The Thousand Nights - III

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

İngiliz belgelerinde Atatürk - III [Türkçe, Ankara, 1973]

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

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

The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night - III

Powys Mathers

Routledge

It is related, O auspicious King, that there were once in Alexandria a dyer called Abu Kir and a barber named Abu Sir, who had neighbouring shops in the market.

Abu Kir was a notorious rascal, a detestable liar, and a man of exceedingly ill life. His temples must have been hewn of indestructible granite and his head formed from one of the steps of the synagogue of Jews; otherwise how are we to explain the shameless audacity which he displayed in all his sins? Among countless other pieces of roguery, he used to make most of his clients pay in advance, ...

Contents of Volume III

The tale of Abu Kir and Abu Sir / 1
Moral anecdotes from the perfumed garden

Containing
The Three Wishes / 27
The Boy and the Rubber / 29
There is White and White / 31
The tale of land Abdallah and Sea Abdallah / 35
The tale of the yellow youth / 53
The tale of pomegranate-flower and Badr Basim / 71
Ishak’s winter evening / 105
The Fallah of Egypt and his white children / 111
The tale of Khalifah the fisherman / 117
The adventures of Hasan of Basrah / 155
The Diwan of jovial and indecent folk

Containing
The Historic Fart / 223
The Two Jesters / 225
A Woman’s Trick / 226

The tale of the sleeper wakened / 233
The loves of Zain al-Mawasif / 269
The tale of the lazy youth / 287
The tale of young Nur and the warrior girl / 297
The recitals of generosity and conduct

containing
Salah al-Din and His Wazir / 343
The Lovers’ Tomb / 345
The Divorce of Hind / 351

The strange tale of the mirror of virgins / 355
The tale of Ala al-din and the wonderful lamp / 375
The parable of true learning / 441
Farizad of the rose’s smile / 445
The tale of Kamar and the expert Halimah / 465
The tale of the leg of mutton / 489
The keys of destiny / 495
The diwan of easy jests and laughing wisdom

containing
The Everlasting Slippers / 517
Buhlul the Jester / 520
The Invitation to Universal Peace / 521
The Tale of the Tied Points / 524
The Tale of the Two Hashish-Eaters / 526
The Tale of the Father of Farts / 529
The Tale of the Kadi-Mule / 536
The Kadi and the Ass’s Foal / 540
The Tale of the Astute Kadi / 545
The Man Who Understood Women / 548
The Hashish-Eater in Judgment / 552

The tale of princess Nur al-Nihar and the lovely Jinniyah / 555

The Tale of Abu Kir and Abu Sir

SHAHRAZAD SAID:

It is related, O auspicious King, that there were once in Alexandria a dyer called Abu Kir and a barber named Abu Sir, who had neighbouring shops in the market.

Abu Kir was a notorious rascal, a detestable liar, and a man of exceedingly ill life. His temples must have been hewn of indestructible granite and his head formed from one of the steps of the synagogue of Jews; otherwise how are we to explain the shameless audacity which he displayed in all his sins? Among countless other pieces of roguery, he used to make most of his clients pay in advance, alleging that he had need of ready money to buy colours…and that was the last they saw of the stuffs which they had brought to be dyed. He not only spent the money in pleasant eating and drinking, but also secretly sold the stuffs which had been trusted to him and bought himself amusements of a high order with the proceeds. When the customers came to claim their goods, he would find one pretext or another to make them wait indefinitely. Thus he would say to one: ‘As Allah lives, my master, my wife lay in yesterday and I had to be up and down upon my feet all the time.’ Or to another: ‘I had guests yesterday and all my time was taken up with them; but if you come back in two days the stuff will be ready for you.’ He drew out every piece of business which came his way to such extravagant lengths that at last one of his victims would be bound to cry: ‘Come, tell me the truth about my stuffs. Give them back, for I have decided not to have them dyed.’ ‘Alas, I am in despair!’ Abu Kir would answer, lifting his hands to heaven, swearing every imaginable oath that he would tell the truth, beating his hands together and weeping. ‘Dear master,’ he would sob, ‘as soon as your stuffs were most beautifully dyed, I hung them on the drying cords outside my shop; I turned away for a moment to piss and when I looked again they had ...

Powys Mathers

The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night - III

Routledge

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

The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night
Rendered into English from the literal and complete
French translation of Dr J.C.Mardrus
By Powys Mathers
Volume III
London and New York

Second edition 1964

First published as a paperback in 1986
by Routledge & Kegan Paul plc

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005

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ISBN 0-203-35913-5 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-37169-0 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-04541-X (vol. III)
ISBN 0-415-04543-6 (set)