and even apparently in Mecca it was believed in his time. Muḥammad’s fault lay in pretending that he had received it as a Divine revelation, whereas it is as little worthy of credence as the tale of St. George and the Dragon (also probably an allegory), or Cinderella and the Glass Slipper, or the Batrachomyomachia among the Greeks, or the tales of Rustam’s marvellous exploits among the Persians1. The history of Mary, as related in the Qur’ân and the Traditions of the