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The Thousand and One Days;

A COMPANION TO THE

"_Arabian Nights._"

WITH INTRODUCTION BY MISS PARDOE.

[Illustration: P. 113.]

LONDON:
WILLIAM LAY, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND.
1857.




INTRODUCTION.


The Compiler of the graceful little volume which I have the pleasure
of introducing to the public, has conferred an undeniable benefit upon
the youth of England by presenting to them a collection of Oriental
Tales, which, rich in the elements of interest and entertainment, are
nevertheless entirely free from the licentiousness which renders so
many of the fictions of the East, beautiful and brilliant as they are,
most objectionable for young and ardent minds. There is indeed no lack
of the wonderful in the pages before us, any more than in the Arabian
and Persian Tales already so well known: but it will be seen that the
supernatural agency in the narratives is used as a means to work out
totally different results. There is, in truth, scarcely one of these
Tales which does not inculcate a valuable moral lesson; as may be seen
by reference to "The Powder of Longevity," "The Old Camel," and "The
Story of the Dervise Abounadar" among several, others.

The present collection of Eastern Stories has been principally derived
from the works of different Oriental Scholars on the Continent, and
little doubt can be entertained of the genuineness of their origin;
while they have been carefully selected, and do honour to the good
taste of their Compiler. An acknowledgment is also due to him for his
adherence to the good old orthography to which we have all been
accustomed from our childhood, in the case of such titles as "Caliph,"
"Vizier," "Houri," "Genii," &c.; as, however critically correct and
learned the spelling of Mr. Lane may be in his magnificent version of
the "Thousand and One Nights," and however appropriate to a work of so
much research and value to Oriental students, it would have been alike
fatiguing and out of character to have embarrassed a volume, simply
intended for the amusement of youthful readers, by a number of hard
and unfamiliar words, difficult of pronunciation to all save the
initiated; and for the pleasure of the young requiring translation
fully as much as the narrative itself.

In one of the Tales there will be at once detected a portion of the
favourite old story of Aladdin's Lamp, in the subterranean gem-garden
discovered by the handsome youth; while in another, mention is made
of the already-familiar legend of the hidden city of Ad, so popular
among the ancient Arabs[1]; but these repetitions will cease to create
any surprise when it is remembered that the professional story-tellers
of the East are a wandering race, who travel from city to city,
exhibiting their talent during seasons of festivity, in the palaces of
the wealthy and the public coffee-houses. Those admitted to the
women's apartments are universally aged crones, whose volubility is
something marvellous; and they are always welcome guests to the
indolent beauties, who listen to them for hours together without a
symptom of weariness, as they pour forth their narratives in a
monotonous voice strangely displeasing to European ears. The men,
while reciting their tales, indulge in violent gesticulations and
contortions of the body, which appear to produce great delight in
their audience. Since they generally travel two or three in company;
and, save in rare cases of improvisation, their stock of narrative is
common to all, it is their ambition so individually to embellish,
heighten, and amplify their subject-matter, as to outshine their
competitors; and it is consequently to this cause that the numerous
variations of the same Tale which have reached Europe must be
attributed.

Taken altogether, there can be no doubt that the "Thousand and One
Days" merit the warm welcome which I trust awaits them.

J. P.

LONDON, FEB. 1857.




CONTENTS.


I.
                                                             PAGE
HASSAN ABDALLAH, OR THE ENCHANTED KEYS                          1
  Story of Hassan                                               7
  Story of the Basket-Maker                                    11
  Story of the Dervise Abounadar                               21
  Conclusion of the Story of Hassan                            29


II.

SOLIMAN BEY AND THE THREE STORY TELLERS                        46
  First Story Teller                                           47
  Second Story Teller                                          49
  Third Story Teller                                           55


III.

PRINCE KHALAF AND THE PRINCESS OF CHINA                        58
  Story of Prince Al Abbas                                     67
  Continuation of Prince Khalaf and the Princess of China      99
  Story of Lin-in                                             106
  Story of Prince Khalaf concluded                            126


IV.

THE WISE DEY                                                  178


V.

THE TUNISIAN SAGE                                             190


VI.

THE NOSE FOR GOLD                                             203


VII.

THE TREASURES OF BASRA                                        215
  History of Aboulcassem                                      223
  Conclusion of the Treasures of Basra                        230


VIII.

THE OLD CAMEL                                                250


IX.

THE STORY OF MEDJEDDIN                                       263


X.

