Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 6 (of 6)
General
Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 6 (of 6)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
[Section IV.]--M. Zotenberg proceeds to give an account of one or two very
important MSS. of the Nights in the Bibliothèque Nationale. One of these is a
MS. which belonged to the elder Caussin, and was carefully copied by Michael
Sabbagh from a MS. of Baghdad. Prof. Fleischer, who examined it, states
(Journal Asiatique, 1827, t. II., p. 221) that it follows the text of Habicht,
but in a more developed form. M. Zotenberg copies a note at the end, finishing
up with the word "Kabíkaj" thrice repeated. This, he explains, "est le nom du
génie préposé au régne des insectes. Les scribes, parfois, l'invoquent pour
preserver leurs manuscrits de l'atteinte de vers."
This MS. was copied in Parts on European paper at the beginning of the
century, though Caussin de Perceval was not acquainted with it in 1806, but
only with a MS. of the Egyptian redaction. This MS. agrees with Galland's only
as far as the 69th Night. It differs from it in two other points; it contains
No. 1c, and the end of No. 3 coincides with the end of Night 69. The contents
of Nights 70-1001 are as follows: 246, 4, 5, 6, 20, 7, 153, 21, 170, 247, The
Unhappy Lover confined in the Madhouse (probably = 204c), 8, 191, 193,174, 9,
9b (not 9a, or 9aa) and as episodes, 155, 32, and the story of the two
brothers 'Amír and Ghadir, and their children Djamil and Bathina.
Another MS., used by Chavis and Cazotte, and Caussin de Perceval, was written
in the year 1772. It has hitherto been overlooked, because it was erroneously
stated in the late M. Reinaud's Catalogue to be a MS. containing part of the
1001 Nights, extending from Night 282 to Night 631, and copied by Chavis. It
is not from Chavis' hand, and does not form part of the ordinary version of
the Nights, but contains the following tales: 174, 248, Story of King Sapor,
246, 3a, 36, 3c, 153, Story of the Intendant, the Interpreter, and the Young
Man; 247, 204c, 240, 250, Story of the Caliph and the Fisherman (probably =
156), the Cat and the Fox, and the Little Bird and the Fowler.
Another MS., really written by Chavis, commences exactly where Vol. 3 of
Galland's MS leaves off, i. e. in the middle of No. 21, and extends from Night
281 to Night 631. M. Zotenberg supposes it to have been written to supply the
place of the last volume of Galland's set. It contains the following tales in
addition to the conclusion of No. 21: 170, 247, 204c, 8, 191, 193 and 174. M.
Zotenberg suggests that the first part of this MS may have been copied from
Galland's last volume, which may have existed at the time in private hands.
The two last MSS. contain nearly the same tales, though with numerous
variations.
M. Zotenberg discusses the hypothesis of Chavis' MS. being a translation from
the French, and definitely rejects it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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