“It is strange men should dwell in the house of abjection, when
   the plain of God’s earth is so wide and great."[FN#443]

But there is another verse in the same tale that is also well worth remembering—­we mean the one uttered by Badr al-Din Hasan (turned tart merchant) when struck by a stone thrown by his son.

Unjust it were to bid the world be just; and blame her not:  She
  ne’er was made for justice: 
Take what she gives thee, leave all griefs aside, for now to
fair and
  Then to foul her lust is.[FN#444]

We need do no more than mention the world-famous stories of the unfortunate Hunchback and the pragmatical but charitable Barber.  Very lovely is the tale of Nur al-Din and the Damsel Anis al Jalis[FN#445] better known as “Noureddin and the Beautiful Persian.”  How tender is the scene when they enter the Sultan’s garden!  “Then they fared forth at once from the city, and Allah spread over them His veil of protection, so that they reached the river bank, where they found a vessel ready for sea.”  Arrived at Baghdad they enter a garden which turns out to be the Sultan’s.  “By Allah,” quoth Nur al-Din to the damsel, “right pleasant is this place.”  And she replied, “O my lord, sit with me awhile on this bench, and let us take our ease.  So they mounted and sat them down ... and the breeze blew cool on them, and they fell asleep, and glory be to Him who never sleepeth.”  Little need to enquire what it is that entwines The Arabian Nights round our hearts.

When calamity over took Nur al-Din he mused on the folly of heaping up riches: 

“Kisra and Caesars in a bygone day stored wealth; where is it,
   and ah! where are they?"[FN#446]

But all came right in the end, for “Allah’s aid is ever near at hand.”  The tale of Ghanim bin Ayyub also ends happily.  Then follows the interminable history of the lecherous and bellicose King Omar.  Very striking is its opening episode—­the meeting of Prince Sharrkan with the lovely Abrizah.  “Though a lady like the moon at fullest, with ringleted hair and forehead sheeny white, and eyes wondrous wide and black and bright, and temple locks like the scorpion’s tail,” she was a mighty wrestler, and threw her admirer three times.  The tender episode of the adventures of the two forlorn royal children in Jerusalem is unforgettable; while the inner story of Aziz and Azizah, with the touching account of Azizah’s death, takes perhaps the highest place in the Nights.  The tale of King Omar, however, has too much fighting, just as that of Ali bin Bakkar and Shams al Nahar, the amourist martyrs, as Burton calls them, has too much philandering.  Then comes the Tale of Kamar al Zaman I—­about the Prince and the Princess whose beauty set the fairy and the jinni disputing.  How winning were the two wives of Kamar al Zaman in their youth; how revolting after!  The interpolated tale of Ni’amah and Naomi is tender and pretty, and as the Arabs say,