ILLUSTRATED BY H.R. MILLAR

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE HON. GEORGE CURZON, M.P.

MACMILLAN AND CO. LONDON AND NEW YORK

1895

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE

CHAPTER I — Of Hajji Baba's birth and education.

CHAPTER II — Hajji Baba commences his travels—His encounter with the Turcomans, and his captivity.

CHAPTER III — Into what hands Hajji Baba falls, and the fortune which his razors proved to him.

CHAPTER IV — Of his ingenuity in rescuing his master's money from the Turcoman, and of his determination to keep it.

CHAPTER V — Hajji Baba becomes a robber in his own defence, and invades his native city.

CHAPTER VI — Concerning the three prisoners taken by the Turcomans, and of the booty made in the caravanserai.

CHAPTER VII — Hajji Baba evinces a feeling disposition—History of the poet Asker.

CHAPTER VIII — Hajji Baba escapes from the Turcomans—The meaning of 'falling from the frying-pan into the fire' illustrated.

CHAPTER IX — Hajji Baba, in his distress, becomes a saka, or water-carrier.

CHAPTER X — He makes a soliloquy, and becomes an itinerant vendor of smoke.

CHAPTER XI — History of Dervish Sefer, and of two other dervishes.

CHAPTER XII — Hajji Baba finds that fraud does not remain unpunished, even in this world—He makes fresh plans.

CHAPTER XIII — Hajji Baba leaves Meshed, is cured of his sprain, and relates a story.

CHAPTER XIV — Of the man he meets, and the consequences of the encounter.

CHAPTER XV — Hajji Baba reaches Tehran, and goes to the poet's house.

CHAPTER XVI — He makes plans for the future, and is involved in a quarrel.

CHAPTER XVII — He puts on new clothes, goes to the bath, and appears in a new character.

CHAPTER XVIII — The poet returns from captivity—the consequences of it for Hajji Baba.

CHAPTER XIX — Hajji Baba gets into the service of the king's physician—Of the manner he was first employed by him.

CHAPTER XX — He succeeds in deceiving two of the faculty, getting a pill from one, and a piece of gold from the other.

CHAPTER XXI — He describes the manner in which the Shah of Persia takes medicine.

CHAPTER XXII — Hajji Baba asks the doctor for a salary, and of the success of his demand.

CHAPTER XXIII — He becomes dissatisfied with his situation, is idle, and falls in love.

CHAPTER XXIV — He has an interview with the fair Zeenab, who relates how she passes her time in the doctor's harem.

CHAPTER XXV — The lovers meet again, and are very happy—Hajji Baba sings.

CHAPTER XXVI — The history of Zeenab, the Cûrdish slave.

CHAPTER XXVII — Of the preparations made by the chief physician to receive the Shah as his guest, and of the great expense which threatened him.

CHAPTER XXVIII — Concerning the manner of the Shah's reception; of the present made him, and the conversation which ensued.

CHAPTER XXIX — A description of the entertainment, which is followed by an event destructive to Hajji Baba's happiness.

CHAPTER XXX — Hajji Baba meets with a rival in the Shah himself, and loses the fair object of his affections.

CHAPTER XXXI — His reflections on the loss of Zeenab—He is suddenly called upon to exert his skill as a doctor.

CHAPTER XXXII — Hajji is appointed to a situation under government—He becomes an executioner.

CHAPTER XXXIII — He accompanies the Shah to his camp, and gets some insight into his profession.

CHAPTER XXXIV — Employed in his official capacity, Hajji Baba gives a specimen of Persian despotism.

CHAPTER XXXV — Fortune, which pretended to frown, in fact smiles upon Hajji Baba, and promotes him to be sub-lieutenant to the chief executioner.

CHAPTER XXXVI — Although by trade an executioner, he shows a feeling heart—He meets with a young man and woman in distress.

CHAPTER XXXVII — The history of Yûsûf, the Armenian, and his wife Mariam.

CHAPTER XXXVIII — Sequel of the foregoing history, and of the resolution which Hajji Baba takes in consequence.

CHAPTER XXXIX — The Armenian Yûsûf proves himself worthy of Hajji Baba's confidence.

CHAPTER XL — Hajji Baba gives an account of his proceedings to his superiors, and shows himself a friend to the distressed.

CHAPTER XLI — He describes an expedition against the Russians, and does ample justice to the cowardice of his chief.

