The Arabian Nights, translated by Richard F. Burton
The Arabian Nights' Entertainments or The Book of A Thousand Nights and a Night; a selection of the most famous and representative of these tales from the plain and literal translations by Richard F. Burton; the stories have been chosen and arranged by Bennet A. Cerf and are printed complete and unabridged with many of Burton's notes.#
This book was nearly one thousand pages long, and yet it appears to be only a small section of the ten volumes and three supplemental volumes of the stories. I'd like to get my hands on the complete set and maybe read one a week, or a night even!
Story of King Shahryar and His Brother#
This story sets up the rest of the stories. It describes a king and his brother who decide that all women in the world of untrustworthy after catching their wives cheating. The elder brother, Shahryar, decides to never give his future "wives" the chance by murdering them after a single night. Shahrazad, the daughter of the king's Wazir, is one of the last wives. Against her father's will she goes to the king to stop him through murder or persuasion. During the argument with her father, the father relates a story (The Tale of the Bull and the Ass) about how a husband learns to enforce discipline in his family by beating his wife with branches and threatens the same to Shahrazad if she disobeys him.#
I thought this story was an amazing confirmation of most stereotypes about Arab men. I was quite surprised that something like it was so earlier in the book. I regret to recall, however, that at the time, the kings of Europe were not much better, with their practice of raping brides on their wedding night. But still, it was a bit odd to hear about it first thing.#
The Fisherman and the Jinni#
This story (which also contains a queen sleeping with a black slave) contains a different take on how Jinnis operate:#
When Sulayman [Solomon] saw me, he took refuge with Allah and bade me embrace the True Faith and obey his behest; but I refused, so sending for this cucurbit he shut me up therein, and stopped it over with lead whereon he impressed the Most High Name, and gave his orders to the Jann who carried me off, and cast me into the midmost of the ocean. There I abode for an hundred years, during which I said in my heart, "Whoso shall release me, him will I enrich for ever and ever." But the full century went by and, when no one set me free, I entered upon the second five score saying, "Whoso shall release me, for him I will open the hoards of the earth." Still no one set me free and thus four hundred years passed away. Then quoth I, "Whoso shall release me, for him will I fulfil three wishes." Yet no one set me free. Thereupon I waxed wroth with exceeding wrath and said to myself, "Whoso shall release me from this time forth, him will I slay and I will give him choice of what death he will die; and now, as thou hast released me, I give the full choice of deaths." [p. 35]
The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad#
This is a very interesting and fantastic story. One thing I found most enjoyable was the amazing descriptions of the particular beauty of each of the three ladies and the subsequent ladies of the anterior tales.#
The Tale of Nur al-Din Ali and His Son Badr al-Din Hasan#
This story, surprisingly, does not contain an account of a wife cheating on her husband with a black slave, like the previous stories. Instead, it tells a wild tale about the complicated life of some Wazirs.#
In it, Nur al-Din Ali gives some advice to his son:#
"O Hasan, O my son, I will now bequeath to thee five last behests. The First Behest is, Be over-intimate with none, nor frequent any, nor be familiar with any; so shalt thou be safe from his mischief; for security lieth in seclusion of thought and a certain retirement from the society of thy fellows; [...]
The Second Behest is, O my son: Deal harshly with none lest fortune with thee deal hardly; for the fortune of this world is one day with thee and another day against thee and all wordly goods are but a loan to be repaid. [...]
The Third Behest is, Learn to be silent in society and let thine own faults distract thine attention from the faults of other men; [...]
The Fourth Behest, O my son, is Beware of wine-bibbing, for wine is the head of all frowardness and fine solvent of human wits. [...]
The Fifth Behest, O my son, is Keep thy wealth and it will keep thee; guard thy money and it will guard thee; and waste not thy substance lest haply though come to want and must fare a-begging from the meanest of mankind. Save thy dirhams and deem them the sovereignest salve for the wounds of the world. [p. 174-175]
Tale of Ghanim bin Ayyub, The Distraught, The Thrall O' Love#
A short story about the value of respecting others' property and the rewards of maintaining honour and noble attitude.#
The Tale of the Birds and Beasts and the Carpenter#
An short story about the trickery of man and the value of being clever in your acts and suspicious in your relations.#
The Hermits#
A short story about maintaining your commitments with a distrust of women spin.#
The Tale of Kamar al-Zaman#
A long story about two beautiful young people who fall in love after being thrown together for one night and kept apart for many years. After they finally get together again, some more strange things keep them from one another, but everything ends happily.#
Initially the two both do not want to marry, and Kamar says the following:#
Rebel against women and so shalt thou serve Allah the more;
The youth who gives women the rein must forfeit all hope to soar.
