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[Illustration: ’لا]

                   “TO THE PURE ALL THINGS ARE PURE.”
                           (Puris omnia pura)

                                                        —_Arab Proverb._

          “Niuna corrotta mente intese mai sanamente parole.”

                                            —“_Decameron_”—_conclusion_.

              “Erubuit, posuitque meum Lucretia librum
                  Sed coram Bruto. Brute! recede, leget.”

                                                             —_Martial._

            “Mieulx est de ris que de larmes escripre,
                Pour ce que rire est le propre des hommes.”

                                                              —RABELAIS.

“The pleasure we derive from perusing the Thousand-and-One Stories makes
us regret that we possess only a comparatively small part of these truly
enchanting fictions.”

                                      —CRICHTON’S “_History of Arabia_.”

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_A PLAIN AND LITERAL TRANSLATION OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS.
NOW ENTITULED_




                           _THE BOOK OF THE_
                      Thousand Nights and a Night

   _WITH INTRODUCTION EXPLANATORY NOTES ON THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF
    MOSLEM MEN AND A TERMINAL ESSAY UPON THE HISTORY OF THE NIGHTS_

                              VOLUME VIII.


                                   BY
                           RICHARD F. BURTON

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        PRINTED BY THE BURTON CLUB FOR PRIVATE SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

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                            Shammar Edition

Limited to one thousand numbered sets, of which this is

                              Number _547_




                          PRINTED IN U. S. A.




                              A MESSAGE TO

                           Frederick Hankey,

                FORMERLY OF NO. 2, RUE LAFFITTE, PARIS.


            MY DEAR FRED,

            If there be such a thing as “continuation,” you
            will see these lines in the far Spirit-land
            and you will find that your old friend has not
            forgotten you and Annie.

                                          RICHARD F. BURTON.

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                     CONTENTS OF THE EIGHTH VOLUME.


                                                                    PAGE

     _a._ STORY OF PRINCE SAYF AL-MULUK AND THE PRINCESS BADI’A
       AL-JAMAL (Continued)                                            1

 (_Lane, III. 308. The Story of Seif El-Mulook and Badeea El-Jamal, with
            the Introduction transferred to a note p. 372._)

 HASAN OF BASSORAH                                                     7

          (_Lane, III. 335. The Story of Hasan of El-Basrah_).

 KHALIFAH THE FISHERMAN OF BAGHDAD                                   145

        (_Lane, IV. 527. The Story of Khaleefeh the Fisherman._)

 NOTE. THE SAME FROM THE BRESLAU EDITION (IV. 318)                   184

 MASRUR AND ZAYN AL-MAWASIF                                          205

                        (_Lane, III. 573. Note._)

 ALI NUR AL-DIN AND MIRIAM THE GIRDLE-GIRL                           264

                        (_Lane omits, III. 572._)


      Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Seventy-seventh Night,

She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the old
Queen heard the handmaid’s words she was wroth with sore wrath because
of her and cried, “How shall there be accord between man and Jinn?” But
Sayf al-Muluk replied, “Indeed, I will conform to thy will and be thy
page and die in thy love and will keep with thee covenant and regard
none but thee: so right soon shalt thou see my truth and lack of
falsehood and the excellence of my manly dealing with thee, Inshallah!”
The old woman pondered for a full hour with brow earthwards bent; after
which she raised her head and said to him, “O thou beautiful youth, wilt
thou indeed keep compact and covenant?” He replied, “Yes, by Him who
raised the heavens and dispread the earth upon the waters, I will indeed
keep faith and troth!” Thereupon quoth she, “I will win for thee thy
wish, Inshallah! but for the present go thou into the garden and take
thy pleasure therein and eat of its fruits, that have neither like in
the world