The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume X Part 47

The British Museum has just acquired a Portuguese translation of Galland, in 4 volumes: "As Mil e uma Noites, Contos Arabes,"

published by Ernesto Chardron, Editor, Porto e Braga, 1881.

There are two editions of a modern Greek work in the British Museum (1792 and 1804), published at Venice in three small volumes. The first volume contains Galland (Nos. 1-6 of the table) and vols. ii. and iii. chiefly contain the Thousand and One Days. It is, apparently, translated from some Italian work.

Several editions in Italian (Mille ed una Notte) have appeared at Naples and Milan; they are said by Sir R. F. Burton to be mere reprints of Galland.

There are, also, several in Dutch, one of which, by C. Van der Post, in 3 vols. 8vo, published at Utrecht in 1848, purports, I believe, to be a translation from the Arabic, and has been reprinted several times. The Dutch editions are usually ent.i.tled, "Arabische Vertellinge." A Danish edition appeared at Copenhagen in 1818, under the t.i.tle of "Prindsesses Schehezerade.

Fortallinger eller de saakatle Tusende og een Nat. Udgivna paa Dansk vid Heelegaan." Another, by Rasma.s.sen, was commenced in 1824; and a third Danish work, probably founded on the Thousand and One Nights, and published in 1816, bears the t.i.tle, "Digt og Eventyr fra Osterland, af arabiska og persischen utrykta kilder."

I have seen none of these Italian, Dutch or Danish editions; but there is little doubt that most, if not all, are derived from Galland's work.

The following is the t.i.tle of a Javanese version, derived from one of the Dutch editions, and published at Leyden in 1865, "Eenige Vertellingen uit de Arabisch duizend en een Nacht. Naar de Nederduitsche vertaling in het Javaansch vertaald, door Winter-Roorda."

Mr. A. G. Ellis has shown me an edition of Galland's Aladdin (No.

193) in Malay, by M. Van der Lawan (?) printed in Batavia, A.D.

1869.

CAZZOTTE'S CONTINUATION, AND THE COMPOSITE EDITIONS OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS.

We shall speak elsewhere of the Cabinet des Fees; but the last four volumes of this great collection (38 to 41), published at Geneva from 1788 to 1793, contain a work ent.i.tled, "Les Veillees du Sultan Schahriar avec la Sultane Scheherazade; histoires incroyables, amusantes et morales, traduites de l'arabe par M.

Cazotte et D. Chavis. Faisant suite aux Mille et une Nuits." Some copies bear the abridged t.i.tle of "La suite des Mille et une Nuits. Contes Arabes, traduits par Dom Chavis et M. Cazotte."

This collection of tales was p.r.o.nounced to be spurious by many critics, and even has been styled "a bare-faced forgery" by a writer in the Edinburgh Review of July, 1886. It is, however, certain that the greater part, if not all, of these tales are founded on genuine Eastern sources, though very few have any real claim to be regarded as actually part of the Thousand and One Nights.

Translations of the originals of most of these tales have been published by Caussin de Perceval and Gauttier; and a comparison clearly shows the great extent to which Chavis and Cazotte have altered, amplified and (in a literary sense) improved their materials.

It is rather surprising that no recent edition of this work seems to have been issued, perhaps owing to the persistent doubts cast upon its authenticity, only a few of the tales, and those not the best, having appeared in different collections. My friend, Mr. A.

G. Ellis, himself an Oriental scholar, has remarked to me that he considers these tales as good as the old "Arabian Nights"; and I quite agree with him that Chavis and Cazotte's Continuation is well worthy of re-publication in its entirety.

The following are the princ.i.p.al tales comprised in this collection, those included in our Table from later authors being indicated.

1. The Robber Caliph, or the Adventures of Haroun Alraschid with the Princess of Persia, and the beautiful Zutulbe. (No. 246.)

2. The Power of Destiny, being the History of the Journey of Giafar to Damas, containing the Adventures of Chelih and his Family. (No. 280.)

3. History of Halechalbe and the Unknown Lady. (No. 204c.)

4. Story of Xailoun the Idiot.

5. The Adventures of Simoustapha and the Princess Ilsetilsone.

(No. 247.)

6. History of Alibengiad, Sultan of Herak, and of the False Birds of Paradise.

7. History of Sinkarib and his Two Viziers. (No. 249.)

8. History of the Family of the Schebandad of Surat.

9. Story of Bohetzad and his Ten Viziers. (No. 174.)

10. Story of Habib and Dorathil-Goase. (No. 251.)

11. History of the Maugraby, or the Magician.

Of these, Nos. 4, 6, 8 and 11 only are not positively known in the original. No. 11 is interesting, as it is the seed from which Southey's "Thalaba the Destroyer" was derived.

On the word Maugraby, which means simply Moor, Cazotte has the following curious note: "Ce mot signifie barbare, barbaresque plus proprement. On jure encore par lui en Provence, en Languedoc, et en Gascogne Maugraby; ou ailleurs en France Meugrebleu."

The Domdaniel, where Zatanai held his court with Maugraby and his pupilmagicians, is described as being under the sea near Tunis.

In Weil's story of Joodar and Mahmood (No. 201) the Magician Mahmood is always called the Moor of Tunis.

No. 3 (=our No. 204c) contains the additional incident of the door opened only once a year which occurs in our No. 9a, aa.

