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diff --git a/16949-8.txt b/16949-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..242c9a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/16949-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11027 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Flowers from a Persian Garden and Other +Papers, by W. A. Clouston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Flowers from a Persian Garden and Other Papers + +Author: W. A. Clouston + +Release Date: October 26, 2005 [EBook #16949] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLOWERS PERSIAN GARDEN *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + "The smiling Garden of Persian Literature": a Garden which I + would describe, in the Eastern style, as a happy spot, where + lavish Nature with profusion strews the most fragrant and + blooming flowers, where the most delicious fruits abound, which + is ever vocal with the plaintive melancholy of the nightingale, + who, during day and night, "tunes her love-laboured song": ... + where the voice of Wisdom is often heard uttering her moral + sentence, or delivering the dictates of experience.--SIR W. OUSELEY. + + + + +FLOWERS FROM A PERSIAN GARDEN, + +AND + +OTHER PAPERS. + + +BY W. A. CLOUSTON, + + +AUTHOR OF 'POPULAR TALES AND FICTIONS' AND 'BOOK OF NOODLES'; EDITOR OF +'A GROUP OF EASTERN ROMANCES AND STORIES,' 'BOOK OF SINDIBAD,' 'BAKHTYAR +NAMA,' 'ARABIAN POETRY FOR ENGLISH READERS,' ETC. + + +LONDON: +DAVID NUTT, 270, 271, STRAND. +MDCCCXC. + + + + +TO E. SIDNEY HARTLAND, ESQ., + +FELLOW OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES; MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE +FOLK-LORE SOCIETY, ETC. + + +MY DEAR HARTLAND, + +Though you are burdened with the duties of a profession far outside of +which lie those studies that have largely occupied my attention for many +years past, yet your own able contributions to the same, or cognate, +subjects of investigation evince the truth of the seemingly paradoxical +saying, that "the busiest man finds the greatest amount of leisure." And +in dedicating this little book to you--would that it were more +worthy!--as a token of gratitude for the valuable help you have often +rendered me in the course of my studies, I am glad of the opportunity it +affords me for placing on record (so to say) the fact that I enjoy the +friendship of a man possessed of so many excellent qualities of heart as +well as of intellect. + +The following collection of essays, or papers, is designed to suit the +tastes of a more numerous class of readers than were some of my former +books, which are not likely to be of special interest to many besides +students of comparative folk-lore--amongst whom your own degree is high. +The book, in fact, is intended mainly for those who are rather vaguely +termed "general readers"; albeit I venture to think that even the +folk-lore student may find in it somewhat to "make a note of," as the +great Captain Cuttle was wont to say--in season and out of season. + +Leaving the contents to speak for themselves, I shall only say farther +that my object has been to bring together, in a handy volume, a series +of essays which might prove acceptable to many readers, whether of grave +or lively temperament. What are called "instructive" books--meaning +thereby "morally" instructive--are generally as dull reading as is +proverbially a book containing nothing but jests--good, bad, and +indifferent. We can't (and we shouldn't) be always in the "serious" +mood, nor can we be for ever on the grin; and it seems to me that a +mental dietary, by turns, of what is wise and of what is witty should be +most wholesome. But, of the two, I confess I prefer to take the former, +even as one ought to take solid food, in great moderation; and, after +all, it is surely better to laugh than to mope or weep, in spite of what +has been said of "the loud laugh that speaks the vacant mind." Most of +us, in this work-a-day world, find no small benefit from allowing our +minds to lie fallow at certain times, as farmers do with their fields. +In the following pages, however, I believe wisdom and wit, the didactic +and the diverting, will be found in tolerably fair proportions. + +But I had forgot--I am not writing a Preface, and this is already too +long for a Dedication; so believe me, with all good wishes, + +Yours ever faithfully, +W. A. CLOUSTON. +GLASGOW, February, 1890. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +FLOWERS FROM A PERSIAN GARDEN. + + I Sketch of the Life of the Persian Poet Saádí--Character of his + Writings--the _Gulistán_, or Rose-Garden--Prefaces to + Books--Preface to the _Gulistán_--Eastern Poets in praise of + Springtide + + II Boy's Archery Feat--Advantages of Abstinence--Núshirván on + Oppression--Boy in terror at Sea--Pride of Ancestry--Misfortunes + of Friends--Fortitude and Liberality--Prodigality--Stupid + Youth--Advantages of Education--The Fair Cup-bearer--'January and + May'--Why an Old Man did not Marry--The Dervish who became + King--Muezzin and Preacher who had bad voices--Witty Slave--Witty + Kází--Astrologer and his Faithless Wife--Objectionable Neighbour + + III On Taciturnity: Parallels from Caxton's _Dictes_ and preface to + _Kalíla wa Dimna_--Difference between Devotee and Learned Man--To + get rid of Troublesome Visitors--Fable of the Nightingale and the + Ant--Aphorisms of Saádí--Conclusion + + +ORIENTAL WIT AND HUMOUR. + + I Man a Laughing Animal--Antiquity of Popular Jests--'Night and + Day'--The Plain-featured Bride--The House of Condolence--The + Blind Man's Wife--Two Witty Persian Ladies--Woman's Counsel--The + Turkish Jester: in the Pulpit; the Cauldron; the Beggar; the + Drunken Governor; the Robber; the Hot Broth--Muslim Preachers and + Misers + + II The Two Deaf Men and the Traveller--The Deaf Persian and the + Horseman--Lazy Servants--Chinese Humour: The Rich Man and the + Smiths; How to keep Plants alive; Criticising a Portrait--The + Persian Courtier and his old Friend--The Scribe--The Schoolmaster + and the Wit--The Persian and his Cat--A List of Blockheads--The + Arab and his Camel--A Witty Baghdádí--The Unlucky Slippers + + III The Young Merchant of Baghdád; or, the Wiles of Woman + + IV Ashaab the Covetous--The Stingy Merchant and the Hungry + Bedouin--The Sect of Samradians--The Story-teller and the + King--Royal Gifts to Poets--The Persian Poet and the + Impostor--'Stealing Poetry'--The Rich Man and the Poor Poet + + V Unlucky Omens--The Old Man's Prayer--The Old Woman in the + Mosque--The Weeping Turkmans--The Ten Foolish Peasants--The + Wakeful Servant--The Three Dervishes--The Oilman's Parrot--The + Moghul and his Parrot--The Persian Shopkeeper and the Prime + Minister--Hebrew Facetić + + +TALES OF A PARROT. + + I General Plan of Eastern Story-books--The _Tútí Náma_, or + Parrot-Book--The Frame-story--The Stolen Images--The Woman carved + out of Wood--The Man whose Mare was kicked by a Merchant's Horse + + II The Emperor's Dream--The Golden Apparition--The Four + Treasure-seekers + + III The Singing Ass: the Foolish Thieves: the Faggot-maker and the + Magic Bowl + + IV The Goldsmith who lost his Life through Covetousness--The King + who died of Love for a Merchant's Daughter--The Discovery of + Music--The Seven Requisites of a Perfect Woman + + V The Princess of Rome and her Son--The Seven Vazírs + + VI The Tree of Life--Legend of Rájá Rasálú--Conclusion + + _ADDITIONAL NOTE:_ + The Magic Bowl, etc. + + +RABBINICAL LEGENDS, TALES, FABLES, AND APHORISMS. + + I INTRODUCTORY: Authors, Traducers, and Moral Teachings of Talmud + + II LEGENDS OF SOME BIBLICAL CHARACTERS: Adam and Eve--Cain and + Abel--The Planting of the Vine--Luminous Jewels--Abraham's + Arrival in Egypt--The Infamous Citizens of Sodom--Abraham and + Ishmael's Wives--Joseph and Potiphar's Wife--Joseph and his + Brethren--Jacob's Sorrow--Moses and Pharaoh + + III LEGENDS OF DAVID AND SOLOMON, etc. + + IV MORAL AND ENTERTAINING TALES: Rabbi Jochonan and the Poor + Woman--A Safe Investment--The Jewels--The Capon-carver + + V MORAL TALES, TABLES, AND PARABLES: The Dutiful Son--An Ingenious + Will--Origin of Beast-Fables--The Fox and the Bear--The Fox in + the Garden--The Desolate Island--The Man and his Three + Friends--The Garments--Solomon's Choice--Bride and + Bridegroom--Abraham and the Idols--The Vanity of Ambition--The + Seven Stages of Human Life + + VI WISE SAYINGS OF THE RABBIS + + _ADDITIONAL NOTES:_ + Adam and the Oil of Mercy + Muslim Legend of Adam's Punishment, Pardon, Death, and Burial + Moses and the Poor Woodcutter + Precocious Sagacity of Solomon + Solomon and the Serpent's Prey + The Capon-carver + The Fox and the Bear + The Desolate Island + Other Rabbinical Legends and Tales + + +AN ARABIAN TALE OF LOVE. + + _ADDITIONAL NOTES:_ + 'Wamik and Asra' + Another Famous Arabian Lover + + +APOCRYPHAL LIFE OF ESOP. + + _ADDITIONAL NOTE:_ + Drinking the Sea Dry + + +IGNORANCE OF THE CLERGY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. + + +THE BEARDS OF OUR FATHERS. + + +INDEX. + + + + +FLOWERS FROM A PERSIAN GARDEN. + + + + +I + +SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE PERSIAN POET SAADI--CHARACTER OF HIS +WRITINGS--THE "GULISTÁN"--PREFACES TO BOOKS--PREFACE TO THE +"GULISTÁN"--EASTERN POETS IN PRAISE OF SPRINGTIDE. + + +It is remarkable how very little the average general reader knows +regarding the great Persian poet Saádí and his writings. His name is +perhaps more or less familiar to casual readers from its being appended +to one or two of his aphorisms which are sometimes reproduced in odd +corners of popular periodicals; but who he was, when he lived, and what +he wrote, are questions which would probably puzzle not a few, even of +those who consider themselves as "well read," to answer without first +recurring to some encyclopćdia. Yet Saádí was assuredly one of the most +gifted men of genius the world has ever known: a man of large and +comprehensive intellect; an original and profound thinker; an acute +observer of men and manners; and his works remain the imperishable +monument of his genius, learning, and industry. + +Maslahu 'd-Dín Shaykh Saádí was born, towards the close of the twelfth +century, at Shíráz, the famous capital of Fars, concerning which city +the Persians have the saying that "if Muhammed had tasted the pleasures +of Shíráz, he would have begged Allah to make him immortal there." In +accordance with the usual practice in Persia, he assumed as his +_takhallus_, or poetical name,[1] Saádí, from his patron Atabag Saád bin +Zingí, sovereign of Fars, who encouraged men of learning in his +principality. Saádí is said to have lived upwards of a hundred years, +thirty of which were passed in the acquisition of knowledge, thirty more +in travelling through different countries, and the rest of his life he +spent in retirement and acts of devotion. He died, in his native city, +about the year 1291. + + [1] One reason, doubtless, for Persian and Turkish poets + adopting a _takhallus_ is the custom of the poet + introducing his name into every ghazal he composes, + generally towards the end; and as his proper name would + seldom or never accommodate itself to purposes of verse + he selects a more suitable one. + +At one period of his life Saádí took part in the wars of the Saracens +against the Crusaders in Palestine, and also in the wars for the faith +in India. In the course of his wanderings he had the misfortune to be +taken prisoner by the Franks, in Syria, and was ransomed by a friend, +but only to fall into worse thraldom by marrying a shrewish wife. He has +thus related the circumstances: + +"Weary of the society of my friends at Damascus, I fled to the barren +wastes of Jerusalem, and associated with brutes, until I was made +captive by the Franks, and forced to dig clay along with Jews in the +fortress of Tripoli. One of the nobles of Aleppo, mine ancient friend, +happened to pass that way and recollected me. He said: 'What a state is +this to be in! How farest thou?' I answered: 'Seeing that I could place +confidence in God alone, I retired to the mountains and wilds, to avoid +the society of man; but judge what must be my situation, to be confined +in a stall, in company with wretches who deserve not the name of men. +"To be confined by the feet with friends is better than to walk in a +garden with strangers."' He took compassion on my forlorn condition, +ransomed me from the Franks for ten dínars,[2] and took me with him to +Aleppo. + + [2] A dínar is a gold coin, worth about ten shillings of our + money. + +"My friend had a daughter, to whom he married me, and he presented me +with a hundred dínars as her dower. After some time my wife unveiled her +disposition, which was ill-tempered, quarrelsome, obstinate, and +abusive; so that the happiness of my life vanished. It has been well +said: 'A bad woman in the house of a virtuous man is hell even in this +world.' Take care how you connect yourself with a bad woman. Save us, O +Lord, from the fiery trial! Once she reproached me, saying: 'Art thou +not the creature whom my father ransomed from captivity amongst the +Franks for ten dínars?' 'Yes,' I answered; 'he redeemed me for ten +dínars, and enslaved me to thee for a hundred.' + +"I heard that a man once rescued a sheep from the mouth of a wolf, but +at night drew his knife across its throat. The expiring sheep thus +complained: 'You delivered me from the jaws of a wolf, but in the end I +perceive you have yourself become a wolf to me.'" + +Sir Gore Ouseley, in his _Biographical Notices of Persian Poets_, states +that Saádí in the latter part of his life retired to a cell near Shíráz, +where he remained buried in contemplation of the Deity, except when +visited, as was often the case, by princes, nobles, and learned men. It +was the custom of his illustrious visitors to take with them all kinds +of meats, of which, when Saádí and his company had partaken, the shaykh +always put what remained in a basket suspended from his window, that the +poor wood-cutters of Shíráz, who daily passed by his cell, might +occasionally satisfy their hunger. + + * * * * * + +The writings of Saádí, in prose as well as verse, are numerous; his best +known works being the _Gulistán_, or Rose-Garden, and the _Bustán_, or +Garden of Odours. Among his other compositions are: an essay on Reason +and Love; Advice to Kings; Arabian and Persian idylls, and a book of +elegies, besides a large collection of odes and sonnets. Saádí was an +accomplished linguist, and composed several poems in the languages of +many of the countries through which he travelled. "I have wandered to +various regions of the world," he tells us, "and everywhere have I mixed +freely with the inhabitants. I have gathered something in each corner; I +have gleaned an ear from every harvest." A deep insight into the secret +springs of human actions; an extensive knowledge of mankind; fervent +piety, without a taint of bigotry; a poet's keen appreciation of the +beauties of nature; together with a ready wit and a lively sense of +humour, are among the characteristics of Saádí's masterly compositions. +No writer, ancient or modern, European or Asiatic, has excelled, and few +have equalled, Saádí in that rare faculty for condensing profound moral +truths into short, pithy sentences. For example: + +"The remedy against want is to moderate your desires." + +"There is a difference between him who claspeth his mistress in his +arms, and him whose eyes are fixed on the door expecting her." + +"Whoever recounts to you the faults of your neighbour will doubtless +expose your defects to others." + +His humorous comparisons flash upon the reader's mind with curious +effect, occurring, as they often do, in the midst of a grave discourse. +Thus he says of a poor minstrel: "You would say that the sound of his +bow would burst the arteries, and that his voice was more discordant +than the lamentations of a man for the death of his father;" and of +another bad singer: "No one with a mattock can so effectually scrape +clay from the face of a hard stone as his discordant voice harrows up +the soul." + +Talking of music reminds me of a remark of the learned Gentius, in one +of his notes on the _Gulistán_ of Saádí, that music was formerly in such +consideration in Persia that it was a maxim of their sages that when a +king was about to die, if he left for his successor a very young son, +his aptitude for reigning should be proved by some agreeable songs; and +if the child was pleasurably affected, then it was a sign of his +capacity and genius, but if the contrary, he should be declared +unfit.--It would appear that the old Persian musicians, like Timotheus, +knew the secret art of swaying the passions. The celebrated philosopher +Al-Farabí (who died about the middle of the tenth century), among his +accomplishments, excelled in music, in proof of which a curious anecdote +is told. Returning from the pilgrimage to Mecca, he introduced himself, +though a stranger, at the court of Sayfú 'd-Dawla, sultan of Syria, when +a party of musicians chanced to be performing, and he joined them. The +prince admired his skill, and, desiring to hear something of his own, +Al-Farabí unfolded a composition, and distributed the parts amongst the +band. The first movement threw the prince and his courtiers into violent +laughter, the next melted all into tears, and the last lulled even the +performers to sleep. At the retaking of Baghdád by the Turks in 1638, +when the springing of a mine, whereby eight hundred jannisaries +perished, was the signal for a general massacre, and thirty thousand +Persians were put to the sword, a Persian musician named Sháh-Kúlí, who +was brought before the sultan Murád, played and sang so sweetly, first a +song of triumph, and then a dirge, that the sultan, moved to pity by the +music, gave order to stop the slaughter. + +To resume, after this anecdotical digression. Saádí gives this whimsical +piece of advice to a pugnacious fellow: "Be sure, either that thou art +stronger than thine enemy, or that thou hast a swifter pair of heels." +And he relates a droll story in illustration of the use and abuse of the +phrase, "For the sake of God," which is so frequently in the mouths of +Muslims: A harsh-voiced man was reading the Kurán in a loud tone. A +pious man passed by him and said: "What is thy monthly salary?" The +other replied: "Nothing." "Why, then, dost thou give thyself this +trouble?" "I read for the sake of God," he rejoined. "Then," said the +pious man, "_for God's sake don't read_." + +The most esteemed of Saádí's numerous and diversified works is the +_Gulistán_, or Rose-Garden. The first English translation of this work +was made by Francis Gladwin, and published in 1808, and it is a very +scarce book. Other translations have since been issued, but they are +rather costly and the editions limited. It is strange that in these days +of cheap reprints of rare and excellent works of genius no enterprising +publisher should have thought it worth reproduction in a popular form. +It is not one of those ponderous tomes of useless learning which not +even an Act of Parliament could cause to be generally read, and which no +publisher would be so blind to his own interests as to reprint. As +regards its size, the _Gulistán_ is but a small book, but intrinsically +it is indeed a very great book, such as could only be produced by a +great mind, and it comprises more wisdom and wit than a score of old +English folios could together yield to the most devoted reader. Some +querulous persons there are who affect to consider the present as a +shallow age, because, forsooth, huge volumes of learning--each the +labour of a lifetime--are not now produced. But the flood-gates of +knowledge are now wide open, and, no longer confined within the old, +narrow, if deep, channels, learning has spread abroad, like the Nile +during the season of its over-flow. Shallow, it may be, but more widely +beneficial, since its life-giving waters are within the reach of all. + +Unlike most of our learned old English authors, Saádí did not cast upon +the world all that came from the rich mine of his genius, dross as well +as fine gold, clay as well as gems. It is because they have done so that +many ponderous tomes of learning and industry stand neglected on the +shelves of great libraries. Time is too precious now-a-days, whatever +may have been the case of our forefathers, for it to be dissipated by +diving into the muddy waters of voluminous authors in hopes of finding +an occasional pearl of wisdom. And unless some intelligent and +painstaking compiler set himself to the task of separating the gold from +the rubbish in which it is imbedded in those graves of learning, and +present the results of his labour in an attractive form, such works are +virtually lost to the world. For in these high-pressure days, most of +us, "like the dogs in Egypt for fear of the crocodiles, must drink of +the waters of knowledge as we run, in dread of the old enemy Time." + +Saádí, however, in his _Gulistán_ sets forth only his well-pondered +thoughts in the most felicitous and expressive language. There is no +need to form an abstract or epitome of a work in which nothing is +superfluous, nothing valueless. But, as in a cabinet of gems some are +more beautiful than others, or as in a garden some flowers are more +attractive from their brilliant hues and fragrant odours, so a selection +may be made of the more striking tales and aphorisms of the illustrious +Persian philosopher. + +The preface to the _Gulistán_ is one of the most pleasing portions of +the whole book. Now prefaces are among those parts of books which are +too frequently "skipped" by readers--they are "taken as read." Why this +should be so, I confess I cannot understand. For my part, I make a point +of reading a preface at least twice: first, because I would know what +reasons my author had for writing his book, and again, having read his +book, because the preface, if well written, may serve also as a sort of +appendix. Authors are said to bestow particular pains on their prefaces. +Cervantes, for instance, tells us that the preface to the first part of +_Don Quixote_ cost him more thought than the writing of the entire work. +"It argues a deficiency of taste," says Isaac D'Israeli, "to turn over +an elaborate preface unread; for it is the essence of the author's +roses--every drop distilled at an immense cost." And, no doubt, it is a +great slight to an author to skip his preface, though it cannot be +denied that some prefaces are very tedious, because the writer "spins +out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his argument," +and none but the most _hardy_ readers can persevere to the distant end. +The Italians call a preface _salsa del libro_, the _salt_ of the book. A +preface may also be likened to the porch of a mansion, where it is not +courteous to keep a visitor waiting long before you open the door and +make him free of your house. But the reader who passes over the preface +to the _Gulistán_ unread loses not a little of the spice of that +fascinating and instructive book. He who reads it, however, is rewarded +by the charming account which the author gives of how he came to form +his literary Rose-Garden: + +"It was the season of spring; the air was temperate and the rose in full +bloom. The vestments of the trees resembled the festive garments of the +fortunate. It was mid-spring, when the nightingales were chanting from +their pulpits in the branches. The rose, decked with pearly dew, like +blushes on the cheek of a chiding mistress. It happened once that I was +benighted in a garden, in company with a friend. The spot was +delightful: the trees intertwined; you would have said that the earth +was bedecked with glass spangles, and that the knot of the Pleiades was +suspended from the branch of the vine. A garden with a running stream, +and trees whence birds were warbling melodious strains: that filled with +tulips of various hues; these loaded with fruits of several kinds. Under +the shade of its trees the zephyr had spread the variegated carpet. + +"In the morning, when the desire to return home overcame our inclination +to remain, I saw in my friend's lap a collection of roses, odoriferous +herbs, and hyacinths, which he intended to carry to town. I said: 'You +are not ignorant that the flower of the garden soon fadeth, and that the +enjoyment of the rose-bush is of short continuance; and the sages have +declared that the heart ought not to be set upon anything that is +transitory.' He asked: 'What course is then to be pursued?' I replied: +'I am able to form a book of roses, which will delight the beholders and +gratify those who are present; whose leaves the tyrannic arm of autumnal +blasts can never affect, or injure the blossoms of its spring. What +benefit will you derive from a basket of flowers? Carry a leaf from my +garden: a rose may continue in bloom five or six days, but this +Rose-Garden will flourish for ever.' As soon as I had uttered these +words, he flung the flowers from his lap, and, laying hold of the skirt +of my garment, exclaimed: 'When the beneficent promise, they faithfully +discharge their engagements.' In the course of a few days two chapters +were written in my note-book, in a style that may be useful to orators +and improve the skill of letter-writers. In short, while the rose was +still in bloom, the book called the Rose-Garden was finished." + +Dr. Johnson has remarked that "there is scarcely any poet of eminence +who has not left some testimony of his fondness for the flowers, the +zephyrs, and the warblers of the spring." This is pre-eminently the case +of Oriental poets, from Solomon downwards: "Rise up, my love, my fair +one, and come away," exclaims the Hebrew poet in his Book of Canticles: +"for lo! the winter is past, the rain is over and gone: the flowers +appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds has come, and the +voice of the turtle is heard in our land. The fig-tree putteth forth her +green fruits, and the vines with the tender grapes give forth a good +smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." + +In a Persian poem written in the 14th century the delights of the vernal +season are thus described: "On every bush roses were blowing; on every +branch the nightingale was plaintively warbling. The tall cypress was +dancing in the garden; and the poplar never ceased clapping its hands +with joy. With a loud voice from the top of every bough the turtle-dove +was proclaiming the glad advent of spring. The diadem of the narcissus +shone with such splendour that you would have said it was the crown of +the Emperor of China. On this side the north wind, on that, the west +wind, were, in token of affection, scattering dirhams at the feet of the +rose.[3] The earth was musk-scented, the air musk-laden." + + [3] Referring to the custom of throwing small coins among + crowds in the street on the occasion of a wedding. A + dirham is a coin nearly equal in value to sixpence of + our money. + +But it would be difficult to adduce from the writings of any poet, +European or Asiatic, anything to excel the charming ode on spring, by +the Turkish poet Mesíhí, who flourished in the 15th century, which has +been rendered into graceful English verse, and in the measure of the +original, by my friend Mr. E. J. W. Gibb, in his dainty volume of +_Ottoman Poems_, published in London a few years ago. These are some of +the verses from that fine ode: + + Hark! the bulbul's[4] lay so joyous: "Now have come the days of spring!" + Merry shows and crowds on every mead they spread, a maze of spring; + There the almond-tree its silvery blossoms scatters, sprays of spring: + _Gaily live! for soon will vanish, biding not, the days of spring!_[5] + + Once again, with flow'rets decked themselves have mead and plain; + Tents for pleasure have the blossoms raised in every rosy lane; + Who can tell, when spring hath ended, who and what may whole remain? + _Gaily live! for soon will vanish, biding not, the days of spring!_ + + * * * * * + + Sparkling dew-drops stud the lily's leaf like sabre broad and keen; + Bent on merry gipsy party, crowd they all the flow'ry green! + List to me, if thou desirest, these beholding, joy to glean: + _Gaily live! for soon will vanish, biding not, the days of spring!_ + + Rose and tulip, like to maidens' cheeks, all beauteous show, + Whilst the dew-drops, like the jewels in their ears, resplendent glow; + Do not think, thyself beguiling, things will aye continue so: + _Gaily live! for soon will vanish, biding not, the days of spring!_ + + * * * * * + + Whilst each dawn the clouds are shedding jewels o'er the rosy land, + And the breath of morning zephyr, fraught with Tátár musk, is bland; + Whilst the world's fair time is present, do not thou unheeding stand: + _Gaily live! for soon will vanish, biding not, the days of spring!_ + + With the fragrance of the garden, so imbued the musky air, + Every dew-drop, ere it reaches earth, is turned to attar rare; + O'er the parterre spread the incense-clouds a canopy right fair: + _Gaily live! for soon will vanish, Biding not, the days of spring!_ + + [4] The nightingale. + + [5] In the original Turkish: + + _Dinleh bulbul kissa sen kim gildi eiyami behár! + Kurdi her bir baghda hengamei hengami behár; + Oldi sim afshan ana ezhari badami behár: + Ysh u nush it kim gicher kalmaz bu eiyami behár._ + + Here we have an example of the _redíf_, which is common + in Turkish and Persian poetry, and "consists of one or + more words, always the same, added to the end of every + rhyming line in a poem, which word or words, though + counting in the scansion, are not regarded as the true + rhyme, which must in every case be sought for + immediately before them. The lines-- + + There shone such truth about thee, + I did not dare to doubt thee-- + + furnish an example of this in English poetry." In the + opening verse of Mesíhí's ode, as above transliterated + in European characters, the _redíf_ is "behár," or + spring, and the word which precedes it is the true + rhyme-ending. Sir William Jones has made an elegant + paraphrase of this charming ode, in which, however, he + diverges considerably from the original, as will be seen + from his rendering of the first stanza: + + Hear how the nightingale, on every spray, + Hails in wild notes the sweet return of May! + The gale, that o'er yon waving almond blows, + The verdant bank with silver blossoms strows; + The smiling season decks each flowery glade-- + Be gay; too soon the flowers of spring will fade. + +This Turkish poet's maxim, it will be observed, was "enjoy the present +day"--the _carpe diem_ of Horace, the genial old pagan. On the same +suggestive theme of Springtide a celebrated Turkish poetess, Fitnet +Khánim (for the Ottoman Turks have poetesses of considerable genius as +well as poets), has composed a pleasing ode, addressed to her lord, of +which the following stanzas are also from Mr. Gibb's collection: + + The fresh spring-clouds across all earth their glistening pearls + profuse now sow; + The flowers, too, all appearing, forth the radiance of their beauty + show; + Of mirth and joy 'tis now the time, the hour, to wander to and fro; + The palm-tree o'er the fair ones' pic-nic gay its grateful shade + doth throw. + + _O Liege, come forth! From end to end with verdure doth the whole + earth glow; + 'Tis springtide once again, once more the tulips and the roses blow!_ + + Behold the roses, how they shine, e'en like the cheeks of maids + most fair; + The fresh-sprung hyacinth shows like to beauties' dark, sweet, musky + hair; + The loved one's form behold, like cypress which the streamlet's bank + doth bear; + In sooth, each side for soul and heart doth some delightful joy + prepare. + + _O Liege, come forth! From end to end with verdure doth the whole + earth glow; + 'Tis springtide once again, once more the tulips and the roses blow!_ + + The parterre's flowers have all bloomed forth, the roses, sweetly + smiling, shine; + On every side lorn nightingales, in plaintive notes discerning, pine. + How fair carnation and wallflower the borders of the garden line! + The long-haired hyacinth and jasmine both around the cypress twine. + + _O Liege, come forth! From end to end with verdure doth the whole + earth glow; + 'Tis springtide once again, once more the tulips and the roses blow!_ + +I cannot resist the temptation to cite, in concluding this introductory +paper, another fine eulogy of the delights of spring, by Amír Khusrú, of +Delhi (14th century), from his _Mihra-i-Iskandar_, which has been thus +rendered into rhythmical prose: + +"A day in spring, when all the world a pleasing picture seemed; the sun +at early dawn with happy auspices arose. The earth was bathed in balmy +dew; the beauties of the garden their charms displayed, the face of each +with brilliancy adorned. The flowers in freshness bloomed; the lamp of +the rose acquired lustre from the breeze; the tulip brought a cup from +paradise; the rose-bower shed the sweets of Eden; beneath its folds the +musky buds remained, like a musky amulet on the neck of Beauty. The +violet bent its head; the fold of the bud was closer pressed; the opened +rose in splendour glowed, and attracted every eye; the lovely flowers +oppressed with dew in tremulous motion waved. The air o'er all the +garden a silvery radiance threw, and o'er the flowers the breezes +played; on every branch the birds attuned their notes, and every bower +with warblings sweet was filled, so sweet, they stole the senses. The +early nightingale poured forth its song, that gives a zest to those who +quaff the morning goblet. From the turtle's soft cooings love seized +each bird that skimmed the air." + + + + +II + +STORIES FROM THE "GULISTÁN." + + +The _Gulistán_ consists of short tales and anecdotes, to which are +appended comments in prose and verse, and is divided into eight +chapters, or sections: (1) the Morals of Kings; (2) the Morals of +Dervishes; (3) the Excellence of Contentment; (4) the Advantages of +Taciturnity; (5) Love and Youth; (6) Imbecility and Old Age; (7) the +Effects of Education; (8) Rules for the Conduct of Life. In culling some +of the choicest flowers of this perennial Garden, the particular order +observed by Saádí need not be regarded here; it is preferable to pick +here a flower and there a flower, as fancy may direct. + + * * * * * + +It may happen, says our author, that the prudent counsel of an +enlightened sage does not succeed; and it may chance that an unskilful +boy inadvertently hits the mark with his arrow: A Persian king, while on +a pleasure excursion with a number of his courtiers at Nassála Shíráz, +appointed an archery competition for the amusement of himself and his +friends. He caused a gold ring, set with a valuable gem, to be fixed on +the dome of Asád, and it was announced that whosoever should send an +arrow through the ring should obtain it as a reward of his skill. The +four hundred skilled archers forming the royal body-guard each shot at +the ring without success. It chanced that a boy on a neighbouring +house-top was at the same time diverting himself with a little bow, when +one of his arrows, shot at random, went through the ring. The boy, +having obtained the prize, immediately burned his bow, shrewdly +observing that he did so in order that the reputation of this feat +should never be impaired. + +The advantage of abstinence, or rather, great moderation in eating and +drinking, is thus curiously illustrated: Two dervishes travelled +together; one was a robust man, who regularly ate three meals every day, +the other was infirm of body, and accustomed to fast frequently for two +days in succession. On their reaching the gate of a certain town, they +were arrested on suspicion of being spies, and both lodged, without +food, in the same prison, the door of which was then securely locked. +Several days after, the unlucky dervishes were found to be quite +innocent of the crime imputed to them, and on opening the door of the +prison the strong man was discovered to be dead, and the infirm man +still alive. At this circumstance the officers of justice marvelled; but +a philosopher observed, that had the contrary happened it would have +been more wonderful, since the one who died had been a great eater, and +consequently was unable to endure the want of food, while the other, +being accustomed to abstinence, had survived. + +Of Núshírván the Just (whom the Greeks called Chosroe), of the Sassanian +dynasty of Persian kings--sixth century--Saádí relates that on one +occasion, while at his hunting-seat, he was having some game dressed, +and ordered a servant to procure some salt from a neighbouring village, +at the same time charging him strictly to pay the full price for it, +otherwise the exaction might become a custom. His courtiers were +surprised at this order, and asked the king what possible harm could +ensue from such a trifle. The good king replied: "Oppression was brought +into the world from small beginnings, which every new comer increased, +until it has reached the present degree of enormity." Upon this Saádí +remarks: "If the monarch were to eat a single apple from the garden of a +peasant, the servant would pull up the tree by the roots; and if the +king order five eggs to be taken by force, his soldiers will spit a +thousand fowls. The iniquitous tyrant remaineth not, but the curses of +mankind rest on him for ever." + +Only those who have experienced danger can rightly appreciate the +advantages of safety, and according as a man has become acquainted with +adversity does he recognise the value of prosperity--a sentiment which +Saádí illustrates by the story of a boy who was in a vessel at sea for +the first time, in which were also the king and his officers of state. +The lad was in great fear of being drowned, and made a loud outcry, in +spite of every effort of those around him to soothe him into +tranquility. As his lamentations annoyed the king, a sage who was of the +company offered to quiet the terrified youth, with his majesty's +permission, which being granted, he caused the boy to be plunged several +times in the sea and then drawn up into the ship, after which the youth +retired to a corner and remained perfectly quiet. The king inquired why +the lad had been subjected to such roughness, to which the sage replied: +"At first he had never experienced the danger of being drowned, neither +had he known the safety of a ship." + +One of our English moralists has remarked that the man who chiefly +prides himself on his ancestry is like a potato-plant, whose best +qualities are under ground. Saádí tells us of an old Arab who said to +his son: "O my child, in the day of resurrection they will ask you what +you have done in the world, and not from whom you are descended."--In +the _Akhlák-i-Jalaly_, a work comprising the practical philosophy of the +Muhammedans, written, in the 15th century, in the Persian language, by +Fakír Jání Muhammed Asaád, and translated into English by W. F. Thompson, +Alí, the Prophet's cousin, is reported to have said: + + My soul is my father, my title my worth; + A Persian or Arab, there's little between: + Give me him for a comrade, whatever his birth, + Who shows what _he is_--not what _others have been_. + +An Arabian poet says: + + Be the son of whom thou wilt, try to acquire literature, + The acquisition of which may make pedigree unnecessary to thee; + Since a man of worth is he who can say, "I am so and so," + Not he who can only say, "My father was so and so." + +And again: + + Ask not a man who his father was, but make trial + Of his qualities, and then conciliate or reject him accordingly + For it is no disgrace to new wine, if it only be sweet, + As to its taste, that it was the juice [or daughter] of sour grapes. + +The often-quoted maxim of La Rochefoucauld, that there is something in +the misfortunes of our friends which affords us a degree of secret +pleasure, is well known to the Persians. Saádí tells us of a merchant +who, having lost a thousand dínars, cautioned his son not to mention the +matter to anyone, "in order," said he, "that we may not suffer two +misfortunes--the loss of our money and the secret satisfaction of our +neighbours." + +A generous disposition is thus eloquently recommended: They asked a wise +man, which was preferable, fortitude or liberality, to which he replied: +"He who possesses liberality has no need of fortitude. It is inscribed +on the tomb of Bahram-i-Gúr that a liberal hand is preferable to a +strong arm." "Hátim Taď," remarks Saádí, "no longer exists, but his +exalted name will remain famous for virtue to eternity.[6] Distribute +the tithe of your wealth in alms, for when the husbandman lops off the +exuberant branches from the vine, it produces an increase of grapes." + + [6] Hátim was chief of the Arabian tribe of Taď, shortly + before Muhammed began to promulgate Islám, renowned for + his extraordinary liberality. + +Prodigality, however, is as much to be condemned as judicious liberality +is to be lauded. Saádí gives the following account of a Persian prodigal +son, who was not so fortunate in the end as his biblical prototype: The +son of a religious man, who succeeded to an immense fortune by the will +of his uncle, became a dissipated and debauched profligate, in so much +that he left no heinous crime unpractised, nor was there any +intoxicating drug which he had not tasted. Once I admonished him, +saying: "O my son, wealth is a running stream, and pleasure revolves +like a millstone; or, in other words, profuse expense suits him only who +has a certain income. When you have no certain income, be frugal in your +expenses, because the sailors have a song, that if the rain does not +fall in the mountains, the Tigris will become a dry bed of sand in the +course of a year. Practise wisdom and virtue, and relinquish sensuality, +for when your money is spent you will suffer distress and expose +yourself to shame."[7] The young man, seduced by music and wine, would +not take my advice, but, in opposition to my arguments, said: "It is +contrary to the wisdom of the sages to disturb our present enjoyments by +the dread of futurity. Why should they who possess fortune suffer +distress by anticipating sorrow? Go and be merry, O my enchanting +friend! We ought not to be uneasy to-day for what may happen to-morrow. +How would it become me, who am placed in the uppermost seat of +liberality, so that the fame of my bounty is wide spread? When a man has +acquired reputation by liberality and munificence, it does not become +him to tie up his money-bags. When your good name has been spread +through the street, you cannot shut your door against it." I perceived +(continues Saádí) that he did not approve of my admonition, and that my +warm breath did not affect his cold iron. I ceased advising, and, +quitting his society, returned into the corner of safety, in conformity +with the saying of the philosophers: "Admonish and exhort as your +charity requires; if they mind not, it does not concern you. Although +thou knowest that they will not listen, nevertheless speak whatever you +know is advisable. It will soon come to pass that you will see the silly +fellow with his feet in the stocks, smiting his hands and exclaiming, +'Alas, that I did not listen to the wise man's advice!'" After some +time, that which I had predicted from his dissolute conduct I saw +verified. He was clothed in rags, and begging a morsel of food. I was +distressed at his wretched condition, and did not think it consistent +with humanity to scratch his wound with reproach. But I said in my +heart: Profligate men, when intoxicated with pleasure, reflect not on +the day of poverty. The tree which in the summer has a profusion of +fruit is consequently without leaves in winter. + + [7] Auvaiyár, the celebrated poetess of the Tamils (in + Southern India), who is said to have flourished in the + ninth century, says, in her poem entitled _Nalvali_: + + Mark this: who lives beyond his means + Forfeits respect, loses his sense; + Where'er he goes through the seven births, + All count him knave; him women scorn. + +The incapacity of some youths to receive instruction is always a source +of vexation to the pedagogue. Saádí tells us of a vazír who sent his +stupid son to a learned man, requesting him to impart some of his +knowledge to the lad, hoping that his mind would be improved. After +attempting to instruct him for some time without effect, he sent this +message to his father: "Your son has no capacity, and has almost +distracted me. When nature has given capacity instruction will make +impressions; but if iron is not of the proper temper, no polishing will +make it good. Wash not a dog in the seven seas, for when he is wetted he +will only be the dirtier. If the ass that carried Jesus Christ were to +be taken to Mecca, at his return he would still be an ass." + +One of the greatest sages of antiquity is reported to have said that all +the knowledge he had acquired merely taught him how little he did know; +and indeed it is only smatterers who are vain of their supposed +knowledge. A sensible young man, says Saádí, who had made considerable +progress in learning and virtue, was at the same time so discreet that +he would sit in the company of learned men without uttering a word. Once +his father said to him: "My son, why do you not also say something you +know?" He replied: "I fear lest they should question me about something +of which I am ignorant, whereby I should suffer shame." + +The advantages of education are thus set forth by a philosopher who was +exhorting his children: "Acquire knowledge, for in worldly riches and +possessions no reliance can be placed.[8] Rank will be of no use out of +your own country; and on a journey money is in danger of being lost, for +either the thief may carry it off all at once, or the possessor may +consume it by degrees. But knowledge is a perennial spring of wealth, +and if a man of education cease to be opulent, yet he need not be +sorrowful, for knowledge of itself is riches.[9] A man of learning, +wheresoever he goes, is treated with respect, and sits in the uppermost +seat, whilst the ignorant man gets only scanty fare and encounters +distress." There once happened (adds Saádí) an insurrection in Damascus, +where every one deserted his habitation. The wise sons of a peasant +became the king's ministers, and the stupid sons of the vazír were +reduced to ask charity in the villages. If you want a paternal +inheritance, acquire from your father knowledge, for wealth may be spent +in ten days. + + [8] "All perishes except learning."--_Auvaiyár_. + + [9] "Learning is really the most valuable treasure.--A wise + man will never cease to learn.--He who has attained + learning by free self-application excels other + philosophers.--Let thy learning be thy best + friend.--What we have learned in youth is like writing + cut in stone.--If all else should be lost, what we have + learned will never be lost.--Learn one thing after + another, but not hastily.--Though one is of low birth, + learning will make him respected."--_Auvaiyár_. + +In the following charming little tale Saádí recounts an interesting +incident in his own life: I remember that in my youth, as I was passing +through a street, I cast my eyes on a beautiful girl. It was in the +autumn, when the heat dried up all moisture from the mouth, and the +sultry wind made the marrow boil in the bones, so that, being unable to +support the sun's powerful rays, I was obliged to take shelter under the +shade of a wall, in hopes that some one would relieve me from the +distressing heat, and quench my thirst with a draught of water. Suddenly +from the portico of a house I beheld a female form whose beauty it is +impossible for the tongue of eloquence to describe, insomuch that it +seemed as if the dawn was rising in the obscurity of night, or as if the +Water of Immortality was issuing from the Land of Darkness. She held in +her hand a cup of snow-water, into which she had sprinkled sugar and +mixed with it the juice of the grape. I know not whether what I +perceived was the fragrance of rose-water, or that she had infused into +it a few drops from the blossom of her cheek. In short, I received the +cup from her beauteous hand, and, drinking the contents, found myself +restored to new life. The thirst of my soul is not such that it can be +allayed with a drop of pure water--the streams of whole rivers would not +satisfy it. How happy is that fortunate one whose eyes every morning may +behold such a countenance! He who is intoxicated with wine will be sober +again in the course of the night; but he who is intoxicated by the +cup-bearer will never recover his senses till the day of judgment. + +Alas, poor Saádí! The lovely cup-bearer, who made such a lasting +impression on the heart of the young poet, was not destined for his +bride. His was indeed a sad matrimonial fate; and who can doubt but that +the beauteous form of the stranger maiden would often rise before his +mental view after he was married to the Xantippe who rendered some +portion of his life unhappy! + +Among the tales under the heading of "Imbecility and Old Age" we have +one of "oldé January that wedded was to freshé May," which points its +moral now as it did six hundred years ago: When I married a young +virgin, said an old man, I bedecked a chamber with flowers, sat with her +alone, and had fixed my eyes and heart solely upon her. Many long nights +I passed without sleep, repeating jests and pleasantries, to remove +shyness, and make her familiar. On one of these nights I said: "Fortune +has been propitious to you, in that you have fallen into the society of +an old man, of mature judgment, who has seen the world, and experienced +various situations of good and bad fortune, who knows the rights of +society, and has performed the duties of friendship;--one who is +affectionate, affable, cheerful, and conversable. I will exert my utmost +endeavours to gain your affection, and if you should treat me unkindly I +will not be offended; or if, like the parrot, your food should be sugar, +I will devote my sweet life to your support. You have not met with a +youth of a rude disposition, with a weak understanding, headstrong, a +gadder, who would be constantly changing his situations and +inclinations, sleeping every night in a new place, and every day forming +some new intimacy. Young men may be lively and handsome, but they are +inconstant in their attachments. Look not thou for fidelity from those +who, with the eyes of the nightingale, are every instant singing upon a +different rose-bush. But old men pass their time in wisdom and good +manners, not in the ignorance and frivolity of youth. Seek one better +than yourself, and having found him, consider yourself fortunate. With +one like yourself you would pass your life without improvement." I spoke +a great deal after this manner (continued the old man), and thought that +I had made a conquest of her heart, when suddenly she heaved a cold sigh +from the bottom of her heart, and replied: "All the fine speeches that +you have been uttering have not so much weight in the scale of my reason +as one single sentence I have heard from my nurse, that if you plant an +arrow in the side of a young woman it is not so painful as the society +of an old man." In short (continued he), it was impossible to agree, and +our differences ended in a separation. After the time prescribed by law, +she married a young man of an impetuous temper, ill-natured, and in +indigent circumstances, so that she suffered the injuries of violence, +with the evils of penury. Nevertheless she returned thanks for her lot, +and said: "God be praised that I escaped from infernal torment, and have +obtained this permanent blessing. Amidst all your violence and +impetuosity of temper, I will put up with your airs, because you are +handsome. It is better to burn with you in hell than to be in paradise +with the other. The scent of onions from a beautiful mouth is more +fragrant than the odour of the rose from the hand of one who is ugly." + +It must be allowed that this old man put his own case to his young wife +with very considerable address: yet, such is woman-nature, she chose to +be "a young man's slave rather than an old man's darling." And, +_apropos_, Saádí has another story which may be added to the foregoing: +An old man was asked why he did not marry. He answered: "I should not +like an old woman." "Then marry a young one, since you have property." +Quoth he: "Since I, who am an old man, should not be pleased with an old +woman, how can I expect that a young one would be attached to me?" + +"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," says our great dramatist, in +proof of which take this story: A certain king, when arrived at the end +of his days, having no heir, directed in his will that the morning after +his death the first person who entered the gate of the city they should +place on his head the crown of royalty, and commit to his charge the +government of the kingdom. It happened that the first to enter the city +was a dervish, who all his life had collected victuals from the +charitable and sewed patch on patch. The ministers of state and the +nobles of the court carried out the king's will, bestowing on him the +kingdom and the treasure. For some time the dervish governed the +kingdom, until part of the nobility swerved their necks from obedience +to him, and all the neighbouring monarchs, engaging in hostile +confederacies, attacked him with their armies. In short, the troops and +peasantry were thrown into confusion, and he lost the possession of some +territories. The dervish was distressed at these events, when an old +friend, who had been his companion in the days of poverty, returned from +a journey, and, finding him in such an exalted state, said: "Praised be +the God of excellence and glory, that your high fortune has aided you +and prosperity been your guide, so that a rose has issued from the +brier, and the thorn has been extracted from your foot, and you have +arrived at this dignity. Of a truth, joy succeeds sorrow; the bud does +sometimes blossom and sometimes wither; the tree is sometimes naked and +sometimes clothed." He replied: "O brother, condole with me, for this is +not a time for congratulation. When you saw me last, I was only anxious +how to obtain bread; but now I have all the cares of the world to +encounter. If the times are adverse, I am in pain; and if they are +prosperous, I am captivated with worldly enjoyments. There is no +calamity greater than worldly affairs, because they distress the heart +in prosperity as well as in adversity. If you want riches, seek only for +contentment, which is inestimable wealth. If the rich man would throw +money into your lap, consider not yourself obliged to him, for I have +often heard that the patience of the poor is preferable to the +liberality of the rich." + +Muezzins, who call the faithful to prayer at the prescribed hours from +the minarets of the mosques, are generally blind men, as a man with his +eyesight might spy into the domestic privacy of the citizens, who sleep +on the flat roofs of their houses in the hot season, and are selected +for their sweetness of voice. Saádí, however, tells us of a man who +performed gratuitously the office of muezzin, and had such a voice as +disgusted all who heard it. The intendant of the mosque, a good, humane +man, being unwilling to offend him, said one day: "My friend, this +mosque has muezzins of long standing, each of whom has a monthly stipend +of ten dínars. Now I will give you ten dínars to go to another place." +The man agreed to this and went away. Some time after he came to the +intendant and said: "O, my lord, you injured me in sending me away from +this station for ten dínars; for where I went they will give me twenty +dínars to remove to another place, to which I have not consented." The +intendant laughed, and said: "Take care--don't accept of the offer, for +they may be willing to give you fifty." + +To those who have "music in their souls," and are "moved by concord of +sweet sounds," the tones of a harsh voice are excruciating; and if among +our statesmen and other public speakers "silver tongues" are rare, they +are much more so among our preachers. The Church of Rome does not admit +into the priesthood men who have any bodily shortcoming or defect; it +would also be well if all candidates for holy orders in the English and +Scottish Churches whose voices are not at least tolerable were rejected, +as unfit to preach! Saádí seems to have had a great horror of braying +orators, and relates a number of anecdotes about them, such as this: A +preacher who had a detestable voice, but thought he had a very sweet +one, bawled out to no purpose. You would say the croaking of the crow in +the desert was the burden of his song, and that this verse of the Kurán +was intended for him, "Verily the most detestable of sounds is the +braying of an ass." When this ass of a preacher brayed, it made +Persepolis tremble. The people of the town, on account of the +respectability of his office, submitted to the calamity, and did not +think it advisable to molest him, until one of the neighbouring +preachers, who was secretly ill-disposed towards him, came once to see +him, and said: "I have had a dream--may it prove good!" "What did you +dream?" "I thought you had a sweet voice, and that the people were +enjoying tranquility from your discourse." The preacher, after +reflecting a little, replied: "What a happy dream is this that you have +had, which has discovered to me my defect, in that I have an unpleasant +voice, and that the people are distressed at my preaching. I am resolved +that in future I will read only in a low tone. The company of friends +was disadvantageous to me, because they look on my bad manners as +excellent: my defects appear to them skill and perfection, and my thorn +as the rose and the jasmin." + +Our author, as we have seen, enlivens his moral discourses occasionally +with humorous stories, and one or two more of these may fittingly close +the present section: One of the slaves of Amrúlais having run away, a +person was sent in pursuit of him and brought him back. The vazír, being +inimical to him, commanded him to be put to death in order to deter +other slaves from committing the like offence. The slave prostrated +himself before Amrúlais and said: "Whatever may happen to me with your +approbation is lawful--what plea can the slave offer against the +sentence of his lord? But, seeing that I have been brought up under the +bounties of your house, I do not wish that at the resurrection you shall +be charged with my blood. If you are resolved to kill your slave, do so +comformably to the interpretation of the law, in order that at the +resurrection you may not suffer reproach." The king asked: "After what +manner shall I expound it?" The slave replied: "Give me leave to kill +the vazír, and then, in retaliation for him, order me to be put to +death, that you may kill me justly." The king laughed, and asked the +vazír what was his advice in this matter. Quoth the vazír: "O my lord, +as an offering to the tomb of your father, liberate this rogue, in order +that I may not also fall into this calamity. The crime is on my side, +for not having observed the words of the sages, who say, 'When you +combat with one who flings clods of earth, you break your own head by +your folly: when you shoot at the face of your enemy, be careful that +you sit out of his aim.'"--And not a little wit, too, did the kází +exhibit when detected by the king in an intrigue with a farrier's +daughter, and his Majesty gave order that he should be flung from the +top of the castle, "as an example for others"; to which the kází +replied: "O monarch of the universe, I have been fostered in your +family, and am not singular in the commission of such crimes; therefore, +I ask you to precipitate some one else, in order that I may benefit by +the example." The king laughed at his wit, and spared his life.--Nor is +this tale without a spice of humour: An astrologer entered his house and +finding a stranger in company with his wife abused him, and called him +such opprobrious names that a quarrel and strife ensued. A shrewd man, +being informed of this, said to the astrologer: "What do you know of the +heavenly bodies, when you cannot tell what goes on in your own +house?"[10]--Last, and perhaps best of all, is this one: I was +hesitating about concluding a bargain for a house, when a Jew said: "I +am an old householder in that quarter; inquire of me the description of +the house, and buy it, for it has no fault." I replied: "Excepting that +you are one of the neighbours!" + + [10] There is a similar story to this in one of our old + English jest-books, _Tales and Quicke Answeres_, 1535, + as follows (I have modernised the spelling): As an + astronomer [i.e. an astrologer] sat upon a time in the + market place, and took upon him to divine and to show + what their fortunes and chances should be that came to + him, there came a fellow and told him (as it was indeed) + that thieves had broken into his house, and had borne + away all that he had. These tidings grieved him so sore + that, all heavy and sorrowfully, he rose up and went his + way. When the fellow saw him do so, he said: "O thou + foolish and mad man! goest thou about to divine other + men's matters, and art ignorant of thine own?" + + + + +III + +ANECDOTES AND APHORISMS FROM THE "GULISTÁN," WITH ANALOGUES--CONCLUSION. + + +Besides the maxims comprised in the concluding chapter of the +_Gulistán_, under the heading of "Rules for the Conduct of Life," many +others, of great pith and moment, are interspersed with the tales and +anecdotes which Saádí recounts in the preceding chapters, a selection of +which can hardly fail to prove both instructive and interesting. + +It is related that at the court of Núshírván, king of Persia, a number +of wise men were discussing a difficult question; and Buzurjmihr (his +famous prime minister), being silent, was asked why he did not take part +in the debate. He answered: "Ministers are like physicians, and the +physician gives medicine to the sick only. Therefore, when I see your +opinions are judicious, it would not be consistent with wisdom for me to +obtrude my sentiments. When a matter can be managed without my +interference it is not proper for me to speak on the subject. But if I +see a blind man in the way of a well, should I keep silence it were a +crime." On another occasion, when some Indian sages were discoursing on +his virtue, they could discover in him only this fault, that he +hesitated in his speech, so that his hearers were kept a long time in +suspense before he delivered his sentiments. Buzurjmihr overheard their +conversation and observed: "It is better to deliberate before I speak +than to repent of what I have said."[11] + + [11] The sayings of Buzurjmihr, the sagacious prime minister + of King Núshírván, are often cited by Persian writers, + and a curious story of his precocity when a mere youth + is told in the _Latá'yif at-Taw'áyif_, a Persian + collection, made by Al-Káshifí, of which a translation + will be found in my "Analogues and Variants" of the + Tales in vol. iii of Sir R. F. Burton's _Supplemental + Arabian Nights_, pp. 567-9--too long for reproduction + here. + +A parallel to this last saying of the Persian vazír is found in a +"notable sentence" of a wise Greek, in this passage from the _Dictes, or +Sayings of Philosophers_, printed by Caxton (I have modernised the +spelling): + +"There came before a certain king three wise men, a Greek, a Jew, and a +Saracen, of whom the said king desired that each of them would utter +some good and notable sentence. Then the Greek said: 'I may well correct +and amend my thoughts, but not my words.' The Jew said: 'I marvel of +them that say things prejudicial, when silence were more profitable.' +The Saracen said: 'I am master of my words ere they are pronounced; but +when they are spoken I am servant thereto.' And it was asked one of +them: 'Who might be called a king?' And he answered: 'He that is not +subject to his own will.'" + +The _Dictes, or Sayings of Philosophers_, of which, I believe, but one +perfect copy is extant, was translated from the French by Earl Rivers, +and printed by Caxton, at Westminister, in the year 1477, as we learn +from the colophon. I am not aware that any one has taken the trouble to +trace to their sources all the sayings comprised in this collection, but +I think the original of the above is to be found in the following, from +the preface to the Arabian version (from the Pahlaví, the ancient +language of Persia) of the celebrated Fables of Bidpaď, entitled _Kalíla +wa Dimna_, made in the year 754: + +"The four kings of China, India, Persia, and Greece, being together, +agreed each of them to deliver a saying which might be recorded to their +honour in after ages. The king of China said: 'I have more power over +that which I have not spoken than I have to recall what has once passed +my lips.' The king of India: 'I have been often struck with the risk of +speaking; for if a man be heard in his own praise it is unprofitable +boasting, and what he says to his own discredit is injurious in its +consequences.' The king of Persia: 'I am the slave of what I have +spoken, but the master of what I conceal.' The king of Greece: 'I have +never regretted the silence which I had imposed upon myself; though I +have often repented of the words I have uttered;[12] for silence is +attended with advantage, whereas loquacity is often followed by +incurable evils.'" + + [12] Simonides used to say that he never regretted having + held his tongue, but very often had he felt sorry for + having spoken.--_Stobćus_: Flor. xxxiii, 12. + +The Persian poet Jámí--the last of the brilliant galaxy of genius who +enriched the literature of their country, and who flourished two +centuries after Saádí had passed to his rest--reproduces these sayings +of the four kings in his work entitled _Baháristán_, or Abode of Spring, +which is similar in design to the _Gulistán_. + +Among the sayings of other wise men (whose names, however, Saádí does +not mention) are the following: A devotee, who had quitted his monastery +and become a member of a college, being asked what difference there is +between a learned man and a religious man to induce him thus to change +his associates, answered: "The devotee saves his own blanket out of the +waves, and the learned man endeavours to save others from drowning."--A +young man complained to his spiritual guide of his studies being +frequently interrupted by idle and impudent visitors, and desired to +know by what means he might rid himself of the annoyance. The sage +replied: "To such as are poor lend money, and of such as are rich ask +money, and, depend upon it, you will never see one of them again." + +Saádí's own aphorisms are not less striking and instructive. They are +indeed calculated to stimulate the faltering to manly exertion, and to +counsel the inexperienced. It is to youthful minds, however, that the +"words of the wise" are more especially addressed; for it is during the +spring-time of life that the seeds of good and evil take root; and so we +find the sage Hebrew king frequently addressing his maxims to the young: +"My son," is his formula, "my son, attend to my words, and bow thine ear +to my understanding; that thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy +lips may keep knowledge." And the "good and notable sentences" of Saádí +are well worthy of being treasured by the young man on the threshold of +life. For example: + +"Life is snow, and the summer advanceth; only a small portion remaineth: +art thou still slothful?" + +This warning has been reiterated by moralists in all ages and +countries;--the Great Teacher says: "Work while it is day, for the night +cometh when no man can work." And Saádí, in one of his sermons (which is +found in another of his books), recounts this beautiful fable, in +illustration of the fortunes of the slothful and the industrious: + +It is related that in a certain garden a Nightingale had built his nest +on the bough of a rose-bush. It so happened that a poor little Ant had +fixed her dwelling at the root of this same bush, and managed as best +she could to store her wretched hut of care with winter provision. Day +and night was the Nightingale fluttering round the rose-bower, and +tuning the barbut[13] of his soul-deluding melody; indeed, whilst the +Ant was night and day industriously occupied, the thousand-songed bird +seemed fascinated with his own sweet voice, echoing amidst the trees. +The Nightingale was whispering his secret to the Rose,[14] and that, +full-blown by the zephyr of the dawn, would ogle him in return. The poor +Ant could not help admiring the coquettish airs of the Rose, and the gay +blandishments of the Nightingale, and incontinently remarking: "Time +alone can disclose what may be the end of this frivolity and talk!" +After the flowery season of summer was gone, and the black time of +winter was come, thorns took the station of the Rose, and the raven the +perch of the Nightingale. The storms of autumn raged in fury, and the +foliage of the grove was shed upon the ground. The cheek of the leaf was +turned yellow, and the breath of the wind was chill and blasting. The +gathering cloud poured down hailstones, like pearls, and flakes of snow +floated like camphor on the bosom of the air. Suddenly the Nightingale +returned into the garden, but he met neither the bloom of the Rose nor +fragrance of the spikenard; notwithstanding his thousand-songed tongue, +he stood stupified and mute, for he could discover no flower whose form +he might admire, nor any verdure whose freshness he might enjoy. The +Thorn turned round to him and said: "How long, silly bird, wouldst thou +be courting the society of the Rose? Now is the season that in the +absence of thy charmer thou must put up with the heart-rending bramble +of separation." The Nightingale cast his eye upon the scene around him, +but saw nothing fit to eat. Destitute of food, his strength and +fortitude failed him, and in his abject helplessness he was unable to +earn himself a little livelihood. He called to his mind and said: +"Surely the Ant had in former days his dwelling underneath this tree, +and was busy in hoarding a store of provision: now I will lay my wants +before her, and, in the name of good neighbourship, and with an appeal +to her generosity, beg some small relief. Peradventure she may pity my +distress and bestow her charity upon me." Like a poor suppliant, the +half-famished Nightingale presented himself at the Ant's door, and said: +"Generosity is the harbinger of prosperity, and the capital stock of +good luck. I was wasting my precious life in idleness whilst thou wast +toiling hard and laying up a hoard. How considerate and good it were of +thee wouldst thou spare me a portion of it." The Ant replied: + +"Thou wast day and night occupied in idle talk, and I in attending to +the needful: one moment thou wast taken up with the fresh blandishment +of the Rose, and the next busy in admiring the blossoming spring. Wast +thou not aware that every summer has its fall and every road an +end?"