Note 15 — Chapter I

Note 15.—On Magic. The Arabs and other Mohammadans enjoy a remarkable advantage over us in the composition of works of fiction: in the invention of incidents which we should regard as absurd in the extreme, they cannot be accused by their countrymen of exceeding the bounds of probability. A case similar to that here described was related to me as a fact, in Cairo. A person in that city, I was told, was suddenly surprised by the disappearance of his brother, and by finding, in his place, an ass: but this animal increased his astonishment, and that of every person who beheld him, by manifesting a sagacity singularly opposed to the proverbial dulness of the generality of his species. Yet, strange as it may seem, it was not imagined that this brute was the lost man in a transformed state, till, one day, an old woman, seeing him, quickly covered her face, and declared the fact. She discovered this by her knowledge of magic; and, by her skill in this art, she agreed to restore the enchanted person to his proper shape. Having collected a number of herbs, she boiled them in a large vessel; and when the decoction had cooled, she took the vessel, and, muttering a certain spell, threw its contents over the animal, endeavouring to do so in such a manner that every part of it should be wetted. Every part of it was wetted, excepting one hind-foot; and, accordingly, it was restored to the original human form, with the exception of one foot, which remained like that of an ass.