KING BEDREDDIN-LOLO AND HIS VIZIR                             299
  Story of the Old Slippers                                   300
  Story of Atalmulc the Sorrowful                             305
  Continuation of King Bedreddin-Lolo and his Vizir           338
  Story of Malek and the Princess Schirine                    340
  Conclusion                                                  358

[Illustration]




THE "THOUSAND AND ONE DAYS;"

OR,

ARABIAN TALES.




I.

THE STORY OF HASSAN ABDALLAH; OR, THE ENCHANTED KEYS.


Theilon, caliph of Egypt, died, after having bequeathed his power to
his son, Mohammed, who, like a wise and good prince, proceeded to root
out abuses, and finally caused peace and justice to flourish
throughout his dominions. Instead of oppressing his people by new
taxes, he employed the treasures, which his father had amassed by
violence, in supporting learned men, rewarding the brave, and
assisting the unfortunate. Every thing succeeded under his happy sway;
the risings of the Nile were regular and abundant; every year the soil
produced rich harvests; and commerce, honoured and protected, caused
the gold of foreign nations to flow abundantly into the ports of
Egypt.

Mohammed determined, one day, to take the census of the officers of
his army, and of all the persons in public situations whose salaries
were paid out of the treasury. The vizirs, to the number of forty,
first made their appearance and knelt in succession before the
sovereign. They were, for the most part, men venerable from their age,
and some of them had long beards of snowy whiteness. They all wore on
their heads tiaras of gold, enriched with precious stones, and carried
in their hands long staves as badges of their power. One enumerated
the battles in which he had been engaged, and the honourable wounds he
had received; another recounted the long and laborious studies he had
pursued, in order to render himself master of the various sciences,
and to qualify himself to serve the state by his wisdom and knowledge.

After the vizirs, came the governors of provinces, the generals, and
the great officers of the army; and next to them the civil
magistrates, and all who were entrusted with the preservation of the
peace and the awarding of justice. Behind these walked the public
executioner, who, although stout and well-fed, like a man who had
nothing to do, went along as if depressed with grief, and instead of
carrying his sword naked on his shoulder, he kept it in its scabbard.
When he came into the presence of the prince, he threw himself at his
feet, and exclaimed, "O mighty prince, the day of justice and of
munificence is at last about to dawn on me! Since the death of the
terrible Theilon, under whose reign my life was happy and my condition
prosperous, I have seen my occupation and its emoluments diminish
daily. If Egypt continue thus to live in peace and plenty, I shall run
great danger of perishing with hunger, and my family will be brought
to misery and ruin."

Mohammed listened in silence to the complaints of the headsman, and
acknowledged that there was some foundation for them, for his salary
was small, and the chief part of his profits arose from what he
obtained from criminals, either by way of gift, or as a rightful fee.
In times of trouble, quarrelling, and violence, he had lived, in
fact, in a state of ease and affluence, while now, under the present
prosperous reign, he had nothing better than the prospect of beggary
before him.

"Is it then true," exclaimed the caliph, "that the happiness of all is
a dream? that what is joy to one, may be the cause of grief to
another? O executioner, fear not as to your fate! May it, indeed,
please God that, under my reign, your sword,--which is almost as often
an instrument of vengeance as of justice,--may remain useless and
covered with rust. But, in order to enable you to provide for the
wants of yourself and your family, without the unhappy necessity of
exercising your fatal office, you shall receive every year the sum of
two hundred dinars."

In this way all the officers and servants of the palace passed before
the notice of the prince; he interrogated each on the nature of his
occupation and his past services, on his means of existence, and on
the salary which he received. When he found that any one held a
situation of a painful and difficult nature, for which he was
inadequately remunerated, the caliph diminished his duties and
increased his pay; and, on the other hand, when he found the contrary
to be the case, he lessened the salary and increased the duties of the
office. After having, in this way, performed many acts of wisdom and
justice, the caliph observed, among the officers of the civil service,
a sheik, whose wrinkled countenance and stooping figure indicated his
great age. The caliph called him up, in order to inquire what was his
employment in the palace, and the sum which it yielded him.

"Prince," the old man replied, "my only employment is to take care of
a chest that was committed to my charge by your father, the late
caliph, and for attending to which he allowed me ten pieces of gold a
month."

"It seems to me," replied Mohammed, "that the reward is great for so
slight a service. Pray what are the contents of this chest?"

"I received it," replied the sheik, "in charge forty years ago, and I
solemnly swear to you that I know not what it contains."

