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[Illustration: لا لابرار كلّ شي تبر]

                   “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 VI.


                                   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.

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                         I INSCRIBE THIS VOLUME

                  TO MY OLD AND VALUED CORRESPONDENT,

                        IN WHOSE DEBT I AM DEEP,

                        PROFESSOR ALOYS SPRENGER

                            (OF HEIDELBERG),

                    ARABIST, PHILOSOPHER AND FRIEND.

                                                           R. F. BURTON.




                     CONTENTS OF THE SIXTH VOLUME.


                                                                    PAGE

 SINDBAD THE SEAMAN AND SINDBAD THE LANDSMAN                           1

 (_Lane, Vol. III., Chapt. XXII., Story of Es Sindbad of the Sea and Es
                    Sindbad of the Land. pp. 1–78._)

     _a._ THE FIRST VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN                       4

     _b._ THE SECOND VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN                     14

     _c._ THE THIRD VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN                      22

     _d._ THE FOURTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN                     34

     _e._ THE FIFTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN                      48

     _f._ THE SIXTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN                      58

     _g._ THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN                    68

          THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SEAMAN (_according to     78
            the version of the Calcutta Edition_)


 THE CITY OF BRASS                                                    83

    (_Lane, Vol. III., Chapt. XXIII. Story of the City of Brass. pp.
                               118–152._)


 THE CRAFT AND MALICE OF WOMAN                                       122

  (_Lane, Vol. III., Chapt. XXI., Abstract of the Story of the King and
      his Son and the Damsel and the Seven Wezeers. pp. 158–183._)

     _a._ THE KING AND HIS WAZIR’S WIFE                              129

     _b._ THE CONFECTIONER, HIS WIFE, AND THE PARROT                 132

     _c._ THE FULLER AND HIS SON                                     134

     _d._ THE RAKE’S TRICK AGAINST THE CHASTE WIFE                   135

     _e._ THE MISER AND THE LOAVES OF BREAD                          137

     _f._ THE LADY AND HER TWO LOVERS                                138

     _g._ THE KING’S SON AND THE OGRESS                              139

     _h._ THE DROP OF HONEY                                          142

     _i._ THE WOMAN WHO MADE HER HUSBAND SIFT DUST                   143

     _j._ THE ENCHANTED SPRING                                       145

     _k._ THE WAZIR’S SON AND THE HAMMAM-KEEPER’S WIFE               150

     _l._ THE WIFE’S DEVICE TO CHEAT HER HUSBAND                     152

     _m._ THE GOLDSMITH AND THE CASHMERE SINGING-GIRL                156

     _n._ THE MAN WHO NEVER LAUGHED DURING THE REST OF HIS DAYS      160

     _o._ THE KING’S SON AND THE MERCHANT’S WIFE                     167

     _p._ THE PAGE WHO FEIGNED TO KNOW THE SPEECH OF BIRDS           169

     _q._ THE LADY AND HER FIVE SUITORS                              172

     _r._ THE THREE WISHES, OR THE MAN WHO LONGED TO SEE THE NIGHT   180
            OF POWER

     _s._ THE STOLEN NECKLACE                                        182

     _t._ THE TWO PIGEONS                                            183

     _u._ PRINCE BEHRAM AND THE PRINCESS AL-DATMA                    184

     _v._ THE HOUSE WITH THE BELVEDERE                               188

     _w._ THE KING’S SON AND THE IFRIT’S MISTRESS                    199

     _x._ THE SANDAL-WOOD MERCHANT AND THE SHARPERS                  202

     _y._ THE DEBAUCHEE AND THE THREE-YEAR-OLD CHILD                 208

     _z._ THE STOLEN PURSE                                           209

     _aa._ THE FOX AND THE FOLK                                       211

 JUDAR AND HIS BRETHREN                                              213

     (_Lane, Vol. III, Chapt. XXII., Story of Joodar. pp. 183–233._)

 THE HISTORY OF GHARIB AND HIS BROTHER AJIB                          257




            SINDBAD THE SEAMAN[1] AND SINDBAD THE LANDSMAN.


There lived in the city of Baghdad, during the reign of the Commander of
the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, a man named Sindbád the Hammál,[2] one in
poor case who bore burdens on his head for hire. It happened to him one
day of great heat that whilst he was carrying a heavy load, he became
exceeding weary and sweated profusely, the heat and the weight alike
oppressing him. Presently, as he was passing the gate of a merchant’s
house, before which the ground was swept and watered, and there the air
was temperate, he sighted a broad bench beside the door; so he set his
load thereon, to take rest and smell the air,——And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.


