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The Thousand Nights - I


Author : Powys Mathers
Editor : Routledge Date & Place : 2004, London
Preface : Pages : 644
Traduction : J.C.MardrusISBN : 0-415-04539-8
Language : EnglishFormat : 130x205 mm
FIKP's Code : Liv. Ang.Theme : Literature

The Thousand Nights - I
Versions

The Thousand Nights - I [English, London, 2004]

The Thousand Nights - II [English, London, 2005]

The Thousand Nights - III [English, London, 2005]

The Thousand Nights - IV [English, London, 2005]


The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night - I

Powys Mathers

Routledge

For this revised edition of The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night all names of persons and places and all Arabic words retained in the text have, where necessary, been compared with and corrected by Macnaghten’s Calcutta Edition of the original (1839–42). As the object of the present translation was in the first place, and still is, to parallel Dr. Mardrus’ ideal of a simple and un annotated version of the complete work for the entertainment of the casual reader, the system of transliteration adopted here, though it gives a consistency lacking in my first edition and in the French of Dr. Mardrus, has been simplified almost beyond the approval of scholars. I have taken this course because I have been assured by experts on the subject that the Anglo-Saxon eye, when reading for pleasure, invariably shies at and side-steps any foreign word decorated with diacritical points or such sound-signs as ‘(for ‘ain) and’ (for aliph). The long vowels are marked in order that the reader may have some idea of the rhythm intended, but all other signs are omitted lest they should spoil his enjoyment of the text. Such a simplification allows, of course, of misunderstanding; it does not, for instance, show that Abu Ishak, Harun’s musician, should be pronounced Is-hak; but such occasional losses seem, when we bear in mind the purpose of the translation, more than counterbalanced by the gain in ease of reading and to the eye.


Contents of volume I

Note / ix
Dedication / xi
Invocation / xii

The tale of king Shahryar and of his brother,
King Shahzaman / 1
Containing
The Fable of the Ass, the Bull and the Husbandman / 6

The tale of the merchant and the Ifrīt / 10
Containing
The Tale of the First Sheikh / 12
The Tale of the Second Sheikh / 15
The Tale of the Third Sheikh / 18

The fisherman and the jinni / 19
Containing
The Tale of the Wazīr of King Ynān and Rayyān the
Doctor / 24
Which itself includes
The Tale of King Sindbād and the Falcon / 29
The Tale of the Prince and the Ogress / 30
The Tale of the Young Man and the Fishes / 42

The tale of the porter and the young girls / 50
Containing
Tale of the First Kalandar / 66
Tale of the Second Kalandar / 72
Tale of the Third Kalandar / 89
The Tale of Zubaidah, the First of the Girls / 103
The Tale of the Portress Amīnah / 111

The tale of the woman cut in pieces, the three
Apples and the Negro Raīhan / 120
The tale of the Wazīr Nūr Al-Dīn / 127

The tale of the hunchback with the tailor, the
christian broker, the steward and the Jewish
doctor; what followed after; and the tales
Which each of them told / 174
containing
The Tale of the Christian Broker / 180
The Tale of the Steward / 195
The Tale of the Jewish Doctor / 204
The Tale of the Tailor
which itself includes / 213
The Tale Of The Lame Man With The Barber Of Baghdad / 214

The tale of the barber of Baghdad and the tales of his six brothers / 232
That is to say
The Tale of the Barber / 232
The Tale of Bakbūk, the Barber’s First Brother / 235
The Tale of al-Haddār, the Barber’s Second Brother / 239
The Tale of Bakbāk, the Barber’s Third Brother / 242
The Tale of al-Kūz, the Barber’s Fourth Brother / 246
The Tale of al-Ashār, the Barber’s Fifth Brother / 250
The Tale of Shakkāshik, the Barber’s Sixth Brother / 259
The Tale of the Hunchback (continued) / 268

The tale of sweet-friend and Ali-Nūr / 271

The tale of Ghanim ibn Ayyūb and his sister Fitnah / 316
Containing
The Tale of the Negro Sawwāb, the First Sudanese Eunuch / 319
The Tale of the Negro Kāfūr, the Second Sudanese Eunuch / 321
The Tale of the Negro Bukhait, the Third Sudanese Eunuch / 325
The Tale of Ghānim ibn Ayyūb (continued) / 325

The tale of king Umar al-Numān and his two remarkable sons,
Sharkān and dū al-makān / 345
Containing
The Sayings on the Three Doors / 399
The Tale of the Death of King Umar al-Numān and the
Admirable Discourses which Went Before it / 426
That is to say
The Discourse of the First Girl / 427
The Discourse of the Second Girl / 429
The Discourse of the Third Girl / 430
The Discourse of the Fourth Girl / 430
The Discourse of the Fifth Girl / 432
The Discourse of the Old Woman / 433
The Tale of the Monastery / 454
The Tale of Azīz and Azīzah, and of Prince Tāj al-Mulūk, Crown of Kings / 475
Which itself includes
The Tale of Azīz and Azīzah / 488
The Tale of Princess Dunya and Prince Tāj al-Mulūk / 521
The Adventures of Young Kāna ma Kāna, Son of Dū al-Mak&n / 553
The Tale of the Hash(sh Eater / 565
The Tale of Hammād the Badawī / 575

