousand one hundred and seventy eight" (=A.D. 1764-65)

"Copied by the humblest and neediest of the poor, Omar-al-Safati,
to whose sins may Allah be Ruthful!

"An thou find in us fault deign default supply,
And hallow the Faultless and Glorify."

The term "Suftah" is now and has been applied for the last
century to the sons of Turkish fathers by Arab mothers, and many
of these Mulattos live by the pen. On the fly leaf of vol. i. is
written in a fine and flowing Persian (?) hand, strongly
contrasting with the text of the tome, which is unusually
careless and bad, "This book | The Thousand Nights and a Night of
the Acts and deeds (Sirat) of the Kings | and what befel them
from sundry | women that were whorish | and witty | and various |
Tales | therein." Below it also is a Persian couplet written in
vulgar Iranian characters of the half-Shikastah type:Ä

Chih goyam, o chih poyam? * Na mi-danam hich o puch.
(What shall I say or whither fly? * This stuff and this nonsense
know not I.)

Moreover, at the beginning of vol. i. is a list of fifteen tales
written in Europeo-Arabic characters, after schoolboy fashion,
and probably by Scott. In vol. ii. there is no initial list, but
by way of Foreword we read, "This is volume the second of the
Thousand Nights and a Night from the xciiid. Night, full and
complete." And the Colophon declares, "And this is what hath been
finished for us of the fourth (probably a clerical error for
"second") tome of the Thousand Nights and a Night to the
clxxviith. Night, written on the twentieth day of the month
Sha'ban A.H., one thousand one hundred and seventy-seven" (=A.D.
1764). This date shows that the MS. was finished during the year
after incept.

The text from which our MS. was copied must have been valuable,
and we have reason to regret that so many passages both of poetry
and prose are almost hopelessly corrupt. Its tone and tenor are
distinctly Nilotic; and, as Mr. E. Wortley Montague lived for
some time in Egypt, he may have bought it at the Capital of the
Nile-land. The story of the Syrian (v. 468) and that of the Two
Lack facts (vi. 262), notably exalt Misr and Cairo at the expense
of Sham and Damascus; and there are many other instances of
preferring Kemi the Black Soil to the so called "Holy Land." The
general tone, as well as the special incidents of the book,
argues that the stories may have been ancient, but they certainly
have been modernised. Coffee is commonly used (passim) although
tobacco is still unknown; a youth learns archery and gunnery
(Zarb al-Risas, vol. vii. 440); casting of cannon occurs (vol. v.
186), and in one place (vol. vi. 134) we read of "Taban-jatayn,"
a pair of pistols; the word, which is still popular, being a
corruption of the Persian "Tabancheh" = a slap or blow, even as
the French call a derringer coup de poing. The characteristic of
this Recueil is its want of finish. The stories are told after
perfunctory fashion as though the writer had not taken the
trouble to work out the details. There are no names or titles to
the tales, so that every translator must give his own; and the
endings are equally unsatisfactory, they usually content
themselves, after "native" fashion, with "Intiha" = finis, and
the connection with the thread of the work must be supplied by
the story-teller or the translator. Headlines were not in use for
the MSS. of that day, and the catchwords are often irregular, a
new word taking the place of the initial in the following page.

The handwriting, save and except in the first volume, has the
merit of regularity, and appears the same throughout the
succeeding six, except in the rare places (e.g. vi. 92-93), where
the lazy copyist did not care to change a worn-out pen, and
continued to write with a double nib. On the other hand, it is
the character of a village-schoolmaster whose literary culture is
at its lowest. Hardly a sheet appears without some blunder which
only in rare places is erased or corrected, and a few lacunae are
supplied by several hands, Oriental and European, the latter
presumably Scott's. Not unfrequently the terminal word of a line
is divided, a sign of great incuria or ignorance, as "Shahr |
baz" (i. 4), "Shahr | zad" (v. 309, vi. 106), and "Fawa |
jadtu-h" = so I found him (V. 104). Koranic quotations almost
always lack vowel points, and are introduced without the usual
ceremony. Poetry also, that crux of a skilful scribe, is
carelessly treated, and often enough two sets of verse are thrown
into one, the first rhyming in ur, and the second in ir (e.g.
vol. v. 256). The rhyme-words also are repeated within unlawful
limits (passim and vol. v. 308, 11. 6 and II). Verse is thrust
into the body of the page (vii. 112) without signs of citation in
red ink or other (iii. 406); and rarely we find it, as it should
be, in distichs divided by the normal conventional marks,
asterisks and similar separations. Sometimes it appears in a
column of hemistichs after the fashion of Europe (iv. III; iv..
232, etc.): here (v. 226) a quotation is huddled into a single
line; there (v. 242) four lines, written as monostichs, are
followed by two distichs in as many lines.

