thou who art called Kurroglu, the glory of thy name has thrown a spell over the countries of Turkey.  I have heard that thou hast carried away Ayvaz from the town of Orfah.  My name is Princess Nighara, Sultan Murad’s daughter.  I tell thee, that thou mayest learn if thou dost not know it, that for a long time I have felt an ardent desire of seeing thee.  If thou art distinguished by courage, come to Istambul and carry me away.”

And the bold Kurroglu, when he read the lady’s billet, assumed the dress of a Haji, gained access to the seraglio gardens on the presence that he was entrusted with a private message to the Princess Nighara from her father the Sultan, whom he had met on the road to Mecca, and carried the amorous young lady to his fortress of Chamley-bill.—­The story, together with the scene between the princess and Kurroglu in the gardens and the palace, is, no doubt, a true picture of the “ways” of Turkish ladies of high degree in former times, and confirms much that Sir Richard has stated regarding Eastern women in his notes to The Nights and his Terminal Essay.

A very different sort of Aladdin

figures in a story which in the first part bears some analogy to the celebrated Arabian tale, and which occurs in an interesting little work, now apparently forgotten, entitled “The Orientalist, or, Letters of a Rabbi (see Vol. 16, App. 4).  With Notes by James Noble, Oriental Master in the Scottish Naval and Military Academy,” Edinburgh, 1831.  The substance of the story is as follows (p. 118 ff.): 

An aged Dervish falls ill in the house of a poor widow, who tends him with great care, with which he is so touched that he offers to take charge of her only son Abdallah.  The good woman gladly consents, and the Dervish sets out accompanied by his young ward, having intimated to his mother that they must perform a journey which would last about two years.  One day they arrived at a solitary place, and the Dervish said to Abdallah, “My son, we are now at the end of our journey.  I shall employ my prayers to obtain from Allah that the earth shall open and make an entrance wide enough to permit thee to descend into a place where thou shalt find one of the greatest treasures that the earth contains.  Hast thou courage to descend into the subterranean vault?” Abdallah swore he might depend upon his obedience and zeal.  Then the Dervish lighted a small fire, into which he cast a perfume; he read and prayed for some moments, after which the earth opened, and he said to the young man, “Thou mayest now enter.  Remember that it is in thy power to do me a great service, and that this is perhaps the only opportunity thou shalt ever have of testifying to me that thou art not ungrateful.  Do not let thyself be dazzled by all the riches that thou shalt find there:  think only of seizing upon an iron candlestick with twelve branches, which thou shalt find close to the door.  That is absolutely necessary to me; come up immediately and bring it to me.”