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.

Identification and general Information
Reference Number
Siglum of the version of the Seven Sages	Libro de los Engaños
Title
Author

Tradition and Lineage
Branch of the tradition	East
Adapted from (version)
Adapted into (version)
Source for composition and adaptation information

Recorded secondary versions
Libro de los Engaños Old Spanish Libro de los Engaños

Connected manuscripts

Language and Composition
Language of version
Language of text	Old Spanish
Regional or specific language of version
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

Modern Scholarship and Editions
Modern research literature	Lacarra (2009), Ramos (2005)
Modern Editions

Notes and Commentary
Note

Pattern of embedded stories in this version

Has Short Title	Has Sequence Number	Has Narrator
Leo	1	First Master
Avis – The Bird	2	First Master
Lavator	3	Empress
Panes	4	Second Master
Gladius – The Drawn Sword	5	Second Master
Striga – The Prince and the Ogress	6	Empress
Mel	7	Third Master
Fons	8	Empress
Balneator	9	Fourth Master
Canicula	10	Fourth Master
Aper – The Boar and the Fruit	11	Empress
Canis – The Faithful Dog	12	Fifth Master
Pallium	13	Fifth Master
Simia	14	Empress
Turtures	15	Sixth Master
Elephantinus	16	Sixth Master
Nomina	17	Seventh Master
Ingenia	18	Seventh Master
Lac venenatum	19	Prince
Puer 3 annorum	20	Prince
Puer 5 annorum	21	Prince

Connected prints
No connected prints