The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-06

NJ Huart, the qualities most valued b.
! Oriental criticism in Mutanabbis com
positions are his refinement OF expression
his neglect of the antique simplicity II
favor of affected mannerisms and has &C
emulation of fantastic imagery Ill
popularity is attesred by the fact that more
than forty commentaries have been WRITER
to explain his poems, but there seems 70 Ok
no doubt that he gave an unfortunate I'M
pulse to Oriental poetry, which suDse'
quently dropped deeper and deeper mto
bombast. Tughrai, who lived in the iattei
part Of the eleventh and early part OF the
twelfth centuries, was at once poet,
man Of learning and a statesman In ms
Lamiyyat al-Aian, an elegy on the mis1ort-
unes of the times, he entered the llsts
against Shaniara, the most brilliant OF the
pre-Islamic poets This piece il said to
have furnished Tennyson with the model OF
-Locksley Hall" The greatest mystic
poet Of the Arabs, Omar ibn al-farld, Che
author of a mystic-erotic volume that mas
never in its kind been surpassed, or even
equalled. in the literature Of any other
country, was born in Cairo in 1881, and died
in that city in 1885. NJ Huart describes
his poems as perfect models OF the style
used by the Sufis, or pantheistic philoso-
piers. to describe their ecstasies
II.
Romance was always a favorite branch
of Arabic literature. Most OF the tales
known to Europeans as the Thousand
and One Nights" are, as we shall see pres
emily, not Arabic. but Persian or Syrian.
The source Of the stories Of Arab origin is
easily recognized These tales came from
the Mdddah, or popular story teller. who
was wont to wander on feast-days from one
cafe to another. To Al-Asmai gram
marian who lived near the close OF the
second century OF the Hegira, is ascribed
the authorship Of the great romance OF
chivalry known as the Story of Anar, and
partly translated into English in 1920. M.
Huart thinks that in their present form the
tales collected under the title named do not
60 further back than the days of the Cru
sades. They are held to present, however.
a faithful picture Of the life of the desert
Arabs, on whose manners and customs
the lapse Of time seems to have scarcely
any effect. Their hospitality. their deeds
of vengeance. their loves, their generosity.
their thirst for pillage and their inherent
taste for poetry are all wildly described.
There are accounts, Homeric in their way,
of the ancient Arab wars. of the chief events
in Arab history before the advent OF Mo-
hammed, and Of the exploits Of the antique
heroes, The story of Antar is, 90 to
speak, the Arabs "Iliad."
The romance of the Beni-Hial forms a
complete cycle of legends more or less
connected with the invasion of northern
Africa by the Beni-Hilal during the eleventh
century of the Christian era. The Saif
al-Tjan Sword OF the Crowns), which has
been translated into French by DR.. Ferron,
is the story, divided into parts. OF the adj
ventures of a fabulous Prince who goes
from one country to another, fighting magi-
clans with mighty sword thrusts and warning
against mutitudinous armies. which are
all converted to the Moslem faith. Other
of the kind have been translated,
but none has achieved the hundredth part
Of the popularity of the Thousand and One
Nights. 1t Is we'll known that the tales OF
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, and Of
zain al-Asnam do not appear in the Oriental
editions of the Arabian Nights" and
doubts were at one time expressed as to
whether Galland, who had included the
tales in his translation Of the Persian work,
@The Thousand Stories," had not wholly
invented them. In 1885, however, H. Zoten-
berg, curator Of manuscripts at the Biblio-
th6que Rationale, discovered an Arabic
text of the particular tales mentioned, and
proved that Galland had consulted Syriac
version Of the Persian collection, and that
from this version the stories which we
have named were drawn. That "The Thou
sand Tales" was originally not an Arabic
but Persian book there is no doubt what
ever. The historian Masudi relates that it
was translated from the Pahlevi into Arabic
as early as the third century of the Hegira
The names OF the personages mentioned
in the prologue are all Persian. NJ Huart
is inclined to think that the plan of the work
is of Indian origin. From time to time
tales from diverse sources were inserted
In the framework. From Bagdad came the
love stories and the accounts of adventures
in the bazaars. The fantastic and super
natural stories may be survivals from
ancient Egyptian days. Others, such as
the story of Buluqiya intercalated in that Of
HASH Karin al-din, are pronounced decd-
eddy Jewish in origin. The stories Of Sind
bad the Sailor apparently go back to the
palmy days Of Arab trade in the Persian
Gulf and the Indian Ocean. and probably
were composed at Bassora during the tenth
century of our era. But the book as we
now POSSESS it, the Hazar Afsana, or 'Thou-
sand Tales" must have been drawn UP in
comparatively recent times, for the stories
Of Qamar ALBANIAN and the Jewellers Wife.
and of Maruf and his wife Fatims, belong
to the sixteenth century The tale of Abu
Dir, the dyer. and Abu Sir, the barber, is
the most modern of all.
Arab literature abounds in memoirs
biographies and collections of anecdotes.
Some of these possess great merit. Thus
the Book of Songs, or kitab al-Aghani
composed In the latter part of the tenth
century by AbuFaraj of Tspahan, and
comprising In twenty volumes notices OF
all the principal Arab poets, with specimens
OF their composition. is pronounced a
treasure of information regarding the
men and the times. The Life Of Mohammed
by Abul-Feda Of Aleppo is said to display
critical acumen as well as narrative power.
Arabic history began with the so-caled
mdghdzi, that Is to say, works devoted to
the story OF Mohammeds wars As early
as the close of the Ommayyad Dynasty
we find writer whose narratives earned
for him the title of Chief or Director Of
Historical Studies as TO the Wars of the