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.
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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)
