Page:The Arabian nights' entertainments - Longman 1898 Crown edition.djvu/17

 Rh put in, and plenty of verses. Neither the verses nor the dull pieces are given in this book.

People in France and England knew almost nothing about 'The Arabian Nights' till the reigns of Queen Anne and George I, when they were translated into French by Monsieur Galland. Grown-up people were then very fond of fairy tales, and they thought these Arab stories the best that they had ever read. They were delighted with Ghouls (who live among the tombs) and Geni, who seem to be a kind of ogres, and with Princesses who work magic spells, and with Peris, who are Arab fairies. Sinbad had adventures which perhaps came out of the Odyssey of Homer; in fact, all the East had contributed its wonders, and sent them to Europe in one parcel. Young men once made a noise at Monsieur Galland's windows in the dead of night, and asked him to tell them one of his marvellous tales. Nobody talked of anything but dervishes and vizirs, rocs and peris. The stories were translated from French into all languages, and only Bishop Atterbury complained that the tales were not likely to be true, and had no moral. The Bishop was presently banished for being on the side of Prince Charlie's father, and had leisure to repent of being so solemn.

In this book 'The Arabian Nights' are translated from the French version of Monsieur Galland, who dropped out the poetry and a great deal of what the Arabian