[15] + + [13] The name of a musical instrument. + + [14] The fancied love of the nightingale for the rose is a + favourite theme of Persian poets. + + [15] Cf. the fable of Anianus: After laughing all summer at + her toil, the Grasshopper came in winter to borrow part + of the Ant's store of food. "Tell me," said the Ant, + "what you did in the summer?" "I sang," replied the + Grasshopper. "Indeed," rejoined the Ant. "Then you may + dance and keep yourself warm during the winter." + +These are a few more of Saádí's aphorisms: + +Riches are for the comfort of life, and not life for the accumulation of +riches.[16] + + [16] Auvaiyár, the celebrated Indian poetess, in her + _Nalvali_, says: + + Hark! ye who vainly toil and wealth + Amass--O sinful men, the soul + Will leave its nest; where then will be + The buried treasure that you lose? + +The eye of the avaricious man cannot be satisfied with wealth, any more +than a well can be filled with dew. + +A wicked rich man is a clod of earth gilded. + +The liberal man who eats and bestows is better than the religious man +who fasts and hoards. + +Publish not men's secret faults, for by disgracing them you make +yourself of no repute. + +He who gives advice to a self-conceited man stands himself in need of +counsel from another. + +The vicious cannot endure the sight of the virtuous, in the same manner +as the curs of the market howl at a hunting-dog, but dare not approach +him. + +When a mean wretch cannot vie with any man in virtue, out of his +wickedness he begins to slander him. The abject, envious wretch will +slander the virtuous man when absent, but when brought face to face his +loquacious tongue becomes dumb. + +O thou, who hast satisfied thy hunger, to thee a barley loaf is beneath +notice;--that seems loveliness to me which in thy sight appears +deformity. + +The ringlets of fair maids are chains for the feet of reason, and snares +for the bird of wisdom. + +When you have anything to communicate that will distress the heart of +the person whom it concerns, be silent, in order that he may hear it +from some one else. O nightingale, bring thou the glad tidings of the +spring, and leave bad news to the owl! + +It often happens that the imprudent is honoured and the wise despised. +The alchemist died of poverty and distress, while the blockhead found a +treasure under a ruin. + +Covetousness sews up the eyes of cunning, and brings both bird and fish +into the net. + +Although, in the estimation of the wise, silence is commendable, yet at +a proper season speech is preferable.[17] + + [17] "Comprehensive talkers are apt to be tiresome when we + are not athirst for information; but, to be quite fair, + we must admit that superior reticence is a good deal due + to the lack of matter. Speech is often barren, but + silence does not necessarily brood over a full nest. + Your still fowl, blinking at you without remark, may all + the while be sitting on one addled nest-egg; and when it + takes to cackling will have nothing to announce but that + addled delusion."--George Eliot's _Felix Holt_. + +Two things indicate an obscure understanding: to be silent when we +should converse, and to speak when we should be silent. + +Put not yourself so much in the power of your friend that, if he should +become your enemy, he may be able to injure you. + + * * * * * + +Our English poet Young has this observation in his _Night Thoughts_: + + Thought, in the mine, may come forth gold or dross; + When coined in word, we know its real worth. + +He had been thus anticipated by Saádí: "To what shall be likened the +tongue in a man's mouth? It is the key of the treasury of wisdom. When +the door is shut, who can discover whether he deals in jewels or +small-wares?" + +The poet Thomson, in his _Seasons_, has these lines, which have long +been hackneyed: + + Loveliness + Needs not the aid of foreign ornament, + But is when unadorned adorned the most. + +Saádí had anticipated him also: "The face of the beloved," he says, +"requireth not the art of the tire-woman. The finger of a beautiful +woman and the tip of her ear are handsome without an ear-jewel or a +turquoise ring." But Saádí, in his turn, was forestalled by the Arabian +poet-hero Antar, in his famous _Mu'allaka_, or prize-poem, which is at +least thirteen hundred years old, where he says: "Many a consort of a +fair one, whose beauty required no ornaments, have I laid prostrate on +the field." + +Yet one Persian poet, at least, namely, Nakhshabí, held a different +opinion: "Beauty," he says, "adorned with ornaments, portends disastrous +events to our hearts. An amiable form, ornamented with diamonds and +gold, is like a melodious voice accompanied by the rabáb." Again, he +says: "Ornaments are the universal ravishers of hearts, and an upper +garment for the shoulder is like a cluster of gems. If dress, however," +he concedes, "may have been at any time the assistant of beauty, beauty +is always the animator of dress." It is remarkable that homely-featured +women dress more gaudily than their handsome sisters generally, thus +unconsciously bringing their lack of beauty (not to put too fine a point +on it) into greater prominence. + +In common with other moralists, Saádí reiterates the maxim that learning +and virtue, precept and practice, should ever go hand in hand. "Two +persons," says he, "took trouble in vain: he who acquired wealth without +using it, and he who taught wisdom without practising it." Again: "He +who has acquired knowledge and does not practise it, is like unto him +that ploughed but did not sow." And again: "How much soever you may +study science, when you do not act wisely, you are ignorant. The beast +that they load with books is not profoundly wise and learned: what +knoweth his empty skull whether he carrieth fire-wood or books?" And yet +again: "A learned man without temperance is like a blind man carrying a +lamp: he showeth the way to others, but does not guide himself." + +Ingratitude is denounced by all moralists as the lowest of vices. Thus +Saádí says: "Man is beyond dispute the most excellent of created beings, +and the vilest animal is the dog; but the sages agree that a grateful +dog is better than an ungrateful man. A dog never forgets a morsel, +though you pelt him a hundred times with stones. But if you cherish a +mean wretch for an age, he will fight with you for a mere trifle." In +language still more forcible does a Hindú poet denounce this basest of +vices: "To cut off the teats of a cow;[18] to occasion a pregnant woman +to miscarry; to injure a Bráhman--are sins of the most aggravated +nature; but more atrocious than these is ingratitude." + + [18] The cow is sacred among the Hindús. + +The sentiment so tersely expressed in the Chinese proverb, "He who never +reveals a secret keeps it best," is thus finely amplified by Saádí: "The +matter which you wish to preserve as a secret impart not to every one, +although he may be worthy of confidence; for no one will be so true to +your secret as yourself. It is safer to be silent than to reveal a +secret to any one, and tell him not to mention it. O wise man! stop the +water at the spring-head, for when it is in full stream you cannot +arrest it."[19] + + [19] Thus also Jámí, in his _Baháristán_ (Second "Garden"): + "With regard to a secret divulged and one kept + concealed, there is in use an excellent proverb, that + the one is an arrow still in our possession, and the + other is an arrow sent from the bow." And another + Persian poet, whose name I have not ascertained, + eloquently exclaims: "O my heart! if thou desirest ease + in this life, keep thy secrets undisclosed, like the + modest rose-bud. Take warning from that lovely flower, + which, by expanding its hitherto hidden beauties when in + full bloom, gives its leaves and its happiness to the + winds." + +The imperative duty of active benevolence is thus inculcated: "Bestow +thy gold and thy wealth while they are thine; for when thou art gone +they will be no longer in thy power. Distribute thy treasure readily +to-day, for to-morrow the key may be no longer in thy hand. Exert +thyself to cast a covering over the poor, that God's own veil may be a +covering to thee." + +In the following passage the man of learning and virtue is contrasted +with the stupid and ignorant blockhead: + +"If a wise man, falling into company with mean people, does not get +credit for his discourse, be not surprised, for the sound of the harp +cannot overpower the noise of the drum, and the fragrance of ambergris +is overcome by fetid garlic. The ignorant fellow was proud of his loud +voice, because he had impudently confounded the man of understanding. If +a jewel falls in the mud it is still the same precious stone,[20] and if +dust flies up to the sky it retains its original baseness. A capacity +without education is deplorable, and education without capacity is +thrown away. Sugar obtains not its value from the cane, but from its +innate quality. Musk has fragrance of itself, and not from being called +a perfume by the druggist. The wise man is like the druggist's chest, +silent, but full of virtues; while the blockhead resembles the warrior's +drum, noisy, but an empty prattler. A wise man in the company of those +who are ignorant has been compared by the sages to a beautiful girl in +the company of blind men, and to the Kurán in the house of an +infidel."--The old proverb that "an evil bird has an evil egg" finds +expression by Saádí thus: "No one whose origin is bad ever catches the +reflection of the good." Again, he says: "How can we make a good sword +out of bad iron? A worthless person cannot by education become a person +of any worth." And yet again: "Evil habits which have taken root in +one's nature will only be got rid of at the hour of death." + + [20] Is such a thing as an emerald made worse than it was if + it is not praised?--_Marcus Aurelius_. + + If glass be used to decorate a crown, + While gems are taken to bedeck a foot, + 'Tis not that any fault lies in the gem, + But in the want of knowledge of the setter. + + --_Panchatantra_, a famous Indian book of Fables. + +Firdausí, the Homer of Persia (eleventh century), has the following +remarks in his scathing satire on the sultan Mahmúd, of Ghazní +(Atkinson's rendering): + + Alas! from vice can goodness ever spring? + Is mercy hoped for in a tyrant king? + Can water wash the Ethiopian white? + Can we remove the darkness from the night? + The tree to which a bitter fruit is given + Would still be bitter in the bowers of heaven; + And a bad heart keeps on its vicious course, + Or, if it changes, changes for the worse; + Whilst streams of milk where Eden's flow'rets blow + Acquire more honied sweetness as they flow. + +The striking words of the Great Teacher, "How hardly shall they that +have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" find an interesting analogue +in this passage by Saádí: "There is a saying of the Prophet, 'To the +poor death is a state of rest.' The ass that carries the lightest burden +travels easiest. In like manner, the good man who bears the burden of +poverty will enter the gate of death lightly loaded, while he who lives +in affluence, with ease and comfort, will, doubtless, on that very +account find death very terrible. And in any view, the captive who is +released from confinement is happier than the noble who is taken +prisoner." + +A singular anecdote is told of another celebrated Persian poet, which +may serve as a kind of commentary on this last-cited passage: Faridú +'d-Dín 'Attár, who died in the year 1229, when over a hundred years old, +was considered the most perfect Súfí[21] philosopher of the time in +which he lived. His father was an eminent druggist in Nishapúr, and for +a time Faridú 'd-Dín followed the same profession, and his shop was the +delight of all who passed by it, from the neatness of its arrangements +and the fragrant odours of drugs and essences. 'Attár, which means +druggist, or perfumer, Faridú 'd-Dín adopted for his poetical title. One +day, while sitting at his door with a friend, an aged dervish drew near, +and, after looking anxiously and closely into the well-furnished shop, +he sighed heavily and shed tears, as he reflected on the transitory +nature of all earthly things. 'Attár, mistaking the sentiment uppermost +in the mind of the venerable devotee, ordered him to be gone, to which +he meekly rejoined: "Yes, I have nothing to prevent me from leaving thy +door, or, indeed, from quitting this world at once, as my sole +possession is this threadbare garment. But O 'Attár, I grieve for thee: +for how canst thou ever bring thyself to think of death--to leave all +these goods behind thee?" 'Attár replied that he hoped and believed that +he should die as contentedly as any dervish; upon which the aged +devotee, saying, "We shall see," placed his wooden bowl upon the ground, +laid his head upon it, and, calling on the name of God, immediately +resigned his soul. Deeply impressed with this incident, 'Attár at once +gave up his shop, and devoted himself to the study of Súfí +philosophy.[22] + + [21] The Súfís are the mystics of Islám, and their poetry, + while often externally anacreontic--bacchanalian and + erotic--possesses an esoteric, spiritual signification: + the sensual world is employed to symbolise that which is + to be apprehended only by the _inward_ sense. Most of + the great poets of Persia, Afghanistán, and Turkey are + generally understood to have been Súfís. + + [22] Sir Gore Ouseley's _Biographical Notices of Persian Poets_. + +The death of Cardinal Mazarin furnishes another remarkable illustration +of Saádí's sentiment. A day or two before he died, the cardinal caused +his servant to carry him into his magnificent art gallery, where, gazing +upon his collection of pictures and sculpture, he cried in anguish, "And +must I leave all these?" Dr. Johnson may have had Mazarin's words in +mind when he said to Garrick, while being shown over the famous actor's +splendid mansion: "Ah, Davie, Davie, these are the things that make a +death-bed terrible!" + +Few passages of Shakspeare are more admired than these lines: + + And this our life, exempt from public haunts, + Finds _tongues in trees_, books in the running brooks, + Sermons in stones, and good in everything.[23] + + [23] Cf. these lines, from Herrick's "Hesperides": + + But you are _lovely leaves_, where we + May read, how soon things have + Their end, tho' ne'er so brave; + And after they have shown their pride, + Like you, a while, they glide + Into the grave. + +Saádí had thus expressed the same sentiment before him: "The foliage of +a newly-clothed tree, to the eye of a discerning man, displays a whole +volume of the wondrous works of the Creator." Another Persian poet, +Jámí, in his beautiful mystical poem of _Yúsuf wa Zulaykhá_, says: +"Every leaf is a tongue uttering praises, like one who keepeth crying, +'In the name of God.'"[24] And the Afghan poet Abdu 'r-Rahman says: +"Every tree, every shrub, stands ready to bend before him; every herb +and blade of grass is a tongue to mutter his praises." And Horace Smith, +that most pleasing but unpretentious writer, both of verse and prose, +has thus finely amplified the idea of "tongues in trees": + + Your voiceless lips, O Flowers, are living preachers, + Each cup a pulpit, every leaf a book, + Supplying to my fancy numerous teachers, + From loneliest nook. + + 'Neath cloistered boughs, each floral bell that swingeth, + And tolls its perfume on the passing air, + Makes Sabbath in the fields, and ever ringeth + A call to prayer;-- + + Not to the domes where crumbling arch and column + Attest the feebleness of mortal hand, + But to that fane, most catholic and solemn, + Which God hath planned: + + To that cathedral, boundless as our wonder, + Whose quenchless lamps the sun and moon supply; + Its choir, the winds and waves, its organ, thunder, + Its dome, the sky. + + There, amid solitude and shade, I wander + Through the green aisles, and, stretched upon the sod, + Awed by the silence, reverently ponder + The ways of God. + + [24] "In the name of God" is part of the formula employed by + pious Muslims in their acts of worship, and on entering + upon any enterprise of danger or + uncertainty--_bi'smi'llahi ar-rahman ar-rahimi_, "In the + name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate!" These + words are usually placed at the beginning of Muhammedan + books, secular as well as religions; and they form part + of the Muslim Confession of Faith, used in the last + extremity: "In the name of God, the Merciful, the + Compassionate! There is no strength nor any power save + in God, the High, the Mighty. To God we belong, and + verily to him we return!" + + * * * * * + +When Saádí composed his _Gulistán_, in 1278, he was between eighty and +ninety years of age, with his great mind still vigorous as ever; and he +lived many years after, beloved and revered by the poor, whose +necessities he relieved, and honoured and esteemed by the noble and the +learned, who frequently visited the venerable solitary, to gather and +treasure up the pearls of wisdom which dropped from his eloquent tongue. +Like other poets of lofty genius, he possessed a firm assurance of the +immortality of his fame. "A rose," says he, "may continue to bloom for +five or six days, but this Rose-Garden will flourish for ever"; and +again: "These verses and recitals of mine will endure after every +particle of my dust has been dispersed." Six centuries have passed away +since the gifted sage penned his _Gulistán_, and his fame has not only +continued in his own land and throughout the East generally, but has +spread into all European countries, and across the Atlantic, where long +after the days of Saádí "still stood the forests primeval." + + + + +ORIENTAL WIT AND HUMOUR. + + Sport that wrinkled Care derides, + And Laughter shaking both his sides.--_L' Allegro_. + + + + +I + +MAN A LAUGHING ANIMAL--ANTIQUITY OF POPULAR JESTS--"NIGHT AND DAY"--THE +PLAIN-FEATURED BRIDE--THE HOUSE OF CONDOLENCE--THE BLIND MAN'S WIFE--TWO +WITTY PERSIAN LADIES--WOMAN'S COUNSEL--THE TURKISH JESTER: IN THE +PULPIT; THE CAULDRON; THE BEGGAR; THE DRUNKEN GOVERNOR; THE ROBBER; THE +HOT BROTH--MUSLIM PREACHERS AND MUSLIM MISERS. + + +Certain philosophers have described man as a cooking animal, others as a +tool-making animal, others, again, as a laughing animal. No creature +save man, say the advocates of the last definition, seems to have any +"sense of humour." However this may be, there can be little doubt that +man in all ages of which we have any knowledge has possessed that +faculty which perceives ridiculous incongruities in the relative +positions of certain objects, and in the actions and sayings of +individuals, which we term the "sense of the ludicrous." It is not to be +supposed that a dog or a cat--albeit intelligent creatures, in their own +ways--would see anything funny or laughable in a man whose sole attire +consisted in a general's hat and sash and a pair of spurs! Yet _that_ +should be enough to "make even a cat laugh"! Certainly laughter is +peculiar to our species; and gravity is as certainly not always a token +of profound wisdom; for + + The gravest beast's an ass; + The gravest bird's an owl; + The gravest fish's an oyster; + And the gravest man's a _fool_. + +Many of the great sages of antiquity were also great humorists, and +laughed long and heartily at a good jest. And, indeed, as the Sage of +Chelsea affirms, "no man who has once heartily and wholly laughed can be +altogether, irreclaimably bad. How much lies in laughter!--the cipher +key wherewith we decipher the whole man!... The man who cannot laugh is +not only fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils, but his whole life is +already a treason and a stratagem." Let us, then, laugh at what is +laughable while we are yet clothed in "this muddy vesture of decay," +for, as delightful Elia asks, "Can a ghost laugh? Can he shake his gaunt +sides if we be merry with him?" + +It is a remarkable fact that a considerable proportion of the familiar +jests of almost any country, which are by its natives fondly believed to +be "racy of the soil," are in reality common to other peoples widely +differing in language and customs. Not a few of these jests had their +origin ages upon ages since--in Greece, in Persia, in India. Yet they +must have set out upon their travels westward at a comparatively early +period, for they have been long domiciled in almost every country of +Europe. Nevertheless, as we ourselves possess a goodly number of droll +witticisms, repartees, and jests, which are most undoubtedly and beyond +cavil our own--such as many of those which are ascribed to Sam Foote, +Harry Erskine, Douglas Jerrold, and Sydney Smith; though they have been +credited with some that are as old as the jests of Hierokles--so there +exist in what may be termed the lower strata of Oriental fiction, +humorous and witty stories, characteristic of the different peoples +amongst whom they originated, which, for the most part, have not yet +been appropriated by the European compilers of books of facetić, and a +selection of such jests--choice specimens of Oriental Wit and +Humour--gleaned from a great variety of sources, will, I trust, amuse +readers in general, and lovers of funny anecdotes in particular. + + * * * * * + +To begin, then--_place aux dames_! In most Asiatic countries the ladies +are at a sad discount in the estimation of their lords and masters, +however much the latter may expatiate on their personal charms, and in +Eastern jests this is abundantly shown. For instance, a Persian poet, +through the importunity of his friends, had married an old and very ugly +woman, who turned out also of a very bad temper, and they had constant +quarrels. Once, in a dispute, the poet made some comparisons between his +aged wife and himself and between Night and Day. "Cease your nonsense," +said she; "night and day were created long before us." "Hold a little," +said the husband. "I know they were created long before me, but whether +before _you_, admits of great doubt!" Again, a Persian married, and, as +is customary with Muslims, on the marriage night saw his bride's face +for the first time, when she proved to be very ugly--perhaps +"plain-looking" were the more respectful expression. A few days after +the nuptials, she said to him: "My life! as you have many relatives, I +wish you would inform me before which of them I may unveil." (Women of +rank in Muslim countries appear unveiled only before very near +relations.) "My soul!" responded the husband, "if thou wilt but conceal +thy face from _me_, I care not to whom thou showest it." And there is a +grim sort of humour in the story of the poor Arab whose wife was going +on a visit of condolence, when he said to her: "My dear, if you go, who +is to take care of the children, and what have you left for them to +eat?" She replied: "As I have neither flour, nor milk, nor butter, nor +oil, nor anything else, what can I leave?" "You had better stay at home, +then," said the poor man; "for assuredly _this_ is the true house of +condolence." And also in the following: A citizen of Tawris, in +comfortable circumstances, had a daughter so very ugly that nothing +could induce any one to marry her. At length he resolved to bestow her +on a blind man, hoping that, not seeing her personal defects, he would +be kind to her. His plan succeeded, and the blind man lived very happily +with his wife. By-and-by, there arrived in the city a doctor who was +celebrated for restoring sight to many people, and the girl's father was +urged by his friends to engage this skilled man to operate upon his +son-in-law, but he replied: "I will take care to do nothing of the kind; +for if this doctor should restore my son-in-law's eyesight, _he_ would +very soon restore my daughter to me!" + +But occasionally ladies are represented as giving witty retorts, as in +the story of the Persian lady who, walking in the street, observed a man +following her, and turning round enquired of him: "Why do you follow me, +sir?" He answered: "Because I am in love with you." "Why are you in love +with me?" said the lady. "My sister is much handsomer than I; she is +coming after me--go and make love to her." The fellow went back and saw +a woman with an exceedingly ugly face, upon which he at once went after +the lady, and said to her: "Why did you tell me what was not true?" +"Neither did you speak the truth," answered she; "for if you were really +in love with me, you would not have turned to see another woman." And +the Persian poet Jámí, in his _Baháristán_, relates that a man with a +very long nose asked a woman in marriage, saying: "I am no way given to +sloth, or long sleeping, and I am very patient in bearing vexations." To +which she replied: "Yes, truly: hadst thou not been patient in bearing +vexations thou hadst not carried that nose of thine these forty years." + +The low estimation in which women are so unjustly held among Muhammedans +is perhaps to be ascribed partly to the teachings of the Kurán in one or +two passages, and to the traditional sayings of the Apostle Muhammad, +who has been credited (or rather _discredited_) with many things which +he probably never said. But this is not peculiar to the followers of the +Prophet of Mecca: a very considerable proportion of the Indian fictions +represent women in an unfavourable light--fictions, too, which were +composed long before the Hindús came in contact with the Muhammedans. +Even in Europe, during medićval times, _maugre_ the "lady fair" of +chivalric romance, it was quite as much the custom to decry women, and +to relate stories of their profligacy, levity, and perversity, as ever +it has been in the East. But we have changed all that in modern times: +it is only to be hoped that we have not gone to the other +extreme!--According to an Arabian writer, cited by Lane, "it is +desirable, before a man enters upon any important undertaking, to +consult ten intelligent persons among his particular friends; or if he +have not more than five such friends let him consult each twice; or if +he have not more than one friend he should consult him ten times, at ten +different visits [he would be 'a friend indeed,' to submit to so many +consultations on the same subject]; if he have not one to consult let +him return to his wife and consult her, and whatever she advises him to +do let him do the contrary, so shall he proceed rightly in his affair +and attain his object."[25] We may suppose this Turkish story, from the +_History of the Forty Vezírs_, to be illustrative of the wisdom of such +teaching: A man went on the roof of his house to repair it, and when he +was about to come down he called to his wife, "How should I come down?" +The woman answered, "The roof is free; what would happen? You are a +young man--jump down." The man jumped down, and his ankle was +dislocated, and for a whole year he was bedridden, and his ankle came +not back to its place. Next year the man again went on the roof of his +house and repaired it. Then he called to his wife, "Ho! wife, how shall +I come down?" The woman said, "Jump not; thine ankle has not yet come to +its place--come down gently." The man replied, "The other time, for that +I followed thy words, and not those of the Apostle [i.e., Muhammed], was +my ankle dislocated, and it is not yet come to its place; now shall I +follow the words of the Apostle, and do the contrary of what thou sayest +[Kurán, iii, 29.]" And he jumped down, and straightway his ankle came to +its place. + + [25] "Bear in mind," says Thorkel to Bork, in the Icelandic + saga of Gisli the Outlaw, "bear in mind that a woman's + counsel is always unlucky."--On the other hand, quoth + Panurge, "Truly I have found a great deal of good in the + counsel of women, chiefly in that of the old wives among + them." + + * * * * * + +In the Turkish collection of jests ascribed to Khoja Nasrú 'd-Dín +Efendi[26] is the following, which has been reproduced amongst ourselves +within comparatively recent years, and credited to an Irish priest: + +One day the Khoja went into the pulpit of a mosque to preach to the +people. "O men!" said he, "do you know what I should say unto you?" They +answered: "We know not, Efendi." "When you do know," said the Khoja, "I +shall take the trouble of addressing you." The next day he again +ascended into the pulpit, and said, as before: "O men! do you know what +I should say unto you?" "We do know," exclaimed they all with one voice. +"Then," said he, "what is the use of my addressing you, since you +already know?" The third day he once more went into the pulpit, and +asked the same question. The people, having consulted together as to the +answer they should make, said: "O Khoja, some of us know, and some of us +do not know." "If that be the case, let those who know tell those who do +not know," said the Khoja, coming down. A poor Arab preacher was once, +however, not quite so successful. Having "given out," as we say, for his +text, these words, from the Kurán, "I have called Noah," and being +unable to collect his thoughts, he repeated, over and over again, "I +have called Noah," and finally came to a dead stop; when one of those +present shouted, "If Noah will not come, call some one else." Akin to +this is our English jest of the deacon of a dissenting chapel in +Yorkshire, who undertook, in the vanity of his heart, to preach on the +Sunday, in place of the pastor, who was ill, or from home. He conducted +the devotional exercises fairly well, but when he came to deliver his +sermon, on the text, "I am the Light of the world," he had forgot what +he intended to say, and continued to repeat these words, until an old +man called out, "If thou be the light o' the world, I think thou needs +snuffin' badly." + + [26] The Khoja was contemporary with the renowned conqueror + of nations, Tímúr, or Tímúrleng, or, as the name is + usually written in this country, Tamarlane, though there + does not appear to be any authority that he was the + official jester at the court of that monarch, as some + writers have asserted. The pleasantries ascribed to the + Khoja--the title now generally signifies Teacher, or + School-master, but formerly it was somewhat equivalent + to our "Mr," or, more familiarly, "Goodman"--have been + completely translated into French. Of course, a large + proportion of the jests have been taken from Arabian and + Persian collections, though some are doubtless genuine; + and they represent the Khoja as a curious compound of + shrewdness and simplicity. A number of the foolish + sayings and doings fathered on him are given in my _Book + of Noodles_, 1888. + +To return to the Turkish jest-book. One day the Khoja borrowed a +cauldron from a brazier, and returned it with a little saucepan inside. +The owner, seeing the saucepan, asked: "What is this?" Quoth the Khoja: +"Why, the cauldron has had a young one"; whereupon the brazier, well +pleased, took possession of the saucepan. Some time after this the Khoja +again borrowed the cauldron and took it home. At the end of a week the +brazier called at the Khoja's house and asked for his cauldron. "O set +your mind at rest," said the Khoja; "the cauldron is dead." "O Khoja," +quoth the brazier, "can a cauldron die?" Responded the Khoja: "Since you +believed it could have a young one, why should you not also believe that +it could die?" + +The Khoja had a pleasant way of treating beggars. One day a man knocked +at his door. "What do you want?" cried the Khoja from above. "Come +down," said the man. The Khoja accordingly came down, and again said: +"What do you want?" "I want charity," said the man. "Come up stairs," +said the Khoja. When the beggar had come up, the Khoja said: "God help +you"--the customary reply to a beggar when one will not or cannot give +him anything. "O master," cried the man, "why did you not say so below?" +Quoth the Khoja: "When I was above stairs, why did you bring me down?" + +Drunkenness is punished (or punishable) by the infliction of eighty +strokes of the bastinado in Muslim countries, but it is only flagrant +cases that are thus treated, and there is said to be not a little +private drinking of spirits as well as of wine among the higher classes, +especially Turks and Persians. It happened that the governor of +Súricastle lay in a state of profound intoxication in a garden one day, +and was thus discovered by the Khoja, who was taking a walk in the same +garden with his friend Ahmed. The Khoja instantly stripped him of his +_ferage_, or upper garment, and, putting it on his own back, walked +away. When the governor awoke and saw that his ferage had been stolen, +he told his officers to bring before him whomsoever they found wearing +it. The officers, seeing the ferage on the Khoja, seized and brought him +before the governor, who said to him: "Ho! Khoja, where did you obtain +that ferage?" The Khoja responded "As I was taking a walk with my friend +Ahmed we saw a fellow lying drunk, whereupon I took off his ferage and +went away with it. If it be yours, pray take it." "O no," said the +governor, "it does not belong to me." + +Even being robbed could not disturb the Khoja's good humour. When he was +lying in bed one night a loud noise was heard in the street before his +house. Said he to his wife: "Get up and light a candle, and I will go +and see what is the matter." "You had much better stay where you are," +advised his wife. But the Khoja, without heeding her words, put the +counterpane on his shoulders and went out. A fellow, on perceiving him, +immediately snatched the counterpane from off the Khoja's shoulders and +ran away. Shivering with cold, the Khoja returned into the house, and +when his wife asked him the cause of the noise, he said: "It was on +account of our counterpane; when they got that, the noise ceased at +once." + +But in the following story we have a very old acquaintance in a new +dress: One day the Khoja's wife, in order to plague him, served up some +exceedingly hot broth, and, forgetting what she had done, put a spoonful +of it in her mouth, which so scalded her that the tears came into her +eyes. "O wife," said the Khoja, "what is the matter with you--is the +broth hot?" "Dear Efendi," said she, "my mother, who is now dead, loved +broth very much; I thought of that, and wept on her account." The Khoja, +thinking that what she said was truth, took a spoonful of the broth, +and, it burning his mouth, he began to bellow. "What is the matter with +you?" said his wife. "Why do you cry?" Quoth the Khoja: "You cry because +your mother is gone, but I cry because her daughter is here."[27] + + [27] This is how the same story is told in our oldest English + jest-book, entitled _A Hundred Mery Talys_ (1525): A + certain merchant and a courtier being upon a time at + dinner, having a hot custard, the courtier, being + somewhat homely of manner, took part of it and put it in + his mouth, which was so hot that it made him shed tears. + The merchant, looking on him, thought that he had been + weeping, and asked him why he wept. This courtier, not + willing it to be known that he had brent his mouth with + the hot custard, answered and said, "Sir," quod he, "I + had a brother which did a certain offence, wherefore he + was hanged." The merchant thought the courtier had said + true, and anon, after the merchant was disposed to eat + of the custard, and put a spoonful of it into his mouth, + and brent his mouth also, that his eyes watered. This + courtier, that perceiving, spake to the merchant; and + said, "Sir," quod he, "why do ye weep now?" The merchant + perceived how he had been deceived, and said, "Marry," + quod he, "I weep because thou wast not hanged when that + thy brother was hanged." + + * * * * * + +Many of the Muslim jests, like some our of own, are at the expense of +poor preachers. Thus: there was in Baghdád a preacher whom no one +attended after hearing him but once. One Friday when he came down from +the pulpit he discovered that the only one who remained in the mosque +was the muezzin--all his hearers had left him to finish his discourse +as, and when, he pleased--and, still worse, his slippers had also +disappeared. Accusing the muezzin of having stolen them, "I am rightly +served by your suspicion," retorted he, "for being the only one that +remained to hear you."--In Gladwin's _Persian Moonshee_ we read that +whenever a certain learned man preached in the mosque, one of the +congregation wept constantly, and the preacher, observing this, +concluded that his words made a great impression on the man's heart. One +day some of the people said to the man: "That learned man makes no +impression on our minds;--what kind of a heart have you, to be thus +always in tears?" He answered: "I do not weep at his discourse, O +Muslims. But I had a goat of which I was very fond, and when he grew old +he died. Now, whenever the learned man speaks and wags his beard I am +reminded of my goat, for he had just such a voice and beard."[28] But +they are not always represented as mere dullards; for example: A miserly +old fellow once sent a Muslim preacher a gold ring without a stone, +requesting him to put up a prayer for him from the pulpit. The holy man +prayed that he should have in Paradise a golden palace without a roof. +When he descended from the pulpit, the man went to him, and, taking him +by the hand, said: "O preacher, what manner of prayer is that thou hast +made for me?" "If thy ring had had a stone," replied the preacher, "thy +palace should also have had a roof." + + [28] What may be an older form of this jest is found in the + _Kathá Manjarí_, a Canarese collection, where a wretched + singer dwelling next door to a poor woman causes her to + weep and wail bitterly whenever he begins to sing, and + on his asking her why she wept, she explains that his + "golden voice" recalled to her mind her donkey that died + a month ago.--The story had found its way to our own + country more than three centuries since. In _Mery Tales + and Quicke Answeres_ (1535), under the title "Of the + Friar that brayde in his Sermon," the preacher reminds a + "poure wydowe" of her ass--all that her husband had left + her--which had been devoured by wolves, for so the ass + was wont to bray day and night. + +_Apropos_ of misers, our English facetić books furnish many examples of +their ingenuity in excusing themselves from granting favours asked of +them by their acquaintances; and, human nature being much the same +everywhere, the misers in the East are represented as being equally +adroit, as well as witty, in parrying such objectionable requests. A +Persian who had a very miserly friend went to him one day, and said: "I +am going on a journey; give me your ring, which I will constantly wear, +and whenever I look on it, I shall remember you." The other answered: +"If you wish to remember me, whenever you see your finger _without_ my +ring upon it, always think of me, that I did not give you my ring." And +quite as good is the story of the dervish who said to the miser that he +wanted something of him; to which he replied: "If you will consent to a +request of mine, I will consent to whatever else you may require"; and +when the dervish desired to know what it was, he said: "Never ask me for +anything and whatever else you say I will perform." + + + + +II + +THE TWO DEAF MEN AND THE TRAVELLER--THE DEAF PERSIAN AND THE +HORSEMAN--LAZY SERVANTS--CHINESE HUMOUR: THE RICH MAN AND THE SMITHS; +HOW TO KEEP PLANTS ALIVE; CRITICISING A PORTRAIT--THE PERSIAN COURTIER +AND HIS OLD FRIEND--THE SCRIBE--THE SCHOOLMASTER AND THE WIT--THE +PERSIAN AND HIS CAT--A LIST OF BLOCKHEADS--THE ARAB AND HIS CAMEL--A +WITTY BAGHDÁDÍ--THE UNLUCKY SLIPPERS. + + +It is well known that deaf men generally dislike having their infirmity +alluded to, and even endeavour to conceal it as much as possible. +Charles Lamb, or some other noted wit, seeing a deaf acquaintance on the +other side of the street one day while walking with a friend, stopped +and motioned to him; then opened his mouth as if speaking in a loud +tone, but saying not a word. "What are you bawling for?" demanded the +deaf one. "D'ye think I can't hear?"--Two Eastern stories I have met +with are most diverting examples of this peculiarity of deaf folks. One +is related by my friend Pandit Natésa Sastrí in his _Folk-Lore of +Southern India_, of which a few copies were recently issued at +Bombay.[29] A deaf man was sitting one day where three roads crossed, +when a neatherd happened to pass that way. He had lately lost a good cow +and a calf, and had been seeking them some days. When he saw the deaf +man sitting by the way he took him for a soothsayer, and asked him to +find out by his knowledge of magic where the cow would likely be found. +The herdsman was also very deaf, and the other, without hearing what he +had said, abused him, and said he wished to be left undisturbed, at the +same time stretching out his hand and pointing at his face. This +pointing the herd supposed to indicate the direction where the lost cow +and calf should be sought; thus thinking (for he, too, had not heard a +word of what the other man had said to him), the herd went off in +search, resolving to present the soothsayer with the calf if he found it +with the cow. To his joy, and by mere chance, of course, he found them +both, and, returning with them to the deaf man (still sitting by the +wayside), he pointed to the calf and asked him to accept of it. Now, it +so happened that the calf's tail was broken and crooked, and the deaf +man supposed that the herdsman was blaming him for having broken it, and +by a wave of his hand he denied the charge. This the poor deaf neatherd +mistook for a refusal of the calf and a demand for the cow, so he said: +"How very greedy you are, to be sure! I promised you the calf, and not +the cow." "Never!" exclaimed the deaf man in a rage. "I know nothing of +you or your cow and calf. I never broke the calf's tail." While they +were thus quarrelling, without understanding each other, a third man +happened to pass, and seeing his opportunity to profit by their +deafness, he said to the neatherd in a loud voice, yet so as not to be +heard by the other deaf man: "Friend, you had better go away with your +cow. Those soothsayers are always greedy. Leave the calf with me, and I +shall make him accept it." The poor neatherd, highly pleased to have +secured his cow, went off, leaving the calf with the traveller. Then +said the traveller to the deaf man: "It is, indeed, very unlawful, +friend, for that neatherd to charge you with an offence which you did +not commit; but never mind, since you have a friend in me. I shall +contrive to make clear to him your innocence; leave this matter to me." +So saying, he walked away with the calf, and the deaf man went home, +well pleased that he had escaped from such a serious accusation. + + [29] Messrs. W. H. Allen & Co., London, have in the press a + new edition of this work, to be entitled "_Tales of the + Sun; or, Popular Tales of Southern India_." I am + confident that the collection will be highly appreciated + by many English readers, while its value to + story-comparers can hardly be over-rated. + +The other story is of a deaf Persian who was taking home a quantity of +wheat, and, coming to a river which he must cross, he saw a horseman +approach; so he said to himself: "When that horseman comes up, he will +first salute me, 'Peace be with thee'; next he will ask, 'What is the +depth of this river?' and after that he will ask, how many _máns_ of +wheat I have with me." (A _mán_ is a Persian weight, which seems to vary +in different places.) But the deaf man's surmises were all in vain; for +when the horseman came up to him, he cried: "Ho! my man, what is the +depth of this river?" The deaf one replied: "Peace be with thee, and the +mercy of Allah and his blessing." At this the horseman laughed, and +said: "May they cut off thy beard!" The deaf one rejoined: "To my neck +and bosom." The horseman said: "Dust be on thy mouth!" The deaf man +answered: "Eighty _máns_ of it." + + * * * * * + +The laziness of domestics is a common complaint in this country at the +present day, but surely never was there a more lazy servant than the +fellow whose exploits are thus recorded: A Persian husbandman one night +desired his servant to shut the door, and the man said it was already +shut. In the morning his master bade him open the door, and he coolly +replied that, foreseeing this request, he had left it open the preceding +night. Another night his master bade him rise and see whether it rained. +But he called for the dog that lay at the door, and finding his paws +dry, answered that the night was fair; then being desired to see whether +the fire was extinguished, he called the cat, and finding her paws cold, +replied in the affirmative.--This story had gained currency in Europe in +the 13th century, and it forms one of the medićval _Latin Stories_ +edited, for the Percy Society, by Thos. Wright, where it is entitled, +"De Maimundo Armigero." There is another Persian story of a lazy fellow +whose master, being sick, said to him: "Go and get me some medicine." +"But," rejoined he, "it may happen that the doctor is not at home." "You +will find him at home." "But if I do find him at home he may not give me +the medicine," quoth the servant. "Then take this note to him and he +will give it to you." "Well," persisted the fellow, "he may give me the +medicine, but suppose it does you no good?" "Villain!" exclaimed his +master, out of all patience, "will you do as I bid you, instead of +sitting there so coolly, raising difficulties?" "Good sir," reasoned +this lazy philosopher, "admitting that the medicine should produce some +effect, what will be the ultimate result? We must all die some time, and +what does it matter whether it be to-day or to-morrow?" + + * * * * * + +The Chinese seem not a whit behind other peoples in appreciating a good +jest, as has been shown by the tales and _bon mots_ rendered into French +by Stanislas Julien and other eminent _savans_. Here are three specimens +of Chinese humour: + +A wealthy man lived between the houses of two blacksmiths, and was +constantly annoyed by the noise of their hammers, so that he could not +get rest, night or day. First he asked them to strike more gently; then +he made them great promises if they would remove at once. The two +blacksmiths consented, and he, overjoyed to get rid of them, prepared a +grand banquet for their entertainment. When the banquet was over, he +asked them where they were going to take up their new abodes, and they +replied--to the intense dismay of their worthy host, no doubt: "He who +lives on the left of your house is going to that on the right; and he +who lives on your right is going to the house on your left." + +There is a keen satirical hit at the venality of Chinese judges in our +next story. A husbandman, who wished to rear a particular kind of +vegetable, found that the plants always died. He consulted an +experienced gardener as to the best means of preventing the death of +plants. The old man replied: "The affair is very simple; with every +plant put down a piece of money." His friend asked what effect money +could possibly have in a matter of this kind. "It is the case +now-a-days," said the old man, "that where there is money _life_ is +safe, but where there is none death is the consequence." + +The tale of Apelles and the shoemaker is familiar to every schoolboy, +but the following story of the Chinese painter and his critics will be +new to most readers: A gentleman having got his portrait painted, the +artist suggested that he should consult the passers-by as to whether it +was a good likeness. Accordingly he asked the first that was going past: +"Is this portrait like me?" The man said: "The _cap_ is very like." When +the next was asked, he said: "The _dress_ is very like." He was about to +ask a third, when the painter stopped him, saying: "The cap and the +dress do not matter much; ask the person what he thinks of the face." +The third man hesitated a long time, and then said: "The _beard_ is very +like." + + * * * * * + +And now we shall revert once more to Persian jests, many of which are, +however, also current in India, through the medium of the Persian +language. When a man becomes suddenly rich it not unfrequently follows +that he becomes as suddenly oblivious of his old friends. Thus, a +Persian having obtained a lucrative appointment at court, a friend of +his came shortly afterwards to congratulate him thereon. The new +courtier asked him: "Who are you? And why do you come here?" The other +coolly replied: "Do you not know me, then? I am your old friend, and am +come to condole with you, having heard that you had lately lost your +sight."--This recalls the clever epigram: + + When Jack was poor, the lad was frank and free; + Of late he's grown brimful of pride and pelf; + You wonder that he don't remember me? + Why, don't you see, Jack has forgot himself! + +The humour of the following is--to me, at least--simply exquisite: A man +went to a professional scribe and asked him to write a letter for him. +The scribe said that he had a pain in his foot. "A pain in your foot!" +echoed the man. "I don't want to send you to any place that you should +make such an excuse." "Very true," said the scribe; "but, whenever I +write a letter for any one, I am always sent for to read it, because no +one else can make it out."--And this is a very fair specimen of ready +wit: During a season of great drought in Persia, a schoolmaster at the +head of his pupils marched out of Shíráz to pray (at the tomb of some +saint in the suburbs) for rain, when they were met by a waggish fellow, +who inquired where they were going. The preceptor informed him, and +added that, no doubt, Allah would listen to the prayers of innocent +children. "Friend," quoth the wit, "if that were the case, I fear there +would not be a schoolmaster left alive." + +The "harmless, necessary cat" has often to bear the blame of +depredations in which she had no share--especially the "lodging-house +cat"; and, that such is the fact in Persia as well as nearer our own +doors, let a story related by the celebrated poet Jámí serve as +evidence: A husband gave a _mán_ of meat to his wife, bidding her cook +it for his dinner. The woman roasted it and ate it all herself, and when +her husband asked for the meat she said the cat had stolen it. The +husband weighed the cat forthwith, and found that she had not increased +in weight by eating so much meat; so, with a hundred perplexing +thoughts, he struck his hand on his knee, and, upbraiding his wife, +said: "O lady, doubtless the cat, like the meat, weighed one _mán_; the +meat would add another _mán_ thereto. This point is not clear to +me--that two _máns_ should become one _mán_. If this is the cat, where +is the meat? And if this is the meat, why has it the form of the cat?" + +Readers of our early English jest-books will perhaps remember the story +of a court-jester being facetiously ordered by the king to make out a +list of all the fools in his dominions, who replied that it would be a +much easier task to write down a list of all the wise men. I fancy there +is some trace of this incident in the following Persian story, though +the details are wholly different: Once upon a time a party of merchants +exhibited to a king some fine horses, which pleased him so well that he +bought them, and gave the merchants besides a large sum of money to pay +for more horses which they were to bring from their own country. Some +time after this the king, being merry with wine, said to his chief +vazír: "Make me out a list of all the blockheads in my kingdom." The +vazír replied that he had already made out such a list, and had put his +Majesty's name at the top. "Why so?" demanded the king. "Because," said +the vazír, "you gave a great sum of money for horses to be brought by +merchants for whom no person is surety, nor does any one know to what +country they belong; and this is surely a sign of stupidity." "But what +if they should bring the horses?" The vazír readily replied: "If they +should bring the horses, I should then erase your Majesty's name and put +the names of the merchants in its place."[30] + + [30] A similar incident is found in the 8th chapter of the + Spanish work, _El Conde Lucanor_, written, in the 14th + century, by Prince Don Juan Manuel, where a pretended + alchemist obtains from a king a large sum of money in + order that he should procure in his own distant country + a certain thing necessary for the transmutation of the + baser metals into gold. The impostor, of course, did not + return, and so on, much the same as in the above.--Many + others of Don Manuel's tales are traceable to Eastern + sources; he was evidently familiar with the Arabic + language, and from his long intercourse with the Moors + doubtless became acquainted with Asiatic story-books. + His manner of telling the stories is, however, wholly + his own, and some of them appear to be of his own + invention.--There is a variant of the same story in + _Pasquils Jests and Mother Bunches Merriments_, in which + a servant enters his master's name in a list of all the + fools of his acquaintance, because he had lately lent + his cousin twenty pounds. + +Everybody knows the story of the silly old woman who went to market with +a cow and a hen for sale, and asked only five shillings for the cow, but +ten pounds for the hen. But no such fool was the Arab who lost his +camel, and, after a long and fruitless search, anathematised the errant +quadruped and her father and her mother, and swore by the Prophet that, +should he find her, he would sell her for a dirham (sixpence). At length +his search was successful, and he at once regretted his oath; but such +an oath must not be violated, so he tied a cat round the camel's neck, +and went about proclaiming: "I will sell this camel for a dirham, and +this cat for a hundred dínars (fifty pounds); but I will not sell one +without the other." A man who passed by and heard this exclaimed: "What +a very desirable bargain that camel would be if she had not such a +_collar_ round her neck!"[31] + + [31] A variant of this occurs in the _Heptameron_, an + uncompleted work in imitation of the _Decameron_, + ascribed to Marguerite, queen of Navarre (16th century), + but her _valet de chambre_ Bonaventure des Periers is + supposed to have had a hand in its composition. In Novel + 55 it is related that a merchant in Saragossa on his + death-bed desired his wife to sell a fine Spanish horse + for as much as it would fetch and give the money to the + mendicant friars. After his death his widow did not + approve of such a legacy, but, in order to obey her late + husband's will, she instructed a servant to go to the + market and offer the horse for a ducat and her cat for + ninety-nine ducats, both, however, to be sold together. + A gentleman purchased the horse and the cat, well + knowing that the former was fully worth a hundred + ducats, and the widow handed over one ducat--for which + the horse was nominally sold--to the mendicant friars. + +For readiness of wit the Arabs would seem to compare very favourably +with any race, European or Asiatic, and many examples of their +felicitous repartees are furnished by native historians and grammarians. +One of the best is: When a khalíf was addressing the people in a mosque +on his accession to the khalífate, and told them, among other things in +his own praise, that the plague which had so long raged in Baghdád had +ceased immediately he became khalíf; an old fellow present shouted: "Of +a truth, Allah was too merciful to give us both _thee_ and the plague at +the same time." + + * * * * * + +The story of the Unlucky Slippers in Cardonne's _Mélanges de Littérature +Orientale_ is a very good specimen of Arabian humour:[32] + + [32] Cardonne took this story from a Turkish work entitled + "_Ajá'ib el-ma'ásir wa ghará'ib en-nawádir_ (the Wonders + of Remarkable Incidents and Rarities of Anecdotes)," by + Ahmed ibn Hemdem Khetkhody, which was composed for + Sultan Murád IV, who reigned from A.D. 1623 to 1640. + +In former times there lived in the famous city of Baghdád a miserly old +merchant named Abú Kasim. Although very rich, his clothes were mere +rags; his turban was of coarse cloth, and exceedingly dirty; but his +slippers were perfect curiosities--the soles were studded with great +nails, while the upper leathers consisted of as many different pieces as +the celebrated ship Argos. He had worn them during ten years, and the +art of the ablest cobblers in Baghdád had been exhausted in preventing a +total separation of the parts; in short, by frequent accessions of nails +and patches they had become so heavy that they passed into a proverb, +and anything ponderous was compared to Abú Kasim's slippers. Walking one +day in the great bazaar, the purchase of a large quantity of crystal was +offered to this merchant, and, thinking it a bargain, he bought it. Not +long after this, hearing that a bankrupt perfumer had nothing left to +sell but some rose-water, he took advantage of the poor man's +misfortune, and purchased it for half the value. These lucky +speculations had put him into good humour, but instead of giving an +entertainment, according to the custom of merchants when they have made +a profitable bargain, Abú Kasim deemed it more expedient to go to the +bath, which he had not frequented for some time. As he was undressing, +one of his acquaintances told him that his slippers made him the +laughing-stock of the whole city, and that he ought to provide himself +with a new pair. "I have been thinking about it," he answered; "however, +they are not so very much worn but they will serve some time longer." +While he was washing himself, the kází of Baghdád came also to bathe. +Abú Kasim, coming out before the judge, took up his clothes but could +not find his slippers--a new pair being placed in their room. Our miser, +persuaded, because he wished it, that the friend who had spoken to him +about his old slippers had made him a present, without hesitation put on +these fine ones, and left the bath highly delighted. But when the kází +had finished bathing, his servants searched in vain for his slippers; +none could be found but a wretched pair, which were at once identified +as those of Abú Kasim. The officers hastened after the supposed thief, +and, bringing him back with the theft on his feet, the kází, after +exchanging slippers, committed him to prison. There was no escaping from +the claws of justice without money, and, as Abú Kasim was known to be +very rich, he was fined in a considerable sum. + +On returning home, our merchant, in a fit of indignation, flung his +slippers into the Tigris, that ran beneath his window. Some days after +they were dragged out in a fisherman's net that came up more heavy than +usual. The nails with which the soles were thickly studded had torn the +meshes of the net, and the fisherman, exasperated against the miserly +Abú Kasim and his slippers--for they were known to everyone--determined +to throw them into his house through the window he had left open. The +slippers, thrown with great force, reached the jars of rose-water, and +smashed them in pieces, to the intense consternation of the owner. +"Cursed slippers!" cried he, tearing his beard, "you shall cause me no +farther mischief!" So saying, he took a spade and began to dig a hole in +his garden to bury them. One of his neighbours, who had long borne him +ill-will, perceiving him busied in digging the ground, ran at once to +inform the governor that Abú Kasim had discovered some hidden treasure +in his garden. Nothing more was needful to rouse the cupidity of the +commandant. In vain did our miser protest that he had found no treasure; +and that he only meant to bury his old slippers. The governor had +counted on the money, so the afflicted man could only preserve his +liberty at the expense of a large sum of money. Again heartily cursing +the slippers, in order to effectually rid himself of them, he threw them +into an aqueduct at some distance from the city, persuaded that he +should now hear no more of them. But his evil genius had not yet +sufficiently plagued him: the slippers got into the mouth of the pipe +and stopped the flow of the water. The keepers of the aqueduct made +haste to repair the damage, and, finding the obstruction was caused by +Abú Kasim's slippers, complained of this to the governor, and once more +was Abú Kasim heavily fined, but the governor considerately returned him +the slippers. He now resolved to burn them, but, finding them thoroughly +soaked with water, he exposed them to the sun upon the terrace of his +house. A neighbour's dog, perceiving the slippers, leaped from the +terrace of his master's house upon that of Abú Kasim, and, seizing one +of them in his mouth, he let it drop into the street: the fatal slipper +fell directly on the head of a woman who was passing at the time, and +the fright as well as the violence of the blow caused her to miscarry. +Her husband brought his complaint before the kází, and Abú Kasim was +again sentenced to pay a fine proportioned to the calamity he was +supposed to have occasioned. He then took the slippers in his hand, and, +with a vehemence that made the judge laugh, said: "Behold, my lord, the +fatal instruments of my misfortune! These cursed slippers have at length +reduced me to poverty. Vouchsafe, therefore, to publish an order that no +one may any more impute to me the disasters they may yet occasion." The +kází could not refuse his request, and thus Abú Kasim learned, to his +bitter cost, the danger of wearing his slippers too long. + + + + +III + +THE YOUNG MERCHANT OF BAGHDÁD; OR, THE WILES OF WOMAN. + + +Too many Eastern stories turn upon the artful devices of women to screen +their own profligacy, but there is one, told by Arab Sháh, the +celebrated historian, who died A.D. 1450, in a collection entitled +_Fakihat al-Khalífa_, or Pastimes of the Khalífs, in which a lady +exhibits great ingenuity, without any very objectionable motive. It is +to the following effect: + +A young merchant in Baghdád had placed over the front of his shop, +instead of a sentence from the Kurán, as is customary, these arrogant +words: "VERILY THERE IS NO CUNNING LIKE UNTO THAT OF MAN, SEEING IT +SURPASSES THE CUNNING OF WOMEN." It happened one day that a very +beautiful young lady, who had been sent by her aunt to purchase some +rich stuffs for dresses, noticed this inscription, and at once resolved +to compel the despiser of her sex to alter it. Entering the shop, she +said to him, after the usual salutations: "You see my person; can anyone +presume to say that I am humpbacked?" He had hardly recovered from the +astonishment caused by such a question, when the lady drew her veil a +little to one side and continued: "Surely my neck is not as that of a +raven, or as the ebony idols of Ethiopia?" The young merchant, between +surprise and delight, signified his assent. "Nor is my chin double," +said she, still farther unveiling her face; "nor my lips thick, like +those of a Tartar?" Here the young merchant smiled. "Nor are they to be +believed who say that my nose is flat and my cheeks are sunken?" The +merchant was about to express his horror at the bare idea of such +blasphemy, when the lady wholly removed her veil and allowed her beauty +to flash upon the bewildered youth, who instantly became madly in love +with her. "Fairest of creatures!" he cried, "to what accident do I owe +the view of those charms, which are hidden from the eyes of the less +fortunate of my sex?" She replied: "You see in me an unfortunate damsel, +and I shall explain the cause of my present conduct. My mother, who was +sister to a rich amír of Mecca, died some years ago, leaving my father +in possession of an immense fortune and myself as sole heiress. I am now +seventeen, my personal endowments are such as you behold, and a very +small portion of my mother's fortune would quite suffice to obtain for +me a good establishment in marriage. Yet such is the unfeeling avarice +of my father, that he absolutely refuses me the least trifle to settle +me in life. The only counsellor to whom I could apply for help in this +extremity was my kind nurse, and it is by her advice, as well as from +the high opinion I have ever heard expressed of your merits, that I have +been induced to throw myself upon your goodness in this extraordinary +manner." The emotions of the young merchant on hearing this story, may +be readily imagined. "Cruel parent!" he exclaimed. "He must be a rock of +the desert, not a man, who can condemn so charming a person to perpetual +solitude, when the slightest possible sacrifice on his part might +prevent it. May I inquire his name?" "He is the chief kází," replied the +lady, and disappeared like a vision. + +The young merchant lost no time in waiting on the kází at his court of +justice, whom he thus addressed: "My lord, I am come to ask your +daughter in marriage, of whom I am deeply enamoured." Quoth the judge: +"Sir, my daughter is unworthy of the honour you design for her. But be +pleased to accompany me to my dwelling, where we can talk over this +matter more at leisure." They proceeded thither accordingly, and after +partaking of refreshments, the young man repeated his request, giving a +true account of his position and prospects, and offering to settle +fifteen purses on the young lady. The kází expressed his gratification, +but doubted whether the offer was made in all seriousness, but when +assured that such was the case, he said: "I no longer doubt your +earnestness and sincerity in this affair; it is, however, just possible +that your feelings may change after the marriage, and it is but natural +that I should now take proper precautions for my daughter's welfare. You +will not blame me, therefore, if, in addition to the fifteen purses you +have offered, I require that five more be paid down previous to the +marriage, to be forfeited in case of a divorce." "Say ten," cried the +merchant, and the kází looked more and more astonished, and even +ventured to remonstrate with him on his precipitancy, but without +effect. To be brief, the kází consented, the ten purses were paid down, +the legal witnesses summoned, and the nuptial contract signed that very +evening; the consummation of the marriage being, much against the will +of our lover, deferred till the following day. + +When the wedding guests had dispersed, the young merchant was admitted +to the chamber of his bride, whom he discovered to be humpbacked and +hideous beyond conception! As soon as it was day, he arose from his +sleepless couch and repaired to the public baths, where, after his +ablutions, he gave himself up to melancholy reflections. Mingled with +grief for his disappointment was mortification at having been the dupe +of what now appeared to him a very shallow artifice, which nothing but +his own passionate and unthinking precipitation could have rendered +plausible. Nor was he without some twinges of conscience for the +sarcasms which he had often uttered against women, and for which his +present sufferings were no more than a just retribution. Then came +meditations of revenge upon the beautiful author of all this mischief; +and then his thoughts reverted to the possible means of escape from his +difficulties: the forfeiture of the ten purses, to say nothing of the +implacable resentment of the kází and his relatives; and he bethought +himself how he should become the talk of his neighbourhood--how Malik +bin Omar, the jeweller, would sneer at him, and Salih, the barber, talk +sententiously of his folly. At length, finding reflection of no avail, +he arose and with slow and pensive steps proceeded to his shop. + +His marriage with the kází's deformed daughter had already become known +to his neighbours, who presently came to rally him upon his choice of +such a bride, and scarcely had they left when the young lady who had so +artfully tricked him entered with a playful smile on her lips, and a +glancing in her dark eye, which speedily put to flight the young +merchant's thoughts of revenge. He arose and greeted her courteously. +"May this day be propitious to thee!" said she. "May Allah protect and +bless thee!" Replied he: "Fairest of earthly creatures, how have I +offended thee that thou shouldst make me the subject of thy sport?" +"From thee," she said, "I have received no personal injury." "What, +then, can have been thy motive for practising so cruel a deception on +one who has never harmed thee?" The young lady simply pointed to the +inscription over the shop front. The merchant was abashed, but felt +somewhat relieved on seeing good humour beaming from her beautiful eyes, +and he immediately took down the inscription, and substituted another, +which declared that "TRULY THERE IS NO CUNNING LIKE UNTO THE CUNNING OF +WOMEN, SEEING IT SURPASSES AND CONFOUNDS EVEN THE CUNNING OF MEN." Then +the young lady communicated to him a plan by which he might get rid of +his objectionable bride without incurring her father's resentment, which +he forthwith put into practice. + +Next morning, as the kází and his son-in-law were taking their coffee +together, in the house of the former, they heard a strange noise in the +street, and, descending to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, found +that it proceeded from a crowd of low fellows--mountebanks, and such +like gentry, who had assembled with all sorts of musical instruments, +with which they kept up a deafening din, at the same time dancing and +capering about, and loudly felicitating themselves on the marriage of +their pretended kinsman with the kází's daughter. The young merchant +acknowledged their compliments by throwing handfuls of money among the +crowd, which caused a renewal of the dreadful clamour. When the noise +had somewhat subsided, the kází, hitherto dumb from astonishment, turned +to his son-in-law, and demanded to know the meaning of such a scene +before his mansion. The merchant replied that the leaders of the crowd +were his kinsfolk, although his father had abandoned the fraternity and +adopted commercial pursuits. He could not, however, disown his kindred, +even for the sake of the kází's daughter. On hearing this the judge was +beside himself with rage and mortification, exclaiming: "Dog, and son of +a dog! what dirt is this you have made me eat?" The merchant reminded +him that he was now his son-in-law; that his daughter was his lawful +wife; declaring that he would not part with her for untold wealth. But +the kází insisted upon a divorce and returned the merchant his ten +purses. In the sequel, the young merchant, having ascertained the +parentage of the clever damsel, obtained her in marriage, and lived with +her for many years in happiness and prosperity.