صفحة 6 من 1116

They enter thoroughly into each phase of feeling touched upon by

the author: they take a personal pride in the chivalrous nature

and knightly prowess of Taj al-Muluk; they are touched with

tenderness by the self sacrificing love of Azizah; their mouths

water as they hear of heaps of untold gold given away in largesse

like clay; they chuckle with delight every time a Kazi or a

Fakir-a judge or a reverend-is scurvily entreated by some

Pantagruelist of the Wilderness; and, despite their normal

solemnity and impassibility, all roar with laughter, sometimes

rolling upon the ground till the reader's gravity is sorely

tried, at the tales of the garrulous Barber and of Ali and the

Kurdish Sharper.