Story of King Shahryar (Shah Zaman) and his brother.

………..in readiness to set out next morning for his brother's capital. But when the night was half spent he bethought him that he had forgotten in his palace somewhat which he should have brought with him, so he returned privily and entered his apartments, where he found the Queen, his wife, asleep on his own carpet-bed, embracing with both arms a black cook of loathsome aspect and foul with kitchen grease and grime. When he saw this the world waxed black before his sight and he said: If such case happen while I am yet within sight of the city what will be the doings of this damned whore during my long absence at my brother's court ? So he drew his scymitar and, cutting the two in four pieces with a single blow, left them on the carpet and returned presently to his camp without letting anyone know of what had happened. Then he gave orders for immediate departure and set out at once and began his travel………..

(After arriving waiting at his brother palace he sees:)

……a postern of the palace, which was carefully kept private, swung open and out of it came twenty slave girls 'surrounding his brother's wife who was wondrous fair, a model of beauty and comeliness and symmetry and perfect loveliness and who paced with the grace of a gazelle which panted for the cooling stream. Thereupon Shah Zaman drew back from the window, but he kept the bevy in sight espying them from a place whence he could not be espied. They walked under the very lattice and advanced a little way into the garden till they came to a jetting fountain amiddlemost a great basin of water; then they stripped off their clothes and behold, ten of them were women, concubines of the King, and the other ten were white slaves. Then they all paired off, each with each : but the Queen, who was left alone, presently cried out in a loud voice: Here to me, O my lord Saeed !  and then sprang with a drop-leap from one of the trees a big slobbering blackamoor with rolling eyes which showed the whites, a truly hideous sight. He walked boldly up to her and threw his arms round her neck while she embraced him as warmly ; then he bussed her and winding his legs round hers, as a button-loop clasps a button, he threw her and enjoyed her. On likewise did the other slaves with the girls till all had satisfied their passions, and they ceased not from kissing and clipping, coupling and carousing till day began to wane ; when the Mamelukes rose from the damsels' bosoms and the blackamoor slave dismounted from the Queen's breast; the men resumed their disguises and all, except the negro who swarmed up the tree, entered the palace and closed the postern-door as before……….

(He vows never to trust women again, and takes a virgin to his bed each night only to kill her in the morning. After months of bloodshed, the Vizier’s daughter Shahrazad comes to him and during the night begins to tell him a story…………………)

Story of the Enchanted Youth (night 7-8)

(The king of the Black Islands tells his story)

……. As she entered the door, I climbed upon the roof which commanded a view of the interior, and lo! my fair cousin (his wife) had gone in to a hideous negro slave with his upper lip like the cover of a pot, and his lower like an open pot; lips which might sweep up sand from the gravel-floor of the cot. He was to boot a leper and a paralytic, lying upon a strew of sugar-cane trash and wrapped in an old blanket and the foulest rags and tatters. She kissed the earth before him, and he raised his head so as to see her and said, "Woe to thee! what call hadst thou to stay away all this time? Here have been with me sundry of the black brethren, who drank their wine and each had his young lady, and I was not content to drink because of thine absence." Then she, "O my lord, my heart's love and coolth of my eyes, knowest thou not that I am married to my cousin whose very look I loathe, and hate myself when in his company? And did not I fear for thy sake, I would not let a single sun arise before making his city a ruined heap wherein raven should croak and howlet hoot, and jackal and wolf harbour and loot; nay I had removed its very stones to the back side of Mount Kaf (1)." Rejoined the slave, "Thou liest, damn thee! Now I swear an oath by the valour and honour of blackamoor men (and deem not our manliness to be the poor manliness of white men), from to-day forth if thou stay away till this hour, I will not keep company with thee nor will I glue my body with thy body and strum and belly-bump. Dost play fast and loose with us, thou cracked pot, that we may satisfy thy dirty lusts? stinkard! bitch! vilest of the vile whites!" When I heard his words, and saw with my own eyes what passed between these two wretches, the world waxed dark before my face and my soul knew not in what place it was. But my wife humbly stood up weeping before and wheedling the slave, and saying, "O my beloved, and very fruit of my heart, there is none left to cheer me but thy dear self; and, if thou cast me off who shall take me in, O my beloved, O light of my eyes?" And she ceased not weeping and abasing herself to him until he deigned be reconciled with her. Then was she right glad and stood up and doffed her clothes, even to her petticoat-trousers, and said, "O my master what hast thou here for thy handmaiden to eat?" "Uncover the basin," he grumbled, "and thou shalt find at the bottom the broiled bones of some rats we dined on; pick at them, and then go to that slop-pot where thou shalt find some leavings of beer which thou mayest drink." So she ate and drank and washed her hands, and went and lay down by the side of the slave, upon the cane-trash and, stripping herself stark naked, she crept in with him under his foul coverlet and his rags and tatters. When I saw my wife, my cousin, the daughter of my uncle, do this deed…….

The Third Kalandar’s Tale (night 14-16)

O my Prince, answered he (=the captain), know that we lost our course on the night of the storm, which was followed on the morrow by a two-days calm during which we made no way ; and we have gone astray eleven days reckoning from that night, with ne'er a wind to bring us back to our true course. Tomorrow by the end of the day we shall come to a mountain of black stone, hight the Magnet Mountain (2) ; for thither the currents carry us willy-nilly. As soon as we are under its lea, the ship's sides will open and every nail in plank will fly out and cleave fast to the mountain ; for that Almighty Allah hath gifted the loadstone with a mysterious virtue and a love for iron, by reason whereof all which is iron travelleth towards it ; and on this mountain is much iron, how much none knoweth save the Most High, from the many vessels which have been lost there since the days of yore………

(they all perish except Kalandar who arrives among people who:)

…………… and bringing a ram they slaughtered it and skinned it. Lastly they gave me a knife saying, Take this skin and stretch thyself upon it and we will sew it around thee ; presently there shall come to thee a certain bird, hight Rukh (3), that will catch thee up in his pounces and tower high in air and then set thee down on a mountain. When thou feelest he is no longer flying, rip open the pelt with this blade and come out of it ; the bird will be scared and will fly away and leave thee free. After this fare for half a day, and the march will place thee at a palace wondrous fair to behold, towering high in air…………

Note: both Abulfeda and Ibn Said have this text about east Africa: To the east of Malindi is Alkerany (Kharani), a jabal (mountain) known to travelers. This mountain goes into the sea for about 100 miles, in north-east direction and at the same time it goes in strait line into the country in southerly direction for about 50 miles. Among the special things of this mountain is: on the continent side of it is an iron mine producing enough for the whole country of the Zendj as well as for export. The other side, in the sea, is magnetic (2).

