The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 10

Translated and Annotated by Richard F. Burton
VOLUME TEN
Privately Printed By The Burton Club
To His Excellency Yacoub Artin Pasha, Minister of Instruction, Etc. Etc. Etc. Cairo.
My Dear Pasha, During the last dozen years, since we first met at Cairo, you have done much for Egyptian folk-lore and you can do much more. This volume is inscribed to you with a double purpose; first it is intended as a public expression of gratitude for your friendly assistance; and, secondly, as a memento that the samples which you have given us imply a promise of further gift. With this lively sense of favours to come I subscribe myself
Ever yours friend and fellow worker,
Richard F. Burton
London, July 12, 1886.
The Book Of The THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT
How manifold nights have I passed with my wife In the saddest plight with all misery rife: Would Heaven when first I went in to her With a cup of cold poison I’d ta’en her life.
When it was the Nine Hundred and Ninetieth Night,
When it was the Nine Hundred and Ninety-first Night,