Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp | Page 7

discoveries and
especially until the reappearance of Galland's missing text, which I am
convinced must exist in some shape or other and cannot much longer,
in the face of the revived interest awakened in the matter and the
systematic process of investigation now likely to be employed, elude
research.
M. Zotenberg's publication having been confined to the text of Aladdin,
I have to thank my friend Sir R. F. Burton for the loan of his MS. copy

of Zeyn Alasnam, (the Arabic text of which still remains unpublished)
as transcribed by M. Houdas from the Sebbagh MS.

ZEIN UL ASNAM AND THE KING OF THE JINN.

There [FN#21] was [once] in the city of Bassora a mighty Sultan and
he was exceeding rich, but he had no child who should be his successor
[FN#22] after him. For this he grieved sore and fell to bestowing alms
galore upon the poor and the needy and upon the friends [FN#23] of
God and the devout, seeking their intercession with God the Most High,
so He to whom belong might and majesty should of His favour
vouchsafe him a son. And God accepted his prayer, for his fostering of
the poor, and answered his petition; so that one night of the nights he
lay with the queen and she went from him with child. When the Sultan
knew this, he rejoiced with an exceeding joy, and as the time of her
child-bearing drew nigh, he assembled all the astrologers and those
who smote the sand [FN#24] and said to them, "It is my will that ye
enquire concerning the child that shall be born to me this month,
whether it will be male or female, and tell me what will betide it of
chances and what will proceed from it." [FN#25] So the geomancers
smote their [tables of] sand and the astrologers took their altitudes
[FN#26] and observed the star of the babe [un]born and said to the
Sultan, "O King of the age and lord of the time and the tide, the child
that shall be born to thee of the queen is a male and it beseemeth that
thou name him Zein ul Asnam." [FN#27] And as for those who smote
upon the sand, they said to him, "Know, O King, that this babe will
become a renowned brave, [FN#28] but he shall happen in his time
upon certain travail and tribulation; yet, an he endure with fortitude
against that which shall befall him, he shall become the richest of the
kings of the world." And the King said to them, "Since the babe shall
become valiant as ye avouch, the toil and travail which will befall him
are nought, for that tribulations teach the sons of kings."
Accordingly, after a few days, the queen gave birth to a male child,
extolled be the perfection of Him who created him surpassing in grace
and goodliness! His father named him Zein ul Asnam, and he was as
say of him certain of his praisers [FN#29] in verse: [FN#30]
He shows and "Now Allah be blessed!" men say: "Extol we his Maker

and Fashioner aye! The king of the fair [FN#31] this is, sure, one and
all; Ay, his thralls, every one, and his liegemen are they."
The boy grew and flourished till he came to the age of five [FN#32]
years, when his father the Sultan assigned him a governor skilled and
versed in all sciences and philosophies, and he proceeded to teach him
till he excelled in all manner of knowledge and became a young man.
[FN#33] Then the Sultan bade bring him before himself, and
assembling all the grandees of his realm and the chiefs of his subjects,
proceeded to admonish him before them, saying to him, "O my son
Zein ul Asnam, behold, I am grown stricken in years and am presently
sick; and belike this sickness will be the last of my life in this world
and thou shalt sit in my stead; [wherefore I desire to admonish thee].
Beware, O my son, lest thou oppress any or turn a deaf ear to the
complaining of the poor; but do thou justify the oppressed after the
measure of thy might. And look thou believe not all that shall be said to
thee by the great ones of the people, but trust thou still for the most part
to the voice of the common folk; for the great will deceive thee, seeing
they seek that which befitteth themselves, not that which befitteth the
subject." Then, after a few days, the Sultan's sickness redoubled on him
and he accomplished his term and died; and as for his son Zein ul
Asnam, he arose and donning the raiment of woe, [mourned] for his
father the space of six days. On the