Charles John Tibbitts - Folk-Lore and Legends: Oriental

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FOLK-LORE
AND
LEGENDS
ORIENTAL

Decoration

W. W. GIBBINGS
18 BURY ST., LONDON, W.C.
1889

PREFATORY NOTE

The East is rich in Folklore, and the lorist is not troubled to discover material, but to select only that which it is best worth his while to preserve. The conditions under which the people live are most favourable to the preservation of the ancient legends, and the cultivation of the powers of narration fits the Oriental to present his stories in a more polished style than is usual in the Western countries. The reader of these tales will observe many points of similarity between them and the popular fictions of the Westsimilarity of thought and incidentand nothing, perhaps, speaks more eloquently the universal brotherhood of man than this oneness of folk-fiction. At the same time, the Tales of the East are unique, lighted up as they are by a gorgeous extravagance of imagination which never fails to attract and delight.

C. J. T.

CONTENTS

PAGE

The Cobbler Astrologer,

The Legend of the Terrestrial Paradise of Sheddd, the Son of Ad,

The Tomb of Noosheerwn,

Ameen and the Ghool,

The Relations of Ssidi Kur,

The Adventures of the Rich Youth,

The Adventures of the Beggars Son,

The Adventures of Massang,

The Magician with the Swines Head,

The History of Sunshine and his Brother,

The Wonderful Man who overcame the Chan,

The Bird-Man,

The Painter and the Wood-carver,

The Stealing of the Heart,

The Man and his Wife,

Of the Maiden Ssuwarandari,

The Two Cats,

Legend of Dhurrumnath,

The Travellers Adventure,

The Seven Stages of Roostem,

The Man who never Laughed,

The Fox and the Wolf,

The Shepherd and the Jogie,

The Perfidious Vizier,

THE COBBLER ASTROLOGER.

In the great city of Isfahan lived Ahmed the cobbler, an honest and industrious man, whose wish was to pass through life quietly; and he might have done so, had he not married a handsome wife, who, although she had condescended to accept of him as a husband, was far from being contented with his humble sphere of life.

Sittra, such was the name of Ahmeds wife, was ever forming foolish schemes of riches and grandeur; and though Ahmed never encouraged them, he was too fond a husband to quarrel with what gave her pleasure. An incredulous smile or a shake of the head was his only answer to her often-told day-dreams; and she continued to persuade herself that she was certainly destined to great fortune.

It happened one evening, while in this temper of mind, that she went to the Hemmm, where she saw a lady retiring dressed in a magnificent robe, covered with jewels, and surrounded by slaves. This was the very condition Sittra had always longed for, and she eagerly inquired the name of the happy person who had so many attendants and such fine jewels. She learned it was the wife of the chief astrologer to the king. With this information she returned home. Her husband met her at the door, but was received with a frown, nor could all his caresses obtain a smile or a word; for several hours she continued silent, and in apparent misery. At length she said

Cease your caresses, unless you are ready to give me a proof that you do really and sincerely love me.

What proof of love, exclaimed poor Ahmed, can you desire which I will not give?

Give over cobbling; it is a vile, low trade, and never yields more than ten or twelve dinars a day. Turn astrologer! your fortune will be made, and I shall have all I wish, and be happy.

Astrologer! cried Ahmed,astrologer! Have you forgotten who I ama cobbler, without any learningthat you want me to engage in a profession which requires so much skill and knowledge?

I neither think nor care about your qualifications, said the enraged wife; all I know is, that if you do not turn astrologer immediately I will be divorced from you to-morrow.

The cobbler remonstrated, but in vain. The figure of the astrologers wife, with her jewels and her slaves, had taken complete possession of Sittras imagination. All night it haunted her; she dreamt of nothing else, and on awaking declared she would leave the house if her husband did not comply with her wishes. What could poor Ahmed do? He was no astrologer, but he was dotingly fond of his wife, and he could not bear the idea of losing her. He promised to obey, and, having sold his little stock, bought an astrolabe, an astronomical almanac, and a table of the twelve signs of the zodiac. Furnished with these he went to the market-place, crying, I am an astrologer! I know the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the twelve signs of the zodiac; I can calculate nativities; I can foretell everything that is to happen!

No man was better known than Ahmed the cobbler. A crowd soon gathered round him. What! friend Ahmed, said one, have you worked till your head is turned? Are you tired of looking down at your last, cried another, that you are now looking up at the planets? These and a thousand other jokes assailed the ears of the poor cobbler, who, notwithstanding, continued to exclaim that he was an astrologer, having resolved on doing what he could to please his beautiful wife.

It so happened that the kings jeweller was passing by. He was in great distress, having lost the richest ruby belonging to the crown. Every search had been made to recover this inestimable jewel, but to no purpose; and as the jeweller knew he could no longer conceal its loss from the king, he looked forward to death as inevitable. In this hopeless state, while wandering about the town, he reached the crowd around Ahmed and asked what was the matter. Dont you know Ahmed the cobbler? said one of the bystanders, laughing; he has been inspired, and is become an astrologer.

A drowning man will catch at a broken reed: the jeweller no sooner heard the sound of the word astrologer, than he went up to Ahmed, told him what had happened, and said, If you understand your art, you must be able to discover the kings ruby. Do so, and I will give you two hundred pieces of gold. But if you do not succeed within six hours, I will use all my influence at court to have you put to death as an impostor.

Poor Ahmed was thunderstruck. He stood long without being able to move or speak, reflecting on his misfortunes, and grieving, above all, that his wife, whom he so loved, had, by her envy and selfishness, brought him to such a fearful alternative. Full of these sad thoughts, he exclaimed aloud, O woman, woman! thou art more baneful to the happiness of man than the poisonous dragon of the desert!

The lost ruby had been secreted by the jewellers wife, who, disquieted by those alarms which ever attend guilt, sent one of her female slaves to watch her husband. This slave, on seeing her master speak to the astrologer, drew near; and when she heard Ahmed, after some moments of apparent abstraction, compare a woman to a poisonous dragon, she was satisfied that he must know everything. She ran to her mistress, and, breathless with fear, cried, You are discovered, my dear mistress, you are discovered by a vile astrologer. Before six hours are past the whole story will be known, and you will become infamous, if you are even so fortunate as to escape with life, unless you can find some way of prevailing on him to be merciful. She then related what she had seen and heard; and Ahmeds exclamation carried as complete conviction to the mind of the terrified mistress as it had done to that of her slave.

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