Anecdotes

(This is taken from F.F. Arbuthnot's Arabic Authors, originally published in 1890.)

In Persian literature there are three celebrated works (Sa’di’s‘Gulistan,’ or Rose Garden, A.D. 1258; Jawini’s ‘Negaristan,’ orPortrait Gallery, A.D. 1334; and Jami’s ‘Beharistan,’ or Abode ofSpring, A.D. 1487, all translated by the Kama Shastra Society),containing an entertaining collection of stories, verses, and moralmaxims. In Arabic literature there are many books of the same sort,and in this chapter it is proposed to give a few specimens of storiesand philosophic reflections culled from various authors. This willperhaps be more interesting than a lengthened analysis of the worksthemselves.The following anecdotes have been taken from the ‘Naphut-ul-Yaman’(Breeze or Breath of Yaman), a collection of stories and poeticalextracts of various Arabic authors, edited by Ahmad-ash-Shirwani. I. Al-Jahiz said: ‘I never was put so much to shame as when a woman metme on the road and said, “I have some business with you,” and Ifollowed her till we reached the shop of a goldsmith, when she said,“Like this man,” and walked away. I stood amazed, and asked thegoldsmith to explain the matter. He replied: “This woman wanted me tomake her a figure of Satan, and I told her that I did not know hisphysiognomy; whereon she brought you!”’ II. A voracious man paid a visit to a hermit, who brought him four loaves,and then went to fetch a dish of beans; but when he had come with it,he found that his guest had consumed the bread. Accordingly hedeparted to bring some more bread, but when he returned with it he sawthat the man had devoured the beans. This proceeding was repeated tentimes, whereon the host asked his guest to what place he wastravelling. He replied, ‘To Rei.’ ‘Wherefore?’ ‘I heard of acelebrated physician in that town, and I mean to consult him about mystomach, because I have but little appetite for eating.’ ‘I have arequest to make of you.’ ‘What is it?’ ‘When you return, after havingrecovered your appetite, please do not pay me a visit again.’ III. One day the poet Abu Nuwas made his appearance at the gate of thepalace of Rashid, who, as soon as he was informed of this, called foreggs, and said to his courtiers: ‘Here is Abu Nuwas at the door. Nowlet each of you take an egg and place it under his body, and when heenters I shall feign to be angry with all of you, and shall exclaim:“Now lay eggs each of you, and if you do not I shall order you all tobe beheaded,” and we shall see how he will behave.’ Then the poet wasadmitted, and the conversation continued. After a while, however, the Khalif became angry, and manifested his displeasure by exclaiming:‘You are all like hens, and meddle with things that do concern you;now lay eggs each of you, for that is your nature, or I shall orderyour heads to be struck off.’ Then he looked at the courtier on hisright, saying: ‘You are the first; now lay an egg.’ Accordingly hemade great efforts, and contorting his features, at last drew forth anegg. Then the Khalif addressed the others successively in the samemanner, and when the turn of Abu Nuwas came, he struck his sides withhis hands, and crowing like a cock, said: ‘My lord, hens are uselesswithout a cock. These are hens, and I am their cock.’ Hereon theKhalif burst out laughing, and approved of his excuse. IV. A certain king was much addicted to women, and one of his vizierswarned him of the danger. Shortly afterwards some of his concubinesobserved that his behaviour towards them had changed, and one of themsaid: ‘My lord, what is this?’ He replied: ‘One of my viziers(mentioning his name) advised me not to love you.’ ‘Then,’ said thegirl, ‘present me to him, O king, and do not reveal what I shall do tohim.’ Accordingly he gave the girl away, and when the vizier was alonewith her, she made herself so amiable that he fell in love with her,but she refused to grant him any favour except on condition ofallowing her first to ride on his back. He agreed. Accordingly shebridled and saddled him, but meanwhile sent word to the king what wastaking place; and when he arrived he saw the vizier in the positionalluded to, and said: ‘You warned me of the love of woman, and this isthe state I see you in.’ The vizier replied: ‘O king! this is justwhat I warned you of!’ V. Once a lion, a fox, and a wolf were associates in the chase, and afterthey had killed an ass, a gazelle, and a hare, the lion said to thewolf: ‘Divide the prey among us;’ whereon the latter said: ‘The asswill be yours, the hare the fox’s, and the gazelle mine;’ and the lionknocked his eye out. Then the fox said: ‘A curse on him, what a sillydivision he proposed!’ Accordingly the lion said: ‘Then do you makethe division, O possessor of the brush!’ And the fox said: ‘The asswill be for your dinner, the gazelle for your supper, and the hare foryour luncheon.’ The lion said: ‘You rogue! who taught you to make sucha just distribution?’ and Reynard answered, ‘The eye of the wolf.’ VI. A certain king asked his vizier whether habit can vanquish nature, ornature habit? The vizier replied: ‘Nature is stronger, because it is aroot, and habit a branch, and every branch returns to its root.’ Nowthe king called for wine, and a number of cats made their appearancewith candles in their paws, and stood around him; then he said to thevizier: ‘Do you perceive your mistake in saying that nature isstronger than habit?’ The vizier replied: ‘Give me time till thisevening.’ The king continued: ‘You shall have it.’ Accordingly thevizier appeared in the evening with a mouse in his sleeve, and whenthe cats were standing with their candles, he allowed it to slip out,whereon all the cats threw down the candles and ran after it, so thatthe house was nearly set on fire. Then the vizier said: ‘Behold, Oking, how nature overcomes habit, and how the branch returns to theroot.’ The ‘Merzubán námah,’ translated from the Persian into Arabic, is saidto be of very ancient origin, and to embody good maxims in fables. Itwas composed, or is supposed to have been composed, by one of the oldprinces of Persia called Merzuban, a brother of the King Nausherwanthe Just, who died A.D. 578. On referring to the great encyclopædicaland bibliographical dictionary, edited by Fluegel, it will be found,under No. 11,783, that Haji Khalfa mentions this book, giving,however, its title only, without mentioning the time of itscomposition, nor the author of it, nor the language in which it hadbeen written. The following are some extracts from this work, and thestories resemble others that have come from the Farther East. I. The philosopher Merzubán said: ‘I am informed that in a certaindistrict of Aderbaijan there is a mountain as high as the sky, withfine brooks, trees, fruits and herbs. Under the shelter of one of themost beautiful trees a pair of partridges lived most happily, but inthe vicinity there was likewise a powerful eagle with his brood, whoperiodically visited the abode of the partridges and devoured theiryoung ones. When the pair had thus several times lost their progeny,the male proposed that it would either be necessary for them toemigrate to some other locality, or to try some expedient by whichthey might escape from the rapacity of the eagle. He was of opinionthat even in case of failure they might gain some valuable experiencethat would be of use in future attempts to elude the persecution, andsaid: “We must at all events make a trial, and may learn somethingfrom it, like the donkey who endeavoured to become the companion ofthe camel.” The she-partridge asked, “How was that?” and the malecontinued: II. ‘”Once a donkey tried to keep up walking with a big camel, who pacedlustily, and took long steps, but the ass, being in a hurry, stumbledevery moment, and found that he had undertaken an impossible task. Heasked the camel, ‘How is it I wound my hoofs on the rocks so often,although I constantly look where I am stepping; whilst you, whoapparently walk with leisure, never cast a glance at any of theobstacles you meet with, and never hurt yourself?’ The camel replied:‘The reason is just because you are short-sighted and of weakintellect; you can look no further than your nose, and are, therefore,disappointed; whereas I look always forward, know the obstacles I amlikely to encounter, scan the road to a great distance, and avoid thedifficulties, selecting the easiest parts of the way.’” The wise hensaid: “To be forewarned is to be forearmed, and this principle Ifollow.” “I have narrated this story to show you that we must lookforward, now that the time of laying eggs is at hand, because when ourlittle ones are hatched it may again be too late to try and savethem.”‘The female partridge said: “This is all very well, but we might farelike the hungry fox who would have lost his life if the ichneumon hadnot interceded for him with the camel.” The male said “How was that?”and the female continued: III. ‘”It is related that a certain fox had a fine large den, in which hecollected provisions for the winter and for the summer, faredsumptuously, and never suffered from want. Once, however, a large armyof ants invaded his domicile, and made short work of all the victualshe had carefully stored. This misfortune befel him just at a time whenthe weather happened to be very cold and food scarce, so that he beganto feel the pangs of hunger. One morning, however, when he was aboutto sally forth from his den, he perceived, to his no smallastonishment, at the mouth of it a camel kneeling, with the hinderpart of his body turned towards him. The fox said to himself, ‘Here isgood luck,’ and made a foolhardy attempt to drag the animal into thecave by tying a rope to its tail, and to commence pulling at it withall his might. To make sure of his prey the fox had tied the other endof the rope to his own body, but when he began to jerk it ratherstrongly the camel became vexed, jumped up suddenly, and firstdischarging both urine and dung upon Reynard, began to shake himselfviolently. The fox dangled in the air, and was repeatedly knockedagainst the flanks of the gigantic animal. Then the fox repented ofhis silly attempt to feast on camel meat, and knew that hisdeath-knell would shortly sound. Luckily an ichneumon happened to bestanding close by, amazed at the strange spectacle, and the foximplored it to intercede for him. Accordingly, the ichneumon addressedthe camel in the following strain: ‘Friend giant! it is meet that thestrong, hoping for an eternal reward, should have mercy upon the weak!Here is a poor stranger who has accidentally become entangled withyour tail. He will be strangled; you may save his life and become hisdeliverer by letting him go.’ The camel then released the fox, whowould assuredly have lost his life if the ichneumon had not intercededfor him.” When the male partridge had heard this story he fullyapproved of the moral of it, which is to the effect that ignorant andweak individuals are generally foiled in their designs against thosewho are powerful. He therefore considered that it would be best tothrow themselves upon the mercy of the eagle, and said: “We must pay avisit to his majesty the eagle, explain our case to him, implore hismercy, and enroll ourselves among the number of his servants. We maysucceed by gaining his favour; he is the king of all the birds, andcarnivorous, but for all we know his disposition may be so mercifulthat he will spare our offspring not only himself, but order all theother birds of prey, his subjects, to do likewise.”‘Then the she-partridge exclaimed: “Your advice is indeed wonderful!You propose nothing less than that we should court our own perdition,and of our own accord run into a trap! The eagle in treacherous, andwould deal with us like the heron dealt with the little fish.” Themale said, “Please narrate the occurrence,” and the female continued: IV. ‘”A heron had taken up his abode, and had lived for a long time near abrook on the little fishes there. At last, however, he became so oldand weak that he was scarcely able to provide his daily food. He wasonce standing in a melancholy attitude on the bank of the streamlet,waiting for a chance to satisfy his hunger, when he happened to catchsight of a beautiful little fish disporting itself in the water, andmourned over his inability to get hold of it. The little fishperceived the heron standing immovable, and apparently taking not theleast notice of it; therefore it gradually ventured to approach him,and asked the cause of his melancholy. The heron replied, ‘I amreflecting upon the time of my youth which has passed away, the life Ienjoyed, the pleasures I felt, all of which are irretrievably lost,and have left behind nothing but repentance for my sins, a weak body,and tottering limbs. I can now only regret the depredations I havecommitted, and wash away with my tears the stains of mytransgressions. How often have I given occasion, both to little fishesand to eels, to deplore the loss of members of their families, which Ihad greedily devoured; but I have now repented, and shall henceforthdo so no more.’ When the little fish had heard this wonderfulconfession it asked: ‘What can I do for you?’ The heron replied: ‘Iwant you only to convey this declaration of mine, with my salutations,to all your acquaintances, with the information that they mayhenceforth live in perfect safety, and need not apprehend anydepredations on my part. There must, however, be covenants and pledgesof security between us.’ The little fish asked: ‘How can I trust you,since I am the food on which you subsist, and you cannot be inclinedto dispense with that.’ He said: ‘Take this grass and tie it round myneck for a sign that I shall not injure you.’ Accordingly, the littlefish took hold of a blade of grass, which was to serve for the heron’scollar, who then placed his beak near the surface of the water toreceive it, but as soon as the little fish had come within reach, theheron gobbled it up, and this was the end of the promised pledge. Mydear husband, I have narrated this occurrence only to show that wewould, by trusting to any promises of magnanimity that the eagle mightmake to us, only court our own perdition.”‘In spite of all her objections, however, the she-partridge agreed atlast to accompany her husband to the court of the eagle. They startedtogether, travelled for some time, arrived at his abode, and madetheir obeisance to a courtier whose name was Yuyu, whom the malepartridge addressed as follows: “Most noble lord, we are denizens ofan adjoining mountain, where we lived happily till his majesty theeagle crushed all our hopes by making his appearance on our mountainwith his court of birds of prey, destroyed our young on severalsuccessive occasions, and reduced us to despair. I proposed to my wifeto emigrate, and she at last consented, so that we have now arrivedhere and placed ourselves under the wings of your protection.”’ Yuyuwas pleased with these words, and replied: “I bid you welcome, andapprove of your sagacity which induced you to seek a refuge at thecourt of our most noble sovereign. I must, however, tell you thatalthough his disposition is righteous, he feeds upon the meat ofanimals, but when the weak and helpless crave his mercy, or implorehis aid, he seldom disappoints them; those, on the contrary, whooppose or endeavour to deceive him must be prepared to fall under hiswrath. He is honest and veracious, because he lives in solitude, andkeeps aloof from intercourse with mankind, because all agree that thesociety of men crushes out all good qualities, and is productive ofmisery. You may now arise, and seek an audience from his majesty,because the opportunity will not present itself often. When you enterand make your obeisance you must watch his humour, which will beexcellent if he has been successful in the chase. Then you will beholdhim social and chatting with his courtiers, whilst the nightingale,the heron, and other birds are singing and dancing for his amusement,and you can then introduce the subject of your petition. But if youbehold him sitting dumb, with bloodshot eyes, or in an angry mood, saynothing if you value your life, and in any case, if you shouldperceive that silence is best, do not venture to speak.”‘After this advice the partridge flew with Yuyu up to a lofty peak ofthe mountain, and alighted in a beautiful garden, fragrant with theperfume of flowers, where the eagle was sitting with his court, whichconsisted of birds of every species. Then Yuyu presented himselfbefore his majesty, and craved an audience for the partridge, which,having been granted, he was admitted and spoke as follows: “Praise beto Allah, who has healed our wound and restored us to life! We livedin trouble and distress, but the justice of your majesty’s governmentis the theme of every tongue; all our apprehensions have vanished, andwe hope for security under the wings of your protection, because it issaid that a noble Sultan is to his subjects like a kind father to hischildren, and protects them against all evils.”‘The king replied: “You are welcome in this region; here you may livein safety among the best of neighbours, and I grant you protection.”Accordingly, the partridge returned to his spouse, whom he informed ofthe condescension of his majesty, whose service both accordinglyentered, and whose favour they afterwards gained, so that they livedhappily to the end of their days.’The ‘Merzubán námah’ contains also several stories about KesraNausherwan the Just, and his minister Buzarjimehr, but they are notvery interesting. The extracts given above sufficiently show thenature of this work, which puts into the mouths of animals how men andwomen ought to act under various circumstances, and it bears a strongresemblance in many ways to the ‘Kalilah wa Dimnah.’Two stories have been selected from the celebrated Arabic workentitled ‘Al—Mustatraf,’ or ‘The Gleaner,’ or ‘The Collector.’ Thefull title of this work is ‘Al-Mustatraf min kell finn al-mustazraf,’which may be translated thus: ‘Gleanings from every kind of Elegant(or Pleasing) Composition.’ The similarity of the first and last wordof the title is attributable to the fondness of the Arabs foralliterative or rhyming titles. As there are several meanings attachedto the word Mustatraf in the dictionaries, it might also beinterpreted as ‘The Book of Pleasing Novelties.’ It contains ananthology of anecdotes, stories, proverbs, and elegant extracts byShaikh Muhammad Bin Ahmad Al-Bashihi. The work is mentioned by Fluegelin his edition of Haji Khalfa’s great work. I. Abbas, the chief of the police of the Khalif Mamun, said: ‘One day Iwas present in an assembly of the Prince of the Faithful, before whoma man was standing heavily fettered with chains of iron. As soon asthe Khalif perceived me he said: “Abbas, take good care of this man,and produce him again to-morrow.” Accordingly I called for some of mypeople, and they carried him away, because he was so heavily shackledthat he could scarcely move. Considering that I had been ordered totake every care of this prisoner, I concluded that I had better keephim in my own house, in a chamber of which I then confined him. Iasked him what place he had come from, and on his replying that it wasDamascus, I expressed my best wishes for the prosperity of that town,whereat he was astonished. I told him that I had been there, and askedhim about a certain man; he said that he would like to know how Icould be acquainted with him, and on my replying that I had had somebusiness with him, he promised to satisfy my curiosity if I gave himfirst some information. Accordingly I made the following statement:“When I was with some other officials at Damascus the populationrebelled against us, and even the governor was under the necessity ofescaping by getting himself let down in a basket from his palace. Ialso fled, and whilst doing so the mob pursued me, and I ran into thehouse of the above-mentioned man, who was sitting at the door of it. Isaid to him: ‘Help me and Allah will help you!’ He received me kindly,and told his wife to put me into a certain room, whilst he remainedsitting at the door. I had scarcely gone in when my pursuers likewiserushed in and insisted on searching the house, which they actuallydid, and would certainly have discovered me had not the man’s wifekept them off from the room in which I sat trembling for my life. Whenthe people at last dispersed, the man and his wife comforted me asmuch as they could, and hospitably entertained me in their house forfour months, till every danger had passed away. When I was bold enoughto go out and see what had become of my slaves, I found that they hadall dispersed, and I asked my kind host to allow me to depart toBaghdad. He consented, but when the caravan was starting he insistedon presenting me with a horse, a slave, and all the provisionsrequired for the journey. All these were surprises thrust upon me whenI was about to start, and was wondering how I could possibly travelwithout any of these things. Moreover, during my whole sojourn thiskind man had never asked me my name for fear that I might thereby becompromised. After I had safely arrived in Baghdad I desired many atime to show my gratitude to this man, but could obtain no informationabout him. I still desire to requite his services, and this is thereason why I was so anxious to learn something about him from you.”‘After the man had listened to the above statement he said: “Verily, Allah has enabled you to requite the kindness of that man.” I asked:“How can that be?” and he replied: “I am that man, but the trouble inwhich you see me has hindered you from recognising me.” Then hereminded me of various circumstances, and so established his identitythat I was perfectly convinced of it, and could not restrain myselffrom embracing him most fervently. To my inquiries how he had falleninto the calamity which had overtaken him, he replied:“A disturbance arose in Damascus similar to the rebellion which hadbroken out when you were there; the Prince of the Believers senttroops and suppressed it, but I, having been suspected as one of theringleaders thereof, was captured by his command, brought as aprisoner to Baghdad, and considered to have forfeited my life, which Ishall certainly lose. I left my family without taking leave, but aslave of mine has followed me here, and will carry back informationabout me. He is to be found at such and such a place, and if you willsend for him I will give him the necessary instructions. I shallconsider it a high favour, and as a reward for all the obligationsunder which you were to me.”