from Tunis and Tripoli by Mr. Stemme,[7] and in Morocco by Messrs. Souin
and Stemme,[8] show that the marvellous adventures, wherein intervene the
Djinns, fairies, ogres, and sorcerers, are no less popular among the Arab
people than among the Berbers.

[6] Deeplun, Recueil de textes pour l'étude de l'Arabe parlé, v. 12, p. iv.
Paris, 1891.

[7] Iumsche Märchen und Gedichte. Leipzig, 1898. 2 vols. Märchen und
Gedichte. Aus der Stadt Tripolis in Nord Afrika. Leipzig.

[8] Zum Arabischen Dialekt. Von Markko. Leipzig, 1893. Vers. 8.

We must not forget that these last-named have borrowed much from the first
ones, and it is by them that they have known the celebrated Khalif of
Bagdad, one of the principal heroes of the "Thousand and One Nights,"
Haroun al Raschid, whose presence surprises us not a little when figuring
in adventures incompatible with the dignity of a successor of the Prophet.

As in the Berber tales, one finds parallels to the Arab stories among the
folk-lore of Europe, whether they were borrowed directly or whether they
came from India. One will notice, however, in the Arab tales a superior
editing. The style is more ornate, the incidents better arranged. One feels
that, although it deals with a language disdaining the usage of letters, it
is expressed almost as well as though in a cultivated literary language.
The gathering of the populations must also be taken into consideration; the
citizens of Tunis, of Algiers, and even in the cities of Morocco, have a
more exact idea of civilized life than the Berber of the mountains or the
desert. As to the comic stories, it is still the Si Djeha who is the hero,
and his adventures differ little with those preserved in Berber, and which