Supplemental Nights, Volume 2
by
Richard F. Burton
Part 7 out of 8
so long existed between them. "It is this," continued he: "the
prince of Basra, having fallen in love with your daughter from
report of her great beauty, has just come to Baghdad, unknown to
his father, and intends to demand her of you in marriage. He is
lodged in my house, and is most anxious that this affair should
be arranged by my interposition, which is the more agreeable to
me, since it will, I trust, be the means of reconciling our
differences." Mouaffac expressed his surprise that the prince of
Basra should think of marrying his daughter, and especially that
the proposal should come through the kazi, of all men. The kazi
begged him to forget their former animosity and consent to the
immediate celebration of the nuptials. While they were thus
talking, the prince entered, in a magnificent dress, and was not
a little astonished to be presented to Mouaffac by the
treacherous kazi as the prince of Basra, who had come as a suitor
for his daughter in marriage. The ex-governor saluted him with
every token of profound respect, and expressed his sense of the
honour of such an alliance: his daughter was unworthy to wait
upon the meanest of the prince's slaves. In brief, the marriage
is at once celebrated, and the prince duly retires to the bridal
chamber with the beauteous daughter of Mouaffac. But in the
morning, at an early hour, a servant of the kazi knocks at his
door, and, on the prince opening it, says that he brings him his
rags of clothes and is required to take back the dress which the
kazi had lent him yesterday to personate the prince of Basra. The
prince, having donned his tattered garments, said to his wife,
"The kazi thinks he has married you to a wretched beggar, but I
am no whit inferior in rank to the prince of Basra--I am also a
prince, being the only son of the king of Mosel," and then
proceeded to recount all his adventures. When he had concluded
his recital, the lady despatched a servant to procure a suitable
dress for the prince, which when he had put on, she said, "I see
it all: the kazi no doubt, believes that by this time we are all
overwhelmed with shame and grief. But what must be his feelings
when he learns that he has been a benefactor to his enemies!
Before you disclose to him your real rank, however, we must
contrive to punish him for his malicious intentions. There is a
dyer in this town who has a frightfully ugly daughter-- but leave
this affair in my hands."
The lady then dressed herself in plain but becoming apparel, and
went out of the house alone. She proceeded to the court of the
kazi, who no sooner cast his eyes upon her than he was struck
with her elegant form. He sent an officer to inquire of her who
she was and what she had come about. She made answer that she was
the daughter of an artisan in the city. and that she desired to
have some private conversation with the kazi. When the officer
reported the lady's reply, the kazi directed her to be conducted
into a private chamber, where he presently joined her, and
gallantly placed his services at her disposal. The lady now
removed her veil, and asked him whether he saw anything ugly or
repulsive in her features. The kazi on seeing her beautiful face
was suddenly plunged in the sea of love, and declared that her
forehead was of polished silver, her eyes were sparkling
diamonds, her mouth a ruby casket containing a bracelet of
pearls. Then she displayed her arms, so white and plump, the
sight of which threw the kazi into ecstasies and almost caused
him to faint. Quoth the lady, "I must tell you, my lord, that
with all the beauty I possess, my father, a dyer in the city,
keeps me secluded, and declares to all who come to ask me in
marriage that I am an ugly, deformed monster, a mere skeleton,
lame, and full of diseases." On this the kazi burst into a tirade
against the brutal father who could thus traduce so much beauty,
and vowed that he would make her his wife that same day. The
lady, after expressing her fears that he would not find it easy
to gain her father's consent, took her leave and returned home.
The kazi lost no time in sending for the dyer, and, after
complimenting him upon his reputation for piety, said to him, "I
am informed that behind the curtain of chastity you have a
daughter ripe for marriage. Is not this true?" Replied the dyer,
"My lord, you have been rightly informed. I have a daughter who
is indeed fully ripe for marriage, or she is more than thirty
years of age, but the poor creature is not fit to be a wife to
any man. She is very ugly, lame, leprous, and foolish. In short,
she is such a monster that I am obliged to keep her out of all
people's sight." "Ha!" exclaimed the kazi, "you can't impose on
me with such a tale. I was prepared for it. But let me tell you
that I myself am ready and willing to marry that same ugly and
leprous daughter of yours, with all her defects." When the dyer
heard this, he looked the kazi full in the face and said, "My
lord, you are welcome to divert yourself by making a jest of my
daughter." No," replied the kazi "I am quite in earnest. I demand
your daughter in marriage." The dyer broke into laughter, saying,
'By Allah, some one has meant to play you a trick, my lord. I
forewarn you that she is ugly, lame, and leprous." "True,"
responded the kazi, with a knowing smile; "I know her by these
tokens. I shall take her notwithstanding." The dyer, seeing him
determined to marry his daughter, and being now convinced that he
had been imposed upon by some ill-wisher, thought to himself, "I
must demand of him a round sum of money which may cause him to
cease troubling me any further about my poor daughter." So he
said to the kazi, "My lord, I am ready to obey your command; but
I will not part with my daughter unless you pay me beforehand a
dowry of a thousand sequins." Replied the kazi, "Although,
methinks, your demand is somewhat exorbitant, yet I will pay you
the money at once." which having done, he ordered the contract to
be drawn up. But when it came to be signed the dyer declared that
he would not sign save in the presence of a hundred men of the
law. "Thou art very distrustful," said the kazi, "but I will
comply in everything, for I am resolved to make sure of thy
daughter." So he sent for all the men of law in the city, and
when they were assembled at the house of the kazi, the dyer said
that he was now willing to sign the contract; "But I declare," he
added, "in the presence of these honourable witnesses, that I do
so on the condition that if my daughter should not prove to your
liking when you have seen her, and you should determine to
divorce her, you shall oblige yourself to give her a thousand
sequins of gold in addition to the same amount which I have
already received from you. "Agreed," said the kazi, "I oblige
myself to it, and call this whole assembly to be witnesses. Art
thou now satisfied?" "I am," replied the dyer, who then went his
way, saying that he would at once send him his bride.
As soon as the dyer was gone, the assembly broke up, and the kazi
was left a house. He had been two years married to the daughter
of a merchant of Baghdad, whom he had hitherto lived on very
amicable terms. When she heard that he was arranging for a second
marriage, she came to him in a great rage. "How now," said she,
"two hands in one glove! two swords in one scabbard! two wives in
one house! Go, fickle man! Since the caresses of a young and
faithful wife cannot secure your constancy, I am ready to yield
my place to my rival and retire to my own family. Repudiate me--
return my dowry--and you shall never see me more." "I am glad you
have thus anticipated me," answered the kazi, "for I was somewhat
perplexed how to acquaint you of my new marriage." So saying, he
opened a coffer and took out a purse of five hundred sequins of
gold, and putting it into her hands, "There, woman," said he,
"thy dowry is in that purse: begone, and take with you what
belongs to you. I divorce thee once; I divorce thee twice, three
times I divorce thee. And that thy parents may be satisfied thou
art divorced from me, I shall give thee a certificate signed by
myself and my nayb." This he did accordingly, and his wife went
to her father's house, with her bill of divorce and her dowry.
The kazi then gave orders to furnish an apartment sumptuously for
the reception of his bride. The floor was spread with velvet
carpets, the walls were hung with rich tapestry, and couches of
gold and silver brocade were placed around the room. The bridal
chamber was decked with caskets filled with the most exquisite
perfumes. When everything was in readiness, the kazi impatiently
expected the arrival of his bride, and at last was about to
despatch a messenger to the dyer's when a porter entered,
carrying a wooden chest covered with a piece of green taffeta.
"What hast thou brought me there, friend?" asked the kazi. "My
lord," replied the porter, setting the chest on the floor, "I
bring your bride." The kazi opened the chest, and discovered a
woman of three feet and a half, defective in every limb and
feature. He was horrified at the sight of this object, and
throwing the covering hastily over it, demanded of the porter,
"What wouldst thou have me do with this frightful creature?" "My
lord," said the porter, "this is the daughter of Omar the dyer,
who told me that you had espoused her out of pure inclination."
"O Allah!" exclaimed the kazi, "is it possible to marry such a
monster as this?" Just then, the dyer, well knowing that the kazi
must be surprised, came in. "Thou wretch," cried the kazi, "how
cost thou dare to trifle with me? In place of this hideous
object, send hither your other daughter, whose beauty is beyond
comparison; otherwise thou shalt soon know what it is to insult
me." Quoth the dyer, "My lord, I swear, by Him who out of
darkness produced light, that I have no other daughter but this.
I told you repeatedly that she was not for your purpose, but you
would not believe my words. Who, then, is to blame?" Upon this
the kazi began to cool, and said so the dyer, "I must tell you,
friend Omar, that this morning there came to me a most beautiful
damsel, who pretended that you were her father, and that you
represented her to everybody as a monster, on purpose to deter
all suitors that came to ask her in marriage." "My lord,"
answered the dyer, "this beautiful damsel must be an impostor;
some one, undoubtedly, owes you a grudge." Then the kazi, having
reflected for a few minutes, said to the dyer, "Bid the porter
carry thy daughter home again. Keep the thousand sequins of gold
which I gave thee, but ask no more of me, if thou desirest that
we should continue friends." The dyer, knowing the implacable
disposition of the kazi, thought it advisable to content himself
with what he had already gained, and the kazi, having formally
divorced his hideous bride, sent her away with her father. The
affair soon got wind in the city and everybody was highly
diverted with the trick practiced on the kazi.
It will be observed that in the Arabian story there are two
clever devices: that of the lady who tricks the boastful
merchant, whose motto was that men's craft is superior to women's
craft, into marrying the ugly daughter of the kazi; and that of
the merchant to get rid of his bad bargain by disgusting the kazi
with the alliance. The scene at the house of the worthy judge--
the crowd of low rascals piping, drumming, and capering, and
felicitating themselves on their pretended kinsman the merchant's
marriage--is highly humorous. This does not occur in the Persian
story, because it is the kazi, who has been duped into marrying
the dyer's deformed daughter, and she is therefore simply packed
off again to her father's house.
That the tales of the "Thousand and One Days" are not (as is
supposed by the writer of an article on the several English
versions of The Nights in the "Edinburgh Review" for July 1886,
p. 167) mere imitations of Galland[FN#596] is most certain, apart
from the statement in the preface to Petis' French translation,
which there is no reason to doubt--see vol. x. of The Nights, p.
166, note 1. Sir William Ouseley, in his Travels, vol. ii., p.
