Ben Shohnah relates, that in the year 456 of the Hejra, in the reign of Kaiem, the twenty-sixth khaleefeh of the house of Abbas, a report was raised in Bagdad, which immediately spread throughout the whole province of Irak, that some Turks being out hunting saw in the desert a black tent, beneath which there was a number of people of both sexes, who were beating their cheeks, and uttering loud cries, as is the custom in the East when any one is dead. Amidst their cries they heard these words--_The great king of the Jinn is dead, woe to this country!_ and then there came out a great troop of women, followed by a number of other rabble, who proceeded to a neighbouring cemetery, still beating themselves in token of grief and mourning. The celebrated historian Ebn Athir relates, that when he was at Mosul on the Tigris, in the year 600 of the Hejra, there was in that country an epidemic disease of the throat; and it was said that a woman, of the race of the Jinn, having lost her son, all those who did not condole with her on account of his death were attacked with that disease; so that to be cured of it men and women assembled, and with all their strength cried out, _O mother of Ankood, excuse us! Ankood is dead, and we did not mind it!_ FOOTNOTES: [42] Compare Antar and the Suspended Poems (translated by Sir W. Jones) with the later Arabic works. Antar, though written by Asmai the court-poet of Haroon-er-Rasheed, gives the manners and ideas of the Arabs of the Desert. [43] The Jinn are mentioned in the Kurân and also in Antar. [44] See Tales and Popular Fictions, p. 37, _seq._ Lane, Thousand and One Nights, _passim_. [45] Genius and Jinn, like Fairy and Peri, is a curious coincidence. The Arabian Jinnee bears no resemblance whatever to the Roman Genius. [46] "When we said unto the Angels, Worship ye Adam, and they worshiped except Iblees (who) was of the Jinn."--Kurân. chap. xviii. v. 48. Worship is here prostration. The reply of Iblees was, "Thou hast created _me_ of fire, and hast created _him_ of earth."--_Ib._ vii. 11; xxxviii. 77. [47] It was the belief of the Irish peasantry, that whirlwinds of dust on the roads were raised by the Fairies, who were then on a journey. On such occasions, unlike the Arabs, they used to raise their hats and say, "God speed you, gentlemen!" For the power of iron, see _Scandinavia_. [48] The Arabs when they pour water on the ground, let down a bucket into a well, enter a bath, etc., say, "Permission!" (_Destoor!_) or, Permission, ye blessed! (_Destoor, yâ mubârakeen!_) [49] For the preceding account of the Jinn, we are wholly indebted to Lane's valuable translation of the Thousand and One Nights, i. 30, _seq._ [50] The first is given by Lane, the other two by D'Herbelot. MIDDLE-AGE ROMANCE. Ecco quei che le carte empion di sogni, Lancilotto, Tristano e gli altri erranti, Onde conven che il volgo errante agogni. PETRARCA.