Translating the manuscript Sbath 254, containing an account written by the Syrian Maronite Ḥanna Diyab who was hired in 1707 as a guide and interpreter by the French royal explorer Paul Lucas (1664-1737), I have found previously unpublished confessions by Diyab concerning his visit to Versailles and his contribution to the most famous "translation" of the Mille et une Nuits (also known as The Arabian Nights), published by Antoine Galland. These confessions may be useful to shed some light on the following questions: 1) the position Diyab was about to hold in the Royal library of Louis XIV, 2) how he helped Galland to translate and add a dozen of tales to his 1001 nights, 3) why Galland managed to send him back home.