21, note, states that he brought from Persia a manuscript which
comprised, inter alia, a portion of the "Hazar u Yek Ruz," or the
Thousand and One Days, which agreed with Petis' translation of
the same stories. In the Persian collection entitled "Shamsa u
Kuhkuha" occur several of the tales and incidents, for example,
the Story of Nasiraddoli King of Mousel, the Merchant of Baghdad,
and the Fair Zeinib, while the Story of the King of Thibet and
the Princess of the Naimans has its parallel in the Turkish "Kirk
Vazir," or Forty Vazirs. Again, the Story of Couloufe and the
Beautiful Dilara reminds us of that of Haji the Cross-grained in
Malcolm's "Sketches of Persia." But of the French translation not
a single good word can be said--the Oriental "costume" and
phraseology have almost entirely disappeared, and between Petis
de la Croix and the author of "Gil Blas"--who is said to have had
a hand in the work--the tales have become ludicrously
Frenchified. The English translation made from the French is, if
possible, still worse. We there meet with "persons of quality,"
"persons of fashion," with "seigneurs," and a thousand and one
other inconsistencies and absurdities. A new translation is much
to be desired. The copy of the Persian text made by Petis is
probably in the Paris Library and Ouseley's fragment is doubtless
among his other Oriental MSS. in the Bodleian. But one should
suppose that copies of the "Hazar u Yek Ruz" may be readily
procured at Ispahan or Tehran, and at a very moderate cost, since
the Persians now-a-days are so poor in general that they are
eager to exchange any books they possess for the "circulating
medium."
NUR AL-DIN AND THE DAMSEL SITT AL-MILAH.--Vol. XII. p. 107.
This is an excellent tale, the incidents occur naturally and the
reader's interest in the fortunes of the hero and heroine never
flags. The damsel's sojourn with the old Muezzin--her dispatching
him daily to the shroff--bears some analogy to part of the tale
of Ghanim the Slave of Love (vol. ii. of The Nights), which, by
the way, finds close parallels in the Turkish "Forty Vazirs" (the
Lady's 18th story in Mr. Gibb's translation), the Persian
"Thousand and One Days" (story of Aboulcasem of Basra), and the
"Bagh o Bahar" (story of the First Dervish). This tale is, in
fact, a compound of incidents occurring in a number of different
Arabian fictions.
TALE OF KING INS BIN KAYS AND HIS DAUGHTER.--Vol. XII. p. 138.
Here we have another instance of a youth falling in love with the
portrait of a pretty girl (see ante, p. 236). The doughty deeds
performed by the young prince against thousands of his foes throw
into the shade the exploits of the Bedouin hero Antar, and those
of our own famous champions Sir Guy of Warwick and Sir Bevis of
Hampton.
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
FIRUZ AND HIS WIFE, p. 216.
I find yet another variant of this story in my small MS.
collection of Arabian and Persian anecdotes, translated from the
French (I have not ascertained its source):
They relate that a lord of Basra, while walking one day in his
garden, saw the wife of his gardener, who was very beautiful and
virtuous. He gave a commission to his gardener which required him
to leave his home. He then said to his wife "Go and shut all the
doors." She went out and soon returned, saying, "I have shut all
the doors except one, which I am unable to shut." The lord asked,
"And where is that door?" She replied "That which is between you
and the respect due to your Maker: there is no way of closing
it." When the lord heard these words, he asked the woman's
pardon, and became a better and a wiser man.
We have here a unique form of the wide-spread tale of "The Lion's
Track," which, while it omits the husband's part, yet reflects
the virtuous wife's rebuke of the enamoured sultan.
THE SINGER AND THE DRUGGIST, p. 219.
If Straparola's version is to be considered as an adaptation of
Ser Giovanni's novella-- which I do not think very probable--it
must be allowed to be an improvement on his model. In the Arabian
story the singer is first concealed in a mat, next in the oven,
and again in the mat, after which he escapes by clambering over
the parapet of the druggist's roof to that of an adjoining house,
and his subsequent adventures seem to be added from a different
story. In Ser Giovanni's version the lover is first hid beneath a
heap of half dried clothes, and next behind the street door, from
which he escapes the instant the husband enters, and the latter
is treated as a madman by the wife's relatives and the
neighbours--an incident which has parallels in other tales of
women's craft and its prototype, perhaps, in the story of the man
who compiled a book of the Wiles of Woman, as told in "Syntipas,"
the Greek version of the Book of Sindibad. In Straparola the
lover--as in the Arabian story--is concealed three times, first
in a basket, then between two boardings, and lastly in a chest
containing law papers; and the husband induces him to recount his
adventures in presence of the lady's friends, which having
concluded, the lover declares the story to be wholly fictitious:
this is a much more agreeable ending than that of Giovanni's
story, and, moreover, it bears a close analogy to the latter part
of the Persian tale, where the lover exclaims he is right glad to
find it all a dream. Straparola's version has another point of
resemblance in the Persian story--so far as can be judged from
Scott's abstract--and also in the Arabian story: the lover
discovers the lady by chance, and is not advised to seek out some
object of love, as in Giovanni; in the Arabian the singer is
counselled by the druggist to go about and entertain wine
parties. Story-comparers have too much cause to be dissatisfied
with Jonathan Scott's translation of the "Bahar-i- Danish"--a
work avowedly derived from Indian sources--although it is far
superior to Dow's garbled version. The abstracts of a number of
the tales which Scott gives in an appendix, while of some use,
are generally tantalising: some stories he has altogether omitted
"because they are similar to tales already well known"
(unfortunately the comparative study of popular fictions was
hardly begun in his time), while of others bare outlines are
furnished, because he considered them "unfit for general
perusal." But his work, even as it is, has probably never been
"generally" read, and he seems to have had somewhat vague notions
of "propriety," to judge by his translations from the Arabic and
Persian. A complete English rendering of the "Bahar-i-Danish"
would be welcomed by all interested in the history of fiction.
THE FULLER, HIS WIFE AND THE TROOPER, p. 236.
The trick played on the silly fuller of dressing him up as a
Turkish soldier resembles that of the Three Deceitful Women who
found a gold ring in the public bath, as related in the Persian
story-book, "Shamsa u Kuhkuha:"
When the wife of the superintendent of police was apprised that
her turn had come, she revolved and meditated for some time what
trick she was to play off on her lord, and after having come to a
conclusion she said one evening to him, "To-morrow I wish that we
should both enjoy ourselves at home without interruptions, and I
mean to prepare some cakes." He replied, "Very well, my dear; I
have also longed for such an occasion." The lady had a servant
who was very obedient and always covered with the mantle of
attachment to her. The next morning she called this youth and
said to him, "I have long contemplated the hyacinth grove of thy
symmetrical stature; and I know that thou travellest constancy
and faithfully on the road of compliance with all my wishes, and
that thou seekest to serve me. I have a little business which I
wish thee to do for me." The servant answered, "I shall be happy
to comply. Then the lady gave him a thousand diners and said, "Go
to the convent which is in our vicinity; give this money to one
of the kalandars there and say to him, 'A prisoner whom the Amir
had surrendered to the police has escaped last night. He closely
resembles thee, and as the superintendent of the police is unable
to account to the Amir, he has sent a man to take thee instead of
the escaped criminal. I have compassion for thee and mean to
rescue thee. Take this sum of money; give me thy dress; and flee
from the town; for if thou remainest in it till the morning thou
wilt be subjected to torture and wilt lose thy life.'" The
servant acted as he was bid, and brought the garments to his
mistress. When it was morning she said to her husband, "I know
you have long wished to eat sweetmeats, and I shall make some
to-day." He answered, "Very well." His wife made all her
preparations and commenced to bake the sweetmeats. He said to
her, "Last night a theft was committed in a certain place, and I
sat up late to extort confessions; and as I have spent a
sleepless night, I feel tired and wish to repose a little." The
lady replied, "Very well."
Accordingly the superintendent of the police reclined on the
pillow of rest; and when the sweetmeat was ready his wife took a
little and putting an opiate into it she handed it to him,
saying, "How long will you sleep? To-day is a day of feasting and
pleasure, not of sleep and laziness. Lift up your head and see
whether I have made the sweets according to your taste." He
raised his head, swallowed a piece of the hot cake and lay down
again. The morsel was still in his throat when consciousness left
and a deep sleep overwhelmed him. His wife immediately undressed
him and put on him the garments of the kalandar. The servant
shaved his head and made some tattoo marks on his body. When the
night set in the lady called her servant and said, "Hyacinth, be
kind enough to take the superintendent on thy back, and carry him
to the convent instead of that kalandar, and if he wishes to
return to the house in the morning, do not let him." The servant
obeyed. Towards dawn the superintendent recovered his senses a
little; but as the opiate had made his palate very bitter, he
became extremely thirsty. He fancied that he was in his own
house, and so he exclaimed, "Narcissus, bring water." The
kalandars awoke from sleep, and after hearing several shouts of
this kind, they concluded that he was under the influence of
bang, and said, "Poor fellow! the narcissus is in the garden;
this is the convent of sufferers, and there are green garments
enough here. Arise and sober thyself, for the morning and
harbinger of benefits as well as of the acquisition of the
victuals for subsistence is approaching." When the superintendent
heard these words he thought they were a dream, for he had not
yet fully recovered his senses. He sat quietly, but was amazed on
beholding the walls and ceiling of the convent: he got up, looked
at the clothes in which he was dressed and at the marks tattooed
on his body, and began to doubt whether he was awake or asleep.
He washed his face, and perceived that the caravan of his
mustachios had likewise departed from the plain of his
countenance.
In this state of perplexity he went out of the convent and
proceeded to his house. There his wife, with her male and female
servants, was expecting his arrival. He approached the house and
placed his hand on the knocker of the door, but was received by
Hyacinth, who said, "Kalandar, whom seekest thou?" The
superintendent rejoined, "I want to enter the house." Hyacinth
continued, "Thou hast to-day evidently taken thy morning draught
of bang earlier and more copiously than usual, since thou hast
foolishly mistaken the road to thy convent. Depart! This is not a
place in which vagabond kalandars are harboured. This is the
palace of the superintendent of the police. and if the symurgh
looks with incivility from the fastness of the west of Mount Kaf
at this place, the wings of its impertinence will at once become
singed." The superintendent said, "What nonsense art thou
speaking? Go out of my way, for I do not relish thy imbecile
prattle." But when he wanted to enter, Hyacinth struck him with a
bludgeon on the shoulder, which the superintendent returned with
a box on the ear, and both began to wrestle together. At that
moment the lady and her maid-servants rushed forth from the rear
and assailed him with sticks and stones, shouting, "This kalandar
wishes in plain daylight to force his way into the house of the
superintendent. What a pity that the superintendent is sick, or
else this crime would have to be expiated on the gallows!" In the
meantime all the neighbours assembled, and on seeing the
shameless kalandar's proceedings they cried, "Look at that
impudent kalandar who wants forcibly to enter the house of the
superintendent." Ultimately the crowd amounted to more than five
hundred persons, and the gentleman was put to flight and pursued
by all the little boys, who pelted him with stones till they
expelled him from the town.