The caliph commanded the chest to be brought to him, which was of pure
gold, and most richly adorned. The old man opened it. It contained a
manuscript written in brilliant characters on the skin of a gazelle,
painted purple and sprinkled with a red dust. Neither the prince,
however, nor his ministers, nor the ulemas who were present, could
decipher the writing. By the caliph's order, the wise men of Egypt
were summoned, as well as others from Syria, Persia, and India, but to
no purpose; not one was able to interpret the mysterious characters.
The book remained open for a long time, exposed to the gaze of all,
and a great reward was offered to any one who could bring forward a
person of sufficient learning to read it.

Some time after this, a savant who had left Egypt in the reign of
Theilon, and had now returned after a long absence, chanced to hear of
the mysterious book, and said that he knew what it was, and could
explain its history. The caliph immediately admitted him to an
audience, and the old man addressed him as follows:

"O sovereign ruler, may the Almighty prolong your days! Only one man
can read this book, its rightful master, the sheik Hassan Abdallah,
son of El-Achaar. This man had travelled through many lands, and
penetrated into the mysterious city of Aram, built on columns, from
which he brought this book, which no one but himself could read. He
made use of it in his experiments in alchemy, and by its aid he could
transmute the most worthless metals into gold. The caliph Theilon,
your father, having learned this, commanded the sage to be brought
before him, with a view of compelling him to reveal the secret of his
knowledge. Hassan Abdallah refused to do so, for fear of putting into
the hands of the unjust an instrument of such terrible power; and the
prince, in a rage, laid hold of the chest, and ordered the sage to be
thrown into prison, where he still remains, unless he has died since
that time, which is forty years ago."

On hearing this, Mohammed immediately despatched his officers to visit
the prisons, and, on their return, learned with pleasure that Hassan
was still alive. The caliph ordered him to be brought forth and
arrayed in a dress of honour; and, on his appearing in the audience
chamber, the prince made him sit down beside him, and begged him to
forgive the unjust treatment which his father had caused him to
undergo. He then told him how he had accidentally discovered that he
was still alive; and at last, placing the mysterious book before him,
said,

"Old man, if this book could make me the owner of all the treasures of
the world, I would not consent to possess it, since it only belongs to
me by injustice and violence."

On hearing these words, Hassan burst into tears.

"O God," he exclaimed, "all wisdom proceeds from Thee! Thou causest to
arise from the same soil the poisonous and the wholesome plant. Every
where good is placed by the side of evil. This prince, the support of
the feeble, the defender of the oppressed, who has conferred on me the
happiness of spending my remaining years in the light of day, is the
son of the tyrant who plunged Egypt in mourning, and who kept me for
forty years in a loathsome dungeon. Prince," added the old man,
addressing Mohammed, "what I refused to the wrath of your father, I
willingly grant to your virtues: this book contains the precepts of
the true science, and I bless Heaven that I have lived long enough to
teach it to you. I have often risked my life to become the master of
this wonderful book, which was the only article of value that I
brought from Aram, that city into which no man can enter who is not
assisted by Heaven."

The caliph embraced the old man, and, calling him his father, begged
him to relate what he had seen in the city of Aram.

"Prince," replied Hassan, "it is a long story, as long, nearly, as my
whole life."

He then proceeded as follows.

[Illustration: Story of the Enchanted Keys, p. 7.]


THE STORY OF HASSAN ABDALLAH.

I am the only son of one of the richest inhabitants of Egypt. My
father, who was a man of extensive knowledge, employed my youth in the
study of science; and at twenty years of age I was already honourably
mentioned among the ulemas, when my father bestowed a young maiden on
me as my wife, with eyes brilliant as the stars, and with a form
elegant and light as that of the gazelle. My nuptials were
magnificent, and my days flowed on in peace and happiness. I lived
thus for ten years, when at last this beautiful dream vanished. It
pleased Heaven to afflict me with every kind of misfortune: the plague
deprived me of my father; war destroyed my dear brothers; my house
fell a prey to the flames; my richly-laden ships were buried beneath
the waves. Reduced to misery and want, my only resource was in the
mercy of God and the compassion of the faithful whom I met while I
frequented the mosques. My sufferings, from my own wretched state of
poverty, and that of my wife and children, were cruel indeed. One day
when I had not received any charitable donations, my wife, weeping,
took some of my clothes, and gave them to me in order to sell them at
the bazaar. On the way thither I met an Arab of the desert, mounted on
a red camel. He greeted me, and said,

"Peace be with you, my brother! Can you tell me where the sheik Hassan
Abdallah, the son of El-Achaar, resides in the city?"

Being ashamed of my poverty, and thinking I was not known, I replied,

"There is no man at Cairo of that name."

"God is great!" exclaimed the Arab; "are you not Hassan Abdallah, and
can you send away your guest by concealing your name?"

