The lively conceptions of the author of this allegory, I have no doubt, will be read with the same pleasure in Europe, as they have been in Asia for several centuries past. The manuscript from which I translated it is a very beautiful one, on silky paper, powdered with gold dust, and highly ornamented by the hand of Abdurrahman in the year of the Hegira 896. (1491.)

I have rendered the translation perfectly literal, and, as far as different idioms would allow, I have conformed to the Persian order, that the young orientalist might more readily trace the words as they correspond with each other in the two languages. I believe I have preserved every idea of the author, the same as if he had written the book in the english language; and I trust that critical readers will recollect it is not an easy task to combine closeness of asiatic compositions with elegance of style in a european tongue.