At the distance of three farsangs from the town there was a
village where the superintendent concealed himself in the corner
of a mosque. During the evenings he went from house to house and
begged for food to sustain life, until his mustachios again grew
and the tattooed scars gradually began to disappear. Whenever
anyone inquired for the superintendent at his house, he was
informed by the servants that the gentleman was sick. After one
month had expired, the grief of separation and the misery of his
condition had again driven him back to the city. He went to the
convent because fear hindered him from going to the house. His
wife happened one day to catch a glimpse of him from her window,
and perceived him sitting in the same dress with a company of
kalandars. She felt compassion for him, called the servant and
said, "The superintendent has had enough of this!" She made a
loaf of bread and put some opiate into it, and said, "When the
kalandars are asleep, you must go and place this loaf under the
pillow of the superintendent." The servant obeyed, and when the
gentleman awoke in the middle of the night he was surprised to
find the loaf. He fancied that when his companions had during the
night returned from begging, they had placed it there, and so he
ate some of it. During the same night the servant went there by
the command of the lady, took his master on his back and carried
him home. When it was morning, the lady took off the kalandar's
clothes from her husband and dressed him in his own garments, and
began to make sweetmeats as on the former occasion. After some
time he began to move, and his wife exclaimed, "O superintendent,
do not sleep so much. I have told you that we shall spend this
day in joy and pleasure, and it was not fair of you to pass the
time in this lazy way. Lift up your head and see what beautiful
sweetmeats I have baked for you." When he opened his eyes, and
saw himself dressed in his own clothes and at home, the rosebush
of his amazement again brought forth the flowers of astonishment,
and he said, "God be praised! What has happened to me?" He sat
up, and exclaimed, "Wife, things have happened to me which I can
scarcely describe." She replied, "From the uneasy motions which
you have made in your sleep, it appears you must have had
extraordinary dreams." "Dreams, forsooth," said he, "since the
moment I lay down I have experienced the most strange
adventures." "Certainly," rejoined the lady, "last night you have
been eating food disagreeing with your constitution, and to-day
the vapours of it have ascended into your brains, and have caused
you all this distress." The superintendent said, "Yes last night
we went to a party in the house of Serjeant Bahman, and there was
roasted pillau, of which I ate somewhat more than usual, and the
vapour of it has occasioned me all this trouble.''[FN#597]
Strikingly similar to this story is the trick of the first lady
on her husband in the "Fabliau des Trois Dames qui trouverent un
Anel." Having made him drunk, she causes his head to be shaved,
dresses him in the habit of a monk, and carries him, assisted by
her lover, to the entrance of a convent. When he awakes and sees
himself thus transformed he imagines that God by a miraculous
exercise of His grace had called him to the monastic life. He
presents himself before the abbot and requests to be received
among the brethren. The lady hastens to the convent in
well-feigned despair, and is exhorted to be resigned and to
congratulate her husband on the saintly vow he has taken. "Many a
good man, ' says the poet, "has been betrayed by woman and by her
harlotry. This one became a monk in the abbey, where he abode a
very long time. Wherefore, I counsel all people who hear this
story told, that they ought not to trust in their wives, nor in
their households, if they have not first proved that they are
full of virtues. Many a man has been deceived by women and by
their treachery. This one became monk against right, who would
never have been such in his life, if his wife had not deceived
him.''[FN#598]
The second lady's trick in the fabliau is a very close parallel
to the story in The Nights, vol. v. p. 96.[FN#599] She had for
dinner on a Friday some salted and smoked eels, which her husband
bade her cook, but there was no fire in the house. Under the
pretext of going to have them cooked at a neighbour's fire she
goes out and finds her lover, at whose house she remains a whole
week. On the following Friday, at the hour of dinner, she enters
a neighbour's house and asks leave to cook the eels, saying that
her husband is angry with her for having no fire, and that she
did not dare to go back, lest he should take off her head. As
soon as the eels are cooked she carries them piping hot to her
own house. The husband asks her where she has been for eight
days, and commences to beat her. She cries for help and the
neighbours come in, and amongst them the one at whose fire the
eels had been cooked, who swears that the wife had only just left
her house and ridicules the husband for his assertion that she
had been away a whole week. The husband gets into a great rage
and is locked up for a madman.
The device of the third lady seems a reflection of the
"Elopement," but without the underground tunnel between the
houses of the wife and the lover. The lady proposes to her lover
to marry him, and he believes that she is only jesting, seeing
that she is already married, but she assures him that she is
quite in earnest, and even undertakes that her husband will
consent. The lover is to come for her husband and take him to the
house of Dan Eustace, where he has a fair niece, whom the lover
is to pretend he wishes to espouse, if he will give her to him.
The wife will go thither, and she will have done her business
with Eustace before they arrive. Her husband cannot but believe
that he has left her at home, and she will be so apparelled that
he cannot recognise her. This plan is accordingly carried out.
The lover asks the husband for the hand of his niece in marriage,
to which he joyously consents, and without knowing it makes a
present of his own wife. "All his life long the lover possessed
her, because the husband gave and did not lend her; nor could he
ever get her back."
Le Grand mentions that this fabliau is told at great length in
the tales of the Sieur d'Ouville, tome iv. p. 255. In the
"Facetiae Bebelianae," p. 86, three women wager which of them will
play the best trick on her husband. One causes him to believe he
is a monk, and he goes and sings mass, the second husband
believed himself to be dead, and allows himself to be carried to
that mass on a bier; and the third sings in it quite naked.
(There is a very similar story in Campbell's "Popular Tales of
the West Highlands.") It is also found, says Le Grand, in the
"Convivales Sermones," tome i. p. 200, in the "Delices de
Verboquet," p. 166; and in the Facetiae of Lod. Domenichi, p. 172.
In the "Comes pour Rire," p. 197, three women find a diamond, and
the arbiter whom they select promises it, as in the fabliau, to
her who concocts the best device for deceiving her husband, but
their ruses are different.
End of Supplemental Nights Volume 2.
Arabian Nights, Volume 12
Footnotes
[FN#1] Bresi. Edit., vol. xi. pp. 321-99, Nights dccccxxx-xl.
[FN#2] Arab. "Iklim" from the Gr. {Greek}, often used as amongst
us (e.g. "other climes") for land.
[FN#3] Bibars whose name is still famous and mostly pronounced
"Baybars," the fourth of the Baharite Mamelukes whom I would call
the "Soldans." Originally a slave of Al-Salih, seventh of the
Ayyubites, he rose to power by the normal process, murdering his
predecessor, in A. D. 1260; and he pushed his conquests from
Syria to Armenia. In his day "Saint" Louis died before Tunis (A.
D. 1270).
[FN#4] There are sundry Sahils or shore-lands. "Sahil Misr" is
the River-side of Cairo often extended to the whole of Lower
Egypt (vol. i. 290): here it means the lowlands of Palestine once
the abode of the noble Philistines; and lastly the term extends
to the sea-board of Zanzibar, where, however, it is mostly used
in the plur. "Sawahil"=the Shores.
[FN#5] Arab. "Sammar" (from Samar,=conversatio nocturna),=the
story-teller who in camp or house whiles away the evening hours.
[FN#6] "Flag of the Faith:" Sanjar in old Persian=a Prince, a
King.
[FN#7] "Aider of the Faith."
[FN#8] These policemen's tales present a curious contrast with
the detective stories of M. Gaboriau and his host of imitators.
In the East the police, like the old Bow Street runners, were and
are still recruited principally amongst the criminal classes on
the principle of "Set a thief," &c. We have seen that the
Barmecide Wazirs of Baghdad "anticipated Fourier's doctrine of
the passionel treatment of lawless inclinations," and employed as
subordinate officers, under the Wali or Prefect of Police,
accomplished villains like Ahmad al-Danaf (vol. iv. 75), Hasan
Shuuman and Mercury Ali (ibid.) and even women (Dalilah the
Crafty) to coerce and checkmate their former comrades. Moreover a
gird at the police is always acceptable, not only to a
coffee-house audience, but even to a more educated crowd; witness
the treatment of the "Charley" and the "Bobby" in our truly
English pantomimes.
[FN#9] i.e. the Chief of Police, as the sequel shows.
[FN#10] About L4.
[FN#11] i.e. of the worlds visible and invisible.
[FN#12] Arab. "Mukaddam:" see vol. iv, 42.
[FN#13] "Faithful of Command;" it may be a title as well as a P.
N. For "Al-Amin," see vol. iv. 261.
[FN#14] i. e. "What have I to do with, etc.?" or "How great is
the difference between me and her." The phrase is still popular
in Egypt and Syria; and the interrogative form only intensifies
it. The student of Egyptian should always try to answer a
question by a question. His labours have been greatly facilitated
by the conscientious work of my late friend Spitta Bey. I tried
hard to persuade the late Rogers Bey, whose knowledge of Egyptian
and Syrian (as opposed to Arabic) was considerable, that a simple
grammar of Egyptian was much wanted; he promised to undertake it)
but death cut short the design.
[FN#15] Arab. "Nawwab," plur. of Naib (lit. deputies,
lieutenants)=a Nabob. Till the unhappy English occupation of
Egypt, the grand old Kil'ah (Citadel) contained the palace of the
Pasha and the lodgings and offices of the various officials.
Foreign rulers, if they are wise, should convert it into a fort
with batteries commanding the town, like that of Hyderabad, in
Sind.
[FN#16] For this famous and time-honoured building, see vol. i.
269.
[FN#17] Arab. "Tamkin," gravity, assurance.
[FN#18] Arab. " Iyal-hu" lit. his family, a decorous
circumlocution for his wives and concubines.
[FN#19] Arab. "Darb," lit. a road; here a large thoroughfare.
[FN#20] When Mohammed Ali Pasha (the "Great") began to rule, he
found Cairo "stifled" with filth, and gave orders that each
householder, under pain of confiscation, should keep the street
before his house perfectly clean. This was done after some
examples had been made and the result was that since that time
Cairo never knew the plague. I am writing at Tangier where a
Mohammed Ali is much wanted.
[FN#21] i.e. Allah forfend!
[FN#22] Arab. "Mustauda'"=a strong place where goods are
deposited and left in charge.
[FN#23] Because, if she came to grief, the people of the street,
and especially those of the adjoining houses would get into
trouble. Hence in Moslem cities, like Damascus and Fez, the Harat
or quarters are closed at night with strong wooden doors, and the
guards will not open them except by means of a silver key.
Mohammed Ali abolished this inconvenience, but fined and
imprisoned all night-walkers who carried no lanterns. See
Pilgrimage, vol. i. 173,
[FN#24] As Kazi of the quarter he was ex-officio guardian of the
orphans and their property, and liable to severe punishment
(unless he could pay for the luxury) in case of fraud or neglect.