The History of King Omar Ben Ennuman, and his Sons Sherkan and Zoulmekan (night 17-18)

There reigned once in the City of Peace [Bagdad], before the Khalifate of Abdulmelik ben Merwan (4), a king called Omar ben Ennuman, who was of the mighty giants, and had subdued the kings of Persia and the emperors of the East, for none could warm himself at his fire nor cope with him in battle; and when he was angry there came sparks out of his nostrils. He had gotten him dominion over all countries, and God had subjected unto him all creatures; his commands were obeyed in all the great cities, and his armies penetrated the most distant lands: the East and West came under his rule, with the regions between them, Hind and Sind (5) and China and Hejaz (6) and Yemen and the islands of India and China, Syria and Mesopotamia and the lands of the blacks and the islands of the ocean, and all the famous rivers of the earth, Jaxartes (7) and Bactrus (8) and Nile and Euphrates. He sent his ambassadors to the farthest parts of the earth to fetch him true report,……

Nur Al-Din Ali and the Damsel Anis Al-Jalis (night 35–38)
Now the Wazir Al-Fazl had a son like the full moon when shiniest light, with face radiant in light, cheeks ruddy bright, and a mole like a dot of ambergris on a downy site; as said of him the poet and said full right,
A moon which blights you if you dare behold;
A branch which folds you in its waving fold:
Locks of the Zanj and golden glint of hair;
Sweet gait and form a spear to have and hold:

The tale of Ganem (night 39–45)

A young Syrian merchant. Ganem watches from the top of a pine tree as three slaves bury a chest during the night in a cemetery of Bagdad.

………. The light came nearer and nearer till it was close to the tomb; then it stopped and he saw three slaves, two bearing a chest and one with a lanthorn,…….. know ye not that the owners of the gardens (cemetery) use to come out from Baghdad and tend them and, when evening closes upon them, they enter this place and shut the door, for fear lest the wicked blackmen, like ourselves, should catch them and roast 'em and eat 'em…….. Meanwhile each of us shall tell how he came to be castrated……..

Tale of the First Eunuch, Bukhayt.: Know, O my brothers, that when I was a little one, some five years old, I was taken home from my native country by a slave driver who sold me to a certain Apparitor…….

Taken from : standard text 15th century; trans by Sir Richard Burton as The Arabian Nights, 16 vols, 1885-8.

Alaeddin; or, The Wonderful Lamp. (night 189)

The Maroccan answered,  O my lady, all it wanteth is that there be hanging from the middle of the dome the egg of a fowl called the Rukh (3); and, were this done, the pavilion would lack its peer all the world over. The Princess asked,  What be this bird and where can we find her egg ? and the Maroccan answered, O my lady, the Rukh (3) is indeed a giant fowl which carried off camels and elephants in her pounces and flieth away with them, such is her stature and strength ; also this fowl is mostly found in Mount Kaf (1); and the architect who built this pavilion is able to bring thee one of her eggs. (They never got one)

The story of Mahomed the Lazy (night 300–305)
(on his return from China to Basra) Then they loosed, and proceeded to an island called the Island of the Zendjs (Ethiops in other translations), who are a people of the blacks, that eat the flesh of the sons of Adam. And when the blacks beheld them, they came to them in boats, and, taking all that were in the ship, bound their hands behind them, and conducted them to the King, who ordered them to slaughter a number of the merchants..  ..

The Man of al Yaman and his six Slave Girls (night 335–338)

….the handmaids answered the man of Al-Yaman, We hear and we obey!  Accordingly the blonde rose first and, pointing at the black girl, said to her: Out on thee, blackamoor! It is told by tradition that whiteness said, I am the shining light, I am the rising moon of the fourteenth night. My hue is patent and my brow is resplendent and of my beauty quote the poet,

White girl with softly rounded polished cheeks * As if a pearl concealed by Beauty's boon:

Her stature Alif-like; her smile like Mím * And o'er her eyes two brows that bend like Nun.

'Tis as her glance were arrow, and her brows * Bows ever bent to shoot Death-dart eftsoon:

If cheek and shape thou view, there shalt thou find * Rose, myrtle, basil and Narcissus wone.

Men wont in gardens plant and set the branch, * How many garths thy stature-branch cloth own!

So my colour is like the hale and healthy day and the newly culled orange spray and the star of sparkling ray; and indeed quote Almighty Allah, in His precious Book, to his prophet Moses (on whom be peace!), Put thy hand into thy bosom; it shall come forth white, without hurt.  And again He said, But they whose faces shall become white, shall be in the mercy of Allah; therein shall they remain forever. My colour is a sign, a miracle, and my loveliness supreme and my beauty a term extreme. It is on the like of me that raiment showed fair and fine and to the like of me that hearts incline. Moreover, in whiteness are many excellences; for instance, the snow felled white from heaven, and it is traditional-that the beautifullest of a colours white. The Moslems also glory in white turbans, but I should be tedious, were I to tell all that may be told in praise of white; little and enough is better than too much of unfilling stuff. So now I will begin with thy dispraise, O black, O colour of ink and blacksmith's dust, thou whose face is like the raven which bringeth about the parting of lovers. Verily, the poet saith in praise of white and blame of black,

Seest not that pearls are prized for milky hue, * But with a dirham (9) buy we coals in load?

And while white faces enter Paradise, * Black faces crowd Gehenna's (10) black abode.

