by the story of David and Bathsheba), the flat roofs of Eastern houses, combined with the seclusion of women, must make it an almost everyday occurrence in the East. The five tales which I am about to consider lead us gradually from the simplest form of the story to the most complex, and they will also furnish occasion for observations on many collateral points besides the two which I have emphasised. Taking them in their natural order of complexity they may be arranged as follows:—
- I. The House with the Belvedere.
- II. The Man who never Laughed during the rest of his Life.
- III. The Third Kalandar's Tale.
- IV. The story of Janshah.
- V. Hasan of Bassorah.
All these tales are to be found in the translations of Mr. Payne and Sir Richard Burton ; and all, except that of Janshah, in that of the late Mr. E. W. Lane. It is to be regretted that the only version of Janshah in a published English edition is that of Lamb, taken from Zinserling's translation of Von Hammer's lost French version: and Von Hammer's rendering of this story is one of his very worst, in fact it is so confused as to render it highly probable that several pages of his MS. were transposed. Trébutien's French version is likewise taken from Zinserling; but the only good European version of the story with which I am acquainted besides the two English ones is the German translation of Weil. In a few months, however. Lady Burton's published edition may be expected to render Janshah as accessible to the English public as the Third Kalandar's Tale, the only story of the cycle which occurs in Galland's version.
But to return from this digression. The House with the Belvedere and The Man who never Laughed again are tales which form part of the cluster which goes by the following names: (1) The Book of Sindibad; (2) The Craft and Malice of Women (not to be confounded with a short tale called Women's Craft, which is found in the Breslau and Wortley Montague texts, as well as in the Persian Thousand and One Days, where it forms part of the story of Prince Fadlallah); and (3) The Story of the King, his Son, the Seven Wazirs, and the Damsel.