[33] + + [33] This story has been taken from Arab Sháh into the + Breslau printed Arabic text of the _Thousand and One + Nights_, where it is related at great length. The + original was rendered into French under the title of + "Ruses des Femmes" (in the Arabic _Ked-an-Nisa_, + Stratagems of Women) by Lescallier, and appended to his + version of the Voyages of Sindbád, published at Paris in + 1814, long before the Breslau text of _The Nights_ was + known to exist. It also forms part of one of the Persian + Tales (_Hazár ú Yek Rúz_, 1001 Days) translated by Petis + de la Croix, where, however, the trick is played on the + kází, not on a young merchant. + + + + +IV + +ASHAAB THE COVETOUS--THE STINGY MERCHANT AND THE HUNGRY BEDOUIN--THE +SECT OF SAMRADIANS--THE STORY-TELLER AND THE KING--ROYAL GIFTS TO +POETS--THE PERSIAN POET AND THE IMPOSTOR--"STEALING POETRY"--THE RICH +MAN AND THE POOR POET. + + +Avaricious and covetous men are always the just objects of derision as +well as contempt, and surely covetousness was quite concentrated in the +person of Ashaab, a servant of Othman (seventh century), and a native of +Medina, whose character has been very amusingly drawn by the scholiast: +He never saw a man put his hand into his pocket without hoping and +expecting that he would give him something. He never saw a funeral go +by, but he was pleased, hoping that the deceased had left him something. +He never saw a bride about to be conducted through the streets to the +house of the bridegroom but he prepared his own house for her reception, +hoping that her friends would bring her to his house by mistake. If he +saw a workman making a box, he took care to tell him that he was putting +in one or two boards too many, hoping that he would give him what was +over, or, at least, something for the suggestion. He is said to have +followed a man who was chewing mastic (a sort of gum, chewed, like +betel, by Orientals as a pastime) for a whole mile, thinking he was +perhaps eating food, intending, if so, to ask him for some. When the +youths of the town jeered and taunted him, he told them there was a +wedding at such a house, in order to get rid of them (because they would +go to get a share of the bonbons distributed there); but, as soon as +they were gone, it struck him that possibly what he had told them was +true, and that they would not have quitted him had they not been aware +of its truth; and he actually followed them himself to see what he could +do, though exposing himself thereby to fresh taunts from them. When +asked whether he knew anyone more covetous than himself, he said: "Yes; +a sheep I once had, that climbed to an upper stage of my house, and, +seeing a rainbow, mistook it for a rope of hay, and jumping at it, broke +her neck"--whence "Ashaab's sheep" became proverbial among the Arabs for +covetousness as well as Ashaab himself. + + * * * * * + +Hospitality has ever been the characteristic virtue of the Arabs, and a +mean, stingy disposition is rarely to be found among them. A droll story +of an Arab of the latter description has been rendered into verse by the +Persian poet Liwá'í, the substance of which is as follows: An Arab +merchant who had been trading between Mecca and Damascus, at length +turned his face homeward, and had reached within one stage of his house +when he sat down to rest and to refresh himself with the contents of his +wallet. While he was eating, a Bedouin, weary and hungry, came up, and, +hoping to be invited to share his repast, saluted him, "Peace be with +thee!" which the merchant returned, and asked the nomad who he was and +whence he came. "I have come from thy house," was the answer. "Then," +said the merchant, "how fares my son Ahmed, absence from whom has +grieved me sore?" "Thy son grows apace in health and innocence." "Good! +and how is his mother?" "She, too, is free from the shadow of sorrow." +"And how is my beauteous camel, so strong to bear his load?" "Thy camel +is sleek and fat." "My house-dog, too, that guards my gate, pray how is +he?" "He is on the mat before thy door, by day, by night, on constant +guard." The merchant, having thus his doubts and fears removed, resumed +his meal with freshened appetite, but gave nought to the poor nomad, +and, having finished, closed his wallet. The Bedouin, seeing his +stinginess, writhed with the pangs of hunger. Presently a gazelle passed +rapidly by them, at which he sighed heavily, and the merchant inquiring +the cause of his sorrow, he said: "The cause is this--had not thy dog +died he would not have allowed that gazelle to escape!" "My dog!" +exclaimed the merchant. "Is my doggie, then, dead?" "He died from +gorging himself with thy camel's blood." "Who hath cast this dust on +me?" cried the merchant. "What of my camel?" "Thy camel was slaughtered +to furnish the funeral feast of thy wife." "Is my wife, too, dead?" "Her +grief for Ahmed's death was such that she dashed her head against a +rock." "But, Ahmed," asked the father--"how came he to die?" "The house +fell in and crushed him." The merchant heard this tale with full belief, +rent his robe, cast sand upon his head, then started swiftly homeward to +bewail his wife and son, leaving behind his well-filled wallet, a prey +to the starving desert-wanderer.[34] + + [34] A variant of this story is found in Le Grand's _Fabliaux + et Contes_, ed. 1781, tome iv, p. 119, and it was + probably brought from the East during the Crusades: + Maimon was a valet to a count. His master, returning + home from a tourney, met him on the way, and asked him + where he was going. He replied, with great coolness, + that he was going to seek a lodging somewhere. "A + lodging!" said the count. "What then has happened at + home?" "Nothing, my lord. Only your dog, whom you love + so much, is dead." "How so?" "Your fine palfrey, while + being exercised in the court, became frightened, and in + running fell into the well." "Ah, who startled the + horse?" "It was your son, Damaiseau, who fell at its + feet from the window." "My son!--O Heaven! Where, then, + were his servant and his mother? Is he injured?" "Yes, + sire, he has been killed by falling. And when they went + to tell it to madame, she was so affected that she fell + dead also without speaking." "Rascal! in place of flying + away, why hast thou not gone to seek assistance, or why + didst thou not remain at the chateau?" "There is no more + need, sire; for Marotte, in watching madame, fell + asleep. A light caused the fire, and there remains + nothing now."--Truly a delicate way of "breaking ill + news"! + +The Samradian sect of fire-worshippers, who believe only in the "ideal," +anticipated Bishop Berkeley's theory, thus referred to by Lord Byron +(_Don Juan_, xi, 1): + + When Bishop Berkeley said, "there was no matter," + And proved it--'twas no matter what he said; + They say, his system 'tis in vain to batter, + Too subtle for the airiest human head. + +Some amusing anecdotes regarding this singular sect are given in the +Dabistán, a work written in Persian, which furnishes a very impartial +account of the principal religions of the world: A Samradian said to his +servant: "The world and its inhabitants have no actual existence--they +have merely an ideal being." The servant, on hearing this, took the +first opportunity to steal his master's horse, and when he was about to +ride, brought him an ass with the horse's saddle. When the Samradian +asked: "Where is the horse?" he replied: "Thou hast been thinking of an +idea; there was no horse in being." The master said: "It is true," and +then mounted the ass. Having proceeded some distance, followed by his +servant on foot, he suddenly dismounted, and taking the saddle off the +back of the ass placed it on the servant's back, drawing the girths +tightly, and, having forced the bridle into his mouth, he mounted him, +and flogged him along vigorously. The servant having exclaimed in +piteous accents: "What is the meaning of this, O master?" the Samradian +replied: "There is no such thing as a whip; it is merely ideal. Thou art +thinking only of a delusion." It is needless to add that the servant +immediately repented and restored the horse.--Another of this sect +having obtained in marriage the daughter of a wealthy lawyer, she, on +finding out her husband's peculiar creed, purposed to have some +amusement at his expense. One day the Samradian brought home a bottle of +excellent wine, which during his absence she emptied of its contents and +filled again with water. When the time came for taking wine, she poured +out the water into a gold cup, which Was her own property. The Samradian +remarked: "Thou hast given me water instead of wine." "It is only +ideal," she answered; "there was no wine in existence." The husband then +said: "Thou hast spoken well; give me the cup that I may go to a +neighbour's house and bring it back full of wine." He thereupon took the +gold cup and went out and sold it, concealing the money, and, instead of +the gold vase, he brought back an earthen vessel filled with wine. The +wife, on seeing this, said: "What hast thou done with the golden cup?" +He quietly replied: "Thou art surely thinking of an ideal gold cup," on +which the lady sorely repented her witticism.[35] + + [35] _The Dabistán, or School of Manners_. Translated from + the original Persian, by David Shea and Anthony Troyer. + 3 vols. Published by the Oriental Translation Fund, + 1843. Vol. i, 198-200. The author of this work is said + to be Moshan Fáni, who flourished at Hyderábád about the + end of the 18th century. + +I do not know whether there are any English parallels to these stories, +but I have read of a Greek sage who instructed his slave that all that +occurred in this world was the decree of Fate. The slave shortly after +deliberately committed some offence, upon which his master commenced to +soften his ribs with a stout cudgel, and when the slave pleaded that it +was no fault of his, it was the decree of Fate, his master grimly +replied that it was also decreed that he should have a sound beating. + + * * * * * + +In _Don Quixote_, it will be remembered by all readers of that +delightful work, Sancho begins to tell the knight a long story about a +man who had to ferry across a river a large flock of sheep, but he could +only take one at a time, as the boat could hold no more. This story +Cervantes, in all likelihood, borrowed from the _Disciplina Clericalis_ +of Petrus Alfonsus, a converted Spanish Jew, who flourished in the 12th +century, and who avowedly derived the materials of his work from the +Arabian fabulists--probably part of them also from the Talmud.[36] His +eleventh tale is of a king who desired his minstrel to tell him a long +story that should lull him to sleep. The story-teller accordingly begins +to relate how a man had to cross a ferry with 600 sheep, two at a time, +and falls asleep in the midst of his narration. The king awakes him, but +the story-teller begs that the man be allowed to ferry over the sheep +before he resumes the story.[37]--Possibly the original form of the +story is that found in the _Kathá Manjarí_, an ancient Indian +story-book: There was a king who used to inquire of all the learned men +who came to his court whether they knew any stories, and when they had +related all they knew, in order to avoid rewarding them, he abused them +for knowing so few, and sent them away. A shrewd and clever man, hearing +of this, presented himself before the king, who asked his name. He +replied that his name was Ocean of Stories. The king then inquired how +many stories he knew, to which he answered that the name of Ocean had +been conferred on him because he knew an endless number. On being +desired to relate one, he thus began: "O King, there was a tank 36,000 +miles in breadth, and 54,000 in length. This was densely filled with +lotus plants, and millions upon millions of birds with golden wings +[called Hamsa] perched on those flowers. One day a hurricane arose, +accompanied with rain, which the birds were not able to endure, and they +entered a cave under a rock, which was in the vicinity of the tank." The +king asked what happened next, and he replied that one of the birds flew +away. The king again inquired what else occurred, and he answered: +"Another flew away"; and to every question of the king he continued to +give the same answer. At this the king felt ashamed, and, seeing it was +impossible to outwit the man, he dismissed him with a handsome present. + + [36] Pedro Alfonso (the Spanish form of his adopted name) was + originally a Jewish Rabbi, and was born in 1062, at + Huesca, in the kingdom of Arragon. He was reputed a man + of very great learning, and on his being baptised (at + the age of 44) was appointed by Alfonso XV, king of + Castile and Leon, physician to the royal household. His + work, above referred to, is written in Latin, and has + been translated into French, but not as yet into + English. An outline of the tales, by Douce, will be + found prefixed to Ellis' _Early English Metrical + Romances_. + + [37] This is also the subject of one of the _Fabliaux_.--In + a form similar to the story in Alfonsus it is current + among the Milanese, and a Sicilian version is as + follows: Once upon a time there was a prince who studied + and racked his brains so much that he learned magic and + the art of finding hidden treasures. One day he + discovered a treasure in Daisisa. "O," he says, "now I + am going to get it out." But to get it out it was + necessary that ten million million of ants should cross + the river one by one in a bark made of the half-shell of + a nut. The prince puts the bark in the river, and makes + the ants pass over--one, two, three; and they are still + doing it. Here the story-teller pauses and says: "We + will finish the story when the ants have finished + crossing the river."--Crane's _Italian Popular Tales_, + p. 156. + +A story bearing some resemblance to this is related of a khalíf who was +wont to cheat poets of their expected reward when they recited their +compositions to him, until he was at length outwitted by the famous +Arabian poet Al-Asma'í: It is said that a khalíf, who was very +penurious, contrived by a trick to send from his presence without any +reward those poets who came and recited their compositions to him. He +had himself the faculty of retaining in his memory a poem after hearing +it only once; he had a mamlúk (white slave) who could repeat one that he +had heard twice; and a slave-girl who could repeat one that she had +heard thrice. Whenever a poet came to compliment him with a panegyrical +poem, the king used to promise him that if he found his verses to be of +his own composition he would give him a sum of money equal in weight to +what they were written on. The poet, consenting, would recite his ode, +and the king would say: "It is not new, for I have known it some years"; +and he would repeat it as he had heard it; after which he would add: +"And this mamlúk also retains it in his memory," and order the mamlúk to +repeat it, which, having heard it twice, from the poet and the king, he +would do. Then the king would say to the poet: "I have also a slave-girl +who can repeat it," and, ordering her to do so, stationed behind the +curtains, she would repeat what she had thus thrice heard; so the poet +would go away empty-handed. The celebrated poet Al-Asma'í, having heard +of this device, determined upon outwitting the king, and accordingly +composed an ode made up of very difficult words. But this was not the +poet's only preparative measure--another will be presently explained; +and a third was to assume the dress of a Bedouin, that he might not be +known, covering his face, the eyes only excepted, with a _litham_ (piece +of drapery), as is usual with the Arabs of the desert. Thus disguised, +he went to the palace, and having obtained permission, entered and +saluted the king, who said to him: "Who art thou, O brother of the +Arabs? and what dost thou desire?" The poet answered: "May Allah +increase the power of the king! I am a poet of such a tribe, and have +composed an ode in praise of our lord the khalíf." "O brother of the +Arabs," said the king, "hast thou heard of our condition?" "No," +answered the poet; "and what is it, O khalíf of the age?" "It is," +replied the king, "that if the ode be not thine, we give thee no reward; +and if it be thine, we give thee the weight in money equal to what it is +written upon." "How," said the poet, "should I assume to myself that +which belongeth to another, and knowing, too, that lying before kings is +one of the basest of actions? But I agree to the condition, O our lord +the khalíf." So he repeated his ode. The king, perplexed, and unable to +remember any of it, made a sign to the mamlúk, but he had retained +nothing; then called to the female slave, but she was unable to repeat a +word. "O brother of the Arabs," said the king, "thou hast spoken truth; +and the ode is thine without doubt. I have never heard it before. +Produce, therefore, what it is written upon, and I will give thee its +weight in money, as I have promised." "Wilt thou," said the poet, "send +one of the attendants to carry it?" "To carry what?" demanded the king. +"Is it not upon a paper in thy possession?" "No, O our lord the khalíf. +At the time I composed it I could not procure a piece of paper on which +to write it, and could find nothing but a fragment of a marble column +left me by my father; so I engraved it upon that, and it lies in the +courtyard of the palace." He had brought it, wrapped up, on the back of +a camel. The king, to fulfil his promise, was obliged to exhaust his +treasury; and, to prevent a repetition of this trick, in future rewarded +poets according to the custom of kings. + + * * * * * + +_Apropos_ of royal gifts to poets, it is related that, when the Afghans +had possession of Persia, a rude chief of that nation was governor of +Shíráz. A poet composed a panegyric on his wisdom, his valour, and his +virtues. As he was taking it to the palace he was met by a friend at the +outer gate, who inquired where he was going, and he informed him of his +purpose. His friend asked him if he was insane, to offer an ode to a +barbarian who hardly understood a word of the Persian language. "All +that you say may be very true," said the poor poet, "but I am starving, +and have no means of livelihood but by making verses. I must, therefore, +proceed." He went and stood before the governor with his ode in his +hand. "Who is that fellow?" said the Afghan lord. "And what is that +paper which he holds?" "I am a poet," answered the man, "and this paper +contains some poetry." "What is the use of poetry?" demanded the +governor. "To render great men like you immortal," he replied, making at +the same time a profound bow. "Let us hear some of it." The poet, on +this mandate, began reading his composition aloud, but he had not +finished the second stanza when he was interrupted. "Enough!" exclaimed +the governor; "I understand it all. Give the poor man some money--_that_ +is what he wants." As the poet retired he met his friend, who again +commented on the folly of carrying odes to a man who did not understand +one of them. "Not understand!" he replied. "You are quite mistaken. He +has beyond all men the quickest apprehension of a _poet's meaning_!" + +The khalífs were frequently lavish of their gifts to poets, but they +were fond of having their little jokes with them when in merry mood. One +day the Arabian poet Thálebí read before the khalíf Al-Mansúr a poem +which he had just composed, and it found acceptance. The khalíf said: "O +Thálebí, which wouldst thou rather have--that I give thee 300 gold +dínars [about Ł150], or three wise sayings, each worth 100 dínars?" The +poet replied: "Learning, O Commander of the Faithful, is better than +transitory treasure." "Well, then," said the khalíf, "the first saying +is: When thy garment grows old, sew not a new patch on it, for it hath +an ill look." "O woe!" cried the poet, "one hundred dínars are lost!" +Mansúr smiled, and proceeded: "The second saying is: When thou anointest +thy beard, anoint not the lower part, for that would soil the collar of +thy vest." "Alas!" exclaimed Thálebí, "a thousand times, alas! two +hundred dínars are lost!" Again the khalíf smiled, and continued: "The +third saying"--but before he had spoken it, the poet said: "O khalíf of +our prosperity, keep the third maxim in thy treasury, and give me the +remaining hundred dínars, for they will be worth a thousand times more +to me than the hearing of maxims." At this the khalíf laughed heartily, +and commanded his treasurer to give Thálebí five hundred dínars of gold. + +A droll story is told of the Persian poet Anwarí: Passing the +market-place of Balkh one day, he saw a crowd of people standing in a +ring, and going up, he put his head within the circle and found a fellow +reciting the poems of Anwarí himself as his own. Anwarí went up to the +man, and said: "Sir, whose poems are these you are reciting?" He +replied: "They are Anwarí's." "Do you know him, then?" said Anwarí. The +man, with cool effrontery, answered: "What do you say? I am Anwarí." On +hearing this Anwarí laughed, and remarked: "I have heard of one who +stole poetry, but never of one who stole the poet himself!"--Talking of +"stealing poetry," Jámí tells us that a man once brought a composition +to a critic, every line of which he had plagiarised from different +collections of poems, and each rhetorical figure from various authors. +Quoth the critic: "For a wonder, thou hast brought a line of camels; but +if the string were untied, every one of the herd would run away in +different directions." + +There is no little humour in the story of the Persian poet who wrote a +eulogium on a rich man, but got nothing for his trouble; he then abused +the rich man, but he said nothing; he next seated himself at the rich +man's gate, who said to him: "You praised me, and I said nothing; you +abused me, and I said nothing; and now, why are you sitting here?" The +poet answered: "I only wish that when you die I may perform the funeral +service." + + + + +V + +UNLUCKY OMENS--THE OLD MAN'S PRAYER--THE OLD WOMAN IN THE MOSQUE--THE +WEEPING TURKMANS--THE TEN FOOLISH PEASANTS--THE WAKEFUL SERVANT--THE +THREE DERVISHES--THE OIL-MAN'S PARROT--THE MOGHUL AND HIS PARROT--THE +PERSIAN SHOPKEEPER AND THE PRIME MINISTER--HEBREW FACETIĆ. + + +Muslims and other Asiatic peoples, like Europeans not so many centuries +since, are always on the watch for lucky or unlucky omens. On first +going out of a morning, the looks and countenances of those who cross +their path are scrutinised, and a smile or a frown is deemed favourable +or the reverse. To encounter a person blind of the left eye, or even +with one eye, forebodes sorrow and calamity. While Sir John Malcolm was +in Persia, as British Ambassador, he was told the following story: When +Abbas the Great was hunting, he met one morning as day dawned an +uncommonly ugly man, at the sight of whom his horse started. Being +nearly dismounted, and deeming it a bad omen, the king called out in a +rage to have his head cut off. The poor peasant, whom the attendants had +seized and were on the point of executing, prayed that he might be +informed of his crime. "Your crime," said the king, "is your unlucky +countenance, which is the first object I saw this morning, and which has +nearly caused me to fall from my horse." "Alas!" said the man, "by this +reckoning what term must I apply to your Majesty's countenance, which +was the first object my eyes met this morning, and which is to cause my +death?" The king smiled at the wit of the reply, ordered the man to be +released, and gave him a present instead of cutting off his +head.--Another Persian story is to the same purpose: A man said to his +servant: "If you see two crows together early in the morning, apprise me +of it, that I may also behold them, as it will be a good omen, whereby I +shall pass the day pleasantly." The servant did happen to see two crows +sitting in one place, and informed his master, who, however, when he +came saw but one, the other having in the meantime flown away. He was +very angry, and began to beat the servant, when a friend sent him a +present of game. Upon this the servant exclaimed: "O my lord! you saw +only one crow, and have received a fine present; had you seen _two_, you +would have met with _my_ fare."[38] + + [38] This last jest reappears in the apocryphal Life of Esop, + by Planudes, the only difference being that Esop's + master is invited to a feast, instead of receiving a + present of game, upon which Esop exclaims: "Alas! I see + two crows, and I am beaten; you see one, and are asked + to a feast. What a delusion is augury!" + +It would seem, from the following story, that an old man's prayers are +sometimes reversed in response, as dreams are said to "go by +contraries": An old Arab left his house one morning, intending to go to +a village at some distance, and coming to the foot of a hill which he +had to cross he exclaimed: "O Allah! send some one to help me over this +hill." Scarcely had he uttered these words when up came a fierce +soldier, leading a mare with a very young colt by her side, who +compelled the old man, with oaths and threats, to carry the colt. As +they trudged along, they met a poor woman with a sick child in her arms. +The old man, as he laboured under the weight of the colt, kept groaning, +"O Allah! O Allah!" and, supposing him to be a dervish, the woman asked +him to pray for the recovery of her child. In compliance, the old man +said: "O Allah! I beseech thee to shorten the days of this poor child." +"Alas!" cried the mother, "why hast thou made such a cruel prayer?" +"Fear nothing," said the old man; "thy child will assuredly enjoy long +life. It is my fate to have the reverse of whatever I pray for. I +implored Allah for assistance to carry me over this hill, and, by way of +help, I suppose, I have had this colt imposed on my shoulders." + + * * * * * + +Jámí tells this humorous story in the Sixth "Garden" of his +_Baháristán_, or Abode of Spring: A man said the prescribed prayers in a +mosque and then began his personal supplications. An old woman, who +happened to be near him, exclaimed: "O Allah! cause me to share in +whatsoever he supplicates for." The man, overhearing her, then prayed: +"O Allah! hang me on a gibbet, and cause me to die of scourging." The +old trot continued: "O Allah! pardon me, and preserve me from what he +has asked for." Upon this the man turned to her and said: "What a very +unreasonable partner this is! She desires to share in all that gives +rest and pleasure, but she refuses to be my partner in distress and +misery." + + * * * * * + +We have already seen that even the grave and otiose Turk is not devoid +of a sense of the ludicrous, and here is another example, from Mr. +E. J. W. Gibb's translation of the _History of the Forty Vezírs_: A party +of Turkmans left their encampment one day and went into a neighbouring +city. Returning home, as they drew near their tents, they felt hungry, +and sat down and ate some bread and onions at a spring-head. The juice +of the onions went into their eyes and caused them to water. Now the +children of those Turkmans had gone out to meet them, and, seeing the +tears flow from their eyes, they concluded that one of their number had +died in the city, so, without making any inquiry, they ran back, and +said to their mothers: "One of ours is dead in the city, and our fathers +are coming weeping." Upon this all the women and children of the +encampment went forth to meet them, weeping together. The Turkmans who +were coming from the city thought that one of theirs had died in the +encampment; and thus they were without knowledge one of the other, and +they raised a weeping and wailing together such that it cannot be +described. At length the elders of the camp stood up in their midst and +said: "May ye all remain whole; there is none other help than patience"; +and they questioned them. The Turkmans coming from the city asked: "Who +is dead in the camp?" The others replied: "No one is dead in the camp; +who has died in the city?" Those who were coming from the city, said: +"No one has died in the city." The others said: "For whom then are ye +wailing and lamenting?" At length they perceived that all this tumult +arose from their trusting the words of children. + +This last belongs rather to the class of simpleton-stories; and in the +following, from the Rev. J. Hinton Knowles' _Folk Tales of Kashmír_ +(Trübner: 1888), we have a variant of the well-known tale of the twelve +men of Gotham who went one day to fish, and, before returning home, +miscounted their number, of which several analogues are given in my +_Book of Noodles_, pp. 28 ff. (Elliot Stock: 1888): Ten peasants were +standing on the side of the road weeping. They thought that one of their +number had been lost on the way, as each man had counted the company, +and found them nine only. "Ho! you--what's the matter?" shouted a +townsman passing by. "O sir," said the peasants, "we were ten men when +we left the village, but now we are only nine." The townsman saw at a +glance what fools they were: each of them had omitted to count himself +in the number. He therefore told them to take off their _topís_ +(skull-caps) and place them on the ground. This they did, and counted +ten of them, whereupon they concluded they were all there, and were +comforted. But they could not tell how it was. + + * * * * * + +That wakefulness is not necessarily watchfulness may seem paradoxical, +yet here is a Persian story which goes far to show that they are not +always synonymous terms: Once upon a time (to commence in the good old +way) there came into a city a merchant on horseback, attended by his +servant on foot. Hearing that the city was infested by many bold and +expert thieves, in consequence of which property was very insecure, he +said to his servant at night: "I will keep watch, and do you sleep; for +I cannot trust you to keep awake, and I much fear that my horse may be +stolen." But to this arrangement his faithful servant would not consent, +and he insisted upon watching all night. So the master went to sleep, +and three hours after awoke, when he called to his servant: "What are +you doing?" He answered: "I am meditating how Allah has spread the earth +upon the water." The master said: "I am afraid lest thieves come, and +you know nothing of it." "O my lord, be satisfied; I am on the watch." +The merchant again went to sleep, and awaking about midnight cried: "Ho! +what are you doing?" The servant replied: "I am considering how Allah +has supported the sky without pillars." Quoth the master: "But I am +afraid that while you are busy meditating thieves will carry off my +horse." "Be not afraid, master, I am fully awake; how, then, can thieves +come?" The master replied: "If you wish to sleep, I will keep watch." +But the servant would not hear of this; he was not at all sleepy; so his +master addressed himself once more to slumber; and when one hour of the +night yet remained he awoke, and as usual asked him what he was doing, +to which he coolly answered: "I am considering, since the thieves have +stolen the horse, whether I shall carry the saddle on my head, or you, +sir." + + * * * * * + +Somewhat akin to the familiar "story" of the man whose eyesight was so +extraordinary that he could, standing in the street, perceive a fly on +the dome of St. Paul's is the tale of the Three Dervishes who, +travelling in company, came to the sea-shore of Syria, and desired the +captain of a vessel about to sail for Cyprus to give them a passage. The +captain was willing to take them "for a consideration"; but they told +him they were dervishes, and therefore without money, but they possessed +certain wonderful gifts, which might be of use to him on the voyage. The +first dervish said that he could descry any object at the distance of a +year's journey; the second could hear at as great a distance as his +brother could see. "Well!" exclaimed the captain, "these are truly +miraculous gifts; and pray, sir," said he, turning to the third dervish, +"what may _your_ particular gift be?" "I, sir," replied he, "am an +unbeliever." When the captain heard this, he said he could not take such +a person on board of his ship; but on the others declaring they must all +three go together or remain behind, he at length consented to allow the +third dervish a passage with the two highly-gifted ones. In the course +of the voyage, it happened one fine day that the captain and the three +dervishes were on deck conversing, when suddenly the first dervish +exclaimed: "Look, look!--see, there--the daughter of the sultan of India +sitting at the window of her palace, working embroidery." "A mischief on +your eyes!" cried the second dervish, "for her needle has this moment +dropped from her hand, and I hear it sound upon the pavement below her +window." "Sir," said the third dervish, addressing the captain, "shall +I, or shall I not, be an unbeliever?" Quoth the captain: "Come, friend, +come with me into my cabin, and let us cultivate unbelief together!" + + * * * * * + +A very droll parrot story occurs--where, indeed, we should least expect +to meet with such a thing--in the _Masnaví_ of Jelálu-'d-Dín er-Rúmí +(13th century), a grand mystical poem, or rather series of poems, in six +books, written in Persian rhymed couplets, as the title indicates. In +the second poem of the First Book we read that an oilman possessed a +fine parrot, who amused him with her prattle and watched his shop during +his absence. It chanced one day, when the oilman had gone out, that a +cat ran into the shop in chase of a mouse, which so frightened the +parrot that she flew about from shelf to shelf, upsetting several jars +and spilling their contents. When her master returned and saw the havoc +made among his goods he fetched the parrot a blow that knocked out all +her head feathers, and from that day she sulked on her perch. The +oilman, missing the prattle of his favourite, began to shower his alms +on every passing beggar, in hopes that some one would induce the parrot +to speak again. At length a bald-headed mendicant came to the shop one +day, upon seeing whom, the parrot, breaking her long silence, cried out: +"Poor fellow! poor fellow! hast thou, too, upset some oil-jar?"[39] + + [39] This tale is found in the early Italian novelists, + slightly varied, and it was doubtless introduced by + Venetian merchants from the Levant: A parrot belonging + to Count Fiesco was discovered one day stealing some + roast meat from the kitchen. The enraged cook, + overtaking him, threw a kettle of boiling water at him, + which completely scalded all the feathers from his head, + and left the poor bird with a bare poll. Some time + afterwards, as Count Fiesco was engaged in conversation + with an abbot, the parrot, observing the shaven crown of + his reverence, hopped up to him and said: "What! do + _you_ like roast meat too?" + + In another form the story is orally current in the North + of England. Dr. Fryer tells it to this effect, in his + charming _English Fairy Tales from the North Country_: A + grocer kept a parrot that used to cry out to the + customers that the sugar was sanded and the butter mixed + with lard. For this the bird had her neck wrung and was + thrown upon an ash-heap; but reviving and seeing a dead + cat beside her she cried: "Poor Puss! have you, too, + suffered for telling the truth?" + + There is yet another variant of this droll tale, which + has been popular for generations throughout England, and + was quite recently reproduced in an American journal as + a genuine "nigger" story: In olden times there was a + roguish baker who made many of his loaves less than the + regulation weight, and one day, on observing the + government inspector coming along the street, he + concealed the light loaves in a closet. The inspector + having found the bread on the counter of the proper + weight, was about to leave, when a parrot, which the + baker kept in his shop, cried out: "Light bread in the + closet!" This caused a search to be made, and the baker + was heavily fined. Full of fury, the baker seized the + parrot, wrung its neck, and threw it in his back yard, + near the carcase of a pig that had died of the measles. + The parrot, coming to itself again, observed the dead + porker and inquired in a tone of sympathy: "O poor + piggy, didst thou, too, tell about light bread in the + closet?" + +Somewhat more credible is the tale of the man who taught a parrot to +say, "What doubt is there of this?" (_dur ín cheh shuk_) and took it to +market for sale, fixing the price at a hundred rupís. A Moghul asked the +bird: "Are you really worth a hundred rupís?" to which the bird answered +very readily: "What doubt is there of this?" Delighted with the apt +reply, he bought the parrot and took it home; but he soon found that, +whatever he might say, the bird always made the same answer, so he +repented his purchase and exclaimed: "I was certainly a great fool to +buy this bird!" The parrot said: "What doubt is there of this?" The +Moghul smiled, and gave the bird her liberty. + + * * * * * + +Sir John Malcolm cites a good example of the ready wit of the citizens +of Isfahán, in his entertaining _Sketches of Persia_, as follows: When +the celebrated Haji Ibrahím was prime minister of Persia [some sixty +years since], his brother was governor of Isfahán, while other members +of his family held several of the first offices of the kingdom. A +shop-keeper one day went to the governor to represent that he was unable +to pay certain taxes. "You must pay them," replied the governor, "or +leave the city." "Where can I go to?" asked the Isfahání. "To Shíráz or +Kashan." "Your nephew rules in one city and your brother in the other." +"Go to the Sháh, and complain if you like." "Your brother the Haji is +prime minister." "Then go to Satan," said the enraged governor. "Haji +Merhúm, your father, the pious pilgrim, is dead," rejoined the undaunted +Isfahání. "My friend," said the governor, bursting into laughter, "I +will pay your taxes, even myself, since you declare that my family keep +you from all redress, both in this world and the next." + + * * * * * + +The Hebrew Rabbis who compiled the Talmud were, some of them, witty as +well as wise--indeed I have always held that wisdom and wit are cousins +german, if not full brothers--and our specimens of Oriental Wit and +Humour may be fittingly concluded with a few Jewish jests from a scarce +little book, entitled, _Hebrew Tales_, by Hyman Hurwitz: An Athenian, +walking about in the streets of Jerusalem one day, called to a little +Hebrew boy, and, giving him a _pruta_ (a small coin of less value than a +farthing), said: "Here is a pruta, my lad, bring me something for it, of +which I may eat enough, leave some for my host, and carry some home to +my family." The boy went, and presently returned with a quantity of +salt, which he handed to the jester. "Salt!" he exclaimed, "I did not +ask thee to buy me salt." "True," said the urchin; "but didst thou not +tell me to bring thee something of which thou mightest eat, leave, and +take home? Of this salt there is surely enough for all three +purposes."[40] + + [40] In the Rev. J. Hinton Knowles' _Folk-Tales of Kashmír_ a + merchant gives his stupid son a small coin with which he + is to purchase something to eat, something to drink, + something to gnaw, something to sow in the garden, and + some food for the cow. A clever young girl advises him + to buy a water-melon, which would answer all the + purposes required.--P. 145. + +Another Athenian desired a boy to buy him some cheese and eggs. Having +done so, "Now, my lad," said the stranger, "tell me which of these +cheese were made of the milk of white goats and which of black goats?" +The little Hebrew answered: "Since thou art older than I, and more +experienced, first do thou tell me which of these eggs came from white +and which from black hens." + +Once more did a Hebrew urchin prove his superiority in wit over an +Athenian: "Here, boy," said he, "here is some money; bring us some figs +and grapes." The lad went and bought the fruit, kept half of it for +himself, and gave the other half to the Athenian. "How!" cried the man, +"is it the custom of this city for a messenger to take half of what he +is sent to purchase?" "No," replied the boy; "but it is our custom to +speak what we mean, and to do what we are desired." "Well, then, I did +not desire thee to take half of the fruit." "Why, what else could you +mean," rejoined the little casuist, "by saying, 'Bring _us_?' Does not +that word include the hearer as well as the speaker?" The stranger, not +knowing how to answer such reasoning, smiled and went his way, leaving +the shrewd lad to eat his share of the fruit in peace. + +"There is no rule without some exception," as the following tale +demonstrates: Rabbi Eliezar, who was as much distinguished by his +greatness of mind as by the extraordinary size of his body, once paid a +friendly visit to Rabbi Simon. The learned Simon received him most +cordially, and filling a cup with wine handed it to him. Eliezar took it +and drank it off at a draught. Another was poured out--it shared the +same fate. "Brother Eliezar," said Simon, jestingly, "rememberest thou +not what the wise men have said on this subject?" "I well remember," +replied his corpulent friend, "the saying of our instructors, that +people ought not to take a cup at one draught. But the wise men have not +so defined their rule as to admit of no exception; and in this instance +there are not less than three--the _cup_ is small, the _receiver_ is +large, and your WINE, brother Simon, is DELICIOUS!" + + + + +TALES OF A PARROT. + + + + +I + +GENERAL PLAN OF EASTERN ROMANCES--THE "TUTI NAMA," OR PARROT-BOOK--THE +FRAME-STORY--TALES: THE STOLEN IMAGES--THE WOMAN CARVED OUT OF WOOD--THE +MAN WHOSE MARE WAS KICKED BY A MERCHANT'S HORSE. + + +Oriental romances are usually constructed on the plan of a number of +tales connected by a general or leading story running throughout, like +the slender thread that holds a necklace of pearls together--a familiar +example of which is the _Book of the Thousand and One Nights_, commonly +known amongst us under the title of _Arabian Nights Entertainments_. In +some the subordinate tales are represented as being told by one or more +individuals to serve a particular object, by the moral, or warning, +which they are supposed to convey; as in the case of the _Book of +Sindibád_, in which a prince is falsely accused by one of his father's +ladies, and defended by the king's seven vazírs, or counsellors, who +each in turn relate to the king two stories, the purport of which being +to warn him to put no faith in the accusations of women, to which the +lady replies by stories representing the wickedness and perfidy of men; +and that of the _Bakhtyár Náma_, in which a youth, falsely accused of +having violated the royal harem, obtains for himself a respite from +death during ten days by relating to the king each day a story designed +to caution him against precipitation in matters of importance. In others +supernatural beings are the narrators of the subordinate tales, as in +the Indian romances, _Vetála Panchavinsati_, or Twenty-five Tales of a +Demon, and the _Sinhásana Dwatrinsati_, or Tales of the Thirty-two +Speaking Statues--literally, Thirty-two (Tales) of a Throne. In others, +again, the relators are birds, as in the Indian work entitled _Hamsa +Vinsati_, or Twenty Tales of a Goose. + +Of this last class is the popular Persian work, _Tútí Náma_, (Tales of a +Parrot, or Parrot-Book), of which I purpose furnishing some account, as +it has not yet been completely translated into English. This work was +composed, according to Pertsch, in A.D. 1329, by a Persian named +Nakhshabí, after an older Persian version, now lost, which was made from +a Sanskrit work, also no longer extant, but of which the modern +representative is the _Suka Saptati_, or Seventy Tales of a Parrot.[41] +The frame, or leading story, of the Persian Parrot-Book is to the +following effect: + + [41] Ziyáu-'d-Dín Nakhshabí, so called from Nakhshab, or + Nasaf, the modern Kashí, a town situated between + Samarkand and the Oxus, led a secluded life in Badá'um, + and died, as stated by 'Abdal-Hakk, A.H. 751 (A.D. + 1350-1).--Dr. Rieu's _Catalogue of Persian MSS. in the + British Museum_.--In 1792 the Rev. B. Gerrans published + an English translation of twelve of the fifty-two tales + comprised in the _Tútí Náma_, but the work is now best + known in Persia and India from an abridgment made by + Kádirí in the last century, which was printed, with a + translation, at London in 1801. + +A merchant who had a very beautiful wife informs her one day that he has +resolved to travel into foreign countries in order to increase his +wealth by trade. His wife endeavours to persuade him to remain at home +in peace and security instead of imperiling his life among strangers. +But he expatiates on the evils of poverty and the advantages of wealth: +"A man without riches is fatherless, and a home without money is +deserted. He that is in want of cash is a nonentity, and wanders in the +land unknown. It is, therefore, everybody's duty to procure as much +money as possible; for gold is the delight of our lives--it is the +bright live-coal of our hearts--the yellow links which fasten the coat +of mail--the gentle stimulative of the world--the complete coining die +of the globe--the traveller who speaks all languages, and is welcome in +every city--the splendid bride unveiled--the defender, register, and +mirror of jehandars. The man who has dirhams [_Scottice_, +'siller'--_Fr._ 'l'argent'] is handsome; the sun never shines on the +inauspicious man without money."[42] Before leaving home the merchant +purchased at great cost in the bazaar a wonderful parrot, that could +discourse eloquently and intelligently, and also a sharak, a species of +nightingale, which, according to Gerrans, "imitates the human voice in +so surprising a manner that, if you do not see the bird, you cannot help +being deceived"; and, having put them into the same cage, he charged his +spouse that whenever she had any matter of importance to transact she +should first obtain the sanction of both birds. + + [42] "He that has money in the scales," says Saádí, "has + strength in his arms, and he who has not the command of + money is destitute of friends in the world."--Hundreds + of similar sarcastic observations on the power of wealth + might be cited from the Hindú writers, such as: "He who + has riches has friends; he who has riches has relations; + he who has riches _is even a sage_!" The following + verses in praise of money are, I think, worth + reproducing, if only for their whimsical arrangement: + + Honey, + Our Money + We find in the end + Both relation and friend; + 'Tis a helpmate for better, for worse. + Neither father nor mother, + Nor sister nor brother, + Nor uncles nor aunts, + Nor dozens + Of cousins, + Are like a friend in the purse. + Still regard the main chance; + 'Tis the clink + Of the chink + Is the music to make the heart dance. + + +The merchant having protracted his absence many months (Vatsyayana, in +his _Káma Sutra_, says that the man who is given to much travelling does +not deserve to be married), and, his wife chancing to be on the roof of +her house one day when a young foreign prince of handsome appearance +passed by with his attendants, she immediately fell in love with +him--"the battle-axe of prudence dropped from her hand; the vessel of +continence became a sport to the waves of confusion; while the avenues +leading to the fortress of reason remained unguarded, the sugar-cane of +incontinence triumphantly raised its head above the rose-tree of +patience." The prince had also observed the lady, as she stood on the +terrace of her house, and was instantly enamoured of her. He sends an +old woman (always the obliging--"for a consideration"--go-between of +Eastern lovers) to solicit an interview with the lady at his own palace +in the evening, and, after much persuasion, she consents. Arraying her +beauteous person in the finest apparel, she proceeds to the cage, and +first consults the sharak as to the propriety of her purpose. The sharak +forbids her to go, and is at once rewarded by having her head wrung off. +She then represents her case to the parrot, who, having witnessed the +fate of his companion, prudently resolves to temporise with the amorous +dame; so he "quenched the fire of her indignation with the water of +flattery, and began a tale conformable to her temperament, which he took +care to protract till the morning." In this manner does the prudent +parrot prevent the lady's intended intrigue by relating, night after +night, till the merchant returns home from his travels, one or more +fascinating tales, which he does not bring to an end till it is too late +for the assignation.[43] + + [43] In a Telúgú MS., entitled _Patti Vrútti Mahima_ (the + Value of Chaste Wives), the minister of Chandra Pratápa + assumes the form of a bird owing to a curse pronounced + against him by Siva, and is sold to a merchant named + Dhanadatta, whose son, Kuvéradatta, is vicious. The bird + by moral lessons reformed him for a time. They went to a + town called Pushpamayuri, where the king's son saw the + wife of Kuveradatta when he was absent from home. An + illicit amour was about to begin, when the bird + interposed by relating tales of chaste wives, and + detained the wanton lady at home till her husband + returned. + +The order of the parrot's tales is not the same in all texts; in +Kádirí's abridgment there are few of the Nights which correspond with +those of the India Office MS. No. 2573, which may, perhaps, be partly +accounted for by the circumstance that Kádirí has given only 35 of the +52 tales that are in the original text. For the general reader, however, +the sequence of the tales is a minor consideration; and I shall content +myself with giving abstracts of some of the best stories, irrespective +of their order in any text, and complete translations of two or three +others. It so happens that the Third Night is the same in Kádirí and the +India Office MS. No. 2573, which comprises the complete text; and the +story the eloquent bird relates on that night may be entitled + + +_The Stolen Images._ + +A goldsmith and a carpenter, travelling in company, steal from a Hindú +temple some golden images, which, when they arrive in the neighbourhood +of their own city, they bury beneath a tree. The goldsmith goes secretly +one night and carries away the images, and next morning, when both go +together to share the spoil, the goldsmith accuses the carpenter of +having played him false. But the carpenter was a shrewd fellow, and so +he makes a figure resembling the goldsmith, dresses it in clothes +similar to what he usually wore, and procures a couple of bear's cubs, +which he teaches to take their food from the skirts and sleeves of the +effigy. Thus the cubs conceived a great affection for the figure of the +goldsmith. He then contrives to steal the goldsmith's two sons, and, +when the father comes to seek them at his house, he pretends they have +been changed into young bears. The goldsmith brings his case before the +kází; the cubs are brought into court, and no sooner do they discover +the goldsmith than they run up and fondle him. Upon this the judge +decides in favour of the carpenter, to whom the goldsmith confesses his +guilt, and offers to give up all the gold if he restore his children, +which he does accordingly.[44] + + [44] Many Asiatic stories relate to the concealing of + treasure--generally at the foot of a tree, to mark the + spot--by two or more companions, and its being secretly + stolen by one of them. The device of the carpenter in + the foregoing tale of abducting the rascally goldsmith's + two sons, and so on, finds an analogue in the + _Panchatantra_, the celebrated Sanskrit collection of + fables (Book I, Fab. 21, of Benfey's German + translation), where we read that a young man, who had + spent the wealth left to him by his father, had only a + heavy iron balance remaining of all his possessions, and + depositing it with a merchant went to another country. + When he returned, after some time, he went to the + merchant and demanded back his balance. The merchant + told him it had been eaten by rats; adding: "The iron of + which it was composed was particularly sweet, and so the + rats ate it." The young man, knowing that the merchant + spoke falsely, formed a plan for the recovery of his + balance. One day he took the merchant's young son, + unknown to his father, to bathe, and left him in the + care of a friend. When the merchant missed his son he + accused the young man of having stolen him, and summoned + him to appear in the king's judgment-hall. In answer to + the merchant's accusation, the young man asserted that a + kite had carried away the boy; and when the officers of + the court declared this to be impossible, he said: "In a + country where an iron balance was eaten by rats, a kite + might well carry off an elephant, much more a boy." The + merchant, having lost his cause, returned the balance to + the young man and received back his boy. + +The Sixth Tale of the Parrot, according to the India Office MS., relates +to + + +_The Woman Carved out of Wood._ + +Four men--a goldsmith, a carpenter, a tailor, and a dervish--travelling +together, one night halted in a desert place, and it was agreed they +should watch turn about until daybreak. The carpenter takes the first +watch, and to amuse himself he carves the figure of a woman out of a log +of wood. When it came to the goldsmith's turn to watch, finding the +beautiful female figure, he resolved also to exhibit his art, and +accordingly made a set of ornaments of gold and silver, which he placed +on the neck, arms, and ankles. During the third watch the tailor made a +suit of clothes becoming a bride, and put them on the figure. Lastly, +the dervish, when it came to his turn to watch, beholding the +captivating female form, prayed that it might be endowed with life, and +immediately the effigy became animated. In the morning all four fell in +love with the charming damsel, each claiming her for himself; the +carpenter, because he had carved her with his own hands; the goldsmith, +because he had adorned her with gems; the tailor, because he had +suitably clothed her; and the dervish, because he had, by his +intercession, endowed her with life. While they were thus disputing, a +man came to the spot, to whom they referred the case. On seeing the +woman, he exclaimed: "This is my own wife, whom you have stolen from +me," and compelled them to come before the kutwal, who, on viewing her +beauty, in his turn claimed her as the wife of his brother, who had been +waylaid and murdered in the desert. The kutwal took them all, with the +woman, before the kází, who declared that she was his slave, who had +absconded from his house with a large sum of money. An old man who was +present suggested that they should all seven appeal to the Tree of +Decision, and thither they went accordingly; but no sooner had they +stated their several claims than the trunk of the tree split open, the +woman ran into the cleft, and on its reuniting she was no more to be +seen. A voice proceeded from the tree, saying: "Everything returns to +its first principles"; and the seven suitors of the woman were +overwhelmed with shame.[45] + + [45] So, too, Boethius, in his _De Consolatione Philosophić_, + says, according to Chaucer's translation: "All thynges + seken ayen to hir [i.e. their] propre course, and all + thynges rejoysen on hir retournynge agayne to hir + nature."--A tale current in Oude, and given in _Indian + Notes and Queries_ for Sept. 1887, is an illustration of + the maxim that "everything returns to its first + principles": A certain prince chose his friends out of + the lowest class, and naturally imbibed their principles + and habits. When the death of his father placed him on + the throne, he soon made his former associates his + courtiers, and exacted the most servile homage from the + nobles. The old vazír, however, despised the young king + and would render none. This so exasperated him that he + called his counsellors together to advise the most + excruciating of tortures for the old man. Said one: "Let + him be flayed alive and let shoes be made of his skin." + The vazír ejaculated on this but one word, "Origin." + Said the next: "Let him be hacked into pieces and his + limbs cast to the dogs." The vazír said, "Origin." + Another advised: "Let him be forthwith executed, and his + house be levelled to the ground." Once more the vazír + simply said, "Origin." Then the king turned to the rest, + who declared each according to his opinion, the vazír + noticing each with the same word. At last a young man, + who had not spoken hitherto, was asked. "May it please + your Majesty," said he, "if you ask my opinion, it is + this: Here is an aged man, and honourable from his + years, family, and position; moreover, he served in the + king your father's court, and nursed you as a boy. It + were well, considering all these matters, to pay him + respect, and render his old age comfortable." Again the + vazír uttered the word "Origin." The king now demanded + what he meant by it. "Simply this, your Majesty," + responded the vazír: "You have here the sons of + shoemakers, butchers, executioners, and so forth, and + each has expressed himself according to his father's + trade. There is but one noble-born among them, and he + has made himself conspicuous by speaking according to + the manner of his race." The king was ashamed, and + released the vazír.--A parallel to this is found in the + Turkish _Qirq Vezír Taríkhí_, or History of the Forty + Vezírs (Lady's 4th Story): according to Mr. Gibb's + translation, "All things return to their origin." + +I am strongly of opinion that the foregoing story is of Buddhistic +extraction; but however this may be, it is not a bad specimen of Eastern +humour, nor is the following, which the eloquent bird tells the lady +another night: + + +_Of the Man whose Mare was kicked by a Merchant's Horse._ + +A merchant had a vicious horse that kicked a mare, which he had warned +the owner not to tie near his animal. The man carried the merchant +before the kází, and stated his complaint. The kází inquired of the +merchant what he had to say in his own defence; but he pretended to be +dumb, answering not a word to the judge's interrogatives. Upon this the +kází remarked to the plaintiff that since the merchant was dumb he could +not be to blame for the accident. "How do you know he is dumb?" said the +owner of the mare. "At the time I wished to fasten my mare near his +horse he said, 'Don't!' yet now he feigns himself dumb." The kází +observed that if he was duly warned against the accident he had himself +to blame, and so dismissed the case. + + + + +II + +THE EMPEROR'S DREAM--THE GOLDEN APPARITION--THE FOUR TREASURE-SEEKERS. + + +We are not without instances in European popular fictions of two young +persons dreaming of each other and falling in love, although they had +never met or known of each other's existence. A notable example is the +story of the Two Dreams in the famous _History of the Seven Wise +Masters_. Incidents of this kind are very common in Oriental stories: +the romance of _Kámarupa_ (of Indian origin, but now chiefly known +through the Persian version) is based upon a dream which the hero has of +a certain beautiful princess, with whom he falls in love, and he sets +forth with his companions to find her, should it be at the uttermost +ends of the earth. It so happens that the damsel also dreams of him, +and, when they do meet, they need no introduction to each other. The +Indian romance of _Vasayadatta_ has a similar plot. But the royal +dreamer and lover in the following story, told by the Parrot on the 39th +Night, according to the India Office MS. No. 2573, adopted a plan for +the discovery of the beauteous object of his vision more conformable to +his own ease: + + +_The Emperor's Dream._ + +An emperor of China dreamt of a very beautiful damsel whom he had never +seen or heard of, and, being sorely pierced with the darts of love for +the creature of his dreaming fancy, he could find no peace of mind. One +of his vazírs, who was an excellent portrait painter, receiving from the +emperor a minute description of the lady's features, drew the face, and +the imperial lover acknowledged the likeness to be very exact. The vazír +then went abroad with the portrait, to see whether any one could +identify it with the fair original. After many disappointments he met +with an old hermit, who at once recognised it as the portrait of the +princess of Rúm,[46] who, he informed the vazír, had an unconquerable +aversion against men ever since she beheld, in her garden, a peacock +basely desert his mate and their young ones, when the tree on which +their nest was built had been struck by lightning. She believed that all +men were quite as selfish as that peacock, and was resolved never to +marry. Returning to his imperial master with these most interesting +particulars regarding the object of his affection, he next undertakes to +conquer the strange and unnatural aversion of the princess. Taking with +him the emperor's portrait and other pictures, he procures access to the +princess of Rúm; shows her, first, the portrait of the emperor of China, +and then pictures of animals in the royal menagerie, among others that +of a deer, concerning which he relates a story to the effect that the +emperor, sitting one day in his summer-house, saw a deer, his doe, and +their fawn on the bank of the river, when suddenly the waters overflowed +the banks, and the doe, in terror for her life, fled away, while the +deer bravely remained with the fawn and was drowned. This story, so +closely resembling her own, struck the fair princess with wonder and +admiration, and she at once gave her consent to be united to the emperor +of China; and we may suppose that "they continued together in joy and +happiness until they were overtaken by the terminater of delights and +the separator of companions." + + [46] Originally, Rúmelia (Rúm Eyli) was only implied by the + word _Rúm_, but in course of time it was employed to + designate the whole Turkish empire. + + * * * * * + +There can be little or no doubt, I think, that in this tale we find the +original of the frame, or leading story, of the Persian Tales, ascribed +to a dervish named Mukhlis, of Isfahán, and written after the _Arabian +Nights_, as it is believed, in which the nurse of the Princess has to +relate almost as many stories to overcome her aversion against men (the +result of an incident similar to that witnessed by the Lady of Rúm) as +the renowned Sheherazade had to tell her lord, who entertained--for a +very different reason--a bitter dislike of women. + + * * * * * + +I now present a story unabridged, translated by Gerrans in the latter +part of the last century. It is assuredly of Buddhistic origin: + + +_The Golden Apparition._ + +In the extreme boundaries of Khurasán there once lived, according to +general report, a merchant named Abdal-Malik, whose warehouses were +crowded with rich merchandise, and whose coffers overflowed with money. +The scions of genius ripened into maturity under the sunshine of his +liberality; the sons of indigence fattened on the bread of his +hospitality; and the parched traveller amply slaked his thirst in the +river of his generosity. One day, as he meditated on the favours which +his Creator had so luxuriantly showered upon him, he testified his +gratitude by the following resolution: "Long have I traded in the +theatre of the world, much have I received, and little have I bestowed. +This wealth was entrusted to my care, with no other design or intention +but to enable me to assist the unfortunate and indigent. Before, +therefore, the Angel of Death shall come to demand the spoil of my +mortality, it is my last wish and sole intention to expiate my sins and +follies by voluntary oblations of this she-camel [alluding to the Muslim +Feast of the Camel] in the last month of her pregnancy, and to proclaim +to all men, by this late breakfasting [alluding to the Feast of Ramadan, +when food is only permitted after sunset], my past mortification." + +In the tranquil hour of midnight an apparition stood before him, in the +habit of a fakír. The merchant cried: "What art thou?" It answered: "I +am the apparition of thy good fortune and the genius of thy future +happiness. When thou, with such unbounded generosity, didst bequeath all +thy wealth to the poor, I determined not to pass by thy door unnoticed, +but to endow thee with an inexhaustible treasure, conformable to the +greatness of thy capacious soul. To accomplish which I will, every +morning, in this shape, appear to thee; thou shalt strike me a few blows +on the head, when I shall instantly fall low at thy feet, transformed +into an image of gold. From this freely take as much as thou shalt have +occasion for; and every member or joint that shall be separated from the +image shall be instantly replaced by another of the same precious +metal."[47] + + [47] If the members severed from the golden image were to be + instantly replaced by others, what need was there for + the daily appearance of the "fakír," as promised?--But + _n'importe_! + +At daybreak the demon of avarice had conducted Hajm, the covetous, to +the durbar of Abdal-Malik, the generous. Soon after his arrival the +apparition presented itself. Abdal-Malik immediately arose, and after +striking it several blows on the head it fell down before him, and was +changed into an image of gold. As much as sufficed for the necessities +of the day he took for himself, and gave a much larger portion to his +visitor. Hajm was overjoyed at the present, and concluded from what he +had seen that he or any other person who should treat a fakír in the +same manner could convert him into gold, and consequently that by +beating a number he might multiply his golden images. Heated with this +fond imagination, he quickly returned to his house and gave the +necessary orders for a most sumptuous entertainment, to which he invited +all the fakírs in the province. + +When the keen appetite was assuaged, and the exhilarating sherbet began +to enliven the convivial meeting, Hajm seized a ponderous club, and with +it regaled his guests till he broke their heads, and the crimson torrent +stained the carpet of hospitality. The fakírs elevating the shriek of +sore distress, the kutwal's guard came to their assistance, and soon a +multitude of people assembled, who, after binding the offender with the +strong cord of captivity, carried him, together with the fakírs, before +the governor of the city. He demanded to know the reason why he had so +inhospitably and cruelly behaved to these harmless people. The +confounded Hajm replied: "As I was yesterday in the house of +Abdal-Malik, a fakír suddenly appeared. The merchant struck him some +blows on the head, and he fell prostrate before him, transformed into a +golden image. Imagining that any other person could, by a similar +behaviour, force any fakír to undergo the like metamorphosis, I invited +these men to a banquet, and regaled them with some blows of my cudgel to +compel them to a similar transformation; but the demon of avarice has +deceived me, and the fascinating temptation of gold has involved me in a +labyrinth of ills." + +The governor at once sent for Abdal-Malik, and, demanding a solution of +Hajm's mysterious tale, was thus answered by the charitable merchant: +"The unfortunate Hajm is my neighbour. Some days ago he began to exhibit +symptoms of a disordered imagination and distracted brain, and during +these violent paroxysms of insanity he related some ridiculous fable of +me and the rest of my neighbours. No better specimen can be adduced than +the extravagant action of which he now stands accused, and the absurd +tale by which he attempts to apologise for the commission of it. That +madness may no longer usurp the palace of reason, to revel upon the +ruins of his mind, deliver him to the sons of ingenuity, the preservers +and restorers of health; let them purify his blood by sparing diet, +abridge him of his daily potations, and by the force of medicinal +beverage recall him from the precipice of ruin." This advice was warmly +applauded by the governor, who, after Hajm had been compelled to ask +pardon of the fakírs for the ill-treatment they had received, was +soundly bastinadoed before the tribunal, and carried to the hospital for +madness. + +That each man has his "genius" of good or evil fortune is an essentially +Buddhistic idea. The same story occurs, in a different form, in the +_Hitopadesa_, or Friendly Counsel, an ancient Sanskrit collection of +apologues, and an abridgment of the _Panchatantra_, or Five Chapters, +where it forms Fable 10 of Book III: In the city of Ayodhya (Oude) there +was a soldier named Churamani, who, being anxious for money, for a long +time with pain of body worshipped the deity, the jewel of whose diadem +is the lunar crescent. Being at length purified from his sins, in his +sleep he had a vision in which, through the favour of the deity, he was +directed by the lord of the Yakshas [Kuvera, the god of wealth] to do as +follows: "Early in the morning, having been shaved, thou must stand, +club in hand, concealed behind the door of the house; and the beggar +whom thou seest come into the court thou wilt put to death without mercy +by blows of thy staff. Instantly the beggar will become a pot full of +gold, by which thou wilt be comfortable for the rest of thy life." These +instructions being followed, it came to pass accordingly; but the barber +who had been brought to shave him, having witnessed it all, said to +himself, "O is this the mode of gaining a treasure? Why, then, may not I +also do the same?" From that day forward the barber in like manner, with +club in hand, day after day awaited the coming of the beggar. One day a +beggar being so caught was attacked by him and killed with the stick, +for which offence the barber himself was beaten by the king's officers, +and died.--In the _Panchatantra_, in place of a soldier, a banker who +had lost all his wealth determines to put an end to his life, when he +dreams that the personification of Kuvera, the god of riches, appears +before him in the form of a Jaina mendicant--a conclusive proof of the +Buddhistic origin of the story.--A trunkless head performs the same part +in the Russian folk-tale of the Stepmother's Daughter, on which Mr. +Ralston remarks that, "according to Buddhist belief the treasure which +has belonged to anyone in a former existence may come to him in the form +of a man, who, when killed, is turned to gold."