And indeed it is told in certain histories, related on the authority of devout men, that Noah (on whom be peace!) was sleeping one day, with his sons Cham and Shem seated at his head, when a wind sprang up and, lifting his clothes, uncovered his nakedness; whereat Cham looked and laughed and did not cover him: but Shem arose and covered him. Presently, their sire awoke and learning, what had been done by his sons, blessed Shem and cursed Cham. (34) So Shem's face was whitened and from him sprang the prophets and the orthodox Caliphs and Kings; whilst Cham's face was blackened and he fled forth to the land of Abyssinia, and of his lineage came the blacks. All people are of one mind in affirming the lack of understanding of the blacks, even as said the adage, 'How shall one find a black with a mind? Quote her master, Sit thee down, thou hast given us sufficient and even excess. Thereupon he signed to the negress, who rose and, pointing her finger at the blonde, said: Dost thou not know that in the Koran sent down to His prophet and apostle, is transmitted the saying of God the Most High, By the night when it covered all things with darkness; by the day when it shines forth! If the night were not the more illustrious, verily Allah had not sworn by it nor had given it precedence of the day. And indeed all men of wit and wisdom accept this. Know thou not that black is the ornament of youth and that, when hoariness descendeth upon the head, delights pass away and the hour of death draws in sight? Were not black the most illustrious of things, Allah had not set it in the core of the heart and the pupil of the eye; and how excellent is the saying of the poet,

I love not black girls but because they show * Youth's colour, tinct of eye and heartcore's hue;

Nor are in error who unlove the white, * And hoary hairs and winding-sheet eschew.'

And that said of another,

Black girls, not white, are they * All worthy love I see: 

Black girls wear dark-brown lips;  * Whites, blotch of leprosy.

And of a third,

Black girls in acts are white, and 'tis as though * Like eyes, with purest shine and sheen they show;

If I go daft for her, be not amazed; * Black bile drives melancholic-mad we know

'Tis as my colour were the noon of night; * For all no moon it be, its splendours glow.

Moreover, is the foregathering of lovers good but in the night? Let this quality and profit suffice thee. What protected lovers from spies and censors like the blackness of night's darkness; and what causes them to fear discovery like the whiteness of the dawn's brightness? So, how many claims to honour are there not in blackness and how excellent is the saying of the poet,

I visit them, and night-black lendeth aid to me * Seconding love, but dawn-white is mine enemy.

And that of another,

How many a night I've passed with the beloved of me, * While gloom with dusky tresses veiled our desires:

But when the morn-light showed it caused me sad affright; * And I to Morning said, 'Who worship light are liars!

And said a third,

He came to see me, hiding neath the skirt of night, * Hasting his steps as wended he in cautious plight.

I rose and spread my cheek upon his path like rug, * Abject, and trailed my skirt to hide it from his sight;

But rose the crescent moon and strave its best to show * The world our loves like nail-slice raying radiant light:

Then what befel befel: I need not aught describe; * But think thy best, and ask me naught of wrong or right.

Meet not thy lover save at night for fear of slander * The Sun's a tittle-tattler and the Moon's a pander.

And a fifth,

I love not white girls blown with fat who puff and pant; * The maid for me is young brunette embonpoint-scant.

I'd rather ride a colt that's darn upon the day * Of race, and set my friends upon the elephant.

And a sixth,

My lover came to me one night, * And clips we both with fond embrace; 

And lay together till we saw * The morning come with swiftest pace. 

Now I pray Allah and my Lord  * To reunite us of His grace

And make night last me long as he * Lies in the arms that tightly lace.

Were I to set forth all the praises of blackness, my tale would be tedious; but little and enough is better than too much of unfilling stuff. As for thee, O blonde, thy colour is that of leprosy and thine embrace is suffocation; and it is of report that hoar-frost and icy cold are in Gehenna (10) for the torment of the wicked. Again, of things black and excellent is ink, wherewith is written Allah's word; and were it not for black ambergris and black musk, there would be no perfumes to carry to Kings. How many glories I may not mention dwell in blackness, and how well said the poet,

Seest not that musk, the nut brown musk, e'er claims the highest price * Whilst for a load of whitest lime none more than dirham (9) bids? And while white speck upon the eye deforms the loveliest youth, * Black eyes discharge the sharpest shafts in lashes from their lids. Quote her master, Sit thee down: this much sufficeth. So she sat down.

The King’s daughter and the Ape (night 356–357)

There was once a King's daughter, whose heart was taken with love of a black slave: he did away her maidenhead, and she became passionately addicted to amorous dalliance, so that she could not endure from it a single hour and made moan of her case to one of her body women, who told her that no thing doth the deed of kind more abundantly than the ape. Now it chanced, one day, that an ape-leader passed under her lattice, with a great ape; so she unveiled her face and looking upon the ape, signed to him with her eyes, whereupon he broke his bonds and shackles and climbed up to the princess, who hid him in a place with her, and he abode, eating and drinking and cricketing, night and day. Her father heard of this and would have killed her; but she took the alarm and disguising herself in a [male] slave's habit, loaded a mule with gold and jewels and precious stuffs past count; then, taking horse with the ape, fled to Cairo, where she took up her abode in one of the houses without the city.

Abd Al-Rahman the Maghribi’s Story of the Rukh (3)(night 404-405)

There was once a man of the people of the Maghrib who had journeyed far and wide and traversed many a desert and a tide. He was once cast upon an island, where he abode a long while and, returning thence to his native country, brought with him the quill of a wing feather of a young Rukh (3), whilst yet in egg and unhatched; and this quill was big enough to hold a goat skin of water, for it is said that the length of the Rukh chick’s wing, when he cometh forth of the egg, is a thousand fathoms (11). The folk marvelled at this quill, when they saw it, and the man who was called Abd al-Rahman the Moor (and he was known, to boot, as the Chinaman, for his long sojourn in Cathay), related to them the following adventure, one of many of his traveller’s tales of marvel. …………….

Note: similar stories about the quill (in Madagascar) are found in Marco Polo; Chou Ch'u-fei; Chao-Ju-Kua; Buzurg ibn Shahriyar.