       Now when it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-seventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Hammal
set his load upon the bench to take rest and smell the air, there came
out upon him from the court-door a pleasant breeze and a delicious
fragrance. He sat down on the edge of the bench, and at once heard from
within the melodious sound of lutes and other stringed instruments, and
mirth-exciting voices singing and reciting, together with the song of
birds warbling and glorifying Almighty Allah in various tunes and
tongues; turtles, mocking-birds, merles, nightingales, cushats and
stone-curlews,[3] whereat he marvelled in himself and was moved to
mighty joy and solace. Then he went up to the gate and saw within a
great flower-garden wherein were pages and black slaves and such a train
of servants and attendants and so forth as is found only with Kings and
Sultans; and his nostrils were greeted with the savoury odours of all
manner meats rich and delicate, and delicious and generous wines. So he
raised his eyes heavenwards and said, “Glory to Thee, O Lord, O Creator
and Provider, who providest whomso Thou wilt without count or stint! O
mine Holy One, I cry Thee pardon for all sins and turn to Thee repenting
of all offences! O Lord, there is no gainsaying Thee in Thine ordinance
and Thy dominion, neither wilt Thou be questioned of that Thou dost, for
Thou indeed over all things art Almighty! Extolled be Thy perfection:
whom Thou wilt Thou makest poor and whom Thou wilt Thou makest rich!
Whom Thou wilt Thou exaltest and whom Thou wilt Thou abasest and there
is no god but Thou! How mighty is Thy majesty and how enduring Thy
dominion and how excellent Thy government! Verily, Thou favourest whom
Thou wilt of Thy servants, whereby the owner of this place abideth in
all joyance of life and delighteth himself with pleasant scents and
delicious meats and exquisite wines of all kinds. For indeed Thou
appointest unto Thy creatures that which Thou wilt and that which Thou
hast fore-ordained unto them; wherefore are some weary and others are at
rest and some enjoy fair fortune and affluence, whilst others suffer the
extreme of travail and misery, even as I do.” And he fell to reciting:—

 How many by my labours, that evermore endure, ✿ All goods of life enjoy
    and in cooly shade recline?
 Each morn that dawns I wake in travail and in woe, ✿ And strange is my
    condition and my burden gars me pine:
 Many others are in luck and from miseries are free, ✿ And Fortune never
    loads them with loads the like o’ mine:
 They live their happy days in all solace and delight; ✿ Eat, drink and
    dwell in honour ‘mid the noble and the digne:
 All living things were made of a little drop of sperm, ✿ Thine origin is
    mine and my provenance is thine;
 Yet the difference and distance ‘twixt the twain of us are far ✿ As the
    difference of savour ‘twixt vinegar and wine:
 But at Thee, O God All-wise! I venture not to rail ✿ Whose ordinance is
    just and whose justice cannot fail.

When Sindbad the Porter had made an end of reciting his verses, he bore
up his burden and was about to fare on, when there came forth to him
from the gate a little foot-page, fair of face and shapely of shape and
dainty of dress who caught him by the hand saying, “Come in and speak
with my lord, for he calleth for thee.” The Porter would have excused
himself to the page but the lad would take no refusal; so he left his
load with the doorkeeper in the vestibule and followed the boy into the
house, which he found to be a goodly mansion, radiant and full of
majesty, till he brought him to a grand sitting-room wherein he saw a
company of nobles and great lords, seated at tables garnished with all
manner of flowers and sweet-scented herbs, besides great plenty of
dainty viands and fruits dried and fresh and confections and wines of
the choicest vintages. There also were instruments of music and mirth
and lovely slave-girls playing and singing. All the company was ranged
according to rank; and in the highest place sat a man of worshipful and
noble aspect whose beard-sides hoariness had stricken; and he was
stately of stature and fair of favour, agreeable of aspect and full of
gravity and dignity and majesty. So Sindbad the Porter was confounded at
that which he beheld and said in himself, “By Allah, this must be either
a piece of Paradise or some King’s palace!” Then he saluted the company
with much respect praying for their prosperity, and kissing the ground
before them, stood with his head bowed down in humble attitude.——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.


       Now when it was the Five Hundred and Thirty-eighth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Sindbad the
Porter, after kissing ground between their hands, stood with his head
bowed down in humble attitude. The master of the house bade him draw
near and be seated and bespoke him kindly, bidding him welcome. Then he
set before him various kinds of viands, rich and delicate and delicious,
and the Porter, after saying his Bismillah, fell to and ate his fill,
after which he exclaimed, “Praised be Allah whatso be our case![4]” and,
washing his hands, returned thanks to the company for his entertainment.
Quoth the host, “Thou art welcome and thy day is a blessed. But what is
thy name and calling?” Quoth the other, “O my lord, my name is Sindbad
the Hammal, and I carry folk’s goods on my head for hire.” The
house-master smiled and rejoined, “Know, O Porter that thy name is even
as mine, for I am Sindbad the Seaman; and now, O Porter, I would have
thee let me hear the couplets thou recitedst at the gate anon.” The
Porter was abashed and replied, “Allah upon thee! Excuse me, for toil
and travail and lack of luck when the hand is empty, teach a man ill
manners and boorish ways.” Said the host, “Be not ashamed; thou art
become my brother; but repeat to me the verses, for they pleased me
whenas I heard thee recite them at the gate.” Hereupon the Porter
repeated the couplets and they delighted the merchant, who said to
him:—Know, O Hammal