People in France and England knew almost nothing about "The Arabian
Nights" till the reigns of Queen Anne and George I., when they were
translated into French by Monsieur Galland. Grown-up people were then
very fond of fairy tales, and they thought these Arab stories the best
that they had ever read. They were delighted with Ghouls (who lived
among the tombs) and Geni, who seemed to be a kind of ogres, and with
Princesses who work magic spells, and with Peris, who are Arab fairies.
Sindbad had adventures which perhaps came out of the Odyssey of Homer;
in fact, all the East had contributed its wonders, and sent them to
Europe in one parcel. Young men once made a noise at Monsieur
Galland's windows in the dead of night, and asked him to tell them one
of his marvellous tales. Nobody talked of anything but dervishes and
vizirs, rocs and peris. The stories were translated from French into
all languages, and only Bishop Atterbury complained that the tales were
not likely to be true, and had no moral. The bishop was presently
banished for being on the side of Prince Charlie's father, and had
leisure to repent of being so solemn.
In this book "The Arabian Nights" are translated from the French
version of Monsieur Galland, who dropped out the poetry and a great
deal of what the Arabian authors thought funny, though it seems
wearisome to us. In this book the stories are shortened here and
there, and omissions are made of pieces only suitable for Arabs and old
gentlemen. The translations are by the writers of the tales in the
Fairy Books, and the pictures are by Mr. Ford.