The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I. / Commonly Called the Arabian Nights' Entertainments Anthology E-Book

• Herausgeber: PergamonMedia
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Highlights of World Literature
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 4092

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of West and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the Arabian Nights, from the first English language edition (1706), which rendered the title as The Arabian Nights' Entertainment. The work was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central, South Asia and North Africa. The tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian folklore and literature. In particular, many tales were originally folk stories from the Caliphate era, while others, especially the frame story, are most probably drawn from the Pahlavi Persian work Hazar Afsan (Persian: ???? ??????, lit. A Thousand Tales) which in turn relied partly on Indian elements. What is common throughout all the editions of the Nights is the initial frame story of the ruler Shahryar and his wife Scheherazade (from Persian: ???????, possibly meaning "of noble lineage"[3]) and the framing device incorporated throughout the tales themselves. The stories proceed from this original tale; some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord. Some editions contain only a few hundred nights, while others include 1,001 or more. The bulk of the text is in prose, although verse is occasionally used to express heightened emotion, and for songs and riddles. Most of the poems are single couplets or quatrains, although some are longer.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS COMMONLY CALLED THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS

TRANSLATED FROM THE ARABIC, WITH COPIOUS NOTES, BY

EDWARD WILLIAM LANE

A NEW IMPRESSION IN THREE VOLUMES

1912

LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED. DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE EDITOR'S PREFACE.

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I.

COMMENCING WITH THE FIRST NIGHT, AND ENDING WITH PART OF THE THIRD.

THE STORY OF THE MERCHANT AND THE JINNEE.

THE STORY OF THE FIRST SHEYKH AND THE GAZELLE.

THE STORY OF THE SECOND SHEYKH AND THE TWO BLACK HOUNDS.

THE STORY OF THE THIRD SHEYKH AND THE MULE.

NOTES TO CHAPTER FIRST.

CHAPTER II.

COMMENCING WITH PART OF THE THIRD NIGHT, AND ENDING WITH PART OF THE NINTH.

THE STORY OF THE FISHERMAN.

THE STORY OF KING YOONÁN AND THE SAGE DOOBÁN.

THE STORY OF THE HUSBAND AND THE PARROT.

THE STORY OF THE ENVIOUS WEZEER AND THE PRINCE AND THE GHOOLEH.

CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF KING YOONÁN AND THE SAGE DOOBÁN.

CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE FISHERMAN.

THE STORY OF THE YOUNG KING OF THE BLACK ISLANDS.

NOTES TO CHAPTER SECOND.

CHAPTER III.

COMMENCING WITH PART OF THE NINTH NIGHT, AND ENDING WITH PART OF THE EIGHTEENTH.

THE STORY OF THE PORTER AND THE LADIES OF BAGHDÁD, AND OF THE THREE ROYAL MENDICANTS, &c.

THE STORY OF THE FIRST ROYAL MENDICANT.

THE STORY OF THE SECOND ROYAL MENDICANT.

THE STORY OF THE ENVIER AND THE ENVIED.

CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE SECOND ROYAL MENDICANT.

THE STORY OF THE THIRD ROYAL MENDICANT.

CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE LADIES OF BAGHDÁD, &c.

THE STORY OF THE FIRST OF THE THREE LADIES OF BAGHDÁD.

THE STORY OF THE SECOND OF THE THREE LADIES OF BAGHDÁD.

CONCLUSION OF THE STORY OF THE LADIES OF BAGHDÁD, &c.

NOTES TO CHAPTER THIRD.

CHAPTER IV.

COMMENCING WITH PART OF THE EIGHTEENTH NIGHT, AND ENDING WITH PART OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH.

THE STORY OF THE THREE APPLES, &c.1

THE STORY OF NOOR-ED-DEEN AND HIS SON, AND OF SHEMS-ED-DEEN AND HIS DAUGHTER.

NOTES TO CHAPTER FOURTH.

CHAPTER V.

COMMENCING WITH PART OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH NIGHT, AND ENDING WITH PART OF THE THIRTY-SECOND.

THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK.

THE STORY TOLD BY THE CHRISTIAN BROKER.

THE STORY TOLD BY THE SULṬÁN'S STEWARD.

THE STORY TOLD BY THE JEWISH PHYSICIAN.