[48] + + [48] Ralston's _Russian Folk-Tales_, p. 224, _note_. + + * * * * * + +There is an analogous story to this of the Golden Apparition in an +entertaining little book entitled, _The Orientalist; or, Letters of a +Rabbi_, by James Noble, published at Edinburgh in 1831, of which the +following is the outline: + +An old Dervish falls ill in the house of a poor widow, who tends him +with great care, and when he recovers his health he offers to take +charge of her only son, Abdallah. The good woman gladly consents, and +the Dervish sets out accompanied by his young ward, having intimated to +his mother that they must perform a journey which would last about two +years. One day they arrived at a solitary place, and the Dervish said to +Abdallah: "My son, we are now at the end of our journey. I shall employ +my prayers to obtain from Allah that the earth shall open and make an +entrance wide enough to permit thee to descend into a place where thou +shalt find one of the greatest treasures that the earth contains. Hast +thou courage to descend into the vault?" Abdallah assured him that he +might depend on his fidelity; and then the Dervish lighted a small fire, +into which he cast a perfume: he read and prayed for some minutes, after +which the earth opened, and he said to the young man: "Thou mayest now +enter. Remember that it is in thy power to do me a great service; and +that this is perhaps the only opportunity thou shalt ever have of +testifying to me that thou art not ungrateful. Do not let thyself be +dazzled by the riches that thou shalt find there: think only of seizing +upon an iron candlestick with twelve branches, which thou shalt find +close to the door. That is absolutely necessary to me: come up with it +at once." Abdallah descended, and, neglecting the advice of the Dervish, +filled his vest and sleeves with the gold and jewels which he found +heaped up in the vault, whereupon the opening by which he had entered +closed of itself. He had, however, sufficient presence of mind to seize +the iron candlestick, and endeavoured to find some other means of escape +from the vault. At length he discovers a narrow passage, which he +follows until he reaches the surface of the earth, and looking for the +Dervish saw him not, but to his surprise found that he was close to his +mother's house. On showing his wealth to his mother, it all suddenly +vanished. But the candlestick remained. He lighted one of the branches, +upon which a dervish appeared, and after turning round an hour he threw +down an asper (about three farthings in value) and vanished. Next night +he put a lighted candle in each of the branches, when twelve dervishes +appeared, and having continued their gyrations for an hour each threw +down an asper and vanished. In this way did Abdallah and his mother +contrive to live for a time, till at length he resolved to carry the +candlestick to the good Dervish, hoping to obtain from him the treasure +which he had seen in the vault. He remembered his name and city, and on +reaching his dwelling found the Dervish living in a magnificent palace, +with fifty porters at the gate. The Dervish thus addressed Abdallah: +"Thou art an ungrateful wretch! Hadst thou known the value of the +candlestick thou wouldst never have brought it to me. I will show thee +its true use." Then the Dervish placed a light in each branch, whereupon +twelve dervishes appeared and began to whirl, but on his giving each a +blow with a stick, in an instant they were changed into twelve heaps of +sequins, diamonds, and other precious stones. Ungrateful as Abdallah had +shown himself, yet the Dervish gave him two camels laden with gold, and +a slave, telling him that he must depart the next morning. During the +night Abdallah stole the candlestick and placed it at the bottom of his +sacks. At daybreak he took leave of the generous Dervish and set off. +When about half a day's journey from his own city he sold the slave, +that there should be no witness to his former poverty, and bought +another in his stead. Arriving home, he carefully placed his loads of +treasure in a private chamber, and then put a light in each branch of +the candlestick; and when the twelve dervishes appeared, he dealt each +of them a blow with a stick. But he had not observed that the good +Dervish employed his left hand, and he had naturally used his right, in +consequence of which the twelve dervishes drew each from under their +robes a heavy club and beat him till he was nearly dead, and then +vanished, as did also the treasure, the camels, the slave, and the +wonder-working candlestick![49] + + [49] The same story is given by the Comte de Caylus--but, + like Noble, without stating where the original is to be + found--in his _Contes Orientaux_, first published in + 1745, under the title of "Histoire de Dervich + Abounadar." These entertaining tales are reproduced in + _Le Cabinet des Fées_, ed. 1786, tome xxv.--It will be + observed that the first part of the story bears a close + resemblance to that of our childhood's favourite, the + Arabian tale of "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp," of + which many analogues and variants, both European and + Asiatic, are cited in the first volume of my _Popular + Tales and Fictions_, 1887;--see also a supplementary + note by me on Aladdin's Lamp in _Notes and Queries_, + Jan. 5, 1889, p. 1. + + * * * * * + +A warning against avarice is intended to be conveyed in the tale, or +rather apologue, or perhaps we should consider it as a sort of allegory, +related by the sagacious bird on the 47th Night, according to the India +Office MS., but the 16th Night of Kádirí's abridgment. It is to the +following effect, and may be entitled + + +_The Four Treasure-Seekers._ + +Once on a time four intimate friends, who made a common fund of all +their possessions, and had long enjoyed the wealth of their industrious +ancestors, at length lost all their goods and money, and, barely saving +their lives, quitted together the place of their nativity. In the course +of their travels they meet a wise Bráhman, to whom they relate the +history of their misfortunes. He gives each of them a pearl, which he +places on their heads, telling them, whenever the pearl drops from the +head of any of them, to examine the spot, and share equally what they +find there. After walking some distance the pearl drops from the head of +one of the companions, and on examining the place he discovers a copper +mine, the produce of which he offers to share with the others, but they +refuse, and, leaving him, continue their journey. By-and-by the pearl +drops from the head of another of the friends, and a silver mine is +found; but the two others, believing that better things were in store +farther on, left him to his treasure, and proceeded on their way till +the pearl of the third companion dropped, and they found in the place a +rich gold mine. In vain does he endeavour to persuade his companion to +be content with the wealth here obtainable: he disdainfully refuses, +saying that, since copper, silver, and gold had been found, fortune had +evidently reserved something infinitely better for him; and so he +quitted his friend and went on, till he reached a narrow valley +destitute of water; the air like that of Jehennan;[50] the surface of +the earth like infernal fire; no animal or bird was to be seen; and +chilling blasts alternated with sulphurous exhalations. Here the fourth +pearl dropped and the owner discovered a mine of diamonds and other +gems, but the ground was covered with snakes, cockatrices, and the most +venomous serpents. On seeing this he determines to return and share the +produce of the third companion's gold mine; but when he comes to the +spot he can find no trace of the mine or of the owner. Proceeding next +to the silver mine, he finds it is exhausted, and his friend who owned +it has gone; so he will now content himself with copper; but, alas! his +first friend had died the day before his arrival, and strangers were now +in possession of the mine, who laughed at his pretensions, and even beat +him for his impertinence. Sad at heart, he journeys on to where he and +his companions had met the Bráhman, but he had long since departed to a +far distant country; and thus, through his obstinacy and avarice, he was +overwhelmed with poverty and disgrace--without money and without +friends. + + [50] That is, hell. Properly, it is Je-Hinnon, near + Jerusalem, which seems to have been in ancient times the + cremation ground for human corpses. + + * * * * * + +This story of the Four Treasure-seekers forms the third of Book V of the +_Panchatantra_, where the fourth companion, instead of finding a diamond +mine guarded by serpents, etc., discovers a man with a wheel upon his +head, and on his asking this man where he could procure water, who he +was, and why he stood with the wheel on his head, straightway the wheel +is transferred to his own head, as had been the case of the former +victim who had asked the same questions of his predecessor. The third +man, who had found the gold mine, wondering that his companion tarried +so long, sets off in search of him, and, finding him with the wheel on +his head, asks why he stood thus. The fourth acquaints him of the +property of the wheel, and then relates a number of stories to show that +those who want common sense will surely come to grief. + +It is more than probable that several of the tales and apologues in the +_Panchatantra_ were derived from Buddhist sources; and the incident of a +man with a wheel on his head is found in the Chinese-Sanskrit work +entitled _Fu-pen-hing-tsi-king_, which Wassiljew translates 'Biography +of Sákyamuni and his Companions,' and of which Dr. Beal has published an +abridged English translation under the title of the _Romantic History of +Buddha_. In this work (p. 342 ff.) a merchant, who had struck his mother +because she would not sanction his going on a trading voyage, in the +course of his wanderings discovers a man "on whose head there was placed +an iron wheel, this wheel was red with heat, and glowing as from a +furnace, terrible to behold. Seeing this terrible sight, Máitri +exclaimed: 'Who are you? Why do you carry that terrible wheel on your +head?' On this the wretched man replied: 'Dear sir, is it possible you +know me not? I am a merchant chief called Gorinda.' Then Máitri asked +him and said: 'Pray, then, tell me, what dreadful crime have you +committed in former days that you are constrained to wear that fiery +wheel on your head.' Then Gorinda answered: 'In former days I was angry +with and struck my mother as she lay on the ground, and for this reason +I am condemned to wear this fiery iron wheel around my head.' At this +time Máitri, self-accused, began to cry out and lament; he was filled +with remorse on recollection of his own conduct, and exclaimed in agony: +'Now am I caught like a deer in the snare.' Then a certain Yaksha, who +kept guard over that city, whose name was Viruka, suddenly came to the +spot, and removing the fiery wheel from off the head of Gorinda, he +placed it on the head of Máitri. Then the wretched man cried out in his +agony and said: 'O what have I done to merit this torment?' to which the +Yaksha replied: 'You, wretched man, dared to strike your mother on the +head as she lay on the ground; now, therefore, on your head you shall +wear this fiery wheel; through 60,000 years your punishment shall last: +be assured of this, through all these years you shall wear this wheel.'" + + + + +III + +THE SINGING ASS: THE FOOLISH THIEVES: THE FAGGOT-MAKER AND THE MAGIC +BOWL. + + +Some of the Parrot's recitals have other tales sphered within them, so +to say--a plan which must be familiar to all readers of the _Arabian +Nights_. In the following amusing tale, which is perhaps the best of the +whole series (it is the 41st of the India Office MS. No. 2573, and the +31st in Kadiri's version), there are two subordinate stories: + + +_The Singing Ass._ + +At a certain period of time, as ancient historians inform us, an ass and +an elk were so fond of each other's company that they were never seen +separate. If the plains were deficient in pasture, they repaired to the +meadows; or, if famine pervaded the valleys, they overleaped the +garden-fence, and, like friends, divided the spoil. + +One night, during the season of verdure, about the gay termination of +spring, after they had rioted in the cup of plenty, and lay rolling on a +green carpet of spinach, the cup of the silly ass began to overflow with +the froth of conceit, and he thus expressed his unseasonable intentions: + +"O comrade of the branching antlers, what a mirth-inspiring night is +this! How joyous are the heart-attracting moments of spring! Fragrance +distils from every tree; the garden breathes otto of roses, and the +whole atmosphere is pregnant with musk. In the umbrageous gloom of the +waving cypress the turtles are exchanging their vows, and the bird of a +thousand songs [i.e., the nightingale] sips nectar from the lips of the +rose: nothing is wanting to complete the joys of spring but one of my +melodious songs. When the warm blood of youth shall cease to give +animation to these elegant limbs of mine, what relish shall I have for +pleasure? And when the lamp of my life is extinguished, the spring will +return in vain." + +_Nakhshabí, music at every season is delightful, and a song sweetly +murmured captivates the senses._ + +_The musician who charms our ears will most assuredly find the road of +success to our hearts._[51] + + [51] The italicised passages which occur in this tale are + verses in the original Persian text. + +The elk answered: "Sagacious, long-eared associate, what an unseasonable +proposal is this? Rather let us converse together about pack-saddles and +sacks; tell me a story about straw, beans, or hay-lofts, unmerciful +drivers, and heavy burdens." + +_What business has the Ass to meddle with music?_ + +_What occasion has Long-ears to attempt to sing?_ + +"You ought also to recollect," continued the elk, "that we are thieves, +and that we came into this garden to plunder. Consider what an enormous +quantity of beets, lettuces, parsley, and radishes we have eaten, and +what a fine bed of spinach we are spoiling! 'Nothing can be more +disgusting than a bird that sings out of season' is a proverb which is +as current among the sons of wisdom as a bill of exchange among +merchants, and as valuable as an unpierced pearl. If you are so +infatuated as to permit the enchanting melody of your voice to draw you +into this inextricable labyrinth, the gardener will instantly awake, +rouse his whole caravan of workmen, hasten to this garden and convert +our music into mourning; so that our history will be like that of the +house-breakers." + +The Prince of Folly, expressing a wish to know how that was, received +the following information: + + +_The Foolish Thieves._ + +In one of the cities of Hindústán some thieves broke into a house, and +after collecting the most valuable movables sat down in a corner to bind +them up. In this corner was a large two-eared earthen vessel, brimful of +the wine of seduction, which sublime to their mouths they advanced and +long-breathed potations exhausted, crying: "Everything is good in its +turn; the hours of business are past--come on with the gift which +fortune bestows; let us mitigate the toils of the night and smooth the +forehead of care." As they approached the bottom of the flagon, the +vanguard of intoxication began to storm the castle of reason; wild +uproar, tumult, and their auxiliaries commanded by a sirdar of nonsense, +soon after scaled the walls, and the songs of folly vociferously +proclaimed that the sultan of discretion was driven from his post, and +confusion had taken possession of the garrison. The noise awakened the +master of the mansion, who was first overwhelmed with surprise, but soon +recollecting himself, he seized his trusty scimitar, and expeditiously +roused his servants, who forthwith attacked the sons of disorder, and +with very little pains or risk extended them on the pavement of death. + +_Nakhshabí, everything is good in its season._ + +_Let each perform his part in the world, that the world may go round._ + +_He who drinks at an unseasonable hour ought not to complain of the +vintner._ + + * * * * * + +Here Long-ears superciliously answered: "Pusillanimous companion, I am +the blossom of the city and the luminary of the people; my presence +gives life to the plains, and my harmony cultivates the desert. If, when +in vulgar prose I express the unpremeditated idea, every ear is filled +with delight, and the fleeting soul, through ecstacy, flutters on the +trembling lips--what must be the effect of my songs?" + +The elk rejoined: "The ear must be deprived of sensation, the heart void +of blood, and formed of the coarsest clay must be he who can attend your +lays with indifference. But condescend, for once, to listen to advice, +and postpone this music, in which you are so great a proficient, and +suppress not only the song, but the sweet murmuring in your throat, +prelusive to your singing, and shrink not up your graceful nostrils, nor +extent the extremities of your jaws, lest you should have as much reason +to repent of your singing as the faggot-maker had of his dancing." The +ass demanding how that came to pass, the elk made answer as follows: + + +_The Faggot-maker and the Magic Bowl._ + +As a faggot-maker was one day at work in a wood, he saw four perís [or +fairies] sitting near him, with a magnificent bowl before them, which +supplied them with all they wanted. If they had occasion for food of the +choicest taste, wines of the most delicious flavour, garments the most +valuable and convenient, or perfumes of the most odoriferous +exhalation--in short, whatever necessity could require, luxury demand, +or avarice wish for--they had nothing more to do but put their hands +into the bowl and pull out whatever they desired. The day following, the +poor faggot-maker being at work in the same place, the perís again +appeared, and invited him to be one of their party. The proposal was +cheerfully accepted, and impressing his wife and children with the seal +of forgetfulness, he remained some days in their company. Recollecting +himself, however, at last, he thus addressed his white-robed +entertainers: + +"I am a poor faggot-maker, father of a numerous family; to drive famine +from my cot, I every evening return with my faggots; but my cares for my +wife and fireside have been for some time past obliterated by the cup of +your generosity. If my petition gain admission to the durbar of your +enlightened auditory, I will return to give them the salaam of health, +and inquire into the situation of their affairs." + +The perís graciously nodded acquiescence, adding: "The favours you have +received from us are trifling, and we cannot dismiss you empty-handed. +Make choice, therefore, of whatever you please, and the fervour of your +most unbounded desire shall be slaked in the stream of our munificence." + +The wood-cutter replied: "I have but one wish to gratify, and that is so +unjust and so unreasonable that I dread the very thought of naming it, +since nothing but the bowl before us will satisfy my ambitious heart." + +The perís, bursting into laughter, answered: "We shall suffer not the +least inconvenience by the loss of it, for, by virtue of a talisman +which we possess, we could make a thousand in a twinkling. But, in order +to make it as great a treasure to you as it has been to us, guard it +with the utmost care, for it will break by the most trifling blow, and +be sure never to make use of it but when you really want it." + +The faggot-maker, overcome with joy, said: "I will pay the most profound +attention to this inexhaustible treasure; and to preserve it from +breaking I will exert every faculty of my soul." Upon saying this he +received the bowl, with which he returned on the wings of rapture, and +for some days enjoyed his good fortune better than might be expected. +The necessaries and comforts of life were provided for his family, his +creditors were paid, alms distributed to the poor, the brittle bowl of +plenty was guarded with discretion, and everything around him was +arranged for the reception of his friends, who assembled in such crowds +that his cottage overflowed. The faggot-maker, who was one of those +choice elevated spirits whose money never rusts in their possession, +finding his habitation inadequate for the entertainment of his guests, +built another, more spacious and magnificent, to which he invited the +whole city, and placed the magic bowl in the middle of the grand saloon, +and every time he made a dip pulled out whatever was wished for. Though +the views of his visitors were various, contentment was visibly +inscribed on every forehead: the hungry were filled with the bread of +plenty; the aqueducts overflowed with the wine of Shíráz; the effeminate +were satiated with musky odours, and the thirst of avarice was quenched +by the bowl of abundance. The wondering spectators exclaimed: "This is +no bowl, but a boundless ocean of mystery! It is not what it appears to +be, a piece of furniture, but an inexhaustible magazine of treasure!" + +After the faggot-maker had thus paraded his good fortune and circulated +the wine-cup with very great rapidity, he stood up and began to dance, +and, to show his dexterity in the art, placed the brittle bowl on his +left shoulder, which every time he turned round he struck with his hand, +crying: "O soul-exhilarating goblet, thou art the origin of my ease and +affluence--the spring of my pomp and equipage--the engineer who has +lifted me from the dust of indigence to the towering battlements of +glory! Thou art the nimble berid [running foot-man] of my winged wishes, +and the regulator of all my actions! To thee am I indebted for all the +splendour that surrounds me! Thou art the source of my currency, and art +the author of our present festival!" + +With these and similar foolish tales he entertained his company, as the +genius of nonsense dictated, making the most ridiculous grimaces, +rolling his eyes like a fakír in a fit of devotion, and capering like +one distracted, till the bowl, by a sudden slip of his foot, fell from +his shoulder on the pavement of ruin, and was broken into a hundred +pieces. At the same instant, all that he had in the house, and whatever +he had circulated in the city, suddenly vanished;--the banquet of +exultation was quickly converted into mourning, and he who a little +before danced for joy now beat his breast for sorrow, blamed to no +purpose the rigour of his inauspicious fortune, and execrated the hour +of his birth. Thus a jewel fell into the hands of an unworthy person, +who was unacquainted with its value; and an inestimable gem was +entrusted to an indigent wretch, who, by his ignorance and ostentation, +converted it to his own destruction. + + * * * * * + +"Melodious bulbul of the long-eared race," continued the elk, "as the +wood-cutter's dancing was an unpardonable folly which met with the +chastisement it deserved, so I fearfully anticipate that your +unseasonable singing will become your exemplary punishment." + +His ass-ship listened thus far with reluctance to the admonition of his +friend, without intending to profit by it; but arose from the carpet of +spinach, eyed his companion with a mortifying glance of contempt, +pricked up his long snaky ears, and began to put himself into a musical +posture. The nimble, small-hoofed elk, perceiving this, said to himself: +"Since he has stretched out his neck and prepared his pitch-pipe, he +will not remain long without singing." So he left the vegetable banquet, +leaped over the garden wall, and fled to a place of security. The ass +was no sooner alone than he commenced a most loud and horrible braying, +which instantly awoke the gardeners, who, with the noose of an insidious +halter, to the trunk of a tree fast bound the affrighted musician, where +they belaboured him with their cudgels till they broke every bone in his +body, and converted his skin to a book, in which, in letters of gold, a +múnshí [learned man] of luminous pen, with the choicest flowers of the +garden of rhetoric, and for the benefit of the numerous fraternity of +asses, inscribed this instructive history. + + * * * * * + +Magical articles such as the wonderful wishing-bowl of our unlucky +friend the Faggot-maker figure very frequently in the folk-tales of +almost every country, assuming many different forms: a table-cloth, a +pair of saddle-bags, a purse, a flask, etc.; but since a comprehensive +account of those highly-gifted objects--alas, that they should no longer +exist!--is furnished in the early chapters of my _Popular Tales and +Fictions_, I presume I need not go over the same wide field again.--In +the _Kathá Sarit Ságara_ (Ocean of the Streams of Story), a very large +collection of tales and apologues, composed, in Sanskrit, by Somadeva, +in the 12th century, after a much older work, the _Vrihat Kathá_ (or +Great Story), the tale of the Faggot-maker occurs as a separate recital. +It is there an inexhaustible pitcher which he receives from four +yakshas--supernatural beings, who correspond to some extent with the +perís of Muslim mythology--and he is duly warned that should it be +broken it departs at once. For a time he concealed the secret from his +relations until one day, when he was intoxicated, they asked him how it +came about that he had given up carrying burdens, and had abundance of +all kinds of dainties, eatable and drinkable. "He was too much puffed up +with pride to tell them plainly, but, taking the wish-granting pitcher +on his shoulder, he began to dance; and, as he was dancing, the +inexhaustible pitcher slipped from his shoulder, as his feet tripped +with over-abundance of intoxication, and, falling on the ground, was +broken in pieces. And immediately it was mended again, and reverted to +its original possessor; but Subadatta was reduced to his former +condition, and filled with despondency." In a note to this story, Mr. +Tawney remarks that in Bartsch's Meklenburg Tales a man possesses +himself of an inexhaustible beer-can, but as soon as he tells how he got +it the beer disappears.--The story of the Foolish Thieves noisily +carousing in the house they had just plundered occurs also in Saádí's +_Gulistán_ and several other Eastern story-books. + +In Kádíri's abridgment of the Parrot-Book, the Elk is taken prisoner as +well as his companion the Ass, and the two subordinate stories, of the +Foolish Thieves and of the Faggot-maker, are omitted. They are also +omitted in the version of the Singing Ass found in the _Panchatantra_ +(B. v, F. 7), where a jackal, not an elk, is the companion of the ass, +and when he perceives the latter about to "sing" he says: "Let me get to +the door of the garden, where I may see the gardener as he approaches, +and then sing away as long as you please." The gardener beats the ass +till he is weary, and then fastens a clog to the animal's leg and ties +him to a post. After great exertion, the ass contrives to get free from +the post and hobbles away with the clog still on his leg. The jackal +meets his old comrade and exclaims: "Bravo, uncle! You would sing your +song, though I did all I could to dissuade you, and now see what a fine +ornament you have received as recompense for your performance." This +form of the story reappears in the _Tantrákhyána_, a collection of +tales, in Sanskrit, discovered by Prof. Cecil Bendall in 1884, of which +he has given an interesting account in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic +Society_, vol. xx, pp. 465-501, including the original text of a number +of the stories.--In Ralston's _Tibetan Tales_, translated from +Schiefner's German rendering of stories from the _Kah-gyur_ (No. xxxii), +the story is also found, with a bull in place of a jackal. An ass meets +the bull one evening and proposes they should go together and feast +themselves to their hearts' content in the king's bean-field, to which +the bull replies: "O nephew, as you are wont to let your voice resound, +we should run great risk." Said the ass: "O uncle, let us go; I will not +raise my voice." Having entered the bean-field together, the ass uttered +no sound until he had eaten his fill. Then quoth he: "Uncle, shall I not +sing a little?" The bull responded: "Wait an instant until I have gone +away, and then do just as you please." So the bull runs away, and the +ass lifts up his melodious voice, upon which the king's servants came +and seized him, cut off his long ears, fastened a pestle on his neck, +and drove him out of the field.--There can be no question, I think, as +to the superiority, in point of humour, of Nakhshabí's version in _Tútí +Náma_, as given above. + + + + +IV + +THE COVETOUS GOLDSMITH--THE KING WHO DIED OF LOVE--THE DISCOVERY OF +MUSIC--THE SEVEN REQUISITES OF A PERFECT WOMAN. + + +To quit, for the present at least, the regions of fable and magic, and +return to tales of common life: the 30th recital in Kádíri's abridged +text is of + + +_The Goldsmith who lost his Life through his Covetousness._ + +A soldier finds a purse of gold on the highway, and entrusts it to the +keeping of a goldsmith (how frequently do goldsmiths figure in these +stories--and never to the credit of the craft!), but when he comes to +demand it back the other denies all knowledge of it. The soldier cites +him before the kází, but he still persists in denying that he had ever +received any money from the complainant. The kází was, however, +convinced of the truth of the soldier's story, so he goes to the house +of the goldsmith, and privately causes two of his own attendants to be +locked up in a large chest that was in one of the rooms. He then +confines the goldsmith and his wife in the same room. During the night +the concealed men hear the goldsmith inform his wife where he had hidden +the soldier's money; and next morning, when the kází comes again and is +told by his men what they had heard the goldsmith say to his wife about +the money, he causes search to be made, and, finding it, hangs the +goldsmith on the spot. + + * * * * * + +Kázís are often represented in Persian stories as being very shrewd and +ingenious in convicting the most expert rogues, but this device for +discovering the goldsmith's criminality is certainly one of the +cleverest examples. + + * * * * * + +On the 36th Night of MS. (26th of Kádiri) the loquacious bird relates +the story of + + +_The King who died of Love for a Merchant's beautiful Daughter._ + +A merchant had a daughter, the fame of whose beauty drew many suitors +for her hand, but he rejected them all; and when she was of proper age +he wrote a letter to the king, describing her charms and +accomplishments, and respectfully offering her to him in marriage. The +king, already in love with the damsel from this account of her beauty, +sends his four vazírs to the merchant's house to ascertain whether she +was really as charming as her father had represented her to be. They +find that she far surpassed the power of words to describe; but, +considering amongst themselves that should the king take this bewitching +girl to wife, he would become so entangled in the meshes of love as +totally to neglect the affairs of the state, they underrate her beauty +to the king, who then gives up all thought of her. But it chanced one +day that the king himself beheld the damsel on the terrace of her house, +and, perceiving that his vazírs had deceived him, he sternly reprimanded +them, at the same time expressing his fixed resolution of marrying the +girl. The vazírs frankly confessed that their reason for misrepresenting +the merchant's daughter to him was their fear lest, possessing such a +charming bride, he should forget his duty to the state; upon which the +king, struck with their anxiety for his true interests, resolved to deny +himself the happiness of marrying the girl. But he could not suppress +his affection for her: he fell sick, and soon after died, the victim of +love. + + * * * * * + +This story forms the 17th of the Twenty-five Tales of a Demon (_Vetála +Panchavinsati_), according to the Sanskrit version found in the _Kathá +Sarit Ságara_; but its great antiquity is proved by the circumstance +that it is found in a Buddhistic work dating probably 200 years before +our era--namely, Buddhaghosha's Parables. "Dying for love," says +Richardson, "is considered amongst us as a mere poetical figure, and we +can certainly support the reality by few examples; but in Eastern +countries it seems to be something more, many words in the Arabic and +Persian languages which express love implying also melancholy; madness, +and death." Shakspeare affirms that "men have died, and worms have eaten +them, but not for love." There is, however, one notable instance of this +on record, in the story (as related by Warton, in his _History of +English Poetry_) of the gallant troubadour Geoffrey Rudel, who died for +love--and love, too, from hearsay description of the beauty of the +Countess of Tripoli. + + * * * * * + +On the 14th Night the Parrot entertains the Lady with a very curious +account of + + +_The Discovery of Music._ + +Some attribute, says the learned and eloquent feathered sage (according +to Gerrans), the discovery to the sounds made by a large stone against +the frame of an oil-press; and others to the noise of meat when +roasting; but the sages of Hind [India] are of opinion that it +originated from the following accident: As a learned Bráhman was +travelling to the court of an illustrious rájá he rested about the +middle of the day under the shade of a mulberry tree, on the top of +which he beheld a mischievous monkey climbing from bough to bough, till, +by a sudden slip, he fell upon a sharp-pointed shoot, which instantly +ripped up his belly and left his entrails suspended in the tree, while +the unlucky animal fell, breathless, on the dust of death. Some time +after this, as the Bráhman was returning, he accidentally sat down in +the same place, and, recollecting the circumstance, looked up, and saw +that the entrails were dried, and yielded a harmonious sound every time +the wind gently impelled them against the branches. Charmed at the +singularity of the adventure, he took them down, and after binding them +to the two ends of his walking-stick, touched them with a small twig, by +which he discovered that the sound was much improved. When he got home +he fastened the staff to another piece of wood, which was hollow, and by +the addition of a bow, strung with part of his own beard, converted it +to a complete instrument. In succeeding ages the science received +considerable improvements. After the addition of a bridge, purer notes +were extracted; and the different students, pursuing the bent of their +inclinations, constructed instruments of various forms, according to +their individual fancies; and to this whimsical accident we are indebted +for the tuneful ney and the heart-exhilarating rabáb, and, in short, all +the other instruments of wind and strings. + +Having thus discoursed upon the discovery of music, the Parrot proceeds +to detail + + +_The Seven Requisites of a Perfect Woman._ + + 1 She ought not to be always merry. + + 2 She ought not to be always sad. + + 3 She ought not to be always talking. + + 4 She ought not to be always thinking. + + 5 She ought not to be constantly dressing. + + 6 She ought not to be always unadorned. + + 7 She is a perfect woman who, at all times, possesses + herself; can be cheerful without levity, grave + without austerity; knows when to elevate the tongue + of persuasion, and when to impress her lips with the + signet of silence; never converts trifling ceremonies + into intolerable burdens; always dresses becoming to + her rank and age; is modest without prudery, religious + without an alloy of superstition; can hear the one sex + praised without envy, and converse with the other + without permitting the torch of inconstancy to kindle + the unhallowed fire in her breast; considers her husband + as the most accomplished of mortals, and thinks + all the sons of Adam besides unworthy of a transient + glance from the corner of her half-shut eyes. + +Such are the requisites of a perfect woman, and how thankful we should +be that we have so many in this highly-favoured land who possess them +all! These maxims are assuredly of Indian origin--no Persian could ever +have conceived such virtues as being attainable by women. + + + + +V + +THE PRINCESS OF ROME AND HER SON--THE KING AND HIS SEVEN VAZIRS. + + +The story told by the Parrot on the 50th Night is very singular, and +presents, no doubt, a faithful picture of Oriental manners and customs. +In the original text it is entitled + + +_Story of the Daughter of the Kaysar of Rome, and her trouble by reason +of her Son._ + +In former times there was a great king, whose army was numerous and +whose treasury was full to overflowing; but, having no enemy to contend +with, he neglected to pay his soldiers, in consequence of which they +were in a state of destitution and discontent. At length one day the +soldiers went to the prime vazír and made their condition known to him. +The vazír promised that he would speedily devise a plan by which they +should have employment and money. Next morning he presented himself +before the king, and said that it was widely reported that the kaysar of +Rome had a daughter unsurpassed for beauty--one who was fit only for +such a great monarch as his Majesty--and suggested that it would be +advantageous if an alliance were formed between two such potentates. The +notion pleased the king well, and he forthwith despatched to Rome an +ambassador with rich gifts, and requested the kaysar to grant him his +daughter in marriage. But the kaysar waxed wroth at this, and refused to +give his daughter to the king. When the ambassador returned thus +unsuccessful, the king, enraged at being made of no account, resolved to +make war upon the kaysar, and, opening the doors of his treasury, he +distributed much money among his troops, and then, "with a woe-bringing +lust, and a blood-drinking army, he trampled Rome and the Romans in the +dust." And when the kaysar was become powerless, he sent his daughter to +the king, who married her according to the law of Islám. + +Now that princess had a son by a former husband, and the kaysar had said +to her before she departed: "Beware that thou mention not thy son, for +my love for his society is great, and I cannot part with him." But the +princess was sick at heart for the absence of her son, and she was ever +pondering how she should speak to the king about him, and in what manner +she might contrive to bring him to her. It happened one day the king +gave her a string of pearls and a casket of jewels. She said: "With my +father is a slave well skilled in the science of jewels." The king +replied: "If I should ask that slave of thy father, would he give him to +me?" "Nay," said she; "for he holds him in the place of a son. But, if +the king desire him, I will send a merchant to Rome, and I myself will +give him a token, and with pleasant wiles and fair speeches will bring +him hither." Then the king sent for a clever merchant who knew Arabic +eloquently and the language of Rome, and gave him goods for trading, and +sent him to Rome with the object of procuring that slave. But the +daughter of the kaysar said privately to the merchant: "That slave is my +son; I have, for a good reason, said to the king that he is a slave; so +thou must bring him as a slave, and let it be thy duty to take care of +him." In due course the merchant brought the youth to the king's +service; and when the king saw his fair face, and discovered in him many +pleasing and varied accomplishments, he treated him with distinction and +favour, and conferred on the merchant a robe of honour and gifts. His +mother saw him from afar, and was pleased with receiving a salutation +from him. + +One day (the text proceeds) the king had gone to the chase, and the +palace remained void of rivals; so the mother called in her son, kissed +his fair face, and told him the tale of her great sorrow. A chamberlain +became aware of the secret, and another suspicion fell upon him, and he +said to himself: "The harem of the king is the sanctuary of security and +the palace of protection. If I speak not of this, I shall be guilty of +treachery, and shall have wrought unfaithfulness." When the king +returned from the chase, the chamberlain related to him what he had +seen, and the king was angry and said: "This woman has deceived me with +words and deeds, and has brought hither her desire by craft and cunning. +This conjecture must be true, else why did she play such a trick, and +why did she hatch such a plot, and why did she send the merchant?" The +king, enraged, went into the harem. The queen saw from his countenance +that the occurrence of the night before had become known to him, and she +said: "Be it not that I see the king angry." He said: "How should I not +be angry? Thou, by craft, and trickery, and intrigue, and plotting, hast +brought thy desire from Rome--what wantonness is this that thou hast +done?" Then he thought to slay her, but he forbore, because of his great +love for her. But he ordered the chamberlain to carry the youth to some +obscure place, and straightway sever his head from his body. When the +poor mother saw this she well-nigh fell on her face, and her soul was +near leaving her body. But she knew that sorrow would not avail, and she +restrained herself. + +And when the chamberlain took the youth into his own house, he said to +him: "O youth, know you not that the harem of the king is the sanctuary +of security? What great treachery is this that thou hast perpetrated?" +The youth replied: "That queen is my mother, and I am her true son. +Because of her natural delicacy, she said not to the king that she had a +son by another husband. And when yearning came over her, she contrived +to bring me here from Rome; and while the king was engaged in the chase +maternal love stirred, and she called me to her and embraced me." On +hearing this, the chamberlain said to himself: "What is passing in his +mother's breast? What I have not done I can yet do, and it were better +that I preserve this youth some days, for such a rose may not be wounded +through idle words, and such a bough may not be broken by a single +breath. For some day the truth of this matter will be disclosed, and it +will become known to the king, when repentance may be of no avail." +Another day he went before the king, and said: "That which was commanded +have I fulfilled." On hearing this the king's wrath was to some extent +removed, but his trust in the kaysar's daughter was departed; while she, +poor creature, was grieved and dazed at the loss of her son. + +Now in the palace harem there was an old woman, who said to the queen: +"How is it that I find thee sorrowful?" And the queen told the whole +story, concealing nothing. The old woman was a heroine in the field of +craft, and she answered: "Keep thy mind at ease: I will devise a +stratagem by which the heart of the king will be pleased with thee, and +every grief he has will vanish from his heart." The queen said, that if +she did so she should be amply rewarded. One day the old woman, seeing +the king alone, said to him: "Why is thy former aspect altered, and why +are traces of care and anxiety visible on thy countenance?" The king +then told her all. The old woman said: "I have an amulet of the charms +of Solomon, in the Syriac language, in the the writing of the jinn +[genii]. When the queen is asleep do thou place it on her breast, and, +whatever it may be, she will tell all the truth of it. But take care, +fall thou not asleep, but listen well to what she says." The king +wondered at this, and said: "Give me that amulet, that the truth of this +matter may be learned." So the old woman gave him the amulet, and then +went to the queen and explained what she had done, and said: "Do thou +feign to be asleep, and relate the whole of the story faithfully." + +When a watch of the night was past, the king laid the amulet upon his +wife's breast, and she thus began: "By a former husband I had a son, and +when my father gave me to this king, I was ashamed to say I had a tall +son. When my yearning passed all bounds, I brought him here by an +artifice. One day that the king was gone to the chase, I called him into +the house, when, after the way of mothers, I took him in my arms and +kissed him. This reached the king's ears, and he unwittingly gave it +another construction, and cut off the head of that innocent boy, and +withdrew from me his own heart. Alike is my son lost to me and the king +angry." When the king heard these words he kissed her and exclaimed: "O +my life, what an error is this thou hast committed? Thou hast brought +calumny upon thyself, and hast given such a son to the winds, and hast +made me ashamed!" Straightway he called the chamberlain and said: "That +boy whom thou hast killed is the son of my beloved and the darling of my +beauty! Where is his grave, that we may make there a guest-house?" The +chamberlain said: "That youth is yet alive. When the king commanded his +death I was about to kill him, but he said: 'That queen is my mother; +through modesty before the king she revealed not the secret that she had +a tall son. Kill me not; it may be that some day the truth will become +known, and repentance profits not, and regret is useless.'" The king +commanded them to bring the youth, so they brought him straightway. And +when the mother saw the face of her son, she thanked God and praised the +Most High, and became one of the Muslims, and from the sect of +unbelievers came into the faith of Islám. And the king favoured the +chamberlain in the highest degree, and they passed the rest of their +lives in comfort and ease. + + * * * * * + +This tale is also found in the Persian _Bakhtyár Náma_ (or the Ten +Vazírs), the precise date of which has not been ascertained, but a MS. +Túrkí (Uygúr) version of it, preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, +bears to have been written in 1434; the Persian text must therefore have +been composed before that date. In the text translated by Sir William +Ouseley, in place of the daughter of the kaysar of Rome it is the +daughter of the king of Irák whom the king of Abyssinia marries, after +subduing the power of her father; and, so far from a present of jewels +to her being the occasion of her mentioning her son, in the condition of +a slave, it is said that one day the king behaved harshly to her, and +spoke disrespectfully of her father, upon which she boasted that her +father had in his service a youth of great beauty and possessed of every +accomplishment, which excited the king's desire to have him brought to +his court; and the merchant smuggled the youth out of the country of +Irák concealed in a chest, placed on the back of a camel. In +Lescallier's French translation it is said that the youth was the fruit +of a _liaison_ of the princess, unknown to her father; that his +education was secretly entrusted to certain servants; and that the +princess afterwards contrived to introduce the boy to her father, who +was so charmed with his beauty, grace of manner, and accomplishments, +that he at once took him into his service. Thus widely do manuscripts of +the same Eastern work vary! + + +_The King and his Seven Vazírs._ + +On the Eighth Night the Parrot relates, in a very abridged form, the +story of the prince who was falsely accused by one of his father's women +of having made love to her, and who was saved by the tales which the +royal counsellors related to the king in turn during seven consecutive +days. The original of this romance is the _Book of Sindibád_, so named +after the prince's tutor, Sindibád the sage: the Arabic version is known +under the title of the _Seven Vazírs_; the Hebrew, _Mishlé Sandabar_; +the Greek, _Syntipas_; and the Syriac, _Sindbán_; and its European +modifications, the _Seven Wise Masters_. In the Parrot-Book the first to +the sixth vazírs each relate one story only, and the damsel has no +stories (all other Eastern versions give two to each of the seven, and +six to the queen); the seventh vazír simply appears on the seventh day +and makes clear the innocence of the prince. This version, however, +though imperfect, is yet of some value in making a comparative study of +the several texts. + + + + +VI + +THE TREE OF LIFE--LEGEND OF RÁJÁ RASÁLÚ--CONCLUSION. + + +Many others of the Parrot's stories might be cited, but we shall merely +glance at one more, as it calls up a very ancient and wide-spread +legend: + + +_The Tree of Life._ + +A prince, who is very ill, sends a parrot of great sagacity to procure +him some of the fruit of the Tree of Life. When at length the parrot +returns with the life-giving fruit, the prince scruples to eat it, upon +which the wise bird relates the legend of Solomon and the Water of +Immortality: how that monarch declined to purchase immunity from death +on consideration that he should survive all his friends and female +favourites. The prince, however, having suspicions regarding the +genuineness of the fruit, sends some trusty messengers to "bring the +first apple that fell from the Tree of Existence." But it happened that +a black serpent had poisoned it by seizing it in his mouth and then +letting it drop again. When the messengers return with the fruit, the +prince tries its effect on an old _pír_ (holy man), who at once falls +down dead. Upon seeing this the prince doomed the parrot to death, but +the sagacious bird suggested that, before the prince should execute him +for treason, he should himself go to the Tree of Life, and make another +experiment with its fruit. He does so, and on returning home gives part +of the fruit to an old woman, "who, from age and infirmity had not +stirred abroad for many years," and she had no sooner tasted it than she +was changed into a blooming beauty of eighteen!--Happy, happy old woman! + + * * * * * + +A different version of the legend occurs in a Canarese collection, +entitled _Kathá Manjarí_, which is worthy of reproduction, since it may +possibly be an earlier form than that in the Persian Parrot-Book: A +certain king had a magpie that flew one day to heaven with another +magpie. When it was there it took away some mango-seed, and, having +returned, gave it into the hands of the king, saying: "If you cause this +to be planted and grow, whoever eats of its fruit old age will forsake +him and youth return." The king was much pleased, and caused it to be +sown in his favourite garden, and carefully watched it. After some time, +buds having shown themselves in it became flowers, then young fruit, +then it was grown; and when it was full of ripe fruit, the king ordered +it to be cut and brought, and that he might test it gave it to an old +man. But on that fruit there had fallen poison from a serpent, as it was +carried through the air by a kite, therefore he immediately withered and +died. The king, having seen this, was much afraid, and exclaimed: "Is +not this bird attempting to kill me?" Having said this, with anger he +seized the magpie, and swung it round and killed it. Afterwards in that +village the tree had the name of the Poisonous Mango. While things were +thus, a washerman, taking the part of his wife in a quarrel with his +aged mother, struck the latter, who was so angry at her son that she +resolved to die [in order that the blame of her death should fall on +him]; and having gone to the poisonous mango-tree in the garden, she cut +off a fruit and ate it; and immediately she was more blooming than a +girl of sixteen. This wonder she published everywhere. The king became +acquainted with it, and having called her and seen her, caused the fruit +to be given to other old people. Having seen what was thus done by the +wonderful virtue of the mango, the king exclaimed: "Alas! is the +affectionate magpie killed which gave me this divine tree? How guilty am +I!" and he pierced himself with his sword and died. Therefore (moralises +the story-teller) those who do anything without thought are easily +ruined.[52] + + [52] There is a very similar story in the Tamil _Alakésa + Kathá_, a tale of a King and his Four Ministers, but the + conclusion is different: the rájá permits all his + subjects to partake of the youth-bestowing fruit;--I + wonder whether they are yet alive! A translation of the + romance of the King and his Four Ministers--the first + that has been made into English--will be found in my + _Group of Eastern Romances and Stories_, 1889. + +The incident of fruit or food being poisoned by a serpent is of frequent +occurrence in Eastern stories; thus, in the _Book of Sindibád_ a man +sends his slave-girl to fetch milk, with which to feast some guests. As +she was returning with it in an open vessel a stork flew over her, +carrying a snake in its beak; the snake dropped some of its poison into +the milk, and all the guests who partook of it immediately fell down and +died.--The Water of Life and the Tree of Life are the subjects of many +European as well as Asiatic folk-tales. Muslims have a tradition that +Alexander the Great despatched the prophet Al-Khizar (who is often +confounded with Moses and Elias in legends) to procure him some of the +Water of Life. The prophet, after a long and perilous journey, at length +reached this Spring of Everlasting Youth, and, having taken a hearty +draught of its waters, the stream suddenly disappeared--and has, we may +suppose, never been rediscovered. Al-Khizar, they say, still lives, and +occasionally appears to persons whom he desires especially to favour, +and always clothed in a green robe, the emblem of perennial youth. In +Arabic, Khizar signifies _green_. + + * * * * * + +The faithful and sagacious Parrot having entertained the lady during +fifty-two successive nights, and thereby prevented her from prosecuting +her intended intrigue, on the following day the merchant returned, and, +missing the sharak from the cage, inquired its fate of the Parrot, who +straight-way acquainted him of all that had taken place in his absence, +and, according to Kádiri's abridged text, he put his wife to death, +which was certainly very unjust, since the lady's offence was only in +_design_, not in _fact_.[53] + + [53] In one Telúgú version, entitled _Totí Náma Cat'halú_, + the lady kills the bird after hearing all its tales; and + in another the husband, on returning home and learning + of his wife's intended intrigue, cuts off her head and + becomes a devotee. + + * * * * * + +It will be observed that the frame of the _Tútí Náma_ somewhat resembles +the story, in the _Arabian Nights_, of the Merchant, his Wife, and the +Parrot, which properly belongs to, and occurs in, all the versions of +the _Book of Sindibád_, and also in the _Seven Wise Masters_; in the +latter a magpie takes the place of the parrot. In my _Popular Tales and +Fictions_ I have pointed out the close analogy which the frame of the +Parrot-Book bears to a Panjábí legend of the renowned hero Rájá Rasálú. +In the _Tútí Náma_ the merchant leaves a parrot and a sharak to watch +over his wife's conduct in his absence, charging her to obtain their +consent before she enters upon any undertaking of moment; and on her +consulting the sharak as to the propriety of her assignation with the +young prince, the bird refuses consent, whereupon the enraged dame kills +it on the spot; but the parrot, by pursuing a middle course, saves his +life and his master's honour. In the Panjábí legend Rájá Rasálú, who was +very frequently from home on hunting excursions, left behind him a +parrot and a maina (hill starling), to act as spies upon his young wife, +the Rání Kokla. One day while Rasálú was from home she was visited by +the handsome Rájá Hodí, who climbed to her balcony by a rope (this +incident is the subject of many paintings in fresco on the panels of +palaces and temples in India), when the maina exclaimed, "What +wickedness is this?" upon which the rájá went to the cage, took out the +maina, and dashed it to the ground, so that it died. But the parrot, +taking warning, said, "The steed of Rasálú is swift, what if he should +surprise you? Let me out of my cage, and I will fly over the palace, and +will inform you the instant he appears in sight"; and so she released +the parrot. In the sequel, the parrot betrays the rání, and Rasálú kills +Rájá Hodí and causes his heart to be served to the rání for supper.[54] + + [54] Captain R. C. Temple's _Legends of the Panjáb_, vol. i, + p. 52 ff.; and "Four Legends of Rájá Rasálú," by the + Rev. C. Swynnerton, in the _Folk-Lore Journal_, 1883, p. + 141 ff. + + * * * * * + +The parrot is a very favourite character in Indian fictions, a +circumstance originating, very possibly, in the Hindú belief in +metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls after death into other animal +forms, and also from the remarkable facility with which that bird +imitates the human voice. In the _Kathá Sarit Ságara_ stories of wise +parrots are of frequent occurrence; sometimes they figure as mere birds, +but at other times as men who had been re-born in that form. In the +third of the Twenty-Five Tales of a Demon (Sanskrit version), a king has +a parrot, "possessed of god-like intellect, knowing all the _shastras_, +having been born in that condition owing to a curse"; and his queen has +a hen-maina "remarkable for knowledge." They are placed in the same +cage; and "one day the parrot became enamoured of the maina, and said to +her: 'Marry me, fair one, as we sleep, perch, and feed in the same +cage.' But the maina answered him: 'I do not desire intimate union with +a male, for all males are wicked and ungrateful.' The parrot answered: +'It is not true that males are wicked, but females are wicked and +cruel-hearted.' And so a dispute arose between them. The two birds then +made a bargain that, if the parrot won, he should have the maina for +wife, and if the maina won, the parrot should be her slave, and they +came before the prince to get a true judgment." Each relates a +story--the one to show that men are all wicked and ungrateful, the +other, that women are wicked and cruel-hearted. + +It must be confessed that the frame of the _Tútí Náma_ is of a very +flimsy description: nothing could be more absurd, surely, than to +represent the lady as decorating herself fifty-two nights in succession +in order to have an interview with a young prince, and being detained +each night by the Parrot's tales, which, moreover, have none of them the +least bearing upon the condition and purpose of the lady; unlike the +Telúgú story-book, having a somewhat similar frame (see _ante_, p. 127, +_note_), in which the tales related by the bird are about chaste wives. +But the frames of all Eastern story-books are more or less slight and of +small account. The value of the _Tútí Náma_ consists in the aid which +the subordinate tales furnish in tracing the genealogy of popular +fictions, and in this respect the importance of the work can hardly be +over-rated. + + + + +_ADDITIONAL NOTE._ + + +THE MAGIC BOWL, pp. 152-156; 157, 158. + +In our tale of the Faggot-maker, the fairies warn him to guard the Magic +Bowl with the utmost care, "for it will break by the most trifling +blow," and he is to use it only when absolutely necessary; and in the +notes of variants appended, reference is made (p. 158) to a Meklenburg +story where the beer in an inexhaustible can disappears the moment its +possessor reveals the secret. The gifts made by fairies and other +superhuman beings have indeed generally some condition attached (most +commonly, perhaps, that they are not to be examined until the recipients +have reached home), as is shown pretty conclusively by my friend Mr. E. +Sidney Hartland in a most interesting paper on "Fairy Births and Human +Midwives," which enriches the pages of the _Archćological Review_ for +December, 1889, and at the close of which he cites, from Poestion's +_Lappländische Märchen_, p. 119, a curious example, which may be fairly +regarded as an analogue of the tale of the Poor Faggot-maker--"far cry" +though it be from India to Swedish Lappmark: + +"A peasant who had one day been unlucky at the chase was returning +disgusted, when he met a fine gentleman, who begged him to come and cure +his wife. The peasant protested in vain that he was no doctor. The other +would take no denial, insisting that it was no matter, for if he would +only put his hands on the lady she would be healed. Accordingly, the +stranger led him to the very top of a mountain where was perched a +castle he had never seen before. On entering, he found the walls were +mirrors, the roof overhead of silver, the carpets of gold-embroidered +silk, and the furniture of the purest gold and jewels. The stranger took +him into a room where lay the loveliest of princesses on a golden bed, +screaming with pain. As soon as she saw the peasant, she begged him to +come and put his hands upon her. Almost stupified with astonishment, he +hesitated to lay his coarse hands upon so fair a dame. But at length he +yielded, and in a moment her pain ceased, and she was made whole. She +stood up and thanked him, begging him to tarry awhile and eat with them. +This, however, he declined to do, for he feared that if he tasted the +food which was offered him he must remain there. + +"The stranger whom he had followed then took a leathern purse, filled it +with small round pieces of wood, and gave it to the peasant with these +words: 'So long as thou art in possession of this purse, money will +never fail thee. But if thou shouldst ever see me again, beware of +speaking to me; for if thou speak thy luck will depart.' When the man +got home he found the purse filled with dollars; and by virtue of its +magical property he became the richest man in the parish. As soon as he +found the purse always full, whatever he took out of it, he began to +live in a spendthrift manner, and frequented the alehouse. One evening +as he sat there he beheld the stranger, with a bottle in his hand, going +round and gathering the drops which the guests shook from time to time +out of their glasses. The rich peasant was surprised that one who had +given him so much did not seem able to buy himself a single dram, but +was reduced to this means of getting a drink. Thereupon he went up to +him and said: 'Thou hast shown me more kindness than any other man ever +did, and willingly I will treat thee to a little.' The words were scarce +out of his mouth when he received such a blow on his head that he fell +stunned to the ground; and when again he came to himself the stranger +and his purse were both gone. From that day forward he became poorer and +poorer, until he was reduced to absolute beggary." + +Among other examples adduced by Mr. Hartland is a Bohemian legend in +which "the Frau von Hahnen receives for her services to a water-nix +three pieces of gold, with the injunction to take care of them, and +never to let them go out of the hands of her own lineage, else the whole +family would fall into poverty. She bequeathed the treasures to her +three sons; but the youngest son took a wife who with a light heart gave +the fairy gold away. Misery, of course, resulted from her folly, and the +race of Hahnen speedily came to an end."--But those who are interested +in the study of comparative folk-lore would do well to read for +themselves the whole paper, which is assuredly by far the most (if not +indeed the only) comprehensive attempt that has yet been made in our +language to treat scientifically the subject of fairy gifts to human +beings. + + + + +RABBINICAL LEGENDS, TALES, FABLES, AND APHORISMS. + + + + +I + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +In the Talmud are embodied those rules and institutions--interpretations +of the civil and canonical laws contained in the Old Testament--which +were transmitted orally to succeeding generations of the Jewish +priesthood until the general dispersion of the Hebrew race. According to +the Rabbis, Moses received the oral as well as the written law at Mount +Sinai, and it was by him communicated to Joshua, from whom it was +transmitted through forty successive Receivers. So long as the Temple +stood, it was deemed not only unnecessary, but absolutely unlawful, to +commit these ancient and carefully-preserved traditions to writing; but +after the second destruction of Jerusalem, under Hadrian, when the +Jewish people were scattered over the world, the system of oral +transmission of these traditions from generation to generation became +impracticable, and, to prevent their being lost, they were formed into a +permanent record about A.D. 190, by Rabbi Jehudah the Holy, who called +his work _Mishna_, or the Secondary Laws. About a hundred years later a +commentary on it was written by Rabbi Jochonan, called _Gemara_, or the +Completion, and these two works joined together are known as the +(Jerusalem) _Talmud_, or Directory. But this commentary being written in +an obscure style, and omitting many traditions known farther east, +another was begun by Rabbi Asche, who died A.D. 427, and completed by +his disciples and followers about the year 500, which together with the +Mishna formed the Babylonian Talmud. Both versions were first printed at +Venice in the 16th century--the Jerusalem Talmud, in one folio volume, +about the year 1523; and the Babylonian Talmud, in twelve folio volumes, +1520-30. In the 12th century Moses Maimonides, a Spanish Rabbi, made an +epitome, or digest, of all the laws and institutions of the Talmud. +Such, in brief, is the origin and history of this famed compilation, +which has been aptly described as an extraordinary monument of human +industry, human wisdom, and human folly. + +By far the greater portion of the Talmud is devoted to the ceremonial +law, as preserved by oral tradition in the manner above explained; but +it also comprises innumerable sayings or aphorisms of celebrated Rabbis, +together with narratives of the most varied character--legends regarding +Biblical personages, moral tales, fables, parables, and facetious +stories. Of the rabbinical legends, many are extremely puerile and +absurd, and may rank with the extravagant and incredible monkish legends +of medićval times; some, however, are characterised by a richness of +humour which one would hardly expect to meet with in such a work; while +not a few of the parables, fables, and tales are strikingly beautiful, +and will favourably compare with the same class of fictions composed by +the ancient sages of Hindústán. + +It is a singular circumstance, and significant as well as singular, that +while the Hebrew Talmud was, as Dr. Barclay remarks, "periodically +banned and often publicly burned, from the age of the Emperor Justinian +till the time of Pope Clement VIII," several of the best stories in the +_Gesta Romanorum_, a collection of moral tales (or tales "moralised") +which were read in Christian churches throughout Europe during the +Middle Ages, are derived mediately or immediately from this great +storehouse of rabbinical learning.[55] + + [55] In midsummer, 1244, twenty waggon loads of copies of the + Talmud were burnt in France. This was in consequence of, + and four years after, a public dispute between a certain + Donin (afterwards called Nicolaus), a converted Jew, + with Rabbi Yehiel, of Paris, on the contents of the + Talmud.--See _Journal of Philology_, vol. xvi, p. + 133.--In the year 1569, the famous Jewish library in + Cremona was plundered, and 12,000 copies of the Talmud + and other Jewish works were committed to the + flames.--_The Talmud_, by Joseph Barclay, LL.D., London, + 1875, p. 14. + +The traducers of the Talmud, among other false assertions, have +represented the Rabbis as holding their own work as more important than +even the Old Testament itself, and as fostering among the Jewish people a +spirit of intolerance towards all persons outside the pale of the Hebrew +religion. In proof of the first assertion they cite the following passage +from the Talmud: "The Bible is like water, the Mishna, like wine, the +Gemara, spiced wine; the Law, like salt, the Mishna, pepper, the Gemara, +balmy spice." But surely only a very shallow mind could conceive from +these similitudes that the Rabbis rated the importance of the Bible as +less than that of the Talmud; yet an English Church clergyman, in an +article published in a popular periodical a few years since, reproduced +this passage in proof of rabbinical presumption--evidently in ignorance +of the peculiar style of Oriental metaphor. What is actually taught by +the Rabbis in the passage in question, regarding the comparative merits +of the Bible and the Talmud, is this: The Bible is like water, the Law is +like salt; now, water and salt are indispensable to mankind. The Mishna +is like wine and pepper--luxuries, not necessaries of life; while the +Gemara is like spiced wine and balmy spices--still more refined luxuries, +but not necessaries, like water and salt. + +With regard to the accusation of intolerance brought against the Rabbis, +it is worse than a misconception of words or phrases; it is a gross +calumny, the more reprehensible if preferred by those who are acquainted +with the teachings of the Talmud, since they are thus guilty of wilfully +suppressing the truth. In the following passages a broad, humane spirit +of toleration is clearly inculcated: + +"It is our duty to maintain the heathen poor along with those of our own +nation." + +"We must visit their sick, and administer to their relief, bury their +dead," and so forth. + +"The heathens that dwell out of the land of Israel ought not to be +considered as idolators, since they only follow the customs of their +fathers." + +"The pious men of the heathen will have their portion in the next +world." + +"It is unlawful to deceive or over-reach any one, not even a heathen." + +"Be circumspect in the fear of the Lord, soft in speech, slow in wrath, +kind and friendly to all, even to the heathen." + +Alluding to the laws inimical to the heathen, Rabbi Mosha says: "What +wise men have said in this respect was directed against the ancient +idolators, who believed neither in a creation nor in a deliverance from +Egypt; but the nations among whom we live, whose protection we enjoy, +must not be considered in this light, since they believe in a creation, +the divine origin of the law, and many other fundamental doctrines of +our religion. It is, therefore, not only our duty to shelter them +against actual danger, but to pray for their welfare and the prosperity +of their respective governments."[56] + + [56] Introductory Essay to _Hebrew Tales_, by Hyman Hurwitz; + published at London in 1826. + +Let the impartial reader compare these teachings of the Rabbis with the +intolerant doctrines and practices of Christian pastors, even in modern +times as well as during the Middle Ages: when they taught that out of +the pale of the Church there could be no salvation; that no faith should +be kept with heretics, or infidels: when Catholics persecuted +Protestants, and Protestants retaliated upon Catholics: + + Christians have burned each other, quite persuaded + That all the Apostles would have done as they did! + +It will probably occur to most readers, in connection with the +rabbinical doctrine, that it is unlawful to over-reach any one, that the +Jews appear to have long ignored such maxims of morality. But it should +be remembered that if they have earned for themselves, by their +chicanery in mercantile transactions, an evil reputation, their +ancestors in the bad old times were goaded into the practice of +over-reaching by cunning those Christian sovereigns and nobles who +robbed them of their property by force and cruel tortures. Moreover, +where are the people to be found whose daily actions are in accordance +with the religion they profess? At least, the Rabbis, unlike the +spiritual teachers of medićval Europe, did not openly inculcate immoral +doctrines. + + + + +II + +LEGENDS OF SOME BIBLICAL CHARACTERS. + + +There is, no doubt, very much in the Talmud that possesses a recondite, +spiritual meaning; but it would likely puzzle the most ingenious and +learned modern Rabbis to construe into mystical allegories such absurd +legends regarding Biblical personages as the following: + + +_Adam and Eve._ + +Adam's body, according to the Jewish Fathers, was formed of the earth of +Babylon, his head of the land of Israel, and his other members of other +parts of the world. Originally his stature reached the firmament, but +after his fall the Creator, laying his hand upon him, lessened him very +considerably.