Medieval Arab Tales: The Kitab al- Hikayat al- Ajiba wa-l-Akhbar al-Ghariba

The Kitab al- Hikayat al- Ajiba wa-l-Akhbar al-Ghariba (Book of Amazing Stories and  Rare News) is an anonymous work  written in Arabic that collects forty-two stories which are similar to those found included in compendia of popular Arab literature of the Middle Ages, such as The Thousand and One Nights. This article is an introduction to its study, and it includes the editions and the translations made on this interesting book as well as its narrative structure and content, according to the manuscript Istanbul Ayasofya Müzesi no.3397, edited by Hans Wehr and Alexander von Bulmerincq in 1956.

The Kitab al- Hikayat al- Ajiba wa-l-Akhbar al-Ghariba (Book of Amazing Stories and  Rare News) is an Arabic anonymous work, as is usual in this type of compilation books. It collects forty-two stories, which are similar to those found included in compendia of popular Arab literature of the Middle Ages such as The Thousand and One Nights. This collection of forty-two stories remains in a single Arabic codex, the MS Istanbul Ayasofya Müzesi no. 3397 (XIII-XIV century), discovered by Hellmut Ritter in 1933 [1], and edited by Hans Wehr and Alexander von Bulmerincq in Damascus [2] and in Wiesbaden [3], in 1956; and later it was re-edited, in Cologne [4], in 1997, and in 2012 [5].

Only eighteen of the forty-two stories are preserved, and they include a total of twenty-six tales full of fantasy, adventure and imagination, which appear to constitute the first volume of the book. As I have already mentioned, some of the stories or legends enclosed in the pages of this work are an almost equal copy of The Thousand and One Nights ´s stories or, at least, very similar to them, for example: The barber's six brothers (story #3), Jullan?r the Sailor (story #6), Ab? Mu?ammad the Lazy (story #11), Jubayr Ibn ‘Umayr and Bud?r (story #8), etc.

The handwriting of the manuscript suggests that the copy was made around the 14^th century, but its content indicates that the stories were compiled and, in some cases, composed around the 10^th century in Syria or Egypt. The codex dates from approximately the beginning of the 14^th century, and is therefore of the same date as the oldest known manuscript of The Thousand and One Nights used by Adolf Galland for his work in the early 18^th century [6], and which was the basis for the critical edition of Muhsin Mahdi [7].

The origin of the tale as a genre is found in the Eastern peoples, mainly India and Persia. The Arabs transmitted and enriched it with their contributions, and thus it was known in Europe. This collection of stories is framed within this framework. The ancient Oriental narrative of legends, tales, fables and apologues is very present in almost all Medieval and Renaissance Christian works. Many their books were versioned in European languages, and they left important traces in later both writings and authors: Calila e Dimna, Sendebar, El Conde Lucanor of Don Juan Manuel; and Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio, among others, are very illustrative examples.

The title and the subject of the forty-two stories narrated in this interesting book are the following:

1. Story of King of Ba?rayn

2. Story of ?al?a and ?u?fa

3. Story of the six peoples

4. Story of the four searches

5. Story of the forty girls

6. Story of Jullan?r the Sailor

7. Story of ‘Ar?s al-‘Ar?’is

8. Story of Bud?r and ‘Umayr

9. Story of ‘U?f?r Ab? D?sa

10. Story of Al-S?l and Al-Shum?l

11. Story of the sloth and the monkey

12. Story of Miqd?d and Al-Mayy?sa

13. Story of Sa‘?d Ibn H?tim Al-B?hil?

14. Story of Al-?akhr and Al-Khans?’

15. Story of the eulogy of the Prophet

16. Story of Mu?ammad Al-Mawj?d and H?r?n Al-Rash?d

17. Story of Al-Ashraf and Al-Anjab

18. Story of the enchanted mountain

19. Story of Al-Mawh?b and Al-Ma?liyya

20. Story of Salm? and Al-Wal?d

21. Story of the Barmaki thief

22. Story of Jam?la Al-Badawiyya

23. Story of Sa‘d and ?ass?n

24. Story of Fawz and Al-‘Abb?s

25. Story of the singer ?a?wa

26. Story of A?mad Al-Sh?rib

27. Story of Ardash?r Ibn M?h?n

28. Story of the golden dove

29. Story of A?mad Al-‘Anbar?

30. Story of the ebony horse

31. Story of Al-‘Aq?l?

32. Story of Badr and the vizier

33. Story of Shams Al-Qu??r

34. Story of Salm?n

35. Story of the bamboo island

36. Story of the island of emeralds

37. Story of the stunned king

38. Story of King Shizar?n

39. Story of Bay?? and Riy??

40. Story of ??hir Ibn Kh?q?n

41. Story of Ab?-l-Faraj Al-I?fah?n?

42. Story of the girl who swallowed the blade

In the first folio of the Istanbul manuscript the forty-two stories are cited, although, as I have already said, only eighteen have been preserved, and the story no.15 named the Tale of Prophet´s eulogy is missing.

There are translations to German (story #5) [8,9]; English (full) [10]; French (story #7) [11]; (stories #5, #9, #14, and #18) [12]; and Spanish (story #3) [13].

The Kitab al- Hikayat al- Ajiba wa-l-Akhbar al-Ghariba (Book of Amazing Stories and  Rare News), an interesting collection of tales copied about the 14^th century, is framed into the process of origin and transmission of Oriental short stories to Europe, and so its study is very important for history of literature, since it helps to increase knowledge of this genre.

1. Ritter H. Philologika XIII: Arabische Handschriften in Anatolien und Istanbul. Oriens. 1949; 2: 289-295.
2. Wehr H, Von Bulmerincq A. Kita?b al-H?ika?ya?t al-?aji?bah wa-al-akhba?r al-ghari?bah. al-Mat?ba?a al-Ha?shimi?yah: Dimashq. 1956.
3. Wehr H, Von Bulmerincq A. Kita?b al-h?ika?ya?t al-?ag?i?ba wa-al-a_kba?r al-g?ari?ba. Franz Steiner: Wiesbaden. 1956.
4. Wehr H. Kita?b al-h?ika?ya?t al-?ag?i?ba wa-al-a_kba?r al-g?ari?ba. Mans?u?ra?t al-g?amal: Köln, 1997.
5. Wehr H. Kitab al-Hikayat al-'ajiba wa l-Akhbar al-ghariba. Al-Kamel Verlag: Köln, 2012.
6. Galland. Les Mille et Une Nuits: Contes Arabes. Paris, 1704-1717.
7. Mahdi M. Alf layla wa-layla min-u??lihi al-‘arabiyya al-ulà. Leiden, 1984.
8. Spies O. Das Märchen von den vierzig Madchen. Fabula. 1961; 4: 1-19.
9. Weisweiler M. Arabische Märchen. Düsseldorf-Köln. 1969; 69-89.
10. Lyons MC. Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange: A Medieval Arab Fantasy Collection. Penguin Classics: London, 2015.
11. Rabeuf D.  Histoire de Arûs, la belle des belles, des ruses qu'elle ourdit, et des merveilles des mers et des îles. Actes Sud: Arles; Leméac: Montréal, 2011.
12. Rabeuf D. Histoire des quarante filles et autres contes, Actes Sud: Arles; Leméac: Montreal, 2012.
13. Cambra LMA. Cuentos Árabes Medievales (I). Historia de los Seis Individuos. ACCI (Asociación Cultural y Científica Iberoamericana): Madrid, 2020.