The delightful tale of the beasts and birds / 583
Containing
The Tale of the Goose, the Peacock and the Peahen / 583
The Tale of the Shepherd and the Girl / 593
The Tale of the Tortoise and the Heron / 595
The Tale of the Wolf and the Fox / 597
The Tale of the Mouse and the Weasel / 603
The Tale of the Crow and the Civet / 604
The Tale of the Crow and the Fox / 605

The tale of ali ibn bakr and the fair shams Al-Nahā / 611


NOTE

For this revised edition of The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night all names of persons and places and all Arabic words retained in the text have, where necessary, been compared with and corrected by Macnaghten’s Calcutta Edition of the original (1839–42). As the object of the present translation was in the first place, and still is, to parallel Dr. Mardrus’ ideal of a simple and un annotated version of the complete work for the entertainment of the casual reader, the system of transliteration adopted here, though it gives a consistency lacking in my first edition and in the French of Dr. Mardrus, has been simplified almost beyond the approval of scholars. I have taken this course because I have been assured by experts on the subject that the Anglo-Saxon eye, when reading for pleasure, invariably shies at and side-steps any foreign word decorated with diacritical points or such sound-signs as ‘(for ‘ain) and’ (for aliph). The long vowels are marked in order that the reader may have some idea of the rhythm intended, but all other signs are omitted lest they should spoil his enjoyment of the text. Such a simplification allows, of course, of misunderstanding; it does not, for instance, show that Abu Ishak, Harun’s musician, should be pronounced Is-hak; but such occasional losses seem, when we bear in mind the purpose of the translation, more than counterbalanced by the gain in ease of reading and to the eye.

P.M.



This revised edition of
The Book of the Thousand Nights
and One Night
is affectionately dedicated to
Jack Isaacs
who liked the work in its first
and more imperfect form
P.M.

As Allah Wills!
In the Name of Allah
The Merciful, The Compassionate!

Praise be to Allah, master of the Universe! And prayer and peace upon the Prince of Messengers, Muhammad our lord paramount! And upon all his people prayer and peace together for ever until the judgment day!

And afterwards! May the legends of the men of old be lessons to the people of our time, so that a man may see those things which befell others beside himself: then he will honour and consider carefully the words and adventures of past peoples, and will reprove himself.

Also glory be to him who preserved the tales of the first dwellers to be a guide for the purposes of the last! Now it is from among these lessons that the stories called The Thousand Nights and One Night are taken; together with all that there is in them of wonder and instruction.

The Tale of King Shahryār and of his Brother, King Shahzamān

It is related-but Allāh is all wise and all knowing, all powerful and all beneficent-that there was, in the tide and show of ancient time and the passage of the age and of the moment, a king among the kings of Sāsān, in the isles of India and China. He was master of armies and auxiliaries, of slaves and of a great following; and he had two sons, one tall and the other small. Both were heroic horsemen; but the taller was the greater in this exercise and reigned over lands and governed with justice among men, so that the peoples of the land and of the kingdom loved him. His name was King Shahryār. The smaller brother was called King Shahzamān and ruled over Samarkand al-Ajam.

Both lived in their countries and were just rulers of the people for a space of twenty years; by the end of which time each was at the height of his splendour and his growth.

This was the way with them until the tall king was seized by a violent longing to see his brother. Then he commanded his Wazīr to depart and return with him: and the Wazīr answered: ‘I hear and I obey. The Wazīr set out and, arriving in all security by the grace of Allāh, entered the presence of the brother, wished him peace, and told him the purpose of his journey.

King Shahzamān answered: ‘I hear and I obey.’ Then he made preparations for his departure and for the going out of his tents, his camels, and mules; his slaves and fighting-men. Lastly he raised his own Wazīr to the governorship, and departed to seek the lands of his brother.

But, in the middle of the night, he recalled a thing which he had left forgotten at the palace. Returning and entering, he found his wife stretched on her bed and being embraced by a black slave. At this sight, the world darkened before his face and he said within his soul: if such a thing has come to pass when I have hardly left the city, what would the conduct of this wanton be if I were absent for long at my brother’s house?’ So he drew his sword and with one stroke killed them upon the carpets of the bed. Then he returned and, ordering his camp to move forward, journeyed through the night till he came to his brother’s city.

.....

 


Powys Mathers

The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night - I

Routledge

Routledge, Taylor & Francis group
The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night
Volume I
Powys Mathers

Rendered into English from the literal and complete
French translation of Dr J.C.Mardrus
By Powys Mathers

Routledge
Taylor & Francis group
London and New York

Second edition 1964
First published as a paperback in 1986
by Routhuledge & Kegan Paul plc

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.

ISBN 0-203-40760-1 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-71584-5 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-04539-8 (vol. I)
ISBN 0-415-04543-6 (set)

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