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originally written in Syria, about five centuries ago, in the vulgar Arabic tongue; that it was left unfinished by the author or (more probably) authors, who had possibly adopted the framework of exterior or connecting narrative suggested by the Hezar Efsan in the same manner as the scheme of the old Indian work of “Sindibad,” already mentioned, was adopted by the authors of “The Seven Wise Masters,” “Dolopathos,” “Syntipas,” etc., etc., as an excuse for the composition of works to all practical intent completely original; that the work was finished by other hands, probably copyists, who completed it by adding stories of foreign origin, such as Jelyaad and Shimas and the Malice of Women; that several persons undertook the task in company, each supplying tales of his own composition or transcription; and finally, in view of the general resemblance of the style to the modern Egyptian dialect and to the prevalence throughout of descriptions of modern Egyptian manners, that the work received its final revision at the hands of some Egyptian or Egyptians of the fifteenth century, the absence of any mention of firearms, tobacco and coffee forbidding to ascribe it to any more recent period.[1] M. de Sacy’s opinion has now, I believe, been generally adopted by the Oriental scholars of Europe. The late eminent English
- ↑ This is a mistake of De Sacy’s; tobacco is mentioned once and coffee and firearms several times. Some scholars hold that the passages in which this occurs have been interpolated by copyists; but it appears to me that this supposition is negatived (except in one instance) by the general character of the stories in question, which bear manifest signs of a comparatively modern origin.