[57] Mr Hershon, in his _Talmudic Miscellany_, says there +is a notion among the Rabbis that Adam was at first possessed of a +bi-sexual organisation, and this conclusion they draw from Genesis i, +27, where it is said: "God created man in his own image, male-female +created he him."[58] These two natures it was thought lay side by side; +according to some, the male on the right and the female on the left; +according to others, back to back; while there were those who maintained +that Adam was created with a _tail_, and that it was from this appendage +that Eve was fashioned![59] Other Jewish traditions (continues Mr. +Hershon) inform us that Eve was made from the thirteenth rib of the +right side, and that she was not drawn out by the head, lest she should +be vain; nor by the eyes, lest she should be wanton; nor by the mouth, +lest she should be given to garrulity; nor by the ears, lest she should +be an eavesdropper; nor by the hands, lest she should be intermeddling; +nor by the feet, lest she should be a gadder; nor by the heart, lest she +should be jealous;--but she was taken out from the side: yet, in spite +of all these precautions, she had every one of the faults so carefully +guarded against! + + [57] Commentators on the Kurán say that Adam's beard did not + grow till after his fall, and it was the result of his + excessive sorrow and penitence. Strange to say, he was + ashamed of his beard, till he heard a voice from heaven + calling to him and saying: "The beard is man's ornament + on earth; it distinguishes him from the feeble woman." + Thus we ought to--should we not?--regard our beards as + the offshoots of what divines term "original sin"; and + cherish them as mementoes of the Fall of Man. Think of + this, ye effeminate ones who use the razor! + + [58] The notion of man being at first androgynous, or + man-woman, was prevalent in most of the countries of + antiquity. Mr. Baring-Gould says that "the idea, that + man without woman and woman without man are imperfect + beings, was the cause of the great repugnance with which + the Jews and other nations of the East regarded + celibacy." (_Legends of the Old Testament_, vol. i, p. + 22.) But this, I think, is not very probable. The + aversion of Asiatics from celibacy is rather to be + ascribed to their surroundings in primitive times, when + neighbouring clans were almost constantly at war with + each other, and those chiefs and notables who had the + greatest number of sturdy and valiant sons and grandsons + would naturally be best able to hold their own against + an enemy. The system of concubinage, which seems to have + existed in the East from very remote times, is not + matrimony, and undoubtedly had its origin in the + passionate desire which, even at the present day, every + Asiatic has for male offspring. By far the most common + opening of an Eastern tale is the statement that there + was a certain king, wise, wealthy, and powerful, but + though he had many beautiful wives and handmaidens, + Heaven had not yet blest him with a son, and in + consequence of this all his life was embittered, and he + knew no peace day or night. + + [59] Professor Charles Marelle, of Berlin, in an interesting + little collection, _Affenschwanz, &c.; Variants orales + de Contes Populaires, Français et Etrangers_ + (Braunschweig, 1888), gives an amusing story, based + evidently on this rabbinical legend: The woman formed + from Adam's tail proved to be as mischievous as a + monkey, and gave her spouse no peace; whereupon another + was formed from a part of his breast, and she was a + decided improvement on her sister. All the giddy girls + in the world are descended from the woman who was made + from Adam's tail. + +Adam's excuse for eating of the forbidden fruit, "She gave me of the +tree and I did eat," is said to be thus ingeniously explained by the +learned Rabbis: By giving him of the _tree_ is meant that Eve took a +stout crab-tree cudgel, and gave her husband (in plain English) a sound +rib-roasting, until he complied with her will!--The lifetime of Adam, +according to the Book of Genesis, ch. v, 5, was nine hundred and thirty +years, for which the following legend (reproduced by the Muslim +traditionists) satisfactorily accounts: The Lord showed to Adam every +future generation, with their heads, sages, and scribes.[60] He saw that +David was destined to live only three hours, and said: "Lord and Creator +of the world, is this unalterably fixed?" The Lord answered: "It was my +original design." "How many years shall I live?" "One thousand." "Are +grants known in heaven?" "Certainly." "I grant then seventy years of my +life to David." What did Adam therefore do? He gave a written grant, set +his seal to it, and the same was done by the Lord and Metatron. + + [60] You and I, good reader, must therefore have been seen by + the Father of Mankind. + +The body of Adam was taken into the ark by Noah, and when at last it +grounded on the summit of Mount Ararat [which it certainly never did!], +Noah and his three sons removed the body, "and they followed an angel, +who led them to a place where the First Father was to lie. Shem (or +Melchizidek, for they are one), being consecrated by God to the +priesthood, performed the religious rites, and buried Adam at the centre +of the earth, which is Jerusalem. But some say he was buried by Shem, +along with Eve in the cave of Machpelah in Hebron; others relate that +Noah on leaving the ark distributed the bones of Adam among his sons, +and that he gave the head to Shem, who buried it in Jerusalem."[61] + + [61] _Legends of Old Testament Characters_, by S. + Baring-Gould, vol. i, pp. 78, 79. + + +_Cain and Abel._ + +The Hebrew commentators are not agreed regarding the cause of Cain's +enmity towards his brother Abel. According to one tradition, Cain and +Abel divided the whole world between them, one taking the moveable and +the other the immoveable possessions. One day Cain said to his brother: +"The earth on which thou standest is mine; therefore betake thyself to +the air." Abel rejoined: "The garment which thou dost wear is mine; +therefore take it off." From this there arose a conflict between them, +which resulted in Abel's death. Rabbi Huna teaches, however, that they +contended for a twin sister of Abel; the latter claimed her because she +was born along with him, while Cain pleaded his right of primogeniture. +After Adam's first-born had taken his brother's life, the sheep-dog of +Abel faithfully guarded his master's corpse from the attacks of beasts +and birds of prey. Adam and Eve also sat near the body of their pious +son, weeping bitterly, and not knowing how to dispose of his lifeless +clay. At length a raven, whose mate had lately died, said to itself: "I +will go and show to Adam what he must do with his son's body," and +accordingly scooped a hole in the ground and laid the dead raven +therein, and covered it with earth. This having been observed by Adam, +he likewise buried the body of Abel. For this service rendered to our +great progenitor, we are told, the Deity rewarded the raven, and no one +is allowed to injure its young: "they have food in abundance, and their +cry for rain is always heard."[62] + + [62] The Muhammedan legend informs us that Cain was + afterwards slain by the blood-avenging angel. But the + Jewish traditionists say that God was at length moved by + Cain's contrition and placed on his brow a seal, which + indicated that the fratricide was fully pardoned. Adam + happened to meet him, and observing the seal on his + forehead, asked him how he had turned aside the wrath of + God. He replied: "By confession of my sin and sincere + repentance." On hearing this Adam exclaimed, beating his + breast: "Woe is me! Is the virtue of repentance so great + and I knew it not?" + + +_The Planting of the Vine._ + +When Noah planted the vine, say the Rabbis, Satan slew a sheep, a lion, +an ape, and a sow, and buried the carcases under it; and hence the four +stages from sobriety to absolute drunkenness: Before a man begins to +drink, he is meek and innocent as a lamb, and as a sheep in the hand of +the shearer is dumb; when he has drank enough, he is fearless as a lion, +and says there is no one like him in the world; in the next stage, he is +like an ape, and dances, jests, and talks nonsense, knowing not what he +is doing and saying; when thoroughly drunken, he wallows in the mire +like a sow.[63] To this legend Chaucer evidently alludes in the Prologue +to the Maniciple's Tale: + + I trow that ye have dronken _wine of ape_, + And that is when men plaien at a strawe. + + [63] A garbled version of this legend is found in the Latin + _Gesta Romanorum_ (it does not occur in the Anglican + versions edited by Sir F. Madden for the Roxburghe Club, + and by Mr. S. J. Herrtage for the Early English Text + Society), Tale 179, as follows: "Josephus, in his work + on 'The Causes of Things,' says that Noah discovered the + vine in a wood, and because it was bitter he took the + blood of four animals, viz., of a lion, a lamb, a pig, + and a monkey. This mixture he united with earth and made + a kind of manure, which he deposited at the roots of the + trees. Thus the blood sweetened the fruit, with the + juice of which he afterwards intoxicated himself, and + lying naked was derided by his youngest son." + + +_Luminous Jewels._ + +Readers of that most fascinating collection of Eastern tales, commonly +but improperly called the _Arabian Nights' Entertainments_, must be +familiar with the remarkable property there ascribed to certain gems, of +furnishing light in the absence of the sun. Possibly the Arabians +adopted this notion from the Rabbis, in whose legends jewels are +frequently represented as possessing the light-giving property. For +example, we learn that Noah and his family, while in the ark, had no +light besides what was obtained from diamonds and other precious stones. +And Abraham, who, it appears, was extremely jealous of his wives, built +for them an enchanted city, of which the walls were so high as to shut +out the light of the sun; an inconvenience which he easily remedied by +means of a large basin full of rubies and other jewels, which shed forth +a flood of light equal in brilliancy to that of the sun itself.[64] + + [64] Luminous jewels figure frequently in Eastern tales, and + within recent years, from experiments and observations, + the phosphorescence of the diamond, sapphire, ruby, and + topaz has been fully established. + + +_Abraham's Arrival in Egypt._ + +When Abraham journeyed to Egypt he had among his _impedimenta_ a large +chest. On reaching the gates of the capital the customs officials +demanded the usual duties. Abraham begged them to name the sum without +troubling themselves to open the chest. They demanded to be paid the +duty on clothes. "I will pay for clothes," said the patriarch, with an +alacrity which aroused the suspicions of the officials, who then +insisted upon being paid the duty on silk. "I will pay for silk," said +Abraham. Hereupon the officials demanded the duty on gold, and Abraham +readily offered to pay the amount. Then they surmised that the chest +contained jewels, but Abraham was quite as willing to pay the higher +duty on gems, and now the curiosity of the officials could be no longer +restrained. They broke open the chest, when, lo, their eyes were dazzled +with the lustrous beauty of Sarah! Abraham, it seems, had adopted this +plan for smuggling his lovely wife into the Egyptian dominions. + + +_The Infamous Citizens of Sodom._ + +Some of the rabbinical legends descriptive of the singular customs of +the infamous citizens of Sodom are exceedingly amusing--or amazing. The +judges of that city are represented as notorious liars and mockers of +justice. When a man had cut off the ear of his neighbour's ass, the +judge said to the owner: "Let him have the ass till the ear is grown +again, that it may be returned to thee as thou wishest." The hospitality +shown by the citizens to strangers within their gates was of a very +peculiar kind. They had a particular bed for the weary traveller who +entered their city and desired shelter for the night. If he was found to +be too long for the bed, they reduced him to the proper size by chopping +off so much of his legs; and if he was shorter than the bed, he was +stretched to the requisite length.[65] To preserve their reputation for +hospitality, when a stranger arrived each citizen was required to give +him a coin with his name written on it, after which the unfortunate +traveller was refused food, and as soon as he had died of hunger every +man took back his own money. It was a capital offence for any one to +supply the stranger with food, in proof of which it is recorded that a +poor man, having arrived in Sodom, was presented with money and refused +food by all to whom he made his wants known. It chanced that, as he lay +by the roadside almost starved to death, he was observed by one of Lot's +daughters, who had compassion on him, and supplied him with food for +many days, as she went to draw water for her father's household. The +citizens, marvelling at the man's tenacity of life, set a person to +watch him, and Lot's daughter being discovered bringing him bread, she +was condemned to death by burning. Another kind-hearted maiden who had +in like manner relieved the wants of a stranger, was punished in a still +more dreadful manner, being smeared over with honey, and stung to death +by bees. + + [65] Did the Talmudist borrow this story from the Greek + legend of the famous robber of Attica, Procrustes, who + is said to have treated unlucky travellers after the + same barbarous fashion? + +It may be naturally supposed that travellers who were acquainted with +the peculiar ways of the citizens of Sodom would either pass by that +city without entering its inhospitable gates, or, if compelled by +business to go into the town, would previously provide themselves with +food; but even this last precaution did not avail them against the wiles +of those wicked people: A man from Elam, journeying to a place beyond +Sodom, reached the infamous city about sunset. The stranger had with him +an ass, bearing a valuable saddle to which was strapped a large bale of +merchandise. Being refused a lodging by each citizen of whom he asked +the favour, our traveller made a virtue of necessity, and determined to +pass the night, along with his animal and his goods, as best he might, +in the streets. His preparations with this view were observed by a +cunning and treacherous citizen, named Hidud, who came up, and, +accosting him courteously, desired to know whence he had come and +whither he was bound. The stranger answered that he had come from +Hebron, and was journeying to such a place; that, being refused shelter +by everybody, he was preparing to pass the night in the streets; and +that he was provided with bread for his own use and with fodder for his +beast. Upon this Hidud invited the stranger to his house, assuring him +that his lodging should cost him nothing, while the wants of his beast +should not be forgotten. The stranger accepted of Hidud's proffered +hospitality, and when they came to his house the citizen relieved the +ass of the saddle and merchandise, and carefully placed them for +security in his private closet. He then led the ass into his stable and +amply supplied him with provender; and returning to the house, he set +food before his guest, who, having supped, retired to rest. Early in the +morning the stranger arose, intending to resume his journey, but his +host first pressed him to partake of breakfast, and afterwards persuaded +him to remain at his house for two days. On the morning of the third day +our traveller would no longer delay his departure, and Hidud therefore +brought out his beast, saying kindly to his guest: "Fare thee well." +"Hold!" said the traveller. "Where is my beautiful saddle of many +colours and the strings attached thereto, together with my bale of rich +merchandise?" "What sayest thou?" exclaimed Hidud, in a tone of +surprise. The stranger repeated his demand for his saddle and goods. +"Ah," said Hidud, affably, "I will interpret thy dream: the strings that +thou hast dreamt of indicate length of days to thee; and the +many-coloured saddle of thy dream signifies that thou shalt become the +owner of a beauteous garden of odorous flowers and rich fruit trees." +"Nay," returned the stranger, "I certainly entrusted to thy care a +saddle and merchandise, and thou hast concealed them in thy house." +"Well," said Hidud, "I have told thee the meaning of thy dream. My usual +fee for interpreting a dream is four pieces of silver, but, as thou hast +been my guest, I will only ask three pieces of thee." On hearing this +very unjust demand the stranger was naturally enraged, and he accused +Hidud in the court of Sodom of stealing his property. After each had +stated his case, the judge decreed that the stranger must pay Hidud's +fee, since he was well known as a professional interpreter of dreams. +Hidud then said to the stranger: "As thou hast proved thyself such a +liar, I must not only be paid my usual fee of four pieces of silver, but +also the value of the two days' food with which I provided thee in my +house." "I will cheerfully pay thee for the food," rejoined the +traveller, "on condition that thou restore my saddle and merchandise." +Upon this the litigants began to abuse each other and were thrust into +the street, where the citizens, siding with Hidud, soundly beat the +unlucky stranger, and then expelled him from the city. + +Abraham once sent his servant Eliezer to Sodom with his compliments to +Lot and his family, and to inquire concerning their welfare. As Eliezer +entered Sodom he saw a citizen beating a stranger, whom he had robbed of +his property. "Shame upon thee!" exclaimed Eliezer to the citizen. "Is +this the way you act towards strangers?" To this remonstrance the man +replied by picking up a stone and striking Eliezer with it on the +forehead with such force as to cause the blood to flow down his face. On +seeing the blood the citizen caught hold of Eliezer and demanded to be +paid his fee for having freed him of impure blood. "What!" said Eliezer, +"am I to pay thee for wounding me?" "Such is our law," returned the +citizen. Eliezer refused to pay, and the man brought him before the +judge, to whom he made his complaint. The judge then decreed: "Thou must +pay this man his fee, since he has let thy blood; such is our law." +"There, then," said Eliezer, striking the judge with a stone, and +causing him to bleed, "pay my fee to this man, I want it not," and then +departed from the court.[66] + + [66] There are two Italian stories which bear some + resemblance to this queer legend: In the fourth novel of + Arienti an advocate is fined for striking his opponent + in court, and "takes his change" by repeating the + offence; and in the second novel of Sozzini, Scacazzone, + after dining sumptuously at an inn, and learning from + the waiter that the law of that town imposed a fine of + ten livres for a blow on the face, provokes the landlord + so that he gets a slap from him on the cheek, upon which + he tells Boniface to pay himself out of the fine he + should have had to pay for the blow if charged before + the magistrate, and give the rest of the money to the + waiter.--A similar story is told in an Arabian + collection, of a half-witted fellow and the kází. + + +_Abraham and Ishmael's Wife._ + +Hagar, the handmaid of Sarah, was given as a slave to Abraham, by her +father, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who said: "My daughter had better be a +slave in the house of Abraham than mistress in any other house." Her son +Ishmael, it is said, took unto himself a wife of the daughters of Moab. +Three years afterwards Abraham set out to visit his son, having solemnly +promised Sarah (who, it thus appears, was still jealous of her former +handmaid) that he would not alight from his camel. He reached Ishmael's +house about noontide, and found his wife alone. "Where is Ishmael?" +inquired the patriarch. "He is gone into the wilderness with his mother +to gather dates and other fruits." "Give me, I pray thee, a little bread +and water, for I am fatigued with travelling." "I have neither bread nor +water," rejoined the inhospitable matron. "Well," said the patriarch, +"tell Ishmael when he comes home that an old man came to see him, and +recommends him to change the door-post of his house, for it is not +worthy of him." On Ishmael's return she gave him the message, from which +he at once understood that the stranger was his father, and that he did +not approve of his wife. Accordingly he sent her back to her own people, +and Hagar procured him a wife from her father's house. Her name was +Fatima. + +Another period of three years having elapsed, Abraham again resolved to +visit his son; and having, as before, pledged his word to Sarah that he +would not alight at Ishmael's house, he began his journey. When he +arrived at his son's domicile he found Fatima alone, Ishmael being +abroad, as on the occasion of his previous visit. But from Fatima he +received every attention, albeit she knew not that he was her husband's +father. Highly gratified with Fatima's hospitality, the patriarch called +down blessings upon Ishmael, and returned home. Fatima duly informed +Ishmael of what had happened in his absence, and then he knew that +Abraham still loved him as his son. + +This is one of the few rabbinical legends regarding Biblical characters +which do not exceed the limits of probability; and I confess I can see +no reason why these interesting incidents should be considered as purely +imaginary. As a rule, however, the Talmudic legends of this kind must be +taken not only _cum grano salis_, but with a whole bushel of that most +necessary commodity, particularly such marvellous relations as that of +Rabbi Jehoshua, when he informs us that the "ram caught in a thicket," +which served as a substitute for sacrifice when Abraham was prepared to +offer up his son Isaac, was brought by an angel out of Paradise, where +it pastured under the Tree of Life and drank from the brook which flows +beneath it. This creature, the Rabbi adds, diffused its perfume +throughout the world.[67] + + [67] The commentators on the Kurán have adopted this legend. + But according to the Kurán it was not Isaac, but + Ishmael, the great progenitor of the Arabs, who was to + be sacrificed by Abraham. + + +_Joseph and Potiphar's Wife._ + +The story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, as related in the Book of +Genesis, finds parallels in the popular tales and legends of many +countries: the vengeance of "woman whose love is scorned," says a Hindú +writer, "is worse than poison"! But the rabbinical version is quite +unique in representing the wife of Potiphar as having aiders and +abettors in carrying out her scheme of revenge: For some days after the +pious young Israelite had declined her amorous overtures, she looked so +ill that her female friends inquired of her the cause, and having told +them of her adventure with Joseph, they said: "Accuse him before thy +husband, that he may be cast into prison." She desired them to accuse +him likewise to their husbands, which they did accordingly; and their +husbands went before Pharaoh and complained of Joseph's misconduct +towards their wives.[68] + + [68] Commentators on the Kurán inform us that when Joseph was + released from prison, after so satisfactorily + interpreting Pharaoh's two dreams, Potiphar was degraded + from his high office. One day, while Joseph was riding + out to inspect a granary beyond the city, he observed a + beggar-woman in the street, whose whole appearance, + though most distressing, bore distinct traces of former + greatness. Joseph approached her compassionately, and + held out to her a handful of gold. But she refused it, + and said aloud: "Great prophet of Allah, I am unworthy + of this gift, although my transgression has been the + stepping-stone to thy present fortune." At these words + Joseph regarded her more closely, and, behold, it was + Zulaykhá, the wife of his lord. He inquired after her + husband, and was told that he had died of sorrow and + poverty soon after his deposition. On hearing this, + Joseph led Zulaykhá to a relative of the king, by whom + she was treated like a sister, and she soon appeared to + him as blooming as at the time of his entrance into her + house. He asked her hand of the king, and married her, + with his permission. + + Zulaykhá was the name of Potiphar's wife, if we may + believe Muhammedan legends, and the daughter of the king + of Maghrab (or Marocco), who gave her in marriage to the + grand vazír of the king of Egypt, and the beauteous + princess was disgusted to find him, not only very old, + but, as a modest English writer puts it, very mildly, + "belonged to that unhappy class which a practice of + immemorial antiquity in the East excluded from the + pleasures of love and the hope of posterity." This + device of representing Potiphar as being what Byron + styles "a neutral personage" was, of course, adopted by + Muslim traditionists and poets in order to "white-wash" + the frail Zulaykhá.--There are extant many Persian and + Turkish poems on the "loves" of _Yúsuf wa Zulaykhá_, + most of them having a mystical signification, and that + by the celebrated Persian poet Jámí is universally + considered as by far the best. + + +_Joseph and his Brethren._ + +Wonderful stories are related of Joseph and his brethren. Simeon, if we +may credit the Talmudists, must have been quite a Hercules in strength. +The Biblical narrative of Simeon's detention by his brother Joseph is +brief but most expressive: "And he turned himself about from them and +wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from +them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes."[69] The Talmudists +condescend more minutely regarding this interesting incident: When +Joseph ordered seventy valiant men to put Simeon in chains, they had no +sooner approached him than he roared so loud that all the seventy fell +down at his feet and broke their teeth! Joseph then said to his son +Manasseh: "Chain thou him"; whereupon Manasseh dealt Simeon a single +blow and immediately overpowered him; upon which Simeon exclaimed: +"Surely this was the blow of a kinsman!"--When Joseph sent Benjamin to +prison, Judah cried so loud that Chushim, the son of Dan, heard him in +Canaan and responded. Joseph feared for his life, for Judah was so +enraged that he wept blood. Some say that Judah wore five garments, one +over the other; but when he was angry his heart swelled so much that his +five garments burst open. Joseph cried so terribly that one of the +pillars of his house fell in and was changed into sand. Then Judah said: +"He is valiant, like one of us." + + [69] Gen. xlii, 24.--It does not appear from the sacred + narrative why Joseph selected his brother Simeon as + hostage. Possibly Simeon was most eager for his death, + before he was cast into the dry well and then sold to + the Ishmaelites; and indeed both he and his brother Levi + seem to have been "a bad lot," judging from the dying + Jacob's description of them, Gen. xlix, 5-7. + + +_Jacob's Sorrow._ + +But like a gem, among a heap of rubbish is the touching little story of +how the news of Joseph's being alive and the viceroy of Egypt was +conveyed to the aged and sorrow-stricken Jacob. When the brethren had +returned to the land of Canaan, after their second expedition, they were +perplexed how to communicate to their father the joyful intelligence +that his long-lamented son still lived, fearing it might have a fatal +effect on the old man if suddenly told to him. At length Serach, the +daughter of Asher, proposed that she should convey the tidings to her +grandfather in a song. Accordingly she took her harp, and sang to Jacob +the whole story of Joseph's life and his present greatness, and her +music soothed his spirit; and when he fully realised that his son was +yet alive, he fervently blessed her, and she was taken into Paradise, +without tasting of death.[70] + + [70] "Jacob's grief" is proverbial in Muslim countries. In + the Kurán, _sura_ xii, it is stated that the patriarch + became totally blind through constant weeping for the + loss of Joseph, and that his sight was restored by means + of Joseph's garment, which the governor of Egypt sent by + his brethren.--In the _Makamat_ of Al-Harírí, the + celebrated Arabian poet (A.D. 1054-1122), Harith bin + Hamman is represented as saying that he passed a night + of "Jacobean sorrow," and another imaginary character is + said to have "wept more than Jacob when he lost his + son." + + +_Moses and Pharaoh._ + +The slaughter of the Hebrew male children by the cruel command of the +"Pharoah who knew not Joseph" was a precaution adopted, we are informed +by the Rabbis, in consequence of a dream which that monarch had, of an +aged man who held a balance in his right hand; in one scale he placed +all the sages and nobles of Egypt, and in the other a little lamb, which +weighed down them all. In the morning Pharaoh told his strange dream to +his counsellors, who were greatly terrified, and Bi'lam, the son of +Beor, the magician, said: "This dream, O King, forebodes great +affliction, which one of the children of Israel will bring upon Egypt." +The king asked the soothsayer whether this threatened evil might not be +avoided. "There is but one way of averting the calamity--cause every +male child of Hebrew parents to be slain at birth." Pharaoh approved of +this advice, and issued an edict accordingly. The Egyptian monarch's +kind-hearted daughter (whose name, by the way, was Bathia), who rescued +the infant Moses from the common fate of the Hebrew male children, was a +leper, and consequently was not permitted to use the warm baths. But no +sooner had she stretched forth her hand to the crying infant than she +was healed of her leprosy, and, moreover, afterwards admitted bodily +into Paradise.[71] + + [71] Muslims say that Pharaoh's seven daughters were all + lepers, and that Bathia's sisters, as well as herself, + were cured through her saving the infant Moses. + + According to the Hebrew traditionists, nine human beings + entered Paradise without having tasted of death, viz.: + Enoch; Messiah; Elias; Eliezer, the servant of Abraham; + the servant of the king of Kush; Hiram, king of Tyre; + Jaabez, the son of the Prince, and the Rabbi, Juda; + Serach, the daughter of Asher; and Bathia, the daughter + of Pharaoh. + + The last of the race of genuine Dublin ballad-singers, + who rejoiced in the _nom de guerre_ of "Zozimus" (ob. + 1846), used to edify his street patrons with a slightly + different reading of the romantic story of the finding + of Moses in the bulrushes, which has the merit of + striking originality, to say the least: + + In Egypt's land, upon the banks of Nile, + King Pharaoh's daughter went to bathe in style; + She tuk her dip, then went unto the land, + And, to dry her royal pelt, she ran along the strand. + A bulrush tripped her, whereupon she saw + A smiling babby in a wad of straw; + She tuk it up, and said, in accents mild, + "_Tare an' agers, gyurls, which av yez owns this child?_" + + The story of the finding of Moses has its parallels in + almost every country--in the Greek and Roman legends of + Perseus, Cyrus, and Romulus--in Indian, Persian, and + Arabian tales--and a Babylonian analogue is given, as + follows, by the Rev. A. H. Sayce, in the _Folk-Lore + Journal_ for 1883: "Sargon, the mighty monarch, the king + of Agané, am I. My mother was a princess; my father I + knew not. My father's brother loved the mountain land. + In the city of Azipiranu, which on the bank of the + Euphrates lies, my mother, the princess, conceived me; + in an inacessible spot she brought me forth. She placed + me in a basket of rushes; with bitumen the door of my + ark she closed. She launched me on the river, which + drowned me not. The river bore me along; to Akki, the + irrigator, it brought me. Akki, the irrigator, in the + tenderness of his heart, lifted me up. Then Akki, the + irrigator, as his gardener appointed me, and in my + gardenership the goddess Istar loved me. For forty-five + years the kingdom I have ruled, and the black-headed + (Akkadian) race have governed." + +Of the childhood of Moses a curious story is told to account for his +being in after life "slow of speech and slow of tongue": Pharaoh was one +day seated in his banqueting hall, with his queen at his right hand and +Bathia at his left, and around him were his two sons, Bi'lam, the chief +soothsayer, and other dignitaries of his court, when he took little +Moses (then three years old) upon his knee, and began to fondle him. The +Hebrew urchin stretched forth his hand and took the kingly crown from +Pharaoh's brow and deliberately placed it upon his own head. To the +monarch and his courtiers this action of the child was ominous, and +Pharaoh inquired of his counsellors how, in their judgment, the +audacious little Hebrew should be punished. Bi'lam, the sooth-sayer, +answered: "Do not suppose, O King, that this is necessarily the +thoughtless action of a child; recollect thy dream which I did interpret +for thee. But let us prove whether this child is possessed of +understanding beyond his years, in this manner: let two plates, one +containing fire, the other gold, be placed before the child; and if he +grasp the gold, then is he of superior understanding, and should +therefore be put to death." The plates, as proposed by the soothsayer, +were placed before the child Moses, who immediately seized upon the +fire, and put it into his mouth, which caused him henceforward to +stammer in his speech. + +It was no easy matter for Moses and his brother to gain access to +Pharaoh, for his palace had 400 gates, 100 on each side; and before each +gate stood no fewer than 60,000 tried warriors. Therefore the angel +Gabriel introduced them by another way, and when Pharaoh beheld Moses +and Aaron he demanded to know who had admitted them. He summoned the +guards, and ordered some of them to be beaten and others to be put to +death. But next day Moses and Aaron returned, and the guards, when +called in, exclaimed: "These men are sorcerers, for they cannot have +come in through any of the gates." There were, however, much more +formidable guardians of the royal palace: the 400 gates were guarded by +bears, lions, and other ferocious beasts, who suffered no one to pass +unless they were fed with flesh. But when Moses and Aaron came, they +gathered about them, and licked the feet of the prophets, accompanying +them to Pharaoh.--Readers who are familiar with the _Thousand and One +Nights_ and other Asiatic story-books will recollect many tales in which +palaces are similarly guarded. In the spurious "Canterbury" _Tale of +Beryn_ (taken from the first part of the old French romance of the +Chevalier Berinus), which has been re-edited for the Chaucer Society, +the palace-garden of Duke Isope is guarded by eight necromancers who +look like "abominabill wormys, enough to frighte the hertiest man on +erth," also by a white lion that had eaten five hundred men. + + + + +III + +LEGENDS OF DAVID AND SOLOMON, ETC. + + +Muhammed, the great Arabian lawgiver, drew very largely from the +rabbinical legends in his composition of the Kurán, every verse of which +is considered by pious Muslims as a miracle, or wonder (_ayet_). The +well-known story of the spider weaving its web over the mouth of the +cave in which Muhammed and Abú Bekr had concealed themselves in their +flight from Mecca to Medina was evidently borrowed from the Talmudic +legend of David's flight from the malevolence of Saul: Immediately after +David had entered the cave of Adullam, a spider spun its web across the +opening. His pursuers presently passing that way were about to search +the cave; but perceiving the spider's web, they naturally concluded that +no one could have recently entered there, and thus was the future king +of Israel preserved from Saul's vengeance. + +King David once had a narrow escape from death at the hands of Goliath's +brother Ishbi. The king was hunting one morning when Satan appeared +before him in the form of a deer.[72] David drew his bow, but missed +him, and the feigned deer ran off at the top of his speed. The king, +with true sportsman's instinct, pursued the deer, even into the land of +the Philistines--which, doubtless, was Satan's object in assuming that +form. It unluckily happened that Ishbi, the brother of Goliath, +recognised in the person of the royal hunter the slayer of the champion +of Gath, and he immediately seized David, bound him neck and heels +together, and laid him beneath his wine-press, designing to crush him to +death. But, lo, the earth became soft, and the Philistine was baffled. +Meanwhile, in the land of Israel a dove with silver wings was seen by +the courtiers of King David fluttering about, apparently in great +distress, which signified to the wise men that their royal master was in +danger of his life. Abishai, one of David's counsellors, at once +determined to go and succour his sovereign, and accordingly mounted the +king's horse, and in a few minutes was in the land of the Philistines. +On arriving at Ishbi's house, he discovered that gentleman's venerable +mother spinning at the door. The old lady threw her distaff at the +Israelite, and, missing him, desired him to bring it back to her. +Abishai returned it in such a manner that she never afterwards required +a distaff. This little incident was witnessed by Ishbi, who, resolving +to rid himself of one of his enemies forthwith, took David from beneath +the wine-press, and threw him high into the air, expecting that he would +fall upon his spear, which he had previously fixed into the ground. But +Abishai pronounced the Great Name (often referred to in the Talmud), and +David, in consequence, remained suspended between earth and sky. In the +sequel they both unite against Ishbi, and put him to death.[73] + + [72] That the arch-fiend could, and often did, assume various + forms to lure men to their destruction was universally + believed throughout Europe during medićval times and + even much later; generally he appeared in the form of a + most beautiful young woman; and there are still current + in obscure parts of Scotland wild legends of his having + thus tempted even godly men to sin.--In Asiatic tales + rákshasas, ghúls (ghouls), and such-like demons + frequently assume the appearance of heart-ravishing + damsels in order to delude and devour the unwary + traveller. In many of our old European romances fairies + are represented as transforming themselves into the + semblance of deer, to decoy into sequestered places + noble hunters of whom they had become enamoured. + + [73] The "Great Name" (in Arabic, _El-Ism el-Aazam_, "the + Most Great Name"), by means of which King David was + saved from a cruel death, as above, is often employed in + Eastern romances for the rescue of the hero from deadly + peril, as well as to enable him to perform supernatural + exploits. It was generally engraved on a signet-ring, + but sometimes it was communicated orally to the + fortunate hero by a holy man, or by a king of the + genii--who was, of course, a good Muslim. + +Of Solomon the Wise there are, of course, many curious rabbinical +legends. His reputation for superior sagacity extended over all the +world, and the wisest men of other nations came humbly to him as pupils. +It would appear that this great monarch was not less willing to afford +the poorest of his subjects the benefit of his advice when they applied +to him than able to solve the knottiest problem which the most +keen-witted casuist could propound. One morning a man, whose life was +embittered by a froward, shrewish wife, left his house to seek the +advice of Solomon. On the road he overtook another man, with whom he +entered into conversation, and presently learned that he was also going +to the king's palace. "Pray, friend," said he, "what might be your +business with the king? I am going to ask him how I should manage a wife +who has long been froward." "Why," said the other, "I employ a great +many people, and have a great deal of capital invested in my business; +yet I find I am losing more and more every year, instead of gaining; and +I want to know the cause, and how it may be remedied." By-and-by they +overtook a third man, who informed them that he was a physician whose +practice had fallen off considerably, and he was proceeding to ask King +Solomon's advice as to how it might be increased. At length they reached +the palace, and it was arranged among them that the man who had the +shrewish wife should first present himself before the king. In a short +time he rejoined his companions with a rather puzzled expression of +countenance, and the others inquiring how he had sped, he answered: "I +can see no wisdom in the king's advice; he simply advised me to _go to a +mill_." The second man then went in, and returned quite as much +perplexed as the first, saying: "Of a truth, Solomon is not so wise as +he is reported to be; would you believe it?--all he said to me when I +had told him my grievance was, _get up early in the morning_." The third +man, somewhat discouraged by these apparently idle answers, entered the +presence-chamber, and on coming out told his companions that the king +had simply advised him to _be proud_. Equally disappointed, the trio +returned homeward together. They had not gone far when one of them said +to the first man: "Here is a mill; did not the king advise you to go +into one?" The man entered, and presently ran out, exclaiming: "I've got +it! I've got it! I am to beat my wife!" He went home and gave his spouse +a sound thrashing, and she was ever afterwards a very obedient wife.[74] +The second man got up very early the next morning, and discovered a +number of his servants idling about, and others loading a cart with +goods from his warehouse, which they were stealing. He now understood +the meaning of Solomon's advice, and henceforward always rose early +every morning, looked after his servants, and ultimately became very +wealthy. The third man, on reaching home, told his wife to get him a +splendid robe, and to instruct all the servants to admit no one into his +presence without first obtaining his permission. Next day, as he sat in +his private chamber, arrayed in his magnificent gown, a lady sent her +servant to demand his attendance, and he was about to enter the +physician's chamber, as usual, without ceremony, when he was stopped, +and told that the doctor's permission must be first obtained. After some +delay the lady's servant was admitted, and found the great doctor seated +among his books. On being desired to visit the lady, the doctor told the +servant that he could not do so without first receiving his fee. In +short, by this professional pride, the physician's practice rapidly +increased, and in a few years he acquired a large fortune. And thus in +each case Solomon's advice proved successful.[75] + + [74] At the "mill" the man who was plagued with a bad wife + doubtless saw some labourers threshing corn, since + _grinding_ corn would hardly suggest the idea of + _beating_ his provoking spouse.--By the way, this man + had evidently never heard the barbarous sentiment, + expressed in the equally barbarous English popular + rhyme--composed, probably, by some beer-sodden + bacon-chewer, and therefore, in those ancient times, + _non inventus_-- + + A woman, a dog, and a walnut tree, + The more you beat 'em, the better they be-- + + else, what need for him to consult King Solomon about + his paltry domestic troubles? + + [75] A variant of this occurs in the _Decameron_ of + Boccaccio, Day ix, Nov. 9, of which Dunlop gives the + following outline: Two young men repair to Jerusalem to + consult Solomon. One asks how he may be well liked, the + other how he may best manage a froward wife. Solomon + advised the first to "love others," and the second to + "repair to the mill." From this last counsel neither can + extract any meaning; but it is explained on their road + home, for when they came to the bridge of that name they + meet a number of mules, and one of these animals being + restive its master forced it on with a stick. The advice + of Solomon, being now understood, is followed, with + complete success. + + Among the innumerable tales current in Muhammedan + countries regarding the extraordinary sagacity of + Solomon is the following, which occurs in M. René + Basset's _Contes Populaires Berbčrs_ (Paris, 1887): + Complaint was made to Solomon that some one had stolen a + quantity of eggs. "I shall discover him," said Solomon. + And when the people were assembled in the mosque + (_sic_), he said: "An egg-thief has come in with you, + and he has got feathers on his head." The thief in great + fright raised his hand to his head, which Solomon + perceiving, he cried out: "There is the culprit--seize + him!" There are many variants of this story in Persian + and Indian collections, where a kází, or judge, takes + the place of Solomon, and it had found its way into our + own jest-books early in the 16th century. Thus in _Tales + and Quicke Answeres_, a man has a goose stolen from him + and complains to the priest, who promises to find out + the thief. On Sunday the priest tells the congregation + to sit down, which they do accordingly. Then says he, + "Why are ye not all seated?" Say they, "We _are_ all + seated." "Nay," quoth Mass John, "but he that stole the + goose sitteth not down." "But I _am_ seated," says the + witless goose-thief. + +We learn from the Old Testament that the Queen of Sheba (or Sába, whom +the Arabians identify with Bilkís, queen of El-Yemen) "came to prove the +wisdom of Solomon with hard questions," and that he answered them all. +What were the questions--or riddles--the solution of which so much +astonished the Queen of Sheba we are not told; but the Rabbis inform us +that, after she had exhausted her budget of riddles, she one day +presented herself at the foot of Solomon's throne, holding in one hand a +bouquet of natural flowers and in the other a bouquet of artificial +flowers, desiring the king to say which was the product of nature. Now, +the artificial flowers were so exactly modelled in imitation of the +others that it was thought impossible for him to answer the question, +from the distance at which she held the bouquets. But Solomon was not to +be baffled by a woman with scraps of painted paper: he caused a window +in the audience-chamber to be opened, when a cluster of bees immediately +flew in and alighted upon one of the bouquets, while not one of the +insects fixed upon the other. By this device Solomon was enabled to +distinguish between the natural and the artificial flowers. + +Again the Queen of Sheba endeavoured to outwit the sagacious monarch. +She brought before him a number of boys and girls, apparelled all alike, +and desired him to distinguish those of one sex from those of the other, +as they stood before him. Solomon caused a large basin full of water to +be fetched in, and ordered them all to wash their hands. By this +expedient he discovered the males from the females; since the boys +merely washed their hands, while the girls washed also their arms.[76] + + [76] Among the Muhammedan legends concerning Solomon and the + Queen of Sheba, it is related that, after he had + satisfactorily answered all her questions and solved her + riddles, "before he would enter into more intimate + relations with her, he desired to clear up a certain + point respecting her, and to see whether she actually + had cloven feet, as several of his demons would have him + to believe; or whether they had only invented the defect + from fear lest he should marry her, and beget children, + who, as descendants of the genii [the mother of Bilkís + is said to have been of that race of beings], would be + even more mighty than himself. He therefore caused her + to be conducted through a hall, whose floor was of + crystal, and under which water tenanted by every variety + of fish was flowing. Bilkís, who had never seen a + crystal floor, supposed that there was water to be + passed through, and therefore raised her robe slightly, + when the king discovered to his great joy a beautifully + shaped female foot. When his eye was satisfied, he + called to her: 'Come hither; there is no water here, but + only a crystal floor; and confess thyself to the faith + in the one only God.' Bilkís approached the throne, + which stood at the end of the hall, and in Solomon's + presence abjured the worship of the sun. Solomon then + married Bilkís, but reinstated her as Queen of Sába, and + spent three days in every month with her." + +The Arabians and Persians, who have many traditions regarding Solomon, +invariably represent him as adept in necromancy, and as being intimately +acquainted with the language of beasts and birds. Josephus, the great +Jewish historian, distinctly states that Solomon possessed the art of +expelling demons, that he composed such incantations also by which +distempers are alleviated, and that he left behind him the manner of +using exorcisms, by which they drive out demons, never to return. Of +course, Josephus merely reproduces rabbinical traditions, and there can +be no doubt but the Arabian stories regarding Solomon's magical powers +are derived from the same source. It appears that Solomon's signet-ring +was the chief instrument with which he performed his numerous magical +exploits.[77] By its wondrous power he imprisoned Ashmedai, the prince +of devils; and on one occasion the king's curiosity to increase his +store of magical knowledge cost him very dear--no less than the loss of +his kingdom for a time. Solomon was in the habit of daily plying +Ashmedai with questions, to all of which the fiend returned answers, +furnishing the desired information, until one day the king asked him a +particular question which the captive evil spirit flatly refused to +answer, except on condition that Solomon should lend him his +signet-ring. The king's passion for magical knowledge overcame his +prudence, and he handed his ring to the fiend, thereby depriving himself +of all power over his captive, who immediately swallowed the monarch, +and stretching out his wings, flew up into the air, and shot out his +"inside passenger" four hundred leagues distant from Jerusalem! Ashmedai +then assumed the form of Solomon, and sat on his throne. Meanwhile +Solomon was become a wanderer on the face of the earth, and it was then +that he said (as it is written in the book of Ecclesiasticus i, 3): +"This is the reward of all my labour"; which word _this_, one learned +Rabbi affirms to have reference to Solomon's walking-staff, and another +commentator, to his ragged coat; for the poor monarch went begging from +door to door, and in every town he entered he always cried aloud: "I, +the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem!" But the people all +thought him insane. At length, in the course of his wanderings, he +reached Jerusalem, where he cried, as usual: "I, the Preacher, was king +over Israel in Jerusalem!" and as he never varied in his recital, +certain wise counsellors, reflecting that a fool is not constant in his +tale, resolved to ascertain, if possible, whether the poor beggar was +really King Solomon. With this object they assembled, and taking the +mendicant with them, they gave him the magical ring and led him into the +throne-room.[78] Ashmedai no sooner caught sight of his old master than +he shrieked wildly and flew away; and Solomon resumed his mild and +beneficent rule over the people of Israel. The Rabbis add, that ever +afterwards, even to his dying day, Solomon was afraid of the prince of +devils, and could not go to sleep without having his bed surrounded by +an armed guard, as it is written in the Book of Canticles, iii, 7, 8. + + [77] According to the Muslim legend, eight angels appeared + before Solomon in a vision, saying that Allah had sent + them to surrender to him power over them and the eight + winds which were at their command. The chief of the + angels then presented him with a jewel bearing the + inscription: "To Allah belong greatness and might." + Solomon had merely to raise this stone towards the + heavens and these angels would appear, to serve him. + Four other angels next appeared, lords of all creatures + living on the earth and in the waters. The angel + representing the kingdom of birds gave him a jewel on + which were inscribed the words: "All created things + praise the Lord." Then came an angel who gave him a + jewel conferring on the possessor power over earth and + sea, having inscribed on it: "Heaven and earth are + servants of Allah." Lastly, another angel appeared and + presented him with a jewel bearing these words (the + formula of the Muslim Confession of Faith): "There is no + God but _the_ God, and Muhammed is his messenger." This + jewel gave Solomon power over the spirit-world. Solomon + caused these four jewels to be set in a ring, and the + first use to which he applied its magical power was to + subdue the demons and genii.--It is perhaps hardly + necessary to remark here, with reference to the + fundamental doctrine of Islám, said to have been + engraved on the fourth jewel of Solomon's ring, that + according to the Kurán, David, Solomon, and all the + Biblical patriarchs and prophets were good Muslims, for + Muhammed did not profess to introduce a new religion, + but simply to restore the original and only true faith, + which had become corrupt. + + [78] We are not told here how the demon came to part with + this safeguard of his power. The Muslim form of the + legend, as will be seen presently, is much more + consistent, and corresponds generally with another + rabbinical version, which follows the present one. + +Another account informs us that the demon, having cajoled Solomon out of +possession of his magic ring, at once flung it into the sea and cast the +king 400 miles away. Solomon came to a place called Mash Kerim, where he +was made chief cook in the palace of the king of Ammon, whose daughter, +called Naama, became enamoured of him, and they eloped to a far distant +country. As Naama was one day preparing a fish for broiling, she found +Solomon's ring in its stomach, which, of course, enabled him to recover +his kingdom and to imprison the demon in a copper vessel, which he cast +into the Lake of Tiberias.[79] + + [79] According to the Muslim version, Solomon's temporary + degradation was in punishment for his taking as a + concubine the daughter of an idolatrous king whom he had + vanquished in battle, and, through her influence, bowing + himself to "strange gods." Before going to the bath, one + day, he gave this heathen beauty his signet to take care + of, and in his absence the rebellious genie Sakhr, + assuming the form of Solomon, obtained the ring. The + king was driven forth and Sakhr ruled (or rather, + misruled) in his stead; till the wise men of the palace, + suspecting him to be a demon, began to read the Book of + the Law in his presence, whereupon he flew away and cast + the signet into the sea. In the meantime Solomon hired + himself to some fishermen in a distant country, his + wages being two fishes each day. He finds his signet in + the maw of one of the fish, and so forth. + +It may appear strange to some readers that the Rabbis should represent +the sagacious Solomon in the character of a practitioner of the Black +Art. But the circumstance simply indicates that Solomon's acquirements +in scientific knowledge were considerably beyond those of most men of +his age; and, as in the case of our own Friar Bacon, his superior +attainments were popularly attributed to magical arts. Nature, it need +hardly be remarked, is the only school of magic, and men of science are +the true magicians. + + +_Unheard-of Monsters._ + +The marvellous creatures which are described by Pliny, and by our own +old English writers, Sir John Mandeville and Geoffrey of Monmouth, are +common-place in comparison with some of those mentioned in the Talmud. +Even the monstrous _roc_ of the _Arabian Nights_ must have been a mere +tom-tit compared with the bird which Rabbi bar Chama says he once saw. +It was so tall that its head reached the sky, while its feet rested on +the bottom of the ocean; and he affords us some slight notion of the +depth of the sea by informing us that a carpenter's axe, which had +accidentally fallen in, had not reached the bottom in seven years. The +same Rabbi saw "a frog as large as a village containing sixty houses." +Huge as this frog was, the snake that swallowed it must have been the +very identical serpent of Scandinavian mythology, which encircled the +earth; yet a crow gobbled up this serpent, and then flew to the top of a +cedar, which was as broad as sixteen waggons placed side by +side.--Sailors' "yarns," as they are spun to marvel-loving old ladies in +our jest-books, are as nothing to the rabbinical accounts of "strange +fish," some with eyes like the moon, others horned, and 300 miles in +length. Not less wonderful are some four-footed creatures. The effigy of +the unicorn, familiar to every schoolboy, on the royal arms of Great +Britain, affords no adequate idea of the actual dimensions of that +remarkable animal. Since a unicorn one day old is as large as Mount +Tabor, it may readily be supposed that Noah could not possibly have got +a full-grown one into the ark; he therefore secured it by its horn to +the side, and thus the creature was saved alive. (The Talmudist had +forgot that the animals saved from the Flood were in pairs.)[80] The +celebrated Og, king of Bashan, it seems, was one of the antediluvians, +and was saved by riding on the back of the unicorn. The dwellers in +Brobdignag were pigmies compared with the renowned King Og, since his +footsteps were forty miles apart, and Abraham's ivory bed was made of +one of his teeth. Moses, the Rabbis tell us, was ten cubits high[81] and +his walking-stick ten cubits more, with the top of which, after jumping +ten cubits from the ground, he contrived to touch the heel of King Og; +from which it has been concluded that that monarch was from two to three +thousand cubits in height. But (remarks an English writer) a certain +Jewish traveller has shown the fallacy of this mensuration, by meeting +with the end of one of the leg-bones of the said King Og, and travelling +four hours before he came to the other end. Supposing this Rabbi to have +been a fair walker, the bone was sixteen miles long! + + [80] Is it possible that this "story" of the unicorn was + borrowed and garbled from the ancient Hindú legend of + the Deluge? "When the flood rose Manu embarked in the + ship, and the fish swam towards him, and he fastened the + ship's cable to its horn." But in the Hindú legend the + fish (that is, Brahma in the form of a great fish) tows + the vessel, while in the Talmudic legend the ark of Noah + takes the unicorn in tow. + + [81] In a manuscript preserved in the Lambeth Palace Library, + of the time of Edward IV, the height of Moses is said to + have been "xiij. fote and viij. ynches and half"; and + the reader may possibly find some amusement in the + "longitude of men folowyng," from the same veracious + work: "Cryste, vj. fote and iij. ynches. Our Lady, vj. + fote and viij. ynches. Crystoferus, xvij. fote and viij. + ynches. King Alysaunder, iiij. fote and v. ynches. + Colbronde, xvij. fote and ij. ynches and half. Syr Ey., + x. fote iij. ynches and half. Seynt Thomas of + Caunterbery, vij. fote, save a ynche. Long Mores, a man + of Yrelonde borne, and servaunt to Kyng Edward the + iiijth., vj. fote and x. ynches and half."--_Reliquć + Antiquć_, vol i, p. 200. + + + + +IV + +MORAL AND ENTERTAINING TALES. + + +If most of the rabbinical legends cited in the preceding sections have +served simply to amuse the general reader--though to those of a +philosophical turn they must have been suggestive of the depths of +imbecility to which the human mind may descend--the stories, apologues, +and parables contained in the Talmud, of which specimens are now to be +presented, are calculated to furnish wholesome moral instruction as well +as entertainment to readers of all ranks and ages. In the art of +conveying impressive moral lessons, by means of ingenious fictions, the +Hebrew sages have never been excelled, and perhaps they are rivalled +only by the ancient philosophers of India. The significant circumstance +has already been noticed (in the introductory section) that several of +the most striking tales in European medićval collections--particularly +the _Disciplina Clericalis_ of Petrus Alfonsus and the famous _Gesta +Romanorum_--are traceable to Talmudic sources. Little did the +priest-ridden, ignorant, marvel-loving laity of European countries +imagine that the moral fictions which their spiritual directors recited +every Sunday for their edification were derived from the wise men of the +despised Hebrew race! But, indeed, there is reason to believe that few +mere casual readers even at the present day have any notion of the +extent to which the popular fictions of Europe are indebted to the old +Jewish Rabbis. + +Like the sages of India, the Hebrew Fathers in their teachings strongly +inculcate the duty of active benevolence--the liberal giving of alms to +the poor and needy; and, indeed, the wealthy Jews are distinguished at +the present day by their open-handed liberality in support of the public +charitable institutions of the several countries of which they are +subjects. "What you increase bestow on good works," says the Hindú sage. +"Charity is to money what salt is to meat," says the Hebrew philosopher: +if the wealthy are not charitable their riches will perish. In +illustration of this maxim is the story of + + +_Rabbi Jochonan and the Poor Woman._ + +One day Rabbi Jochonan was riding outside the city of Jerusalem, +followed by his disciples, when he observed a poor woman laboriously +gathering the grain that dropped from the mouths of the horses of the +Arabs as they were feeding. Looking up and recognising Jochonan, she +cried: "O Rabbi, assist me!" "Who art thou?" demanded Jochonan. "I am +the daughter of Nakdimon, the son of Guryon." "Why, what has become of +thy father's money--the dowry thou receivedst on thy wedding day?" "Ah, +Rabbi, is there not a saying in Jerusalem, 'the salt was wanting to the +money?'" "But thy husband's money?" "That followed the other: I have +lost them both." The good Rabbi wept for the poor woman and helped her. +Then said he to his disciples, as they continued on their way: "I +remember that when I signed that woman's marriage contract her father +gave her as a dowry one million of gold dínars, and her husband was a +man of considerable wealth besides." + + * * * * * + +The ill-fated riches of Nakdimon are referred to in another tale, as a +lesson to those who are not charitable according to their means: + + +_A Safe Investment._ + +Rabbi Taraphon, though a very wealthy man, was exceedingly avaricious, +and seldom gave help to the poor. Once, however, he involuntarily +bestowed a considerable sum in relieving the distressed. Rabbi Akiba +came to him one day, and told him that he knew of certain real estate, +which would be a very profitable investment. Rabbi Taraphon handed him +4000 dínars in gold to be so invested, and Rabbi Akiba forthwith +distributed the whole among the poor. By-and-by, Rabbi Taraphon, +happening to meet his friend, desired to know where the real estate was +in which his money had been invested. Rabbi Akiba took him to the +college, where he caused one of the boys to read aloud the 112th Psalm, +and on his reaching the 9th verse, "He distributeth, he giveth to the +needy, his righteousness endureth for ever"--"There," said he, "thou +seest where thy money is invested." "And why hast thou done this?" +demanded Rabbi Taraphon. "Hast thou forgotten," answered his friend, +"how Nakdimon, the son of Guryon, was punished because he gave not +according to his means?" "But why didst thou not tell me of thy purpose? +I could myself have bestowed my money on the poor." "Nay," rejoined +Rabbi Akiba, "it is a greater virtue to cause another to give than to +give one's self." + + * * * * * + +Resignation to the divine will under sore family bereavements has, +perhaps, never been more beautifully illustrated than by the incident +related of the Rabbi Meir. This little tale, as follows, is one of three +Talmudic narratives which the poet Coleridge has translated:[82] + + +_The Jewels._ + +The celebrated teacher Rabbi Meir sat during the whole of the Sabbath +day in the public school instructing the people. During his absence from +the house his two sons died, both of them of uncommon beauty, and +enlightened in the law. His wife bore them to her bed-chamber, laid them +upon the marriage-bed, and spread a white covering over their bodies. In +the evening the Rabbi Meir came home. "Where are my two sons," he asked, +"that I may give them my blessing? I repeatedly looked round the school, +and I did not see them there." She reached him a goblet. He praised the +Lord at the going out of the Sabbath, drank, and again asked: "Where are +my sons, that they too may drink of the cup of blessing?" "They will not +be afar off," she said, and placed food before him that he might eat. He +was in a gladsome and genial mood, and when he had said grace after the +meal, she thus addressed him: "Rabbi, with thy permission, I would fain +propose to thee one question." "Ask it then, my love," he replied. "A +few days ago a person entrusted some jewels into my custody, and now he +demands them of me; should I give them back again?" "This is a +question," said the Rabbi, "which my wife should not have thought it +necessary to ask. What! wouldst thou hesitate or be reluctant to restore +to every one his own?" "No," she replied; "but yet I thought it best not +to restore them without acquainting you therewith." She then led him to +the chamber, and, stepping to the bed, took the white covering from the +dead bodies. "Ah, my sons--my sons!" thus loudly lamented the father. +"My sons! the light of my eyes, and the light of my understanding! I was +your father, but ye were my teachers in the law." The mother turned away +and wept bitterly. At length she took her husband by the hand, and said: +"Rabbi, didst thou not teach me that we must not be reluctant to restore +that which was entrusted to our keeping? See--'the Lord gave, the Lord +hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!'"[83] "Blessed be the +name of the Lord!" echoed Rabbi Meir. "And blessed be his name for thy +sake too, for well is it written: 'Whoso hath found a virtuous wife, +hath a greater prize than rubies; she openeth her mouth with wisdom, and +in her tongue is the law of kindness.'"[84] + + [82] _The Friend_, ed. 1850, vol. ii, p. 247. + + [83] Book of Job, i, 21. + + [84] Prov. xxxi, 10, 26. + + * * * * * + +The originals of not a few of the early Italian tales are found in the +Talmud--the author of the _Cento Novelle Antiche_, Boccaccio, Sacchetti, +and other novelists having derived the groundwork of many of their +fictions from the _Gesta Romanorum_ and the _Disciplina Clericalis_ of +Peter Alfonsus, which are largely composed of tales drawn from Eastern +sources. The 123rd novel of Sacchetti, in which a young man carves a +capon in a whimsical fashion, finds its original in the following +Talmudic story: + + +_The Capon-Carver._ + +It happened that a citizen of Jerusalem, while on a distant provincial +journey on business, was suddenly taken ill, and, feeling himself to be +at the point of death, he sent for the master of the house, and desired +him to take charge of his property until his son should arrive to claim +it; but, in order to make sure that the claimant was really the son, he +was not to deliver up the property until the applicant had proved his +wisdom by performing three ingenious actions. Shortly after having given +his friend these injunctions the merchant died, and the melancholy +intelligence was duly transmitted to his son, who in the course of a few +weeks left Jerusalem to claim his property. On reaching the town where +his father's friend resided, he began to inquire of the people where his +house was situated, and, finding no one who could, or would, give him +this necessary information, the youth was in sore perplexity how to +proceed in his quest, when he observed a man carrying a heavy load of +firewood. "How much for that wood?" he cried. The man readily named his +price. "Thou shalt have it," said the stranger. "Carry it to the house +of ---- [naming his father's friend], and I will follow thee." Well +satisfied to have found a purchaser on his own terms, the man at once +proceeded as he was desired, and on arriving at the house he threw down +his load before the door. "What is all this?" demanded the master. "I +have not ordered any wood." "Perhaps not," said the man; "but the person +behind me has bought it, and desired me to bring it hither." The +stranger had now come up, and, saluting the master of the house, told +him who he was, and explained that, since he could not ascertain where +his house was situated by inquiries of people in the streets, he had +adopted this expedient, which had succeeded. The master praised the +young man's ingenuity, and led him into the house. + +When the several members of the family, together with the stranger, were +assembled round the dinner-table, the master of the house, in order to +test the stranger's ingenuity, desired his guest to carve a dish +containing five chickens, and to distribute a portion to each of the +persons who were present--namely, the master and mistress, their two +daughters and two sons, and himself. The young stranger acquitted +himself of the duty in this manner: One of the chickens he divided +between the master and the mistress; another between the two daughters; +the third between the two sons; and the remaining two he took for his +own share. "This visitor of mine," thought the master, "is a curious +carver; but I will try him once more at supper." + +Various amusements made the afternoon pass very agreeably to the +stranger, until supper-time, when a fine capon was placed upon the +table, which the master desired his guest to carve for the company. The +young man took the capon, and began to carve and distribute it thus: To +the master of the house he gave the head; to the mistress, the inward +part; to the two daughters, each a wing; to the two sons, each a leg; +and the remainder he took for himself. After supper the master of the +house thus addressed his visitor: "Friend, I thought thy carving at +dinner somewhat peculiar, but thy distribution of the capon this evening +seems to me extremely whimsical. Give me leave to ask, do the citizens +of Jerusalem usually carve their capons in this fashion?" + +"Master," said the youth, "I will gladly explain my system of carving, +which does appear to you so strange. At dinner I was requested to divide +five chickens among seven persons. This I could not do otherwise than +arithmetically; therefore, I adopted the perfect number _three_ as my +guide--thou, thy wife, and one chicken made _three_; thy two daughters +and one chicken made _three_; thy two sons and one chicken made _three_; +and I had to take the remaining chickens for my own share, as two +chickens and myself made _three_." "Very ingenious, I must confess," +said the master. "But how dost thou explain thy carving of the capon?" +"That, master, I performed according to what appeared to me the fitness +of things. I gave the head of the capon to thee, because thou art the +head of this house; I gave the inward part to the mistress, as typical +of her fruitfulness; thy daughters are both of marriageable years, and, +as it is natural to wish them well settled in life, I gave each of them +a wing, to indicate that they should soon fly abroad; thy two sons are +the pillars of thy house, and to them I gave the legs, which are the +supporters of the animal; while to myself I took that part of the capon +which most resembles a boat, in which I came hither, and in which I +intend to return." From these proofs of his ingenuity the master was now +fully convinced that the stranger was the true son of his late friend +the merchant, and next morning he delivered to him his father's +property.