‘I told him to put his trust in Allah, and got a smith to relieve himfirst of his irons, then I made him enter the bath, provided him withgood clothes, and sent for his slave, to whom he gave, with tears inhis eyes, the message for his family. I then ordered my people to getready several horses and mules, which I loaded with baggage andprovisions, gave the man a bag of ten thousand dirhems, with anotherof five thousand dinars, and ordered my lieutenant to escort him onhis journey to Damascus as far as Anbar.’ But the man replied: “ThePrince of the Believers considers that I have committed high treason,and will send troops to pursue me; I shall be recaptured and executed,and by allowing me to escape you will endanger your own life.” I said:“Never mind what will became of me, but save your life, and I shallafterwards endeavour to save mine.” He rejoined: “That shall not be,and I cannot leave Baghdad without knowing what has become of you.”Seeing him determined in his purpose, I ordered my lieutenant to takehim to a certain place in the town where he could remain inconcealment till the next day, when he might be informed as to whetherI had extricated myself from the difficulty, or had lost my life, inwhich latter case I should only have repaid him for having risked hisin Damascus to save mine, and after that he could depart.‘The lieutenant had taken the man away, and I made preparations for mydeath, getting ready my winding-sheet in which my corpse was to beshrouded, when an official on the part of Mamun arrived with thismessage: “The Prince of the Faithful orders you to bring the man withyou.” Accordingly I hastened to the palace, where I found the Khalifsitting and expecting me. The first words he said to me were these: “Iwant to see the man!” I remained silent, and on his uttering them moreemphatically, replied: “Will you please listen to me, O Commander ofthe Believers?” He continued: “I am determined to strike your head offif the man has fled.” I said: “O Prince of the Faithful, the man hasnot escaped, but listen to what I have to say about him, and then youmay act as you deem fit.” He continued: “Speak!” Accordingly Inarrated everything, and said that I was anxious to requite the man insome measure for all the good he had done to me, that I was desirousto save his life even at the cost of my own, if need be, and finishedmy explanation by showing the winding-sheet I had brought with me.After the Khalif had patiently listened, he exclaimed: “His merit issuperior to yours, because he has treated you nobly without knowingyou; whereas you only do so after having enjoyed his beneficence. Idesire to reward him myself.” “The man is here, and would not leaveuntil apprized of my fate; I can produce him at once.” The Khalifsaid: “This trait of his character is yet more noble; go, comfort theman, and bring him here.” Accordingly I departed, and when Iintroduced the man to the Khalif, he received him kindly, offered hima seat, conversed with him till dinner was brought in, of which hemade him partake in his own company. Lastly, the Khalif invested himwith a robe of honour, and wished to appoint him Governor of Damascus,but this he humbly refused. Accordingly, Mamun presented him with tenhorses saddled and bridled, ten mules caparisoned, and ten bags, eachof which contained ten thousand dinars; he also gave him ten slaves,with animals to ride upon, and a letter to the Governor of Damascus toabsolve him from the payment of taxes. This man afterwardscorresponded with Mamun, and when a courier arrived from Damascus theKhalif used to say to me, “Abbas! a letter from your friend hasarrived.”’ II. One night Harun-ar-Rashid was quite sleepless, and said to his vizier,Jaafar, the son of Yahya, the Barmekide: ‘I cannot sleep this night; Ifeel oppressed, and do not know what to do.’ The servant Masrur, whohappened to be standing near, burst out laughing at these words, andthe Khalif continued: ‘What are you laughing for? Do you mock me orwish to show your levity?’ Masrur said: ‘I swear by your relationshipto the Prince of Apostles that I have done this unwittingly; but lastevening I was near the castle, and walked to the bank of the Tigris,where I saw many persons assembled around a man who made them laugh,and just now I recollected some of his words, which caused me tosmile; his name is Ben Almugázeli, and I crave pardon from theCommander of the Faithful.’ Then Rashid said: ‘Bring him here thismoment.’ Accordingly Masrur went to Ben Almugázeli and said to him:‘The Commander of the Faithful wants you.’ He replied: ‘To hear is toobey!’ And Masrur continued: ‘But on the condition that if he presentsyou with anything, one-fourth of it will belong to you, and the restto me.’ The man rejoined: ‘No, I must have one-third of it and you theother two-thirds.’ Masrur would not agree to this proposal, but atlast consented after a great deal of haggling. When he was admittedand had made his salutations, the Khalif said: ‘If you make me laugh Ishall give you five hundred dinars, but if not I shall give you threeblows with this sock.’ Now Ben Almugázeli said to himself: “What isthe odds if I get three strokes with the sock?” because he thought itwas empty. Accordingly he began to jest and to play tricks at whichlow people might have laughed, but not Rashid, who did not even smile.The man was first astonished, then grieved, and at last frightenedwhen Rashid said: “Now you have deserved the blows.” He then took upthe sock and twisted it, but at the bottom there were some balls, eachof which weighed two drachms. When he had struck Ben Almugázeli once,the latter yelled pitifully, but recollecting the condition Masrur hadimposed upon him, he exclaimed: “Mercy, O Commander of the Faithful,listen to two words of mine.” He said: “Speak what you like.” The mancontinued: “I have promised Masrur to let him have two-thirds of thebounty I might receive, and to keep one-third for myself, and to thishe agreed only after much bargaining. Now the Commander of theFaithful has decided that the bounty shall consist of three blows, ofwhich my share would be one, and Masrur’s two. I have received mine,and now is his turn to take his.” Rashid laughed, called for Masrur,and struck him; Masrur groaned from pain, and said: “I present himwith the remainder.” The Khalif laughed and ordered them to bepresented with one thousand dinars, of which each received fivehundred, and Ben Almugázeli went away grateful.’In this work there are several other stories concerning variousKhalifs, the Barmekide family, and other people, but the extractsgiven above are sufficient to show the nature of the volume.Two short anecdotes are taken from the ‘Sihr-ul-oyoon,’ or ‘Magic ofthe eyes,’ a work known to Haji Khalfa, and noted by Fluegel in hislexicon. This book contains seven chapters, with some drawings of theeye, and an appendix consisting entirely of poetry, which, however, isalso interspersed throughout the work, excepting in the chapterstreating on the anatomy, the infirmities of, and the remedies for theeye. I. Moghairah bin Shabah states that he never was so cunningly deceived asby a youth of the Benou-ul-Háreth. He intended to sue for the hand ofa girl of that tribe, when this youth, who stood near him, said: ‘OAmir, you have no need of her.’ ‘Why?’ ‘I saw a man kiss her.’Accordingly Moghairah went away, but heard some time afterwards thatthe said youth had married the girl himself. On meeting againMoghairah said to the youth: ‘Did you not tell me that you had seen aman kiss her.’ ‘Certainly I did,’ the young man replied, ‘but that manwas her father.’ II. A man happened to find on the road a silver brooch, which women usefor applying collyrium to their eyes. This pin was handsome, and heconcluded that the girl who had lost it must have very beautiful eyes.He indulged so much in this fancy that he conceived an affection forthe owner of the brooch, and was fond of showing the precious articleto his acquaintances. One day a friend paid him a visit, and after thewine they had drunk had taken effect, he took out the said broochaccording to his wont, kissed it, and wept over it. The friend, whoknew the brooch, asked whence he had obtained it, but he replied:‘Pray do not question me, I am in love with the proprietress of it; myheart is melting, and it is so dear to me that I get jealous whenother eyes beside my own look at it.’ The friend said: ‘I shall bringabout a meeting between you and your mistress.’ The other asked, ‘Whocould procure me that felicity?’ The friend went away, but returned ina short time bearing a covered platter, which he placed before him,saying, ‘Uncover this basin,’ and lo! it contained a female head,weltering in its own gore, and on beholding it the man nearly faintedwith grief. His friend, however, said: ‘Be not dismayed, but tell mehow you obtained this brooch, which I had presented to my wife, whosehead is before you.’ He replied that he had found the brooch on acertain day on the road, and described the spot, adding that heimagined the owner of it must be beautiful, and conceived a warmaffection for her, but that he had never seen her face, and knew notwho she might have been. The friend said: ‘This is true enough,because she told me one day that she had lost it; hence no blame restson you.’ The two men parted; the would-be lover, however, took thismelancholy event so much to heart that he not only repented of hisfolly, but died of grief. The following curious philosophic discourse is taken from the‘Siraj-ul-Mulûk,’ or Lamp of Kings, a well-known work composed about A.D. 1126, and typographed at Cairo A.D. 1872:‘Allah, the Most High, has said (Koran, vi., verse 38): “There is nokind of beast on earth, nor fowl which flieth with its wing, but thesame is a people like unto you.” Allah the Most High has accordinglyestablished a resemblance between us and all the animals. It is wellknown that they are not like us in their figures and forms asperceived by the eye, but in their demeanour; and there is not a humanbeing who does not possess some qualities peculiar to animals. Whenyou perceive that a man’s character is unusual, you must endeavour tofind out the qualities of the animal with which it may be compared,and judge of him according to these; and to avoid allmisunderstanding, and to maintain intercourse with him, you mustbehave towards him in conformity with them.‘Accordingly, when you see an ignorant man of rude behaviour, strongin body, whose anger overpowers him at any moment, you are to comparehim to a tiger, and there is an Arab proverb: “He is more stupid thana tiger.” When you see a tiger, you avoid him, and do not fight withhim, therefore towards an individual of this kind you must behave inthe same manner.‘When you observe a man wantonly attacking the reputation of others,compare him to a dog, because it is his nature. When a dog barks atyou it does not trouble you much, and you go your own way. You mustdeal in this manner with such men, because they are like dogs whoassault others without any provocation.‘When you perceive that a man’s nature is to say “Yes” when you say“No,” and “No” if you say “Yes,” compare him to an ass, because whenyou approach him he recedes, and when you move away he will movetowards you. You must put up with your donkey, and neither separatefrom him nor insult him. Deal in the same way with such a person.‘When you perceive a man searching out the weaknesses or shortcomingsof people, compare him to a fly, which settles on a carcase, and thengluts itself with the vilest parts of it, such as the rotten flesh andthe filthy offal.‘When you observe a Sultan taking the lives, and confiscating theproperty of his subjects, consider him to be a lion, and be on yourguard that he does not injure you.‘When you see a wicked man full of tricks and boastings, compare himto a fox.‘If you happen to meet with a tale-bearer who foments enmity amongfriends, consider him to be a “Zeriban,” which is a small beast offetid smell, so that when two persons fall out with each other, theArabs say that “a Zeriban has passed between them.” It is, indeed, thepeculiarity of this animal that an assembly disperses when it enters,accordingly it is driven off as soon as perceived, and a tale-bearerought to be dealt with similarly.‘When you observe that a man loathes to listen to intelligentconversation, and hates meetings of learned men, but is fond ofgossip, all kinds of nonsense, and scandals of society, compare him tothe May-bug, which delights in impure exhalations, and lovesdunghills, but hates the perfumes of musk or of roses, which actuallykill it when sprinkled upon it.‘If you meet an individual displaying a great deal of piety outwardly,but always intriguing to acquire property, to enrich himself byunrighteous means, and to cheat widows and orphans, consider him to bea wolf:“The wolf is so devout;You see him on his knees,He nicely prays and sighs.But when his game is near,He falls upon it speedilyAnd tears it all to pieces.” ‘When you discover a liar consider him to be like a dead man, who cangive no information, and with whom no one can associate. A liar mayalso be compared to an ostrich which buries all its eggs in the sand,but leaves one upon the surface, and one close under it, whilst allthe others are deeply concealed. When an inexperienced man perceivesthat egg he takes it, and perhaps also the one close below it, andafter scraping up the sand a little, and finding nothing more goesaway; whilst a person who knows this habit of the ostrich does notstop searching until he has got possession of all the eggs. You mustdeal in the same manner with a liar, and not believe him till you getto the bottom of his story, i.e. until you elicit the actual truth.‘When you observe that a man’s whole attention is absorbed inendeavours to make a good appearance by keeping his clothes nice, andapprehensive lest they should be dirtied in any way, always pickingany little straws that might adhere to them, and constantly adjustinghis turban, consider him to be a peacock, whose nature is always toadmire his own person, to stalk about majestically, to display theplumage of his tail, and to solicit praise of his beauty.‘If you become acquainted with a rancorous person who never forgetsthe slightest insult, but avenges himself for it even after aconsiderable lapse of time, compare him to a camel, for the Arabstruly say of such a man that “he is more rancorous than a camel.”Avoid such a man as you would an ill-natured camel.