[FN#25] Altogether six thousand dinars=L3000. This sentence is
borrowed from the sequel and necessary to make the sense clear.
[FN#26] i.e. "I am going at once to complain of thee before the
king unless thou give me due satisfaction by restoring the money
and finding the thief."
[FN#27] The Practice (of the Prophet) and the Holy Law (Koranic):
see vols. v. 36, 167 and i. 169.
[FN#28] In the corrupt text "Who knew me not;" thus spoiling the
point.
[FN#29] Arab. "Maut Ahmar"=violent or bloody death. For the
various coloured deaths, see vol. vi. 250.
[FN#30] i.e. for lack of sleep.
[FN#31] i.e. of the Kazi.
[FN#32] Arab. "Mubah," in the theologic sense, an action which is
not sinful (haram) or quasisinful (makruh); vulgarly "permitted,
allowed"; so Shahrazad "ceased to say her say permitted" (by
Shahryar).
[FN#33] Arab. "Ya Khawand"; see vol. vii. 315.
[FN#34] i.e. we both make different statements equally credible,
but without proof, and the case will go against me, because thou
art the greater man.
[FN#35] Arab. "Irtiyad"=seeking a place where to stale, soft and
sloping, so that the urine spray may not defile the dress. All
this in one word!
[FN#36] Arab. "Bahar," the red buphthalmus sylvester often used
for such comparisons. In Algeria it is called 'Arawah: see the
Jardin Parfume, p. 245, note 144.
[FN#37] i.e. parties.
[FN#38] i.e. amongst men.
[FN#39] Almost as neat as "ou sont les neiges d'autan?"
[FN#40] Arab. "Adi," one transgressing, an enemy, a scoundrel.
[FN#41] It was probably stuck in the ground like an amphora.
[FN#42] i.e. hush up the matter.
[FN#43] In Egypt; the former being the Eastern of the Seven
Provinces extending to the Pelusium branch, and the latter to the
Canobic. The "Barari" or deserts, i.e. grounds not watered by the
Nile, lie scattered between the two and both are bounded South by
the Kalubiyah Province and Middle Egypt.
[FN#44] i.e. a man ready of wit and immediate of action, as
opposed to his name Al-Atwash -- one notable for levity of mind.
[FN#45] The negative is emphatic, "I certainly saw a Jew," etc.
[FN#46] The "Irish bull" is in the text; justified by--
They hand-in-hand, with wand'ring steps and slow
Through Eden took their solitary way,
[FN#47] As we should say, "There are good pickings to be had out
of this job." Even in the last generation a Jew or a Christian
intriguing with an Egyptian or Syrian Moslemah would be offered
the choice of death or Al-Islam. The Wali dared not break open
the door because he was not sure of his game.
[FN#48] The Jew rose seemingly to fetch his valuables and ran
away, thus leaving the Wali no proof that he had been there in
Moslem law which demands ocular testimony, rejects circumstantial
evidence and ignores such partial witnesses as the policeman who
accompanied his Chief. This I have before explained.
[FN#49] Arab. "Raba'," lit.=spring-quarters. See Marba', iii. 79.
[FN#50] Arab. "Ni'am," an exception to the Abbe Sicard's rule.
"La consonne N est l'expression naturelle du doute chez toutes
les nations, par ce que le son que rend la touche nasale, quand
l'homme incertain examine s'il fera ce qu'on lui demande; ainsi
NE ON, NE OT, NE EC, NE IL, d'ou l'on a fait non, not, nec, nil.
[FN#51] For this "Halawat al-Miftah," or sweetmeat of the
key-money, the French denier a Dieu, Old English "God's penny,"
see vol. vii. 212, and Pilgrimage i. 62.
[FN#52] Showing that car. cop. had taken place. Here we find the
irregular use of the inn, perpetuated in not a few of the monster
hotels throughout Europe.
[FN#53] For its rules and right performance see vol. vi. 199.
[FN#54] i.e. the "Basil(issa)," mostly a servile name, see vol.
i. 19.
[FN#55] Arab. "La'alla," used to express the hope or expectation
of some event of possible occurrence; thus distinguished from
"Layta"--Would heaven! utinam! O si! etc.-- expressing desire or
volition.
[FN#56] Arab. "Balat," in Cairo the flat slabs of limestone and
sandstone brought from the Turah quarries, which supplied stone
for the Jizah Pyramids.
[FN#57] Arab. "Ya Mu'arras!" here=O fool and disreputable; see
vol. i. 338.
[FN#58] These unfortunates in hot climates enjoy nothing so much
as throwing off the clothes which burn their feverish skins: see
Pilgrimage iii. 385. Hence the boys of Eastern cities, who are
perfect imps and flibbertigibbets, always raise the cry "Majnun"
when they see a man naked whose sanctity does not account for his
nudity.
[FN#59] Arab. "Daur al-Ka'ah"=the round opening made in the
ceiling for light and ventilation.
[FN#60] Arab. "La-nakhsifanna" with the emphatic termination
called by grammarians "Nun al-taakid"--the N of injunction. Here
it is the reduplicated form, the Nun al-Sakilah or heavy N. The
addition of La (not) e.g. "La yazrabanna"=let him certainly not
strike answers to the intensive or corroborative negative of the
Greek effected by two negations or even more. In Arabic as in
Latin and English two negatives make an affirmative.
[FN#61] Parturition and death in warm climates, especially the
damp-hot like Egypt are easy compared with both processes in the
temperates of Europe. This is noticed by every traveller. Hence
probably Easterns have never studied the artificial Euthanasia
which is now appearing in literature. See p. 143 "My Path to
Atheism," by Annie Besant, London: Freethought Publishing
Company, 28, Stonecutter Street, E. C., 1877, based upon the
Utopia of the highly religious Thomas Moore. Also "Essay on
Euthanasia," by P. D. Williams, Jun., and Mr. Tollemache in the
"Nineteenth Century."
[FN#62] i.e. he whose turn it is to sit on the bench outside the
police office in readiness for emergencies.
[FN#63] Arab. "'Udul" (plur. of 'Adil), gen. men of good repute,
qualified as witnesses in the law court, see vol. iv. 271. It is
also used (as below) for the Kazi's Assessors.
[FN#64] About L80.
[FN#65] Arab. "Kitab"=book, written bond. This officiousness of
the neighbours is thoroughly justified by Moslem custom; and the
same scene would take place in this our day. Like the Hindu's,
but in a minor degree, the Moslem's neighbours form a volunteer
police which oversees his every action. In the case of the Hindu
this is required by the exigencies of caste, an admirable
institution much bedevilled by ignorant Mlenchbas, and if
"dynamiting" become the fashion in England, as it threatens to
become, we shall be obliged to establish "Vigilance Committees"
which will be as inquisitorial as caste
[FN#66] e.g. writing The contract of A. with B., daughter of
Such-an-one, etc.
[FN#67] Arab. "Hujjat," which may also mean an excuse.
[FN#68] The last clause is supplied by Mr. Payne to stop a gap in
the broken text.
[FN#69] The text idiotically says "To the King."
[FN#70] In the text "Nahnu"=we, for I, a common vulgarism in
Egypt and Syria.
[FN#71] This clause has required extensive trimming; the text
making the Notary write out the contract (which was already
written) in the woman's house.
[FN#72] Arab. "Husn tadbir"=lit. "beauty of his contrivance."
Husn, like pulcher, beau and bello, is applied to moral
intellectual qualities as well as to physical and material. Hence
the {Greek} or old gentleman which in Romaic becomes Calogero, a
monk.
[FN#73] i.e. that some one told me the following tale.
[FN#74] Arab. "Mutawalli": see vol. i. 259.
[FN#75] i.e. his Moslem neighbours.
[FN#76] In the text is a fearful confusion of genders.
[FN#77] Her object was to sue him for the loss of the pledge and
to demand fabulous damages.
[FN#78] Arab. "Ya'tamiduna huda-hum"=purpose the right direction,
a skit at the devotees of her age and sex; and an impudent
comment upon the Prefect's address "O she-devil!"
[FN#79] The trick has often been played in modern times at fairs,
shows, etc. Witness the old joe Miller of the "Moving Multitude."
[FN#80] Apparently meaning the forbidden pleasures of wine and
wassail, loose talk and tales of women's wiles, a favourite
subject with the lewder sort of Moslem.
[FN#81] i.e. women's tricks.
[FN#82] The "Turkoman" in the text first comes in afterwards.
[FN#83] Arab. "Kasid," the old Anglo-lndian "Cossid"; see vol.
vii. 340.
[FN#84] Being a merchant he wore dagger and sword, a safe
practice as it deters attack and far better than carrying hidden
weapons, derringers and revolvers which, originating in the
United States, have now been adopted by the most civilised
nations in Europe.
[FN#85] I have noted (vol. ii. 186, iv. 175) the easy expiation
of perjury amongst Moslems, an ugly blot in their moral code.
[FN#86] i.e. Enter in the name of Allah.
[FN#87] i.e. Damn your soul for leading me into this danger!
[FN#88] Arab. "Saff Kamariyat min al-Zujaj." The Kamariyah is
derived by Lane (Introd. M.E.) from Kamar=moon; by Baron Von
Hammer from Khumarawayh, second of the Banu-Tulun dynasty, at the
end of the ixth century A.D., when stained glass was introduced
into Egypt. N.B.--It must date from many centuries before. The
Kamariyah are coloured glass windows about 2 feet high by 18
inches wide, placed in a row along the upper part of the
Mashrabiyah or projecting lattice-window, and are formed of small
panes of brightly-stained glass set in rims of gypsum-plaster,
the whole framed in wood. Here the allusion is to the "Mamrak" or
dome-shaped skylight crowning the room. See vol. viii. 156.
[FN#89] i.e. easily arrested them.
[FN#90] The reader will not forget the half-penitent Captain of
Bandits in Gil Blas.
[FN#91] Arab. "Abtal"=champions, athletes, etc., plur. of Batal,
a brave: so Batalat=a virago. As the root Batala=it was vain, the
form "Battal" may mean either a hero or a bad lot: see vol. viii.
335; x. 72,73.
[FN#92] Arab. "Fityan;" plur. of Fata; see vol. i, 67.
[FN#93] This was in popular parlance "adding insult to injury:"
the blackening their faces was a promise of Hell-fire.
[FN#94] Arab. "Shayyan li 'llah!" lit.=(Give me some) Thing for
(the love of) Allah. The answer in Egypt. is "Allah
ya'tik:"=Allah will give it thee (not I), or, "Yaftah 'Allah,"=
Allah open (to thee the door of subsistence): in Marocco "Sir fi
halik" (pron. Sirf hak)= Go about thy business. In all cities
there is a formula which suffices the asker; but the Ghashim
(Johny Raw) who ignores it, is pestered only the more by his
protestations that "he left his purse at home," etc.
