London Printed For Subscribers Only

1901

Delhi Edition Contents of The First Volume.

Introduction.Story of King Shehriyar and his Brother a. Story of the Ox and the Ass PREFATORY NOTE.

The present isI believethe first complete translation of the great Arabic compendium of romantic fiction that has been attempted in any European language comprising about four times as much matter as that of Galland and three times as much as that of any other translator known to myself；and a short statement of the sources from which it is derived may therefore be acceptable to my readers. Three printed editionsmore or less complete，exist of the Arabic text of the Thousand and One Nights；namely，those of BreslauBoulac （Cairo） and Calcutta （1839）besides an incomplete onecomprising the first two hundred nights only，published at Calcutta in 1814. Of thesethe first is horribly corrupt and greatly inferiorboth in style and completenessto the othersand the second （that of Boulac） is alsothough in a far less degreeincompletewhole stories （asfor instance，that of the Envier and the Envied in the present volume） being omitted and hiatusesvarying in extent from a few lines to several pagesbeing of frequent occurrencewhilst in addition to these defectsthe editora learned Egyptianhas played havoc with the style of his originalin an ill-judged attempt to improve itproducing a medleymore curious than edifyingof classical and semi-modern diction and now and thenin his unlucky zealcompletely disguising the pristine meaning of certain passages. The third editionthat which we owe to Sir William Macnaghten and which appears to have been printed from a superior copy of the manu followed by the Egyptian editor，is by far the most carefully printed and edited of the three and offerson the wholethe least corrupt and most comprehensive text of the work. I have therefore adopted it as my standard or basis of translation and haveto the best of my powerremedied the defects （such as hiatusesmisprintsdoubtful or corrupt passagesetc.） which are of no infrequent occurrence even in thisthe best of the existing textsby carefully collating it with the editions of Boulac and Breslau （to say nothing of occasional references to the earlier Calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights）adopting from one and the other such variantsadditions and corrections as seemed to me best calculated to improve the general effect and most homogeneous with the general spirit of the workand this so freely that the present version may be saidin great partto represent a variorum text of the originalformed by a collation of the different printed texts；and no proper estimate cantherefore，be made of the fidelity of the translationexcept by those who are intimately acquainted with the whole of these latter. Even with the help of the new lights gained by the laborious process of collation and comparison above mentionedthe exact sense of many passages must still remain doubtfulso corrupt are the extant texts and so incomplete our knowledgeas incorporated in dictionariesetcof the peculiar dialecthalf classical and half modernin which the original work is written.

One special feature of the present version is the appearance，for the first timein English metrical shapepreserving the external form and rhyme movement of the originalsof the whole of the poetry with which the Arabic text is so freely interspersed. This great body of verseequivalent to at least ten thousand twelve-syllable English linesis of the most unequal qualityvarying from poetry worthy of the name to the merest doggreland as I havein pursuance of my original scheme，elected to translate everythinggood and bad （with a very few exceptions in cases of manifest mistake or misapplication）I can only hope that my readers willin judging of my successtake into consideration the enormous difficulties with which I have had to contend and look with indulgence upon my efforts to render，under unusually irksome conditionsthe energy and beauty of the originalwhere these qualities existand in their absenceto keep my version from degenerating into absolute doggrel.

The present translation being intended as a purely literary work produced with the sole object of supplying the general body of cultivated readers with a fairly representative and characteristic version of the most famous work of narrative fiction in existenceI have deemed it advisable to departin several particularsfrom the various systems of transliteration of Oriental proper names followed by modern scholarsas，although doubtless admirably adapted to works having a scientific or non-literary objectthey rest mainly upon devices （such as the use of apostrophesaccentsdiacritical points and the employment of both vowels and consonants in unusual groups and senses） foreign to the genius of the English language and calculated only to annoy the reader of a work of imagination. Of these points of departure from established usage I need only particularize some of the more important；the others willin generalbe found to speak for themselves. One of the most salient is the case of the short vowel fet-hehwhich is usually written[a breve]but which I have thought it better to renderas a ruleby [e breve]as in 'bed'（a sound practically equivalent to that of aas in 'beggar，'adopted by the late Mr. Lane to represent this vowel）reserving the English aas in 'father，'to represent the alif of prolongation or long Arabic asince I should else have no means of differentiating the latter from the formersave by the use of accents or other clumsy expedientsat onceto my mindforeign to the purpose and vexatious to the reader of a work of pure literature. In like mannerI have eschewed the use of the letter qas an equivalent for the dotted or guttural kaf （choosing to run the risk of occasionally misleading the reader as to the original Arabic form of a word by leaving him in ignorance whether the k used is the dotted or undotted one，--a point of no importance whatever to the non-scientific public，--rather than employ an English letter in a manner completely unwarranted by the construction of our languagein which q has no power as a terminal or as moved by any vowel other than ufollowed by one of the four others） and have supplied its placewhere the dotted kaf occurs as a terminal or as preceding a hard vowelby the hard cleaving k to represent it （in common with the undotted kaf generally） in those instances where it is followed by a soft vowel. For similar reasonsI have not attempted to render the Arabic quasi-consonant a？nsave by the English vowel corresponding to that by which it is movedpreferring to leave the guttural element of its sound （for which we have no approach to an equivalent in English） unrepresentedrather than resort to the barbarous and meaningless device of the apostrophe. Againthe principlein accordance with which I have rendered the proper names of the originalis briefly （and subject to certain variations on the ground of convenience and literary fitness） to preserve unaltered such names as TigrisBassoraCairoAleppo，Damascusetc.which are familiar to us otherwise than by the Arabian Nights and to alter whichfor the sake of mere literalitywere as gratuitous a piece of pedantry as to insist upon writing Copenhagen Kjobenhavnor Canton Kouang-tongand to transliterate the rest as nearly as may consist with a due regard to artistic considerations. The use of untranslated Arabic words，other than proper namesI haveas far as possibleavoided，rendering themwith very few exceptionsby the best English equivalents in my powercareful rather to give the general sensewhere capable of being conveyed by reasonable substitution of idiom or otherwisethan to retain the strict letter at the expense of the spirit；noron the other handhave I thought it necessary to alter the traditional manner of spelling certain words which have become incorporated with our languagewhere（as in the case of the words geniehouriroekhalifvizier，cadiBedouinetc. etc.） the English equivalent is fairly representative of the original Arabic.