As regards the metrical part Dr. Steingass writes to me, "The
verses in Al-Hayfa and Yusuf, where not mere doggerel, are
spoiled by the spelling. I was rarely able to make out even the
metre and I think you have accomplished a feat by translating
them as you have done."

The language of the MS. is generally that of the Fellah and
notably so in sundry of the tales, such as, "The Goodwife of
Cairo and her four Gallants" (v. 444). Of this a few verbal and
phrasal instances will suffice. Adini = here am I (v. 198); Ahna
(passim, for nahnu) nakhaf = we fear; 'Alayki (for 'alayki) = on
thee; and generally the long vowel (-k ) for the short (-ki) in
the pronoun of the second person feminine; Antah (for ante) =
thou (vi. 96) and Antu (for antum) = you (iii. 351); Araha and
even aruha, ruhat and ruha (for raha) = he went (Vii. 74 and iv.
75) and Aruhu (for ruhu) = go ye (iv. 179); Bakarah * * * allazi
(for allati) = a cow (he) who, etc.; (see in this vol., p. 253)
and generally a fine and utter contempt for genders, e.g. Hum
(for hunna) masc. for fem. (iii. 91; iii. 146; and v. 233); Ta
'ali (for ta'al) fem. for masc. (vi. 96 et passim); Bihim (for
bi-him) = with them (v. 367); Bi-kam (for bi-kum) = with you
(iii. 142) are fair specimens of long broad vowels supplanting
the short, a peculiarity known in classical Arab., e.g. Miftah
(for Miftah) = a key. Here, however, it is exaggerated, e.g.
Ba'id (for ba'id) = far (iv. 167); Kam (for kam) = how many? Kum
(for kum) = you (v. 118); Kul-ha (for kul-ha) = tell it (iv 58);
Min (for man) = who? (iii. 89); Mirwad (for Mirwad)= a branding
iron; Natanashshad (for natanashshad) = we seek tidings (v. 211);
Rajal (pron. Ragil, for Rajul) = a man (iv. 118 and passim);
Sahal (for sahal) = easy, facile (iv. 7I); Sir (for sir) = go, be
off! (v. 199); Shil (for shil) =carry away (i. 111); and Zahab
(for zahab) = gold (v. 186). This broad Doric or Caledonian
articulation is not musical to unaccustomed organs. As in popular
parlance the Dal supplants the Zal; e.g. Dahaba (for zahaba) = he
went (v. 277 and passim); also T takes the place of Th, as Tult
for thulth = one third (iii. 348) and Tamrat (for thamrat) =
fruit (v. 260), thus generally ignoring the sibilant Th after the
fashion of the modern Egyptians who say Tumm (for thumma) =
again; "Kattir (for kaththir) Khayrak" = God increase thy weal,
and Lattama (for laththama) = he veiled. Also a general ignoring
of the dual, e.g. Haza 'usfurayn (for 'Usfurani) = these be birds
(vi. 121); Nazalu al-Wazirayn (do) = the two Wazirs went down
(vii. 123); and lastly Al-Wuzara al-itnayn (for Al-Wazirani) =
the two Wazirs (vii. 121). Again a fine contempt for numbers, as
Nanzur ana (for Anzur) = I (we) see (v. 198) and Inni (for inna)
naruhu = indeed I (we) go (iii. 190). Also an equally
conscientious disregard for cases, as Min mal abu-ha (for abi-ha)
= out of the moneys of her sire (iv. 190); and this is apparently
the rule of the writer.

