us now compare the two famous
translations. As we have already mentioned, Burton in his
Translator's Foreword did not do Mr. Payne complete justice,
but he pays so many compliments to Mr. Payne's translation elsewhere
that no one can suppose that he desired to underrate the work of his
friend. In the Foreword he says that Mr. Payne "succeeds admirably
in the most difficult passages and often hits upon choice and
special terms and the exact vernacular equivalent of the foreign
word so happily and so picturesquely that all future translators
must perforce use the same expression under pain of falling far
short." Still this does not go far enough, seeing that, as we said
before, he made his translation very largely a paraphrase of
Payne's. Consequently he was able to get done in two broken years
(April 1884 to April 1886) and with several other books in hand,
work that had occupied Mr. Payne six years (1876-1882). Let us now
take Mr. Payne's rendering and Burton's rendering of two short tales
and put them in juxtaposition. The Blacksmith who could handle Fire
without Hurt and Abu Al Hasan and Abu Ja'afar the Leper will suit
our purpose admirably.

The portion taken by Burton from Payne are in italics.

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-hot,
iron, without its doing without the flames
him any hurt. So he set doing him aught of hurt.
out for the town in question So he set out for the town in
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 ti