THE STORY TOLD BY THE TAILOR.

THE BARBER'S STORY OF HIMSELF

THE BARBER'S STORY OF HIS FIRST BROTHER.

THE BARBER'S STORY OF HIS SECOND BROTHER.

THE BARBER'S STORY OF HIS THIRD BROTHER.

THE BARBER'S STORY OF HIS FOURTH BROTHER.

THE BARBER'S STORY OF HIS FIFTH BROTHER.82

THE BARBER'S STORY OF HIS SIXTH BROTHER

CONTINUATION OF THE STORY TOLD BY THE TAILOR.

CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE HUMPBACK.

NOTES TO CHAPTER FIFTH.

CHAPTER VI.

COMMENCING WITH PART OF THE THIRTY-SECOND NIGHT, AND ENDING WITH PART OF THIS THIRTY-SIXTH.

THE STORY OF NOOR-ED-DEEN AND ENEES-EL-JELEES.1

NOTES TO CHAPTER SIXTH.

CHAPTER VII.

COMMENCING WITH PART OF THE THIRTY-SIXTH NIGHT, AND ENDING WITH PART OF THE FORTY-FOURTH.

THE STORY OF GHÁNIM THE SON OF EIYOOB, THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE.

THE STORY OF THE SLAVE KÁFOOR.13

CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF GHÁNIM THE SON OF EIYOOB, THE DISTRACTED SLAVE OF LOVE.

NOTES TO CHAPTER SEVENTH.

CHAPTER VIII.

COMMENCING WITH PART OF THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH NIGHT,1 AND ENDING WITH PART OF THE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVENTH.

THE STORY OF TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ.

THE STORY OF 'AZEEZ AND 'AZEEZEH.

CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF TÁJ-EL-MULOOK AND THE LADY DUNYÀ.

NOTES TO CHAPTER EIGHTH.

THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT:

VOLUME THE FIRST.

PREFATORY NOTE.

THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT

THE MERCHANT AND THE GENIE.

THE FISHERMAN AND THE GENIE.

THE PORTER AND THE THREE LADIES OF BAGHDAD.

THE THREE APPLES.

NOUREDDIN ALI OF CAIRO AND HIS SON BEDREDDIN HASSAN.

STORY OF THE HUNCHBACK

NOUREDDIN ALI AND THE DAMSEL ENIS EL JELIS.

GHANIM BEN EYOUB THE SLAVE OF LOVE.

100 A.H. 623-640.

THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT:

VOLUME THE SECOND.

THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT

THE HISTORY OF KING OMAR BEN ENNUMAN AND HIS SONS SHERKAN AND ZOULMEKAN.

1 A.H. 65-86.

THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT:

VOLUME THE THIRD.

THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT

STORY OF THE BIRDS AND BEASTS AND THE SON OF ADAM.

THE HERMITS.

THE WATER-FOWL AND THE TORTOISE

THE WOLF AND THE FOX.

THE MOUSE AND THE WEASEL.

THE CAT AND THE CROW.

THE FOX AND THE CROW.

THE HEDGEHOG AND THE PIGEONS.

THE THIEF AND HIS MONKEY.

THE SPARROW AND THE PEACOCK.

STORY OF ALI BEN BEKKAR AND SHEMSENNEHAR.

KEMEREZZEMAN AND BUDOUR.

ALAEDDIN ABOU ESH SHAMAT.

HATIM ET TAÏ: HIS GENEROSITY AFTER DEATH.

MAAN BEN ZAÏDEH AND THE THREE GIRLS.

MAAN BEN ZAÏDEH AND THE BEDOUIN.

THE CITY OF LEBTAIT.

THE KHALIF HISHAM AND THE ARAB YOUTH.

IBRAHIM BEN EL MEHDI AND THE BARBER-SURGEON.

THE CITY OF IREM.

ISAAC OF MOSUL'S STORY OF THE LADY KHEDIJEH AND THE KHALIF MAMOUN

THE SCAVENGER AND THE NOBLE LADY OF BAGHDAD.

THE MOCK KHALIF.

ALI THE PERSIAN'S STORY OF THE KURD SHARPER

118 £500.

THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT:

VOLUME THE FOURTH.

THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE NIGHT

HOW THE IMAM ABOU YOUSUF EXTRICATED THE KHALIF HAROUN ER RESHID AND HIS VIZIER JAAFER FROM A DILEMMA.