Of Egyptianisms and vulgarisms we have Ant, ma ghibtshayy = thou,
hast thou not been absent at all? with the shayy (a thing)
subjoined to the verb in this and similar other phrases; Baksish
for Bakhshish (iv. 356); Al-Jawaz (for al-ziwaj) = marriage (i.
14); Faki or Faki (for fakih) = a divine (vi. 207 and passim);
Finjal (for finjan) = a coffee-cup (v. 424, also a Najdi or
Central Arabian corruption); Kuwayyis = nice, pretty (iv. 179);
Layali (for lialla) = lest that (v. 285); Luhumat (for lukum) =
meats, a mere barbarism (v. 247); Matah (for Mata) =when? (v.
464); Ma'ayah (for ma'i) =with me (vi. 13 et passim); Shuwayy (or
shuwayyah) Mayah, a double diminutive (for Muwayy or Muwayh) = a
small little water, intensely Nilotic (iv. 44); Mbarih or Embarah
(for Al-barihah) = yesterday (v. 449); Takkat (for Dakkat) = she
rapped (iv. 190); ézbasha and Uzbasha (for Yuzbashi) = a
centurion, a captain (v.430 et passim); Zaidjah for Zaijah (vi.
329); Zaraghit (for Zagharit) = lullilooing (iv. 12); Zinah (for
Zina) = adultery, and lastly Zuda (for Zada) = increased (iv.
87). Here the reader will cry jam satis; while the student will
compare the list with that given in my Terminal Essay (vol. x.
149).

The two Appendices require no explanation. No. I. is a Catalogue
of the Tales in the Wortley Montague MS., and No. II. contains
Notes upon the Storiology of the Supplemental Volumes IV. and V.
by the practiced pen of Mr. W. P. Kirby. The sheets during my
absence from England have been passed through the press and
sundry additions and corrections have been made by Dr. Steingass.

In conclusion I would state that my hope was to see this Volume
(No. xv.) terminate my long task; but circumstance is stronger
than my will and I must ask leave to bring out one more--The New
Arabian Nights.

RICHARD F. BURTON.

ATHENAEUM CLUB, September 1st, 1888.






Supplemental Nights

To The Book Of The

Thousand Nights And A Night






THE HISTORY OF THE KING'S SON OF SIND AND THE
LADY FATIMAH.[FN#3]



