Libro de los Engaños
The Old Spanish version of the Book of Sindibad, titled El libro de los engaños e asayamientos de las mugeres (The book of the deceptions and trials of women), represents a unique link between the 'Eastern' version of the narrative and the literary traditions in European languages. The Libro was composed in 1253, commissioned by don Fadrique, son of King Fernando III and the brother of King Alfonso X 'el sabio' (the wise). The translation of the Libro into Castilian from an Arabic source was part of a larger project of literary translation in thirteenth-century Spain, and the court of Alfonso X in particular; just a year or two before the composition of the Libro, for example, the translation of Kalilah wa- Dimna into Old Spanish was completed (see Keller 1975, Lacarra 2009).
The sole suriving manuscript that contains the Libro, found in the Real Academia Española in Madrid, was composed sometime in the 14th century. It is usually referred to by the title of the first text in the manuscript, El Conde Lucanor, by Juan Manuel. It is worth noting that El Conde, which is also a collection of exempla, contains a version of the story Vulpes - a story found in several of the 'Eastern' versions, but not included in the Libro. According to Ramos (2005), this may explain its absence from the end of the Libro - the scribe had already copied a version of the narrative earlier in the same collection and did not wish to repeat it. However, that absence may also be incidental, as Vulpes only occasionally appears in the Arabic 'Seven Viziers' narrative in the One Thousand and One Nights, and is not found in the One Hundred and One Nights — the Libro's closest analogue, and possibly its source (Lacarra 2009).
The manuscript itself has sometimes been critically designated as not one, but two texts: the 'basic' or central text in a clear miniscule, and the 'almost three hundred' interlinear and marginal emendations, which Keller describes as 'so pronounced as to provide a surprisingly divergent set of readings, often completely changing the meaning' (Keller 1975, p. 276). In fact, several editions - Bonilla y San Martín, Libro de los engaños (1904), Comparetti, Ricerche intorno al libro de Sindibâd (1869), and González Palencia, Versiones Castellanas del Sendebar (1946) - follow the emendations rather than solely the base text. Other editions, such as Keller's 1959 edition, use the base text as the source text, with the emendations given as notes.
The Libro shares most of its stories with the One Hundred and One Nights, though it is missing a handful (including the initial opening tale of the King and the Elephant told by the sage Sendebar, or Cendubete in the Old Spanish), and instead includes three stories not found in the One Hundred and One Nights. One of those, Abbas, is unique to this version.
| Identification and general Information | |
|---|---|
| Reference Number | |
| Siglum of the version of the Seven Sages | Libro de los Engaños |
| Version Number | |
| Title | El libro de los engaños e asayamientos de las mugeres |
| Author | |
| Tradition and Lineage | |
|---|---|
| Branch of the tradition | East |
| Adapted from (version) | A101 (Hundred and One Nights) |
| Adapted into (version) | |
| Source for composition and adaptation information | Lacarra (2009) |
| Recorded secondary versions |
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| Connected manuscripts |
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| Language and Composition | |
|---|---|
| Original language of version | Old Spanish |
| Language of text | Spanish |
| Regional or specific language of version | Old Spanish |
| Translated into (languages) | |
| Place of composition | Sevilla, Spain |
| Date of composition | 1253 |
| Islamic date of composition | |
| Hebrew date of composition | |
| Source for date of composition | Keller (1975), Lacarra (2009) |
| Notes and Commentary | |
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| Note | |
| Notes on motifs | |
| Notes on the frame | |
| Pattern of embedded stories in this version |
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| Connected prints |
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No connected prints |