Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 4 1886.djvu/293

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BIBLIOGRAPHY OF FOLK-LORE. 285

bis cup. He then went on to India, and made Kaid, the king, pay him tribute, after which he went on to Qanauj (Kanauj), and defeated and slew Fur (Porus), the king, in battle. He next visited Tibat (Tibet), and concluded a treaty with the emperor of Chin (China). He next went to Bus (Russia), from which he rescued his friend Naushaba, the queen of Barda', whom the Russians had captured. He next tried to discover the waters of immortality by the aid of Khwaja Khizar, but failed, and returned disappointed to Rum. Heie he sought the society of philosophers, of whom Aflatiin (Plato) was one, and of whom he learnt many new things. At last the angel Jibril (^Gabriel) appeared to him, and told him he was a prophet like Musa (Moses). He then visited the lands of the west (mulk-i- maghrab), where he had many wonderful adventures, discovering where the sun sets, in Bahru'l-mahit. He then discovered the source of the Nile, and, returning to the eastern ocean, he set up a high statue warning sailors against a dangerous place. He then went again to Chin, and visited the land of Juj and Majiij (Glog and Magog), where he built a metal wall, and on his way home he died.*

14. Nauratan, Nine Jewels, by Mahjiir, published in 1230 a.h., or 1811 A.D., at the Nawal Kishor Press, Lucknow : 180 pp. 8vo. It is an Urdu book of stories turning on the " Deceits (Charitr) of Women."

Story No. 1. — A man had a chaste wife, over whom he kept strict guard, despite her remonstrances, so she played a trick on him. She pretended to be ill, and that no one could cure her but an old nurse {dell). So the old woman was sent for, and between them they played a trick on the husband. Nothing could cure her, they said, but a jar of magic {jddu kd matkd), and that the husband must bring it over- night, and take it away next day on his head to a place the nurse

  • The above is history garbled as only an Asiatic can garble it, but it is curious

to note the tribute paid throughout to the civilising influence exercised by Alex- ander wherever he went, which it is too much the fashion to decry in Europe, a fashion aided no doubt by the ridiculous story of his weeping because there were uo more worlds to conquer.