The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 15 - Sir Richard Francis Burton (world best books to read txt) 📗

(like a man divided longitudinally); and it is believed that the Nesn�s is the offspring of a Shikk and of a human being. The Shikk appears to travellers; and it was a demon of this kind who killed, and was killed by, ‘Alkamah, the son of Safw�n, the son of Umeiyeh, of whom it is well known that he was killed by a Jinnee. So says El-Kazweenee.

 

“The Nesn�s (above-mentioned) is described as resembling half a human being, having half a head, half a body, one arm, and one leg, with which it hops with much agility; as being found in the woods of El-Yemen, and being endowed with speech; ‘but God,’ it is added, ‘is all-knowing.’ (El-Kazweenee in the khatimeh of his work.) It is said that it is found in Hadram�t as well as El-Yemen; and that one was brought alive to El-Mutawekkil; it resembled a man in form, excepting that it had but half a face, which was in its breast, and a tail like that of a sheep. The people of Hadram�t, it is added, eat it; and its flesh is sweet. It is only generated in their country. A man who went there asserted that he saw a captured Nesn�s, which cried out for mercy, conjuring him by God and by himself. (Mi-r�t ez-Zem�n.) A race of people whose head is in the breast is described as inhabiting an island called J�beh (supposed to be Java) in the Sea of El-Hind or India; and a kind of Nesn�s is also described as inhabiting the Island of Ra�j, in the Sea of Es-Seen, or China, and having wings like those of the bat. (Ibn El-Wardee.)” Compare also an incident in the story of Janshah (Nights v. p. 333, and note) and the description of the giant Haluka in Forbes’ translation of the Persian Romance of Hatim Tai (p. 47): “In the course of an hour the giant was so near as to be distinctly seen in shape like an immense dome. He had neither hands nor feet, but a tremendous mouth, situated in the midst of his body. He advanced with an evolving motion, and from his jaws issued volumes of flame and clouds of smoke.” When his reflection was shown him in a mirror, he burst with rage.

 

I may add that a long-tailed species of African monkey (Cercopithecus Pyrrhonotus) is now known to naturalists as the Nisnas.

 

Story of the Broken-backed Schoolmaster (pp. 72-74).

 

I once heard a tale of two Irishmen, one of whom lowered the other over a cliff, probably in search of the nests of sea-fowl. Presently the man at the top called out, “Hold hard while I spit on my hands,” so he loosed the rope for that purpose, and his companion incontinently disappeared with it.

 

Story of the Split-mouthed Schoolmaster (pp. 74-77).

 

In Scott’s “Story of the Wry-mouthed Schoolmaster” (Arabian Nights vi. pp. 74

75) the schoolmaster crams a boiling egg into his mouth, which the boy smashes.

 

Night Adventure of Sultan Mohammed of Cairo (pp.

68-84).

 

P. 78.—Scott (vi. p. 403) makes the proclamation read, “Whoever presumes after the first watch of the night to have a lamp lighted in his house, shall have his head struck off, his goods confiscated, his house razed to the ground, and his women dishonoured.” A proclamation in such terms under the circumstances (though not meant seriously) would be incredible, even in the East.

 

Story of the Kazi Who Bare a Babe (pp. 130-144).

 

In the Esthonian Kalevipoeg we read of two giants who lay down to sleep on opposite sides of the table after eating a big supper of thick peas-soup. An unfortunate man was hidden under the table, and the consequence was that he was blown backwards and forwards between them all night.

 

History of the Bhang-Eater and His Wife (pp. 155-161).

 

Selling a bull or a cow in the manner described is a familiar incident in folklore; and in Rivi�re’s “Contes Populaires Kabyles” we find a variant of the present story under the title of “L’Idiot et le Coucou.” In another form, the cow or other article is exchanged for some worthless, or apparently worthless, commodity, as in Jack and the Bean-stalk; Hans im Gluck; or as in the case of Moses in the Vicar of Wakefield. The incident of the fool finding a treasure occurs in Cazotte’s story of Xailoun.[FN#642]

 

How Drummer Abu Kasim Became a Kazi (pp. 161-163).

 

I have heard an anecdote of a man who was sued for the value of a bond which he had given payable one day after the day of judgment. The judge ruled, “This is the day of judgment, and I order that the bill must be paid to-morrow!”

 

Story of the Kazi and His Slipper (pp. 163-165).

 

This story is well known in Europe, though not as forming part of The Nights.

Mr. W. A. Clouston informs me that it first appeared in Cardonne’s “M�langes de litt�rature orientale” (Paris, 1770). Cf. Nights x. App. pp. 450 and 452.

 

History of the Third Larrikin (pp. 231-233).

 

Such mistakes must be very frequent. I remember once seeing a maid stoop down with a jug in her hand, when she knocked her head against the table. Some one sitting by, thinking it was the jug, observed, “Never mind, there’s nothing in it.”