……………..He was on a voyage in the China seas with a company of merchants, when they sighted an island from afar; so they steered for it and, making fast thereto, saw that it was large and spacious. The ship’s crew went ashore to get wood and water, taking with them hatchets and ropes and water skies (the travellers accompanying them), and presently espied a great dome, white and gleaming, an hundred cubits (15) long. So they made towards it and drawing near, found that it was an egg of the Rukh and fell on it with axes and stones and sticks till they uncovered the young bird and found the chick as it were a firm set hill………..

(at the end of the story the Rukh (3) attacks the ship but they survive).

The First tale of Sindbad (night 539-542)
Taken from: Les voyages de Sind-bad le Marin et les ruses des femmes. 1814 by L. Langlès

We embarked on the eastern sea, which is surrounded by right; the Garb (29), and left; the Farsistan (12); the sea as it is said; from one side to the other 70 farsangs (13) and includes many mountains: its limits are the Zendje and Kolzoum (14); it is the big eastern sea. Its length measured from Kolzoum (14) up to Quac (=wakwak) is 4500 farsangs (13).

Note: this beginning of the story is not found in the Richard Burton translation. The Burton translation however has at the end (not present in the L. Langlès version) that Sindbad buys negro slaves in Baghdad. It is generally believed that East-African slaves were common in Iraq in the years before the big Zanj revolt:

Then I bought me eunuchs and concubines, servants and Negro slaves, till I had a large establishment, and I bought me houses, and lands and gardens, till I was richer and in better case than before, and returned to enjoy the society of my friends and familiars more assiduously than ever, forgetting all I had suffered of fatigue and hardship and strangerhood and every peril of travel. And I applied myself to all manner joys and solaces and delights, eating the daintiest viands and drinking the deliciousest wines, and my wealth allowed this state of things to endure.

The Second tale of Sindbad (night 543-546) 

……At last Destiny brought us to an island….I had heard aforetime of pilgrims and travelers, how in a certain island dwelleth a huge bird, called the "roc," (3) which feedeth its young on elephants, and I was certified that the dome which caught my sight was none other than a roc's egg (3)……

Moreover, there is in this island a kind of wild beast, called rhinoceros, that pastureth as do steers and buffaloes with us; but it is a huge brute, bigger of body than the camel, and like it feedeth upon the leaves and twigs of trees. It is a remarkable animal with a great and thick horn, ten cubits (15) long, a-middleward its head, wherein, when cleft in twain, is the likeness of a man. Voyagers and pilgrims and travelers declare that this beast called karkadan (16) will carry off a great elephant on its horn and graze about the island and the seacoast therewith and take no heed of it till the elephant dieth and its fat, melting in the sun, runneth down into the rhinoceros's eyes and blindeth him, so that he lieth down on the shore. Then comes the bird roc and carrieth off both the rhinoceros and that which is on its horn, to feed its young withal. Moreover, I saw in this island many kinds of oxen and buffaloes, whose like are not found in our country.

……., buying and selling and viewing foreign countries and the works and creatures of Allah till we came to Bassorah (17) city, ............

Taken from : Commerce maritime et islamisation dans l’océan Indien : les premières mosquées swahilies (xie-xiiie siècles)by Stéphane Pradines

The adventures of this marine and Persian trader would be between 806-807. The account of his travels was written later, between 835 to 840, during the reign of Caliph Harun al Rashid (24). On his second trip, Sindbad reaches the region of al-Qumr (where the Roc lives) which includes the Comoros archipelago and northern Madagascar. In the port of Hormuz, he mentions the sale of African ivory tusks. (the ten cubits (15) long horn of the Rhino in the story) Stéphane Pradines got his information out of: Khawam, R. 1985.  Les Aventures de Sindbad le Marin, Phébus. Paris.

The Fifth tale of Sindbad (night 557-559) 

……I bought costly merchandise suited to my purpose and, making it up into bales, repaired to Bassorah (17)……We sailed from city to city and from island to island….. we came to a great uninhabited island,……..(they found): it was a huge roc's egg (3) ……(he then meets another mythical creature from the sea of the zanj; a man with no bones in his legs) So I took him on my back, and carrying him…..and wound his legs about my neck (finally he kills him)…. and we sailed days and nights till Fate brought us to a place called the City of Apes (where the people are harassed by the apes) (see for this Abu al Mahasin 1441 who tells about Mogadishu and Lamu being endlessly harassed by apes)…. Now this place (=city of the apes) was in the farthest part of the country of the blacks,….. going out daily with the coconut gatherers,…. till I had laid up great store of excellent nuts…. We weighed anchor the same day and sailed from island to island……

Amongst other places, we came to an island abounding in cloves and cinnamon and pepper, and the country people told me that by the side of each pepper bunch groweth a great leaf which shadeth it from the sun and casteth the water off it in the wet season; but when the rain ceaseth, the leaf turneth over and droopeth down by the side of the bunch. Here I took in great store of pepper and cloves and cinnamon, in exchange for coconuts, and we passed thence to the Island of Al-Usirat (18), whence cometh the Comorin (30) aloes wood, and thence to another island, five days' journey in length, where grows the Chinese lign aloes, which is better than the Comorin. But the people of this island are fouler of condition and religion than those of the other, for that they love fornication and wine bibbing, and know not prayer nor call to prayer.

Taken from : Commerce maritime et islamisation dans l’océan Indien : les premières mosquées swahilies (xie-xiiie siècles)by Stéphane Pradines

The adventures of this marine and Persian trader would be between 806-807. The account of his travels was written later, between 835 to 840, during the reign of Caliph Harun al Rashid (24). During his fifth trip, Sindbad visit Somalia and the eastern coast to the island of Anjouan where a precious type of aloes grows and Mouya (this accoding to Pradines can be Mayotte) which grow cinnamon and pepper. The aloes wood comes from the island of Chadji located five days from the Comoros, certainly the Maldives. Sindbad therefore passes by the African coast, then via the Comoros, then goes directly to the Maldives and to the Indian coast. Stéphane Pradines got his information out of: Khawam, R. 1985.  Les Aventures de Sindbad le Marin, Phébus. Paris.

