[FN#478] Burton, indeed, while habitually paraphrasing Payne, no less habitually resorts, by way of covering his “conveyances,” to the clumsy expedient of loading the test with tasteless and grotesque additions and variations (e.g., “with gladness and goodly gree,” “suffering from black leprosy,” “grief and grame,” “Hades-tombed,” “a garth right sheen,” “e’en tombed in their tombs,” &c., &c.), which are not only meaningless, but often in complete opposition to the spirit and even the letter of the original, and, in any case, exasperating in the highest degree to any reader with a sense of style.

[FN#479] Burton’s A. N., v., 135; Lib.  Ed., iv., 95.

         Payne Burton
     Vol.  V. p. 25 Vol.  V. p. 271
                                (Lib.  Ed., vol. iv., p. 220)

The blacksmith who               the blacksmith who
could handle fire                 could handle fire
without hurt                       without hurt

A certain pious man             It reached the ears of
once heard that there           a certain pious man that
abode in such a town a          there abode in such a town
blacksmith who could            a blacksmith who could
put his hand into the fire      put his hand into the fire
and pull out the red-hot        and pull out the iron red-iron, without its doing         hot, without the flames
him any hurt.   So he set        doing him aught of hurt.
out for the town in ques-       So he set out for the town in
tion and enquiring for the      question and asked for
blacksmith, watched him         the blacksmith; and when
at work and saw him do          the man was shown to
as had been reported to         him; he watched him at
him.   He waited till he         work and saw him do as
had made an end of his          had been reported to him.
day’s work, then going          He waited till he had made
up to him, saluted him          an end of his day’s work;
and said to him, “I             then, going up to him,
would fain be thy guest         saluted him with the salam
this night.”   “With all         and said, “I would be thy
my heart,” replied the          guest this night.”   Replied
smith, and carried him to       the smith, “With gladness
his house, where they           and goodly gree!” and
supped together and lay         carried him to his place,
down to sleep.   The guest       where they supped together
watched his host, but           and lay down to sleep.
found no sign of [special]      The guest watched but saw
devoutness in him and           no sign in his host of pray-said to himself.   “Belike       ing through the night or
he concealeth himself from      of special devoutness, and
me.”   So he lodged with         said in his mind, “Haply
him a second and a third        he hideth himself from
night, but found that he        me.”   So he lodged with

[FN#480] Or Karim-al-Din.  Burton’s A. N., v., 299; Lib.  Ed., iv., 246; Payne’s A. N., v. 52.