Greatly confused, I then begged him to forgive me, and laid hold of
his hands to kiss them, which he would not permit me to do, and I then
accompanied him to my house. On the way there I was tormented by the
reflection that I had nothing to set before him; and when I reached
home I informed my wife of the meeting I had just had.

"The stranger is sent by God," said she; "and even the children's
bread shall be his. Go, sell the clothes which I gave you; buy some
food for our guest with the money, and if any thing should remain
over, we will partake of it ourselves."

In going out it was necessary that I should pass through the apartment
where the Arab was. As I concealed the clothes, he said to me, "My
brother, what have you got there hid under your cloak?"

I replied that it was my wife's dress, which I was carrying to the
tailor.

"Show it to me," he said. I showed it to him, blushing.

"O merciful God," he exclaimed, "you are going to sell it in order to
get money to enable you to be hospitable towards me! Stop, Hassan!
here are ten pieces of gold; spend them in buying what is needful for
our own wants and for those of your family."

I obeyed, and plenty and happiness seemed to revisit my abode. Every
day the Arab gave me the same sum, which, according to his orders, I
spent in the same way; and this continued for fifteen days. On the
sixteenth day my guest, after chatting on indifferent matters, said to
me, "Hassan, would you like to sell yourself to me?"

"My lord," I replied, "I am already yours by gratitude."

"No," he replied, "that is not what I mean; I wish to make you my
property, and you shall fix the price yourself."

Thinking he was joking, I replied, "The price of a freeman is one
thousand dinars if he is killed at a single blow; but if many wounds
are inflicted upon him, or if he should be cut in many pieces, the
price is then one thousand five hundred dinars."

"Very well," answered my guest, "I will pay you this last-mentioned
sum if you will consent to the bargain."

When I saw that he was speaking seriously, I asked for time in order
to consult my family.

"Do so," he replied, and then went out to look after some affairs in
the city.

When I related the strange proposal of my guest, my mother said, "What
can this man want to do with you?" The children all clung to me, and
wept. My wife, who was a wise and prudent woman, remarked,

"This detestable stranger wants, perhaps, to get back what he has
spent here. You have nothing but this wretched house, sell it, and
give him the money, but don't sell yourself."

I passed the rest of the day and the following night in reflection,
and was in a state of great uncertainty. With the sum offered by the
stranger I could at least secure bread for my family. But why wish to
purchase me? What could he intend to do? Before next morning, however,
I had come to a decision. I went to the Arab and said, "I am yours."
Untying his sash, he took out one thousand five hundred gold pieces,
and giving them to me, said, "Fear not, my brother, I have no designs
against either your life or your liberty; I only wish to secure a
faithful companion during a long journey which I am about to
undertake."

Overwhelmed with joy, I ran with the money to my wife and mother; but
they, without listening to my explanations, began weeping and crying
as if they were lamenting for the dead.

"It is the price of flesh and blood," they exclaimed; "neither we nor
our children will eat bread procured at such a cost!"

By dint of argument, however, I succeeded at length in subduing their
grief; and having embraced them, together with my children, I set out
to meet my new master.

By order of the Arab I purchased a camel renowned for its speed, at
the price of a hundred drachms; I filled our sacks with food
sufficient for a long period; and then, mounting our camels, we
proceeded on our journey.

We soon reached the desert. Here no traces of travellers were to be
seen, for the wind effaced them continually from the surface of the
moving sand. The Arab was guided in his course by indications known
only to himself. We travelled thus together for five days under a
burning sun; each day seemed longer to me than a night of suffering or
of fear. My master, who was of a lively disposition, kept up my
courage by tales which I remember even now with pleasure after forty
years of anguish; and you will forgive an old man for not being able
to resist the pleasure of relating some of them to you. The following
story, he said, had been recounted to him by the basket-maker himself,
a poor man whom he had found in prison, and whom he had charitably
found means to release.


THE STORY OF THE BASKET-MAKER.

I was born of poor and honest parents; and my father, who was a
basket-maker by trade, taught me to plait all kinds of baskets. So
long as I had only myself to care for, I lived tolerably well on the
produce of my labour; but when I reached twenty years of age, and took
a wife, who in a few years presented me with several children, my
gains proved insufficient to maintain my family. A basket-maker earns
but little; one day he gets a drachm, the next he may get two, or
perhaps only half a drachm. In this state of things I and my children
had often to endure the pangs of hunger.

One day it happened that I had just finished a large basket; it was
well and strongly made, and I hoped to obtain at least three drachms
for it. I took it to the bazaar and through all the streets, but no
purchaser appeared. Night came on and I went home. When my wife and
children saw me