THE LOVER WHO FEIGNED HIMSELF A THIEF TO SAVE HIS MISTRESS'S HONOUR.

JAAFER THE BARMECIDE AND THE BEANSELLER.

ABOU MOHAMMED THE LAZY.

THE GENEROUS DEALING OF YEHYA BEN KHALID THE BARMECIDE WITH MENSOUR.

THE GENEROUS DEALING OF YEHYA BEN KHALID WITH A MAN WHO FORGED A LETTER IN HIS NAME.

THE KHALIF EL MAMOUN AND THE STRANGE DOCTOR

ALI SHAR AND ZUMURRUD.

THE LOVES OF JUBEIR BEN UMEIR AND THE LADY BUDOUR

THE MAN OF YEMEN AND HIS SIX SLAVE-GIRLS

HAROUN ER RASHID AND THE DAMSEL AND ABOU NUWAS.

THE MAN WHO STOLE THE DISH OF GOLD IN WHICH THE DOG ATE.

THE SHARPER OF ALEXANDRIA AND THE MASTER OF POLICE.

EL MELIK EN NASIR AND THE THREE MASTERS OF POLICE.

THE THIEF AND THE MONEY-CHANGER

THE CHIEF OF THE COUS POLICE AND THE SHARPER

IBRAHIM BEN EL MEHDI AND THE MERCHANT'S SISTER.

THE WOMAN WHOSE HANDS WERE CUT OFF FOR THAT SHE GAVE ALMS TO THE POOR.

THE DEVOUT ISRAELITE.

ABOU HASSAN EZ ZIYADI AND THE MAN FROM KHORASSAN.

THE POOR MAN AND HIS GENEROUS FRIEND.

THE RUINED MAN WHO BECAME RICH AGAIN THROUGH A DREAM.

THE KHALIF EL MUTAWEKKIL AND HIS FAVOURITE MEHBOUBEH.

WERDAN THE BUTCHER HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE LADY AND THE BEAR.

THE KING'S DAUGHTER AND THE APE.

THE ENCHANTED HORSE.

UNS EL WUJOUD AND THE VIZIER'S DAUGHTER ROSE-IN-BUD.

ABOU NUWAS WITH THE THREE BOYS AND THE KHALIF HAROUN ER RESHID.

ABDALLAH BEN MAAMER WITH THE MAN OF BASSORA AND HIS SLAVE-GIRL.

THE LOVERS OF THE BENOU UDHREH.

THE VIZIER OF YEMEN AND HIS YOUNG BROTHER

THE LOVES OF THE BOY AND GIRL AT SCHOOL.

EL MUTELEMMIS AND HIS WIFE UMEIMEH.

THE KHALIF HAROUN ER RESHID AND THE PRINCESS ZUBEIDEH IN THE BATH.

HAROUN ER RESHID AND THE THREE POETS.

MUSAB BEN EZ ZUBEIR AND AAISHEH DAUGHTER OF TELHEH.

ABOUL ASWED AND HIS SQUINTING SLAVE-GIRL.

HAROUN ER RESHID AND THE TWO SLAVE-GIRLS.

THE KHALIF HAROUN ER RESHID AND THE THREE SLAVE-GIRLS.

THE MILLER AND HIS WIFE.

THE SIMPLETON AND THE SHARPER.

THE IMAM ABOU YOUSUF WITH HAROUN ER RESHID AND ZUBEIDEH.

THE KHALIF EL HAKIM AND THE MERCHANT.

KING KISRA ANOUSHIRWAN AND THE VILLAGE DAMSEL.

THE WATER-CARRIER AND THE GOLDSMITH'S WIFE.

KHUSRAU AND SHIRIN WITH THE FISHERMAN.

YEHYA BEN KHALID THE BARMECIDE AND THE POOR MAN.

MOHAMMED EL AMIN AND JAAFER BEN EL HADI.

THE SONS OF YEHYA BEN KHALID AND SAID BEN SALIM EL BAHILI.

THE WOMAN'S TRICK AGAINST HER HUSBAND.

THE DEVOUT WOMAN AND THE TWO WICKED ELDERS.124

JAAFER THE BARMECIDE AND THE OLD BEDOUIN.

