As regards the transliteration of Arabic words I deliberately reject the artful and complicated system, ugly and clumsy withal, affected by scientific modern Orientalists. Nor is my sympathy with their prime object, namely to fit the Roman alphabet for supplanting all others. Those who learn languages, and many do so, by the eye as well as by the ear, well know the advantages of a special character to distinguish, for instance, Syriac from Arabic, Gujrati from Marathi. Again this Roman hand bewitched may have its use in purely scientific and literary works; but it would be wholly out of place in one whose purpose is that of the novel, to amuse rather than to instruct. Moreover the devices perplex the simple and teach nothing to the learned. Either the reader knows Arabic, in which case Greek letters, italics and "upper case," diacritical points and similar typographic oddities are, as a rule with some exceptions, unnecessary; or he does not know Arabic, when none of these expedients will be of the least use to him. Indeed it is a matter of secondary consideration what system we prefer, provided that we mostly adhere to one and the same, for the sake of a consistency which saves confusion to the reader. I have especially avoided that of Mr. Lane, adopted by Mr. Payne for special reasons against which it was vain to protest: it represents the debased brogue of Egypt or rather of Cairo; and such a word as Kemer (ez-Zeman) would be utterly unpronounceable to a Badawi. Nor have I followed the practice of my learned friend, Reverend G. P. Badger, in mixing bars and acute accents; the former unpleasantly remind man of those hateful dactyls and spondees, and the latter should, in my humble opinion, be applied to long vowels which in Arabic double, or should double, the length of the shorts. Dr. Badger uses the acute symbol to denote accent or stress of voice; but such appoggio is unknown to those who speak with purest articulation; for instance whilst the European pronounces Mus-cat´, and the Arab villager Mas´-kat; the Children of the Waste, "on whose tongues Allah descended," articulate Mas-kat. I have therefore followed the simple system adopted in my "Pilgrimage," and have accented Arabic words only when first used, thinking it unnecessary to preserve throughout what is an eyesore to the reader and a distress to the printer. In the main I follow "Johnson on Richardson," a work known to every Anglo-Orientalist as the old and trusty companion of his studies early and late; but even here I have made sundry deviations for reasons which will be explained in the terminal Essay. As words are the embodiment of ideas and writing is of words, so the word is the spoken word; and we should write it as pronounced. Strictly speaking, the e-sound and the o-sound (viz. the Italian o-sound not the English which is peculiar to us and unknown to any other tongue) are not found in Arabic, except when the figure Imálah obliges: hence they are called "Yá al-Majhúl" and "Waw al-Majhúl" the unknown y (í) and u. But in all tongues vowel-sounds, the flesh which clothes the bones (consonants) of language, are affected by the consonants which precede and more especially which follow them, hardening and softening the articulation; and deeper sounds accompany certain letters as the sád (ص) compared with the sín (س). None save a defective ear would hold, as Lane does, "Maulid" (=birth-festival) "more properly pronounced 'Molid.'" Yet I prefer Khokh (peach) and Jokh (broad-cloth) to Khukh and Jukh; Ohod (mount) to Uhud; Obayd (a little slave) to Ubayd; and Hosayn (a fortlet, not the P. N. Al-Husayn) to Husayn. As for the short e in such words as "Memlúk" for "Mamlúk" (a white slave), "Eshe" for "Asha" (supper), and "Yemen" for "Al-Yaman," I consider it a flat Egyptianism, insufferable to an ear which admires the Badawi pronunciation. Yet I prefer "Shelebi" (a dandy) from the Turkish Chelebi, to "Shalabi;" "Zebdani" (the Syrian village) to "Zabdani," and "Fes and Miknes" (by the figure Imálah) to "Fás and Miknás," our "Fez and Mequinez."