CHAPTER XLII — He proceeds to the king's camp, and gives a specimen of lying on a grand scale.

CHAPTER XLIII — He relates a horrid tale, the consequences of which plunge him in the greatest misery.

CHAPTER XLIV — Hajji Baba meets with an old friend, who cheers him up, gives him good advice, and secures him from danger.

CHAPTER XLV — He takes refuge in a sanctuary, where his melancholy thoughts are diverted by a curious story.

CHAPTER XLVI — He becomes a saint, and associates with the most celebrated divine in Persia.

CHAPTER XLVII — Hajji Baba is robbed by his friend, and left utterly destitute; but is released from his confinement.

CHAPTER XLVIII — Hajji Baba reaches Ispahan, and his paternal roof, just time enough to close the eyes of his dying father.

CHAPTER XLIX — He becomes heir to property which is not to be found, and his suspicions thereon.

CHAPTER L — Showing the steps he takes to discover his property, and who the diviner, Teez Negah, was.

CHAPTER LI — Of the diviner's success in making discoveries, and of the resolution which Hajji Baba takes in consequence.

CHAPTER LII — Hajji Baba quits his mother, and becomes the scribe to a celebrated man of the law.

CHAPTER LIII — The mollah Nadân gives an account of his new scheme for raising money, and for making men happy.

CHAPTER LIV — Hajji Baba becomes a promoter of matrimony, and of the register he keeps.

CHAPTER LV — Of the man Hajji Baba meets, thinking him dead; and of the marriage which he brings about.

CHAPTER LVI — Showing how the ambition of the mollah Nadân involves both him and his disciples in ruin.

CHAPTER LVII — Hajji Baba meets with an extraordinary adventure in the bath, which miraculously saves him from the horrors of despair.

CHAPTER LVIII — Of the consequences of the adventure, which threaten danger, but end in apparent good fortune.

CHAPTER LIX — Hajji Baba does not shine in honesty—The life and adventures of the mollah Nadân

CHAPTER LX — Hajji and the mollah make plans suited to their critical situation, showing that no confidence can exist between rogues.

CHAPTER LXI — The punishment due to Hajji Baba falls upon Nadân, which makes the former a staunch predestinarian.

CHAPTER LXII — Hajji Baba hears an extraordinary sequel to his adventure in the bath, and feels all the alarms of guilt.

CHAPTER LXIII — He is discovered and seized, but his good stars again befriend and set him free.

CHAPTER LXIV — He reaches Bagdad, meets his first master, and turns his views to commerce.

CHAPTER LXV — He purchases pipe-sticks, and inspires a hopeless passion in the breast of his old master's daughter.

CHAPTER LXVI — He becomes a merchant, leaves Bagdad, and accompanies a caravan to Constantinople.

CHAPTER LXVII — Hajji Baba makes a conquest of the widow of an emir, which at first alarms, but afterwards elates him.

CHAPTER LXVIII — He obtains an interview with the fair Shekerleb, makes a settlement upon her, and becomes her husband.

CHAPTER LXIX — From a vender of pipe-sticks he becomes a rich Aga, but feels all the inconvenience of supporting a false character.

CHAPTER LXX — His desire to excite envy lays the foundation of his disgrace—He quarrels with his wife.

CHAPTER LXXI — He is discovered to be an impostor, loses his wife, and the wide world is again before him.

CHAPTER LXXII — An incident in the street diverts his despair—He seeks consolation in the advice of old Osman.

CHAPTER LXXIII — In endeavouring to gain satisfaction from his enemies he acquires a friend—Some account of Mirza Firouz.

CHAPTER LXXIV — He becomes useful to an ambassador, who makes him a partaker of his confidence.

CHAPTER LXXV — Of his first essays in public life, and of the use he was to his employer.

CHAPTER LXXVI — Hajji Baba writes the history of Europe and with his ambassador returns to Persia.

CHAPTER LXXVII — The ceremony of receiving a Frank ambassador at the court is described.

CHAPTER LXXVIII — Hajji is noticed by the grand vizier, and is the means of gratifying that minister's favourite passion.

CHAPTER LXXIX — Of the manner in which he turned his influence to use, and how he was again noticed by the vizier.

CHAPTER LXXX — The conclusion—Misfortune seems to take leave of Hajji Baba, who returns to his native city a greater man than when he first left.

P.P.

FOOTNOTES.