[FN#95] i.e. engaged her for a revel and paid her in advance.
[FN#96] Arab. "Rasilah"=a (she) partner, to accompany her on the
lute.
[FN#97] Suggesting that they are all thieves who had undergone
legal mutilation.
[FN#98] Arab. "Nuzhat-i:" see vol. ii. 81.
[FN#99] Arab. "Muhattakat;" usually "with torn veils" (fem.
plur.) here "without veils," metaphor. meaning in disgrace, in
dishonour.
[FN#100] For this reedy Poa, see vol. ii. 18.
[FN#101] I have repeatedly noticed that singing and all music
are, in religious parlance, "Makruh," blameable though not
actually damnable; and that the first step after "getting
religion" is to forswear them.
[FN#102] i.e. to find the thief or make good the loss.
[FN#103] i.e. the claimants.
[FN#104] Arab. "Sakiyah:" see vol. i. 123.
[FN#105] The lower orders of Egypt and Syria are addicted to this
bear-like attack; so the negroes imitate fighting-rams by butting
with their stony heads. Let me remark that when Herodotus (iii.
12), after Psammenitus' battle of Pelusium in B.C. 524, made the
remark that the Egyptian crania were hardened by shaving and
insolation and the Persians were softened by wearing head-cloths,
he tripped in his anthropology. The Iranian skull is naturally
thin compared with that of the negroid Egyptian and the negro.
[FN#106] Arab. "Farkalah," {Greek} from flagellum; cattle-whip
with leathern thongs. Lane, M.E.; Fleischer Glos. 83-84; Dozy
s.v.
[FN#107] This clause is supplied to make sense.
[FN#108] i.e. to crucify him by nailing him to an upright board.
[FN#109] i.e. a native of the Hauran, Job's country east of
Damascus, now a luxuriant waste, haunted only by the plundering
Badawin and the Druzes of the hills, who are no better; but its
stretches of ruins and league-long swathes of stone over which
the vine was trained, show what it has been and what it will be
again when the incubus of Turkish mis-rule shall be removed from
it. Herr Schuhmacher has lately noted in the Hauran sundry Arab
traditions of Job; the village Nawa, where he lived; the Hammam
'Ayyub, where he washed his leprous skin; the Dayr Ayyub, a
monastery said to date from the third century; and the Makan
Ayyub at Al-Markaz, where the semi-mythical patriarch and his
wife are buried. The "Rock of Job", covered by a mosque, is a
basaltic monolith 7 feet high by 4, and is probably connected
with the solar worship of the old Phoenicians.
[FN#110] This habit "torquere mero," was a favourite with the
mediaeval Arabs. Its effect varies greatly with men's characters,
making some open-hearted and communicative, and others more
cunning and secretive than in the normal state. So far it is an
excellent detection of disposition, and many a man passes off
well when sober who has shown himself in liquor a rank snob.
Among the lower orders it provokes what the Persians call
Bad-masti (le vin mechant) see Pilgrimage iii. 385.
[FN#111] This mystery is not unfamiliar to the modern
"spiritualist;" and all Eastern tongues have a special term for
the mysterious Voice. See vol. i. 142.
[FN#112] Arab. "Alaykum:" addressed to a single person. This is
generally explained by the "Salam" reaching the ears of Invisible
Controls, and even the Apostle. We find the words cruelly
distorted in the Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile (partly
translated by John E. Taylor, London: Bogue, 1848), "The Prince,
coming up to the old woman heard an hundred Licasalemme," p. 383.
[FN#113] Arab. "Al-Zalamah"; the policeman; see vol. vi. 214.
[FN#114] i.e. in my punishment.
[FN#115] i.e. on Doomsday thou shalt get thy deserts.
[FN#116] i.e. what I could well afford.
[FN#117] Arab. Hirfah=a trade, a guild, a corporation: here the
officers of police.
[FN#118] Gen. "tip-cat" (vol. ii. 314.) Here it would mean a rude
form of tables or backgammon, in which the players who throw
certain numbers are dubbed Sultan and Wazir, and demean
themselves accordingly. A favourite bit of fun with Cairene boys
of a past generation was to "make a Pasha;" and for this
proceeding, see Pilgrimage, vol. i. 119.
[FN#119] In Marocco there is great difficulty about finding an
executioner who becomes obnoxious to the Thar, vendetta or
blood-revenge. For salting the criminal's head, however, the
soldiers seize upon the nearest Jew and compel him to clean out
the brain and to prepare it for what is often a long journey.
Hence, according to some, the local name of the Ghetto,
Al-Mallah,=the salting-ground.
[FN#120] Mr. Payne suspects that "laban," milk, esp. artificially
soured (see vol. vi, 201), is a clerical error for "jubn"=cheese.
This may be; but I follow the text as the exaggeration is greater
[FN#121] i.e. in relinquishing his blood-wite for his brother.
[FN#122] The Story-teller, probably to relieve the monotony of
the Constables' histories, here returns to the original cadre. We
must not forget that in the Bresl. Edit. the Nights are running
on, and that the charming queen is relating the adventure of
Al-Malik al-Zahir.
[FN#123] Arab. "Za'amu"=they opine, they declare, a favourite
term with the Bresl. Edit.
[FN#124] Arab. "Zirtah" the coarsest of terms for what the French
nuns prettily termed un sonnet; I find ung sonnet also in Nov.
ii. of the Cent nouvelles Nouvelles. Captain Lockett (p. 32)
quotes Strepsiades in The Clouds {Greek} "because he cannot
express the bathos of the original (in the Tale of Ja'afar and
the old Badawi) without descending to the oracular language of
Giacoma Rodogina, the engastrymythian prophetess." But Sterne was
by no means so squeamish. The literature of this subject is
extensive, beginning with "Peteriana, ou l'art de peter," which
distinguishes 62 different tones. After dining with a late friend
en garcon we went into his sitting-room and found on the table 13
books and booklets upon the Crepitus Ventris, and there was some
astonishment as not a few of the party had never seen one.
[FN#125] This tale is a replica of the Cranes of Ibycus. This was
a Rhegium man who when returning to Corinth, his home, was set
upon by robbers and slain. He cast his dying eyes heavenwards and
seeing a flight of cranes called upon them to avenge him and this
they did by flying over the theatre of Corinth on a day when the
murderers were present and one cried out, "Behold the avengers of
Ibycus!" Whereupon they were taken and put to death. So says
Paulus Hieronymus, and the affecting old tale has newly been sung
in charming verse by Mr. Justin H. McCarthy ("Serapion." London:
Chatto and Windus).
[FN#126] This scene is perfectly true to Badawi life; see my
Pilgrimage iii. 68.
[FN#127] Arab. "Durraj": so it is rendered in the French
translation of Al-Masudi, vii. 347.
[FN#128] A fair friend found the idea of Destiny in The Nights
become almost a night-mare. Yet here we suddenly alight upon the
true Johnsonian idea that conduct makes fate. Both extremes are
as usual false. When one man fights a dozen battles unwounded and
another falls at the first shot we cannot but acknowledge the
presence of that mysterious "luck" whose laws, now utterly
unknown to us, may become familiar with the ages. I may note that
the idea of an appointed hour beyond which life may not be
prolonged, is as old as Homer (Il. ??? 487).
The reader has been told (vol. vii. 135) that "Kaza" is Fate in a
general sense, the universal and eternal Decree of Allah, while
"Kadar" is its special and particular application to man's lot,
that is Allah's will in bringing forth events at a certain time
and place. But the former is popularly held to be of two
categories, one Kaza al-Muham which admits of modification and
Kaza al-Muhkam, absolute and unchangeable, the doctrine of
irresistible predestination preached with so much energy by St.
Paul (Romans ix. 15-24), and all the world over men act upon the
former while theoretically holding to the latter. Hence "Chinese
Gordon," whose loss to England is greater than even his friends
suppose, wrote "It is a delightful thing to be a fatalist,"
meaning that the Divine direction and pre-ordination of all
things saved him so much trouble of forethought and afterthought.
In this tenet he was not only a Calvinist but also a Moslem whose
contradictory ideas of Fate and Freewill (with responsibility)
are not only beyond Reason but are contrary to Reason; and
although we may admit the argumentum ad verecundiam, suggesting
that there are things above (or below) human intelligence, we are
not bound so to do in the case of things which are opposed to the
common sense of mankind. Practically, however, the Moslem
attitude is to be loud in confessing belief of "Fate and Fortune"
before an event happens and after it wisely to console himself
with the conviction that in no way could he have escaped the
occurrence. And the belief that this destiny was in the hands of
Allah gives him a certain dignity especially in the presence of
disease and death which is wanting in his rival religionist the
Christian. At the same time the fanciful picture of the Turk
sitting stolidly under a shower of bullets because Fate will not
find him out unless it be so written is a freak i.e. fancy rarely
found in real life.
There are four great points of dispute amongst the schoolmen in
Al-Islam; (1) the Unity and Attributes of Allah, (2) His promises
and threats, (3) historical as the office of Imam and (4)
Predestination and the justice thereof. On the latter subject
opinions range over the whole cycle of possibilities. For
instance, the Mu'tazilites, whom the learned Weil makes the
Protestants and Rationalists of Al-Islam, contend that the word
of Allah was created in subjecto, ergo, an accident and liable to
perish, and one of their school, the Kadiriyah (=having power)
denies the existence of Fate and contends that Allah did not
create evil but left man an absolutely free agent. On the other
hand, the Jabarlyah (or Mujabbar=the compelled) is an absolute
Fatalist who believes in the omnipotence of Destiny and deems
that all wisdom consists in conforming with its decrees.
Al-Mas'udi (chaps. cxxvii.) illustrates this by the saying of a
Moslem philosopher that chess was the invention of a Mu'tazil,
while Nard (backgammon with dice) was that of a Mujabbar proving
that play can do nothing against Destiny. Between the two are the
Ashariyah; trimmers whose standpoint is hard to define; they
would say, "Allah creates the power by which man acts, but man
wills the action," and care not to answer the query, "Who created
the will ?" (See Pocock, Sale and the Dabistan ii. 352.) Thus
Sa'adi says in the Gulistan (iii. 2), "The wise have pronounced
that though daily bread be allotted, yet it is so conditionally
upon using means to acquire it, and although calamity be
predestined, yet it is right to secure oneself against the
portals by which it may have access." Lastly, not a few doctors
of Law and Religion hold that Kaza al-Muhkam, however absolute,
regards only man's after or final state; and upon this subject
they are of course as wise as other people, and--no wiser. Lane
has treated the Moslem faith in Destiny very ably and fully
(Arabian Nights, vol. i. pp. 58-61), and he being a man of
moderate and orthodox views gives valuable testimony.
