Some of these consolidated narratives take the form of an Episode or Romance;
and Sprenger, though perhaps pushing his theory too far, has given us an
ingenious clue to their origin. It is the practice of the Moslem world, during
the first ten days of Rabî I. (the month in which Mahomet was born) for the
faithful to meet in their family circles, and listen to recitals of his birth,
miracles, and death. In opulent houses there is often retained for the purpose
a professional Bard, who repeats his story from memory, or extemporises it in
the style of the ancient rhapsodists. To aid the reciter, we have a mass of
popular works, the most noted being that of Bakry (A.H. 763). They are called Moulûd
Sharîf ("The Ennobled Nativity"); one of these, written in the
Urdoo language, was reviewed in this periodical.1 They are filled
with childish tales, and resemble fiction so much more than history, that, as
remarked even by a Mahometan writer, they abound with names of persons,
places, kings, and kingdoms, which never existed. We do not know when such
annual recitations commenced; but we are assured by Kazrûni that the festival
of the birth of Mahomet has been celebrated from the earliest times. Now, if
we compare, for instance, the narrative of the Prophet's