The adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan

by James Justinian Morier

Full text in one page

The cover of the second edition (1824)

Contents

• Introductory epistle
• Chapter I — Hajji Baba's birth and education
• Chapter II — Hajji Baba commences his travels—His encounter with ‎the Turcomans, and his captivity
• Chapter III — Into ‎what hands Hajji Baba falls, and the ‎fortune which his razors proved to ‎him‎
• Chapter IV — Of his ingenuity in rescuing his master's money from the Turcoman, and of his determination to keep it‎
• Chapter V — Hajji Baba becomes a robber in his own defence, and invades his native city‎
• Chapter VI — Concerning the three prisoners taken by the Turcomans, and of the booty made in the caravanserai
• Chapter VII — Hajji Baba evinces a feeling disposition—History of the poet Asker
• Chapter VIII — Hajji Baba escapes from the Turcomans—The meaning of 'falling from the frying-pan into the fire' illustrated
• Chapter IX — Hajji Baba, in his distress, becomes a saka, or water-carrier
• Chapter X — He makes a soliloquy, and becomes an itinerant vendor of smoke
• Chapter XI — History of Dervish Sefer, and of two other dervishes
• Chapter XII — Hajji Baba finds that fraud does not remain unpunished, even in this world—He makes fresh plans
• Chapter XIII — Hajji Baba leaves Meshed, is cured of his sprain, and relates a story
• Chapter XIV — Of the man he meets, and the consequences of the encounter
• Chapter XV — Hajji Baba reaches Tehran, and goes to the poet's house
• Chapter XVI — He makes plans for the future, and is involved in a quarrel
• Chapter XVII — He puts on new clothes, goes to the bath, and appears in a new character
• Chapter XVIII — The poet returns from captivity—the consequences of it for Hajji Baba
• Chapter XIX — Hajji Baba gets into the service of the king's physician—Of the manner he was first employed by him
• Chapter XX — He succeeds in deceiving two of the faculty, getting a pill from one, and a piece of gold from the other
• Chapter XXI — He describes the manner in which the Shah of Persia takes medicine
• Chapter XXII — Hajji Baba asks the doctor for a salary, and of the success of his demand
• Chapter XXIII — He becomes dissatisfied with his situation, is idle, and falls in love
• Chapter XXIV — He has an interview with the fair Zeenab, who relates how she passes her time in the doctor's harem
• Chapter XXV — The lovers meet again, and are very happy—Hajji Baba sings
• Chapter XXVI — The history of Zeenab, the Cûrdish slave
• Chapter XXVII — Of the preparations made by the chief physician to receive the Shah as his guest, and of the great expense which threatened him
• Chapter XXVIII — Concerning the manner of the Shah's reception; of the present made him, and the conversation which ensued
• Chapter XXIX — A description of the entertainment, which is followed by an event destructive to Hajji Baba's happiness
• Chapter XXX — Hajji Baba meets with a rival in the Shah himself, and loses the fair object of his affections
• Chapter XXXI — His reflections on the loss of Zeenab—He is suddenly called upon to exert his skill as a doctor
• Chapter XXXII — Hajji is appointed to a situation under government—He becomes an executioner
• Chapter XXXIII — He accompanies the Shah to his camp, and gets some insight into his profession
• Chapter XXXIV — Employed in his official capacity, Hajji Baba gives a specimen of Persian despotism
• Chapter XXXV — Fortune, which pretended to frown, in fact smiles upon Hajji Baba, and promotes him to be sub-lieutenant to the chief executioner
• Chapter XXXVI — Although by trade an executioner, he shows a feeling heart—He meets with a young man and woman in distress
• Chapter XXXVII — The history of Yûsûf, the Armenian, and his wife Mariam
• Chapter XXXVIII — Sequel of the foregoing history, and of the resolution which Hajji Baba takes in consequence
• Chapter XXXIX — The Armenian Yûsûf proves himself worthy of Hajji Baba's confidence
• Chapter XL — Hajji Baba gives an account of his proceedings to his superiors, and shows himself a friend to the distressed
• Chapter XLI — He describes an expedition against the Russians, and does ample justice to the cowardice of his chief