The seventh trip of Sindbad (Calcutta edition) (night 564–566)
…..We continued voyaging and coasting along many islands; but, when we were half-way, we were surrounded by a number of canoes, wherein were men like devils armed with bows and arrows, swords and daggers; habited in mail-coats and other armoury…… carried us to an island, where they sold us at the meanest price….. (His new master) gave me the bow and arrows, saying, "Sit here now, and when the elephants troop hither in early morning, shoot at them; be like thou wilt hit one; and, if he fall, come and tell me…. an innumerable host of elephants….. the monster elephant wound his trunk about me and, setting me on his back, went off with me, the others accompanying us. He carried me still unconscious till he reached the place for which he was making, when he rolled me off his back and presently went his ways followed by the others. So I rested a little; and, when my terror had subsided, I looked about me and I found myself among the bones of elephants, whereby I concluded that this was their burial-place, and that the monster elephant had led me thither on account of the tusks…...(he informs his master)…. we have a yearly fair, when merchants come to us from various quarters to buy up these ivories…. We set out and voyaged from island to island till we had crossed the sea and landed on the shores of the Persian Gulf…..

As to show the importance of Baghdad-East Africa relations I wrote down the itineraries of the voyages of Sindbad.

First voyage

Baghdad-Basra-Indonesia-Basra-Baghdad

Second voyage

Baghdad-Basra-Madagascar-Persian Gulf-Basra-Baghdad

Third voyage

Baghdad-Basra-Indian Sea-Basra Baghdad

Forth voyage

Baghdad-Basra- Malabar-Baghdad

Fifth voyage

Baghdad-Basra-East Africa-Comores-Madagascar-Maldives-India-Persian Gulf-Basra-Baghdad

Sixth voyage

Baghdad-Basra-Maldives-Sarandib-Basra-Baghdad

Seventh voyage

Baghdad-Basra-indonesia-Basra-Baghdad

Seventh voyage (Calcutta edition)

Baghdad-Basra-Sarandib-East Africa-Persian Gulf-Baghdad

The tale of the city of Brass: (an ancient Arabian legend) (night 567-578) 
Taken from: M. Gaudefroy-Demombynes Les cent et une nuits tr.de l'arabe 1911  
                     David Pinault; Story-telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights
In the Manuscript 3668 of Paris
The tale of the City of Brass and what happened there in the form of a wondrous tale and wonders. As follows; Ibn Sad el Baghdadi said, One day I was at the court of Abd al Malik ibn Marwan (4) in the time of the Caliphate in Damascus, and before him there was a circle of poets, scholars, and those learned in the law.... one day they took the conversation subject the history of former important kings. Among the real believers, Solomon, Alexander with the two horns (19), with his minister Khidr (20) and among the infidels Kesra (21), and Qaisar (22). From there they get lost in long considerations on the Zendjs, the djinn, and the people. Abd el Mouttalib ben Merwan tells the story of the bottles of Salomon, and an assistant Abd el Camed ben Allah el Iskanderi says he travelled in India with his father and assisted in the fishing of the infidel djinn. The Caliph addressing Taleb el Matalibi counsels him to write to Mousa ben Abd el Qaddous, the governor of the Maghreb (23)....

ON NIGHTS 566 to 578, Shahrazad entertained her sultan with the tale of the City of Brass. She told how a Caliph sent an expedition under Emir Musa to explore in Africa. There they found a vast deserted castle, a jinn imprisoned in a pillar, and finally the City of Brass itself, with its people lying dead in the streets and houses.

And at the foot (of the tabled) were written these verses:-
Where is the wight who peopled in the past
Hind-land and Sind (5); and there the tyrant played?
Who Zanj and Habash bound beneath his yoke,
And Nubia curbed and low its puissance laid.  
Look not for news of what is in the grave.
Ah, he is far who can thy vision aid.
The stroke of death fell on him sharp and sure;
Nor saved him palace, nor the lands he swayed.
The expedition gathered a load of loose treasure, after exploring the city and encountering al-Khadir the search party spent a night at a lake. The divers of Musa bring up jars of brass out of the lake.

An important note got written on this tale by Marina Tolmacheva
The international Journal of African Historical Studies Vol 12 No 2 (1979): They came from Damascus in Syria.
This lays at the basis of the chronicle of Lamu

which tries to establish a connection between the East African Coast, Caliph Abd al Malik and the copper flasks. Harun al Rashid (24), a central figure of the arabian nights, appears in these legends associated with Arab migrants, Persian governors, or Fumo Lyongo (25). Abd al Malik ibn Marwan (4) did not send the first settlers of Lamu in search of copper. Nor did an expedition of Musa ibn Nusayr arrived at a city of brass. The opening sentences of the Lamu chronicle: The first of the people of Lamu were Arabs who came from Damascus in Syria. He who send them was Abdul Malik ibn Marwan (4). It was he who sent them to the Swahili coast at a time when he wanted copper scent-flasks. Two governors of N. Africa stand out as explorers and conquerors of the Maghrib and the land beyond. Uqba ibn Nafi (d683) and Musa ibn Nusayu (d717). Musa becomes the hero of the story of the city of bras.

Taken from; The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia by Ulrich Marzolph

Hayid’s Expedition to the Sources of the Nile (Reinhardt manuscript)

The story is inserted into the story of The City of Brass.

Hayid (33) is a prophet whom God has allowed to live one thousand years. Hayid travels to Persia and from there to Egypt to look for the sources of the Nile. He crosses the lands of the jinn, the Land of Brass, the Land of Silver, and the Land of Gold. He arrives at a mountain of gold, with a bird of brass in a tree made of gold. An inscription on the bird’s wing tells him that Alexander the Great had been there. He then meets his uncle, the prophet Ifrayim (32), who tells him that he himself had reached the sources of the Nile but had been sent back by an angel.

Hayid (33) continues his journey through the Land of Camphor and finds a palace in which al-Khadir (31) and the souls of the martyrs of Islam reside. He receives a pomegranate that will feed him perpetually. After some adventures, Hayid reaches the Land of Saffron and the Land of the Precious Stones. There he sees a dome of pearls with four gates, each at a distance of three months’ travel. The archangel Gabriel appears and tells him that these are the sources of four rivers: the Nile, the Oxus, the Euphrates, and the Iaxartes (26). It is the site of paradise. Hayid (33) drinks from the source and returns to the place where he left Ifrayim, who has meanwhile died. Hayid stays to watch over his grave.