THE KHALIF OMAR BEN KHETTAB AND THE YOUNG BEDOUIN.

THE KHALIF EL MAMOUN AND THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT.

THE THIEF TURNED MERCHANT AND THE OTHER THIEF.

MESROUR THE EUNUCH AND IBN EL CARIBI

THE DEVOUT PRINCE.

THE SCHOOLMASTER WHO FELL IN LOVE BY REPORT.

THE FOOLISH SCHOOLMASTER

THE IGNORANT MAN WHO SET UP FOR A SCHOOLMASTER.

THE KING AND THE VIRTUOUS WIFE

ABDURREHMAN THE MOOR'S STORY OF THE ROC.

ADI BEN ZEID AND THE PRINCESS HIND.

DIBIL EL KHUZAÏ WITH THE LADY AND MUSLIM BEN EL WELID.

ISAAC OF MOSUL AND THE MERCHANT.

THE THREE UNFORTUNATE LOVERS.

THE LOVERS OF THE BENOU TAI.

THE MAD LOVER.

THE APPLES OF PARADISE.

THE LOVES OF ABOU ISA AND CURRET EL AIN.

EL AMIN BEN ER RESHID AND HIS UNCLE IBRAHIM BEN EL MEHDI.

EL FETH BEN KHACAN AND THE KHALIF EL MUTAWEKKIL.

THE MAN'S DISPUTE WITH THE LEARNED WOMAN OF THE RELATIVE EXCELLENCE OF THE MALE AND THE FEMALE.

ABOU SUWEID AND THE HANDSOME OLD WOMAN.

THE AMIR ALI BEN TAHIR AND THE GIRL MOUNIS.

THE WOMAN WHO HAD A BOY AND THE OTHER WHO HAD A MAN TO LOVER.

THE HAUNTED HOUSE IN BAGHDAD.

THE PILGRIM AND THE OLD WOMAN WHO DWELT IN THE DESERT.

ABOULHUSN AND HIS SLAVE-GIRL TAWEDDUD.

THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTSCOMMONLY CALLED THEARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS

TRANSLATED FROM THE ARABIC, WITH COPIOUS NOTES, BY

EDWARD WILLIAM LANE

A NEW IMPRESSION IN THREE VOLUMES

1912

LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED. DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W.

v

ADVERTISEMENT.

The present edition is an exact reproduction of that edited by my father, with my great-uncle's final corrections, and published by Mr. John Murray in 1859. Several reprints of that edition have testified to the continued popularity of the work, and the necessity for the present issue shows that an acquaintance of nearly half a century has not yet wearied the public of the standard translation of the Thousand and One Nights. The secret of Mr. Lane's success is to be found partly in the instinctive sympathy for the spirit of the East, which enabled him faithfully to reproduce the characteristic tone of the original, and partly in the rich store of illustrations of oriental life and thought contained in his Notes. In the various cheap versions, based upon Galland's French paraphrase, the Eastern tone and local colour is wholly wanting; and the peculiarities of life and manners, which contrast so markedly with those of the West, are left unnoted and unexplained. Such versions may serve in an inadequate degree to make the Arabian Nights known to those who care only for the bare stories; but educated readers, who are capable of something more than the mere enjoyment of the romance, and desire to understand the character and habits of the actors and the spectators, find in Mr. Lane's translation, and in his only, a complete satisfaction of their want. It is not merely a scholar's edition, though no oriental student can afford to be without it; but beyond this narrow circle it has ever appealed to the wide audience that cares to know the famous books of the world in their most perfect and faithful reflections.

