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Show I 1 ' '.- --- vv I CONDENSED t CLASSICS I " I i THE Z ARABIAN NIGHTS ? X I " I V Br the PRINCBSS SHEHERAZADB 's v v Ccndenjatton h AlrcJ S. Clark , . .... .- x , N ' -'- -J .. ' . ' -". -' ' i ',' Ttic- ninrvt-lloim uleM tliut Schr-lit-razade told to KIdk Shabrlar, HtorlrM of love and ad ven lure and Din d ninKie run-not run-not be attributed to any one author for the very guoil rrnNun that there never vt nn an author, au-thor, 'l'hey are popular t o r t e that, perhaps about the year 14 5 0, were put Into the prem-ut form by a proft-n-Hlonnl Htory-teller, prenumnbly a 1-er-alan. In primitive com in u n 1 t 1 e a where few of the people enn rend, and where bookn are dllllcult to Ret, (hene professional readern are In fcreat demand, 'l'hey pick up here nnd there tales that appeal to all and bind them Into a lone narrative. Some people have thought thnt Homer's lone poems originated In this way. Everywhere In the near enst the traveler finds these story-tellers today. to-day. An taper audience collects to hear them, each paying a small fee for the prlvlleice of listening. The entertainer en-tertainer declaims as be walks to nad fro and always stops his narrative Just before no exciting; climax, so that he will be assured of listeners on the morrow. Ills audience follows his recital re-cital with breathless Interest, especially especial-ly when he Illustrates thrilling episodes epi-sodes with lively pantomime. Year after year these groups of listeners gathered centuries ago. The story-teller discarded the tales that did not bold the attention of his listeners. lis-teners. Gradually the process of elimination elim-ination went on nntll only the best were handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. Then some unknown benefactor of mankind had them written down nnd connected them with the framework of Schehera-iniie Schehera-iniie and Shabrlar. And these are the Ar,ihtan Nights that have delighted children and grown men and women for decades. SHEiIERAZADB was a vizier's daughter and when she besought her father to wed her to King Sluihriar it was cause for grief to the vizier. For each day was it SFiahriar's wont to put to death his bride of the day before. It befell, however, that Sheherazade had her will. As she had hoped, the king was wakeful and to beguile him she began a story of magic. Dawn broke before she had finished and so eager was Shahrlar to hear It all that he gave no order for her execution. For a thousand and one nights did this befall while Sheherazade told tales of love, war and sorcery, of kings, beggars and rogues, of lands where diamonds were more plentiful than pebbles and bigger thnn eggs, of intrigues in-trigues In the lanes and bazaars of Oriental cities. In towns nnd deserts and far islands did necromancers work their wills. Horses flew ; dogs talked; mermaldens and creatures greater than whales peopled the deeps; ogres and enormous apes crept out of forests; for-ests; birds so great that their wings darkened the day swooped from the skies. Here, too, were lovers In palaces pal-aces and hovels, bold and cowardly, yet all so enamored that they swooned at the very thought of the beloved. Underlying all was the colorful Orient, Ori-ent, with barbers and porters jostling caliphs und princesses In the thronged and picturesque lanes of three cities whose very names conjure up romance Bagdad, Cairo and Dumascus. Now these are the best liked of She-herazade's She-herazade's tales: The Story of Aladdin's Lamp. Of Aladdin, son of a poor tailor In China, a prankish scamp. An African magician guided him to a subterranean cave where he found the lamp that summoned the genie. Out of nothingness nothing-ness did this genie spread banquets for Aladdin and robe him in rich raiment. rai-ment. He provided him retinues of slaves, bearing basins heaped high with precious stones, who carried to the king Aladdin's suppllance for the hand of the beautiful Princess Badroul-boudour. Badroul-boudour. In a night did the genie raise a palace of glowing wonders, of shining shin-ing marble and gold and silver, with windows Incrusted with diamonds, em-1 ernlds and rubles, with fragrant gardens gar-dens and open courts. So Aladdin married mar-ried the princess and they knew great Joy. But the magician returned, stole the lamp nnd in a trice transported the palace and the princess to Africa. Then was Aladdin woeful, but by magic he found his beloved, poisoned ; the magician, seized the lamp and came to China, where he and Badroul-boudour Badroul-boudour lived happily ever afterward. The Story of Sinbad. Of Sinbad the sailor and his marvelous marvel-ous voyages. Wherein It is related that Sinbad landed upon what seemed an Island but which was a great fish that sank Into the sea. And of other voyages and greater wonders, of which one marvels most at the adventure with the roc. the bird so huge that it feeds Its young with elephants. Sinbad Sin-bad had fastened himself to the roc's leg and It bore blm to an Impenetrable Impenetra-ble valley strewn with precious stones from which he escaped by binding him self to a sheep's carcass nnd was borne away by a vulture. And of thf giant who roasted men and whom Sin j bad blinded with a red-hot iron. Ant-of Ant-of Ihe