Moore probably took the name Namouna from Cazotte's No. 5, in which it occurs. In the same story we find a curious name of a Jinniyah, Setelpedour. Can it be a corruption of Sitt El Budoor?

For further remarks on Cazotte's Continuation, compare Russell's History of Aleppo, i. p. 385; and Russell and Scott, Ouseley's Oriental Collections, i. pp. 246, 247; ii. p. 25; and the "Gentleman's Magazine" for February, 1779.

An English version under the t.i.tle "Arabian Tales, or a Continuation of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments," translated by Robert Heron, was published in Edinburgh in 1792 in 4 vols., and in London in 1794 in 3 vols. It was reprinted in Weber's "Tales of the East" (Edinburgh, 1812); and, as already mentioned, is included in an edition of the Arabian Nights published in Liverpool in 1813.

A German translation forms vols. 5 to 8 of the "Blaue Bibliothek," published in Gotha in 1790 and 1791; and the British Museum possesses vols. 3 and 4 of a Russian edition, published at Moscow in 1794 and 1795, which is erroneously entered in the catalogue as the Arabian Nights in Russian.

Respecting the work of Chavis and Cazotte, Sir R. F. Burton remarks, "Dom Dennis Chavis was a Syrian priest of the order of Saint Bazil, who was invited to Paris by the learned minister, Baron Arteuil, and he was a.s.sisted by M. Cazotte, a French author, then well known, but wholly ignorant of Arabic. These tales are evidently derived from native sources; the story of Bohetzad (King Bakhtiyar) and his Ten Wazirs is taken bodily from the Bres. Edit. [not so; but the original Arabic had long been known in the French libraries]. As regards the style and treatment, it is sufficient to say that the authors out-Gallanded Galland, while Heron exaggerates every fault of his original."

The first enlarged edition of Galland in French was published by Caussin de Perceval, at Paris, in 9 vols., 8vo (1806). In addition to Galland's version, he added four tales (Nos. 21a, 22, 32 and 37), with which he had been furnished by Von Hammer. He also added a series of tales, derived from MSS. in the Parisian libraries, most of which correspond to those of Cazotte.

The most important of the later French editions was published by E. Gauttier in 7 vols. in 1822; it contains much new matter. At the end, the editor gives a list of all the tales which he includes, with arguments. He has rather oddly distributed his material so as to make only 568 nights. The full contents are given in our Table; the following points require more special notice. Vol. i. Gauttier omits the Third Shaykh's story (No. 1c) on account of its indecency, although it is really no worse than any other story in The Nights. In the story of the Fisherman, he has fallen into a very curious series of errors. He has misunderstood King Yunan's reference to King Sindbad (Burton i.

p. 50) to refer to the Book of Sindibad (No. 135); and has confounded it with the story of the Forty Vazirs, which he says exists in Arabic as well as in Turkish. Of this latter, therefore, he gives an imperfect version, embedded in the story of King Yunan (No. 2a). Here it may be observed that another imperfect French version of the Forty Vazirs had previously been published by Petis de la Croix under the t.i.tle of Turkish Tales.

A complete German version by Dr. Walter F. A. Behrnauer was published at Leipzig in 1851, and an English version by Mr. E. J.

W. Gibb has appeared while these sheets are pa.s.sing through the press.

Vol. ii. After No. 6 Gauttier places versions of Nos. 32 and 184 by Langles. The Mock Caliph is here called Aly-Chah. The other three tales given by Caussin de Perceval from Von Hammer's MSS.

are omitted by Gauttier. Vol. v. (after No. 198) concludes with two additional tales (Nos. 207h and 218) from Scott's version.

But the t.i.tles are changed, No. 207h being called the Story of the Young Prince and the Green Bird, and No. 218 the Story of Mahmood, although there is another story of Mahmood in vol. 1.

(==No. 135m) included as part of the Forty Vazirs.

Vol. vi. includes the Ten Vazirs (No. 174), derived, however, not from the Arabic, but from the Persian Bakhtyar Nameh. Three of the subordinate tales in the Arabic version are wanting in Gauttier's, and another is transferred to his vol. vii., but he includes one, the King and Queen of Abyssinia (No. 252), which appears to be wanting in the Arabic. The remainder of the volume contains tales from Scott's version, the t.i.tle of Mazin of Khora.s.saun (No. 215) being altered to the Story of Azem and the Queen of the Genii.

Vol. vii. contains a series of tales of which different versions of six only (Nos. 30, 174, 246, 248, 249 and 250) were previously published. Though these have no claim to be considered part of The Nights, they are of sufficient interest to receive a pa.s.sing mention, especially as Gauttier's edition seems not to have been consulted by any later writer on The Nights, except Hab.i.+.c.ht, who based his own edition mainly upon it. Those peculiar to Gauttier's edition are therefore briefly noticed.

Princess Ameny (No. 253)--A princess who leaves home disguised as a man, and delivers another princess from a black slave. The episode (253b) is a story of enchantment similar to Nos. 1a-c.

Aly Djohary (No. 254)--Story of a young man's expedition in search of a magical remedy.

The Princes of Cochin China (No. 255)--The princes travel in search of their sister who is married to a Jinni, who is under the curse of Solomon. The second succeeds in breaking the spell, and thus rescues both his brother, his sister, and the Jinni by killing a bird to which the destiny of the last is attached.