It is related that whilome there was a King of the many Kings of
Sind who had a son by other than his wife. Now the youth,
whenever he entered the palace, would revile[FN#4] and abuse and
curse and use harsh words to his step-mother, his father's Queen,
who was beautiful exceedingly; and presently her charms were
changed and her face waxed wan and for the excess of what she
heard from him she hated life and fell to longing for death.
Withal she could not say a word concerning the Prince to his
parent. One day of the days, behold an aged woman (which had been
her nurse) came in to her and saw her in excessive sorrow and
perplext as to her affair for that she knew not what she could do
with her stepson. So the ancient dame said to her, "O my lady, no
harm shall befal thee; yet is thy case changed into other case
and thy colour hath turned to yellow." Hereupon the Queen told
her all that had befallen her from her step-son of harsh language
and revilement and abuse, and the other rejoined, "O my lady, let
not thy breast be straitened, and when the youth shall come to
thee and revile thee and abuse thee, do thou say him, 'Pull thy
wits somewhat together till such time as thou shalt have brought
back the Lady Fatimah, daughter of 'Amir ibn al-Nu'um n.'" The
old woman taught her these words by heart, and anon went forth
from her, when the Prince entered by the door and spoke harsh
words and abused and reviled her; so his father's wife said to
him, "Lower thy tone and pull thy wits somewhat together, for
thou be a small matter until thou shalt bring back the daughter
of the Sultan, hight Fatimah, the child of 'Amir ibn al-Nu'uman."
Now when he heard these words he cried, "By Allah, 'tis not
possible but that I go and return with the said Lady Fatimah;"
after which he repaired to his sire and said, "'Tis my desire to
travel; so do thou prepare for me provision of all manner
wherewith I may wend my way to a far land, nor will I return
until I win to my wish." Hereupon his father fell to transporting
whatso he required of victuals, various and manifold, until all
was provided, and he got ready for him whatso befitted of bales
and camels and pages and slaves and eunuchs and negro chattels.
Presently they loaded up and the youth, having farewelled his
father and his friends and his familiars, set forth seeking the
country of Fatimah bint Amir, and he travelled for the first day
and the second day until he found himself in the middle of the
wilds and the Wadys, and the mountains and the stony wastes. This
lasted for two months till such time as he reached a region
wherein were Gh£ls and ferals, and to one and all who met him and
opposed him he would give something of provaunt and gentle them
and persuade them to guide him upon his way. After a time he met
a Shaykh well stricken in years; so he salamed to him and the
other, after returning his greeting, asked him saying, "What was
it brought thee to this land and region wherein are naught but
wild beasts and Ghuls?" whereto he answered, "O Shaykh, I came
hither for the sake of the Lady Fatimah, daughter of 'Amir ibn
al-Nu'uman." Hereat exclaimed the greybeard, "Deceive not
thyself, for assuredly thou shalt be lost together with what are
with thee of men and moneys, and the maiden in question hath been
the cause of destruction to many Kings and Sultans. Her father
hath three tasks which he proposeth to every suitor, nor owneth
any the power to accomplish a single one, and he conditioneth
that if any fail to fulfil them and avail not so to do, he shall
be slain. But I, O my son, will inform thee of the three which be
these: First the King will bring together an ardabb of sesame
grain and an ardabb of clover-seed and an ardabb of lentils; and
he will mingle them one with other, and he will say:--Whoso
seeketh my daughter to wife, let him set apart each sort, and
whoso hath no power thereto I will smite his neck. And as all
have failed in the attempt their heads were struck off next
morning and were hung up over the Palace gateway. Now the second
task is this: the King hath a cistern[FN#5] full of water, and he
conditioneth that the suitor shall drink it up to the last drop,
under pain of losing his life; and the third is as follows: he
owneth a house without doors and windows, and it hath[FN#6] three
hundred entrances and a thousand skylights and two thousand
closets: so he covenanteth with the suitor that he make for that
place whatever befitteth of doors and lattices and cabinets, and
the whole in a single night. Now here is sufficient to engross
thine intellect, O my son, but take thou no heed and I will do
thy task for thee." Quoth the other, "O my uncle, puissance and
omnipotence are to Allah!" and quoth the Shaykh, "Go, O my son,
and may the Almighty forward the works of thee." So the Prince
farewelled him and travelled for the space of two days, when
suddenly the ferals and the Ghuls opposed his passage and he gave
them somewhat of provaunt which they ate, and after they pointed
out to him the right path. Then he entered upon a Wady wherein
flights of locusts barred the passage, so he scattered for them
somewhat of fine flour which they picked up till they had eaten
their sufficiency. Presently he found his way into another valley
of iron-bound rocks, and in it there were of the J nn what could
not be numbered or described, and they cut and crossed his way
athwart that iron tract. So he came forward and salam'd to them
and gave them somewhat of bread and meat and water, and they ate
and drank till they were filled, after which they guided him on
his journey and set him in the right direction. Then he fared
forwards till he came to the middle of the mountain, where he was
opposed by none, or mankind or Jinn-kind, and he ceased not
marching until he drew near the city of the Sultan whose daughter
he sought to wife. Here he set up a tent and sat therein seeking
repose for a term of three days; then he arose and walked
forwards until he entered the city, where he fell to looking
about him leftwards and rightwards till he had reached the
palace[FN#7] of the King. He found there over the gateway some
hundred heads which were hanging up, and he cried to himself,
"Veil me, O thou Veiler! All these skulls were suspended for the
sake of the Lady Fatimah, but the bye-word saith, 'Whoso dieth
not by the sword dieth of his life-term,' and manifold are the
causes whereas death be singlefold." Thereupon he went forwards
to the palace gate--And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of
day, and fell silent and ceased saying her permitted say. Then
quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, O
sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!" Quoth she, "And
where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the
coming night an the Sovran suffer me to survive?" Now when it was
the next night and that was

The 10 Best Books of 2008
The Book Review picks the best works from the last year.

ArtsBeat: Major Reorganization at Random House
The shakeup at the world’s largest publisher of consumer books includes the resignations of two top executives.

Books of The Times: The Days of Their Lives: Lesbians Star in Funny Pages
This anthology of Alison Bechdel’s weekly comic strip follows an articulate group of lesbians through more than 20 years of daily life, with plenty of sex and politics along the way.