The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night/Volume 1

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The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night
translated by Richard Francis Burton

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200822The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 1Richard Francis Burton

THE LIBRARY EDITION
OF
The Arabian Nights' Entertainments

VOLUME I

للابرار كلّ شی برّ‎

"TO THE PURE ALL THINGS ARE PURE"
(Puris omnia pura).

—Arab Proverb.

"Niuna corrotta mente intese mai sanamente parole."

—"Decameron"—conclusion.

"Erubuit, posuitque meum Lucretia librum
Sed coram Bruto. Brute! recede, leget."

—Martial.

"Mieulx est de ris que de larmes escripre,
Pour ce que rire est le propre des hommes."

—Rabelais.

"The pleasure we derive from perusing the Thousand-and-One Stories makes us regret that we possess only a comparatively small part of these truly enchanting fictions."

—Crichton’s "History of Arabia."

The Book of the

Thousand Nights and a Night

TRANSLATED FROM THE ARABIC BY

CAPTAIN SIR R. F. BURTON

K.C.M.G. F.R.G.S. &c. &c. &c.

REPRINTED FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITION AND EDITED BY

LEONARD C. SMITHERS

IN TWELVE VOLUMES—VOLUME I

LONDON

H. S. NICHOLS & CO. 3 SOHO SQUARE W

MDCCCXCIIII

COPYRIGHT ENTERED
AT STATIONERS' HALL, 1894

PRINTED BY H. S. NICHOLS AND CO., AT 3, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

EDITOR'S NOTE

This Library Edition of Sir Richard Burton's Translation of "The Arabian Nights" has been printed with a close and careful collation of his own copy of the original issue, and all his corrections and additional notes have been inserted.

In dealing with certain gross passages in the text and with a few of the translator's "anthropological" notes, I have borne in mind that the Book is not only a classic but also a scientific and ethnographical work, and that therefore greater latitude of expression is properly allowable than would be the case with a mere story book of to-day.

In Lady Burton's edition, which was a reprint of the first ten volumes only of the original issue, it was thought advisable to omit no fewer than 215 pages; in this edition, which comprises the whole sixteen volumes (the entire work), more than four-fifths of these omitted passages have been restored.

These few omissions are also rendered necessary by the pledge which Sir Richard gave to his Subscribers that no cheaper edition of the entire work should be issued; but in all other respects the original text has been reproduced with scrupulous fidelity.

The reader has here, therefore, the most complete English edition of The Nights that can ever be published, the extreme grossness of the few words and passages omitted absolutely precluding their appearance. It cannot, however, be reasonably said that these slight excisions in any way damage the Book; on the contrary, they enable this great monument of Eastern literature—an acknowledged masterpiece of translation—to be freed from the burdensome restriction of being kept under lock and key, and to take its proper place on the library shelf alongside Cervantes and Shakespeare.

Leonard C. Smithers.

October 10th, 1894.

BENARES: MDCCCLXXXV: PRINTED BY THE KAMASHASTRA SOCIETY FOR PRIVATE SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.

VOLUME I.

A PLAIN AND LITERAL TRANSLATION OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS, NOW ENTITULED

THE BOOK OF THE

Thousand Nights and a Night

WITH INTRODUCTION EXPLANATORY NOTES ON THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF MOSLEM MEN AND A TERMINAL ESSAY UPON THE HISTORY OF THE NIGHTS

BY

RICHARD F. BURTON

Inscribed to the Memory

OF

MY LAMENTED FRIEND

John Frederick Steinhaeuser,

(CIVIL SURGEON, ADEN)

WHO

A QUARTER OF A CENTURY AGO

ASSISTED ME IN THIS TRANSLATION.

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

                              PAGE

THE TRANSLATOR'S FORWARD . . . xvii.

INTRODUCTION. . . 1

STORY OF KING SHAHRYAR AND HIS BROTHER. . . 2

a. TALE OF THE BULL AND THE ASS. . . 14

(Lane, vol. I., 1-16)

1. TALE OF THE TRADER AND THE JINNI. . . 22

(Lane - Chap. 1. Story of the Merchant and the Jinnee: p. 43)

a. THE FIRST SHAYKH'S STORY. . . 25

(Lane - Story of the First Sheykh and the Gazelle: p. 48)

b. THE SECOND SHAYKH'S STORY. . . 29

(Lane - Story of the Second Sheykh and the two Black Hounds: p. 52)

c. THE THIRD SHAYKH'S STORY. . . 33

(Lane - Story of the Third Sheykh and the Mule: p. 56)