I have to return my cordial thanks to Captain Richard F. Burton，the well-known traveller and authorwho has most kindly undertaken to give me the benefit of his great practical knowledge of the language and customs of the Arabs in revising the manu of my translation for the press.

In the name of Godthe Compassionatethe Merciful！Praise be to Godthe Lord of the two worldsand blessing and peace upon the Prince of the Prophetsour lord and master Mohammed，whom God bless and preserve with abiding and continuing peace and blessing until the Day of the Faith！Of a veritythe doings of the ancients become a lesson to those that follow afterso that men look upon the admonitory events that have happened to others and take warningand come to the knowledge of what befell bygone peoples and are restrained thereby. So glory be to Him who hath appointed the things that have been done aforetime for an example to those that come after！And of these admonitory instances are the histories called the Thousand Nights and One Nightwith all their store of illustrious fables and relations.

It is recorded in the chronicles of the things that have been done of time past that there lived oncein the olden days and in bygone ages and timesa king of the kings of the sons of Sasan，who reigned over the Islands of India and China and was lord of armies and guards and servants and retainers. He had two sonsan elder and a youngerwho were both valiant cavaliers，but the elder was a stouter horseman than the younger. When their father diedhe left his empire to his elder sonwhose name was Shehriyarand he took the government and ruled his subjects justlyso that the people of the country and of the empire loved him wellwhilst his brother Shahzeman became King of Samarcand of Tartary. The two kings abode each in his own dominionsruling justly over their subjects and enjoying the utmost prosperity and happinessfor the space of twenty yearsat the end of which time the elder king yearned after his brother and commanded his Vizier to repair to the latter's court and bring him to his own capital. The Vizier replied'I hear and obey，'and set out at once and journeyed till he reached King Shahzeman's court in safetywhen he saluted him for his brother and informed him that the latter yearned after him and desired that he would pay him a visitto which King Shahzeman consented gladly and made ready for the journey and appointed his Vizier to rule the country in his stead during his absence. Then he caused his tents and camels and mules to be brought forth and encampedwith his guards and attendantswithout the cityin readiness to set out next morning for his brother's kingdom. In the middle of the night，it chanced that he bethought him of somewhat he had forgotten in his palace；so he returned thither privily and entered his apartmentswhere he found his wife asleep in his own bedin the arms of one of his black slaves. When he saw thisthe world grew black in his sightand he said to himself'If this is what happens whilst I am yet under the city wallswhat will be the condition of this accursed woman during my absence at my brother's court？'Then he drew his sword and smote the twain and slew them and left them in the bed and returned presently to his campwithout telling any one what had happened. Then he gave orders for immediate departure and set out a'once and travelled till he drew near his brother's capital when he despatched vaunt-couriers to announce his approach. His brother came forth to meet him and saluted him and rejoiced exceedingly and caused the city to be decorated in his honour. Then he sat down with him to converse and make merry；but King Shahzeman could not forget the perfidy of his wife and grief grew on him more and more and his colour changed and his body became weak. Shehriyar saw his conditionbut attributed it to his separation from his country and his kingdomso let him alone and asked no questions of him，till one day he said to him'O my brotherI see that thou art grown weak of body and hast lost thy colour.'And Shahzeman answered'O my brotherI have an internal wound，'but did not tell him about his wife. Said Shehriyar'I wish thou wouldst ride forth with me a-hunting；maybe it would lighten thy heart.'

But Shahzeman refused；so his brother went out to hunt without him. Now there were in King Shahzeman's apartments lattice-windows overlooking his brother's gardenand as the former was sitting looking on the gardenbehold a gate of the palace openedand out came twenty damsels and twenty black slavesand among them his brother's wifewho was wonderfully fair and beautiful. They all came up to a fountainwhere the girls and slaves took off their clothes and sat down together.