Thirdly and lastly we have the histories, historical stories and the “Ana” of great men in which Easterns as well as Westerns delight:  the gravest writers do not disdain to relieve the dullness of chronicles and annals by means of such discussions, humorous or pathetic, moral or grossly indecent.  The dates must greatly vary:  some of the anecdotes relating to the early Caliphs appear almost contemporary; others, like Ali of Cairo and Abu al-Shamat, may be as late as the Ottoman Conquest of Egypt (sixteenth century).  All are distinctly Sunnite and show fierce animus against the Shi’ah heretics, suggesting that they were written after the destruction of the Fatimite dynasty (twelfth century) by Salah al-Din (Saladin the Kurd) one of the latest historical personages and the last king named in The Nights. [FN#253] These anecdotes are so often connected with what a learned Frenchman terms the “regne feerique de Haroun er-Reschid,"[FN#254] that the Great Caliph becomes the hero of this portion of The Nights.  Aaron the Orthodox was the central figure of the most splendid empire the world had seen, the Viceregent of Allah combining the powers of Caesar and Pope, and wielding them right worthily according to the general voice of historians.  To quote a few:  Ali bin Talib al-Khorasani described him, in A.D. 934, a century and-a-half after his death when flattery would be tongue-tied, as, “one devoted to war and pilgrimage, whose bounty embraced the folk at large.”  Sa’adi (ob.  A.D. 1291) tells a tale highly favourable to him in the “Gulistan” (lib. i. 36).  Fakhr al-Din[FN#255] (xivth century) lauds his merits, eloquence, science and generosity; and Al-Siyuti (nat.  A.D. 1445) asserts “He was one of the most distinguished of Caliphs and the most illustrious of the Princes of the Earth” (p. 290).  The Shaykh al-Nafzawi[FN#256] (sixteenth century) in his Rauz al-Atir fi Nazah al-Khatir = Scented Garden-site for Heart-delight, calls Harun (chapt. vii.) the “Master of munificence and bounty, the best of the generous.”  And even the latest writers have not ceased to praise him.  Says Ali Aziz Efendi the Cretan, in the Story of Jewad[FN#257] (p. 81), “Harun was the most bounteous, illustrious and upright of the Abbaside Caliphs.”

The fifth Abbaside was fair and handsome, of noble and majestic presence, a sportsman and an athlete who delighted in polo and archery.  He showed sound sense and true wisdom in his speech to the grammarian-poet Al-Asma’i, who had undertaken to teach him:—­ “Ne m’enseignez jamais en public, et ne vous empressez pas trop de me donner des avis en particulier.  Attendez ordinairement que je vous interroge, et contentez vous de me donner une response precise a ce que je vous demanderai, sans y rien ajouter de superflu.  Gardez vous surtout de vouloir me preoccuper pour vous attirer ma creance, et pour vous donner de l’autorite.  Ne vous etendez jamais trop en long sur les histoires et les traditions que vous me raconterez, si je ne vous en donne la permission.  Lorsque vous verrai que je m’eloignerai de l’equite dans mes jugements, ramenez-moi avec douceur, sans user de paroles facheuses ni de reprimandes.  Enseignez-moi principalement les choses qui sont les plus necessaires pour les dis cours que je dois faire en public, dans les mosquees et ailleurs; et ne parlez point en termes obscurs, ou mysterieux, ni avec des paroles trop recherchees.’’[FN#258]