The story is concluded by an anecdote about Caliph ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (27), who puts an end to the custom of having a maiden thrown into the Nile every year, and a description of the Nile.

Khudadad and his brothers (night 592–595)
Said she, O auspicious King, this my tale relateth to the Kingdom of Diyar Bakr in whose capital-city of Harran dwelt a Sultan of illustrious lineage, a protector of the people.....

(a man searching for the sons of the Sultan:)
Khudadad, giving attentive ear, heard her say these words, "O youth, fly this fatal site, else thou wilt fall into the hands of the monster who dwelleth here: a man-devouring Ethiopian (Zangi-i-Adam-kh'war in the Manuscript) is lord of this palace; and he seizeth all whom Fate sendeth to this prairie and locketh them up in darksome and narrow cells that he may preserve them for food." Khudadad exclaimed, "O my lady, tell me I pray thee who thou art and whereabouts was thy home;" and she answered, "I am a daughter of Cairo and of the noblest thereof. But lately, as I wended my way to Baghdad, I alighted upon this plain and met that Habashi, who slew all my servants and carrying me off by force placed me in this palace. I no longer cared to live, and a thousand times better were it for me to die; for that this Abyssinian lusteth to enjoy me and albeit to the present time I have escaped the caresses of the impure wretch, to-morrow an I still refuse to gratify his desire he will surely ravish me and do me dead. So I have given up all hope of safety; but thou, why hast thou come hither to perish? Escape without stay or delay, for he hath gone forth in quest of wayfarers and right soon will he return. Moreover he can see far and wide and can descry all who traverse this world." Now hardly had the lady spoken these words when the Abyssinian drew in sight; and he was as a Ghul of the Wild (28), big of bulk, and fearsome of favour and figure, and he mounted a sturdy Tartar steed, brandishing, as he rode, a weighty blade which none save he could wield. Prince Khudadad seeing this monstrous semblance was sore amazed and prayed Heaven that he might be victorious over that devil: then unsheathing his sword he stood awaiting the Abyssinian's approach with courage and steadfastness; but the blackamoor when he drew near deemed the Prince too slight and puny to fight and was minded to seize him alive. Khudadad, seeing how his foe had no intent to combat, struck him with his sword on the knee a stroke so dour that the negro foamed with rage and yelled a yell so loud that the whole prairie resounded with the plaint. Thereupon the brigand, fiery with fury, rose straight in his shovel-stirrups and struck fiercely at Khudadad with his huge sword and, but for the Prince's cunning of fence and the cleverness of his courser, he would have been sliced in twain like unto a cucumber. Though the scymitar whistled through the air, the blow was harmless, and in an eye-twinkling Khudadad dealt him a second cut and struck off his right hand which fell to the ground with the sword hilt it gripped, when the blackamoor losing his balance rolled from the saddle and made earth resound with the fall. Thereupon the Prince sprang from his steed and deftly severing the enemy's head from his body threw it aside. Now the lady had been looking down at the lattice rigid in prayer for the gallant youth; and, seeing the Abyssinian slain and the Prince victorious, she was overcome with exceeding joy and cried out to her deliverer, "Praise be to Almighty Allah, O my lord, who by thy hand hath defeated and destroyed this fiend. Come now to me within the castle, whose keys are with the Abyssinian; so take them and open the door and deliver me." Khudadad found a large bunch of keys under the dead man's girdle wherewith he opened the portals of the fort and… 

The tale of the Princess of Deryabar (night 596–599)
During the night of the wedding of the king:

....a neighboring prince, who was his enemy, made a
descent by night on the island with a great number of
troops. That formidable enemy was the king Zanguebar:
He surprised those people, and cut to pieces all the
king my husband's subjects.

The History of Gharib and His Brother Ajib (night 625–636)
The battle ( the Muslims against the son of the king of Hind)  waxed fierce and fell, the blood ran in rills, nor did they cease to wage war with lunge of lance and sway of sword in lustiest way, till the day darkened and the night sharpened, when the drums beat the retreat and the two hosts drew asunder. Now the Moslems were evilly entreated that day by reason of the riders on elephants and giraffes, and many of them were killed and most of the rest were wounded. This was grievous to Gharib (King of Iraq and Yemen) who commanded the hurt to be medicined and turning to his Chief Officers, asked them what they counseled. Answered they, O King, tis only the elephants and giraffes that irk us; were we but quit of them, we should overcome the enemy. Quoth Kaylajan and Kurajan, We twain will unsheathe our swords and fall on them and slay the most part of them. But there came forward a man of Oman, who had been privy counselor to Jaland and said, O King, I will be surety for the host, an thou wilt but hearken to me and follow my counsel. Gharib turned to his Captains and said to them, Whatsoever this wise man shall say to you that do.............
Now as soon as it was day, the Indians came out to the field, armed cap a pie, with the elephants, giraffes and champions in their van; whereupon Gharib and his men mounted and both hosts drew out and the big drums beat to battle. Then the man of Oman cried out to the archers and harquebusiers to shoot, and they plied the elephants and giraffes with shafts and leaden bullets, which entered the beasts' flanks, whereat they roared out and turning upon their own ranks, trod them down with their hoofs. Presently the Moslems charged the Misbelievers and outflanked them right and left, whilst the elephants and giraffes trampled them and drove them into the hills and words, whither the Moslems followed hard upon them with the keen-edged sword and but few of the giraffes and elephants escaped............

