The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1879-12-04
The Bagdad OF the "Arabian Nights.''
New Quarterly Magazine

New Quarterly Magazine.
Bagdad, in the reign of Er Reshid,
seems to have been prominently city
of pleasure. Thither focked from all
parts Of the oriental world the most
noted and capable poets, musicians and
artifcers of the time; and the first
thought of the Arabian or Persian crafts
man who had completed specially Gu
rious or attractive specimen of his art
was to repair to the capital of the Mos
lem world to submit it to the command
er of the faithful, from whom he rarely
failed to receive rich reward for his
labors. Surrounded by pleasure gar
dens and groves Of orange, tamarisk and
myrtle, refreshed by an unfailing luxu-
rance of running streams, supplied
either by art or nature, the great city of
the Tigris is the theme OF many an ad-
miring ode or laudatory ghazel; and the
poets of the time all agree in describing
it as being under the rule Of the great
caliph, a sort of terrestrial paradise Of
E'idlesse" and luxury, where to use their
own expressions, the ground was irri-
gated with rose-water, and the dust of
the roads was musk, where flowers and
verdure overhung the ways, and the air
was perpetually sweet with the many
voiced song Of birds, and where the
chirp of lutes, the dulcet MARBLE of
flutes, and the silver sound Of singing
hoIris rose and fell in, harmonious ca
dence from every corner of the streets
of palaces that stood in vast succession
in the midst of their gardens and Or
chards, gifted with perpetual verdure by
the silver abundance of the Tigris, as it
sped in its arrowy flight throug h the
thrice-blest town. Bagdad, indeed, was
in many respects, emphatically "citta
cortigiana,"a sort of Vienna or Bucha-
rest Of the olden time, carried to the
highest evolution cores pondent with
the more sensuoas Influences of the lux
urious east: and the state Of public
morality there was naturally of the lax
est. Especially was this the case among
the higher classes. Drunkenness and
debauchery of the most uncom promis-
ing kind prevailed among them in spite
of the precepts of the koran; and men
and women seemed to vie with each
other in refnements of luxury and dis
sipation. As was the case in a period
that offers no small analogy to that of
which speak, the epoch of the Roman
decadence, the women of the upper
classes, to whom was apparently allow
ed an amount Of liberty, or rather of
license, c'1rieus]y at variance with our
western ideas of eastern domestic poll
ty, appear to have been especially cor
rupt; and many are the tales of their
]icentious habits and adventures that
are to be found in "The Thousand and
One Nights" reminding us OF the me
moirs of Casanova" although almost
always redeemed by touches of pathos,
poetry or romance, which do not exist
in the latter's somewhat dry and unat-
tractive record Of ordinary galamterie..
The story of ''The Porter and the Three
Ladies of Bagdad," that Of ''The Bar
ber's brother Bacbarah," and the sever
al others contained in the old version,
give some idea of the license of the
time, and examples are still more abun-
dant and circumstantial in the tales that
compose the comparatively unknown
portion of the collection.