The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-03-19
HAROUN AL -RASCHID.
WIEN TIE CALIPH READ TALES
TO THE THREE FRIENDS.

DE Nf4LlClBQ5-Ile Aal4OE 3 D6VeI6
View OF the Wonderful Stories and
his Reward.
From the Mem York Times
"About / 900 years ago. said a gentle
man the other evening to some members OF
his club, "when l was living at BaRdad
during the caliphate Of that king Of good
fellows and astute man Of the world, Ha-
roun-al- Raschid, ! numbered among my
friends Mustaphs ibn Abb the tailor and
a crony Of his called Cogia Arsian the fish
erman. Every day except Friday the latter
was accustomed 70 20 down TO shs Tigris,
cast his nets. light his pipe end sit smoking
on the stTingpiece Of the dock and walt pa
tiently till the proper time came 70 draw in
his nets. II be caught anything he always
brought fish or tao to the tailor's house,
where we ell shared it, but il lnck ran
against him, either Abb or myself would
be the host on the housetOp that evening,
enjoying figs, almonds, dates, raisiDs, and
occasionally a jug of wine, for, although
the prophet enjoins true believers against
the juice OF che grape, any student OF the
Arabian Nights knows that much OF it was
drunk in those days, just as Mohsmmedans
get away with good deal Of it now.
sitting on the housetop Ia the cool Of
Ju6 tNbilluK, We WhkEubA lLb bShEb CbiLlo OuJ
and the domes and minarets fade into
shadow. Sometimes we would 90 down
into the garden, where Mustapha ibn Abb
would sing 90 US, accompanying himself on
the lutte, and the music would presently set
the ass OF the neighboring imaum to bray
ing wheTeupOu we would all pluck our
boards and curse the beast for a son of
Shitan, wandering and out Of place among
the abodes OF the sons of Adam. On such
occasions Mustapha was peculiarly adroit
in the administration of CURSES Dut this
went for nothing since he often cursed the
niRhtingales and swore ab the stars, which
needed him as little as the imaum's ass. 1t
is singular how little attention any Of them
paid 20 MIN.
''If remember rightly, was not then
thorough Mussulman, though | had the
greatest possible respect for the prophet l
think l was an Armenian Christian, with
some slight leaninRs toward Brahmanism,
with which had become acquainted during
my travels in India. While in the holy city
Of Lhasa, in Thibet, / had come to look
with considerable favor upon Buddhism,
which was still further enhanced by a So
journ of some months in that stTangsst and
most ancient of cities, Benares.
ain Bagdsd | had formed the acquaints
ance OF several fra worshipers, whose faith
and whose simplicity of ritual had learned
to respect in Iran, and ia the bazars, which
[ much frequented, had become ultimate
with a multitude of Jewish merchants and
physicians, aud to their religion. after it had
been explained to me, was greatly drawn,
though the absence from it of many at
tractiVe superstitions both shocked and
amazed me, till l perceived that, after all,
this absence was rather theoretical than
practical, and that 'credst JudRus Apella'
was as applicable in the caliph's capital as
in the Rome of Augustus.
TT may be added that / was an expert
performer on the bassoon and was passion
ately fond of poetry, especially Of that
which pOrtrays and expresses the sentiment
Of love, such, for example, as one finds In
Hsfiz and Firdousi. Ny prediction for the
sciences showed itself In my devotion to
those of the astronomer and the oculist, be-
cause stars and eyes are the loveliest things
in the world. To some extent also l was
acquainted with botany, because of the
muskrose, the lily, the various varieties of
convolvulus which grew in profusion just
outside the city walls on the road to the
cemetery. was moreover, fond to fawn-
ing of the cedars OF Lebanon, under whose
shade | have often sat musing in Palestine,
by cool Siloam's shady rill. / looked, too,
with much favor upon the Gahda tree, a
fine description Of which you will find In
Sir William Jones translation of the Moal-
lakat, which is, or at least ought to be, in
probably isn't. but the Encyclopadia
Britannica, which is everywhere, in the
American edition, may suffice.
II was young then to know 80 much?
Not SO very young. had seen the
sculptured slabs Of PersepolIs put up; | had
delved for gold upon the barren hillsides Of
Sandaracurgium; had studied hieratic
writings with Amen-hotep, suggested the
architecture Of cave temple at Elephanta,
with its sculptured Trimusti, had stood be-
fore the Pharaoh with Noses when his rod
swallowed up those OF the sorcerers, and
mine among them-and 1 wish
had 1t now for purposes which
l dread to divulge-and. of course, /
had been among the disciples of Pythagoras,
of that great man when, as a delicate tre-
foil for q thousand years, with other plants
of the same genus, he muttled warm slope
on Ida. 80 you may see that was not so
very young when l found myself at Bagdad
and among its towers Of fretted gold In the
days of good Haroun-al- Raschid, with the
sun of Homer shining on me still, although,
alas my comrades-kdi gar SphetereSin
dtdSthaliSSin oIonto. Excuse this Greek,
edition of Li-dell and Scott in the club
library, annotated, il l remember rightly,
by Screvelius and the scholiasts.
"Cogia Arslan, the fisherman, had a
Legged camel, on whose back 1 made fire.
quent journeys into the desert, and so TO
BussOrah.
Sometimes when we three friends, Mus
tapha ibn Abb, Cogia Arslan aud myself,
were sitting in conversation or song upon
the housetop we would be visited by the
commander of the faithful, who would
come busting up the ladder with a breezy
air and hearty sAlutation and vain and
shallow pretense Of not wearing stays and
having false teeth, as he most assuredly did
and had. Occasionally he brought Giafar
and Mesrour along with him, and OCCASION
ally, though not always, he left his disguise
at home. He was good~looking man and
bore so close q resem blance to George ".
when he was prince regent that If ne had
worn a blue coat with brass buttons
should really been quite startled. Mesrour
looked like the marquis there in the corner
aud had his beautiful voice, but Giafar re-
sembled most pernicious son of Shitan,
and none OF us ever liked him.
"Once on the housetop, Al-Raschid al
ways wanted 60 talk literature and literary
criticism. At that time he was about to
publish his edition of The Arabian Nights,
and he had the bad taste to insist on read
ing the whole of it TO us piecemeal. When
first he proposed TO do so it was our opin-
ion that we should prefer to read it in
print but the caliph wanted our criticism,
and was handsome enough Co give us 60
understand that if we refused to listen
Giafar would probably feel it his duty to
sew US up in "a saok-in other words, to put