They'll baulk him when seeking the strange device, Excelsior,
Tho' waste he a thousand of years in the study of science and lore [p. 271]
I am required to quote about Lady Budur's beauty:#
"[...] I cannot picture her to thee, for my tongue would fail to describe her with her due of praise; but I will name to thee a somewhat of her charms by way of approach. Now her hair is like the nights of disunion and separation and her face like the days of union and delectation; and right well hath the poet said when picturing her:---
She dispread the locks from her head one night,
Showing four-fold nights into one night run;
And she turned her visage towards the moon,>br /> And two moons showed at moment one.She hath a nose like the edge of the burnished blade and cheeks like purple wine or anemones blood-red: her lips as coral and cornelian shine and the water of her mouth is sweeter than old wine; its taste would quench Hell's fiery pain. Her tongue is moved by wit of high degree and ready repartee: her breast is a seduction to all that see it (glory be to Him who fashioned it and finished it!); and joined thereto are two upper arms smooth and rounded; even as saith of her the poet Al-Walahan:--
She hath wrists which, did her bangle not contain,
Would run from out her sleeves in silvern rain.She hath breasts like two globes of ivory, from whose brightness the moons borrow light, and a stomach like little waves as it were a figured cloth of the finest Egyptian linen made by the Copts, with creases like folded scrolls, ending in a waist slender past all power of imagination; based upon back parts like a hillock of blown sand, that force her to sit when she would lief stand, and awaken her, when she fain would sleep, even as saith of her and describeth her the poet:--
She hath those hips conjoined by thread of waist,
Hips that o'er me and her too tyrannise;
My thoughts they daze whene'er I think of them,
And weigh her down whene'er she would upriseAnd those back parts are upborne by thighs smooth and round and by a calf like a column of pearl, and all this reposeth upon two feet, narrow, slender and pointed like spear-blades, the handiwork of the Protector and Requiter, I wonder how, of their littleness, they can sustain what is above. But I cut short my praises of her charms fearing lest I be tedious." [p. 280-281]
The above makes the following phrase memorable:
So he embraced her and she embraced him and that hour was such as maketh a man to forget his father and his mother. [p. 347]
Hatim of the Tribe of Tayy#
Tale of Ma'an Son of Zaidah and the Badawi#
These two stories about generosity and are very short.#
The City of Many-Columned Iram and Abdullah Son of Abi Kilabah#
A story about a paradise-like city and the curious story behind its creation. The moral is: don't try to recreate paradise on Earth and thus insult Allah.#
The Sweep and the Noble Lady#
A wife catches her husband being unfaithful and kicks him out. The next day she decides to find the most foul and disgusting looking man in the city, then sleep with him. This story is told from the perspective of that man, who tells about how great it is to lie with her and how confused he is that she likes him. In the end, the man finds out why she "likes" him.#
Ali the Persian#
Two men fight over a bag filled with... everything, actually.#
The Man Who Stole the Dish of Gold Wherein the Dog Ate#
A story about the curious ways men attain, and lose, wealth.#
The Ruined Man Who Became Rich Again Through A Dream#
Follow your dreams is the take-away.#
The Ebony Horse#
After the last few short stories, here is a longer story with more of a plot. It is the story of a magical horse statue and the fight between the creator and one of its users over women and honour.#
How Abu Hasan Brake Wind#
Abu Hasan is about to get married. On the way to the altar, he farts. Embarrassed, he decides to sneak away under the pretense of the call of nature. He leaves town for ten years, going to Indian. He decides to return to see if his deed is forgotten, but on the way overhears a boy ask his mother about the day of his birth. The mother says, "Oh, that was the day Abu Hasan farted!" Ashamed, Abu Hasan lives in exile forever.#
Yes, this was really in The Arabian Nights.#
The Angel of Death with the Proud King and the Devout Man#
All should be humble before Allah.#
Sinbad the Seaman and Sinbad the Landsman#
In the past I had the impression that Sinbad was some sort of pirate with an illustrious career, but this is not the case. Actually, he was just a wealthy merchant who, despite riches, insisted on going out to sea and constantly got into problems. After the seventh time, he made a pact to never sail again.#
Each of the stories is fairly interesting, but nothing earth-shattering and worth quoting here.#
The City of Brass#
An interesting story about fantastic wealth in a hidden city. Near the end Burton makes the following editorial comment: "Mankind, which sees itself everywhere and in everything, must create its own analogues in all the elements, air (Sylphs), fire (Jinns), water (Merman and Mermaids) and earth (Kobolds)."#
The Lady and Her Five Suitors#
A silly story, but I imagine it was great fun to tell in the past and in a large group.#
Judar and His Brethren#
A story of a noble man and his treacherous brothers. There is less obsessed description of riches than normal and more emphasis on how terrible the brothers are despite Judar's forgiveness.#
Julnar the Sea-Born and Her Son King Badr Basim of Persia#
A pair of stories about an interesting kingdom and their dealings with witches and Mermaids.#
Khalifah the Fisherman of Baghdad#
A very funny story about an honest man and his experience with fickle luck.#
Abu Kir and Abu Sir#
Another story stressing noble manners and honesty.#
The Sleeper and The Waker#
A clever story.#
Alaeddin; or, the Wonderful Lamp#
I found the real version of this story to be far superior to the Disney version, but also incredibly different and essentially incomparable.#
Ali Babe and the Forty Thieves#
Again, a surprising difference from what I expected from the story. Despite the name, this tale is primarily about Ali Baba's slave-girl, Morgiana, who is loyal and thus rewarded.#
Ma'aruf the Cobbler and His Wife Fatimah#
A fabulous story about a poor man who becomes a Sultan. Something interesting about this story was that the princess is an important character with a name, personality, and good deeds to her name, something very uncommon throughout the stories of the Nights.#