Jean Joseph Souham de Galland

“ The words were these: "Inhabitants, abandon the worship of Nardoun, and of fire, and worship the only God that shows mercy."
'This voice was heard for three years successively, but nobody was converted: so on the last day of the year, at four o'clock in the morning, all the inhabitants were changed in an instant into stone, every one in the same condition and posture they happened to be then in. The king, my father, had the same fate, for he was metamorphosed into a black stone, as he is to be seen in this palace; and the queen, my mother, had the like destiny. ”

“ All I know is, they all perished. If you persist in your design, you can make the experiment. You will be fortunate if it succeeds; but I would advise you not to expose yourself to the danger.'
'My good father,' replied the princess, 'nothing prevents my persisting. I am sure I shall succeed, and am resolved to try the experiment. Nothing remains for me but to know which way I must go, a favour I beg you not to refuse me.'
The dervish exhorted her again for the last time to consider well what she was going to do; but finding her resolute, he took out a bowl and said, 'Take this bowl ”

“ He died, aged sixty-nine on February 17, 1715, leaving his second part of The Nights unpublished. [FN#213]
Professor Galland was a French litterateur of the good old school which is rapidly becoming extinct. Homme vrai dans les moindres choses (as his Eloge stated) ; simple in life and manners and single-hearted in his devotion to letters, he was almost childish in worldly matters, while notable for penetration and acumen in his studies. ”

“ Galland's abridgment was a mere shadow of the Arabic. Even the editions of Lane and Habicht and Torrens and Von Hammer represented but imperfectly the great corpus of Eastern folk-lore which Captain Burton has undertaken to render into English, without regard to the susceptibilities of those who, not having bought the book, are, therefore, in no way concerned in what is the affair of him and his subscribers. The best part of two centuries have passed away since Antoine Galland first turned some of the tales into French, and got stigmatised as a forger for his pains. ”

“ In the story of Badr, one of the Comoro Islands becomes “L’île de la Lune.” “Dog” and “dog-son” are not “injures atroces et indignes d’un grand roi:” the greatest Eastern kings allow themselves far more energetic and significant language.
Fitnah [FN#219] is by no means “Force de curs.” Lastly the dénoûement of The Nights is widely different in French and in Arabic; but that is probably not Galland’s fault, as he never saw the original, and indeed he deserves high praise for having invented so pleasant and sympathetic a close, inferior only to the Oriental device. ”

“ Indeed, it seems to me that this first effort, imperfect as it was, to transplant into European gardens the magic flowers of Oriental imagination, can never entirely be superseded and that other workers in the same field can only hope to supplement and not to efface it. The value of Galland’s achievement was at once recognised by the public, notwithstanding the obbligato sneers of his brother savants and the doubts cast by critics and men of letters upon the authenticity of the work, and his book was almost immediately translated into most European languages. ”

“ I assure you my mare is not to be sold.'
The old man, who had been witness to all that was said, now began to speak. 'Son,' quoth he to King Beder, 'it is necessary you should know one thing, which I find you are ignorant of; and that is, that in this city it is not permitted to any one to tell a lie, on any account whatsoever, on pain of death. You cannot refuse taking this good woman's money, and delivering your mare, when she gives you the sum according to the agreement ”

“ I was preparing to give thanks to the princess, but she prevented me by addressing herself to her father, thus: 'Sir, I have gained the victory over the genie, as your majesty may see; but it is a victory that costs me dear. I have but a few minutes to live, and you will not have the satisfaction of making the match you intended; the fire has pierced me during the terrible combat, and I find it is consuming me by degrees. This would not have happened had I perceived the last of the pomegranate seeds, and swallowed it as I did the others, when I was changed into a cock ”

“ They immediately sent for a horse, which was brought in a little time; and having made me get upon him, some of them walked before me to show me the way, and tho rest took my raft and cargo,, and followed me.
We marched thus altogether, tih we came to the city of Serendib, for it was in that island I landed. The blacks presented me to their king; I approached his throne, and saluted him as I used to do the kings of the Indies; that is to say, I prostrated myself at his feet, and kissed the earth. ”

