Prefatory Note


The Pacha of Many Tales, as indeed its title suggests, is constructed in
direct imitation of the _Arabian Nights_. A Pacha of olden days,
enchanted by the stories of Schezehezerade, becomes emulous of the great
Haroun, and determines to procure his own stock of entertainment. By the
assistance of a wily barber-vizier he succeeds in the attempt, and
listens with greedy credulity to the marvellous histories herein set
forth.

On one occasion an English sailor is dragged into the august presence,
and demands, with all the dogged independence of his race, the reasons
for such treatment.

"You must tell lies, and you will have gold," replies the vizier.

"Tell lies," says Jack Tar, "that is, spin yarns. Well, I can do that."

The volume before us could not be more suggestively described. It is a
collection of admirable short stories of intrigue and adventure,
traveller's wonders narrated with a perfect air of good faith and no
regard for truth or probability. All the countries on the globe, and
many existing only in the imagination, are called into requisition to
produce a brilliant phantasmagoria of manners and customs. The stories
move rapidly and defy criticism by the very occasion of their being,