witty, and as full of what is popularly called "chaff" as it is
possible to be. There is not a dull page in it, and it will especially
please those who delight in the weird and supernatural, the
grotesque, and the wild life.

My husband only gives eleven of the best tales, as it was thought
the translation would prove more interesting in its abbreviated
form.

ISABEL BURTON.

August 18th, 1893.


PREFACE TO THE FIRST (1870) EDITION.

"THE genius of Eastern nations," says an established and
respectable authority, "was, from the earliest times, much turned
towards invention and the love of fiction. The Indians, the
Persians, and the Arabians, were all famous for their fables.
Amongst the ancient Greeks we hear of the Ionian and Milesian
tales, but they have now perished, and, from every account we hear
of them, appear to have been loose and indelicate." Similarly, the
classical dictionaries define "Milesiae fabulae" to be "licentious
themes," "stories of an amatory or mirthful nature," or "ludicrous
and indecent plays." M. Deriege seems indeed to confound them
with the "Moeurs du Temps" illustrated with artistic gouaches,
when he says, "une de ces fables milesiennes, rehaussees de
peintures, que la corruption romaine recherchait alors avec une
folle ardeur."