Some current Persian. Tales, collected in the South of Persia from. Profes- 

 sional Story-tellers. 



i .---..,: ,....' £ hafi ; "'' .. - / . • - . 



+ - By Lleut. -Colonel D. C. Phillott, Secretary to the Board of Examiners. 



[Read June 6ih, 1906;] 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



The Persians; like the Arabs, aire passionately fond of listening to story-tellers. 

 Their stories are highly dramatic, and, though often adorned by fine quotations from 

 their most esteemed writers, generally contain many passages that are, according to 

 English ideas, indecent or immoral. The favourite topic is the wickedness of women. 

 That women though " deficient in sense " excel m cunning, is a Muslim axiom. There 

 is a tradition that the Prophet said, "I will stand at Hell's door and the most that 

 enter there will be women." ' It is but fair to state that the stories of the depravity of 

 women have been composed by men. Arab women say >UiJI <±>S ^ *&l J^l ^ 

 c The cunning of men is greater than the cunning of women," a sentiment fully en- 

 dorsed by their Persian sisters. 



The following typical stories have been selected from a number, on account of the 

 simplicity of their language and their many modern colloquialisms. They were taken 

 down in writing by a Persian with considerable difficulty, just as they fell from the lips 

 of their professional narrators. Persian story-tellers speak with great fluency and ra- 

 pidity ; they cannot dictate slowly : if interrupted they miss the point and become in- 

 coherent.- Hence the same story has to be repeated many times before the recorder 

 can accurately fill in all the numerous blanks that occur after a first narration. 



The story of the philopena, the first story in this collection, is identical with one 

 of the stories in the celebrated Turkish romance of the Qirq Vezir, translated into 

 English by the late E. J. W. Gibb. 



The following note on professional story-tellers has been furnished me by Mr. Azoo, 

 Arabic Instructor to the Board of Examiners :— ."..■!"..' ; 



:< It would not be inaccurate to say that the professional story-teller is a real educat- 

 ing agent in countries not blessed with a cheap press, where education is m a backward 



_ -r Vide Mathews' ■■■Mhh'^.uLM-a.siblhr Vol. II, Chapter XXII.' ' ■ & 



Dr. tf. Arrnandale tells me he met with a similar difficulty when 'attempting "to photograph some actors To quote Iris owrr 

 Words:— ' "- '-;.■— A 



"In photographing actofs and actfesses'rWtlT Malay and Siamese) in'Lower liana,' I found it impossible td persuade them 'to 1 

 dramatic attitudes or to break off their acting at the wrong moment. Every ' piece ' formed an organic whohYin their 

 •it, esnecratty as regard- 'genres and orchest'rar'accom'oanime'nt.'ahd to a' less degree as regards words, " gags" Befng : fre- 

 quently introduced. It was impossible for them to treat each incident or situation by itself, and even if they could be persuaded- 

 to stoD before a Droper pause had been reached, they were obliged to begin again from^ffebegin'niHg, arid were quite unabje to 

 ->'-) #ei Ti-n the pirn' at which the break had occurred. Among the Malays, however, dramatic performances all partake .'of a 

 mig -ii m-ir 3 aol g in -rztty com WinSefWrcn a long invocation' of the Earth Spirits'. The' Patani people believe that prpfes- 

 s' ;a ii s-V/.-j"!-;™ \fiffl lri g-t-mTt/ vorl -n 'aVe dlr^tly inspired by passing spirits, which " dive into them." Vide also noteon 

 p. 33, fasciculi Malayenses, Anthropology, Part II (a). ' ~ ^ ' "' ' • • 



Mem. A.S.B. 30-8..06 