Story of Prince Sayf Al-Muluk and the Princess Badi'a Al-Jamal (night 759–776)

Taken from: Richard Francis Burton's translation of One Thousand and One Nights vol. 7

When they heard this, they fled back to the boat, without gathering any store of the fruits, and putting out to sea, fared on some days till they came to another island, where they found a high mountain. So they climbed to the top and found there a thick wood. Now they were anhungred; so they fell to eating of the fruits; but, before they aware, there came upon them from among the trees black men of terrible aspect, each fifty cubits (15) high, with teeth like elephants' tusks protruding from their mouths, and laying hands on Seif el Mulouk and his company, carried them to their king, whom they found seated on a piece of black felt laid on a rock, and about him a great company of blacks, standing in his service. Quoth the blacks to him, 'We found these birds among the trees;' and he was anhungred; so he took two of the servants and killed them and ate them; which when Seif saw, he feared for himself and wept and repeated these verses:

Troubles familiar with my heart are grown and I with them, Erst shunning; for the generous are sociable still.

Not one mere kind of woe alone doth lieger with me lie; Praised be God! there are with me thousands of kinds of ill.

Then he sighed and repeated these also:

Fate with afflictions still hath so beshotten me, With shafts, as with a sheath, my entrails are o'erlaid;

And thus in such a case am I become that, when An arrow striketh me, blade breaketh upon blade.

When the king heard his weeping and wailing, he said, Verily, these birds have sweet voices and their song pleaseth me: put them in cages. So they set them each in a cage and hung them up at the king's head, that he might hear their song. On this wise Seif and his men abode a great while, and the blacks gave them to eat and drink: and now they wept and now laughed, now spoke and now were silent, whilst the king of the blacks delighted in the sound of their voices.

Now this king had a daughter married in another island, who, hearing that her father had birds with sweet voices, sent to him to seek of him some of them. So he sent her, by her messenger, Seif el Mulouk and three of his men in four cages; and when she saw them, they pleased her and she commanded to hang them up in a place over her head. Then Seif fell to marvelling at that which had befallen him and calling to mind his former high estate and weeping for himself; and the three servants wept for themselves, whilst the king's daughter deemed that they sang. Now it was her wont, whenever any one from the land of Egypt or elsewhere fell into her hands and he pleased her, to advance him to high estate with her; and by the ordinance of God the Most High, it befell that, when she saw Seif el Mulouk, his beauty and grace and symmetry pleased her, and she commanded to loose him and his companions from their cages and bade entreat them with honour.

One day she took Seif apart and would have him lie with her; but he refused, saying, 'O my lady, I am an exile and distraught with passion for a beloved one, nor will I consent to love-delight with other than her.' Then she coaxed him and importuned him, but he held aloof from her, and she could not anywise approach him nor get her desire of him. At last, when she was weary of courting him in vain, she waxed wroth with him and his men and commanded that they should serve her and fetch her wood and water.

They abode thus four years, till Seif el Mulouk became weary of this life and sent to intercede with the princess, so haply she might release them and let them go their ways and be at rest from that their travail. So she sent for him and said to him, 'If thou wilt fall in with my desire, I will set thee free from this thy duresse and thou shalt go to thy country, safe and sound.' And she went on to humble herself to him and wheedle him, but he would not consent to do her will; whereupon she turned from him, in anger, and he and his companions abode in the same plight. The people of the island knew them for the princess's birds and dared not do them any hurt; and she herself was at ease concerning them, being assured that they could not escape from the island. So they used to absent themselves from her two and three days [at a time] and go round about the island in all directions, gathering firewood, which they brought to the princess's kitchen; and thus they abode five years.

There is a different version of the story taken from a Persian mss; the Burton translation does not have this battles with the Zangis:
Taken from: Qissa-i Saif al-Muluk va Badi' al-Jamal, an anonymous romance. Copied by Muhammad Warith in Thatta 1775

Saif al-Muluk (son of the king of Egypt) is sailing to China. The Zangis attack his ship and capture it. Saif al-Muluk is brought before the King of the Zangis. And later brought before the giant daughter of the Zangi king. Afterwards Saif al-Muluk visits many wonderful places.
At the end of the story: there is a battle between the Zangis and Fakhr al-Muluk.
And the army of the div Anbar, comes to support the Zangis. But the Zangis lose.
Then Anbar and the King of the Zangis are brought as prisoners before Saif al-Muluk.
And the giant daughter of the Zangi king is spared by Saif al-Muluk and married off to an ugly div.

History of Prince Habib (supplemental nights)

(the prince is robbed and left naked in a wild land filled with ferocious animals while on his way to Yaman)

…………….the Sultan Habib walked in the direction of that blackness nor left walking until he drew near the ridge ; but after he could fare no farther and that walking distressed him (he never having been broken to travel afoot and barefoot withal), and his forces waxed feeble and his joints relaxed and his strong will grew weak and his resolution passed away. But whilst he was perplexed concerning what he should do, suddenly there alighted between his hands a snow-white fowl huge as the dome of a Hammam, with shanks like the trunk of a palm-tree. The Sultan Habib marvelled at the sight of this Rukh (3) and saying to himself, Blessed be Allah the Creator ! he advanced slowly towards it and all unknown to the fowl seized its legs. Presently the bird put forth its wings (he still hanging on) and flew upwards to the confines of the sky, when behold, a Voice was heard saying, O Habib ! O Habib ! hold to the bird with straitest hold, else 'twill cast thee down to earth and thou shalt be dashed to pieces limb from limb ! Hearing these words he tightened his grasp and the fowl ceased not flying until it came to that blackness which was the outline of Kaf (1) the mighty mountain, and having set the youth down on the summit it left him and still flew onwards……….

(1) Mount Kaf: Mount Qaf: in Arabic tradition is a mysterious mountain renowned as the "farthest point of the earth" owing to its location at the far side of the ocean.

(2) Magnet Mountain: List of authors who put a magnetic mountain in East Africa.

Idrisi (1150) has mountain Adjoud which attracts ships: Marcel Devic p 76 prefers Adjarrad because that means in arab: screaming (because of the waves hitting the mountain). Other authors who have a magnetic mountain:

Ibn Said (1250) Alkerany mountain magnetic.

Nasir Al Din Al Tousi (1274) Kvhast (mountain) magnet in the sea of Zanzibar.

Alf layla wa layla (15th cent) the Magnet Mountain (where the Ruc bird lives).

Abulfida (1331) al-Kerany (magnetic mountain).

