Rabelaisian in its humour, and the manner in which the Persian and the
Kurd describe the contents of the small bag that had been lost. All
sorts of things are mentioned in a haphazard way, many of them,
however, perhaps, being required to fulfil the exigencies of the
rhymed prose in which the story is written in the original Arabic.

The Man of Al-Yaman and his six Slave-Girls.--The six girls in this
story have all different qualities. One is white, another brown, the
third fat, the fourth lean, the fifth yellow, and the sixth black. The
happy owner gets them together, and in verse and recitation each
praises her own peculiarity, and abuses that of her opposite by
examples and quotations. There is an Oriental twang about the story
which makes it worthy of notice, and some of the verses are not bad.

Abu Al-Husn and his slave-girl Tawaddud.--This story is not amusing,
but it is very interesting, especially to persons studying the minute
details of the Muhammadan faith, doctrine and practice, according to
the Shafai school, and the exegesis of the Koran, all of which are
wonderfully expounded by the slave-girl. In the shape of questions and
answers an enormous amount of information of all sorts is put into the
mouth of this highly accomplished female. The writer deals not only
with theology, but also with physiology in all its branches, or, at
least, with as many as were known at the period of the tale. Further,
medicine, astronomy, philosophy, and all kinds of knowledge are
discussed. A series of conundrums are put to the girl and replied to
by her, and she also displays her skill in chess, draughts,
backgammon, and music.

It is to be regretted that the exact date of this species of
Mangnall's Questions and Answers cannot be ascertained, for this would
enable us to appreciate better the amount of knowledge displayed on
the various subjects under discussion. Anyhow, it is certain that it
must have been written some time after the doctrines of the Imam
Shafai (he died A.D. 820) had been well-defined and established. Owing
to certain medical and surgical queries and replies, it is to be
presumed that the whole must have been worked up after the Arab school
of medicine and physiology had arrived at their highest stage of
perfection. The whole story is a good specimen of the state of
civilization reached by the Arabs, and as such is worth a reference.

Three other stories in the 'Nights' bear some affinity to the above,