‘When you meet a hypocrite, who is different from what he appears tobe, compare him to the Yarbu, i.e. the mouse of the desert, whichhas two apertures to its lair, the one for an entrance, and the otherfor an exit, so that it always cheats the hunter who digs for it.’Yet another story-book may be quoted, viz., the ‘Ilam en Nâs,’ orWarnings for Men, containing historical tales and anecdotes of thetime of the early Khalifates. Some of these were translated by Mrs.Godfrey Clerk in 1873 (King and Co.), and her little volume alsocontains a very good genealogical table of the families of theProphet, and of the Rashidin (or ‘rightly directed,’ i.e. Abu Bakr,Omar, Othman, and Ali), the Omaiyide, and the Abbaside Khalifs.Among the many works of Arabic literature one of the most interestingand the most amusing is Ibn Khallikan’s celebrated BiographicalDictionary. The author must have been a very intelligent and a veryindustrious man, for his volumes contain an enormous amount ofinformation about many hundred Arabs. This work is rendered all themore readable and all the more amusing by the many anecdotes relatedin connection with their lives, and a few of these stories are nowgiven below. I. Ibn Abbas, son of Abbas, uncle of Muhammad, was one of the ablestinterpreters of the Koran. It was owing to his efforts that the studyof the poems, composed before the introduction of Islamism, became ofsuch importance to the Muslims, for he frequently quoted verses of theancient poets in proof of the explanation he gave of differentpassages of the Koran, and he used to say: ‘When you meet with adifficulty in the Koran look for its solution in the poems of theArabs, for these are the registers of the Arabic nation.’ On beingasked how he had acquired his extensive knowledge, he replied: ‘Bymeans of an inquiring tongue and an intelligent heart.’It may here perhaps be stated that the Koran, composed avowedly in thepurest Arabic, offered many difficulties to those who were notacquainted with the idiom of the desert Arabs, a race who alone spokethe language in its perfection. The study of the ancient poets wastherefore considered as necessary for the intelligence of the Koran,and their poems, often obscure from the intricacy of theirconstruction and their obsolete terms, required the assistance ofgrammatical analysis and philology to render them comprehensible. II. Ibn Faris Ar-Razi, the Philologist, is the author of these verses:‘Well, some things succeed and some fail: when my heart is filled withcares I say: “One day perhaps they may be dispelled.” A cat is mycompanion; books the friends of my heart; and a lamp my belovedconsort.’ III. Badi Az-Zaman al-Hamadani, the author of some beautiful epistles andexcellent essays, which last Hariri took as a model in the compositionof his, wrote as follows about death: ‘Death is awful till it comes,and then it is found light; its touch seems grating till felt, andthen it is smooth; the world is so hostile and its injustice so greatthat death is the lightest of its inflictions, the least of itswrongs. Look, then, to the right; do you see aught but affliction?Look to the left; do you see aught but woe?’ IV. Abu Wathila Iyas Al-Kadi was renowned for his excessive acuteness ofmind, observation, and penetration. Many stories are told about him inconnection with these qualities, which are really astonishing. It isrelated of him that he said: ‘I was never worsted in penetration butby one man: I had taken my seat in the court of judgment at Busra,when a person came before me and gave testimony that a certain garden,of which he mentioned the boundaries, belonged to a man whom he named.As I had some doubts of his veracity, I asked him how many trees werein that garden, and he said to me, after a short silence: “How long isit since our lord the Kadi has been giving judgment in this hall?” Itold him the time. “How many beams,” said he, “are there in the roof?”On which I acknowledged that he was in the right, and I received histestimony.’ V. It is a curious circumstance that Homer the Greek poet, Radaki thePersian poet, and Bashshar bin Burd the Arabian poet, were all blind.Here is a specimen of one of the verses of the last-named:‘Yes, my friends! my ear is charmed by a person in that tribe; for theear is sometimes enamoured sooner than the eye. You say that I am ledby one whom I never saw; know that the ear as well as the eye caninform the mind of facts.’He composed also the following verse, which is the most gallant of anymade by the poets of that epoch:‘Yes, by Allah! I love the magic of your eyes, and yet I dread theweapons by which so many lovers fell.’ VI. Several sayings of Al-Hasan bin Sahl, the vizier to the KhalifAl-Mamun, have been preserved. Once he himself wrote at the end of aletter of recommendation, dictated to his secretary: ‘I have been toldthat on the day of judgment a man will be questioned respecting theuse he made of the influence given him by his rank in the world, inthe same manner as he will be questioned respecting the use he made ofthe superfluity of his wealth.’Again he said to his sons: ‘My sons, learn the use of language; it isby it that man holds his preeminence over other animals; the higherthe skill which you attain in the use of language, the nearer youapproach to the ideal of human nature.’ VII. It is related of Sari-as Sakati, the celebrated Sufi, that he saidthat for twenty years he never ceased imploring Divine pardon forhaving once exclaimed, ‘Praise be to God!’ and on being asked thereason he said: ‘A fire broke out in Baghdad, and a person came up tome and told me that my shop had escaped, on which I uttered thesewords; and even to this moment I repent of having said so, because itshowed that I wished better to myself than to others.’ VIII. Al-Ahnaf bin Kais, whose prudence was proverbial among the Arabs, usedto say: ‘I have followed three rules of conduct, which I now mentionmerely that the man of reflection may profit by my example—I neverinterfered between two parties unless invited by them to do so; Inever went to the door of these people (meaning princes) unless sentfor by them; and I never rose from my place to obtain a thing when allmen were anxious to possess it.’ IX. Abu Yazid Taifur al-Bastaimi, the famous ascetic, being asked how hehad acquired his knowledge of the spiritual world, answered that itwas by means of a hungry belly and naked body. He used to say: ‘Whenyou see a man possessing miraculous powers, so as even to mount intothe air, let not that deceive you, but see if he observes God’scommands and prohibitions, if he keeps within the bounds imposed byreligion, and if he performs the duties which it prescribes.’ X. Abul Aswad ad-Duwali, the inventor of grammar, in intelligence one ofthe most perfect of men, and in reason one of the most sagacious, wasnotorious for his avarice, and he used to say: ‘If we listened to thedemands made by the poor for our money, we should soon be worse offthan they.’ He said also to his sons: ‘Strive not to rival AlmightyGod in generosity, for He is the most bountiful and the most glorious;had He pleased He would have given ample wealth to all men, so strivenot to be generous lest you die of starvation.’ It is also relatedthat Abul Aswad had an attack of the palsy, and that he used to go tothe market himself, though scarcely able to draw his legs after him,and yet he was rich, and possessed both male and female slaves. Aperson who knew this accosted him one day, and said: ‘God hasdispensed you from the necessity of moving about on your own business,why do you not remain seated at home?’ To which he replied: ‘No; I goin and out, and the eunuch says “He is coming,” and the boy says “Heis coming,” whereas, were I to continue sitting in the house, thesheep would urine upon me without any person’s preventing them.’ XI. It is related that on a dispute between the Sunnites and Shiites ofBaghdad about the relative merits of Abu Bakr and Ali, both partiesagreed to abide by the opinion of the Shaikh Abul Faraj bin Al-Jauzi.They consequently deputed a person, who questioned him on the subjectwhen he was seated in the preacher’s chair. The one reply which hemade bears in Arabic two different meanings—the first, that the bestof them was he whose daughter was married to the other man; and thesecond, that the best of them was he who had married the daughter ofthe other man. He then withdrew promptly, lest he should be questionedfurther, and the Sunnites said: ‘He means Abu Bakr, because hisdaughter Ayesha was married to the Prophet,’ ‘Nay,’ said the Shiites,‘he means Ali, because Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter, was married tohim.’ The answer was certainly very clever; had it even been theresult of long reflection and deep consideration, it would have beenadmirable, but coming as it did without any previous preparation, itwas still more so. XII. Shibab Ad-Din (flambeau of the faith) as-Suhrawardi was a pious andholy Shaikh, most assiduous in his spiritual exercises, and thepractice of devotion, and successfully guided a great number of Sufisin their efforts to obtain perfection. Many persons wrote to him forhis opinion on circumstances which concerned themselves, and one wroteas follows: ‘My lord,--If I cease to work I shall remain in idleness,and if I work I am filled with self-satisfaction; which is best?’ Tothis the Shaikh replied: ‘Work, and ask Almighty God to pardon thyself-satisfaction.’ The following is one of his verses:‘If I contemplate you, I am all eyes; and if I think of you I am allheart.’ XIII. Abu Ali Al-Jubbai was an able master in the science of dogmatictheology, and had at one time a pupil named Abul Hasan Al-Ashari. Itis related that one day the two had the following discussion.Al-Ashari propounded to his master the case of three brothers, one ofwhom was a true believer, virtuous and pious; the second an infidel, adebauchee, and a reprobate; and the third an infant; they all died,and Al-Ashari wished to know what had become of them. To thisAl-Jubbai answered: ‘The virtuous brother holds a high position inParadise, the infidel is in the depths of hell, and the child is amongthose who have obtained salvation.’ ‘Suppose now,’ said Al-Ashari,‘that the child should wish to ascend to the place occupied by hisvirtuous brother, would he be allowed to do so?’ ‘No,’ repliedAl-Jubbai, ‘it would be said to him: “Thy brother arrived at this placethrough his numerous works of obedience towards God, and thou hast nosuch works to set forward.”’ ‘Suppose, then,’ said Al-Ashari, ‘thatthe child say, “That is not my fault; you did not let me live longenough, neither did you give me the means of proving my obedience.”’‘In that case,’ answered Al-Jubbai, ‘the Almighty would say: “I knewthat if I allowed thee to live thou wouldst have been disobedient, andincurred the severe punishment of hell; I therefore acted for thyadvantage.”’ ‘Well,’ said Al-Ashari, ‘and suppose the infidel brotherwere here to say: “O God of the Universe! since you knew what awaitedhim, you must have known what awaited me; why, then, did you act forhis advantage and not for mine?”’ Al-Jubbai had not a word to offer inreply. This discussion proves that the Almighty elects some for mercy,and others for punishment, and that his acts are not the results ofany motive whatsoever. XIV. It is related that As-Shafi said: ‘There are five men on whom peoplemust rely for the nourishment of their minds: he who wishes to becomelearned in jurisprudence must have recourse to Abu Hanifah; he whodesires to become skilled in poetry must apply to Zoheir bin AliSulma, the author of one of the Mua’llakas, or suspended poems atMecca; he who would like to become well acquainted with the history ofthe Muslim conquests must obtain his information from Muhammad binIshak; he who wishes to become deeply learned in grammar must haverecourse to Al-Kisai; and he who seeks to be acquainted with theinterpretations of the Koran must apply to Mukatil bin Sulaiman.’ XV. There are several stories current as to how the Khalif Omar binAl-Khattab took upon himself the title of ‘Commander of the Faithful.’One is that Omar was one day holding a public sitting, when he said:‘By Allah! I do not know what we must say. Abu Bakr was the successorof the Apostle of God, and I am the successor of the successor ofGod’s Apostle. Is there any title that can answer?’ Those who werepresent said: ‘Commander (Amir) will do.’ ‘Nay,’ said Omar, ‘you areall commanders.’ On this Al-Mughira said: ‘We are the faithful, andyou are our Commander.’ ‘Then,’ said Omar, ‘I am the Commander of theFaithful.’ XVI. Abu Ali Yahya, the vizier of Harun-ar-Rashid, was the son of Khalid,and the grandson of Barmek. Yahya was highly distinguished for wisdom,nobleness of mind, and elegance of language. One of his sayings was:‘Three things indicate the degree of intelligence possessed by him whodoes them: the bestowing of gifts, the drawing up of letters, and theacting as ambassador.’ He used to say to his sons: ‘Write down thebest things which you hear; learn by heart the best things which youwrite down; and in speaking utter the best things which you havelearned by heart.’ XVII. Ibn As-Sikkit, the philologist, related that Muhammad bin As-Summakused to say: ‘He who knows mankind humours them; he who has not thatknowledge thwarts them; and the main point in humouring mankind is toabstain from thwarting them.’ The neglect of carrying out this maximcost As-Sikkit his life. One day, whilst he was with the KhalifAl-Mutwakkil, that prince’s two sons, Al-Motazz and Al-Muwaiyad, camein, and the Khalif said to him: ‘Tell me, Yakub, which you likebest—these two sons of mine, or Al-Hasan and Al-Hussain, the sons ofAli.’ Ibn As-Sikkit answered by depreciating the merits of the twoprinces, and giving to Al-Hasan and Al-Hussain the praise to which theywere well entitled. On this Al-Mutwakkil ordered his Turkish guards tochastise him, and they threw him down and trod on his belly. He wasthen carried to his house, where he died two days afterwards, A.D.859. XVIII. Three men met together; one of them expressed a wish to obtain athousand pieces of gold, so that he might trade with them; the otherwished for an appointment under the Emir of the Muslims; the thirdwished to possess the Emir’s wife, who was the handsomest of women,and had great political influence. Yusuf bin Tashifin, the Emir of theMuslims, being informed of what they said, sent for the men, bestowedone thousand dinars on him who wished for that sum, gave anappointment to the other, and said to him who wished to possess thelady: ‘Foolish man! what induced you to wish for that which you cannever obtain?’ He then sent him to her, and she placed him in a tent,where he remained three days, receiving each day, one and the samekind of food. She had him then brought to her, and said: ‘What did youeat these days past?’ He replied: ‘Always the same thing.’ ‘Well,’said she, ‘all women are the same thing!’ She then ordered some moneyand a dress to be given him, after which she dismissed him. The following anecdotes have been gathered from various sources. I. A certain shepherd had a dog of which he was very fond, and whichhaving, to his great grief, died, was buried by him with every mark ofaffection and regret. The Kadi of the village, whose ill-will theshepherd had in some way incurred, hearing of this, ordered him to bebrought before him on the serious charge of profanity in having mockedthe ceremonies of the Muhammadan religion, and buried an uncleananimal with sacred rites. On being asked what he had to say in hisdefence, the prisoner thus addressed the magistrate: ‘If yourreverence will be pleased to hear my story, you will, I am sure,excuse me. My dog’s mother died when he was quite a puppy, and he wasbrought up by a she-goat of my flock, who adopted him. When she diedin her turn she left him all her property, consisting of several fineyoung kids. Now when my dog was taken ill, and found himself at thepoint of death, I asked him what I should do with the kids whichbelonged to him, and he replied: “Give them to his reverence theKadi.” I thought the animal so sensible for this that I gave himMuslim burial.’ ‘Quite right,’ said his reverence. ‘What else was thelamented deceased pleased to observe?’ II. A knowledge of the language of birds and beasts is regarded as thegreatest divine gift, and was expressly vouchsafed, according to theKoranic legend, to Solomon, the son of David. It is related that oneday Solomon was returning to his palace when he saw a cock and hensparrow sitting near the gateway, and overheard the former telling thelatter that he was the person who had designed, and planned, and builtall the surroundings. On hearing this Solomon remarked to the malebird that he must know he was telling a fearful lie, and that nobodywould believe him. ‘That is true,’ replied the sparrow, ‘nobodyprobably will believe my story except my wife; she believes implicitlyeverything that I say.’ III. One day a king was sailing in a boat with a negro slave, who was soseasick that his groans and lamentations disturbed the royal repose. Adoctor who happened to be present undertook to keep the slave quiet,and, on receiving permission to do so, ordered him to be thrownoverboard, which was promptly done. The poor wretch managed withdifficulty to catch hold of the rudder of the boat, and, being takenon board once more, sat shivering in a corner, and did not utteranother sound. The king, delighted with this result, asked the doctorhow he had silenced the fellow. ‘Your Majesty will see,’ was thereply, ‘he had never before experienced the inconvenience of beingdrowned, and did not properly appreciate the security of a boat.’ IV. One day the Khalif Harun-ar-Rashid and his jester, the poet Abu Nuwas,were disputing as to the truth of an axiom laid down by Abu Nuwas,that ‘an excuse was often worse than the crime,’ and the poet offeredto convince the monarch of it before the night was over. The Khalif,with a grim humour peculiarly his own, promised to take off hisjester’s head if he failed to do so, and went out in a rage. Afterawhile Harun came in a somewhat surly temper to his harem, and thefirst thing which greeted him was a kiss from a rough-bearded face. Oncalling out violently for a light and an executioner, he found thathis assailant was Abu Nuwas himself. ‘What on earth, you scoundrel, doyou mean by this conduct?’ asked the enraged Sovereign. ‘I beg yourMajesty’s most humble pardon,’ said Abu Nuwas, ‘I thought it was yourMajesty’s favourite wife.’ ‘What!’ shrieked Harun, ‘why the excuse isworse than the crime.’ ‘Just what I promised to prove to yourMajesty,’ replied Abu Nuwas, and retired closely followed by one ofthe imperial slippers. V. An Arab whose camel had strayed swore an oath that he would, onfinding it, sell it for one dirhem. When he had again obtainedpossession of the animal he repented of his oath, but tied a cat tothe neck of the camel and shouted: ‘Who will buy a camel for onedirhem, and a cat for a hundred dirhems? But I will not sell themseparately.’ A man who was there said: ‘How cheap would this camel beif it had no collar on the neck!’ Something of the same kind happenedin France the other day. A peasant died, leaving his property to besold by his wife. Among other things there was a dog and a horse,which the woman put up for sale together, saying that the dog’s pricewas twenty pounds, and the horse’s one pound, but that they must besold together. It turned out that the deceased husband had left thedog to his wife, and the horse to another relation, the moniesrealized by the sale of each to be paid to the respective parties. VI. An Arab of the desert said to his boy: ‘O son! on the day ofresurrection thou wilt be asked what merit thou hast gained, and notfrom whom thou art descended; that is to say, thou wilt be asked whatthy merit is, and not who thy father was.’ VII. A learned man relates the following: ‘I stood with a friend on a roadconversing with him when a woman halted opposite to me, looking at mesteadfastly. When this staring had passed all bounds, I despatched myslave to ask the woman what she was listening to. He came back andreported that the woman had said: “My eyes had committed a great sin.I intended to inflict a punishment upon them, and could devise noneworse than looking at that hideous face.”’ There are some good verses in the Arabic descriptive of the placeswhere certain Arabs wished to be buried. It was Abu Mihjan, theThackifite, who chose the vineyard.‘Bury me, when I die, by the roots of the vine,The moisture thereof will distil into my bones;Bury me not in the open plain, for then I much fearThat no more again shall I taste the flavour of the grape.’Another version:‘When the Death angel cometh mine eyes to close,Dig my grave ‘mid the vines on the hill’s fair side;For though deep in earth may my bones repose,The juice of the grape shall their food provide.Oh, bury me not in a barren land,Or Death will appear to me dread and drear!While fearless I’ll wait what he hath in handIf the scent of the vineyard my spirit cheer.’On the other hand, some of the wild people prefer the hill slopes, andan example is given in the address of the dying Bedouin to his tribe:‘O bear with you my bones where the camel bears his load,And bury me before you, if buried I must be;And let me not be buried ‘neath the burden of the vine,But high upon the hill whence your sight I ever see!As you pass along my grave cry aloud, and name your names,The crying of your names shall revive the bones of me,I have fasted through my life with my friends, and in mydeathI will feast when we meet on that day of joy and glee.’The French poet, Alfred de Musset’s, gentle verses in his elegy toLucie, and which have been engraved on his tomb in Paris, at Père-Lachaise, run as follows:‘When I shall die, dear friends, aslantMy silent grave a willow plant;I love its foliage weeping near,To me its colour’s sweet and dear;Its shadow gray will lightly fallUpon my tomb—a mourning pall,And will likewise do the keepingOf the ground where I am sleeping.’