“ Edit. [not so; but the original Arabic had long been known in the French libraries] . As regards the style and treatment, it is sufficient to say that the authors out-Gallanded Galland, while Heron exaggerates every fault of his original."
The first enlarged edition of Galland in French was published by Caussin de Perceval, at Paris, in 9 vols., 8vo (1806) . In addition to Galland's version, he added four tales (Nos. 21a, 22, 32 and 37) , with which he had been furnished by Von Hammer. ”

“ I retired to my chamber, where I reproached myself a thousand times for my excessive imprudence. 'Nothing,' said I, 'could have paralleled the princess's good fortune and mine had I forborne to break the talisman.'
While I was thus giving myself over to melancholy thoughts, the tailor came in. 'An old man,' said he, 'whom I do not know, brings me here your hatchet and cords, which he found in his way, as he tells me, and understood from your comrades that you lodge here ”

“ Gall, St., an Irish monk who, about 585, accompanied St. Columban to France in his missionary labours, banished from which he went to Switzerland, and founded a monastery on the Lake of Constance, which bore his name; d. about 646.
Galland, Antoine, French Orientalist, born in Picardy, professor of Arabic in the College of France; was the first to translate the “Arabian Nights” into any European tongue (1646-1715) .
Gallas, an Ethiopian race occupying the S. and E. of Abyssinia, energetic, intelligent, and warlike; follow mostly pastoral occupations ”

“ Then the dervish repeated to the Princess Parizade what he had said to the Princess Bahman and Perviz, of the difficulty of climbing to the top of the mountain, the noise and din of the terrible threatening voices which she would hear on all sides, without seeing anybody; and the great quantity of black stones, alone sufficient to strike terror into her and everyone else. He entreated her to reflect that those stones were many brave gentlemen, thus enchanted for omitting to observe the principal condition of success, which was not to look behind them before they had got possession of the cage. ”

“ While the Princess Parizade was pulling the cotton-wool out of her ears, the bird said to her, 'Brave lady, be not angry with me for joining in with the voices. Though in a cage, I was content; but since I am destined to be a slave, I would rather be yours than any other person's in the world, since you have obtained me so courageously and so worthily. From this instant I swear inviolable faith to you, and an entire submission to all your commands. I know who you are, and will tell you. You do not know yourself ”

“ When the Arabs possessed themselves of the scattered remains of Greek culture, the works of Galen were more highly esteemed than any others except those of Aristotle. Through the Arabs the Galenical system found its way back again to western Europe. Even when Arabian medicine gave way before the direct teaching of the Greek authors rescued from neglect, the authority of Galen was increased instead of being diminished; and he assumed a position of autocracy in medical science which was only slowly undermined by the growth of modern science in the 17th and 18th centuries. ”

“ But no consideration could stop him. 'I do not come,' said he to himself, 'to do anybody any harm, and certainly, whoever meets or sees me first, and finds that I have no arms in my hands, will not attempt anything against my life, before they hear what I have to say for myself.' After this reflection, he opened the door wider, without making any noise, and went softly down the stairs, that he might not wake anybody, and, when he came to a landing place on the staircase, he found the door open of a great hall, that had a light in it. ”

“ Their shows are worth seeing. You will have nothing to do to-day: I leave you here. As the time approaches in which the ship is accustomed to sail for the Isle of Ebony, I will go and see some of my friends, and secure you a passage in it.' The gardener put on his best clothes, and went out.
When Prince Camaralzaman was alone, instead of going out to take part in the public joy of the city, the solitude he was in brought to his mind, with more than usual violence, the loss of his dear princess. ”