With respect to proper names and untranslated Arabic words I have rejected all system in favour of common sense. When a term is incorporated in our tongue, I refuse to follow the purist and mortify the reader by startling innovation. For instance, Aleppo, Cairo and Bassorah are preferred to Halab, Kahirah and Al-Basrah; when a word is half-naturalised, like Alcoran or Koran, Bashaw or Pasha, which the French write Pacha; and Mahomet or Mohammed (for Muhammad), the modern form is adopted because the more familiar. But I see no advantage in retaining, simply because they are the mistakes of a past generation, such words as "Roc" (for Rukh), Khalif (a pretentious blunder for Khalífah and better written Caliph) and "genie" (=Jinn) a mere Gallic corruption not so terrible, however, as "a Bedouin" (=Badawi). As little too would I follow Mr. Lane in foisting upon the public such Arabisms as "Khuff" (a riding-boot), "Mikra'ah" (a palm-rod) and a host of others for which we have good English equivalents. On the other hand I would use, but use sparingly, certain Arabic exclamations, as "Bismillah" (=in the name of Allah!) and "Inshallah" (=if Allah please!), which have special applications and which have been made familiar to English ears by the genius of Fraser and Morier.
I here end these desultory but necessary details to address the reader in a few final words. He will not think lightly of my work when I repeat to him that with the aid of my annotations supplementing Lane's, the student will readily and pleasantly learn more of the Moslem's manners and customs, laws and religion than is known to the average Orientalist; and, if my labours induce him to attack the text of The Nights he will become master of much more Arabic than the ordinary Arab owns. This book is indeed a legacy which I bequeath to my fellow-countrymen in their hour of need. Over devotion to Hindu, and especially to Sanskrit literature, has led them astray from those (so-called) "Semitic" studies, which are the more requisite for us as they teach us to deal successfully with a race more powerful than any pagans—the Moslem. Apparently England is ever forgetting that she is at present the greatest Mohammedan empire in the world. Of late years she has systematically neglected Arabism and, indeed, actively discouraged it in examinations for the Indian Civil Service, where it is incomparably more valuable than Greek and Latin. Hence, when suddenly compelled to assume the reins of government in Moslem lands, as Afghanistan in times past and Egypt at present, she fails after a fashion which scandalises her few (very few) friends; and her crass ignorance concerning the Oriental peoples which should most interest her, exposes her to the contempt of Europe as well as of the Eastern world. When the regretable raids of 1883-84, culminating in the miserable affairs of Tokar, Teb and Tamasi, were made upon the gallant Sudani Negroids, the Bisharin outlying Sawakin, who were battling for the holy cause of liberty and religion and for escape from Turkish task-masters and Egyptian tax-gatherers, not an English official in camp, after the death of the gallant and lamented Major Morice, was capable of speaking Arabic. Now Moslems are not to be ruled by raw youths who should be at school and college instead of holding positions of trust and emolument. He who would deal with them successfully must be, firstly, honest and truthful and, secondly, familiar with and favourably inclined to their manners and customs if not to their law and religion. We may, perhaps, find it hard to restore to England those pristine virtues, that tone and temper, which made her what she is; but at any rate we (myself and a host of others) can offer her the means of dispelling her ignorance concerning the Eastern races with whom she is continually in contact.
In conclusion I must not forget to notice that the Arabic ornamentations of these volumes were designed by my excellent friend Yacoub Artin Pasha, of the Ministry of Instruction, Cairo, with the aid of the well-known writing-artist, Shaykh Mohammed Muunis the Cairene. My name, Al-Hajj Abdullah (=the Pilgrim Abdallah) was written by an English calligrapher, the lamented Professor Palmer who found a premature death almost within sight of Suez.
RICHARD F. BURTON.
Wanderers' Club, August 15, 1885.