[FN#129] Arab. "Shaykh al-Hujjaj." Some Santon like Hasan al-
Marabit, then invoked by the Meccan pilgrims: see Pilgrimage, i.
321. It can hardly refer to the famous Hajjaj bin Yusuf al-Sakafi
(vol. iv. 3).
[FN#130] Here the Stories of the Sixteen Constables abruptly end,
after the fashion of the Bresl. Edit. They are summarily
dismissed even without the normal "Bakhshish."
[FN#131] Bresl. Edit. vol xi. pp. 400-473 and vol. xii. pp. 4-50,
Nights dccccxli.-dcccclvii. For Kashghar, see vol. i. 255.
[FN#132] Mr. Payne proposes to translate "'Anbar" by amber, the
semi-fossilised resin much used in modern days, especially in
Turkey and Somaliland, for bead necklaces. But, as he says, the
second line distinctly alludes to the perfume which is sewn in
leather and hung about the neck, after the fashion of our ancient
pomanders (pomme d' ambre).
[FN#133] i.e. The Caliph: see vol. i. p. 50.
[FN#134] Arab. "Adab :" see vol. i. 132, etc. In Moslem dialects
which borrow more or less from Arabic, "Bi-adabi"--without being
Adab, means rudeness, disrespect, "impertinence" (in its modern
sense).
[FN#135] i.e. Isaac of Mosul, the greatest of Arab musicians: see
vol. iv. 119.
[FN#136] The elder brother of Ja'afar, by no means so genial or
fitted for a royal frolic. See Terminal Essay.
[FN#137] Ibn Habib, a friend of Isaac, and a learned grammarian
who lectured at Basrah.
[FN#138] A suburb of Baghdad, mentioned by Al Mas'udi.
[FN#139] Containing the rooms in which the girl or girls were
sold. See Pilgrimage i. 87.
[FN#140] Dozy quotes this passage but cannot explain the word
Fawwak.
[FN#141] "A passage has apparently dropped out here. The Khalif
seems to have gone away without buying, leaving Ishak behind,
whereupon the latter was accosted by another slave-girl, who came
out of a cell in the corridor." So says Mr. Payne. vol. ii. 207.
The "raiser of the veil" means a fitting purchaser.
[FN#142] i.e. "Choice gift of the Fools," a skit upon the girl's
name "Tohfat al-Kulub"=Choice gift of the Hearts. Her folly
consisted in refusing to be sold at a high price, and this is
often seen in real life. It is a Pundonor amongst good Moslems
not to buy a girl and not to sleep with her, even when bought,
against her will.
[FN#143] "Every one cannot go to Corinth." The question makes the
assertion emphatic.
[FN#144] i.e. The Narrows of the (Dervishes') convent.
[FN#145] Arab. "Akwa min dahni 'l-lanz." These unguents have been
used in the East from time immemorial whilst the last generation
in England knew nothing of anointing with oil for incipient
consumption. A late friend of mine, Dr. Stocks of the Bombay
Establishment, and I proposed it as long back as 1845; but in
those days it was a far cry from Sind to London.
[FN#146] The sequel will explain why she acted in this way.
[FN#147] i.e. Thou hast made my gold piece (10 shill.) worth only
a doit by thy superiority in the art and mystery of music.
[FN#148] Arab. "Uaddiki," Taadiyah (iid. of Ada, he assisted)
means sending, forwarding. In Egypt and Syria we often find the
form "Waddi" for Addi, imperative.
[FN#149] Again "he" for "she".
[FN#150] i.e. Honey and wine.
[FN#151] i.e. he died.
[FN#152] i.e. if my hand had lost its cunning.
[FN#153] Arab. "Thiyab 'Amudiyah": 'Amud=tent prop or column, and
Khatt 'Amud=a perpendicular line.
[FN#154] i.e. a choice gift. The Caliph speaks half ironically.
"Where's this wonderful present etc?" So further on when he
compares her with the morning.
[FN#155] Again the usual pun upon the name.
[FN#156] Throughout the East this is the action of a servant or a
slave, practised by freemen only when in danger of life or
extreme need an i therefore humiliating.
[FN#157] It had been thrown down from the Mamrak or small dome
built over such pavilions for the purpose of light by day and
ventilation by night. See vol. i. 257, where it is called by the
Persian term "Badhanj."
[FN#158] The Nights have more than once applied this patronymic
to Zubaydah. See vol. viii. 56, 158.
[FN#159] Arab. "Mutahaddisin"=novi homines, upstarts.
[FN#160] i.e.. thine auspicious visits.
[FN#161] He being seated on the carpet at the time.
[FN#162] A quotation from Al-Farazdat who had quarrelled with his
wife Al-Howar (see the tale in Ibn Khallikan, i. 521), hence "the
naked intercessor" became proverbial for one who cannot be
withstood.
[FN#163] i.e. Choice Gift of the Breasts, that is of hearts, the
continens for the contentum.
[FN#164] Pron. "Abuttawaif," the Father of the (Jinn-)tribes. It
is one of the Moslem Satan's manifold names, alluding to the
number of his servants and worshippers, so far agreeing with that
amiable Christian doctrine, "Few shall be saved."
[FN#165] Mr. Payne supplies this last clause from the sequence.
[FN#166] i.e. "Let us go," with a euphemistic formula to defend
her from evil influences. Iblis uses the same word to prevent her
being frightened.
[FN#167] Arab. "Al-Mustarah," a favourite haunting place of the
Jinn, like the Hammam and other offices for human impurity. For
its six names Al-Khala, Al-Hushsh, Al-Mutawazza, Al-Kanif,
Al-Mustarah, and Mirhaz, see Al-Mas'udi, chap. cxxvii., and
Shirishi's commentary to Hariri's 47, Assembly.
[FN#168] Which, in the East, is high and prominent whilst the
cantle forms a back to the seat and the rider sits as in a baby's
chair. The object is a firm seat when fighting: "across country"
it is exceedingly dangerous.
[FN#169] In Swedenborg's "Arcane Coelestia" we read, "When man's
inner sight is opened which is that of kits spirit; then there
appear the things of another life which cannot be made visible to
the bodily sight." Also "Evil spirits, when seen by eyes other
than those of their infernal associates, present themselves by
correspondence in the beast (fera) which represents their
particular lust and life, in aspect direful and atrocious." These
are the Jinns of Northern Europe.
[FN#170] This exchange of salams was a sign of her being in
safety.
[FN#171] Arab. "Shawahid," meaning that heart testifies to heart.
[FN#172] i.e. A live coal, afterwards called Zalzalah, an
earthquake; see post p. 76. "Wakhimah"=an unhealthy land, and
"Shararah"=a spark.
[FN#173] I need hardly note the inscriptions upon the metal trays
sold to Europeans. They are usually imitation words so that
infidel eyes may not look upon the formulae of prayer; and the
same is the case with table-cloths, etc., showing a fancy Tohgra
or Sultanic sign-manual.
[FN#174] i.e.. I cannot look at them long.
[FN#175] Evidently a diabolical way of clapping his hands in
applause. This description of the Foul Fiend has an element of
grotesqueness which is rather Christian than Moslem.
[FN#176] Arab. "Rikki al-Saut," which may also mean either "lower
thy voice," or "change the air to one less touching."
[FN#177] "Your" for "thy."
[FN#178] i.e. written on the "Guarded Tablet" from all eternity.
[FN#179] Arab. "Al-'Urs wa'al Tubur" which can only mean, 'the
wedding (which does not drop out of the tale) and the
circumcision."
[FN#180] I here propose to consider at some length this curious
custom which has prevailed amongst so many widely separated
races. Its object has been noted (vol. v. 209), viz. to diminish
the sensibility of the glans, no longer lubricated with prostatic
lymph; thus the part is hardened against injury and disease and
its work in coition is prolonged. On the other hand, "praeputium
in coitu voluptatem (of the woman) auget, unde femina praeputiatis
concubitum malunt quam cum Turcis ac Judaeis " says Dimerbroeck
(Anatomic). I vehemently doubt the fact. Circumcision was
doubtless practised from ages immemorial by the peoples of
Central Africa, and Welcker found traces of it in a mummy of the
xvith century B.C. The Jews borrowed it from the Egyptian
priesthood and made it a manner of sacrament, "uncircumcised"
being="unbaptised," that is, barbarian, heretic; it was a seal of
reconciliation, a sign of alliance between the Creator and the
Chosen People, a token of nationality imposed upon the body
politic. Thus it became a cruel and odious protestation against
the brotherhood of man, and the cosmopolitan Romans derided the
verpae ac verpi. The Jews also used the term figuratively as the
"circumcision of fruits" (Lev. xix. 23), and of the heart (Deut.
x. 16), and the old law gives copious historical details of its
origin and continuance. Abraham first amputated his horny
"calotte" at aet. 99, and did the same for his son and household
(Gen. xvii. 24-27). The rite caused a separation between Moses
and his wife (Exod. iv. 25). It was suspended during the Desert
Wanderings and was resumed by Joshua (v. 3-7), who cut off two
tons' weight of prepuces. The latter became, like the scalps of
the Scythians and the North-American "Indians" trophies of
victory; Saul promised his daughter Michol to David for a dowry
of one hundred, and the son-in-law brought double tale.
Amongst the early Christians opinions concerning the rite
differed. Although the Founder of Christianity was circumcised,
St. Paul, who aimed at a cosmopolitan faith discouraged it in the
physical phase. St. Augustine still sustained that the rite
removed original sin despite the Fathers who preceded and
followed him, Justus, Tertullian, Ambrose and others. But it
gradually lapsed into desuetude and was preserved only in the
outlying regions. Paulus Jovius and Munster found it practised in
Abyssinia, but as a mark of nobility confined to the descendants
of "Nicaules, queen of Sheba." The Abyssinians still follow the
Jews in performing the rite within eight days after the birth and
baptise boys after forty and girls after eighty days. When a
circumcised man became a Jew he was bled before three witnesses
at the place where the prepuce had been cut off and this was
called the "Blood of alliance." Apostate Jews effaced the sing of
circumcision: so in 1 Matt. i. 16, fecerunt sibi praeputia et
recesserunt a Testamento Sancto. Thus making prepuces was called
by the Hebrews Meshookim=recutitis, and there is an allusion to
it in 1 Cor. vii. 18, 19, {Greek} (Farrar, Paul ii. 70). St.
