The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 01 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 01 (of 10)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
is the Apostle of God." At this sight all present wondered; the King of
China laughed till he fainted and in like manner did the others. Then
said the Sultan, "By Allah, of a truth this is the most marvellous
thing I ever saw! O Moslems, O soldiers all, did you ever in the lives
of you see a man die and be quickened again? Verily had not Allah
vouchsafed to him this Barber, he had been a dead man!" Quoth they, "By
Allah, 'tis a marvel of marvels." Then the King of China bade record
this tale, so they recorded it and placed it in the royal
muniment-rooms; after which he bestowed costly robes of honour upon the
Jew, the Nazarene and the Reeve, and bade them depart in all esteem.
Then he gave the Tailor a sumptuous dress and appointed him his own
tailor, with suitable pay and allowances; and made peace between him
and the Hunchback, to whom also he presented a splendid and expensive
suit with a suitable stipend. He did as generously with the Barber,
giving him a gift and a dress of honour; moreover he settled on him a
handsome solde and created him Barber surgeon[FN#699] of state and made
him one of his cup companions. So they ceased not to live the most
pleasurable life and the most delectable, till there came to them the
Destroyer of all delights and the Sunderer of all societies, the
Depopulator of palaces and the Garnerer for graves. Yet, O most
auspicious King! (continued Shahrazad) this tale is by no means more
wonderful than that of the two Wazirs and Anís al-Jalís. Quoth her
sister Dunyazad, "And what may that be?", whereupon she began to relate
the following tale of
End of Vol. 1.
Footnotes
[FN#1] Allaho A'alam, a deprecatory formula, used because the writer is
going to indulge in a series of what may possibly be untruths.
[FN#2] The "Sons of Sásán" are the famous Sassanides whose dynasty
ended with the Arabian Conquest (A.D. 641). "Island" Jazírah) in Arabic
also means "Peninsula," and causes much confusion in geographical
matters.
[FN#3] Shahryár not Shahriyar (Persian) = "City-friend." The Bulak
edition corrupts it to Shahrbáz (City-hawk), and the Breslau to
Shahrbán or "Defender of the City," like Marz-ban=Warden of the
Marshes. Shah Zamán (Persian)="King of the Age:" Galland prefers Shah
Zenan, or "King of women," and the Bul. edit. changes it to Shah
Rummán, "Pomegranate King." Al-Ajam denotes all regions not Arab
(Gentiles opposed to Jews, Mlechchhas to Hindus, Tajiks to Turks, etc.,
etc.), and especially Persia; Ajami (a man of Ajam) being an equivalent
of the Gr. Βάρβαρος. See Vol. ii., p. 1.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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