9". s. xn. SEPT. 19, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
223
copied by Alfarag Adar 26, in the year 1885
of the Greeks, i.e., A.D. 1574.*
The two versions have also been printed with German translations by Prof. V. Ryssel,t who mentions some of the analogues we are about to examine, and refers to a further publication of the text in the Revue des Etudes Juives (tome xliii. p. 232), which I have not seen.
The Syriac story bears the impress of a bowdlerizing hand. What is evidently an older form may be found in some editions of the 'Arabian Nights.' The framework of that treasury of Oriental literature easily admits of the insertion or withdrawal of independent matter, and in this way many stories and fables have been put into the mouth of Scheherazade. In Mr. John Payne's translation there begins on the 578th night a series of tales under the general heading of 1 The Malice of Women.' In the first of these narratives we have a parallel to the story of Aphikia. A king who was given to the love of women one day by chance sees on the roof of a house a beautiful woman, and on inquiry learns that she is the wife of one of his viziers. In order to accomplish his end the king dispatches this minister on a diplomatic mission, and then pays a visit to the house, where the lady receives him graciously, and when he explains the motive of his visit does not directly refuse com- pliance, but gives him a book to read whilst she goes to prepare food for him. " He took the book, and, beginning to read, found therein moral instances and exhortations such as restrained him from adultery and broke his intent to commit sin." Meanwhile the lady, unconscious of this happy effect of literature, has prepared a banquet of ninety dishes, differing in colour and shape, but identical in taste. On the king expressing his astonish- ment the lady tells him it is a parable. " And what is its meaning ? " he asked. " May God amend the case of our lord the king ! " answered she. " In thy palace are ninety concubines of various colours, but their taste is one. "J The king, thus admonished, rose hastily and
- * Studia Sinai tica,' No. VIII. Apocrypha
Arabica. 1. Kitab al Magall : or, the Book of the Rolls. 2. The Story of Aphikia 3. Cyprian and Justa in Arabic. 4. Cyprian and Justa in Greek. Edited and translated into English by Margaret Dunlop Gibson, M.R.A.S., LL.D. (St. Andrews). London, 1901. P. 59 seqq.
t 'Theologische Studien und Kritiken,'1903, p. 229.
+ The opposite of this argument is the apocryphal anecdote of Henri IV. sometimes given in expla- nation of the French proverb " Tou jours perdrix." See Fumagalli, 'Chi 1' ha Detto?' third edition (Milano, 1899), p. 40.
returned at once to his palace. But in his
hurry he left under the cushion his signet
ring, which was found by the vizier on his
return. Suspecting that his wife had been
unfaithful, he became estranged. Neither
husband nor wife sought an explanation, but
at last the lady complained to her father.
One day when the vizier and the cadi of the
army were with the king the wife's father
spoke a parable, in which he said that he
had planted a fair garden and spent his sub-
stance upon it until it bore fruit, when he
had given it to the vizier, who ate what fruit
he pleased and then neglected it, ** so that its
flowers withered and its beauty departed and
it became waste." The vizier at once acknow-
ledged the truth of this, but in explanation
said, " I did indeed care for the garden and
ate thereof till one day, going thither, I saw
the track of the lion, wherefore I feared him
and withdrew from the garden." The king
replied, "Return to thy garden, O vizier,
and fear nothing, for the lion came not near
it. It hath been told me that he went
thither, but by the honour of my father and
forefathers he offered it no hurt." On this
the vizier was reconciled to his wife.*
WILLIAM E. A. AXON. Manchester.
(To be continued.)
"SUGH."
IN 'Descriptive Sketches,' 1. 359, Words- worth, referring to the rare sounds that disturb Swiss solitudes, includes the Faint wail of eagle melting into blue Beneath the cliffs, and pine-woods' steady sugh. To this he appends the explanatory note, " Sugh, a Scotch word expressive of the sound of the wind through the trees. " While this explanation is not amiss, it is clear that the author is not quite familiar with the word he seeks to use and explain. By making it rime to "blue," Wordsworth shows that he is unaware of the fact that the Scottish " sugh," " sough," or " souch " has a guttural sound, and is thereby, when properly pronounced, as good an onomatopoeic word as the Latin susurrus. If it is sounded as the Highlander sounds the " hooch " that punctuates the picturesque gyrations of his reel, some idea will be got of its effect, and if the guttural is prolonged into an audible breathing the imitative quality of the monosyllable is readily discovered. Wordsworth probably
- 'The Book of the Thousand Nights and One
Night,' now first completely done into English from the Arabic by John Payne, London, 1883, vol. v. pp. 263-5.