[85] + + [85] The droll incident of dividing the capon, besides being + found in Sacchetti, forms part of a popular story + current in Sicily, and is thus related in Professor + Crane's _Italian Popular Tales_, p. 311 ff., taken from + Prof. Comparetti's _Fiabe, Novelle, e Racconti_ + (Palermo, 1875), No. 43, "La Ragazza astuta": Once upon + a time there was a huntsman who had a wife and two + children, a son and a daughter; and all lived together + in a wood where no one ever came, and so they knew + nothing about the world. The father alone sometimes went + to the city, and brought back the news. The king's son + once went hunting, and lost himself in that wood, and + while he was seeking his way it became night. He was + weary and hungry. Imagine how he felt. But all at once + he saw a light shining in the distance. He followed it + and reached the huntsman's house, and asked for lodging + and something to eat. The huntsman recognised him at + once and said: "Highness, we have already supped on our + best; but if we can find anything for you, you must be + satisfied with it. What can we do? We are so far from + the towns that we cannot procure what we need every + day." Meanwhile he had a capon cooked for him. The + prince did not wish to eat it alone, so he called all + the huntsman's family, and gave the head of the capon to + the father, the back to the mother, the legs to the son, + and the wings to the daughter, and ate the rest himself. + In the house there were only two beds, in the same room. + In one the husband and wife slept, in the other the + brother and sister. The old people went and slept in the + stable, giving up their bed to the prince. When the girl + saw that the prince was asleep, she said to her brother: + "I will wager that you do not know why the prince + divided the capon among us in the manner he did." "Do + you know? Tell me why." "He gave the head to our father, + because he is the head of the family; the back to our + mother, because she has on her shoulders all the affairs + of the house; the legs to you, because you must be quick + in performing the errands which are given you; and the + wings to me, to fly away and catch a husband." The + prince pretended to be asleep, but he was awake and + heard these words, and perceived that the girl had much + judgment, and as she was also pretty, he fell in love + with her [and ultimately married this clever girl]. + + + + +V + +MORAL TALES, FABLES, AND PARABLES. + + +Reverence for parents, which is still a marked characteristic of Eastern +races, has ever been strongly inculcated by the Jewish Fathers; and the +noble conduct of Damah, the son of Nethuna, towards both his father and +mother, is adduced in the Talmud as an example for all times and every +condition of life: + + +_A Dutiful Son._ + +The mother of Damah was unfortunately insane, and would frequently not +only abuse him but strike him in the presence of his companions; yet +would not this dutiful son suffer an ill word to escape his lips, and +all he used to say on such occasions was: "Enough, dear mother, enough." +One of the precious stones attached to the high priest's sacerdotal +garments was once, by some means or other, lost. Informed that the son +of Nethuna had one like it, the priests went to him and offered him a +very large price for it. He consented to take the sum offered, and went +into an adjoining room to fetch the jewel. On entering he found his +father asleep, his foot resting on the chest wherein the gem was +deposited. Without disturbing his father, he went back to the priests +and told them that he must for the present forego the large profit he +could make, as his father was asleep. The case being urgent, and the +priests thinking that he only said so to obtain a larger price, offered +him more money. "No," said he; "I would not even for a moment disturb my +father's rest for all the treasures in the world." The priests waited +till the father awoke, when Damah brought them the jewel. They gave him +the sum they had offered him the second time, but the good man refused +to take it. "I will not," said he, "barter for gold the satisfaction of +having done my duty. Give me what you offered at first, and I shall be +satisfied." This they did, and left him with a blessing. + + +_An Ingenious Will._ + +One of the best rabbinical stories of common life is of a wise man who, +residing at some distance from Jerusalem, had sent his son to the Holy +City in order to complete his education, and, dying during his son's +absence, bequeathed the whole of his estate to one of his own slaves, on +the condition that he should allow his son to select any one article +which pleased him for an inheritance. Surprised, and naturally angry, at +such gross injustice on the part of his father in preferring a slave for +his heir in place of himself, the young man sought counsel of his +teacher, who, after considering the terms of the will, thus explained +its meaning and effect: "By this action thy father has simply secured +thy inheritance to thee: to prevent his slaves from plundering the +estate before thou couldst formally claim it, he left it to one of them, +who, believing himself to be the owner, would take care of the property. +Now, what a slave possesses belongs to his master. Choose, therefore, +the slave for thy portion, and then possess all that was thy father's." +The young man followed his teacher's advice, took possession of the +slave, and thus of his father's wealth, and then gave the slave his +freedom, together with a considerable sum of money.[86] + + [86] This story seems to be the original of a French popular + tale, in which a gentleman secures his estate for his + son by a similar device. The gentleman, dying at Paris + while his son was on his travels, bequeathed all his + wealth to a convent, on condition that they should give + his son "whatever they chose." On the son's return he + received from the holy fathers a very trifling portion + of the paternal estate. He complained to his friends of + this injustice, but they all agreed that there was no + help for it, according to the terms of his father's + will. In his distress he laid his case before an eminent + lawyer, who told him that his father had adopted this + plan of leaving his estate in the hands of the churchmen + in order to prevent its misappropriation during his + absence. "For," said the man of law, "your father, by + will, has left you the share of his estate which the + convent should choose (_le partie qui leur plairoit_), + and it is plain that what they chose was that which they + kept for themselves. All you have to do, therefore, is + to enter an action at law against the convent for + recovery of that portion of your father's property which + they have retained, and, take my word for it, you will + be successful." The young man accordingly sued the + churchmen and gained his cause. + + * * * * * + +And now we proceed to cite one or two of the rabbinical fables, in the +proper signification of the term--namely, moral narratives in which +beasts or birds are the characters. Although it is generally allowed +that Fable was the earliest form adopted for conveying moral truths, yet +it is by no means agreed among the learned in what country of remote +antiquity it originated. Dr. Landsberger, in his erudite introduction to +_Die Fabeln des Sophos_ (1859), contends that the Jews were the first to +employ fables for purposes of moral instruction, and that the oldest +fable extant is Jotham's apologue of the trees desiring a king (Book of +Judges, ix. 8-15).[87] According to Dr. Landsberger, the sages of India +were indebted to the Hebrews for the idea of teaching by means of +fables, probably during the reign of Solomon, who is believed to have +had commerce with the western shores of India.[88] We are told by +Josephus that Solomon "composed of parables and similitudes three +thousand; for he spoke a parable upon every sort of tree, from the +hyssop to the cedar; and, in like manner, also about beasts, about all +sorts of living creatures, whether upon earth, or in the seas, or in the +air; for he was not unacquainted with any of their natures, nor omitted +inquiring about them, but described them all like a philosopher, and +demonstrated his exquisite knowledge of their several properties." These +fables of Solomon, if they were ever committed to writing, had perished +long before the time of the great Jewish historian; but there seems no +reason to doubt the fact that the wise king of Israel composed many +works besides those ascribed to him in the Old Testament. The general +opinion among European orientalists is that Fable had its origin in +India; and the Hindús themselves claim the honour of inventing our +present system of numerals (which came into Europe through the Arabians, +who derived it from the Hindús), the game of chess, and the Fables of +Vishnusarman (the _Panchatantra_ and its abridgment, the _Hitopadesa_). + + [87] But the Book of Judges was probably edited after the + time of Hesiod, whose fable of the Hawk and the + Nightingale (_Works and Days_, B. i, v. 260) must be + considered as the oldest extant fable. + + [88] This theory, though perhaps somewhat ingenious, is + generally considered as utterly untenable. + +It is said that Rabbi Meir knew upwards of three hundred fables relating +to the fox alone; but of these only three fragments have been preserved, +and this is one of them, according to Mr. Polano's translation: + + +_The Fox and the Bear._ + +A Fox said to a Bear: "Come, let us go into this kitchen; they are +making preparations for the Sabbath, and we shall be able to find food." +The Bear followed the Fox, but, being bulky, he was captured and +punished. Angry thereat, he designed to tear the Fox to pieces, under +the pretence that the forefathers of the Fox had once stolen his food, +wherein occurs the saying, "the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the +children's teeth are set on edge."[89] "Nay," said the Fox, "come with +me, my good friend; let us not quarrel. I will lead thee to another +place where we shall surely find food." The Fox then led the Bear to a +deep well, where two buckets were fastened together by a rope, like a +balance. It was night, and the Fox pointed to the moon reflected in the +water, saying: "Here is a fine cheese; let us descend and partake of +it." The Fox entered his bucket first, but being too light to balance +the weight of the Bear, he took with him a stone. As soon as the Bear +had got into the other bucket, however, the Fox threw the stone away, +and consequently the bear descended to the bottom and was drowned. + + [89] Ezekiel, xviii, 2. + + * * * * * + +The reader will doubtless recognise in this fable the original of many +modern popular tales having a similar catastrophe. It will also be +observed that the vulgar saying of the moon being "a fine cheese" is of +very considerable antiquity.[90] + + [90] This wide-spread fable is found in the _Disciplina + Clericalis_ (No. 21) and in the collection of Marie de + France, of the 13th century; and it is one of the many + spurious Esopic fables. + +And here is another rabbinical fable of a Fox--a very common character +in the apologues of most countries; although the "moral" appended to +this one by the pious fabulist is much more striking than is sometimes +the case of those deduced from beast-fables: + + +_The Fox in the Garden._ + +A Fox once came near a very fine garden, where he beheld lofty trees +laden with fruit that charmed the eye. Such a beautiful sight, added to +his natural greediness, excited in him the desire of possession. He fain +would taste the forbidden fruit; but a high wall stood between him and +the object of his wishes. He went about in search of an entrance, and at +last found an opening in the wall, but it was too small to admit his +body. Unable to penetrate, he had recourse to his usual cunning. He +fasted three days, and became sufficiently reduced in bulk to crawl +through the small aperture. Having effected an entrance, he carelessly +roved about in this delightful region, making free with its exquisite +produce and feasting on its more rare and delicious fruits. He remained +for some time, and glutted his appetite, when a thought occurred to him +that it was possible he might be observed, and in that case he should +pay dearly for his feast. He therefore retired to the place where he had +entered, and attempted to get out, but to his great consternation he +found his endeavours vain. He had by indulgence grown so fat and plump +that the same space would no more admit him. "I am in a fine +predicament," said he to himself. "Suppose the master of the garden were +now to come and call me to account, what would become of me? I see my +only chance of escape is to fast and half starve myself." He did so with +great reluctance, and after suffering hunger for three days, he with +difficulty made his escape. As soon as he was out of danger, he took a +farewell view of the scene of his late pleasure, and said: "O garden! +thou art indeed charming, and delightful are thy fruits--delicious and +exquisite; but of what benefit art thou to me? What have I now for all +my labour and cunning? Am I not as lean as I was before?"--It is even so +with man, remarks the Talmudist. Naked he comes into the world--naked +must he go out of it, and of all his toils and labour he can carry +nothing with him save the fruits of his righteousness. + + * * * * * + +From fables to parables the transition is easy; and many of those found +in the Talmud are exceedingly beautiful, and are calculated to cause +even the most thoughtless to reflect upon his way of life. Let us first +take the parable of the Desolate Island, one of those adapted by the +monkish compilers of European medićval tales, to which reference has +been made in the preceding sections: + + +_The Desolate Island._ + +A very wealthy man, who was of a kind, benevolent disposition, desired +to make his slave happy. He therefore gave him his freedom, and +presented him with a shipload of merchandise. "Go," said he, "sail to +different countries; dispose of these goods, and that which thou mayest +receive for them shall be thy own." The slave sailed away upon the broad +ocean, but before he had been long on his voyage a storm overtook him, +his ship was driven on a rock and went to pieces; all on board were +lost--all save this slave, who swam to an island near by. Sad, +despondent, with nothing in this world, he traversed this island until +he approached a large and beautiful city, and many people approached +him, joyously shouting: "Welcome! welcome! Long live the king!" They +brought a rich carriage, and, placing him therein, escorted him to a +magnificent palace, where many servants gathered about him--clothing him +in royal garments, and addressing him as their sovereign, and expressing +their obedience to his will. The slave was amazed and dazzled, believing +that he was dreaming, and that all he saw, heard, and experienced was +mere passing fantasy. Becoming convinced of the reality of his +condition, he said to some men about him, for whom he entertained a +friendly feeling: "How is this? I cannot understand it. That you should +thus elevate and honour a man whom you know not--a poor, naked wanderer, +whom you have never seen before--making him your ruler--causes me more +wonder than I can readily express." "Sire," they replied, "this island +is inhabited by spirits. Long since they prayed to God to send them +yearly a son of man to reign over them, and he has answered their +prayers. Yearly he sends them a son of man, whom they receive with +honour and elevate to the throne; but his dignity and power end with the +year. With its close the royal garments are taken from him, he is placed +on board a ship, and carried to a vast and desolate island, where, +unless he has previously been wise and prepared for the day, he will +find neither friend nor subject, and be obliged to pass a weary, lonely, +miserable life. Then a new king is selected here, and so year follows +year. The kings who preceded thee were careless and indifferent, +enjoying their power to the full, and thinking not of the day when it +should end. Be wise, then. Let our words find rest within thy heart." +The newly-made king listened attentively to all this, and felt grieved +that he should have lost even the time he had already spent for making +preparations for his loss of power. He addressed the wise man who had +spoken, saying: "Advise me, O spirit of wisdom, how I may prepare for +the days which will come upon me in the future." "Naked thou camest to +us," replied the other, "and naked thou wilt be sent to the desolate +island, of which I have told thee. At present thou art king, and mayest +do as pleaseth thee; therefore, send workmen to this island, let them +build houses, till the ground, and beautify the surroundings. The barren +soil will be changed into fruitful fields, people will journey thither +to live, and thou wilt have established a new kingdom for thyself, with +subjects to welcome thee in gladness when thou shalt have lost thy power +here. The year is short, the work is long; therefore be earnest and +energetic." The king followed this advice. He sent workmen and materials +to the desolate island, and before the close of his temporary power it +had become a blooming, pleasant, and attractive spot. The rulers who had +preceded him had anticipated the close of their power with dread, or +smothered all thought of it in revelry; but he looked forward to it as a +day of joy, when he should enter upon a career of permanent peace and +happiness. The day came; the freed slave who had been made a king was +deprived of his authority; with his power he lost his royal garments; +naked he was placed upon a ship, and its sails were set for the desolate +island. When he approached its shores, however, the people whom he had +sent there came to meet him with music, song, and great joy. They made +him a prince among them, and he lived ever after in pleasantness and +peace. + +The Talmudist thus explains this beautiful parable of the Desolate +Island: The wealthy man of kindly disposition is God, and the slave to +whom he gave freedom is the soul which he gives to man. The island at +which the slave arrives is the world: naked and weeping he appears to +his parents, who are the inhabitants that greet him warmly and make him +their king. The friends who tell him of the ways of the country are his +good inclinations. The year of his reign is his span of life, and the +desolate island is the future world, which he must beautify by good +deeds--the workmen and materials--or else live lonely and desolate for +ever.[91] + + [91] This is similar to the 10th parable in the spiritual + romance of Barlaam and Joasaph, written in Greek, + probably in the first half of the 7th century, and + ascribed to a monk called John of Damascus. Most of the + matter comprised in this interesting work (which has not + been translated into English) was taken from well-known + Buddhist sources, and M. Zotenberg and other eminent + scholars are of the opinion that it was first composed, + probably in Egypt, before the promulgation of Islám. The + 10th parable is to this effect: The citizens of a + certain great city had an ancient custom, to take a + stranger and obscure man, who knew nothing of the city's + laws and traditions, and to make him king with absolute + power for a year's space; then to rise against him all + unawares, while he, all thoughtless, was revelling and + squandering and deeming the kingdom his for ever; and + stripping off his royal robes, lead him naked in + procession through the city, and banish him to a + long-uninhabited and great island, where, worn down for + want of food and raiment, he bewailed this unexpected + change. Now, according to this custom, a man was chosen + whose mind was furnished with much understanding, who + was not led away by sudden prosperity, and was + thoughtful and earnest in soul as to how he should best + order his affairs. By close questioning, he learned from + a wise counsellor the citizens' custom, and the place of + exile, and was instructed how he might secure himself. + When he knew this, and that he must soon go to the + island and leave his acquired and alien kingdom to + others, he opened the treasures of which he had for the + time free and unrestricted use, and took an abundant + quantity of gold and silver and precious stones, and + giving them to some trusty servants sent them before him + to the island. At the appointed year's end the citizens + rose and sent him naked into exile, like those before + him. But the other foolish and flitting kings had + perished miserably of hunger, while he who had laid up + that treasure beforehand lived in lusty abundance and + delight, fearless of the turbulent citizens, and + felicitating himself on his wise forethought. Think, + then, the city this vain and deceitful world, the + citizens the principalities and powers of the demons, + who lure us with the bait of pleasure, and make us + believe enjoyment will last for ever, till the sudden + peril of death is upon us.--This parable (which seems to + be of purely Hebrew origin) is also found in the old + Spanish story-book _El Conde Lucanor_. + +Closely allied to the foregoing is the characteristic Jewish parable of + + +_The Man and his Three Friends._ + +A certain man had three friends, two of whom he loved dearly, but the +other he lightly esteemed. It happened one day that the king commanded +his presence at court, at which he was greatly alarmed, and wished to +procure an advocate. Accordingly he went to the two friends whom he +loved: one flatly refused to accompany him, the other offered to go with +him as far as the king's gate, but no farther. In his extremity he +called upon the third friend, whom he least esteemed, and he not only +went willingly with him, but so ably defended him before the king that +he was acquitted. In like manner, says the Talmudist, every man has +three friends when Death summons him to appear before his Creator. His +first friend, whom he loves most, namely, his _money_, cannot go with +him a single step; his second, _relations_ and _neighbours_, can only +accompany him to the grave, but cannot defend him before the Judge; +while his third friend, whom he does not highly esteem, the _law_ and +his _good works_, goes with him before the king, and obtains his +acquittal.[92] + + [92] This is the 9th parable in the romance of Barlaam and + Joasaph, where it is told without any variation. + + * * * * * + +Another striking and impressive parable akin to the two immediately +preceding is this of + + +_The Garments._ + +A king distributed amongst his servants various costly garments. Now +some of these servants were wise and some were foolish. And those that +were wise said to themselves: "The king may call again for the garments; +let us therefore take care they do not get soiled." But the fools took +no manner of care of theirs, and did all sorts of work in them, so that +they became full of spots and grease. Some time afterwards the king +called for the garments. The wise servants brought theirs clean and +neat, but the foolish servants brought theirs in a sad state, ragged and +unclean. The king was pleased with the first, and said: "Let the clean +garments be placed in the treasury, and let their keepers depart in +peace. As for the unclean garments, they must be washed and purified, +and their foolish keepers must be cast into prison."--This parable is +designed to illustrate the passage in Eccles., xii, 7, "Then shall the +dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto +God, who gave it"; which words "teach us to remember that God gave us +the soul in a state of innocence and purity, and that it is therefore +our duty to return it unto him in the same state as he gave it unto +us--pure and undefiled." + + +_Solomon's Choice_ + +of Wisdom, in preference to all other precious things, is thus finely +illustrated: A certain king had an officer whom he fondly loved. One day +he desired his favourite to choose anything that he could give, and it +would at once be granted him. The officer considered that if he asked +the king for gold and silver and precious stones, these would be given +him in abundance; then he thought that if he had a more exalted station +it would be granted; at last he resolved to ask the king for his +daughter, since with such a bride both riches and honours would also be +his. In like manner did Solomon pray, "Give thy servant an understanding +heart," when the Lord said to him, "What shall I give thee?" (1st Kings, +iii, 5, 9.) + +But perhaps the most beautiful and touching of all the Talmudic parables +is the following (Polano's version), in which Israel is likened to a +bride, waiting sadly, yet hopefully, for the coming of her spouse: + + +_Bride and Bridegroom._ + +There was once a man who pledged his dearest faith to a maiden beautiful +and true. For a time all passed pleasantly, and the maiden lived in +happiness. But then the man was called from her side, and he left her. +Long she waited, but still he did not return. Friends pitied her, and +rivals mocked her; tauntingly they pointed to her and said: "He has left +thee, and will never come back." The maiden sought her chamber, and read +in secret the letters which her lover had written to her--the letters in +which he promised to be ever faithful, ever true. Weeping, she read +them, but they brought comfort to her heart; she dried her eyes and +doubted not. A joyous day dawned for her: the man she loved returned, +and when he learned that others had doubted, while she had not, he asked +her how she had preserved her faith; and she showed his letters to him, +declaring her eternal trust. [In like manner] Israel, in misery and +captivity, was mocked by the nations; her hopes of redemption were made +a laughing-stock; her sages scoffed at; her holy men derided. Into her +synagogues, into her schools, went Israel. She read the letters which +her God had written, and believed in the holy promises which they +contained. God will in time redeem her; and when he says: "How could you +alone be faithful of all the mocking nations?" she will point to the law +and answer: "Had not thy law been my delight, I should long since have +perished in my affliction."[93] + + [93] Psalm cxix, 92.--By the way, it is probably known to + most readers that the twenty-two sections into which + this grand poem is divided are named after the letters + of the Hebrew alphabet; but from the translation given + in our English Bible no one could infer that in the + original every one of the eight verses in each section + begins with the letter after which it is named, thus + forming a very long acrostic. + + * * * * * + +In the account of the Call of Abraham given in the Book of Genesis, xii, +1-3, we are not told that his people were all idolaters; but in the Book +of Joshua, xxiv, 1-2, it is said that the great successor of Moses, when +he had "waxed old and was stricken with age," assembled the tribes of +Israel, at Shechem, and said to the people: "Your fathers dwelt on the +other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham +and the father of Nachor; and they served other gods." The sacred +narrative does not state the circumstances which induced Abraham to turn +away from the worship of false deities, but the information is furnished +by the Talmudists--possibly from ancient oral tradition--in this +interesting tale of + + +_Abraham and the Idols._ + +Abraham's father Terah, who dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees, was not only an +idolater, but a maker of idols. Having occasion to go a journey of some +distance, he instructed Abraham how to conduct the business of +idol-selling during his absence. The future founder of the Hebrew +nation, however, had already obtained a knowledge of the true and living +God, and consequently held the practice of idolatry in the utmost +abhorrence. Accordingly, whenever any one came to buy an idol Abraham +inquired his age, and upon his answering, "I am fifty (or sixty) years +old," he would exclaim, "Woe to the man of fifty who would worship the +work of man's hands!" and his father's customers went away shamefaced at +the rebuke. But, not content with this mode of showing his contempt for +idolatry, Abraham resolved to bring matters to a crisis before his +father returned home; and an opportunity was presented for his purpose +one day when a woman came to Terah's house with a bowl of fine flour, +which she desired Abraham to place as a votive offering before the +idols. Instead of doing this, however, Abraham took a hammer and broke +all the idols into fragments excepting the largest, into whose hands he +then placed the hammer. On Terah's return he discovered the destruction +of his idols, and angrily demanded of Abraham, who had done the +mischief. "There came hither a woman," replied Abraham, "with a bowl of +fine flour, which, as she desired, I set before the gods, whereupon they +disputed among themselves who should eat first, and the tallest god +broke all the rest into pieces with the hammer." "What fable is this +thou art telling me?" exclaimed Terah. "As for the god thou speakest of, +is he not the work of my own hands?' Did I not carve him out of the +timber of the tree which I cut down in the wilderness? How, then, could +he have done this evil? Verily _thou_ hast broken my idols!" "Consider, +my father," said Abraham, "what it is thou sayest--that I am capable of +destroying the gods which thou dost worship!" Then Terah took and +delivered him to Nimrod, who said to Abraham: "Let us worship the fire." +To which Abraham replied: "Rather the water that quenches the fire." +"Well, the water." "Rather the cloud which carries the water." "Well, +the cloud." "Rather the wind that scatters the cloud." "Well, the wind." +"Rather man, for he endures the wind." "Thou art a babbler!" exclaimed +Nimrod. "I worship the fire, and will cast thee into it. Perchance the +God whom thou dost adore will deliver thee from thence." Abraham was +accordingly thrown into a heated furnace, but God saved him.[94] + + [94] After Abraham had walked to and fro unscathed amidst the + fierce flames for three days, the faggots were suddenly + transformed into a blooming garden of roses and + fruit-trees and odoriferous plants.--This legend is + introduced into the Kurán, and Muslim writers, when they + expatiate on the almighty power of Allah, seldom omit to + make reference to Nimrod's flaming furnace being turned + into a bed of roses. + + * * * * * + +Alexander the Great is said to have wept because there were no more +worlds for him to conquer; and truly says the sage Hebrew King, "The +grave and destruction can never have enough, nor are the eyes of man +ever satisfied" (Prov. xxvii, 20), a sentiment which the following tale, +or parable, is designed to exemplify: + + +_The Vanity of Ambition._ + +Pursuing his journey through dreary deserts and uncultivated ground, +Alexander came at last to a small rivulet, whose waters glided +peacefully along their shelving banks. Its smooth, unruffled surface was +the image of contentment, and seemed in its silence to say, "This is the +abode of tranquility." All was still: not a sound was heard save soft +murmuring tones which seemed to whisper in the ear of the weary +traveller, "Come, and partake of nature's bounty," and to complain that +such an offer should be made in vain. To a contemplative mind, such a +scene might have suggested a thousand delightful reflections. But what +charms could it have for the soul of Alexander, whose breast was filled +with schemes of ambition and conquest; whose eye was familiarised with +rapine and slaughter; and whose ears were accustomed to the clash of +arms--to the groans of the wounded and the dying? Onward, therefore, he +marched. Yet, overcome by fatigue and hunger, he was soon obliged to +halt. He seated himself on the bank of the river, took a draught of the +water, which he found of a very fine flavour and most refreshing. He +then ordered some salt fish, with which he was well provided, to be +brought to him. These he caused to be dipped in the stream, in order to +take off the briny taste, and was greatly surprised to find them emit a +fine fragrance. "Surely," said he, "this river, which possesses such +uncommon qualities, must flow from some very rich and happy country." + +Following the course of the river, he at length arrived at the gates of +Paradise. The gates were shut. He knocked, and, with his usual +impetuosity, demanded admittance. "Thou canst not be admitted here," +exclaimed a voice from within; "this gate is the Lord's." "I am the +Lord--the Lord of the earth," rejoined the impatient chief. "I am +Alexander the Conqueror. Will you not admit _me_?" "No," was the answer; +"here we know of no conquerors, save such as conquer their passions: +_None but the just can enter here_." Alexander endeavoured in vain to +enter the abode of the blessed--neither entreaties nor menaces availed. +Seeing all his attempts fruitless, he addressed himself to the guardian +of Paradise, and said: "You know I am a great king, who has received the +homage of nations. Since you will not admit me, give me at least some +token that I may show an astonished world that I have been where no +mortal has ever been before me." "Here, madman," said the guardian of +Paradise--"here is something for thee. It may cure the maladies of thy +distempered soul. One glance at it may teach thee more wisdom than thou +hast hitherto derived from all thy former instructors. Now go thy ways." + +Alexander took the present with avidity, and repaired to his tent. But +what was his confusion and surprise to find, on examining his present, +that it was nothing but a fragment of a human skull. "And is this," +exclaimed he, "the mighty gift that they bestow on kings and heroes? Is +this the fruit of so much toil and danger and care?" Enraged and +disappointed, he threw it on the ground. "Great king," said one of the +learned men who were present, "do not despise this gift. Contemptible as +it may appear in thine eyes, it yet possesses some extraordinary +qualities, of which thou mayest soon be convinced, if thou wilt but +cause it to be weighed against gold or silver." Alexander ordered this +to be done. A pair of scales were brought. The skull was placed in one, +a quantity of gold in the other; when, to the astonishment of the +beholders, the skull over-balanced the gold. More gold was added, yet +still the skull preponderated. In short, the more gold there was put in +the one scale the lower sank that which contained the skull. "Strange," +exclaimed Alexander, "that so small a portion of matter should outweigh +so large a mass of gold! Is there nothing that will counterpoise it?" +"Yes," answered the philosophers, "a very little matter will do it." +They then took some earth and covered the skull with it, when +immediately down went the gold, and the opposite scale ascended. "This +is very extraordinary," said Alexander, astonished. "Can you explain +this phenomenon?" "Great king," said the sages, "this fragment is the +socket of a human eye, which, though small in compass, is yet unbounded +in its desires. The more it has, the more it craves. Neither gold nor +silver nor any other earthly possession can ever satisfy it. But when it +is once laid in the grave and covered with a little earth, there is an +end to its lust and ambition." + + * * * * * + +Shakspeare's well-known masterly description of the Seven Ages of Man, +which he puts into the mouth of the melancholy Jaques (_As You Like It_, +ii, 7), was anticipated by Rabbi Simon, the son of Eliezer, in this +Talmudic description of + + +_The Seven Stages of Human Life._ + +Seven times in one verse did the author of Ecclesiastes make use of the +word _vanity_, in allusion to the seven stages of human life.[95] + + [95] Eccles., i, 2. The word Vanity (remarks Hurwitz, the + translator) occurs twice in the plural, which the Rabbi + considered as equivalent to four, and three times in the + singular, making altogether _seven_. + +The first commences in the first year of human existence, when the +_infant_ lies like a king on a soft couch, with numerous attendants +about him, all ready to serve him, and eager to testify their love and +attachment by kisses and embraces. + +The second commences about the age of two or three years, when the +darling _child_ is permitted to crawl on the ground, and, like an +unclean animal, delights in dirt and filth. + +Then at the age of ten, the thoughtless _boy_, without reflecting on the +past or caring for the future, jumps and skips about like a young kid on +the enamelled green, contented to enjoy the present moment. + +The fourth stage begins about the age of twenty, when the _young man_, +full of vanity and pride, begins to set off his person by dress; and, +like a young unbroken horse, prances and gallops about in search of a +wife. + +Then comes the _matrimonial state_, when the poor _man_, like a patient +ass, is obliged, however reluctantly, to toil and labour for a living. + +Behold him now in the _parental state_, when surrounded by helpless +children craving his support and looking to him for bread. He is as +bold, as vigilant, and as fawning, too, as the faithful dog; guarding +his little flock, and snatching at everything that comes in his way, in +order to provide for his offspring. + +At last comes the final stage, when the decrepit _old man_, like the +unwieldy though most sagacious elephant, becomes grave, sedate, and +distrustful. He then also begins to hang down his head towards the +ground, as if surveying the place where all his vast schemes must +terminate, and where ambition and vanity are finally humbled to the +dust. + + * * * * * + +But the Talmudist, in his turn, was forestalled by Bhartrihari, an +ancient Hindú sage, one of whose three hundred apothegms has been thus +rendered into English by Sir Monier Williams: + + Now for a little while a child; and now + An amorous youth; then for a season turned + Into a wealthy householder; then, stripped + Of all his riches, with decrepit limbs + And wrinkled frame, man creeps towards the end + Of life's erratic course; and, like an actor, + Passes behind Death's curtain out of view. + +Here, however, the Indian philosopher describes human life as consisting +of only four scenes; but, like our own Shakspeare, he compares the world +to a stage and man to a player. An epigram preserved in the _Anthologia_ +also likens the world to a theatre and human life to a drama: + + This life a theatre we well may call, + Where every actor must perform with art; + Or laugh it through, and make a farce of all, + Or learn to bear with grace a tragic part. + +It is surely both instructive and interesting thus to discover +resemblances in thought and expression in the writings of men of +comprehensive intellect, who lived in countries and in times far apart. + + + + +VI + +WISE SAYINGS OF THE RABBIS. + + +"Concise sentences," says Bacon, "like darts, fly abroad and make +impressions, while long discourses are flat things, and not regarded." +And Seneca has remarked that "even rude and uncultivated minds are +struck, as it were, with those short but weighty sentences which +anticipate all reasoning by flashing truths upon them at once." Wise men +in all ages seem to have been fully aware of the advantage of condensing +into pithy sentences the results of their observations of the course of +human life; and the following selection of sayings of the Jewish +Fathers, taken from the _Pirke Aboth_ (the 41st treatise of the Talmud, +compiled by Nathan of Babylon, A.D. 200), and other sources, will be +found to be quite as sagacious as the aphorisms of the most celebrated +philosophers of India and Greece: + +This world is like an ante-chamber in comparison with the world to come; +prepare thyself in the ante-chamber, therefore, that thou mayest enter +into the dining-room. + +Be humble to a superior, and affable to an inferior, and receive all men +with cheerfulness. + +Be not scornful to any, nor be opposed to all things; for there is no +man that hath not his hour, nor is there anything which hath not its +place. + +Attempt not to appease thy neighbour in the time of his anger, nor +comfort him in the time when his dead is lying before him, nor ask of +him in the time of his vowing, nor desire to see him in the time of his +calamity.[96] + + [96] "Do not," says Nakhshabí, "try to move by persuasion the + soul that is afflicted with grief. The heart that is + overwhelmed with the billows of sorrow will, by slow + degrees, return to itself." + +Hold no man responsible for his utterances in times of grief. + +Who gains wisdom? He who is willing to receive instruction from all +sources. Who is rich? He who is content with his lot. Who is deserving +of honour? He who honoureth mankind. Who is the mighty man? He who +subdueth his temper.[97] + + [97] "He who subdueth his temper is a mighty man," says the + Talmudist; and Solomon had said so before him: "He that + is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that + ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city" (Prov. + xvi, 32). A curious parallel to these words is found in + an ancient Buddhistic work, entitled _Buddha's + Dhammapada_, or Path of Virtue, as follows: "If one man + conquer in battle a thousand times a thousand men, and + if another conquer himself, he is the greatest of + conquerors." (Professor Max Müller's translation, + prefixed to _Buddhagosha's Parables_, translated by + Captain Rogers.) + +When a liar speaks the truth, he finds his punishment in being generally +disbelieved. + +The physician who prescribes gratuitously gives a worthless +prescription. + +He who hardens his heart with pride softens his brains with the same. + +The day is short, the labour vast; but the labourers are still slothful, +though the reward is great, and the Master presseth for despatch.[98] + + [98] Cf. Saádí, _ante_, page 41, "Life is snow," etc. + +He who teacheth a child is like one who writeth on new paper; and he who +teacheth old people is like one who writeth on blotted paper.[99] + + [99] Locke was anticipated not only by the Talmudist, as + above, but long before him by Aristotle, who termed the + infant soul _tabula rasa_, which was in all likelihood + borrowed by the author of the Persian work on the + practical philosophy of the Muhammedans, entitled + _Akhlák-i-Jalaly_, who says: "The minds of children are + like a clear tablet, equally open to all inscriptions." + +First learn and then teach. + +Teach thy tongue to say, "I do not know." + +The birds of the air despise a miser. + +If thy goods sell not in one city, take them to another. + +Victuals prepared by many cooks will be neither cold nor hot.[100] + + [100] Too many cooks spoil the broth.--_English Proverb_. + +Two pieces of money in a large jar make more noise than a hundred.[101] + + [101] Two farthings and a thimble + In a tailor's pocket make a jingle.--_English Saying_. + +Into the well which supplies thee with water cast no stones.[102] + + [102] "Don't speak ill of the bridge that bore you safe over + the stream" seems to be the European equivalent. + +When love is intense, both find room enough upon one bench; afterwards, +they may find themselves cramped in a space of sixty cubits.[103] + + [103] Python, of Byzantium, was a very corpulent man. He once + said to the citizens, in addressing them to make friends + after a political dispute: "Gentlemen, you see how stout + I am. Well, I have a wife at home who is still stouter. + Now, when we are good friends, we can sit together on a + very small couch; but when we quarrel, I do assure you, + the whole house cannot contain us."--_Athenćus_, xii. + +The place honours not the man; it is the man who gives honour to the +place. + +Few are they who see their own faults.[104] + + [104] Compare Burns: + + O wad some power the giftie gie us + To see oursels as ithers see us! + +Thy friend has a friend, and thy friend's friend has a friend: be +discreet.[105] + + [105] See the Persian aphorisms on revealing secrets, _ante_, + p. 48.--Burns, in his "Epistle to a Young Friend," says: + + Aye free aff hand your story tell + When wi' a bosom crony, + But still keep something to yoursel' + Ye scarcely tell to ony. + +Poverty sits as gracefully upon some people as a red saddle upon a white +horse. + +Rather be thou the tail among lions than the head among foxes.[106] + + [106] The very reverse of our English proverb, "Better to be + the head of the commonalty than the tail of the gentry." + +The thief who finds no opportunity to steal considers himself an honest +man. + +Use thy noble vase to-day, for to-morrow it may perchance be broken. + +Descend a step in choosing thy wife; ascend a step in choosing thy +friend. + +A myrtle even in the dust remains a myrtle.[107] + + [107] Saádí has the same sentiment in his _Gulislán_--see + _ante_, p. 49. + +Every one whose wisdom exceedeth his deeds, to what is he like? To a +tree whose branches are many and its roots few; and the wind cometh and +plucketh it up, and overturneth it on its face.[108] + + [108] See also Saádí's aphorisms on precept and practice, + _ante_, p. 47. + +If a word spoken in time be worth one piece of money, silence in its +place is worth two.[109] + + [109] Here we have a variant of Thomas Carlyle's favourite + maxim, "Speech is silvern; silence is golden." + +Silence is the fence round wisdom.[110] + + [110] "Nothing is so good for an ignorant man as silence; and + if he were sensible of this he would not be + ignorant."--_Saádí_. + +A saying ascribed to Esop has been frequently cited with admiration. The +sage Chilo asked Esop what God was doing, and he answered that he was +"depressing the proud and exalting the humble." A parallel to this is +presented in the answer of Rabbi Jose to a woman who asked him what God +had been doing since the creation: "He makes ladders on which he causes +the poor to ascend and the rich to descend," in other words, exalts the +lowly and humbles the haughty. + + * * * * * + +The lucid explanation of the expression, "I, God, am a jealous God," +given by a Rabbi, has been thus elegantly translated by Coleridge:[111] + + [111] _The Friend_, ed. 1850, vol. ii, p. 249. + +"Your God," said a heathen philosopher to a Hebrew Rabbi, "in his Book +calls himself a jealous God, who can endure no other god besides +himself, and on all occasions makes manifest his abhorrence of idolatry. +How comes it, then, that he threatens and seems to hate the worshippers +of false gods more than the false gods themselves?" + +"A certain king," said the Rabbi, "had a disobedient son. Among other +worthless tricks of various kinds, he had the baseness to give his dogs +his father's names and titles. Should the king show anger with the +prince or his dogs?" + +"Well-turned," replied the philosopher; but if God destroyed the objects +of idolatry, he would take away the temptation to it." + +"Yea," retorted the Rabbi; "if the fools worshipped such things only as +were of no farther use than that to which their folly applied them--if +the idol were always as worthless as the idolatry is contemptible. But +they worship the sun, the moon, the host of heaven, the rivers, the sea, +fire, air, and what not. Would you that the Creator, for the sake of +those fools, should ruin his own works, and disturb the laws applied to +nature by his own wisdom? If a man steal grain and sow it, should the +seed not shoot up out of the earth because it was stolen? O no! The wise +Creator lets nature run its own course, for its course is his own +appointment. And what if the children of folly abuse it to evil? The day +of reckoning is not far off, and men will then learn that human actions +likewise reappear in their consequences by as certain a law as that +which causes the green blade to rise up out of the buried cornfield." + + * * * * * + +Not less conclusive was the form of illustration employed by Rabbi +Joshuah in answer to the emperor Trajan. "You teach," said Trajan, "that +your God is everywhere. I should like to see him." "God's presence," +replied the Rabbi, "is indeed everywhere, but he cannot be seen. No +mortal can behold his glory." Trajan repeated his demand. "Well," said +the Rabbi, "suppose we try, in the first place, to look at one of his +ambassadors." The emperor consented, and Joshuah took him into the open +air, and desired him to look at the sun in its meridian splendour. "I +cannot," said Trajan; "the light dazzles me." "Thou canst not endure the +light of one of his creatures," said the Rabbi, "yet dost thou expect to +behold the effulgent glory of the Creator!" + + * * * * * + +Our selections from the sayings of the Hebrew Fathers might be largely +extended, but we shall conclude them with the following: A Rabbi, being +asked why God dealt out manna to the Israelites day by day, instead of +giving them a supply sufficient for a year, or more, answered by a +parable to this effect: There was once a king who gave a certain yearly +allowance to his son, whom he saw, in consequence, but once a year, when +he came to receive it; so the king changed his plan, and paid him his +allowance daily, and thus had the pleasure of seeing his son each day. +And so with the manna: had God given the people a supply for a year they +would have forgotten their divine benefactor, but by sending them each +day the requisite quantity, they had God constantly in their minds. + + * * * * * + +There can be no doubt that the Rabbis derived the materials of many of +their legends and tales of Biblical characters from foreign sources; but +their beautiful moral stories and parables, which "hide a rich truth in +a tale's pretence," are probably for the most part of their own +invention; and the fact that the Talmud was partially, if not wholly, +translated into Arabic shortly after the settlement of the Moors in +Spain sufficiently accounts for the early introduction of rabbinical +legends into Muhammedan works, apart from those found in the Kurán. + + + + +_ADDITIONAL NOTES._ + + +ADAM AND THE OIL OF MERCY. + +In the apocryphal Revelation of Moses, which appears to be of Rabbinical +extraction, Adam, when near his end, informs his sons; that, because of +his transgression, God had laid upon his body seventy strokes, or +plagues. The trouble of the first stroke was injury to the eyes; the +trouble of the second stroke, of the hearing; and so on, in succession, +all the strokes should overtake him. And Adam, thus speaking to his +sons, groaned out loud, and said, "What shall I do? I am in great +grief." And Eve also wept, saying: "My lord Adam, arise; give me the +half of thy disease, and let me bear it, because through me this has +happened to thee; through me thou art in distresses and troubles." And +Adam said to Eve: "Arise, and go with our son Seth near Paradise, and +put earth upon your heads, and weep, beseeching the Lord that he may +have compassion upon me, and send his angel to Paradise, and give me of +the tree out of which flows the oil, that thou mayest bring it unto me; +and I shall anoint myself and have rest, and show thee the manner in +which we were deceived at first."... And Seth went with his mother Eve +near Paradise, and they wept there, beseeching God to send his angel to +give them the Oil of Compassion. And God sent to them the archangel +Michael, who said to them these words: "Seth, man of God, do not weary +thyself praying in this supplication about the tree from which flows the +oil to anoint thy father Adam; for it will not happen to thee now, but +at the last times.... Do thou again go to thy father, since the measure +of his life is fulfilled, saving three days." + +The Revelation, or Apocalypse, of Moses, remarks Mr. Alex. Walker (from +whose translation the foregoing is extracted: _Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, +and Revelations_, 1870), "belongs rather to the Old Testament than to +the New. We have been unable to find in it any reference to any +Christian writing. In its form, too, it appears to be a portion of some +larger work. Parts of it at least are of an ancient date, as it is very +likely from this source that the celebrated legend of the Tree of Life +and the Oil of Mercy was derived"--an account of which, from the German +of Dr. Piper, is given in the _Journal of Sacred Literature_, October, +1864, vol. vi (N.S.), p. 30 ff. + + +MUSLIM LEGEND OF ADAM'S PUNISHMENT, PARDON, DEATH, AND BURIAL. + +When "our first parents" were expelled from Paradise, Adam fell upon the +mountain in Ceylon which still retains his name ("Adam's Peak"), while +Eve descended at Júddah, which is the port of Mecca, in Arabia. Seated +on the pinnacle of the highest mountain in Ceylon, with the orisons of +the angelic choirs still vibrating in his ears, the fallen progenitor of +the human race had sufficient leisure to bewail his guilt, forbearing +all food and sustenance for the space of forty days.[112] But Allah, +whose mercy ever surpasses his indignation, and who sought not the death +of the wretched penitent, then despatched to his relief the angel +Gabriel, who presented him with a quantity of wheat, taken from that +fatal tree[113] for which he had defied the wrath of his Creator, with +the information that it was to be for food to him and to his children. +At the same time he was directed to set it in the earth, and afterwards +to grind it into flour. Adam obeyed, for it was part of his penalty that +he should toil for sustenance; and the same day the corn sprang up and +arrived at maturity, thus affording him an immediate resource against +the evils of hunger and famine. For the benevolent archangel did not +quit him until he had farther taught him how to construct a mill on the +side of the mountain, to grind his corn, and also how to convert the +flour into dough and bake it into bread. + + [112] The number Forty occurs very frequently in the Bible + (especially the Old Testament) in connection with + important events, and also in Asiatic tales. It is, in + fact, regarded with peculiar veneration alike by Jews + and Muhammedans. See notes to my _Group of Eastern + Romances and Stories_ (1889), pp. 140 and 456. + + [113] The "fruit of the forbidden tree" was not an apple, as + we Westerns fondly believe, but _wheat_, say the Muslim + doctors. + +With regard to the forlorn associate of his guilt, from whom a long and +painful separation constituted another article in the punishment of his +disobedience, it is briefly related that, experiencing also for the +first time the craving of hunger, she instinctively dipped her hand into +the sea and brought out a fish, and laying it on a rock in the sun, thus +prepared her first meal in this her state of despair and destitution. + +Adam continued to deplore his guilt on the mountain for a period of one +hundred years, and it is said that from his tears, with which he +moistened the earth during this interval of remorse, there grew up that +useful variety of plants and herbs which in after times by their +medicinal qualities served to alleviate the afflictions of the human +race; and to this circumstance is to be ascribed the fact that the most +useful drugs in the _materia medica_ continue to this day to be supplied +from the peninsula of India and the adjoining islands. The angel Gabriel +had now tamed the wild ox of the field, and Allah himself had discovered +to Adam in the caverns of the same mountain that most important of +minerals, iron, which he soon learned to fashion into a variety of +articles necessary to the successful prosecution of his increasing +labours. At the termination of one hundred years, consumed in toil and +sorrow, Adam having been instructed by the angel Gabriel in a +penitential formula by which he might hope yet to conciliate Allah, the +justice of Heaven was satisfied, and his repentance was finally accepted +by the Most High. The joy of Adam was now as intense as his previous +sorrow had been extreme, and another century passed, during which the +tears with which Adam--from very different emotions--now bedewed the +earth were not less effectual in producing every species of fragrant and +aromatic flower and shrub, to delight the eye and gratify the sense of +smell by their odours, than they were formerly in the generation of +medicinal plants to assuage the sufferings of humanity. + +Tradition has ascribed to Adam a stature so stupendous that when he +stood or walked his forehead brushed the skies; and it is stated that he +thus partook in the converse of the angels, even after his fall. But +this, by perpetually holding to his view the happiness which he had +lost, instead of alleviating, contributed in a great degree to aggravate +his misery, and to deprive him of all repose upon earth. Allah, +therefore, in pity of his sufferings, shortened his stature to one +hundred cubits, so that the harmony of the celestial hosts should no +longer reach his ear. + +Then Allah caused to be raised up for Adam a magnificent pavilion, or +temple, constructed entirely of rubies, on the spot which is now +occupied by the sacred Kaába at Mecca, and which is in the centre of the +earth and immediately beneath the throne of Allah. The forlorn Eve--whom +Adam had almost forgotten amidst his own sorrows--in the course of her +weary wanderings came to the palace of her spouse, and, once more +united, they returned to Ceylon. But Adam revisited the sacred pavilion +at Mecca every year until his death. And wherever he set his foot there +arose, and exists to this day, some city, town, or village, or other +place to indicate the presence of man and of human cultivation. The +spaces between his footsteps--three days' journey--long remained barren +wilderness. + +On the twentieth day of that disorder which terminated the earthly +existence of Adam, the divine will was revealed to him through the angel +Gabriel, that he was to make an immediate bequest of his power as +Allah's vicegerent on earth to Shayth, or Seth, the discreetest and most +virtuous of all his sons, which having done, he resigned his soul to the +Angel of Death on the following day. Seth buried his venerable parent on +the summit of the mountain in Ceylon ("Adam's Peak"); but some writers +assert that he was buried under Mount Abú Kebyss, about three miles from +Mecca. Eve died a twelvemonth after her husband, and was buried in his +grave. Noah conveyed their remains in the ark, and afterwards interred +them in Jerusalem, at the spot afterwards known as Mount Calvary. + + * * * * * + +The foregoing is considerably abridged from _An Essay towards the +History of Arabia, antecedent to the Birth of Mahommed, arranged from +the 'Tarikh Tebry' and other authentic sources_, by Major David Price, +London, 1824, pp. 4, 11.--We miss in this curious legend the brief but +pathetic account of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of +Eden, as found in the last two verses of the 3rd chapter of Genesis, +which suggested to Milton the fine conclusion of his _Paradise Lost_: +how "some natural tears they dropped," as the unhappy pair went +arm-in-arm out of Paradise--and "the world was all before them, where to +choose." Adam's prolonged residence at the top of a high mountain in +Ceylon seems to be of purely Muhammedan invention; and assuredly the +Arabian Prophet did not obtain from the renegade Jew who is said to have +assisted him in the composition of the Kurán the "information" that +Allah taught Adam the mystery of working in iron, since in the Book of +Genesis (iv, 22) it is stated that Tubal-cain was "an instructor of +every artificer in brass and iron," as his brother Jubal was "the father +of all such as handle the harp and the organ" (21).--The disinterment of +the bones of Adam and Eve by Noah before the Flood began and their +subsequent burial at the spot on which Jerusalem was afterwards built, +as also the stature of Adam, are, of course, derived from Jewish +tradition. + + +MOSES AND THE POOR WOODCUTTER. + +The following interesting legend is taken from Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali's +_Observations on the Mussulmans of India_ (1832), vol. i, pp. 170-175. +It was translated by her husband (an Indian Muslim) from a commentary on +the history of Músa, or Moses, the great Hebrew lawgiver, and in all +probability is of rabbinical origin: + +When the prophet Músa--to whose spirit be peace!--was on earth, there +lived near him a poor but remarkably religious man, who had for many +years supported himself and his wife by the daily occupation of cutting +wood for his richer neighbours, four small copper coins being the reward +of his toil, which at best afforded the poor couple but a scanty meal +after his day's exertions. One morning the Prophet Músa, passing the +woodcutter, was thus addressed: "O Músa! Prophet of the Most High! +behold I labour each day for my coarse and scanty meal. May it please +thee, O Prophet! to make petition for me to our gracious God, that he +may, in his mercy, grant me at once the whole supply for my remaining +years, so that I shall enjoy one day of earthly happiness, and then, +with my wife, be transferred to the place of eternal rest." Músa +promised, and made the required petition. His prayer was thus answered +from Mount Tor: "This man's life is long, O Músa! Nevertheless, if he be +willing to surrender life when his supply is exhausted, tell him thy +prayer is heard, the petition accepted, and the whole amount shall be +found beneath his prayer-carpet after his morning prayers." + +The woodcutter was satisfied when Músa told him the result of his +petition, and, the first duties of the morning being performed, he +failed not in looking for the promised gift, and to his surprise found a +heap of silver coins in the place indicated. Calling his wife, he told +her what he had acquired of the Lord through his holy prophet Músa, and +they both agreed that it was very good to enjoy a short life of +happiness on earth and depart in peace; although they could not help +again and again recurring to the number of years on earth they had thus +sacrificed. "We will make as many hearts rejoice as this the Lord's gift +will permit," they both agreed; "and thus we shall secure in our future +state the blessed abode promised to those who fulfil the commands of God +in this life, since to-morrow it must close for us." + +The day was spent in procuring and preparing provisions for the feast. +The whole sum was expended on the best sorts of food, and the poor were +made acquainted with the rich treat the woodcutter and his wife were +cooking for their benefit. The food being cooked, allotments were made +to each hungry applicant, and the couple reserved to themselves one good +substantial meal, which was to be eaten only after the poor were all +served and satisfied. It happened at the very moment they were seated to +enjoy this their last meal, as they believed, a voice was heard, saying: +"O friend! I have heard of your feast; I am late, yet it may be that you +have still a little to spare, for I am hungry to my very heart. The +blessing of God be on him who relieves my present sufferings from +hunger!" The woodcutter and his wife agreed that it would be much better +for them to go to Paradise with half a meal than to leave one fellow +creature famishing on earth. So they shared their own portion with him +who had none, and he went away from them rejoicing. "Now," said the +happy pair, "we shall eat of our half-share with unmixed delight, and +with thankful hearts. By to-morrow evening we shall be transferred to +Paradise." + +They had scarcely raised the savoury food to their mouths when a +bewailing voice arrested their attention, and stayed the hands already +charged with food. A poor creature who had not tasted food for two days +moaned his piteous tale, in accents which drew tears from the woodcutter +and his wife; their eyes met and the sympathy was mutual: they were more +willing to depart for Paradise without the promised benefit of one +earthly enjoyment, than suffer the hungry man to die from want of that +meal they had before them. The dish was promptly tendered to the +unfortunate one, and the woodcutter and his wife consoled each other +with reflecting that, as the time of their departure was now so near at +hand, the temporary enjoyment of a meal was not worth one moment's +consideration: "To-morrow we die; then of what consequence is it to us +whether we depart with full or empty stomachs?" + +And now their thoughts were set on the place of eternal rest. They +slept, and arose to their morning orisons with hearts reposing humbly on +their God, in the fullest expectation that this was their last day on +earth. The prayer was concluded, and the woodcutter was in the act of +rolling up his carpet, on which he had prostrated himself with +gratitude, reverence, and love to his Creator, when he perceived a fresh +heap of silver on the floor. He could scarcely believe but it was a +dream. "How wonderful art thou, O God!" cried he. "This is thy bounteous +gift, that I may indeed enjoy one day before I quit this earth." And +Músa, when he came to him, was satisfied with the goodness and the power +of God. But he retired again to the Mount, to inquire of God the cause +of the woodcutter's respite. The reply which Músa received was as +follows: "That man has faithfully applied the wealth given in answer to +his petition. He is worthy to live out his numbered years on earth who, +receiving my bounty, thought not of his own enjoyments whilst his fellow +men had wants which he could supply." And to the end of the +wood-cutter's long life God's bounty lessened not in substance; neither +did the pious man relax in his charitable duties of sharing with the +indigent all that he had, and with the same disregard of his own +enjoyments. + + +PRECOCIOUS SAGACITY OF SOLOMON. + +Commentators on the Kurán state that while Solomon was still a mere +youth he frequently upset the decisions of the judges in open court, and +they became displeased with his interference, though they could not but +confess to themselves that his judgment was always superior to theirs. +Having prevailed upon King David to permit the sagacity of his son to be +publicly tested, they plied him with what they deemed very difficult +questions, which, however, were hardly uttered before he answered them +correctly, and at length they became silent and shame-faced. Then +Solomon rose and said (I take the paragraph which follows from the +English translation of Dr. Weil's interesting work, _The Bible, the +Korán, and the Talmud_, 1846, p. 165 f.): + +"You have exhausted yourselves in subtleties, in the hope of manifesting +your superiority over me before this great assembly. Permit me now also +to put to you a very few simple questions, the solution of which needs +no manner of study, but only a little intellect and understanding. Tell +me: What is Everything, and what is Nothing? Who is Something, and who +is less than Nothing?" Solomon waited long, and when the judge whom he +had addressed was not able to answer, he said: "Allah, the Creator, is +Everything, and the world, the creature, is Nothing. The believer is +Something, but the hypocrite is less than Nothing." Turning to another, +Solomon inquired: "Which are the most in number, and which are the +fewest? What is the sweetest, and what is the most bitter?" But as the +second judge also was unable to find proper answers to these questions, +Solomon said: "The most numerous are the doubters, and they who possess +a perfect assurance of faith are fewest in number. The sweetest is the +possession of a virtuous wife, excellent children, and a respectable +competency; but a wicked wife, undutiful children, and poverty are the +most bitter." Finally Solomon put this question to a third judge: "Which +is the vilest, and which is the most beautiful? What is the most +certain, and what is the least so?" But these questions also remained +unanswered until Solomon said: "The vilest thing is when a believer +apostasises, and the most beautiful is when a sinner repents. The most +certain thing is death and the last judgment, and the most uncertain, +life and the fate of the soul after the resurrection. You perceive," he +continued, "it is not the oldest and most learned that are always the +wisest. True wisdom is neither of years nor of learned books, but only +of Allah, the All-wise." + +The judges were full of admiration, and unanimously lauded the +unparalleled sagacity of the future ruler of Israel.