n, which became the sacred book of the Arabians, and in which is
traced in outline the true plan of man's salvation--Death,
Resurrection, the Judgment, Paradise and the place of torment. Good and
evil spirits, the four archangels, Gabriel, Michael, Azrael and
Izrafeel, are all found in the Koran; but clothed with a true Oriental
fancy. Besides the angels there are creatures, partly human and partly
spiritual, called Genii, Peris (or fairies) and Deev (or giants). The
Genii have the power of making themselves seen or invisible at
pleasure. Some of them delight in mischief, and raise whirlwinds, or
lead travellers astray. The Arabians used to say that shooting stars
were arrows shot by the angels against the Genii when they approached
too near the forbidden regions of bliss.

This fairy mythology of the Arabians was introduced into Europe by the
Troubadours in the eleventh century, and became an important factor in
the literature of Europe. From it, and the Scandinavian mythology
spring all the fairy tales of modern nations. And these romances of the
Koran form the groundwork of the fabliaux of the Trouveres, and of the
romantic epics of Boccaccio, Tasso, Ariosto, Spenser and Shakespeare.
Mohammed's teaching unified the different tribes of Arabia, and
fostered a feeling of national pride, and a desire for learning. So
rapidly did this develop that in less than a century the Arabian power
and religion, as well as its language, had gained the ascendency over
nearly half of Africa, a third of Asia, and a part of Spain; and from
the ninth century to the sixteenth, the Arabian literature surpassed
that of any nations of the same period.

This people, who, in a barbarous state had tried to abolish all
cultivation in science and literature, now became the masters of
learning, and they drew from the treasure houses of the countries that
they had acquired by conquest, all the riches of knowledge at their
command.

The learning of the Chaldeans and of the Magi, the poetry and fine arts
of Asia Minor, the eloquence and intellect of Africa, all became theirs.

Greece counts nearly eight centuries from the Trojan war to the summit
of her literary development. From the foundation of Rome till the age
of Augustus the same number of centuries passed over the Roman world;
while in French literature the age of Louis XIV was twelve centuries
removed from the advent of Clovis; but in Arabian literature, from the
time of the family of the