• Chapter XLII — He proceeds to the king's camp, and gives a specimen of lying on a grand scale
• Chapter XLIII — He relates a horrid tale, the consequences of which plunge him in the greatest misery
• Chapter XLIV — Hajji Baba meets with an old friend, who cheers him up, gives him good advice, and secures him from danger
• Chapter XLV — He takes refuge in a sanctuary, where his melancholy thoughts are diverted by a curious story
• Chapter XLVI — He becomes a saint, and associates with the most celebrated divine in Persia
• Chapter XLVII — Hajji Baba is robbed by his friend, and left utterly destitute; but is released from his confinement
• Chapter XLVIII — Hajji Baba reaches Ispahan, and his paternal roof, just time enough to close the eyes of his dying father
• Chapter XLIX — He becomes heir to property which is not to be found, and his suspicions thereon
• Chapter L — Showing the steps he takes to discover his property, and who the diviner, Teez Negah, was
• Chapter LI — Of the diviner's success in making discoveries, and of the resolution which Hajji Baba takes in consequence
• Chapter LII — Hajji Baba quits his mother, and becomes the scribe to a celebrated man of the law
• Chapter LIII — The mollah Nadân gives an account of his new scheme for raising money, and for making men happy
• Chapter LIV — Hajji Baba becomes a promoter of matrimony, and of the register he keeps
• Chapter LV — Of the man Hajji Baba meets, thinking him dead; and of the marriage which he brings about
• Chapter LVI — Showing how the ambition of the mollah Nadân involves both him and his disciples in ruin
• Chapter LVII — Hajji Baba meets with an extraordinary adventure in the bath, which miraculously saves him from the horrors of despair
• Chapter LVIII — Of the consequences of the adventure, which threaten danger, but end in apparent good fortune
• Chapter LIX — Hajji Baba does not shine in honesty—The life and adventures of the mollah Nadân
• Chapter LX — Hajji and the mollah make plans suited to their critical situation, showing that no confidence can exist between rogues
• Chapter LXI — The punishment due to Hajji Baba falls upon Nadân, which makes the former a staunch predestinarian
• Chapter LXII — Hajji Baba hears an extraordinary sequel to his adventure in the bath, and feels all the alarms of guilt
• Chapter LXIII — He is discovered and seized, but his good stars again befriend and set him free
• Chapter LXIV — He reaches Bagdad, meets his first master, and turns his views to commerce
• Chapter LXV — He purchases pipe-sticks, and inspires a hopeless passion in the breast of his old master's daughter
• Chapter LXVI — He becomes a merchant, leaves Bagdad, and accompanies a caravan to Constantinople
• Chapter LXVII — Hajji Baba makes a conquest of the widow of an emir, which at first alarms, but afterwards elates him
• Chapter LXVIII — He obtains an interview with the fair Shekerleb, makes a settlement upon her, and becomes her husband
• Chapter LXIX — From a vender of pipe-sticks he becomes a rich Aga, but feels all the inconvenience of supporting a false character
• Chapter LXX — His desire to excite envy lays the foundation of his disgrace—He quarrels with his wife
• Chapter LXXI — He is discovered to be an impostor, loses his wife, and the wide world is again before him
• Chapter LXXII — An incident in the street diverts his despair—He seeks consolation in the advice of old Osman
• Chapter LXXIII — In endeavouring to gain satisfaction from his enemies he acquires a friend—Some account of Mirza Firouz
• Chapter LXXIV — He becomes useful to an ambassador, who makes him a partaker of his confidence
• Chapter LXXV — Of his first essays in public life, and of the use he was to his employer
• Chapter LXXVI — Hajji Baba writes the history of Europe and with his ambassador returns to Persia
• Chapter LXXVII — The ceremony of receiving a Frank ambassador at the court is described
• Chapter LXXVIII — Hajji is noticed by the grand vizier, and is the means of gratifying that minister's favourite passion
• Chapter LXXIX — Of the manner in which he turned his influence to use, and how he was again noticed by the vizier
• Chapter LXXX — The conclusion—Misfortune seems to take leave of Hajji Baba, who returns to his native city a greater man than when he first left