******************************************************************* THIS EBOOK WAS ONE OF PROJECT GUTENBERG'S EARLY FILES PRODUCED AT A TIME WHEN PROOFING METHODS AND TOOLS WERE NOT WELL DEVELOPED. THERE IS AN IMPROVED EDITION OF THIS TITLE WHICH MAY BE VIEWED AS EBOOK (#51775) at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51775 ******************************************************************* THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments Translated and Annotated by Richard F. Burton VOLUME TWO Privately Printed By The Burton Club To John Payne, Esq. My Dear Sir, Allow me thus publicly to express my admiration of your magnum opus, "The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night;" and to offer you my cordial thanks for honouring me with the dedication of that scholar-like and admirable version. Ever yours sincerely, Richard F. Burton. Queen's College, Oxford, August 1, 1885. Contents of the Second Volume 7. Nur Al-Din Ali and the Damsel Anis Al-Jalis 8. Tale of Ghanim Bin Ayyub, The Distraught, The Thrall O' Love a. Tale of the First Eunuch, Bukhayt b. Tale of the Second Eunuch, Kafur 9. Tale of King Omar Bin Al-Nu'uman and His Sons Sharrkan and Zau Al-Makan a. Tale of Taj Al-Muluk and the Princess Dunya aa. Tale of Aziz and Azizah The Book Of The THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT Nur Al-Din Ali and the Damsel Anis Al-Jalis Quoth Shahrazad [FN#1]:—It hath reached me, O auspicious King of intelligence penetrating, that there was, amongst the Kings of Bassorah[FN#2], a King who loved the poor and needy and cherished his lieges, and gave of his wealth to all who believed in Mohammed (whom Allah bless and assain!), and he was even as one of the poets described him, "A King who when hosts of the foe invade, * Receives them with lance-lunge and sabre-sway; Writes his name on bosoms in thin red lines, * And scatters the horsemen in wild dismay."[FN#3] His name was King Mohammed bin Sulayman al-Zayni, and he had two Wazirs, one called Al-Mu'ín, son of Sáwí and the other Al-Fazl son of Khákán. Now Al-Fazl was the most generous of the people of his age, upright of life, so that all hearts united in loving him and the wise flocked to him for counsel; whilst the subjects used to pray for his long life, because he was a compendium of the best qualities, encouraging the good and lief, and preventing evil and mischief. But the Wazir Mu'ín bin Sáwí on the contrary hated folk [FN#4] and loved not the good and was a mere compound of ill; even as was said of him, "Hold to nobles, sons of nobles! 'tis ever Nature's test * That nobles born of nobles shall excel in noble deed: And shun the mean of soul, meanly bred, for 'tis the law, * Mean deeds come of men who are mean of blood and breed."