Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 7 1889.djvu/450

 106 TABULATION OF FOLKTALES.

Remarks by the Tabulator.— The stories of Mohammed the Languid (pp. 149 — 189) and Hasserbu Karum ed deen (pp. 331 — 361) have not been tabulated here, as they are taken from the Arabian Nights. Dr. Steere says, " They occur in Arabian Mglits. Mohammed the Languid, which is chapter xiv. of Lane's translation, appears under the title of Aboo-Moham- med the Lazy (it will be seen on comparison that the variations of the Swahili are almost all by way of abridgment). Hasseebu Kareem ed deen is not included in Lane's translation. We have an Arabic MS. in the mission library at Zanzibar, containing the story of ' Haseebu,' but differ- ing in many of the names and circumstances from the form given in the Arabian Nights. I do not know how far others of the tales may come from Arab sources. It must be remembered that as a Swahili is by defini- tion a man of mixed Negro and Arab descent, he has an equal right to tell tales of Arab and Negro origin."

(Signed) Janet Key.