and faultless memory, fluent of speech, and ready on occasion to drop into poetry. The coarseness of the Arabic narrative, which does not appear in our translation, is characteristic of Egyptian society under the Mameluke sultans. It would have been tolerated by the subjects of the caliph in old Bagdad no more than by modern Christians.
More fascinating stories were never told. Though the oath of an Oriental was of all things the most sacred, and though Schah-riar had "bound himself by a solemn vow to marry a new wife every night, and command her to be strangled in the morning," we well believe that he forswore himself, and granted his bride a stay of execution until he could find out why the ten polite young gentlemen, all blind of the right eye, "having blackened themselves, wept and lamented, beating their heads and breasts, and crying continually, 'This is the fruit of our idleness and curiosity.'" To be sure, when the golden door has been opened, and the black horse has vanished with that vicious switch of his tail, we have a little feeling of having been "sold,"—a feeling which great art never gives. But we are in the best of humor; for were we not warned all along against just this foible of curiosity, and is not the story-teller smiling inscrutably and advising us to be thankful that we at least still have our two good eyes?
Beside the story interest, the life and movement of the tales, the spirits that enter and set their own precedents, there is for us the charm of mingling with men so different from ourselves: men adventurous but never strenuous, men of many tribulations but no perplexities. Fantastic, magnificent, extravagant, beautiful, gloriously colored, humorous—was ever book of such infinite contrasts?
THE CONTENTS
THE ILLUSTRATIONS
| The genie immediately returned with a tray bearing dishes of the most delicious viands | Frontispiece |
| PAGE | |
| He had the gift of understanding the language of beasts | 17 |
| He was chained to the spot by the pleasure of beholding three such beauties | 40 |
| These ladies vied with each other in their eager solicitude to do me all possible service | 88 |
| The gardener, with the rake which he had in his hand, drew the basket to the side of the canal | 120 |
| He presently discovered a gold box, about a foot square, which he gave into the princess's hands | 144 |
| She drew the poniard, and, holding it in her hand, began a dance | 240 |
| Having balanced my cargo exactly, and fastened it well to the raft, I went on board with the two oars I had made | 280 |
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
THE SULTAN AND HIS VOW
It is written in the chronicles of the Sassanian monarchs that there once lived an illustrious prince, beloved by his own subjects for his wisdom and his prudence, and feared by his enemies for his courage and for the hardy and well-disciplined army of which he was the leader. This prince had two sons, the elder called Schah-riar, and the younger Schah-zenan, both equally good and deserving of praise.
When the old king died at the end of a long and glorious reign, Schah-riar, his eldest son, ascended the throne and reigned in his stead. Schah-zenan, however, was not in the least envious, and a friendly