Some authors conclude from this: Nasir Al Din Al Tousi (1274): Therefore ships here are stitched with cord no nails in the ship.

(3) Rukh: Giant bird of Madagascar.

The story of being transported by a Rukh is first found in:  'Sanghadasa: Vasudevahindi; Vasudeva's wanderings (5^th century)' it is the oldest Jain narrative literature written by a Jain monk.

Carudatta in order to earn money leaves his mother and wife and sets out on his journey. His caravan is attacked by a band of robbers. He had to travel through inaccessible mountains and pass-through dangerous rivers. The peak of a mountain had to be crossed by spike-tracks (sanku-atha), by goat-track (aja-patha) and the deep and swift river by holding of cane thickets (vetra-patha). Finally the caravan leader asks the merchants to kill their goats, and slip into the remaining skin-bags so that the huge bharuṇḍa birds could carry them to Ratnadvipa .

That the tube of the feathers of the Roc bird are big enough to be used as buckets is found in: Buzurg ibn Shahriyar (955); Li Kung-Lin (d1106); Chou Ch'u-fei (1178); Ch'en Yuan-Ching (late12 century); Chao Ju-Kua (1226); Ibn Said al Maghribi (1250); Luo Miandao (fl. ca. 1270); Marco Polo (1295); Al-Dimashqi (1325); Chou Chih-Chung (1366); Ning Xian Wang (1430); Ibn Al Wardi (1456); Alf layla wa Layla (15^th); Wang Khi (1609).

(4) Khalifate of Abdulmelik ben Merwan: Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam (644 - 705) was the fifth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 685 until his death.

(5) Sind: now in Pakistan.

(6) Hejaz or Hijaz: the province of Mecca.

(7) Jaxartes: The Syr Darya is a river in Central Asia.

(8) Bactrus: the modern-day Balkh river in northern Afghanistan.

(9) Dirham: silver coin of the Arab world (3 gr of silver).

(10) Gehenna: Hell.

(11) fathoms: a unit of length equal to six feet (1.83 meters) used especially for measuring the depth of water.

(12) Farsistan: Fars is a province in southwest Iran.

(13) farsangs; Parasang: 1 parasangs or farsakhs = 2.8 nautical miles/ about 5km.

(14) Kolzoum; Qolzoum; al-Qulzum: located at the head of the Gulf of Suez.

(15) cubits: Distance from fingers to elbow (45cm).

(16) karkadan: Rhinoceros.

(17) Bassorah: Basra.

(18) the Island of Al-Usirat (Jarirat= island) Langlès calls it the Island of Al-Kamarí.

(19) Alexander with the two horns: the Arabic phrase "Dhul-Qarnayn," as written in the Quran, is "the Two-Horned man." Alexander the Great was portrayed in his own time with horns.

(20) Khidr; Khadir: prophet, who guards the sea, teaches secret knowledge and aids those in distress.

(21) Kesra: Khosrow Persian ruler.

(22) Qaisar: Roman emperor.

(23) Mousa ben Abd el Qaddous, the governor of the Maghreb: most versions of this story have the more correct: Musa ibn Nusayr, the governor of the Maghreb: Musa ibn Nusayr (640 – c. 716) served as a Umayyad governor and an Arab general under the Umayyad caliph Al-Walid I. But not under Abd al Malik ibn Marwan(644 - 705).

(24) Harun al Rashid: (763 – 809) was the fifth Abbasid Caliph.

(25) Fumo Lyongo: was a Swahili writer and chieftain on the northern part of the coast of East Africa somewhere between the 9th and 13th centuries.

(26) Iaxartes: The Syr Darya, historically known as the Jaxartes, is a river in Central Asia.

(27) Caliph ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab: also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, reigning from 634 until his assassination in 644.

(28) Ghul of the Wild: Ghoul is a demon-like being or monstrous humanoid originating in pre-Islamic Arabian religion.

(29) Al garb: Al Harb: the abode of War: the countries that do not follow Islamic Law and so need to be concurred by the Muslims.

(30) Cape Comorin – South India.

(31) Al-Khidr, is a figure described but not mentioned by name in the Quran as a righteous servant of God possessing great wisdom or mystic knowledge. In various Islamic and non-Islamic traditions, Khidr is described as an angel, prophet, or wali, who guards the sea, teaches secret knowledge and aids those in distress.

(32) Ibrahim (=Abraham) is regarded in Islam as the father of the Arab people. In Ibrahim's time, people practised idolatry. Ibrahim refused to worship idols and would only worship one God, Allah. He is known as a hanif, which is a person who lived before Muhammad and who was totally committed to worshipping only one God.

(33) Haid ibn-Abu-Schalum ibn-al-Aiss-ibn-Ishak ibn-Ibrahim: Aiss, called Haid ibn-Abu-Schalum ibn al-Aiss-ibn-Ishak ibn-Ibrahim, also mentioned by Ibn Abd’essalam al-Menoufi (15th); Ibn al-Dawadari (1335) has al-Ais; Grandson of Muhallib bin Muhammad bin Shadi (1126); Suyuti (1505) has: Hayd from the lineage of Ishak; Dhikr Kalam (end 15^th) has Hyad, one of the children of Ees (Aiss); Yaqut’s (1229); Al-Muqaddasi (985) calls him: al-Laith;

(34) This is the curse of Ham which is repeated with variations by:

- Ibn Qutayba (880)

- Ibn Wadih al-Ya'qubi (897)

- Al-Kisa'i (d904)

- Al Tabari (922): collects all that was already written about the subject (including denials).

- Eutychius of Alexandria (940)

- Muhammad Bal'ami (10th)

- Grandson of Muhallib bin Muhammad bin Shadi (1126)

- Al Jawzi (1200): he denies the curse.

- Al-Qazwini (1283) in Atar al Bilad

- Al Rabghuzi (1300)

- Al Dimashqi (1325)

- Ibn Khaldun (1406): he denies the curse.

- al Maqrizi (1441)

- Mirkhond (1495)

- Alf layla wa Layla (15th)

- Suyuti (1505): in some of his books refutes it in others he just repeats it.

And many others.