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
| PAGE | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| INTRODUCTION | [1] | |||
| STORY OF KING SHAHRYAR AND HIS BROTHER | [2] | |||
| a. | Tale of the Bull and the Ass | [16] | ||
| (Lane, vol. I., 1-16.) | ||||
| 1. TALE OF THE TRADER AND THE JINNI | [24] | |||
| (Chapt. I. Story of the Merchant and the Jinnee: p. 43.) | ||||
| a. | The First Shaykh's Story | [27] | ||
| (Story of the First Sheykh and the Gazelle: p. 48.) | ||||
| b. | The Second Shaykh's Story | [32] | ||
| (Story of the Second Sheykh and the two Black Hounds: p. 52.) | ||||
| c. | The Third Shaykh's Story | [36] | ||
| (Story of the Third Sheykh and the Mule: p. 56.) | ||||
| 2. THE FISHERMAN AND THE JINNI | [38] | |||
| (Chapt. II. Story of the Fisherman: p. 78.) | ||||
| a. | Tale of the Wazir and the Sage Duban | [45] | ||
| (Story of King Yoonan and the Sage Dooban: p. 84.) | ||||
| ab. | Story of King Sindibad and his Falcon | [50] | ||
| ac. | Tale of the Husband and the Parrot | [52] | ||
| (Story of the Husband and the Parrot: p. 89.) | ||||
| ad. | Tale of the Prince and the Ogress | [54] | ||
| (Story of the Envious Wezeer and the Prince and the Ghoolah: p. 91.) | ||||
| b. | Tale of the Ensorcelled Prince | [69] | ||
| (Story of the Young King of the Black Islands: p. 106.) | ||||
| 3. THE PORTER AND THE THREE LADIES OF BAGHDAD | [82] | |||
| (Chapt. III. Story of the Porter and the Ladies of Baghdad, and of the three Royal Mendicants, etc.: p. 136.) | ||||
| a. | The First Kalandar's Tale | [104] | ||
| (Story of the First Royal Mendicant: p. 150.) | ||||
| b. | The Second Kalandar's Tale | [113] | ||
| (Story of the Second Royal Mendicant: p. 157.) | ||||
| ba. | Tale of the Envier and the Envied | [123] | ||
| (Story of the Envier and the Envied: p. 166.) | ||||
| c. | The Third Kalandar's Tale | [139] | ||
| (Story of the Third Royal Mendicant: p. 178.) | ||||
| d. | The Eldest Lady's Tale | [162] | ||
| e. | Tale of the Portress | [173] | ||
| Conclusion of the Story of the Porter and Three Ladies | [184] | |||
| 4. TALE OF THE THREE APPLES | [186] | |||
| (Chapt. IV. Story of the Three Apples, etc.: p. 250.) | ||||
| 5. TALE OF NUR AL-DIN ALI AND HIS SON BADR AL-DIN HASAN | [195] | |||
| (Story of Noor ed-Deen and his Son, and of Shems ed-Deen and his Daughter: p. 253.) | ||||
| 6. THE HUNCHBACK'S TALE | [255] | |||
| (Chapt. V. Story of the Humpback: p. 238.) | ||||
| a. | The Nazarene Broker's Story | [262] | ||
| (Story told by the Christian Broker: p. 334.) | ||||
| b. | The Reeve's Tale | [278] | ||
| (Story told by the Sultan's Steward: p. 348.) | ||||
| c. | Tale of the Jewish Doctor | [288] | ||
| (Story told by the Jewish Physician: p. 359.) | ||||
| d. | Tale of the Tailor | [300] | ||
| (Story told by the Tailor: p. 368.) | ||||
| e. | The Barber's Tale of Himself | [317] | ||
| (The Barber's Story of Himself: p. 383.) | ||||
| ea. | The Barber's Tale of his First Brother | [319] | ||
| (The Barber's Story of His First Brother: p. 385.) | ||||
| eb. | The Barber's Tale of his Second Brother | [324] | ||
| (The Barber's Story of His Second Brother: p. 389.) | ||||
| ec. | The Barber's Tale of his Third Brother | [328] | ||
| (The Barber's Story of His Third Brother: p. 392) | ||||
| ed. | The Barber's Tale of his Fourth Brother | [331] | ||
| (The Barber's Story of His Fourth Brother: p. 396.) | ||||
| ee. | The Barber's Tale of his Fifth Brother | [335] | ||
| (The Barber's Story of His Fifth Brother: p. 400.) | ||||
| ef. | The Barber's Tale of his Sixth Brother | [343] | ||
| (The Barber's Story of His Sixth Brother.) | ||||
| The End of the Tailor's Tale | [348] | |||
THE BOOK OF THE
THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT.
(ALF LAYLAH WA LAYLAH.)
In the Name of Allah,