terrible Old Man of the Sea win sat upon Sinbad's shoulders and could not be shaken olT until he was Intoxi cated w ith wine and Sinbad slew him. The Story of the Forty Thieves. Of Ali Baba and his discovery of the s-totie that swung wide when a voicf cried "Open, Sesame!" In the cavf was the booty of forty thieves and All Raha took home sacks bulging with gold and silver. The robbers traced , him and in the guise of a merchant the j captain lodged with him. In the yard were stored great jars, one filled with oil and the others concealing the thieves. Ill would it have fared wltb Ali Baba had not Morgiana, a cunning slave, detected the trick and with boiling boil-ing oil scalded to death the wicked miscretints-. The captain escaped, hut returned In a new disguise and again did Morgiana save her master hy stabbing stab-bing his enemy. So All Baba married her to his son and be lived joyously upon treasures from the cave. Many Other Fascinating Stories. Of the Magic Horse of ebony nnd Ivory, no fashioned that its rider, by pressing divers buttons, could fly whither he willed. It bore a Persian prince to a great palace In a metropolis girt about with greenery. There he looked Into the eyes of a princess and they were enraptured. It befell that they rode away on the Magic Horse, but before they were wed an evil man abducted the princess. The disconsolate disconso-late prince wandered fur nnd at hist he found her whom he loved and again they journeyed through the air to his home, where they were married with exceeding pomp nnd lived happily. Of a poor fisherman who drew his net from the sea and found therein but a brass bottle. He cut open the top nnd there streamed forth a cloud of smoke. It collected and, behold I It was a genie, so huge that his head was In the clouds. He would have killed his rescuer had not the wily fisherman insisted that never could he have come from the bottle. The silly genie squeezed himself Inside, whereupon the fisherman clapped on the top, nor would he remove it until the genie swore to serve him faithfully. This oath it Tvas that led to the finding of the ensorcelled prince with legs turned to stone and the lake wherein swam fish of four colors that had once been men. After marvelous happenings the prince was made as other men and the fish were men and women. And the flshermnn was so rewarded that he was the wealthiest man of his time. Of Prince Camaralzaman and tht Princess! Badoura, beautiful beyond compare, and of how each saw the other In sleep and was smitten with great love. But when they awakened they saw not one another for they had been brought together by genii who had carried Badoura out of China to the confines of Persia. Grief so afflicted af-flicted both that they sickened and were Insane from sorrow. Then a messenger mes-senger from Badoura journeyed far over laud and sea until he found Camaralzaman and returned with him to China, where the lovers were wedded. wed-ded. But while they were traveling to Camaralzaman's land he wandered away. Badoura dressed herself In his raiment and passed herself for a man. It -befell that she found favor In the eyes of a king and was married to n princess. And Camaralzaman too came to this land and knew not his wife, who heaped honors upon him. At last she revealed herself and was known as a woman and Camaralzaman took also to wife the princess wfiom Badoura Badou-ra had married and they were happy together. Of a merchant who, awaiting dealh at the hands of a cruel genie, was joined by three old men, one leading a gazelle, another two black hounds, and the third a mule. Now It is related that the gazelle and the mule had been wicked wives transformed by magic nnd likewise had the hounds been evil j brothers. When the genie was told these stories of enchantment, he was so diverted that he spared the merchant's mer-chant's life. About Harun-al-Rashid. And of many tales concerning the Caliph Harun-al-Rashld and Ids going disguised into the lanes and bazaars of Bagdad, where he chanced upon strange people who told him strange stories of mngle. Once he supped with three ladies of dazzling beauty and with him were a porter dazed with the magnificence he saw and three mendicants, mendi-cants, sons of kings, all blind In the left eye. Not knowing the Caliph they told of their fantastic adventures and sufferings and he rewarded them. And again he encountered a beggar who Implored Im-plored him to strike him, a youth who spurred cruelly a mare upon which he rode and a rope-maker who had risen suddenly from poverty to affluence. Their tales too did he hear and them too did he reward. Nor should Abu-Hassan, Abu-Hassan, the wag, be forgotten, whose trickery In pretending that he and his ,.-ife were dead won so much gold and so many laughs from the Caliph. And of like import is the mad tale of the humpback who seemed dead and of the talkative barber who restored him to life, of all those who had believed themselves murderers of the humpback hump-back nnd of the amazing tales that they related. So It came to pass that by the end of Ihe thousand and one nights Shah-riar Shah-riar was so delighted In the cleverness of Sheherazade thnt he wedded her again with regal pomp and they lived happily ever after. (Copyright, 1S19 by Post Publlshins Co. The Boston Post.) |