“ France laughs at “le shoking” in England but she has only to look at home especially during the reign of Galland’s contemporary—Roi Soleil. The terrible “Old man” (Shaykh) “of the Sea” (-board) is badly described by “l’incommode vieillard” (“the ill-natured old fellow”) : “Brave Maimune” and “Agréable Maimune” are hardly what a Jinni would say to a Jinniyah (ccxiii.) ; but they are good Gallic. The same may be noted of “Plier les voiles pour marque qu’il se rendait” (Night ccxxxv.) , a European practice ”

“ You are men of sense, and do not lack brains; you have convinced me of this; yet I have seen you do such actions as none but madmen could be capable of. Whatever misfortune may befall me, I cannot forbear to ask why you bedaubed your faces with black. How is it that each of you has but one eye? Some singular thing must certainly be the cause of it; therefore I implore you to satisfy my curiosity.' To this they only answered that it was no business of mine to ask such questions, and that I should do well to hold my peace. ”

“ Galen was as devoted to anatomical and, so far as then understood, physiological research as to practical medicine. He worked enthusiastically at dissection, though, the liberty of the Alexandrian schools no longer existing, he could dissect only animals, not the human body. In his anatomical studies Galen had a twofold object—a philosophical, to show the wisdom of the Creator in making everything fit to serve its purpose; and a practical, to aid the diagnosis, or recognition, of disease. ”

“ Again, (as in Uns el Wujoud) the verse in some of the tales has evidently been written expressly for their illustration and (though naturally of very unequal value) is often by no means lacking in poetic beauty and vigour, [139] thus proving that among the anonymous authors of the various parts of the work were poets of no mean ability.
↑ Galland’s MS. consisted (as he himself tells us in his dedication) of four volumes, three only of which are extant, bringing down the work to the 282nd Night, towards the middle of the story of Camaralzaman. ”

“ There can be no doubt, I think, that this story owes nothing to Galland, but that it is a popular Greek version of the original Asiatic tale, of which Galland's "Ali Baba" is probably a fair reflection. The device of pretending to the servant that the dragon he had thrown into the sea was returned has its exact analogue in the humorous fabliau of "Les Trois Bossus," where a rustic is made to believe that each of the hunchbacks had come back again, with the addition that, on returning from the river the third time, he seizes the lady's hunchbacked husband and effectually disposes of him. ”

“ Having thus divided it, 'Son,' said the gardener to the prince, 'it is not enough that you have got this treasure; we must now contrive how to carry it so privately on board the ship that nobody may know anything of the matter, otherwise you will run the risk of losing it. There are no olives in the Isle of Ebony, and those that are exported hence are wanted there; you know I have plenty of them; take what you will ”

“ I would rather be deprived of the sight and possession of the speaking bird, the singing tree, and yellow water, than run the risk of never seeing you more.'
'Sister,' replied Prince Bahman, smiling at the sudden fears of the Princess Parizade, 'my resolution is fixed, and you must allow me to execute it. The accidents you speak of befall only those who are unfortunate. It is true I may be of that number; but there are more who are not than who are, and I may be of the former number. ”

“ Soames flushed; his flushes passed rapidly over his flat cheeks and centered between his eyes, where they remained, the stamp of disturbing thoughts.
“I don't know what she sees in that little flibbertigibbet,” he burst out, but noticing that they were no longer alone, he turned and again began examining the lustre.
“They tell me Jolyon's bought another house,” said his father's voice close by; “he must have a lot of money—he must have more money than he knows what to do with! Montpellier Square, they say; close to Soames! They never told me, Irene never tells me anything!” ”

“ Next day King Saleh took leave of Queen Gulnare and the king his nephew. The young king, who knew the king his uncle would not have departed so soon but to go and promote his happiness without loss of time, changed colour when he heard him mention his departure. He resolved to desire his uncle to bring the princess away with him: but only asked him to stay with him one day more, that they might hunt together. The day for hunting was fixed, and King Beder had many opportunities of being alone with his uncle, but he had not the courage to open his mouth. ”