 

Another time I was driving out in the country with a large party, and our host got out to walk across to another point. Presently he was missed, and they inquired, “Where is he?” There was a dog lying in the carriage, and one of the party looked round, and not seeing the dog, responded, “Why, where is the dog?”

 

Tale of the Fisherman and His Son (pp. 247-260).

 

The present story, though not very important in itself, is interesting as combining some of the features of three distinct classes of folk-tales. One of these is the anti-Jewish series, of which Grimm’s story of the Jew in the Bramble-Bush is one of the most typical examples. According to these tales, any villainy is justifiable, if perpetrated on a Jew. We find traces of this feeling even in Shakespeare, and to this day Shylock (notwithstanding the grievous wrongs which he had suffered at the hands of Christians) rarely gets much sympathy from modern readers, who quite overlook all the extenuating circumstances in his case.[FN#643] Nor do we always find the Jew famous for ‘cuteness in folk-tales. This phase of his reputation is comparatively modern, and in the time of Horace, “Credat Jud�us” was a Roman proverb, which means, freely translated, “Nobody would be fool enough to believe it except a Jew.”

 

The present story combines the features of the anti-Jewish tales, the Alaeddin series, and the Grateful Beasts series. (Compare Mr. W. A. Clouston’s remarks on Aladdin, Supp. Nights, App. iii., pp. 371-389; and also his “Tales and Popular Fictions.”)

 

In vol. 53 of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1884, pp. 24-39) I find a Nicobar story which relates how Tiomberombi received a magic mirror from a snake whose enemy he had killed. Its slaves obeyed all his orders if he only put the key into the keyhole, but he was not allowed to open the mirror, as he was too weak to face the spirits openly. He dwelt on an island, but when a hostile fleet came against him, the gunners could not hit it, as the island became invisible. The hostile chief sent an old woman to worm the secret out of Tiomberombi’s wife; the mirror was stolen, and Tiomberombi and his wife were carried off. On reaching land, Tiomberombi was thrown into prison, but he persuaded the rats to fetch him the mirror.[FN#644] He destroyed his enemies, went home, and re-established himself on his island, warning his wife and mother not to repeat what had happened, lest the island should sink. They told the story while he was eating; the island sank into the sea, and they were all drowned.

 

The History of Abu Niyyah and Abu Niyyatayn (pp.

264-279).

 

This story combines features which we find separately in Nos. 3b (ba); 162 and 198. The first story, the Envier and the Envied, is very common in folklore, and has been sometimes used in modern fairy-tales. The reader will remember the Tailor and the Shoemaker in Hans Christian Andersen’s “Eventyr.”

Frequently, as in the latter story, the good man, instead of being thrown into a well, is blinded by the villain, and abandoned in a forest, where he afterwards recovers his sight. One of the most curious forms of this story is the Samoghitian

 

Truth and Injustice.[FN#645]

 

Truth and Injustice lived in the same country, and one day they happened to meet, and agreed to be friends. But as Injustice brought many people into trouble, Truth declared that she would have no more to do with her, upon which Injustice grew angry, and put out the eyes of Truth. Truth wandered about for a long time at random, and at last she came to a walnut-tree, and climbed up it to rest awhile in safety from wild beasts. During the night a wolf and a mouse came to the foot of the tree, and held the following conversation. The wolf began, “I am very comfortable in the land where I am now living, for there are so many blind people there that I can steal almost any animal I like without anybody seeing me. If the blind men knew that they had only to rub their eyes with the moss which grows on the stones here in order to recover their sight, I should soon get on badly with them.”

 

The mouse responded, “I live in a district where the people have no water, and are obliged to fetch it from a great distance. When they are away from home I can enjoy as much of their provisions as I like; indeed, I can heap together as large a store as I please without being disturbed. If the people knew that they had only to cut down a great oak tree and a great lime tree which grow near their houses, in order to find water, I should soon be badly off.”

 

As soon as the wolf and the mouse were gone, Truth came down from her tree, and groped about until she found a moss-covered stone, when she rubbed her eyes with the moss. She recovered her sight immediately, and then went her way till she came to the country where most of the people were blind. Truth demanded that the blind people should pay her a fixed sum of money, when she would tell them of a remedy by which they could recover their sight. The blind men gave her the money, and Truth supplied them with the remedy which had cured herself.

 

After this, Truth proceeded further till she came to the district where the people had no water. She told them that if they would give her a carriage and horses, she would tell them where to find water. The people were glad to agree to her proposal.

 

When Truth had received the carriage and horses, she showed the people the oak and the lime tree, which they felled by her directions, when water immediately flowed from under the roots in great abundance.

 

As Truth drove away she met Injustice, who had fallen into poverty, and was wandering from one country to another in rags. Truth knew her immediately, and asked her to take a seat in her carriage. Injustice then recognised her, and asked her how she had received the light of her eyes, and how she had come by such a fine carriage. Truth told her everything, including what she had heard from the wolf and the