2. THE FISHERMAN AND THE JINNI. . . 34

(Lane - Chapt. II. Story of the Fisherman: p. 78)

a. TALE OF THE WAZIR AND THE SAGE DUBAN. . . 41

(Lane - Story of King Yoonan and the Sage Dooban: p. 84)

ab. STORY OF KING SINDIBAD AND HIS FALCON. . . 46

ac. TALE OF THE HUSBAND AND THE PARROT. . . 48

(Lane - Story of the Husband and the Parrot: p. 89)

ad. TALE OF THE PRINCE AND THE OGRESS. . . 50

(Lane - Story of the Envious Wezeer and the Prince and the Ghoolah: p. 91)

b. TALE OF THE ENSORCELLED PRINCE. . . 64

(Lane - Story of the Young King of the Black Islands: p. 106)

3. THE PORTER AND THE THREE LADIES OF BAGHDAD. . . 75

(Lane - Chapt. III. Story of the Porter and the Ladies of Baghdad, and of the three Royal Mendicants, etc.: p. 136) . . . PAGE

a. THE FIRST KALANDAR'S TALE. . . 96

(Lane - Story of the First Royal Mendicant: p. 150)

b. THE SECOND KALANDAR'S TALE. . . 104

(Lane - Story of the Second Royal Mendicant: p. 157)

ba. TALE OF THE ENVIER AND THE ENVIED. . . 113

(Lane - Story of the Envier and the Envied: p. 166)

c. THE THIRD KALANDAR'S TALE. . . 128

(Lane - Story of the Third Royal Mendicant: p. 178)

d. THE ELDEST LADY'S TALE. . . 149

e. TALE OF THE PORTRESS. . . 160

CONCLUSION OF THE STORY OF THE PORTER AND THE THREE LADIES. . . 169

4. TALE OF THE THREE APPLES. . . 171

(Lane - Chapt. IV. Story of the Three Apples, etc.: p. 250)

5. TALE OF NUR AL-DIN ALI AND HIS SON BADR AL-DIN HASAN. . . 179

(Lane - Story of Noor ed-Deen and his Son, and of Shems ed-Deen and his Daughter: p. 253)

6. THE HUNCHBACK'S TALE. . .234

(Lane - Chapt. V. Story of the Humpback.: p. 328)

a. THE NAZARENE BROKER'S STORY. . . 241

(Lane - Story told by the Christian Broker: p. 334)

b. THE REEVE'S TALE. . . 256

(Lane - Story told by the Sultan's Steward: p. 348)

c. TALE OF THE JEWISH DOCTOR. . . 265

(Lane - Story told by the Jewish Physician: p. 359)

d. TALE OF THE TAILOR. . . 276

(Lane - Story told by the Tailor: p. 368)

e. THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIMSELF. . . 292

(Lane - The Barber's Story of Himself: p. 383)

ea. THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS FIRST BROTHER. . . 294

(Lane - The Barber's Story of His First Brother: p. 385)

eb. THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS SECOND BROTHER. . . 299

(Lane - The Barber's Story of His Second Brother: p. 389)

ec. THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS THIRD BROTHER. . . 303

(Lane - The Barber's Story of His Third Brother: p. 392)

ed. THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS FOURTH BROTHER. . . 306

(Lane - The Barber's Story of his Fourth Brother: p. 396) . . . PAGE

ee. THE BARBER'S TALE OF HIS FIFTH BROTHER. . . 309

(Lane - The Barber's Story of His Fifth Brother: p. 440)

ef. THE BARBER'S TALE OF THIS SIXTH BROTHER. . . 317

(Lane - The Barber's Story of His Sixth Brother.)

THE END OF THE TALILOR'S TALE. . . 321

7. NUR AL-DIN ALI AND THE DAMSEL ANIS AL-JALIS. . . 329

(Lane - Chapt. VI. Story of Noor ed-Deen and Enees el-Jelees: p. 456)

8. TALE OF GHANIM BIN AYYUB, THE DISTRAUGHT, THE THRALL O' LOVE. . . 369

(Lane - Chapt. VII. Story of Ghanim the Son of Eiyoob, the Distracted Slave of Love: p. 487)

a. TALE OF THE FIRST EUNUCH, BUKHAYT. . . 372

b. TALE OF THE SECOND EUNUCH, KAFUR. . . 374

(Lane - Story of the Slave Kafoor: p. 491)

9. TALE OF KING OMAR BIN AL-NU'UMAN AND HIS SONS SHARRKAN AND ZAU AL-MAKAN. . . 398