HIKAYAT ABU NAWAS. IT 



(4) p. 10. Sultan Harun a'r-Eashid gives Abu Nawas two 



goats. They are each to be fed with the 

 same quantity of the same food for 40 days. 

 At the end of that time one is to be fat and 

 the other lean. Abu Nawas puts a cat in 

 the pen of one of the goats and the cat's 

 restless movements keep the goat lean. 



(5) p. 12. Harun a'r-Eashid orders Abu Nawas to find 



six head of cattle, bearded and gifted with 

 speech. Abu Nawas brings bearded louts 

 who cannot say what is the day of the week ! 



(6) p. 14. Abu Nawas wants money. He invites Harun 



a'r-Eashid to accompany him to a Bedouin 

 house to hear wonderful music. He in- 

 duces the Sultan to sit under a tree, while 

 he goes up to a Bedouin agriculturist and 

 sells him Harun a'r-Eashid as a slave. 



(7) p. 21. Harun a'r-Eashid wants to kill Abu Nawas for 



his treachery. Abu Nawas pretends to be 

 dead, having first instructed his wife to ask 

 the Sultan in the presence of all the mourn- 

 ers to forgive all the deceased's sins towards 

 him in this world and the next. The Sultan 

 does so, whereupon Abu Nawas comes to 

 life. 



(8) p. 26. Abu Nawas declines to present himself to court 



on the plea that he is pregnant; as it ap- 

 pears later, in a metaphorical sense. 



(9) p. 30. Harun a'r-Eashid knowing that the mother of 



Abu Nawas is dead orders him to bring her 

 to court. Promising to divide the reward, 

 100 dinars, with her, Abu Nawas persuades 

 an old cake-seller to adopt him and brings 

 her. When the Sultan decrees him 100 

 stripes, Abu Nawas represents that he 

 should get only 50 and the old woman 50, 

 as they had agreed to share alike. The 

 Sultan pardons both. 



'(10) p. 35. Harun a'r-Eashid, having secretly given a num- 

 ber of divers an egg apiece, calls Abu Nawas 

 and* orders them all to dive into a pond : 

 whoever fails to bring up an egg is to be 

 punished. Abu Nawas fails but escapes 

 punishment by protesting that all the others 

 are hens but he a cock ! 



(11) p. 37. At a maulud gathering, the court attendants 

 sprinkle the company with rose-water but. 

 Abu Nawas with ayer seni! Abu Nawas 

 pretends to be ill and when the Sultan 



R. A. Soc, No. 81, 1920. 



