22 DECEMBER 1900, Page 17

(TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "]

So.,—The anecdote of the dog and the saucepan referred to by your correspondent, Mr. B. Calvert, in the Spectator of December 15th, and traced back by him to the " Percy Anecdotes," is one that is very familiar in the Mahommedan East, and may be found in almost all Persian histories dealing with the Saimanid dynasty. The hero of the story is 'Amr ibn Lays, the Saffiaid, who in the year A.D. 900 was taken prisoner by Amir Isma`fl, the second King of the Saminid line. It is strange that the translator of the Ameer's memoirs makes no allusion in his notes to the historical coincidence, for one can scarcely believe that a well-educated Afghan had never heard the original anecdote.—I am, Sir, &c.,