--The Queen of +Sheba's "hard questions" (already referred to, p. 218) were probably of +a somewhat similar nature. Such "wit combats" seem to have been formerly +common at the courts and palaces of Asiatic monarchs and nobles; and a +curious, but rather tedious, example is furnished in the _Thousand and +One Nights_, in the story of Abú al-Husn and his slave Tawaddad, which +will be found in vol. iv of Mr. John Payne's and vol. v of Sir R. F. +Burton's complete translations. + + +SOLOMON AND THE SERPENT'S PREY. + +A curious popular tradition of Solomon, in French verse, is given by M. +Emile Blémont in _La Tradition_ (an excellent journal of folklore, etc., +published at Paris) for March 1889, p. 73: Solomon, we are informed, in +very ancient times ruled over all beings [on the earth], and, if we may +believe our ancestors, was the King of magicians. One day Man appeared +before him, praying to be delivered from the Serpent, who ever lay in +wait to devour him. "That I cannot do," said Solomon; "for he is my +preceptor, and I have given him the privilege to eat whatsoever he likes +best." Man responded: "Is that so? Well, let him gorge himself without +stint; but he has no right to devour me." "So you say," quoth Solomon; +"but are you sure of it?" Said Man: "I call the light to witness it; for +I have the high honour of being in this world superior to all other +creatures." At these words the whole of the assembly [of animals] +protested. "And I!" said the Eagle, with a loud voice, as he alighted on +a rock. "Corcorico!" chanted the Cock. The Monkey was scratching himself +and admiring his grinning phiz in the water, which served him for a +looking-glass. Then the Buzzard was beside himself [with rage]. And the +Cuckoo was wailing. The Ass rolled over and over, crying: "Heehaw! how +ugly Man is!" The Elephant stamped about with his heavy feet, his +trumpet raised towards the heavens. The Bear assumed dignified airs, +while the Peacock was showing off his wheel-like tail. And in the +distance the Lion was majestically exhaling his disdain in a long sigh. + +Then said Solomon: "Silence! Man is right: is he not the only beast who +gets drunk at all seasons? But, to accede to his request, as an honest +prince, I ought to be able to give the Serpent something preferable, or +at least equal, to his favourite prey. Therefore hear my decision: Let +the Gnat--the smallest of animals--find out in what creature circulates +the most exquisite blood in the world; and that creature shall belong to +you, O Serpent. And I summon you all to appear here, without fail, on +this day twelvemonths hence, that the Gnat may tell us the result of his +experiments." + +The year past, the Gnat--subtle taster--was slowly winging his way back +when he met the Swallow. "Good day, friend Swallow," says he. "Good day, +friend Gnat," replies the Swallow. "Have you accomplished your mission?" +"Yes, my dear," responded the Gnat. "Well, what is then the most +delicious blood under the heavens?" "My dear, it is that of Man." +"What!--of him? I haven't heard. Speak louder." The Gnat was beginning +to raise his voice, and opened his mouth to speak louder, when the +Swallow quickly fell upon him and nipped off his tongue in the middle of +a word. Spite of this, the Gnat continued his way, and arrived next day +at the general assembly, where Solomon was already seated. But when the +king questioned him, he had no means of proving his zeal. Said the king: +"Give us thy report." "Bizz! bizz! bizz!" said the poor fellow. "Speak +out, and let thy talk be clear," quoth the king. "Bizz! bizz! bizz!" +cried the other again. "What's the matter with the little stupid?" +exclaimed the king, in a rage. Here the Swallow intervened in a sweet +and shrill tone: "Sire, it is not his fault. Yesterday we were flying +side by side, when suddenly he became mute. But, by good luck, down +there about the sacred springs, before he met with this misfortune, he +told me the result of his investigations. May I depone in his name?" +"Certainly," replied Solomon. "What is the best blood, according to thy +companion?" "Sire, it is the blood of the Frog." + +Everybody was astonished: the Gnat was mad with rage. "I hold," said +Solomon, "to all that I promised. Friend Serpent, renounce Man +henceforth--that food is bad. The Frog is the best meat; so eat as much +Frog as you please." So the Serpent had to submit to his deplorable lot, +and I leave you to think how the bile was stirred up within the rascally +reptile. As the Swallow was passing him--mocking and sneering--the +Serpent darted at her, but the bird swiftly passed beyond reach, and +with little effort cleft the vast blue sky and ascended more than a +league. The Serpent snapped only the end of the bird's tail, and that is +how the Swallow's tail is cloven to this day; but, so far from finding +it an inconvenience, she is thereby the more lively and beautiful. And +Man, knowing what he owes to her, is full of gratitude. She has her +abode under the eaves of our houses, and good luck comes wherever she +nestles. Her gay cries, sweet and shrill, rouse the springtide. Is she +not a bird-fairy--a good angel? On the other hand, the crafty Serpent +hardly knows how to get out of the mud, and drags himself along, +climbing and climbing; while the Swallow, free and light, flies in the +gold of the day. For she is faithful Friendship--the little sister of +Love. + +M. Blémont does not say in what part of France this legend is current, +but it is doubtless of Asiatic extraction--whether Jewish or Muhammedan. + + +THE CAPON-CARVER, p. 231. + +A variant of the same incident occurs in No. IV of M. Emile Legrand's +_Receuil de Contes Populaires Grecs_ (Paris, 1881), where a prince sets +out in quest of some maiden acquainted with "figurative language," whom +he would marry. He comes upon an old man and his daughter, and overhears +the latter address her father in metaphorical terms, which she has to +explain to the old man, at which the prince is highly pleased, and +following them to their hut desires and obtains shelter for the night. +"As there was not much to eat, the old man bade them kill a cock, and +when it was roasted it was placed on the table. Then the young girl got +up and carved the fowl. She gave the head to her father; the body to her +mother; the wings to the prince; and the flesh to the children. The old +man, seeing his daughter divide the fowl in this manner, turned and +looked at his wife, for he was ashamed to speak of it before the +stranger. But when they were going to bed he said to his daughter: 'Why, +my child, did you cut up the fowl so badly? The stranger has gone +starving to bed.' 'Ah, my father,' she replied, 'you have not understood +it; wait till I explain: I gave the head to you, because you are the +head of this house; to my mother I gave the body, because, like the body +of a ship, she has borne us in her sides; I gave the wings to the +stranger, because to-morrow he will take his flight and go away; and +lastly, to us the children I gave the bits of flesh, because we are the +true flesh of the house. Do you understand it now, my good +father?'"--The remainder of the story is so droll that, though but +remotely related to the Capon-carver, I think it worth while to give a +translation of it: + +"As the room wherein the girl spoke with her father was adjacent to that +in which the stranger lay, the latter heard all that she said. Great was +his joy, and he said to himself that he would well like for wife one who +could thus speak figurative language. And when it was day he rose, took +his leave, and went away. On his return to the palace he called a +servant and gave him in a sack containing 31 loaves, a whole cheese, a +cock stuffed and roasted, and a skin of wine; and indicating to him the +position of the cabin where he had put up, told him to go there and +deliver these presents to a young girl of 18 years. + +"The servant took the sack and set out to execute the orders of his +master.--But, pardon me, ladies [quoth the story-teller], if I have +forgotten to tell you this: Before setting out, the servant was ordered +by the prince to say these words to the young girl: 'Many, many +compliments from my master. Here is what he sends you: the month has 31 +days; the moon is full; the chorister of the dawn is stuffed and +roasted; the he-goat's skin is stretched and full.'--The servant then +went towards the cabin, but on the way he met some friends. 'Good day, +Michael. Where are you going with this load, and what do you carry?' +'I'm going over the mountain to a cabin where my master sends me.' 'And +what have you got in there? The smell of it makes our mouths water.' +'Look, here are loaves, cheese, wine, and a roasted cock. It's a present +which my master has given me to take to a poor girl.' 'O indeed, +simpleton! Sit down, that we may eat a little. How should thy master +ever know of it?' Down they sat on the green mountain sward and fell-to. +The more they ate the keener their appetites grew, so that our fine +fellows cleared away 13 loaves, half the cheese, the whole cock, and +nearly half the wine. When they had eaten and drank their fill, the +servant took up the remainder and resumed his way to the cabin. Arrived, +he found the young girl, gave her the presents, and repeated the words +which his master had ordered him to say. + +"The girl took what he brought and said to him: 'You shall say to your +master: "Many, many compliments. I thank him for all that he has sent +me; but the month has only 18 days, the moon is only half full, the +chorister of dawn was not there, and the he-goat's skin is lank and +loose. But, to please the partridge, let him not beat the sow."' (That +is to say, there were only 18 loaves, half a cheese, no roasted cock, +and the wine-skin was scarcely half full; but that, to please the young +girl, he was not to beat the servant, who had not brought the gift +entire.) + +"The servant left and returned to the palace. He repeated to the prince +what the young girl had said to him, except the last clause, which he +forgot. Then the prince understood all, and caused another servant to +give the rogue a good beating. When the culprit had received such a +caning that his skin and bones were sore, he cried out: 'Enough, prince, +my master! Wait until I tell you another thing that the young girl said +to me, and I have forgotten to tell you.' 'Come, what have you to +say?--be quick.' 'Master, the young girl added, "But, to please the +partridge, let him not beat the sow."' 'Ah, blockhead!' said the prince +to him. 'Why did you not tell me this before? Then you would not have +tasted the cane. But so be it.' A few days later the prince married the +young girl, and fętes and great rejoicings were held." + + +THE FOX AND THE BEAR, p. 240. + +In no other version of this fable does the Fox take a stone with him +when he enters one of the buckets and then throw it away--nor indeed +does he go into the bucket at all; he simply induces the other animal to +descend into the well, in order to procure the "fine cheese." La +Fontaine gives a variant of the fable, in which a fox goes down into a +well with the same purpose, and gets out by asking a wolf to come down +and feast on the "cheese": as the wolf descends in one bucket he draws +up the fox in the other one, and so the wolf, like Lord Ullin, is "left +lamenting."[114] M. Bérenger-Féraud thinks this version somewhat +analogous to a fable in his French collection of popular Senegambian +Tales,[115] of the Clever Monkey and the Silly Wolf, of which, as it is +short, I may offer a free translation, as follows: + +A proud lion was pacing about a few steps forward, then a side movement, +then a grand stride backward. A monkey on a tree above imitates the +movements, and his antics enrage the lion, who warns him to desist. The +monkey however goes on with the caricature, and at last falls off the +tree, and is caught by the lion, who puts him into a hole in the ground, +and having covered it with a large stone goes off to seek his mate, that +they should eat the monkey together. While he is absent a wolf comes to +the spot, and is pleased to hear the monkey cry, for he had a grudge +against him. The wolf asks why the monkey cries. "I am singing," says +the monkey, "to aid my digestion. This is a hare's retreat, and we two +ate so heartily this morning that I cannot move, and the hare is gone +out for some medicine. We have lots of more food." "Let me in," says the +wolf; "I am a friend." The monkey, of course, readily consents, and just +as the wolf enters he slips out, and, replacing the stone, imprisons the +wolf. By-and-by the lion and his mate come up. "We shall have monkey +to-day," says the lion, lifting the stone--"faith! we shall only have +wolf after all!" So the poor wolf is instantly torn into pieces, while +the clever monkey once more overhead re-enacts his lion-pantomime.[116] + + [114] _Fables de La Fontaine_, Livre xi^e, fable v^e: "Le Loup + et le Renard." + + [115] _Recueil de Contes Populaires de la Sénégambie_, + recueillis par L.-J.-B.-Bérenger-Féraud. Paris, 1885. + Page 51. + + [116] I have to thank my friend Dr. David Ross, Principal, + E. C. Training College, Glasgow, for kindly drawing my + attention to this diverting tale. + +Strange as it may appear, there is a variant of the fable of the Fox and +the Bear current among the negroes in the United States, according to +_Uncle Remus_, that most diverting collection. In No. XVI, "Brer Rabbit" +goes down in a bucket into a well, and "Brer Fox" asks him what he is +doing there. "O I'm des a fishing, Brer Fox," says he; and Brer Fox goes +into the bucket while Brer Rabbit escapes and chaffs his comrade. + + +THE DESOLATE ISLAND, p. 243. + +There is a tale in the _Gesta Romanorum_ (ch. 74 of the text translated +by Swan) which seems to have been suggested by the Hebrew parable of the +Desolate Island, and which has passed into general currency throughout +Europe: A dying king bequeaths to his son a golden apple, which he is to +give to the greatest fool he can find. The young prince sets out on his +travels, and after meeting with many fools, none of whom, however, he +deemed worthy of the "prize," he comes to a country the king of which +reigns only one year, and finds him indulging in all kinds of pleasure. +He offers the king the apple, explaining the terms of his father's +bequest, and saying that he considers him the greatest of all fools, in +not having made a proper use of his year of sovereignty.--A common oral +form of this story is to the effect that a court jester came to the +bedside of his dying master, who told him that he was going on a very +long journey, and the jester inquiring whether he had made due +preparation was answered in the negative. "Then," said the fool, +"prithee take my bauble, for thou art truly the greatest of all fools." + + +OTHER RABBINICAL LEGENDS AND TALES. + +As analogues, or variants, of incidents in several wide-spread European +popular tales, other Hebrew legends are cited in some of my former +books; e.g.: The True Son, in _Popular Tales and Fictions_, vol. i, p. +14; Moses and the Angel (the ways of Providence: the original of +Parnell's "Hermit"), vol. i, p. 25; a mystical hymn, "A kid, a kid, my +Father bought," the possible original of our nursery cumulative rhyme of +"The House that Jack built," vol. i, p. 291; the Reward of Sabbath +observance, vol. i, p. 399; the Intended Divorce, vol. ii, p. 328, of +which, besides the European variants there cited, other versions will be +found in Prof. Crane's _Italian Popular Tales_: "The Clever Girl" and +Notes; the Lost Camel, in _A Group of Eastern Romances and Stories_, p. +512. In _Originals and Analogues of some of Chaucer's 'Canterbury +Tales'_ (for the Chaucer Society) I have cited two curious Jewish +versions of the Franklin's Tale, in the paper entitled "The Damsel's +Rash Promise," pp. 315, 317. A selection of Hebrew Facetić is given at +the end of the papers on Oriental Wit and Humour in the present volume +(p. 117); and an amusing story, also from the Talmud, is reproduced in +my _Book of Sindibád_, p. 103, _note_, of the Athenian and the witty +Tailor; and in the same work, p. 340, _note_, reference is made to a +Jewish version of the famous tale of the Matron of Ephesus. There may be +more in these books which I cannot call to mind. + + + + +AN ARABIAN TALE OF LOVE. + + Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, + Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend + More than cool reason ever comprehends. + _Midsummer Night's Dream_. + + +Every land has its favourite tale of love: in France, that of Abelard +and Eloisa, in Italy, of Petrarch and Laura; all Europe has the touching +tale of Romeo and Juliet in common; and Muslims have the ever fresh tale +of the loves and sorrows of Majnún and Laylá. Of the ten or twelve +Persian poems extant on this old tale those by Nizámí, who died A.D. +1211, and Jámí, of the 15th century, are considered as by far the best; +though Hátifí's version (ob. 1520) is highly praised by Sir William +Jones. The Turkish poet Fazúlí (ob. 1562) also made this tale the basis +of a fine mystical poem, of which Mr. Gibb has given some translated +specimens--reproducing the original rhythm and rhyme-movement very +cleverly--in his _Ottoman Poems_. The following is an epitome of the +tale of Majnún and Laylá: + +Kays (properly, Qays), the handsome son of Syd Omri, an Arab chief of +Yemen, becomes enamoured of a beauteous maiden of another tribe: a +damsel bright as the moon,[117] graceful as the cypress;[118] with locks +dark as night, and hence she was called Laylá;[119] who captivated all +hearts, but chiefly that of Kays. His passion is reciprocated, but soon +the fond lovers are separated. The family of Laylá remove to the distant +mountains of Nejd, and Kays, distracted, with matted locks and bosom +bare to the scorching sun, wanders forth into the desert in quest of her +abode, causing the rocks to echo his voice, constantly calling upon her +name. His friends, having found him in woeful plight, bring him home, +and henceforth he is called Majnún--that is, one who is mad, or frantic, +from love. Syd Omri, his father, finding that Majnún is deaf to good +counsel--that nothing but the possession of Laylá can restore him to his +senses--assembles his followers and departs for the abode of Laylá's +family, and presenting himself before the maiden's father, proposes in +haughty terms the union of his son with Laylá; but the offer is +declined, on the ground that Syd Omri's son is a maniac, and he will not +give his daughter to a man bereft of his senses; but should he be +restored to his right mind he will consent to their union. Indignant at +this answer, Syd Omri returns home, and after his friends had in vain +tried the effect of love-philtres to make Laylá's father relent, as a +last resource they propose that Majnún should wed another damsel, upon +which the demented lover once more seeks the desert, where they again +find him almost at the point of death, and bring him back to his tribe. + + [117] Nothing is more hackneyed in Asiatic poetry than the + comparison of a pretty girl's face to the moon, and not + seldom to the disparagement of that luminary. Solomon, + in his love-songs, exclaims: "Who is she that looketh + forth in the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the + sun?" The greatest of Persian poets, Firdausí, says of a + damsel: + + "Love ye the moon? Behold her face, + And there the lucid planet trace." + + And Kalidása, the Shakspeare of India (6th century + B.C.), says: + + "Her countenance is brighter than the moon." + + Amongst ourselves the epithet "moon-faced" is not usually + regarded as complimentary, yet Spenser speaks of a + beautiful damsel's "moon-like forehead."--Be sure, the + poets are right! + + [118] The lithe figure of a pretty girl is often likened by + Eastern poets to the waving cypress, a tree which we + associate with the grave-yard.--"Who is walking there?" + asks a Persian poet. "Thou, or a tall cypress?" + + [119] "Nocturnal." + +Now the season of pilgrimage to Mecca draws nigh, and it is thought that +a visit to the holy shrine and the waters of the Zemzem[120] might cure +his frenzy. Accordingly Majnún, weak and helpless, is conveyed to Mecca +in a litter. Most fervently his sorrowing father prays in the Kaába for +his recovery, but all in vain, and they return home. Again Majnún +escapes to the desert, whence his love-plaints, expressed in eloquent +verse, find their way to Laylá, who contrives to reply to them, also in +verse, assuring her lover of her own despair, and of her constancy. + + [120] The sacred well in the Kaába at Mecca, which, according + to Muslim legends, miraculously sprang up when Hagar and + her son Ishmael were perishing in the desert from thirst. + +One day a gallant young chief, Ibn Salám, chances to pass near the +dwelling of Laylá, and, seeing the beauteous maiden among her +companions, falls in love with her, and straightway asks her in marriage +of her parents. Laylá's father does not reject the handsome and wealthy +suitor, who scatters his gold about as if it were mere sand, but desires +him to wait until his daughter is of proper age for wedlock, when the +nuptials should be duly celebrated; and with this promise Ibn Salám +departs. + +Meanwhile, Noufal, the chief in whose land Majnún has taken up his +abode, while hunting one day comes upon the wretched lover, and, struck +with his appearance, inquires the cause of his distress. Noufal +conceives a warm friendship for Majnún, and sends a messenger to Laylá's +father to demand her in marriage with his friend. But the damsel's +parent scornfully refused to comply, and Noufal then marches with his +followers against him. A battle ensues, in which Noufal is victorious. +The father of Laylá then comes to Noufal, and offers submission; but he +declares that rather than consent to his daughter's union with Majnún he +would put her to death before his face. Seeing the old man thus +resolute, Noufal abandons his enterprise and returns to his own country. + +And now Ibn Salám, having waited the appointed time, comes with his +tribesmen to claim the hand of Laylá; and, spite of her tears and +protestations, she is married to the wealthy young chief. Years pass +on--weary years of wedded life to poor Laylá, whose heart is ever true +to her wandering lover. At length a stranger seeks out Majnún, and tells +him that his beloved Laylá wishes to have a brief interview with him, +near her dwelling. At once the frantic lover speeds towards the +rendezvous; but when Laylá is informed of his arrival, her sense of duty +overcomes the passion of her life, and she resolves to forego the +dangerous meeting, and poor Majnún departs without having seen his +darling. Henceforth he is a constant dweller in the desert, having for +his companions the beasts and birds of the wilderness--his clothes in +tatters, his hair matted, his body wasted to a shadow, his bare feet +lacerated with thorns. After the lapse of many more years the husband of +Laylá dies, and the beautiful widow passes the prescribed period of +separation (_'idda_),[121] after which Majnún hastens to embrace his +beloved. Overpowered by the violence of their emotions, both are for a +space silent; at length Laylá addresses Majnún in tender accents; but +when he finds voice to reply it is evident that the reaction has +completely extinguished the last spark of reason: Majnún is now a +hopeless maniac, and he rushes from the arms of Laylá and seeks the +desert once more. Laylá never recovered from the shock occasioned by +this discovery. She pined away, and with her last breath desired her +mother to convey the tidings of her death to Majnún, and to assure him +of her constant, unquenchable affection. When Majnún hears of her death +he visits her tomb, and, exhausted with his journey and many privations, +he lays himself down on the turf that covered her remains, and dies--the +victim of pure, ever-during love. + + [121] According to Muslim law, four months and ten days must + elapse before a widow can marry again. + + * * * * * + +Possibly, readers of a sentimental turn--oft inclined to the "melting" +mood--may experience a kind of pleasing sadness in perusing a rhythmical +prose translation of the passage in Nizámí's poem in which + + +_Majnún bewails the Death of Laylá._ + +When Zayd,[122] with heart afflicted, heard that in the silent tomb that +moon[123] had set, he wept and mourned, and sadly flowed his tears. Who +in this world is free from grief and tears? Then, clothed in sable +garments, like one oppressed who seeks redress, he, agitated, and +weeping like a vernal cloud, hastened to the grave of Laylá; but, as he +o'er it hung, ask not how swelled his soul with grief; while from his +eyes the tears of blood incessant flowed, and from his sight and groans +the people fled. Sometimes he mourned with grief so deep and sad that +from his woe the sky became obscure. Then from the tomb of that fair +flower he to the desert took his way. There sought the wanderer from the +paths of man him whose night was now in darkness veiled, as that bright +lamp was gone; and, seated near him, weeping and sighing, he beat his +breast and struck upon the earth his head. When Majnún saw him thus +afflicted he said: "What has befallen thee, my brother, that thy soul is +thus overpowered? and why so pale that cheek? and why these sable +robes?" He thus replied: "Because that fortune now has changed: a sable +stream has issued from the earth, and even death has burst its iron +gates; a storm of hail has on the garden poured, and not a leaf of all +our rose-bower now remains. The moon has fallen from the firmament, and +prostrate on the mead that waving cypress lies! Laylá was, but from the +world has now departed; and from the wound thy love had caused she +died." + + [122] An attendant, who had always befriended Majnún. + + [123] "The moon," to wit, the unhappy Laylá. See the note, + p. 284. + +Scarce had these accents reached his listening ear e'er, senseless, +Majnún fell as one by lightning struck. A short time, fainting, thus he +lay; recovered, then he raised his head to heaven and thus exclaimed: "O +merciless! what fate severe is this on one so helpless? Why such wrath? +Why blast a blade of grass with lightning, and on the ant [i.e. himself] +thy power exert? One ant and a thousand pains of hell, when one single +spark would be enough! Why thus with blood the goblet crown, and all my +hopes deceive? I burned with flames that by that lamp were fed; and by +that breath which quenched its light I too expire." Thus, like Asra, did +he complain, and, like Wamik, traversed on every side the desert,[124] +his heart broken, and his garments rent; while, as the beasts gazed on +him, his tears so constant flowed, that in their eyes the tear-drop +stood; and like a shadow Zayd his footsteps still pursued. When, weeping +and mourning, Majnún thus o'er many a hill and many a vale had passed, +as grief his path directed, he wished to view the tomb of all he loved; +and then inquired of Zayd where was the spot that held her grave, and +where the turf that o'er it grew. + + [124] See Note on 'Wamik and Asra' at the end of this paper. + +But soon as to the tomb he came, struck with its view, his senses fled. +Recovering, then he thus exclaimed: "O Heaven! what shall I do, or what +resource attempt, as like a lamp I waste away? Alas! that heart-enslaver +was all that in this world I prized: and now, alas! in wrath, dire Fate +with ruthless blow has snatched her from me. In my hand I held a lovely +flower; the wind came and scattered all its leaves. I chose a cypress +that in the garden graceful grew; but soon the wind of fate destroyed +it. Spring bade a blossom bloom; but Fortune would not guard the flower. +A group of lilies I preserved, pure as the thoughts that in my bosom +rose; but one unjust purloined them. I sowed, but he the harvest +reaped." + +Then, resting within the tomb his head, he mourning wept, and said: "O +lovely floweret, struck by autumn's blast, and from this world departed +ere thou knewest it! A garden once in bloom, but now laid waste! O fruit +matured, but not enjoyed! To earth's mortality can such as thou be +subject, and such as thou within the darkness of the tomb repose? And +where is now that mole which seemed a grain of musk?[125] And where +those eyes soft as the gazelle's? Where those ruby lips? And where those +curling ringlets? In what bright hues is now thy form adorned? And +through the love of whom does now thy lamp consume? To whose fond eyes +are now thy charms displayed? And whom to captivate do now thy tresses +wave? Beside the margin of what stream is now that cypress seen? And in +what bower is now the banquet spread? Ah, can such as thou have felt the +pangs of death, and be reclined within this narrow cave?[126] But o'er +thy cell I mourn, as thou wast all I loved; and ere my grief shall +cease, the grave shall be my friend. Thou wast agitated like the sand of +the desert; but now thou reposest as the water of the lake. Thou, like +the moon, hast disappeared; but, though unseen, the moon is still the +same; and now, although thy form from me is hid, still in my breast +remains the loved remembrance. Though far removed beyond my aching +sight, still is thy image in my heart beheld. Thy form is now departed, +but grief eternal fills its place. On thee my soul was fixed, and never +will thy memory be forgot. Thou art gone, and from this wilderness +escaped, and now reposest in the bowers of Paradise. I, too, after some +little time will shake off these bonds, and there rejoin thee. Till +then, faithful to the love I vowed, around thy tomb my footsteps will I +bend. Until I come to thee within this narrow cell, pure be thy shroud! +May Paradise everlasting be thy mansion blest! And be thy soul received +into the mercy of thy God! And may thy spirit by his grace be vivified +to all eternity!" + + [125] A mole on the fair face of Beauty is not regarded as a + blemish, but the very contrary, by Asiatics--or by + Europeans either, else why did the ladies of the last + century patch their faces, if not (originally) to set + off the clearness of their complexion by contrast with + the little black wafer?--though (afterwards) often to + hide a pimple! Eastern poets are for ever raving over + the mole on a pretty face. Háfíz goes the length of + declaring: + + "For the mole on the cheek of that girl of Shíráz + I would give away Samarkand and Bukhárá"-- + + albeit they were none of his to give to anybody. + + [126] Cf. Shelley, in the fine opening of that wonderful + poetical offspring of his adolescence, _Queen Mab_: + + "Hath, then, the gloomy Power + Whose reign is in the tainted sepulchres + Seized on her sinless soul?" + + * * * * * + +"This," methinks I hear some misogynist exclaim, after reading it--"this +is rank nonsense--it is stark lunacy!" And so it is, perhaps. At all +events, these impassioned words are supposed to be uttered by a poor +youth who had gone mad from love. Our misogynist--and may I venture to +include the experienced married man?--will probably retort, that all +love between young folks is not only folly but sheer madness; and he +will be the more confirmed in this opinion when he learns that, +according to certain grave Persian writers, Laylá was really of a +swarthy visage, and far from being the beauty her infatuated lover +conceived her to be: thus verifying the dictum of our great dramatist, +in the ever-fresh passage where he makes "the lunatic, the lover, and +the poet" to be "of imagination all compact," the lover seeing "Helen's +beauty in the brow of Egypt!"--Notwithstanding all this, the ancient +legend of Laylá and Majnún has proved an inspiring theme to more than +one great poet of Persia, during the most flourishing period of the +literature of that country--for which let us all be duly thankful. + + + + +_ADDITIONAL NOTES._ + + +'WAMIK AND ASRA,' p. 289. + +This is the title of an ancient Persian poem, composed in the reign of +Núshírván, A.D. 531-579, of which some fragments only now remain, +incorporated with an Arabian poem. In 1833, Von Hammer published a +German translation, at Vienna: _Wamik und Asra; das ist, Glühende und +die Blühende. Das älteste Persische romantische Gedicht. Jun fünftelsaft +abgezogen_, von Joseph von Hammer (Wamik and Asra; that is, the Glowing +and the Blowing. The most ancient Persian Romantic Poem. Transfer the +Fifth, etc.) The hero and heroine, namely, Wamik and Asra, are +personifications of the two great principles of heat and vegetation, the +vivifying energy of heaven and the correspondent productiveness of +earth.--This noble poem is the subject of a very interesting article in +the _Foreign Quarterly Review_, vol. xviii, 1836-7, giving some of the +more striking passages in English verse, of which the following may +serve as a specimen: + + 'The Blowing One' Asra was justly named, + For she, in mind and form, a blossom stood; + Of beauty, youth, and grace divinely framed, + Of holiest spirit, filled with heavenly good. + The Spring, when warm, in fullest splendour showing, + Breathing gay wishes to the inmost core + Of youthful hearts, and fondest influence throwing, + Yet veiled its bloom, her beauty's bloom before; + For her the devotee his very creed forswore. + Her hair was bright as hyacinthine dyes; + Her cheek was blushing, sheen as Eden's rose; + The soft narcissus tinged her sleeping eyes, + And white her forehead, as the lotus shows + _'Gainst Summer's earliest sunbeams shimmering fair._ + +A curious story is related by Dawlat Sháh regarding this poem, which +bears a close resemblance to the story of the destruction of the +Alexandrian Library, by order of the fanatical khalíf 'Umar: One day +when Amír Abdullah Tahir, governor of Khurasán under the Abbasside +khalífs, was giving audience, a person laid before him a book, as a rare +and valuable present. He asked: "What book is this?" The man replied: +"It is the story of Wamik and Asra." The Amír observed: "We are the +readers of the Kurán, and we read nothing except that sacred volume, and +the traditions of the Prophet, and such accounts as relate to him, and +we have therefore no use for books of this kind. They are besides +compositions of infidels, and the productions of worshippers of fire, +and are therefore to be rejected and contemned by us." He then ordered +the book to be thrown into the water, and issued his command that +whatever books could be found in the kingdom which were the composition +of the Persian infidels should be immediately burnt. + + +ANOTHER FAMOUS ARABIAN LOVER. + +Scarcely less celebrated than the story of Majnún and Laylá--among the +Arabs, at least--is that of the poet Jamíl and the beauteous damsel +Buthayna. It is said that Jamíl fell in love with her while he was yet a +boy, and on attaining manhood asked her in marriage, but her father +refused. He then composed verses in her honour and visited her secretly +at Wádi-'l Kura, a delightful valley near Medína, much celebrated by the +poets. Jamíl afterwards went to Egypt, with the intention of reciting to +Abdu-'l Azíz Ibn Marwán a poem he had composed in his honour. This +governor admitted Jamíl into his presence, and, after hearing his +eulogistic verses and rewarding him generously, he asked him concerning +his love for Buthayna, and was told of his ardent and painful passion. +On this Abdu-'l Azíz promised to unite Jamíl to her, and bade him stay +at Misr (Cairo), where he assigned him a habitation and furnished him +with all he required. But Jamíl died there shortly after, A.H. 82 (A.D. +701). + +The following narrative is given in the _Kitabal-Aghání_, on the +authority of the famous poet and philologist Al-Asma'í, who flourished +in the 8th century: + +A person who was present at the death of Jamíl in Egypt relates that the +poet called him and said: "If I give you all I leave after me, will you +perform one thing which I shall enjoin you?" "By Allah, yes," said the +other. "When I am dead," said Jamíl, "take this cloak of mine and put it +aside, but keep everything else for yourself. Then go to Buthayna's +tribe, and when you are near them, saddle this camel of mine and mount +her; then put on my cloak and rend it, and mounting on a hill, shout out +these verses: 'A messenger hath openly proclaimed the death of Jamíl. He +hath now a dwelling in Egypt from which he will never return. There was +a time when, intoxicated with love, he trained his mantle proudly in the +fields and palm-groves of Wádi-'l Kura! Arise, Buthayna! and lament +aloud: weep for the best of all thy lovers!'" The man did what Jamíl +ordered, and had scarcely finished the verses when Buthayna came forth, +beautiful as the moon when it appears from behind a cloud. She was +muffled in a cloak, and on coming up to him said: "Man, if what thou +sayest be true, thou hast killed me; if false, thou hast dishonoured +me!" [i.e. by associating her name with that of a strange man, still +alive.] He replied: "By Allah! I only tell the truth," and he showed her +Jamíl's mantle, on seeing which she uttered a loud cry and smote her +face, and the women of the tribe gathered around, weeping with her and +lamenting her lover's death. Her strength at length failed her, and she +swooned away. After some time she revived, and said [in verse]: "Never +for an instant shall I feel consolation for the loss of Jamíl! That time +shall never come. Since thou art dead, O Jamíl, son of Mamar! the pains +of life and its pleasures are alike to me." And quoth the lover's +messenger: "I never saw man or woman weep more than I saw that +day."--Abridged from Ibn Khallikan's great Biographical Dictionary as +translated by Baron De Slane, vol. i, pp. 331-326. + + + + +APOCRYPHAL LIFE OF ESOP, THE FABULIST. + + +The origin of the Beast-Fable is still a vexed question among scholars, +some of whom ascribe it to the doctrine of metempsychosis, or the +transmigration of human souls into different animal forms; others, +again, are of the opinion that beasts and birds were first adopted as +characters of fictitious narratives, in order to safely convey reproof +or impart wholesome counsel to the minds of absolute princes, who would +signally resent "plain speaking."[127] Several nations of +antiquity--notably the Greeks, the Hindús, the Egyptians--have been +credited with the invention of the beast-fable, and there is no reason +to believe that it may not have been independently devised in different +countries. It is very certain, however, that Esop was not the inventor +of this kind of narrative in Greece, while those fables ascribed to him, +which have been familiar to us from our nursery days, are mostly +spurious, and have been traced to ancient Oriental sources. The +so-called Esopic apologue of the Lion and the House is found in an +Egyptian papyrus preserved at Leyden.[128] Many of them are quite modern +_rechauffés_ of Hindú apologues, such as the Milkmaid and her Pot of +Milk, which gave rise to our popular saying, "Don't count your chickens +until they be hatched." Nevertheless, genuine fables of Esop were +current in Athens at the best period of its literary history, though it +does not appear that they existed in writing during his lifetime. +Aristophanes represents a character in one of his plays as learning +Esop's fables from oral recitation. When first reduced to writing they +were in prose, and Socrates is said to have turned some of them into +verse, his example being followed by Babrius, amongst others, of whose +version but few fables remain entire. The most celebrated of his Latin +translators is Phćdrus, who takes care to inform us that + + If any thoughts in these Iambics shine, + The invention's Esop's, and the verse is mine.[129] + + [127] The reader may with advantage consult the article + 'Beast-Fable,' by Mr. Thos. Davidson, in _Chambers's + Encylopćdia_, new edition. + + [128] But this papyrus might be of as late a period as the + second century of our era. + + [129] For the most complete history of the Esopic Fable, see + vol. i of Mr. Joseph Jacobs' edition of _The Fables of + Aesop, as first printed by Caxton in 1484, with those of + Avian, Alfonso, and Poggio_, recently published by Mr. + David Nutt; where a vast amount of erudite information + will be found on the subject in all its ramifications. + Mr. Jacobs, indeed, seems to have left little for future + gleaners: he has done his work in a thorough, + Benfey-like manner, and students of comparative + folk-lore are under great obligations to him for the + indefatigable industry he has devoted to the valuable + outcome of his wide-reaching learning. + +Little is authentically known regarding the career of the renowned +fabulist, who is supposed to have been born about B.C. 620, and, as in +the case of Homer, various places are assigned as that of his +nativity--Samos, Sardis, Mesembria in Thrace, and Cotićium in Phrygia. +He is said to have been brought as a slave to Athens when very young, +and after serving several masters was enfranchised by Iadmon, the +Samian. His death is thus related by Plutarch: Having gone to Delphos, +by the order of Croesus, with a large quantity of gold and silver, to +offer a costly sacrifice to Apollo and to distribute a considerable sum +among the inhabitants, a quarrel arose between him and the Delphians, +which induced him to return the money, and inform the king that the +people were unworthy of the liberal benefaction he had intended for +them. The Delphians, incensed, charged him with sacrilege, and, having +procured his condemnation, precipitated him from a rock and caused his +death.--The popular notion that Esop was a monster of ugliness and +deformity is derived from a "Life" of the fabulist, prefixed to a Greek +collection of fables purporting to be his, said to have been written by +Maximus Planudes, a monk of the 14th century, which, however apocryphal, +is both curious and entertaining, from whatever sources the anecdotes +may have been drawn. + +According to Planudes,[130] Esop was born at Amorium, in the Greater +Phrygia, a slave, ugly exceedingly: he was sharp-chinned, snub-nosed, +bull-necked, blubber-lipped, and extremely swarthy (whence his name, +_Ais-ôpos_, or _Aith-ôpos_: burnt-face, blackamoor); pot-bellied, +crook-legged, and crook-backed; perhaps uglier even than the Thersites +of Homer; worst of all, tongue-tied, obscure and inarticulate in his +speech; in short, everything but his mind seemed to mark him out for a +slave. His first master sent him out to dig one day. A husbandman having +presented the master with some fine fresh figs, they were given to a +slave to be set before him after his bath. Esop had occasion to go into +the house; meanwhile the other slaves ate the figs, and when the master +missed them they accused Esop, who begged a moment's respite: he then +drank some warm water and caused himself to vomit, and as he had not +broken his fast his innocence was thus manifest. The same test +discovered the thieves, who by their punishment illustrated the proverb: + + Whoso against another worketh guile + Thereby himself doth injure unaware.[131] + + [130] _Fabulae Romanenses Graece conscriptae ex recensione et + cum adnotationibus_, Alfredi Eberhard (Leipzig, 1872), + vol. i, p. 226 ff. + + [131] It would have been well had the sultan Bayazíd compelled + his soldier to adopt this plan when accused by an old + woman of having drunk up all her supply of goat's milk. + The soldier declared his innocence, upon which Bayazíd + ordered his stomach to be cut open, and finding the milk + not yet digested, quoth he to the woman: "Thou didst not + complain without reason." And, having caused her to be + recompensed for her loss, "Now go thy way," he added, + "for thou hast had justice for the wrong done thee." + +Next day the master goes to town. Esop works in the field, and +entertains with his own food some travellers who had lost their way, and +sets them on the right road again. They are really priests of Artemis, +and having received their blessing he falls asleep, and dreams that +Tychę (i.e. Fortune) looses his tongue, and gives him eloquence. Waking, +he finds he can say _bous_, _onos_, _dikella_, (ox, ass, mattock). This +is the reward of piety, for "well-doing is full of good hopes." Zenas, +the overseer, is rebuked by Esop for beating a slave. This is the first +time he has been heard to speak distinctly. Zenas goes to his master and +accuses Esop of having blasphemed him and the gods, and is given Esop to +sell or give away as he pleases. He sells him to a trader for three +obols (4-1/2d.), Esop pleading that, if useless for aught else, he will +do for a bugbear to keep his children quiet. When they arrive home the +little ones begin to cry. "Was I not right?" quoth Esop, and the other +slaves think he has been bought to avert the Evil Eye. + +The merchant sets out for Asia with all his house-hold. Esop is offered +the lightest load, as being a raw recruit. From among the bags, beds, +and baskets he chooses a basket full of bread--"a load for two men." +They laugh at his folly, but let him have his will, and he staggers +under the burden to the wonder of his master. But at the first halt for +_ariston_, or breakfast, the basket is half-emptied, and by the evening +wholly so, and then Esop marches triumphantly ahead, all commending his +wit. At Ephesus the merchant sells all his slaves, excepting a musician, +a scribe, and Esop. Thence he goes to Samos, where he puts new garments +on the two former (he had none left for Esop), and sets them out for +sale, Esop between them. Xanthus, the philospher, lived at Samos. He +goes to the slave market, and, seeing the three, praises the dealer's +cunning in making the two look handsomer than they were by contrast with +the ugly one. Asking the scribe and the musician what they know, their +answer is, "Everything," upon which Esop laughs. The price of the +musician (1000 obols, or six guineas) and of the scribe (three times +that sum) prevents the philosopher from buying them, and he turns to +Esop to see what he is made of. He gives him the customary salutation, +"Khaire!" (Rejoice). "I wasn't grieving," retorts Esop. "I greet thee," +says Xanthus. "And I thee," replies Esop. "What are thou?" "Black." "I +don't mean that, but in what sort of place wast thou born?" "My mother +didn't tell me whether in the second floor or the cellar." "What can you +do?" "Nothing." "How?" "Why, these fellows here say they know how to do +everything, and they haven't left me a single thing." "By Jove," cries +Xanthus, "he has answered right well; for there is no man who knows +everything. That was why he laughed, it is clear." In the end, Xanthus +buys Esop for sixty obols (about 7s. 6d.) and takes him home, where his +wife (who is "very cleanly") receives him only on sufferance. + +One day Xanthus, meeting friends at the bath, sends Esop home to boil +pease (idiomatically using the word in the singular), for his friends +are coming to eat with him. Esop boils _one_ pea and sets it before +Xanthus, who tastes it and bids him serve up. The water is then placed +on the table, and Esop justifies himself to his distracted master, who +then sends him for four pig's feet. While they boil, Xanthus slyly +abstracts one, and when Esop discovers this he takes it for a plot +against him of the other slaves. He runs into the yard, cuts a foot from +the pig feeding there, and tosses it into the pot. Presently the other +foot is put back, and Esop is confounded to see _five_ trotters on the +boil. He serves them up, however, and when Xanthus asks him what the +five mean he replies: "How many feet have two pigs?" Xanthus saying, +"Eight," quoth Esop: "Then here are five, and the porker feeding below +goes on three." On being reproached he urges: "But, master, there is no +harm in doing a sum in addition and subtraction, is there?" For very +shame Xanthus forbears whipping him. + +One morning Xanthus gives a breakfast, for which Esop is sent to buy +"the best and most useful." He buys tongues, and the guests +(philosophers all) have nothing else. "What could be better for man than +tongue?" quoth Esop. Another time he is ordered to get "the worst and +most worthless"; again he brings tongues, and again is ready with a +similar defence.[132] A guest reviles him, and Esop retorts that he is +"malicious and a busybody." On hearing this Xanthus commands him to find +some one who is not a busybody. In the road Esop finds a simple soul and +brings him home to his master, who persuades his wife to bear with him +in anything he should pretend to do to her; if the guest is a busybody +(or one who meddles) Esop will get a beating. The plan fails; for the +good man continues eating and takes no notice of the wife-cuffing going +on, and when his host seems about to burn her, he only asks leave to +bring his own wife to be also placed on the pile. + + [132] This story is also found in the _Liber de Donis_ of + Etienne de Bourbon (No. 246), a Dominican monk of the + 14th century; in the _Summa Praedicantium_ of John + Bromyard, and several other medieval monkish collections + of _exempla_, or stories designed for the use of + preachers: in these the explanation is that nothing can + be better and nothing worse than _tongue_. + +At a symposium Xanthus takes too much wine, and in bravado wagers his +house and all that it contains that he will drink up the waters of the +sea. Out of this scrape Esop rescues him by suggesting that he should +demand that all the rivers be stopped from flowing into the sea, for he +did not undertake to drink them too, and the other party is +satisfied.[133] + + [133] This occurs in the several Asiatic versions of the Book + of Sindibád (Story of the Sandalwood Merchant); in the + _Gesta Romanorum_; in the old English metrical _Tale of + Beryn_; in one of the Italian _Novelle_ of Sacchetti; + and in the exploits of Tyl Eulenspiegel, the German + Rogue. + +A party of scientific guests are coming to dinner one day, and Esop is +set just within the door to keep out "all but the wise." When there is a +knock at the door Esop shouts: "What does the dog shake?" and all save +one go away in high dudgeon, thinking he means them; but this last +answers: "His tail," and is admitted. + +At a public festival an eagle carries off the municipal ring, and Esop +obtains his freedom by order of the state for his interpretation of this +omen--that some king purposes to annex Samos. This, it turns out, is +Croesus, who sends to claim tribute. Hereupon Esop relates his first +fable, that of the Wolf, the Dog, and the Sheep, and, going on an +embassy to Croesus, that of the Grasshopper who was caught by the +Locust-gatherer. He brings home "peace with honour." After this Esop +travels over the world, showing his wisdom and wit. At Babylon he is +made much of by the king. He then visits Egypt and confounds the sages +in his monarch's behalf. Once more he returns to Greece, and at Delphi +is accused of stealing a sacred golden bowl and condemned to be hurled +from a rock. He pleads the fables of the Matron of Ephesus,[134] the +Frog and the Mouse, the Beetle and the Eagle, the Old Farmer and his +Ass-waggon, and others, but all is of no avail, and the villains break +his neck. + + [134] Taken from Petronius Arbiter. The story is widely + spread. It is found in the _Seven Wise Masters_, + and--_mutatis mutandis_--is well known to the Chinese. + Planudes takes some liberties with his original, + substituting for the soldier guarding the suspended + corpse of a criminal, who "comforts" the sorrowing + widow, a herdsman with his beasts, which he loses in + prosecuting his amour. + + * * * * * + +Such are some of the apocryphal sayings and doings of Esop the +fabulist--the manner of his death being the only circumstance for which +there is any authority. The idea of his bodily deformity is utterly +without foundation, and may have been adopted as a foil to his +extraordinary shrewdness and wit, as exhibited in the anecdotes related +of him by Planudes. That there was nothing uncouth in the person of Esop +is evident from the fact that the Athenians erected a fine statue of +him, by the famed sculptor Lysippus.--The Latin collection of the fables +ascribed to Esop was first printed at Rome in 1473 and soon afterwards +translated into most of the languages of Europe. About the year 1480 the +Greek text was printed at Milan. From a French version Caxton printed +them in English at Westminster in 1484, with woodcuts: "Here begynneth +the Book of the subtyl History and Fables of Esope. Translated out of +Frenssche into Englissche, by William Caxton," etc. In this version +Planudes' description of Esop's personal appearance is reproduced:[135] +He was "deformed and evil shapen, for he had a great head, large visage, +long jaws, sharp eyes, a short neck, curb backed, great belly, great +legs, and large feet; and yet that which was worse, he was dumb and +could not speak; but, notwithstanding all this, he had a great wit and +was greatly ingenious, subtle in cavillection and joyous in words"--an +inconsistency which is done away in a later edition by the statement +that afterwards he found his tongue.--It is curious to find the Scottish +poet Robert Henryson (15th century), in one of the prologues to his +metrical versions of some of the Fables, draw a very different portrait +of Esop.[136] He tells us that one day in the midst of June, "that joly +sweit seasoun," he went alone to a wood, where he was charmed with the +"noyis of birdis richt delitious," and "sweit was the smell of flowris +quhyte and reid," and, sheltering himself under a green hawthorn from +the heat of the sun, he fell asleep: + + And, in my dreme, methocht come throw the schaw[137] + The fairest man that ever befoir I saw. + + His gowne wes of ane claith als quhyte as milk, + His chymeris[138] wes of chambelote purpour broun; + His hude[139] of scarlet, bordourit[140] weill with silk, + On hekellit-wyis,[141] untill his girdill doun; + His bonat round, and of the auld fassoun,[142] + His beird was quhyte, his ene was greit and gray, + With lokker[143] hair, quilk ouer his schulderis lay. + + Ane roll of paper in his hand he bair, + Ane swannis pen stikkand[144] under his eir, + Ane inkhorne, with ane prettie gilt pennair,[145] + Ane bag of silk, all at his belt can beir: + Thus was he gudelie graithit[146] in his geir. + Of stature large, and with ane feirfull[147] face; + Evin quhair I lay, he came ane sturdie pace. + + [135] Mr. Jacobs was obliged to omit the Life of Esop in his + reprint of Caxton's text of the Fables, as it would have + unduly increased the bulk of his second volume. But + those interested in the genealogy of popular tales and + fables will be glad to have Mr. Jacobs' all but + exhaustive account of the so-called Esopic fables, + together with his excellent synopsis of parallels, in + preference to the monkish collection of spurious + anecdotes of the fabulist, of which the most noteworthy + are given in the present paper. + + [136] Robert Henryson was a schoolmaster in Dunfermline in the + latter part of the 15th century. His _Moral Fables_, + edited by Dr. David Irving, were printed for the + Maitland Club in 1832, and his complete works (Poems and + Fables) were edited by Dr. David Laing, and published in + 1865. His _Testament of Cresseid_, usually considered as + his best performance, is a continuation of Chaucer's + _Troilus and Cresseide_, which was derived from the + Latin of an unknown author named Lollius. Henryson was + the author of the first pastoral poem composed in the + English (or Scottish) language--that of _Robin and + Makyn_. "To his power of poetical conception," Dr. Laing + justly remarks, "he unites no inconsiderable skill in + versification: his lines, if divested of their uncouth + orthography, might be mistaken for those of a more + modern poet." + + [137] _Schaw_, a wood, a covert. + + [138] _Chymeris_, a short, light gown. + + [139] _Hude_, hood. + + [140] _Bordourit_, embroidered. + + [141] _Hekellit-wise_, like the feathers in the neck of a cock. + + [142] _Fassoun_, fashion. + + [143] _Lokker_, (?) gray. + + [144] _Stikkand_, sticking. + + [145] _Pennair_, pen-case. + + [146] _Graithit_, apparelled, arrayed. + + [147] _Feirfull_, awe-inspiring, dignified. + +The Arabian sage Lokinan is represented by tradition to have been a +black slave, and of hideous appearance, from which, and from the +identity of the apologues in the Arabian collection that bears his name +as the author with the so-called Esopic fables, some writers have +supposed that Esop and Lokman are simply different names of one and the +same individual. But the fables ascribed to Lokman have been for the +most part (if not indeed entirely) derived from the Greek; and there is +no authority whatever that Lokman composed any apologues. Various +traditions exist regarding Lokman's origin and history. It is said that +he was an Ethiopian, and was sold as a slave to the Israelites during +the reign of David. According to one version, he was a carpenter; +another describes him as having been originally a tailor; while a third +account states that he was a shepherd. If the Arabs may be credited, he +was nearly related to the patriarch Job. Among the anecdotes which are +recounted of his amiable disposition is the following: His master once +gave him a bitter lemon to eat. Lokman ate it all, upon which his +master, greatly astonished, asked him: "How was it possible for you to +eat so unpalatable a fruit?" Lokman replied: "I have received so many +favours from you, that it is no wonder I should once in my life eat a +bitter melon from your hand." Struck with this generous answer, the +master, it is said, immediately gave him his freedom.--A man of eminence +among the Jews, observing a great crowd around Lokman, eagerly listening +to his discourse, asked him whether he was not the black slave who +lately tended the sheep of such a person, to which Lokman replying in +the affirmative, "How was it possible," continued his questioner, "for +thee to attain so exalted a degree of wisdom and piety?" Lokman +answered: "By always speaking the truth; keeping my word; and never +intermeddling in affairs that did not concern me."--Being asked from +whom he had learned urbanity, he replied: "From men of rude manners, for +whatever I saw in them that was disagreeable I avoided doing myself." +And when asked from whom he had acquired his philosophy, he said: "From +the blind, who never advance a step until they have tried the ground." +Lokman is also credited with this apothegm: "Be a learned man, a +disciple of the learned, or an auditor of the learned; at least, be a +lover of knowledge and desirous of improvement."--In Persian and Turkish +tales Lokman sometimes figures as a highly skilled physician, and "wise +as Lokman" is proverbial throughout the Muhammedan world. + + + + +_ADDITIONAL NOTE._ + + +DRINKING THE SEA DRY, p. 306. + +The same jest is also found in _Aino Folk-Tales_, translated by Prof. +Basil Hall Chamberlain, and published in the _Folk-Lore Journal_, 1888, +as follows: + +There was the Chief of the Mouth of the River and the Chief of the Upper +Current of the River. The former was very vain-glorious, and therefore +wished to put the latter to shame or to kill him by engaging him in an +attempt to perform something impossible. So he sent for him and said: +"The sea is a useful thing, in so far as it is the original home of the +fish which come up the river. But it is very destructive in stormy +weather, when it beats wildly upon the beach. Do you now drink it dry, +so that there may be rivers and dry land only. If you cannot do so, then +forfeit all your possessions." The other said, greatly to the +vain-glorious man's surprise: "I accept the challenge." So, on their +going down to the beach, the Chief of the Upper Current of the River +took a cup and scooped up a little of the sea-water with it, drank a few +drops, and said: "In the sea-water itself there is no harm. It is some +of the rivers flowing into it that are poisonous. Do you, therefore, +first close the mouths of all the rivers both in Aino-land and in Japan, +and prevent them from flowing into the sea, and then I will undertake to +drink the sea dry." Hereupon the Chief of the Mouth of the River felt +ashamed, acknowledged his error, and gave all his treasures to his +rival. + + * * * * * + +Such an idea as this of first "stopping the rivers" might well have been +conceived independently by different peoples, but surely not by such a +race so low in the scale of humanity as the Ainos, who must have got the +story from the Japanese, who in their turn probably derived it from some +Indian-Buddhist source--perhaps a version of the Book of Sindibád. Of +course, the several European versions and variants have been copied out +of one book into another, and independent invention is out of the +question. + + + + +IGNORANCE OF THE CLERGY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. + + _Orl._ Whom ambles Time withal? + + _Ros._ With a priest that lacks Latin; for he sleeps easily, + because he cannot study, lacking the burden of lean and wasteful + learning.--_As You Like It_. + + +During the 7th and 8th centuries the state of letters throughout +Christian Europe was so low that very few of the bishops could compose +their own discourses, and some of those Church dignitaries thought it no +shame to publicly acknowledge their inability to write their own names. +Numerous instances occur in the Acts of the Councils of Ephesus and +Chalcedon of an inscription in these words: "I, ----, have subscribed +by the hand of ----, because I cannot write"; and such a bishop having +thus confessed that he could not write, there followed: "I, ----, whose +name is underwritten, have therefore subscribed for him." + +Alfred the Great--who was twelve years of age before a tutor could be +found competent to teach him the alphabet--complained, towards the close +of the 9th century, that "from the Humber to the Thames there was not a +priest who understood the liturgy in his mother-tongue, or could +translate the easiest piece of Latin"; and a correspondent of Abelard, +about the middle of the 12th century, complimenting him upon a resort to +him of pupils from all countries, says that "even Britain, distant as +she is, sends her savages to be instructed by you." + +Henri Etienne, in the Introduction to his Apology for Herodotus,[148] +says that "the most brutish and blockish ignorance was to be found in +friars' cowls, especially mass-mongering priests, which we are the less +to wonder at, considering that which Menot twits them in the teeth +withal, that instead of books there was nothing to be found in their +chambers but a sword, or a long-bow, or a cross-bow, or some such +weapon. But how could they send _ad ordos_ such ignorant asses? You must +note, sir, that they which examined them were as wise as woodcocks +themselves, and therefore judged of them as penmen of pikemen and blind +men of colours. Or were it that they had so much learning in their +budgets as that they could make a shift to know their inefficiency, yet +to pleasure those that recommended them they suffered them to pass. One +is famous among the rest, who being asked by the bishop sitting at the +table: 'Es tu dignus?' answered, 'No, my Lord, but I shall dine anon +with your men.' For he thought that _dignus_ (that is, worthy) signified +to dine." + + [148] This is a work distinct from Henri Etienne's _Apologia + pour Herodote_. An English translation of it was + published at London in 1807, and at Edinburgh in 1808, + under the title of "_A World of Wonders_; or, an + Introduction to a Treatise touching the Conformitie of + Ancient and Modern Wonders; or, a Preparative Treatise + to the Apology for Herodotus," etc. For this book (the + "Introduction") Etienne had to quit France, fearing the + wrath of the clerics. His _Apologie pour Herodote_ has + not been rendered into English--and why not, it would be + hard to say. + +Etienne gives another example, which, however, belongs rather to the +class of simpleton stories: A young man going to the bishop for +admission into holy orders, to test his _learning_, was asked by the +prelate, "Who was the father of the Four Sons of Aymon?"[149] and not +knowing what answer to make, this promising candidate was refused as +inefficient. Returning home, and explaining why he had not been +ordained, his father told him that he must be an ass if he could not +tell who was the father of the four sons of Aymon. "See, I pray thee," +quoth he, "yonder is Great John, the smith, who has four sons; if a man +should ask thee who was their father, wouldst thou not say it was Great +John, the smith?" "Yes," said the brilliant youth; "now I understand +it." Thereupon he went again before the bishop, and being asked a second +time, "Who was the father of the Four Sons of Aymon?" he promptly +replied: "Great John, the smith."[150] + + [149] One of the Charlemagne Romances, translated by Caxton + from the French, and printed by him about the year 1489, + under the title of _The Right Pleasaunt and Goodly + Historie of the Four Sonnes of Aymon_. It has been + reprinted for the Early English Text Society, ably + edited by Miss Octavia Richardson. + + [150] A slightly different version is found in _A Hundred Mery + Talys_, No. lxix, "Of the franklyns sonne that cam to + take orders." The bishop says that Noah had three sons, + Shem, Ham, and Japheth;--who was the father of Japheth? + When the "scholar" returns home and tells his father how + he had been puzzled by the bishop, he endeavours to + enlighten his son thus: "Here is Colle, my dog, that + hath three whelps; must not these three whelps have + Colle for their sire?" Going back to the bishop, he + informs his lordship that the father of Japheth was + "Colle, my father's dogge." + +The same author asks who but the churchmen of those days of ignorance +corrupted and perverted the text of the New Testament? Thus, in the +parable of the lost piece of money, _evertit domum_, "she overturned the +house," was substituted for _everrit domum_, "she _swept_ the house." +And in the Acts of the Apostles, where Saul (or Paul) is described as +being let down from the house on the wall of Damascus in a basket, for +_demissus per sportam_ was substituted _demissus per portam_, a +correction which called forth a rather witty Latin epigram to this +effect: + + This way the other day did pass + As jolly a carpenter as ever was; + So strangely skilful in his trade, + That of a _basket_ a _door_ he made. + +Among the many curious anecdotes told in illustration of the gross +ignorance of the higher orders of the clergy in medieval times the two +following are not the least amusing: + +About the year 1330 Louis Beaumont was bishop of Durham. He was an +extremely illiterate French nobleman, so incapable of reading that he +could not, although he had studied them, read the bulls announced to the +people at his consecration. During that ceremony the word +"metropoliticć" occurred. The bishop paused, and tried in vain to repeat +it, and at last remarked: "Suppose that said." Then he came to +"enigmate," which also puzzled him. "By St. Louis!" he exclaimed in +indignation, "it could be no gentleman who wrote that stuff!" + +Our second anecdote is probably more generally known: Andrew Forman, who +was bishop of Moray and papal legate for Scotland, at an entertainment +given by him at Rome to the Pope and cardinals, blundered so in his +Latinity when he said grace that his Holiness and the cardinals lost +their gravity. The disconcerted bishop concluded his blessing by giving +"a' the fause carles to the de'il," to which the company, not +understanding his Scotch Latinity, said "Amen!" + +When such was the condition of the bishops, it is not surprising to find +that few of the ordinary priests were acquainted with even the rudiments +of the Latin tongue, and they consequently mumbled over masses which +they did not understand. A rector of a parish, we are told, going to law +with his parishioners about paving the church, cited these words, +_Paveant illi, non paveam ego_, which, ascribing them to St. Peter, he +thus construed: "They are to pave the church, not I"--and this was +allowed to be good law by a judge who was himself an ecclesiastic. + +We have an amusing example of the ignorance of the lower orders of +churchmen during the "dark ages" in No. xii of _A Hundred Mery Talys_, +as follows: "The archdekyn of Essex, that had ben longe in auctorite, in +a tyme of vysytacyon, whan all the prestys apperyd before hym, called +aside iii. of the yonge prestys which were acusyd that th[e]y could not +wel say theyr dyvyne service, and askyd of them, when they sayd mas, +whether they sayd corpus meus or corpum meum. The fyrst prest sayde that +he sayd corpus meus. The second sayd that he sayd corpum meum. And than +he asked of the thyrd how he sayde; whyche answered and sayd thus: Sir, +because it is so great a dout, and dyvers men be in dyvers opynyons, +therfore, because I wolde be sure I wolde not offende, whan I come to +the place I leve it clene out and say nothynge therfore. Wherfore the +bysshoppe than openly rebuked them all thre. But dyvers that were +present thought more defaut in hym, because he hym selfe beforetyme had +admytted them to be prestys." And assuredly they were right in so +thinking, and the worthy archdeacon (or bishop, as he is also styled), +who had probably passed the three young men "for value received" from +their fathers, should have refrained from publicly examining them +afterwards. + +The covetousness and irreverence of the churchmen in former times are +well exemplified in another tale given in the same old jest-book, No. +lxxi, which, with spelling modernised, goes thus: "Sometime there +dwelled a priest in Stratford-on-Avon, of small learning, which +undevoutly sang mass and oftentimes twice on one day. So it happened on +a time, after his second mass was done in short space, not a mile from +Stratford there met him divers merchantmen, which would have heard mass, +and desired him to sing mass and he should have a groat, which answered +them and said: 'Sirs, I will say mass no more this day; but I will say +you two gospels for one groat, and that is dog-cheap for a mass in any +place in England.'" The story-teller does not inform us whether the +pious merchants accepted of the business-like compromise offered by +"Mass John." + +Hagiolatry was quite as much in vogue among the priesthood in medieval +times as mariolatry has since been the special characteristic of the +Romish Church, to the subordination (one might almost say, the +suppression) of the only true object of worship; in proof of which, here +is a droll anecdote from another early English collection, _Mery Tales, +Wittie Questions, and Quicke Answeres, very pleasant to be readde_ (No. +cxix): "A friar, preaching to the people, extolled Saint Francis above +[all] confessors, doctors, virgins, martyrs, prophets--yea, and above +one more than prophets, John the Baptist, and finally above the +seraphical order of angels; and still he said, 'Yet let us go higher.' +So when he could go no farther, except he should put Christ out of his +place, which the good man was half afraid to do, he said aloud, 'And yet +we have found no fit place for him.' And, staying a little while, he +cried out at last, saying, 'Where shall we place the holy father?' A +froward fellow standing among the audience,[151] said, 'If thou canst +find none other, then set him here in my place, for I am weary,' and so +he went his way."--This "froward fellow's" unexpected reply will +doubtless remind the reader of the old man's remark in the mosque, about +the "calling of Noah," _ante_, pp. 66, 67.