tually, but causally. After the six
days, however, they were actually brought forth, according to their
proper species and in their proper nature, by the work of
administration.

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS

BY RICHARD GOTTHEIL

The Arabian Nights--or, more accurately, 'The Thousand Nights and a
Night' (Alf Leilah wa-leilah)--have gained a popularity in Europe, since
they were first turned into a modern language by Galland in 1704, which
rivals, if it does not exceed, their regard in the East. They opened up
to Europe a wealth of anecdote, a fertility of daring fancy, which has
not ceased to amuse and to interest. It is not their value as literature
which has placed them so high in the popular esteem, both in the East
and in the West; for they are written in a style not a little slovenly,
the same scenes, figures, and expressions are repeated to monotony, and
the poetical extracts which are interwoven are often of very uncertain
excellence. Some of the modern translations--as by Payne and
Burton--have improved upon the original, and have often given it a
literary flavor which it certainly has not in the Arabic. For this
reason, native historians and writers seldom range the stories in their
literary chronicles, or even deign to mention them by name. The 'Nights'
have become popular from the very fact that they affect little; that
they are _contes_ pure and simple, picturing the men and the manners of
a certain time without any attempt to gloss over their faults or to
excuse their foibles: so that "the doings of the ancients become a
lesson to those that follow after, that men look upon the admonitory
events that have happened to others and take warning." All classes of
men are to be found there: Harun al-Rashid and his viziers, as well as
the baker, the cobbler, the merchant, the courtesan. The very coarseness
is a part of the picture; though it strikes us more forcibly than it did
those to whom the tales were told and for whom they were written down.
It is a kaleidoscope of the errors and failings and virtues of the men
whose daily life it records; it is also a picture of the wonderfully
rich fantasy of the Oriental mind.

[Illustration:]

In the better texts (_i.e._, of Boulak and Calcutta) there are no less
than about two hundred and fifty stories; some long, others short. There
is no direct order in which they follow one upon the other. The chief
story may at any moment suggest a subordinate one; and as the wor