vi

The actual moment is an opportune one for the reappearance of the work. Egypt just now holds a foremost place in the eyes of the world, and it is of Egypt that the Thousand and One Nights have most to tell. Indian or Persian as many of the tales are in their origin, their setting is almost purely Egyptian; and though the place may be nominally Baghdad or India, or even furthest China, it is in mediæval Cairo, in the days of the Memlooks, that the scene of the Arabian Nights is really laid. The people described are not Hindoos or Chinese, but Arabs and Egyptians as they lived and moved in the fifteenth century, when some of the beautiful mosques and tombs, that still make Cairo the delight of artists, were being built, and the devastating hand of the Ottoman Turk had not yet been laid on the land of the Pharaohs. For a minute picture of Arabian society as it was in the Middle Ages, the Thousand and One Nights have no rival, and it is Mr. Lane's appreciation of this picture, and the wealth of illustration lavished upon it in his Notes, that render his edition the most complete commentary we possess on Muslim life and manners, religion and literature, and make it an indispensable supplement to his famous Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. The poetry of Eastern life is rapidly fading away under the effacing touch of European civilisation; the characteristic society in which an Haroon-Er-Rasheed, an Aboo-Nuwas, a Kafoor, a Saladin, or a Kaït-Bey, revelled and jested and conquered, is fast becoming matter of history rather than of experience, a field for the antiquary instead of the traveller; and it is well that we can reconstruct it in the pages of the Thousand and One Nights, whose compiler saw it when it was still almost in its Golden Prime, and in the Modern Egyptians, whose author knew it when it still preserved the romantic character which has charmed and fascinated readers of every age and condition.

Stanley Lane-Poole.  

  The Day of Tell-el-Kebeer, 1882.

vii

THE EDITOR'S PREFACE.

A new edition of this work having been required, Mr. Lane was requested to undertake the correction of the press. But severe literary labours allowing him no leisure for this object, he named me, as his pupil in the study of Arabic, familiar with his writings, and for many years resident with him in Cairo, to fill, in some measure, his place. I have undertaken this duty with great diffidence, from a sense of my own deficiencies and his extensive knowledge; but I have felt that I could at least insure the correctness of the text, and a scrupulous adherence to his wishes. The present edition is printed, without any variations of my own (except those which are marked as such, and have been submitted to Mr. Lane), from a copy of the first and complete edition,viiiwith corrections and additions made by Mr. Lane, from time to time, since its first publication. These, however, from the accuracy with which the translation was made, and the fulness of the Notes, are not very numerous. The same reasons have also caused my own notes to be few: I believe that my Uncle's notes are complete in themselves; and that I have sometimes erred, even in the rare exceptions I have made, on the side of unnecessary addition.

An edition of any book not superintended by the author is sometimes regarded with distrust. I would therefore assure the reader that in this instance he may depend even on the punctuation; the whole having been laboriously collated with Mr. Lane's annotated copy, notwithstanding the great delay which this process has occasioned in the printing of the work.

I have called this acompleteedition, to distinguish it from two others which have been published without Mr. Lane's notes or his method of writing oriental words, and with other variations from the standard edition. The public appreciation of these notes, and of the advantage of correctly-written foreign words, is, I conceive, proved by the call for the present edition. On the subject of the mode of writing oriental words in European characters, I need say little, for the controversy has well nigh died out. The present generation does not regard antiquated blunders as "the familiar names of childhood," but rather strives to attain accuracy in all things; and those few who still cling to "Mahomet" or "Mahomed" should consistently exhume the forgotten "Mahound" of the Crusades.

The translator's views respecting the origin and literary history of "The Thousand and One Nights" will be found fully expressed in the Review at the end of the third volume. In his original preface, he stated, "The remarks which I here submit to the reader, being written when only one-third of the work to which they principally relate is printed, must unavoidably be more defective than they would be if reserved until a later period. During the progress of the publication I may be enabled to form clearer and more complete views of the several subjects which might with propriety beixfully discussed at the head of my translation, and I think it better, therefore, to append at the close of the work many observations which I originally intended to prefix to the first volume." He has therefore wished me to remodel the preface, transferring all portions relating to the subjects in question to the Review, retaining whatever may more properly stand at the commencement of the work, and adding any matter of my own.

The object with which the translation was made is best expressed in the words of Mr. Lane's preface.

"My undertaking to translate anew the Tales of 'The Thousand and One Nights' implies an unfavourable opinion of the version which has so long amused us; but I must express my objections with respect to the latter in plain terms, and this I shall do by means of a few words on the version of Galland, from which it is derived; for to him alone its chief faults are to be attributed. I am somewhat reluctant to make this remark, because several persons, and among them some of high and deserved reputation as Arabic scholars, have pronounced an opinion that his version is animprovementupon the original. That 'The Thousand and One Nights' may be greatly improved, I most readily admit; but as confidently do I assert that Galland has excessivelypervertedthe work. His acquaintance with Arab manners and customs was insufficient to preserve him always from errors of the grossest description, and by the