[152] + + [151] There were no pews in the churches in those "good old + times." + + [152] _Apropos_ of saint-worship, quaint old Thomas Fuller + relates a droll story in his _Church History_, ed. 1655, + p. 278: A countryman who had lived many years in the + Hercinian woods, in Germany, at last came into a + populous city, demanding of the people therein, what God + they did worship. They answered him, that they + worshipped Jesus Christ. Whereupon the wild wood-man + asked the names of the several churches in the city, + which were all called by sundry saints, to whom they + were consecrated. "It is strange," said he, "that you + should worship Jesus Christ, and he not have a temple in + all the city dedicated to him." + +Probably not less than one third of the jests current in Europe in the +16th century turned on the ignorance of the Romish clergy--such, for +instance, as that of the illiterate priest who, finding _salta per tria_ +(skip over three leaves) written at the foot of a page in his mass-book, +deliberately jumped down three of the steps before the altar, to the +great astonishment of the congregation; or that of another who, finding +the title of the day's service indicated only by the abbreviation _Re._, +read the mass of the Requiem instead of the service of the Resurrection; +or that of yet another, who being so illiterate as to be unable to +pronounce readily the long words in his ritual always omitted them, and +pronounced the word Jesus, which he said was much more devotional. + +There is a diverting tale of a foolish curé of Brou, which is well +worthy of reproduction, in _Les Contes; ou, les Nouvelles Récréations et +Joyeux Devis_, by Bonaventure des Periers--one of the best story-books +of the 16th century (Bonaventure succeeded the celebrated poet Clement +Marot as _valet-de-chambre_ to Margaret, queen of Navarre): + +It happened that a lady of rank and importance, on her way to Châteaudun +to keep there the festival of Easter, passed through Brou on Good +Friday, about ten o'clock in the morning, and, wishing to hear service, +she went into the church. When the curé came to the Passion he said it +in his own peculiar manner, and made the whole church ring when he said, +"_Quem, qućritis_?" But when it came to the reply, "_Jesum, +Nazarenum_,"[153] he spoke as low as he possibly could, and in this +manner he continued the Passion. The lady, who was very devout and, for +a woman, well-informed, in the Holy Scriptures [the reader will +understand this was early in the 16th century], and attentive to +ecclesiastical ceremonies, felt scandalised at this mode of chanting, +and wished that she had never entered the church. She had a mind to +speak to the curé, and tell him what she thought of it, and for this +purpose sent for him to come to her after service. When he was come, +"Monsieur le Curé," she said to him, "I don't know where you have +learned to officiate on a day like this, when the people ought to be all +humility. But to hear you perform the service is enough to drive away +anybody's devotion." "How so, madame?" said the curé. "How so?" +responded the lady. "You have said a Passion contrary to all rules of +decency. When our Lord speaks you cry as if you were in the town-hall, +and when it is Caiaphas, or Pilate, or the Jews, you speak softly like a +young bride. Is this becoming in one like you? Are you fit to be a curé? +If you had what you deserve, you would be turned out of your benefice, +and then you would be made to know your fault." When the curé had very +attentively listened to the good lady, "Is this what you have to say to +me, madame?" said he. "By my soul! it is very true what you say, and the +truth is, there are many people who talk of things which they do not +understand. Madame, I believe I know my office as well as another, and +beg all the world to know that God is as well served in this parish +according to its condition as in any place within a hundred leagues of +it. I know very well that the other curés chant the Passion quite +differently. I could easily chant it like them if I would; but they +don't understand their business at all. I should like to know if it +becomes those rogues of Jews to speak as loud as our Lord? No, no, +madame; rest assured that in my parish it is my will that God be master, +and he shall be as long as I live, and let others do in their parishes +according to their understanding." + + [153] "Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that should come + upon him, went forth, and said unto them, 'Whom seek + ye?' They answered him, 'Jesus of Nazareth.'"--_Gospel + of S. John_, xviii, 4, 5. + +This is another of Des Periers' comical tales at the expense of the +clerical orders: There was a priest of a village who was as proud as +might be because he had seen a little more than his Cato. And this made +him set up his feathers and talk very grand, using words that filled his +mouth in order to make people think him a great doctor. Even at +confession he made use of terms which astonished the poor people. One +day he was confessing a poor working man, of whom he asked: "Here, now, +my friend, tell me, art thou not ambitious?" The poor man said, "No," +thinking this was a word which belonged to great lords, and almost +repented of having come to confess to this priest; for he had already +heard that he was such a great clerk and that he spoke so grandly that +nobody understood him, which he knew by the word _ambitious_; for +although he might have heard it somewhere, yet he knew not at all what +it meant. The priest went on to ask: "Art thou not a gourmand?" Said the +labourer, who understood as little as before: "No." "Art thou not +superbe" [proud]? "No." "Art thou not iracund" [passionate]? "No." The +priest, seeing the man always answer, "No," was somewhat surprised. "Art +thou not concupiscent?" "No." "And what are thou, then?" said the +priest. "I am," said he, "a mason--here's my trowel." + + * * * * * + +Readers acquainted with the _fabliaux_ of the minstrels (the Trouvčres) +of Northern France know that those light-hearted gentry very often +launched their satirical shafts at the churchmen of their day. One of +the _fabliaux_ in Barbazan's collection relates how a doltish, +thick-headed priest was officiating in his church on Good Friday, and +when about to read the service for that day he discovered that he had +lost his book-mark ("_mais il ot perdu ses festuz_.")[154] Then he began +to go back and turn over the leaves, but until Ascension Day he found +not the Passion service. And the assembled peasants fretted and +complained that he made them fast too long, since it was time for the +festival. "Had he but said them the service," interjects the _fableur_, +"should I make you a longer story?" So much did they grumble on all +sides, that the priest began on them and fell to saying very rapidly, +first in a loud and then in a low tone of voice, "_Dixit Dominus Domino +meo_" (the Lord said unto my Lord); "but," says the _fableur_, "I cannot +find here any sequel." The priest having read the text as chance might +lead him, read the vespers for Sunday;--and you must know he travailed +hard, that the offerings should be worth something to him. Then he fell +to crying, "Barabbas!"--no crier could have cried a ban so loud as he +cried to them; and everyone began to confess his sins aloud (i.e., +struck up "_mea culpa_") and cried, "Mercy!" The priest, who read on the +sequence of his Psalter, once more began to cry out, saying, "Crucify +him!" So that both men and women prayed God that he would defend them +from torment. But it sorely vexed the clerk, who said to the priest, +"Make an end"; but he answered, "Make no end, friend, till 'unto the +marvellous works'"--referring to a passage in the Psalter. The clerk +then said that a long Passion service boots nothing, and that it is +never a gain to keep the people too long. And as soon as the offerings +of the people were collected he finished the Passion.--"By this tale," +adds the _raconteur_, "I would show you how--by the faith of Saint +Paul!--it as well befits a fool to talk folly and sottishness as it +becomes a wise man to speak wisely. And he is a fool who believes me +not."[155]--A commentary, this, which recalls the old English saying, +that "it is as great marvel to see a woman weep as to see a goose go +barefoot." + + [154] _Festueum_, the split straw so used in the Middle Ages. + + [155] See Méon's edition of Barbazan's _Fabliaux et Contes_, + ed. 1808, tome ii, p. 442, and a prose _extrait_ in Le + Grand d'Aussy's collection, ed. 1781, tome iv, p. 101, + "Du Prętre qui dit la Passion." + + * * * * * + +They were bold fellows, those Trouvčres. Not content with making the +ignorance and the gross vices of the clerical orders the subjects of +their _fabliaux_, they did not scruple to ridicule their superstitious +teachings, as witness the satire on saint-worship, entitled "Du vilain +[i.e., peasant] qui conquist Paradis par plait," the substance of which +is as follows: A poor peasant dies suddenly, and his soul escapes at a +moment when neither angel nor demon was on the watch, so that, unclaimed +and left to his own discretion, the peasant follows St. Peter, who +happened to be on his way to Paradise, and enters the gate with him +unperceived. When the saint finds that the soul of such a low person has +found its way into Paradise he is angry, and rudely orders the peasant +out. But the latter accuses St. Peter of denying his Saviour, and, +conscience-stricken, the gate-keeper of heaven applies to St. Thomas, +who undertakes to drive away the intruder. The peasant, however, +disconcerts St. Thomas by reminding him of his disbelief, and St. Paul, +who comes next, fares no better--he had persecuted the saints. At length +Christ hears of what had occurred, and comes himself. The Saviour +listens benignantly to the poor soul's pleading, and ends by forgiving +the peasant his sins, and allowing him to remain in Paradise.[156] + + [156] See Méon's Barbazan, 1808, tome iv, p. 114; also Le + Grand, 1781, tome ii, p. 190: "Du Vilain qui gagna + Paradis en plaidant." + + * * * * * + +There exists a very singular English burlesque of the unprofitable +sermons of the preaching friars in the Middle Ages, which is worthy of +Rabelais himself, and of which this is a modernised extract: + +_Mollificant olera durissima crusta._--"Friends, this is to say to your +ignorant understanding, that hot plants and hard crusts make soft hard +plants. The help and the grace of the gray goose that goes on the green, +and the wisdom of the water wind-mill, with the good grace of a gallon +pitcher, and all the salt sausages that be sodden in Norfolk upon +Saturday, be with us now at our beginning, and help us in our ending, +and quit you of bliss and both your eyes, that never shall have ending. +Amen. My dear curst creatures, there was once a wife whose name was +Catherine Fyste, and she was crafty in court, and well could carve. +Hence she sent after the four Synods of Rome to know why, wherefore, and +for what cause that Alleluja was closed before the cup came once round. +Why, believest thou not, forsooth, that there stood once a cock on St. +Paul's steeple-top, and drew up the strapples of his breech? How provest +thou that tale? By all the four doctors of Wynberryhills--that is to +say, Vertas, Gadatryne, Trumpas, and Dadyltrymsert--the which four +doctors say there was once an old wife had a cock to her son, and he +looked out of an old dove-cot, and warned and charged that no man should +be so hardy either to ride or go on St. Paul's steeple-top unless he +rode on a three-footed stool, or else that he brought with him a warrant +of his neck"--and so on, in this fantastical style. + + * * * * * + +The meaning of the phrase "benefit of clergy" is not perhaps very +generally understood. The phrase had its origin in those days of +intellectual darkness, when the state of letters was so low that anyone +found guilty in a court of justice of a crime which was punishable with +death, if he could prove himself able to read a verse in a Latin Bible +he was pardoned, as being a man of learning, and therefore likely to be +useful to the state; but if he could not read he was sure to be hanged. +This privilege, it is said, was granted to all offences, excepting high +treason and sacrilege, till after the year 1350. At first it was +extended not only to the clergy but to any person that could read, who, +however, had to vow that he would enter into holy orders; but with the +increase of learning this "benefit to clergy" was restricted by several +Acts of Parliament, and it was finally abolished only so late as the +reign of George IV. + +In _Pasquils Jests and Mother Bunches Merriments_, a book of _facetić_ +very popular in the 16th century, a story is told of a criminal at the +Oxford Assizes who "prayed his clergy," and a Bible was accordingly +handed to him that he might read a verse. He could not read a word, +however, which a scholar who chanced to be present observing, he stood +behind him and prompted him with the verse he was to read; but coming +towards the end, the man's thumb happened to cover the remaining words, +and so the scholar, in a low voice, said: "Take away thy thumb," which +words the man, supposing them to form part of the verse he was reading, +repeated aloud, "Take away thy thumb"--whereupon the judge ordered him +to be taken away and hanged. And in Taylor's _Wit and Mirth_ (1630): "A +fellow having his book [that is, having read a verse in the Bible] at +the sessions, was burnt in the hand, and was commanded to say: 'May God +save the King.' 'The King!' said he, 'God save my grandam, that taught +me to read; I am sure I had been hanged else.'" + +The verse in the Bible which a criminal was required to read, in order +to entitle him to the "benefit of clergy" (the beginning of the 51st +Psalm, "Miserere mei"), was called the "neck-verse," because his doing +so saved his neck from the gallows. It is sometimes jestingly alluded to +in old plays. For example, in Massinger's _Great Duke of Florence_, Act +iii, sc. 1: + + _Cataminta_.--How the fool stares! + + _Fiorinda_.--And looks as if he were conning his neck-verse; + +and in the same dramatist's play of _The Picture_: + + Twang it perfectly, + As if it were your neck-verse. + +In the anonymous _Pleasant Comedy of Patient Grissell_ (1603), Act ii, +sc. 1, we find this custom again referred to: + + _Farnese_.--Ha, hah! Emulo not write and read? + + _Rice_.--Not a letter, an you would hang him. + + _Urcenze_.--Then he'll never be saved by his book. + +In Scott's _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, the moss-trooper, William of +Deloraine, assures the lady, who had warned him not to look into what he +should receive from the Monk of St. Mary's Aisle, "be it scroll or be it +book," that + + "Letter nor line know I never a one, + Were't my neck-verse at Haribee"-- + +the place where such Border rascals were usually executed. + +It was formerly the custom to sing a psalm at the gallows before a +criminal was "turned off." And there is a good story, in Zachary Gray's +notes to _Hudibras_, told of one of the chaplains of the famous +Montrose; how, being condemned in Scotland to die for attending his +master in some of his expeditions, and being upon the ladder and ordered +to select a psalm to be sung, expecting a reprieve, he named the 119th +Psalm, with which the officer attending the execution complied (the +Scottish Presbyterians were great psalm-singers in those days), and it +was well for him he did so, for they had sung it half through before the +reprieve came. Any other psalm would certainly have hanged him! Cotton, +in his _Virgil Travestie_, thus alludes to the custom of psalm-singing +at the foot of the gallows: + + Ready, when Dido gave the word, + To be advanced into the halter, + Without the benefit on's Psalter. + + * * * * * + + Then 'cause she would, to part the sweeter, + A portion have of Hopkins' metre, + As people use at execution, + For the decorum of conclusion, + Being too sad to sing, she says.[157] + + [157] _Scarronides; or, Virgil Travestie_, etc., by Charles + Cotton, Book iv. _Poetical Works_, 5th edition, London, + 1765, pp. 122, 140. + +If the clergy in medieval times had, as they are said to have had, all +the learning among themselves, what a blessed state of ignorance must +the laity have been in! And so, indeed, it appears, for there is extant +an old Act of Parliament which provides that a nobleman shall be +entitled to the "benefit of clergy," even though he could not read. And +another law sets forth that "the command of the sheriff to his officer +by word of mouth, and without writing is good; for it may be that +neither the sheriff nor his officer can write or read!" Many charters +are preserved to which persons of great dignity, even kings, have +affixed the sign of the cross, because they were not able to write their +names, and hence the term of _signing_, instead of subscribing. In this +respect a ten-year-old Board School boy in these "double-distilled" days +is vastly superior to the most renowned of the "barons bold." + + + + +THE BEARDS OF OUR FATHERS. + + 'Tis merry in the hall when beards wag all.--_Old Song_. + + +Among the harmless foibles of adolescence which contribute to the quiet +amusement of folks of mature years is the eager desire of youths to have +their smooth faces adorned with that "noble" distinction of manhood--a +beard. And no wonder. For, should a clever lad, getting out of his +"teens," venture to express opinions contrary to those of his elders +present, is he not at once snubbed by being called "a beardless boy"? A +boy! Bitter taunt! He very naturally feels that he is grossly insulted, +and all because his "dimpled chin never has known the barber's shear." +Full well does our ingenuous youth know that a man is not wise in +consequence of his beard--that, as the Orientals say of women's long +hair, it often happens that men with long beards have short wits; +nevertheless, had he but a beard himself, he should then be free from +such a wretched "argument"--such an implied accusation of his lack of +wit, as that he is beardless. The young Roman watched the first +appearance of the downy precursor of his beard with no little +solicitude, and applied the household oil to his face--there were no +patent specifics in those days for "infallibly producing luxuriant +whiskers and moustaches in a few weeks"--to promote its tardy growth, +and entitle him, from the incipient fringe, to be styled "barbatulus." +When his beard was full-grown he was called "barbatus." + +It would seem that the beard was held in the highest esteem, especially +in Asiatic countries, from the earliest period of which any records have +been preserved. The Hebrew priests are commanded in the Book of +Leviticus, ch. xix, not to shave off the corners of their beards; and +the first High Priest, Aaron, probably wore a magnificent beard, since +the amicable relations between brethren are compared, in the 133rd +Psalm, to "the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the +beard, even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his +garments." The Assyrian kings intertwined gold thread with their fine +beards--and, judging from mural sculptures, curling tongs must have been +in considerable demand with them. In ancient Greece the beard was +universally worn, and it is related of Zoilus, the founder of the +anti-Homeric school, that he shaved the crown of his head, in order that +all the virtue should go to the nourishment of his beard. Persius could +not think of a more complimentary epithet to apply to Socrates than that +of "Magistrum Barbatum," or Bearded Master--the notion being that the +beard was the symbol of profound sagacity.[158] Alexander the Great, +however, caused his soldiers to shave off their beards, because they +furnished their enemies with handles whereby to seize hold of them in +battle. The beard was often consecrated to the deities, as the most +precious offering. Chaucer, in his _Knight's Tale_, represents Arcite as +offering his beard to Mars: + + And evermore, unto that day I dye, + Eternč fyr I wol bifore the fynde, + And eek to this avow I wol me bynde, + My berd, myn heer, that hangeth long a doun, + That neuer yit ne felt offensioun + Of rasour ne of schere, I wol ye giue, + And be thy trewč seruaunt whiles I lyue.[159] + + [158] The notion that a beard indicated wisdom on the part of + the wearer is often referred to in early European + literature. For example, in Lib. v of Caxton's Esop, the + Fox, to induce the sick King Lion to kill the Wolf, says + he has travelled far and wide, seeking a good medicine + for his Majesty, and "certaynly I have found no better + counceylle than the counceylle of an auncyent Greke, + with a grete and long berd, a man of grete wysdom, sage, + and worthy to be praysed." And when the Fox, in another + fable, leaves the too-credulous Goat in the well, + Reynard adds insult to injury by saying to him, "O + maystre goote, yf thow haddest be [i.e. been] wel + wyse, with thy fayre berde," and so forth. (Pp. 153 and + 196 of Mr. Jacobs' new edition.)--A story is told of a + close-shaven French ambassador to the court of some + Eastern potentate, that on presenting his credentials + his Majesty made sneering remarks on his smooth face + (doubtless he was himself "bearded to the eyes"), to + which the envoy boldly replied: "Sire, had my master + supposed that you esteem a beard so highly, instead of + me, he would have sent your Majesty a goat as his + ambassador." + + [159] Harleian MS. No. 7334, lines 2412-2418. Printed for the + Early English Text Society. + +Selim I was the first Turkish sultan who shaved his beard after his +accession to the throne; and when his muftis remonstrated with him for +this _dangerous_ innovation, he facetiously replied that he had removed +his beard in order that his vazírs should not have wherewith to _lead_ +him. The beards of modern Persian soldiers were abolished in consequence +of a singular accident, which Morier thus relates in his _Second +Journey_: When European discipline was introduced into the Persian army, +Lieutenant Lindsay raised a corps of artillery. His zeal was only +equalled by the encouragement of the king, who liberally adopted every +method proposed. It was only upon the article of shaving off the beards +of the Persian soldiers that the king was inexorable; nor would the +sacrifice have ever taken place had it not happened that, in discharging +the guns before the prince, a powder-horn exploded in the hand of a +gunner who had been gifted with a very long beard, which in an instant +was blown away from his chin. Lieutenant Lindsay, availing himself of +this lucky opportunity to prove his argument on the inconvenience of +beards to soldiers, immediately produced the scorched gunner before the +prince, who was so much struck with his woeful appearance that the +abolition of military beards was at once decided upon. + +It was customary for the early French monarchs to place three hairs of +their beard under the seal attached to important documents; and there is +still extant a charter of the year 1121, which concludes with these +words: "Quod ut ratum et stabile perseveret in posterum, prćsentis +scripto sigilli mei robur apposui cum tribus pilis barbć meć."--In +obedience to his spiritual advisers, Louis VII of France had his hair +cut close and his beard shaved off. But his consort Eleanor was so +disgusted with his smooth face and cropped head that she took her own +measures to be revenged, and the poor king was compelled to obtain a +divorce from her. She subsequently gave her hand to the Count of Anjou, +afterwards Henry II of England, and the rich provinces of Poitou and +Guienne were her dowry. From this sprang those terrible wars which +continued for three centuries, and cost France untold treasure and three +millions of men--and all because Louis did not consult his consort +before shaving off his beard! + +Charles the Fifth of Spain ascending the throne while yet a mere boy, +his courtiers shaved their beards in compliment to the king's smooth +face. But some of the shaven Dons were wont to say bitterly, "Since we +have lost our beards, we have lost our souls!" Sully, the eminent +statesman and soldier, scorned, however, to follow the fashion, and, +being one day summoned to Court on urgent business of State, his beard +was made the subject of ridicule by the foppish courtiers. The veteran +thus gravely addressed the king: "Sire, when your father, of glorious +memory, did me the honour to consult me in grave State matters, he first +dismissed the buffoons and stage-dancers from the presence-chamber." It +may be readily supposed that after this well-merited rebuke the grinning +courtiers at once disappeared. + +Julius II, one of the most warlike of all the Roman Pontiffs, was the +first Pope who permitted his beard to grow, to inspire the faithful with +still greater respect for his august person. Kings and their courtiers +were not slow to follow the example of the Head of the Church and the +ruler of kings, and the fashion soon spread among people of all ranks. + +So highly prized was the beard in former times that Baldwin, Prince of +Edessa, as Nicephorus relates in his Chronicle, pawned his beard for a +large sum of money, which was redeemed by his father Gabriel, Prince of +Melitene, to prevent the ignominy which his son must have suffered by +its loss. And when Juan de Castro, the Portuguese admiral, borrowed a +thousand pistoles from the citizens of Goa he pledged one of his +whiskers, saying, "All the gold in the world cannot equal this natural +ornament of my valour." And it is said the people of Goa were so much +affected by the noble message that they remitted the money and returned +the whisker--though of what earthly use it could prove to the gallant +admiral, unless, perhaps, to stuff a tennis ball, it is not easy to say. + +To deprive a man of his beard was a token of ignominious subjection, and +is still a common mode of punishment in some Asiatic countries. And such +was the treatment that the conjuror Pinch received at the hands of +Antipholus of Ephesus and his man, in the _Comedy of Errors_, according +to the servant's account of the outrage, who states that not only had +they "beaten the maids a-row," but they + + bound the doctor, + Whose beard they have singed off with brands of fire; + And ever as it blazed they threw on him + Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair (v, 1). + +In Persia and India when a wife is found to have been unfaithful, her +hair--the distinguishing ornament of woman, as the beard is considered +to be that of man--is shaved off, among other indignities. + +Don Sebastian Cobbarruvius gravely relates the following marvellous +legend to show that nothing so much disgraced a Spaniard as pulling his +beard: "A noble of that nation dying (his name Cid Lai Dios), a Jew, who +hated him much in his lifetime, stole privately into the room where his +body was laid out, and, thinking to do what he never durst while living, +stooped down and plucked his beard; at which the body started up, and +drawing out half way his sword, which lay beside him, put the Jew in +such a fright that he ran out of the room as if a thousand devils had +been behind him. This done, the body lay down as before to rest; and," +adds the veracious chronicler, "the Jew after that turned +Christian."--In the third of Don Quevedo's Visions of the Last Judgment, +we read that a Spaniard, after receiving sentence, was taken into +custody by a pair of demons who happened to disorder the set of his +moustache, and they had to re-compose them with a pair of curling-tongs +before they could get him to proceed with them! + +By the rules of the Church of Rome, lay monks were compelled to wear +their beards, and only the priests were permitted to shave.[160] The +clergy at length became so corrupt and immoral, and lived such +scandalous lives, that they could not be distinguished from the laity +except by their close-shaven faces. The first Reformers, therefore, to +mark their separation from the Romish Church, allowed their beards to +grow. Calvin, Fox, Cranmer, and other leaders of the Reformation are all +represented in their portraits with long flowing beards. John Knox, the +great Scottish Reformer, wore, as is well known, a beard of prodigious +length. + + [160] In a scarce old poem, entitled, _The Pilgrymage and the + Wayes of Jerusalem_, we read: + + The thyrd Seyte beyn prestis of oure lawe, + That synge masse at the Sepulcore; + At the same grave there oure lorde laye, + They synge the leteny every daye. + In oure manner is her [i.e. their] songe, + Saffe, here [i.e. their] _berdys be ryght longe_, + That is the geyse of that contre, + _The lenger the berde the bettyr is he_; + The order of hem [i.e. them] be barfote freeres. + +The ancient Britons shaved the chin and cheeks, but wore their +moustaches down to the breast. Our Saxon ancestors wore forked beards. +The Normans at the Conquest shaved not only the chin, but also the back +of the head. But they soon began to grow very long beards. During the +Wars of the Roses beards grew "small by degrees and beautifully less." + +Queen Mary of England, in the year 1555, sent to Moscow four accredited +agents, who were all bearded; but one of them, George Killingworth, was +particularly distinguished by a beard five feet two inches long, at the +sight of which, it is said, a smile crossed the grim features of Ivan +the Terrible himself; and no wonder. But the longest beard known out of +fairy tales was that of Johann Mayo, the German painter, commonly called +"John the Bearded." His beard actually trailed on the ground when he +stood upright, and for convenience he usually kept it tucked in his +girdle. The emperor Charles V, it is said, was often pleased to cause +Mayo to unfasten his beard and allow it to blow in the faces of his +courtiers.--A worthy clergyman in the time of Queen Elizabeth gave as +the best reason he had for wearing a beard of enormous length, "that no +act of his life might be unworthy of the gravity of his appearance." + +Queen Elizabeth, in the first year of her reign, made an abortive +attempt to abolish her subjects' beards by an impost of 3s. 4d. a year +(equivalent to four times that sum in these "dear" days) on every beard +of more than a fortnight's growth. And Peter the Great also laid a tax +upon beards in Russia: nobles' beards were assessed at a rouble, and +those of commoners at a copeck each. "But such veneration," says Giles +Fletcher, "had this people for these ensigns of gravity that many of +them carefully preserved their beards in their cabinets to be buried +with them, imagining perhaps that they should make but an odd figure in +their grave with their naked chins." + +The beard of the renowned Hudibras was portentous, as we learn from +Butler, who thus describes the Knight's hirsute honours: + + His tawny beard was th' equal grace + Both of his wisdom and his face; + In cut and dye so like a tile, + A sadden view it would beguile: + The upper part whereof was whey, + The nether orange mixt with grey. + This hairy meteor did denounce + The fall of sceptres and of crowns; + With grisly type did represent + Declining age of government, + And tell, with hieroglyphic spade, + Its own grave and the state's were made. + +Philip Nye, an Independent minister in the time of the Commonwealth, and +one of the famous Assembly of Divines, was remarkable for the +singularity of his beard. Hudibras, in his Heroical Epistle to the lady +of his "love," speaks of + + Amorous intrigues + In towers, and curls, and periwigs, + With greater art and cunning reared + Than Philip Nye's _thanksgiving beard_. + +Nye opposed Lilly the astrologer with no little virulence, for which he +was rewarded with the privilege of holding forth upon Thanksgiving Day, +and so, as Butler says, in some MS. verses, + + He thought upon it and resolved to put + His beard into as wonderful a cut. + +Butler even honoured Nye's beard with a whole poem, entitled "On Philip +Nye's Thanksgiving Beard," which is printed in his _Genuine Remains_, +edited by Thyer, vol. i, p. 177 ff., and opens thus: + + A beard is but the vizard of the face, + That nature orders for no other place; + The fringe and tassel of a countenance + That hides his person from another man's, + And, like the Roman habits of their youth, + Is never worn until his perfect growth. + +And in another set of verses he has again a fling at the obnoxious beard +of the same preacher: + + This reverend brother, like a goat, + Did wear a tail upon his throat; + The fringe and tassel of a face + That gives it a becoming grace, + But set in such a curious frame, + As if 'twere wrought in filograin; + And cut so even as if 't had been + Drawn with a pen upon the chin. + +As it was customary among the peoples of antiquity who wore their beards +to cut them off, and for those who shaved to allow their beards to grow, +in times of mourning, so many of the Presbyterians and Independents +vowed not to cut their beards till monarchy and episcopacy were utterly +destroyed. Thus in a humorous poem, entitled "The Cobler and the Vicar +of Bray," we read: + + This worthy knight was one that swore, + He would not cut his beard + Till this ungodly nation was + From kings and bishops cleared. + + Which holy vow he firmly kept, + And most devoutly wore + A grisly meteor on his face, + Till they were both no more. + +In _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_, when the royal hero leaves his infant +daughter Marina in charge of his friend Cleon, governor of Tharsus, to +be brought up in his house, he declares to Cleon's wife (Act iii, sc. +3): + + Till she be married, madam, + By bright Diana, whom we honour all, + Unscissored shall this hair of mine remain, + Though I show well in't; + +and that he meant his beard is evident from what he says at the close of +the play, when his daughter is about to be married to Lysimachus, +governor of Mitylene (Act v, sc. 3): + + And now + This ornament, that makes me look so dismal, + Will I, my loved Marina, clip to form; + And what these fourteen years no razor touched, + To grace thy marriage day, I'll beautify. + +Scott, in his _Woodstock_, represents Sir Henry Lee, of Ditchley, whilom +Ranger of Woodstock Park (or Chase), as wearing his full beard, to +indicate his profound grief for the death of the "Royal Martyr," which +indeed was not unusual with elderly and warmly devoted Royalists until +the "Happy Restoration"--save the mark! + +Another extraordinary beard was that of Van Butchell, the quack doctor, +who died at London in 1814, in his 80th year. This singular individual +had his first wife's body carefully embalmed and preserved in a glass +case in his "study," in order that he might enjoy a handsome annuity to +which he was entitled "so long as his wife remained above ground." His +person was for many years familiar to loungers in Hyde Park, where he +appeared regularly every afternoon, riding on a little pony, and wearing +a magnificent beard of twenty years' growth, which an Oriental might +well have envied, the more remarkable in an age when shaving was so +generally practised.--A jocular epitaph was composed on "Mary Van +Butchell," of which these lines may serve as a specimen: + + O fortunate and envied man! + To keep a wife beyond life's span; + Whom you can ne'er have cause to blame, + Is ever constant and the same; + Who, qualities most rare, inherits + A wife that's dumb, yet _full of spirits_. + +The celebrated Dr. John Hunter is said to have embalmed the body of Van +Butchell's first wife--for the bearded empiric married again--and the +"mummy," in its original glass case, is still to be seen in the Museum +of the Royal College of Surgeon's, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, London. + +It was once the fashion for gallants to dye their beards various +colours, such as yellow, red, gray, and even green. Thus in the play of +_Midsummer Night's Dream_, Bottom the weaver asks in what kind of beard +he is to play the part of Pyramis--whether "in your straw-coloured +beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain beard, or your +French crown-coloured beard, your perfect yellow?" (Act i, sc. 2.) In +ancient church pictures, and in the miracle plays performed in medieval +times, both Cain and Judas Iscariot were always represented with yellow +beards. In the _Merry Wives of Windsor_, Mistress Quickly asks Simple +whether his master (Slender) does not wear "a great round beard, like a +glover's paring-knife," to which he replies: "No, forsooth; he hath but +a little wee face, with a little yellow beard--a Cain-coloured beard" +(Act i, sc. 4).--Allusions to beards are of very frequent occurrence in +Shakspeare's plays, as may be seen by reference to any good Concordance, +such as that of the Cowden Clarkes. + +Harrison, in his _Description of England_, ed. 1586, p. 172, thus refers +to the vagaries of fashion of beards in his time: "I will saie nothing +of our heads, which sometimes are polled, sometimes curled, or suffered +to grow at length like womans lockes, manie times cut off, above or +under the eares, round as by a woodden dish. Neither will I meddle with +our varietie of beards, of which some are shaven from the chin like +those of Turks, not a few cut short like to the beard of marques Otto, +some made round like a rubbing brush, others with a _pique de vant_ (O +fine fashion!), or now and then suffered to grow long, the barbers being +growen to be so cunning in this behalfe as the tailors. And therfore if +a man have a leane and streight face, a marquesse Ottons cut will make +it broad and large; if it be platter like, a long slender beard will +make it seeme the narrower; if he be wesell becked, then much heare left +on the cheekes will make the owner looke big like a bowdled hen, and so +grim as a goose."[161] + + [161] Reprint for the Shakspere Society, 1877, B. ii, ch. vii, + p. 169. + +Barnaby Rich, in the conclusion of his _Farewell to the Military +Profession_ (1581), says that the young gallants sometimes had their +beards "cutte rounde, like a Philippes doler; sometymes square, like the +kinges hedde in Fishstreate; sometymes so neare the skinne, that a manne +might judge by his face the gentlemen had had verie pilde lucke."[162] + + [162] Reprint for the (old) Shakspeare Society, 1846, p. 217. + +In Taylor's _Superbiae Flagellum_ we find the following amusing +description of the different "cuts" of beards: + + Now a few lines to paper I will put, + Of mens Beards strange and variable cut: + In which there's some doe take as vaine a Pride, + As almost in all other things beside. + Some are reap'd most substantiall, like a brush, + Which makes a Nat'rall wit knowne by the bush: + (And in my time of some men I have heard, + Whose wisedome have bin onely wealth and beard) + Many of these the proverbe well doth fit, + Which sayes Bush naturall, More haire then wit. + Some seeme as they were starched stiffe and fine, + Like to the bristles of some angry swine: + And some (to set their Loves desire on edge) + Are cut and prun'de like to a quickset hedge. + Some like a spade, some like a forke, some square, + Some round, some mow'd like stubble, some starke bare, + Some sharpe Steletto fashion, dagger like, + That may with whispering a mans eyes out pike: + Some with the hammer cut, or Romane T,[163] + Their beards extravagant reform'd must be, + Some with the quadrate, some triangle fashion, + Some circular, some ovall in translation, + Some perpendicular in longitude, + Some like a thicket for their crassitude, + That heights, depths, bredths, triforme, square, ovall, round, + And rules Ge'metricall in beards are found. + Besides the upper lip's strange variation, + Corrected from mutation to mutation; + As 'twere from tithing unto tithing sent, + Pride gives to Pride continuall punishment. + Some (spite their teeth) like thatch'd eves downeward grows, + And some growes upwards in despite their nose. + Some their mustatioes of such length doe keepe, + That very well they may a maunger sweepe: + Which in Beere, Ale, or Wine, they drinking plunge, + And sucke the liquor up, as 'twere a Spunge; + But 'tis a Slovens beastly Pride, I thinke, + To wash his beard where other men must drinke. + And some (because they will not rob the cup), + Their upper chaps like pot hookes are turn'd up; + The Barbers thus (like Taylers) still must be, + Acquainted with each cuts variety-- + Yet though with beards thus merrily I play, + 'Tis onely against Pride which I inveigh: + For let them weare their haire or their attire, + According as their states or mindes desire, + So as no puff'd up Pride their hearts possesse, + And they use Gods good gifts with thankfulnesse.[164] + + [163] Formed by the moustache and a chin-tuft, as worn by + Louis Napoleon and his imperialist supporters. + + [164] _Works of John Taylor, the Water Poet, comprised in the + Folio edition of 1630_. Printed for the Spenser Society, + 1869. "_Superbiae Flagellum_, or the Whip of Pride," p. 34. + +The staunch Puritan Phillip Stubbes, in the second part of his _Anatomie +of Abuses_ (1583), thus rails at the beards and the barbers of his day: + +"There are no finer fellowes under the sunne, nor experter in their +noble science of barbing than they be. And therefore in the fulnes of +their overflowing knowledge (oh ingenious heads, and worthie to be +dignified with the diademe of follie and vaine curiositie), they have +invented such strange fashions and monstrous maners of cuttings, +trimings, shavings and washings, that you would wonder to see. They have +one maner of cut called the French cut, another the Spanish cut, one +called the Dutch cut, another the Italian, one the newe cut, another the +old, one of the bravado fashion, another of the meane fashion. One a +gentlemans cut, another the common cut, one cut of the court, another of +the country, with infinite the like vanities, which I overpasse. They +have also other kinds of cuts innumerable; and therefore when you come +to be trimed, they will aske you whether you will be cut to looke +terrible to your enimie, or amiable to your freend, grime and sterne in +countenance, or pleasant and demure (for they have divers kinds of cuts +for all these purposes, or else they lie). Then when they have done all +their feats, it is a world to consider, how their mowchatowes [i.e., +moustaches] must be preserved and laid out, and from one cheke to +another, yea, almost from one eare to another, and turned up like two +hornes towards the forehead. Besides that, when they come to the cutting +of the haire, what snipping and snapping of the cycers is there, what +tricking and toying, and all to tawe out mony, you may be sure. And when +they come to washing, oh how gingerly they behave themselves therein. +For then shall your mouth be bossed with the lather or fome that riseth +of the balle (for they have their sweet balles wherewith-all they use to +washe), your eyes closed must be anointed therewith also. Then snap go +the fingers ful bravely, God wot. Thus this tragedy ended, comes me +warme clothes, to wipe and dry him withall; next the eares must be +picked and closed againe togither artificially forsooth. The haire of +the nostrils cut away, and every thing done in order comely to behold. +The last action in this tragedie is the paiment of monie. And least +these cunning barbers might seeme unconscionable in asking much for +their paines, they are of such a shamefast modestie, as they will aske +nothing at all, but standing to the curtisie and liberalitie of the +giver, they will receive all that comes, how much soever it be, not +giving anie againe, I warrant you: for take a barber with that fault, +and strike off his head. No, no, such fellowes are _Rarae aves in +terris, nigrisque similimi cygnis_, Rare birds upon the earth, and as +geason as blacke swans. You shall have also your orient perfumes for +your nose, your fragrant waters for your face, wherewith you shall bee +all to besprinkled, your musicke againe, and pleasant harmonic, shall +sound in your eares, and all to tickle the same with vaine delight. And +in the end your cloke shall be brushed, and 'God be with you +Gentleman!'"[165] + + [165] Reprint for the Shakspere Society, Part ii (1882), + pp. 50, 51. + + * * * * * + +A very curious Ballad of the Beard, of the time of Charles I, if not +earlier, is reproduced in _Satirical Songs and Poems on Costume_, edited +by F. W. Fairholt, for the Percy Society, in which "the varied forms of +beards which characterised the profession of each man are amusingly +descanted on": + + The beard, thick or thin, on the lip or the chin, + Doth dwell so near the tongue, + That her silence in the beards defence + May do her neighbour wrong. + + Now a beard is a thing that commands in a king, + Be his sceptre ne'er so fair: + Where the beard bears the sway the people obey, + And are subject to a hair. + + 'Tis a princely sight, and a grave delight, + That adorns both young and old; + A well-thatcht face is a comely grace, + And a shelter from the cold. + + When the piercing north comes thundering forth, + Let a barren face beware; + For a trick it will find, with a razor of wind, + To shave a face that's bare. + + But there's many a nice and strange device + That doth the beard disgrace; + But he that is in such a foolish sin + Is a traitor to his face. + + Now of beards there be such company, + And fashions such a throng, + That it is very hard to handle a beard, + Tho' it be never so long. + + The Roman T, in its bravery, + Both first itself disclose, + But so high it turns, that oft it burns + With the flames of a torrid nose. + + The stiletto-beard, oh, it makes me afear'd, + It is so sharp beneath, + For he that doth place a dagger in 's face, + What wears he in his sheath? + + But, methinks, I do itch to go thro' the stitch + The needle-beard to amend, + Which, without any wrong, I may call too long, + For a man can see no end. + + The soldier's beard doth march in shear'd, + In figure like a spade, + With which he'll make his enemies quake, + And think their graves are made. + + * * * * * + + What doth invest a bishop's breast, + But a milk-white spreading hair? + Which an emblem may be of integrity + Which doth inhabit there. + + * * * * * + + But oh, let us tarry for the beard of King Harry, + That grows about the chin, + With his bushy pride, and a grove on each side, + And a champion ground between. + +"Barnes in the defence of the Berde" is another curious piece of verse, +or rather of arrant doggrel, printed in the 16th century. It is +addressed to Andrew Borde, the learned and facetious physician, in the +time of Henry VIII, who seems to have written a tract against the +wearing of beards, of which nothing is now known. In the second part +Barnes (whoever he was) says: + + But, syr, I praye you, yf you tell can, + Declare to me, when God made man, + (I meane by our forefather Adam) + Whyther he had a berde than; + And yf he had, who dyd hym shave, + Syth that a barber he coulde not have. + Well, then, ye prove hym there a knave, + Bicause his berde he dyd so save: + I fere it not. + + * * * * * + + Sampson, with many thousandes more + Of auncient phylosophers (!), full great store, + Wolde not be shaven, to dye therefore; + Why shulde you, then, repyne so sore? + Admit that men doth imytate + Thynges of antyquité, and noble state, + Such counterfeat thinges oftymes do mytygate + Moche ernest yre and debate: + I fere it not. + + Therefore, to cease, I thinke be best; + For berdyd men wolde lyve in rest. + You prove yourselfe a homly gest, + So folysshely to rayle and jest; + For if I wolde go make in ryme, + How new shavyd men loke lyke scraped swyne, + And so rayle forth, from tyme to tyme, + A knavysshe laude then shulde be myne: + I fere it not. + +What should this avail him? he asks; and so let us all be good friends, +bearded and unbearded.[166] + + [166] _The Treatise answerynge the boke of Berdes, Compyled by + Collyn Clowte, dedicated to Barnarde, Barber, dwellyng + in Banbury_: "Here foloweth a treatyse made, Answerynge + the treatyse of doctor Borde upon Berdes."--Appended to + reprint of Andrew Borde's _Introduction of Knowledge_, + edited by Dr. F. J. Furnivall, for the Early English Text + Society, 1870--see pp. 314, 315. + +But Andrew Borde, if he did ever write a tract against beards, must have +formerly held a different opinion on the subject, for in his _Breviary +of Health_, first printed in 1546, he says: "The face may have many +impediments. The first impediment is to see a man having no beard, and a +woman to have a beard." It was long a popular notion that the few hairs +which are sometimes seen on the chins of very old women signified that +they were in league with the arch-enemy of mankind--in plain English, +that they were witches. The celebrated Three Witches who figure in +_Macbeth_, "and palter with him in a double sense," had evidently this +distinguishing mark, for says Banquo to the "weird sisters" (Act i, sc. +2): + + You should be women, + And yet your beards forbid me to interpret + That you are so. + +And in the ever-memorable scene in the _Merry Wives of Windsor_, when +Jack Falstaff, disguised as the fat woman of Brentford, is escaping from +Ford's house, he is cuffed and mauled by Ford, who exclaims, "Hang her, +witch!" on which the honest Cambrian Sir Hugh Evans sapiently remarks: +"Py yea and no, I think the 'oman is a witch indeed. I like not when a +'oman has a great peard. I spy a great peard under her muffler!" (Act +iv, sc. 2.) + +There have been several notable bearded women in different parts of +Europe. The Duke of Saxony had the portrait painted of a poor Swiss +woman who had a remarkably fine, large beard. Bartel Grćfjë, of +Stuttgart, who was born in 1562, was another bearded woman. In 1726 +there appeared at Vienna a female dancer with a large bushy beard. +Charles XII of Sweden had in his army a woman who wore a beard a yard +and a half in length. In 1852 Mddle. Bois de Chęne, who was born at +Genoa in 1834, was exhibited in London: she had "a profuse head of hair, +a strong black beard, and large bushy whiskers." It is not unusual to +see dark beauties in our own country with a moustache which must be the +envy of "young shavers." And, _apropos_, the poet Rogers is said to have +had a great dislike of ladies' beards, such as this last described; and +he happened to be in a circulating library turning over the books on the +counter, when a lady, who seemed to cherish her beard with as much +affection as the young gentlemen aforesaid, alighted from her carriage, +and, entering the shop, asked the librarian for a certain book. The +polite man of books replied that he was sorry he had not a copy at +present. "But," said Roger, slily, "you have the _Barber of Seville_, +have you not?" "O yes," said the bookseller, not seeing the poet's +drift, "I have the _Barber of Seville_, very much at your ladyship's +service." The lady drove away, evidently much offended, but the beard +afterwards disappeared. Talking of barbers--but they deserve a whole +paper to themselves, and they shall have it, from me, some day, if I +live a little longer. + + * * * * * + +In No. 331 of the _Spectator_, Addison tells us how his friend Sir Roger +de Coverley, in Westminster Abbey, pointing to the bust of a venerable +old man, asked him whether he did not think "our ancestors looked much +wiser in their beards than we without them. For my part," said he, "when +I am walking in my gallery in the country, and see my ancestors, who +many of them died before they were my age, I cannot forbear regarding +them as so many patriarchs, and at the same time looking upon myself as +an idle, smock-faced young fellow. I love to see your Abrahams, your +Isaacs, and your Jacobs, as we have them in old pieces of tapestry, with +beards below their girdles, that cover half the hangings." + + * * * * * + +During most part of last century close shaving was general throughout +Europe. In France the beard began to appear on the faces of Bonaparte's +"braves," and the fashion soon extended to civilians, then to Italy, +Germany, Spain, Russia, and lastly to England, where, after the gradual +enlargement of the side-whiskers, the full beard is now commonly +worn--to the comfort and health of the wearers. + + + + +INDEX. + + + Abbas the Great, 107. + Abraham: jealous of his wives, 197; + arrival in Egypt, 197; + his servant in Sodom, 202; + Ishmael's wives, 203; + the 'ram caught in a thicket,' 205; + the idols, 251. + Abstinence, advantages of, 20. + Acrostic in the Bible, 251. + Adam and Eve, 191, 267, 268. + Addison's Spectator, 359. + Advice to a conceited man, 44; + gratuitous, 261. + Aesop--_see_ Esop. + Affenschwanz, etc., 192. + Aino Folk-Tales, 312. + Akhlák-i Jalaly, 23, 261. + Aladdin's Lamp, 144. + Alakésa Kathá, 176. + Alexander the Great, 253, 254. + Alfonsus, Petrus, 99, 100, 227, 231, 241. + Alfred the Great, 315. + Ali, Mrs. Meer Hassan, 270. + Ambition, vanity of, 254. + Amír Khusrú, 18. + Ancestry, pride of, 22. + Androgynous nature of Adam, 191, 192. + Ant and Nightingale, 41. + Antar, the Arabian poet-hero, 46. + Anthologia, 259. + Anwarí, the Persian poet, 106. + Aphorisms of Saádí, 7, 41, 44, 125; + of the Jewish Fathers, 260. + Apparition, the golden, 136. + Arab and his camel, 82. + Arab Sháh, 87. + Arabian lovers, 283, 294. + Arabian Nights, 93, 123, 178, 196, 212. + Archery feat, 20. + Arienti, 203. + Ashaab the covetous, 93. + Ass, the singing, 149. + Astrologer's faithless wife, 36. + Attár, Farídu 'd-Dín, 51. + Athenćus, 262. + Athenians and Jewish boys, 117, 118. + Auvaiyár, Tamil poetess, 25, 27, 44. + Avarice, 44. + Avianus, 44. + Aymon, Four Sons of, 317. + + Babrius, 300. + Babylonian tale, 210. + Bacon on aphorisms, 259. + Baghdádí, witty, 83. + Baháristán, 40, 48, 63, 109. + Bakhtyár Náma, 124, 172. + Barbary Tales, 218. + Barbazan's Fabliaux, 327, 328. + Baring-Gould, 142, 192, 194. + Barlaam and Joasaph, 246, 248. + Basset's Tales of Barbary, 218. + Basket made into a door, 318. + Bayazíd and the old woman, 302. + Beal, Samuel, 147. + Beards: Asiatics', 338; + Ballad of the Beard, 355; + Barnes in defence of the Beard, 356; + Britons' and Normans', 344; + Coverley (Sir Roger de), on his ancestors', 359; + dedicated to deities, 339; + dyeing the beard, 349; + famous beards, 344, 346; + French kings', 346; + Greeks', 338; + Monks', 343; + Pope Julius II, 341; + pledged for loans, 342; + pulling beard, 343; + reformers', 344; + Roman youths', 337; + Sully's beard, 341; + shapes of, 350, 351, 352, 355; + taxes on, 345; + tokens of wisdom, 338; + Turkish sultans', 339; + vowing not to cut or shave, 342, 347; + witches', 358; + women, bearded, 358. + Beast-fables, origin of, 239, 299. + Beaumont, bp. of Durham, 318. + Beauty unadorned, 46. + Beggar and Khoja, 68. + Bendall, Cecil, 159. + Beneficence, 24, 44, 48. + Bérenger-Féraud, 278. + Berkeley's 'ideal' theory, 97. + Beryn, Tale of, 212, 306. + Bhartrihari, 258. + Bible, 191, 193, 205, 207, 229, 231, 239, 240, 249, 251, + 254, 257, 261, 270, 323, 331, 332. + Bidpaď's Fables, 39. + Birth, pride of, 22. + Bishop and ignorant priest, 316; + and the simple youth, 317. + 'Bi'smi'llahi,' etc., 53. + Bi-sexual nature of Adam, 191. + Blémont, Emile, 274. + Blind man's wife, 62. + Blockheads, list of, 80. + Boccaccio's Decameron, 82, 217, 231. + Boethius' Consol. Phil., 131. + Bonaventure des Periers, 82, 323, 325. + Borde, Andrew, 356, 357. + Boy in terror at sea, 22. + Bride and Bridegroom, 250. + Bromyard, John, 305. + Broth, Hot, 69. + Buddha, Rom. Hist, of, 147. + Buddha's Dhammapada, 261. + Buddhaghosha's Parables, 163, 261. + Burns, the Scottish poet, 262, 263. + Butler's Hudibras, etc., 332, 345, 346. + Burton, Sir R. F., 38, 274. + Buthayna and Jamíl, 294. + Buzurjmihr on silence, 38. + + Cabinet des Fées, 144. + Cain and Abel, 194. + Camel and cat, 82. + Capon-carver, 231, 276. + Cardonne's Mél. de Littčrature Orientale, 83. + Carlyle, Thos., 60, 263. + Cat and its master, 80. + Cauldron, the, 67. + Caution with friends, 46, 263. + Caxton's Dictes, 38; + Esop's Fables, 300, 308, 339. + Caylus, Comte de, 144. + Cento Novelle Antiche, 231. + Chamberlain, B. H., 312. + Chaste Wives, Value of, 127. + Chaucer, 196, 279, 339. + Chess, game of, 240. + Chinese Humour: rich man and smiths, 77; + to keep plants alive, 78; + criticising a portrait, 78. + Clergy, Benefit of, 329. + Clouston's Analogues of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, 279; + Book of Noodles, 66, 111; + Book of Sindibád, 280; + Eastern Romances, 176, 268, 279; + Popular Tales and Fictions, 144, 157, 178, 279. + Coleridge, the poet, 229, 264. + Comparetti, Prof., 235. + Conceited man, 44. + Conde Lucanor, 81, 247. + Condolence, house of, 62. + Conjugal quarrels, 262. + Contes Orientaux, 144. + Cooks, too many, 262. + 'Corpus meum,' 320. + Cotton's Virgil Travestie, 332. + Courtier and old friend, 79. + Coverley, Sir Roger de, 359. + Covetous man, 93; + goldsmith, 128, 160. + Covetousness, 45. + Crane's Italian Tales, 100, 235, 279. + Cup-bearer and Saádí, 28. + Cypress, 284. + + Dabistán, 97, 99. + Daulat Sháh, 294. + David, legends of King, 213. + Davidson, Thos., 299. + Deaf men, 73, 75. + Death, rest to the poor, 51. + Decameron, 82, 217. + Deluge, 225. + Demon, Tales of a, 124, 162, 179. + Dervish and magic candlestick, 141. + Dervish who became king, 32. + Dervishes, Three, 113. + Desolate Island, 243, 279. + Des Periers, Bonaventure, 82, 323, 325. + Devotee and learned man, 40. + Dictes, or the sayings of philosophers, 38. + Disciplina Clericalis, 99, 100, 227, 231, 241. + Domestics, lazy, 76. + Don Quixote, 11, 99. + Dreams of fair women, 133, 134. + Drinking the sea dry, 312. + Drunken governor, 68. + Dublin ballad-singer, 209. + Dutiful son, 236. + + Eastern story-books, general plan of, 123. + Eberhard's ed. of Planudes' Life of Esop, 301. + Education, advantages of, 27. + Egg-stealer and Solomon, 218. + Eliezer in Sodom, 202. + Eliot, George, 45. + Ellis' Metrical Romances, 100. + Emperor's dream, 134. + Esop: unlucky omens, 108; + wise saying of, 264; + apocryphal Life, by Planudes, 301; + Jacobs on the Esopic Fable, 300; + the figs, 302; + how Esop became eloquent, 303; + his choice of load, 303; + offered for sale, 304; + boiling peas, 304; + the missing pig's foot, 305; + dish of tongues, 305; + the man who was no busy-body, 306; + drinking the sea dry, 306, 312; + the dog's tail, 306; + as ambassador, 307; + his death, 307; + Henryson's description of Esop, 309. + Etienne de Bourbon, 305. + Etienne, Henri, 316. + Eulenspiegel, Tyl, 306. + Expectation, 7. + + Fabliaux, 96, 100, 327, 328. + Fables, origin of, 239, 300. + Facetić, Jewish, 117. + Faggot-maker, 152. + Fairholt, F. W., 355. + Fairies' gifts, 153, 157, 181. + Fate, decrees of, 99. + Faults, 7, 44, 262. + Féraud, Bérenger, 278. + Firdausí, 50, 284. + Fitnet Khánim, Turkish poetess, 17. + Flood, 225. + Flowers, hymn to the, 54. + Folk-Lore of S. India, 73. + Fool, greatest, 279. + Fools, list of, 80. + Foolish peasants, 111; + thieves, 151. + Forbidden tree, 268. + Forman, bp. of Moray, 319. + Fortitude and liberality, 24. + Fortune capricious, 45. + Forty, the number, 268. + Forty Vezírs, History of, 65, 110, 132. + Fox and Bear, 240, 278; + Fox in the garden, 241. + Friends: caution with, 46, 263; + man with three, 247; + misfortunes of, 23. + Fryer's Eng. Fairy Tales, 115. + Fuller's Church History, 322. + Furnivall, F. J., 357. + + Garments, the, 248. + Garrick and Dr. Johnson, 52. + Gemara, authors of the, 186. + Generosity, 24, 44, 48. + Gerrans, 124, 126, 136. + Gesta Romanorum, 187, 196, 227, 231, 279, 306. + Gibb, E. J. W., 15, 110, 132, 283. + Gisli the Outlaw, 65. + Gladwin's Persian Moonshee, 71. + Goat, the dead, 71. + God, a jealous God, 264. + God, for the sake of, 9. + Good or evil genius, 140, 141. + 'God, the merciful,' etc., 53. + Golden apparition, 136. + Goldsmith, the covetous, 128, 160. + Goliath's brother, 213. + Goose, Tales of a, 124. + Goose-thief, 218. + Gospels, two, for a groat, 320. + Governor and the Khoja, 68; + and the poor poet, 104; + and the shopkeeper, 116. + Gratitude for benefits, 262. + Great Name, 214. + Greek Popular Tales, 276. + Grey, Zachary, 332. + Grief and anger, times of, 260. + Grissell, Patient, 331. + Gulistán, or rose-garden, 9. + + Háfíz, the Persian poet, 291. + Hagiolatry, 321, 327. + Hamsa Vinsati, 124. + Harírí, the Arabian poet, 208. + Harrison on beards, 350. + Hartland, E. Sidney, 181. + Hátim Taď, 24. + Hazár ú Yek Rúz, 93. + Hebrew facetić, 117. + Henryson, Robert, 309. + Heptameron, 82. + Herrick's Hesperides, 53. + Herodotus, Apology for, 316. + Herrtage, S. J., 196. + Hershon's Talmudic Miscel., 191. + Hesiod's fables, 239. + Hitopadesa, 140, 240. + Horse-dealers and the king, 81. + Hudibras, etc., 332, 345, 346. + Hundred Mery Talys, 70, 317, 320. + Hurwitz, Hyman, 117, 189, 218, 257. + + 'Idda: compulsory widowhood, 287. + Ideal, not the real, 97. + Idleness and industry, 41, 261. + Ignorance, 262. + Ill news, breaking, 95; + telling, 45. + Images, the stolen, 128. + Indian poetess, 25, 27, 44. + Inferiors and superiors, 260. + Ingratitude, 47. + Intolerance, religious, 188, 190. + Investment, safe, 228. + Irving, David, 309. + Isfahání and the governor, 116. + Ishmael's wives, 203. + Island, Desolate, 243, 279. + Israel likened to a bride, 250. + Italian Tales, 100, 115, 203, 231, 235, 279, 306. + + Jacob's sorrow, 208. + Jacobs, Joseph, on the Esopic Fables, 300, 308. + Jámí, 40, 48, 63, 109. + Jamíl and Buthayna, 294. + 'January and May,' 29. + Jehennan, 145. + Jehoshua, Rabbi, 205. + Jehudah, Rabbi, 186. + Jests, antiquity of, 60. + Jewels, the, 229; + luminous, 196. + Jewish facetić, 117 + Jochonan, Rabbi, 186; + and the poor woman, 227. + Johnson and Garrick, 52. + Johnson, Dr., on springtide, 14. + Jones, Sir William, 15. + Joseph and Potiphar's wife, 205; + and his brethren, 206. + Josephus on Solomon's fables, 239. + Jotham's fable, 239. + Julien, Stanislas, 77. + + Kádirí's Tútí Náma, 124. + Kah-gyur, 159. + Kalíla wa Dimna, 39. + Kalidása, 284. + Káma Sutra, 126. + Kámarupa, 133. + Káshifí, 38. + Kashmírí Folk-Tales, 111, 118. + Kathá Manjarí, 71, 100, 175. + Kathá Sarit Ságara, 157, 163, 179. + Khalíf and poet, 101, 105. + Khizar and the Water of Life, 177. + Khoja Nasr-ed-Dín, 65, 70. + King and his Four Ministers, 176; + and the horse-dealers, 81; + and the Seven Vazírs, 173; + and the story-teller, 99, 100; + who died of love, 161. + Knowles, J. H., 111, 118. + Kurán, 65. + + Ladies, witty Persian, 63. + Laing, David, 309. + La Fontaine, 278. + Landsberger on Fables, 239. + Langlčs (_not_ Lescallier), 93. + La Rochefoucauld, 23. + Lappländische Märchen, 181. + Laughter, 59, 60. + Laylá and Majnún, 283. + Lazy servants, 76. + Learned man and blockhead, 49; + youth, modesty of, 27. + Learning the best treasure, 27; + and virtue, 47. + Le Grand's Fabliaux, 96, 327, 328. + Legrand's Popular Greek Tales, 276. + Lescallier, 173--_see_ also Langlčs. + Liars, 261. + Liber de Donis, 305. + Liberality to the poor, 24, 44, 48, + Liberality and fortitude, 24. + Life, Tree of, 174; + Water of, 174, 177. + Lions, tail of the, 263. + Liwá'í, Persian poet, 95. + Lokman, sayings of, 310. + Luminous Jewels, 196. + Love, dying for, 161, 163. + Lovers, Arabian, 283, 294. + + Madden, Sir F., 196. + Magic Bowl, etc., 153, 157, 181. + Maiden and Saádí, 28. + Maimonides, 186. + Majnún and Laylá, 273. + Makamat of El-Harírí, 208. + Malcolm's Sketches of Persia, 107, 116. + Man, a laughing animal, 59; + and his three friends, 247; + and the place, 262; + the mighty man, 261. + Manna, daily, 266. + Manuel, Don Juan, 81. + Marcus Aurelius, 49. + Mare kicked by a horse, 132. + Marelle, Charles, 192. + Marguerite, queen of Navarre, 82, 323. + Marie de France, 241. + Massinger's plays, 331. + Mazarin, Cardinal, 52. + Meir's (Rabbi) fables, 240. + Mélanges de Litt. Orient., 83. + Merchant and lady, 87; + and poor Bedouin, 95. + Merchandise, 262. + Mery Tales and Quicke Answeres, 37, 71, 218, 321. + Mesíhí's ode on spring, 15. + Metempsychosis, 179, 301. + Mihra-i Iskandar, 18. + Milton's Paradise Lost, 270. + Mind, the infant, 261. + Miser, 262. + Misers, Muslim, 71, 72. + Mishlé Sandabar, 173. + Misfortunes of friends, 23. + Mishna, authors of the, 186. + Mole on the face, 291. + Money, in praise of, 125; + sound of two coins, 262. + Monsters, unheard of, 224. + Moon, a type of female beauty, 284. + Moses and Pharaoh, 208; + height of Moses, 225; + Moses and the Poor Woodcutter, 270. + Muezzin with harsh voice, 33. + Muhammedan legends, 195, 206, 209, 218, 219, 223, 268, 270. + Mukhlis of Isfahán, 135. + Music, discovery of, 163; + effects of, 7. + Musician, bad, 7. + Muslim confession of Faith, 53. + + Nakhshabí, 46, 124, 260. + Name, the Great, 214. + Nasr-ed-Dín, Khoja, 65. + Natésa Sastrí, 73. + Nathan of Babylon, 260. + 'Neck-verse,' 331. + Neighbour, objectionable, 37. + 'Night and Day,' 61. + Nightingale and Ant, 41; + and Rose, 42. + Nimrod and Abraham, 253. + Noah, 194, 196, 225, 270. + Noble's Orientalist, 141. + 'No rule without exception,' 119. + Numerals, Arabic, 240. + Núshírván the Just, 21, 37. + Nye, Philip, 346. + + Og, king of Bashan, 225, 226. + Old man and young wife, 29. + Old man's prayer, 109; + reason for not marrying, 31. + Old woman in mosque, 109. + Omens, unlucky, 107, 108. + Opportunity, 263. + Oriental story-books, general plan of, 123. + Orientalist, or Letters of a Rabbi, 141. + Origin, all things return to their, 131. + Ouseley, Sir Gore, 6, 52. + + Painter and critics, 78. + Panchatantra, 49, 129, 140, 146, 147, 159, 240. + Panjábí Legends, 179. + Paradise, persons translated to, 209. + Parents, reverence for, 236. + Parrot and maina, 178; + oilman's parrot, 114; + Moghul's parrot, 116. + Parrot-Book, 124; + frame-story of, 125, 178. + Parrot, Seventy Tales of a, 124. + Parrots in Hindú fictions, 179. + Passion-service, 323, 326. + Pasquil's Jests, 81, 330. + Patient Grissell, 331. + 'Paveant illi,' etc., 319. + Payne's Arabian Nights, 274. + Peasant in Paradise, 327. + Peasants, Foolish, 111. + Persian and his cat, 80; + and the governor, 116; + courtier and old friend, 79; + ladies, witty, 63; + Moonshee, 71; + poet and the impostor, 106; + Tales of a Thousand and one Days, 93, 135. + Petis de la Croix, 93. + Petronius Arbiter, 307. + Phćdrus, 300. + Pharaoh and Moses, 208. + Pharaoh's daughters, 209. + Pirke Aboth, 260. + Plants, to keep alive, 78. + Planudes' Life of Esop, 108, 301. + Poets in praise of springtide, 14. + Poet, rich man and, 107. + Poet's meaning, 104. + Poetry, 'stealing,' 106. + Poets, royal gifts to, 101, 104, 105. + Poverty, 263. + Prayers, odd, 71, 109. + Preachers, Muslim, 34, 66, 70, 71. + Precept and Practice, 47, 263. + Prefaces to books, 11. + Priest confessing poor man, 325. + Pride, 261. + Princess of Rúm and her son, 166. + Procrustes, bed of, 199. + Prodigality, 24. + Psalm-singing at gallows, 331. + + Quevedo's Visions, 343. + + Rabbi and the poor woman, 227; + and the emperor Trajan, 265; + and the cup of wine, 119. + Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, 141; + Tibetan Tales, 159. + 'Ram caught in a thicket,' 205. + Rasálú, Legend of Rájá, 178. + Rats that ate iron, 129. + Richardson, Octavia, 317. + Rich, Barnaby, 350. + Riches, 44, 50, 261. + Rieu, Charles, 124. + Robber and the Khoja, 69. + Rogers, the poet, 359. + Rose and Nightingale, 42. + Ross, David, 278. + Rúm, country of, 134. + Russian Folk-Tales, 141. + + Saádí: sketch of his life, 3; + character of his writings, 6; + on a bad musician, 7; + his 'Gulistán,' 9; + prefaces to books, 11; + preface to the 'Gulistán,' 12; + the fair cup-bearer, 28; + assured of lasting fame, 55; + on money, 125. + Sacchetti, 231, 306. + Saint-worship, 321, 327. + Samradians, sect of the, 97. + Satan in form of a deer, 213. + Satiety and hunger, 45. + Sayce, A. H., 210. + Scarronides, 332. + Schoolmaster and wit, 79. + Scornfulness, 260. + Scott's 'Lay,' 331. + Scribe's excuse, 79. + Secrets, 48, 263. + Seneca on aphorisms, 259. + Senegambian Tales, 278. + Sermon, burlesque, 328. + Servant, wakeful, 112. + Servants, lazy, 76. + Seven stages of human life, 257. + Seven Vazírs, 173 + _see also_ Sindibád, Book of. + Seven Wise Masters, 133, 173, 178, 307. + Shakspeare, 53, 163, 257, 342, 347, 349, 350. + Sheba, Queen of, 218. + Shelley's Queen Mab, 291. + Signing with ×, 333. + Silence, on keeping, 38, 39, 45, 263. + Simonides, 40. + Sindibád, Book of, 123, 159, 173, 176, 178, 306. + Singing Ass, 149. + Sinhásana Dwatrinsati, 124. + Shopkeeper and governor, 116. + Sindbán, 173. + 'Skip over three leaves,' 322. + Slander, 44. + Slave, witty, 35. + Slippers, the unlucky, 83. + Smith, Horace, 53. + Smiths and rich man, 77. + Socrates, 300, 338. + Sodom, the citizens of, 198. + Solomon: advice to three men, 215; + the Queen of Sheba, 218; + the egg-stealer, 218; + his signet-ring, 220; + his lost fables, 239; + his precocious sagacity, 73; + his choice of wisdom, 249; + the serpent's prey, 274. + Son, dutiful, 236. + Sorrow, times of, 260. + Spectator, Addison's, 359. + Spenser, Edmund, 284. + Springtide, in praise of, 14. + Stingy merchant and poor Bedouin, 95. + Story-teller and the King, 100. + Stubbes on beards and barbers, 352. + Stupidity, 26. + Súfís, 51. + Suka Saptati, 124. + Sully and the courtiers, 341. + Summa Praedicantium, 305. + Superiors and inferiors, 260. + Swynnerton, Charles, 179. + Syntipas, 173. + + Tales and Quicke Answeres, 37, 71, 218, 321. + Talkers, comprehensive, 45. + Talmud, authors of the, 185, 186; + traducers of the, 187; + teachings of the, 188. + Tantrákhyána, 159. + Taylor's Wit and Mirth, 330; + Superbiae Flagellum, 351. + Teaching and learning, 262. + Temple's Panjábí Legends, 179. + Thálebí and the Khalíf, 105. + Thief, self-convicted, 218; + without opportunity, 263. + Thieves, Foolish, 151. + Thomson's Seasons, 46. + Three Dervishes, 113. + Throne, Tales of a, 124. + Tibetan Tales, 159. + Tongue, the key of wisdom, 46. + Tongues, dish of, 305. + 'Tongues in Trees,' 53. + Trajan and the Rabbi, 265. + Treasure, concealed, 129. + Treasure-seekers, the Four, 144. + Tree of Life, 174, 177. + Trouvčres, 327. + Turkish Jester: in the pulpit, 66; + the cauldron, 67; + the beggar, 68; + the drunken governor, 68; + the robber, 69; + the hot broth, 69. + Turkish poetess, 17. + Turkmans, weeping, 110. + Tútí Náma, 124; + frame story, 125, 178. + Tyl Eulenspiegel, 306. + + Ugly wife, 61, 62. + Uncle Remus, 279. + Unicorn, 225. + Unlucky omens, 107, 108. + Unlucky slippers, 83. + + Van Butchell, 348. + Vasayadatta, 133. + Vase, use thy, 263. + Vatsyayana's Káma Sutra, 126. + Vazírs, the Seven, 173. + Vetála Panchavinsati, 124, 162, 179. + Vicious hate the virtuous, 44. + Vine, planting of the, 196. + Virgil Travestie, 332. + Virtue cannot come out of vice, 50. + Visitors, troublesome, 40. + Von Hammer, 293. + Vrihat Kathá, 158. + + Wakeful servant, 112. + Wamik and Azra, 293. + Want: moderation, 7. + Warton's Hist. of Eng. Poetry, 163. + Water of Life, 174, 177. + Weil's Bible, Korán, and Talmud, 273. + Weeping Turkmans, 110. + Wheel on man's head, 146, 147. + Wicked rich man, 44. + Widowhood, compulsory, 287. + Wife, choosing a, 263. + Williams, Sir Monier, 259. + Will, Ingenious, 237. + Wisdom, who gains, 261. + Wise man in mean company, 49. + Witches' beards, 358. + Witty Baghdádí, 83; + Isfahání, 116; + Jewish boys, 117, 118; + Persian ladies, 63; + slave, 35. + Woman: carved out of wood, 130; + seven requisites of, 165. + Woman's counsel, 64, 65; + wiles, 87. + Women, bearded, 358. + Woodcutter and Moses, 270. + World of Wonders, 316. + Wright's Latin Stories, 76. + + Young's Night Thoughts, 46. + Youth, modest and learned, 27. + + Zemzem, 285. + Zotenberg, Hermann, 246. + Zozimus, the ballad-singer, 209. + Zulaykhá, Potiphar's wife, 206. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Flowers from a Persian Garden and +Other Papers, by W. A. 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