Jerome and others deny the possibility; but Mirabeau (Akropodie)
relates how Father Conning by liniments of oil, suspending
weights, and wearing the virga in a box gained in 43 days 71/4
lines. The process is still practiced by Armenians and other
Christians who, compelled to Islamise, wish to return to
Christianity. I cannot however find a similar artifice applied to
a circumcised clitoris. The simplest form of circumcision is mere
amputation of the prepuce and I have noted (vol. v. 209) the
difference between the Moslem and the Jewish rite, the latter
according to some being supposed to heal in kindlier way. But the
varieties of circumcision are immense. Probably none is more
terrible than that practiced in the Province Al-Asir, the old
Ophir, Iying south of Al-Hijaz, where it is called Salkh,
lit.=scarification The patient, usually from ten to twelve years
old, is placed upon raised ground holding m right hand a spear,
whose heel rests upon his foot and whose point shows every
tremour of the nerves. The tribe stands about him to pass
judgment on his fortitude and the barber performs the operation
with the Jumbiyah-dagger, sharp as a razor. First he makes a
shallow cut, severing only the skin across the belly immediately
below the navel, and similar incisions down each groin; then he
tears off the epidermis from the cuts downwards and flays the
testicles and the penis, ending with amputation of the foreskin.
Meanwhile the spear must not tremble and in some clans the lad
holds a dagger over the back of the stooping barber, crying, "Cut
and fear not!" When the ordeal is over, he exclaims, "Allaho
Akbar!" and attempts to walk towards the tents soon falling for
pain and nervous exhaustion, but the more steps he takes the more
applause he gains. He is dieted with camel's milk, the wound is
treated with salt and turmeric, and the chances in his favour are
about ten to one. No body-pile or pecten ever grows upon the
excoriated part which preserves through life a livid ashen hue.
Whilst Mohammed Ali Pasha occupied the province he forbade
"scarification" under pain of impalement, but it was resumed the
moment he left Al-Asir. In Africa not only is circumcision
indigenous, the operation varies more or less in the different
tribes. In Dahome it is termed Addagwibi, and is performed
between the twelfth and twentieth year. The rough operation is
made peculiar by a double cut above and below; the prepuce being
treated in the Moslem, not the Jewish fashion (loc. cit.). Heated
sand is applied as a styptic and the patient is dieted with
ginger-soup and warm drinks of ginger-water, pork being
especially forbidden. The Fantis of the Gold Coast circumcise in
sacred places, e.g., at Accra on a Fetish rock rising from the
sea The peoples of Sennaar, Taka, Masawwah and the adjacent
regions follow the Abyssinian custom. The barbarous Bissagos and
Fellups of North Western Guinea make cuts on the prepuce without
amputating it; while the Baquens and Papels circumcise like
Moslems. The blacks of Loango are all "verpae," otherwise they
would be rejected by the women. The Bantu or Caffre tribes are
circumcised between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, the "Fetish
boys," as we call them, are chalked white and wear only grass
belts; they live outside the villages in special houses under an
old "medicine-man," who teaches them not only virile arts but
also to rob and fight. The "man-making" may last five months and
ends in fetes and dances: the patients are washed in the river,
they burn down their quarters, take new names, and become adults,
donning a kind of straw thimble over the prepuce. In Madagascar
three several cuts are made causing much suffering to the
children, and the nearest male relative swallows the prepuce. The
Polynesians circumcise when childhood ends and thus consecrate
the fecundating organ to the Deity. In Tahiti the operation is
performed by the priest, and in Tonga only the priest is exempt.
The Maories on the other hand, fasten the prepuce over the glans,
and the women of the Marquesas Islands have shown great cruelty
to shipwrecked sailors who expose the glans. Almost all the known
Australian tribes circumcise after some fashion: Bennett supposes
the rite to have been borrowed from the Malays, while Gason
enumerates the "Kurrawellie wonkauna among the five mutilations
of puberty. Leichhardt found circumcision about the Gulf of
Carpentaria and in the river-valleys of the Robinson and
Macarthur: others observed it on the Southern Coast a nd among
the savages of Perth, where it is noticed by Salvado. James
Dawson tells us "Circumciduntur pueri," etc., in Western
Victoria. Brough Smyth, who supposes the object is to limit
population (?), describes on the Western Coast and in Central
Australia the "Corrobery"-dance and the operation performed with
a quartz-flake. Teichelmann details the rite in Southern
Australia where the assistants--all men, women, and children
being driven away--form a "manner of human altar" upon which the
youth is laid for circumcision. He then receives the normal two
names, public and secret, and is initiated into the mysteries
proper for men. The Australians also for Malthusian reasons
produce an artificial hypospadias, while the Karens of New Guinea
only split the prepuce longitudinally (Cosmos p. 369, Oct. 1876);
the indigens of Port Lincoln on the West Coast split the virga:--
Fenditur usque ad urethram a parse infera penis between the ages
of twelve and fourteen, says E. J. Eyre in 1845. Missionary
Schurmann declares that they open the urethra. Gason describes in
the Dieyerie tribe the operation 'Kulpi" which is performed when
the beard is long enough for tying. The member is placed upon a
slab of tree-bark, the urethra is incised with a quartz-flake
mounted in a gum handle and a splinter of bark is inserted to
keep the cut open. These men may appear naked before women who
expect others to clothe themselves. Miklucho Maclay calls it
"Mike" in Central Australia: he was told by a squatter that of
three hundred men only three or four had the member intact in
order to get children, and that in one tribe the female births
greatly outnumbered the male. Those mutilated also marry: when
making water they sit like women slightly raising the penis, this
in coition becomes flat and broad and the semen does not enter
the matrix. The explorer believes that the deed of kind is more
quickly done (?). Circumcision was also known to the New World.
Herrera relates that certain Mexicans cut off the ears and
prepuce of the newly born child, causing many to die. The Jews
did not adopt the female circumcision of Egypt described by Huet
on Origen--"Circumcisio feminarum fit resectione (sive
clitoridis) quae pars in Australium mulieribus ita crescit ut
ferro est coercenda." Here we have the normal confusion between
excision of the nymphae (usually for fibulation) and circumcision
of the clitoris. Bruce notices this clitoridectomy among the
Aybssinians. Werne describes the excision on the Upper White Nile
and I have noted the complicated operation among the Somali
tribes. Girls in Dahome are circumcised by ancient sages femmes,
and a woman in the natural state would be derided by every one
(See my Mission to Dahome, ii. 159) The Australians cut out the
clitoris, and as I have noted elsewhere extirpate the ovary for
Malthusian purposes (Journ Anthrop. Inst., vol. viii. of 1884).
[FN#181] Arab. "Kayrawan" which is still the common name for
curlew, the peewit and plover being called (onomatopoetically)
"Bibat" and in Marocco Yahudi, certain impious Jews having been
turned into the Vanellus Cristatus which still wears the black
skullcap of the
[FN#182] Arab. "Sawaki," the leats which irrigate the ground and
are opened and closed with
[FN#183] The eighth (in altitude) of the many-storied Heavens.
[FN#184] Arab. "Ihramat li al-Salat,"i.e., she pronounced the
formula of Intention (Niyat) with out which prayer is not valid,
ending with Allaho Akbar--Allah is All-great. Thus she had
clothed herself, as it were, in prayer and had retired from the
world pro temp.
[FN#185] i.e.. the prayers of the last day and night which she
had neglected while in company with the Jinns. The Hammam is not
a pure place to pray in; but the Farz or Koranic orisons should
be recited there if the legal term be hard upon its end.
[FN#186] Slaves, male as well as female, are as fond of talking
over their sale as European dames enjoy looking back upon the
details of courtship and marriage.
[FN#187] Arab. "Du'a,"=supplication, prayer, as opposed to
'Salat"=divine worship, "prayers" For the technical meaning of
the latter see vol. iv. 65. I have objected to Mr. Redhouse's
distinction without a difference between Moslem's worship and
prayer: voluntary prayers: are not prohibited to them and their
praises of the Lord are mingled, as amongst all worshippers, with
petitions.
[FN#188] Al-Muzfir=the Twister; Zafair al-Jinn=Adiantum capillus
veneris Luluah=The Pearl, or Wild Heifer; see vol. ix. 218.
[FN#189] Arab. "Bi jildi 'l-baker." I hope that captious critics
will not find fault with my rendering, as they did in the case of
Fals ahmar=a red cent, vol. i. 321.
[FN#190] Arab. "Farasah"=lit. knowing a horse. Arabia abounds in
tales illustrating abnormal powers of observation. I have noted
this in vol. viii. 326.
[FN#191] i.e. the owner of this palace.
[FN#192] She made the Ghusl not because she had slept with a man,
but because the impurity of Satan's presence called for the major
ablution before prayer.
[FN#193] i.e. she conjoined the prayers of nightfall with those
of dawn.
[FN#194] i.e.. Those of midday, mid-afternoon and sunset.
[FN#195] Arab. "Sahba" red wine preferred for the morning
draught.
[FN#196] The Apostle who delighted in women and perfumes. Persian
poetry often alludes to the rose which, before white, was dyed
red by his sweat.
[FN#197] For the etymology of Julnar--Byron's "Gulnare"--see vol.
vii. 268. Here the rhymer seems to refer to its origin; Gul
(Arab. Jul) in Persian a rose; and Anar, a pomegranate, which in
Arabic becomes Nar=fire.
[FN#198] i.e. "The brilliant," the enlightened.
[FN#199] i.e.. the moral beauty.
[FN#200] A phenomenon well known to spiritualists and to "The
House and the Haunter." An old Dutch factory near Hungarian Fiume
is famed for this mode of "obsession" the inmates hear the sound
of footfalls, etc., behind them, especially upon the stairs; and
see nothing.
[FN#201] The two short Koranic chapters, The Daybreak (cxiii.)
and The Men (cxiv. and last) evidently so called from the words
which occur in both (versets i., "I take refuge with"). These
"Ma'uzatani," as they are called, are recited as talismans or
preventives against evil, and are worn as amulets inscribed on
parchment; they are also often used in the five canonical
prayers. I have translated them in vol. iii. 222.
[FN#202] The artistes or fugleman at prayer who leads off the
orisons of the congregation; and applied to the Caliph as the
head of the faith. See vol. ii. 203 and iv. 111.
[FN#203] Arab. " 'Ummar" i.e. the Jinn, the "spiritual creatures"
which walk this earth, and other non-humans who occupy it.
[FN#204] A parallel to this bodiless Head is the Giant Face,
which appears to travellers (who expect it) in the Lower Valley
of the Indus. See Sind Re-visited, ii. 155.
[FN#205] Arab. "Ghalili"=my yearning.
[FN#206] Arab. "Ahbabu-na" plur. for singular=my beloved.
[FN#207] i.e. her return.
[FN#208] Arab. "Arja'" lit. return! but here meaning to stop. It
is much used by donkey-boys from Cairo to Fez in the sense of
"Get out of the way." Hence the Spanish arre! which gave rise to
arriero=a carrier, a muleteer.
[FN#209] Arab. "Afras" lit.=a better horseman.
[FN#210] A somewhat crippled quotation from Koran lvi. 87-88, "As
for him who is of those brought near unto Allah, there shall be
for him easance and basil and a Garden of Delights (Na'im)."
[FN#211] i.e. Queen Sunbeam.
[FN#212] See vol. i. 310 for this compound perfume which contains
musk, ambergris and other essences.
[FN#213] I can hardly see the sequence of this or what the
carpets have to do here.
[FN#214] Here, as before, some insertion has been found
necessary.
[FN#215] Arab. "Dukhulak" lit.=thy entering, entrance, becoming
familiar.
[FN#216] Or "And in this there shall be to thee great honour over
all the Jinn."
[FN#217] Mr. Payne thus amends the text, "How loathly is yonder
Genie Meimoun! There is no eating (in his presence);" referring
back to p. 61.
[FN#218] i.e. "I cannot bear to see him!"
[FN#219] This assertion of dignity, which is permissible in
royalty, has been absurdly affected by certain "dames" in
Anglo-Egypt who are quite the reverse of queenly; and who degrade
"dignity" to the vulgarest affectation.
[FN#220] i.e. "May thy visits never fail me!"
[FN#221] i.e. Ash-coloured, verging upon white.
[FN#222] i.e. "She will double thy store of presents."
[FN#223] The Arab boy who, unlike the Jew, is circumcised long
after infancy and often in his teens, thus making the ceremony
conform after a fashion with our "Confirmation," is displayed
before being operated upon, to family and friends; and the seat
is a couch covered with the richest tapestry. So far it resembles
the bride-throne.
[FN#224] Tohfah.
[FN#225] i.e. Hindu, Indian.
[FN#226] Japhet, son of Noah.
[FN#227] Mr. Payne translates "Take this and glorify thyself
withal over the people of the world." His reading certainly makes
better sense, but I do not see how the text can carry the
meaning. He also omits the bussing of the bosom, probably for
artistic reasons.
[FN#228] A skit at Ishak, making the Devil praise him. See vol.
vii. 113.
[FN#229] Arab. "Mawazi" (plur. of Mauza')=lit. places, shifts,
passages.
[FN#230] The bed (farsh), is I presume, the straw-spread (?)
store-room where the apples are preserved.
[FN#231] Arab. "Farkh warak", which sounds like an atrocious
vulgarism.
[FN#232] The Moss-rose; also the eglantine, or dog-rose, and the
sweet-briar, whose leaf, unlike other roses, is so odorous.
[FN#233] The lily in Heb., derived by some from its six (shash)
leaves, and by others from its vivid cheerful brightness. "His
lips are lilies" (Cant. v. 13), not in colour, but in odoriferous
sweetness.
[FN#234] The barber is now the usual operator; but all operations
began in Europe with the "barber-surgeon."
[FN#235] Sic in text xii. 20. It may be a misprint for Abu
al-Tawaif, but it can also mean "O Shaykh of the Tribes (of
Jinns)!"
[FN#236] The capital of King Al-Shisban.
[FN#237] Arab "Fajj", the Spanish "Vega" which, however, means a
mountain-plain, a plain.
[FN#238] i.e. I am quite sure: emphatically.
[FN#239] i.e. all the Jinn's professions of affection and
promises of protection were mere lies.
[FN#240] In the original this apodosis is wanting: see vol. vi.
203, 239.
[FN#241] Arab. "Dahiyat al-Dawahi;" see vol. ii. 87.
[FN#242] Arab. "Al-Jabal al-Mukawwar"= Chaine de montagnes de
forme demi circulaire, from Kaur, a park, an enceinte.
[FN#243] Arab. "Ruhi" lit. my breath, the outward sign of life.
[FN#244] i.e. Kaf.
[FN#245] i.e. A bit of burning charcoal.
[FN#246] Arab. "Al-yad al-bayza,"=lit. The white hand: see vol.
iv. 185.
[FN#247] Showing the antiquity of "Apres moi le deluge," the fame
of all old politicians and aged statesmen who can expect but a
few years of life. These "burning questions" (e.g. the Bulgarian)
may be smothered for a time, but the result is that they blaze
forth with increased violence. We have to thank Lord Palmerston
(an Irish landlord) for ignoring the growth of Fenianism and
another aged statesman for a sturdy attempt to disunite the
United Kingdom. An old nation wants young blood at its head.
[FN#248] Suggesting the nursery rhyme:
Fee, fo, fum
I smell the blood of an Englishman.
[FN#249] i.e. why not at once make an end of her.
[FN#250] The well-known war-cry.
[FN#251] Lit. "Smoke" pop. applied, like our word, to tobacco.
The latter, however, is not here meant.
[FN#252] Arab. "Ghurab al-bayn," of the wold or of parting. See
vol. vii. 226.
[FN#253] Arab. "Halawah"; see vol. iv. 60.
[FN#254] Here the vocative particle "Ya" is omitted.
[FN#255] Lit. "The long-necked (bird)" before noticed with the
Rukh (Roc) in vol. v. 122. Here it becomes a Princess, daughter
of Bahram-i-Gur (Bahram of the Onager, his favourite game), the
famous Persian king in the fifth century, a contemporary of
Theodosius the younger and Honorius. The "Anka" is evidently the
Iranian Simurgh.
[FN#256] "Chamber" is becoming a dangerous word in English. Roars
of laughter from the gods greeted the great actor's declamation,
"The bed has not been slept in! Her little chamber is empty!"
[FN#257] Choice Gift of the breast (or heart).
[FN#258] From the Calc. Edit. (1814-18), Nights cxcvi.-cc., vol.
ii., pp. 367-378. The translation has been compared and collated
with that of Langles (Paris, 1814), appended to his Edition of
the Voyages of Sindbad. The story is exceedingly clever and well
deserves translation.
[FN#259] It is regretable that this formula has not been
preserved throughout The Nights: it affords, I have noticed, a
pleasing break to the long course of narrative.
[FN#260] Arab. "Banat-al-hawa" lit. daughters of love, usually
meaning an Anonyma, a fille de joie; but here the girl is of good
repute, and the offensive term must be modified to a gay,
frolicsome lass.
[FN#261] Arab. "Jabhat," the lintel opposed to the threshold.
[FN#262] Arab. "Ghatti," still the popular term said to a child
showing its nakedness, or a lady of pleasure who insults a man by
displaying any part of her person.
[FN#263] She is compared with a flashing blade (her face) now
drawn from its sheath (her hair) then hidden by it.
[FN#264] The "Muajjalah" or money paid down before consummation
was about L25; and the "Mu'ajjalah" or coin to be paid contingent
on divorce was about L75. In the Calc. Edit ii. 371, both dowers
are L35.
[FN#265] All the blemishes which justify returning a slave to the
slave-dealer.
[FN#266] Media: see vol. ii. 94. The "Daylamite prison" was one
of many in Baghdad.
[FN#267] See vol. v. 199. I may remark that the practice of
bathing after copulation was kept up by both sexes in ancient
Rome. The custom may have originated in days when human senses
were more acute. I have seen an Arab horse object to be mounted
by the master when the latter had not washed after sleeping with
a woman.
[FN#268] On the morning after a happy night the bridegroom still
offers coffee and Halwa to friends.
[FN#269] i.e. More bewitching.
[FN#270] Arab. "Sharifi" more usually Ashrafi, the Port. Xerafim,
a gold coin = 6s.-7s.
[FN#271] The oft-repeated Koranic quotation.
[FN#272] Arab. "'Irk": our phrase is "the apple of the eye."
[FN#273] Meaning that he was a Sayyid or a Sharif.
[FN#274] i.e. than a Jew or a Christian. So the Sultan, when
appealed to by these religionists, who were as usual squabbling
and fighting, answered, "What matter if the dog tear the hog or
the hog tear the dog"?
[FN#275] The "Shari'at" forbidding divorce by force.
[FN#276] i.e. protect my honour.
[FN#277] For this proverb see vol. v. 138. 1 have remarked that
"Shame" is not a passion in Europe as in the East; the Western
equivalent to the Arab. "Haya' 'would be the Latin "Pudor."
[FN#278] Arab. "Talakan bainan," here meaning a triple divorce
before witnesses, making it irrevocable.
[FN#279] i.e. who had played him that trick.
[FN#280] The Bresl. Edit. (vol. xii. pp. 50-116, Nights
dcccclviii- dcccclxv.) entitles it "Tale of Abu al-Hasan the
Damascene and his son Sidi Nur al-Din ' Ali." Sidi means simply,
"my lord," but here becomes part of the name, a practice
perpetuated in Zanzibar. See vol. v.283.
[FN#281] i.e. at the hours of canonical prayers and other
suitable times he made an especial orison (du'a) for issue.
[FN#282] See vol. i.85, for the traditional witchcraft of
Babylonia.
[FN#283] i.e. More or less thoroughly.
[FN#284] i.e. "He who quitteth not his native country diverteth
not himself with a sight of the wonders of the world."
[FN#285] For similar sayings, see vol. ix.257, and my Pilgrimage
i.127.
[FN#286] i.e. relying upon, etc.
[FN#287] The Egyptian term for a khan, called in Persia
caravanserai (karwan-serai); and in Marocco funduk, from the
Greek; whence the Spanish "fonda." See vol. i. 92.
[FN#288] Arab. "Baliyah," to jingle with "Babiliyah."
[FN#289] As a rule whenever this old villain appears in The
Nights, it is a signal for an outburst of obscenity. Here,
however, we are quittes pour la peur. See vol. v. 65 for some of
his abominations.
[FN#290] The lines are in vols. viii.279 and ix.197. I quote Mr.
Payne.
[FN#291] Lady or princess of the Fair (ones).
[FN#292] i.e. of buying.
[FN#293] Arab. "Azan-hu=lit. its ears.
[FN#294] Here again the policeman is made a villain of the
deepest dye; bad enough to gratify the intelligence of his
deadliest enemy, a lodging-keeper in London.
[FN#295] i.e. You are welcome to it and so it becomes lawful
(halal) to you.
[FN#296] Arab. "Sijn al-Dam," the Carcere duro inasprito (to
speak Triestine), where men convicted or even accused of
bloodshed were confined.
[FN#297] Arab. "Mabasim"; plur. of Mabsim, a smiling mouth which
shows the foreteeth.
[FN#298] The branchlet, as usual, is the youth's slender form.
[FN#299] Subaudi, "An ye disdain my love."
[FN#300] In the text "sleep."
[FN#301] "Them" and "him" for "her."
[FN#302] 'Urkub, a Jew of Yathrib or Khaybar, immortalised in the
A.P. (i. 454) as "more promise-breaking than 'Urkub."
[FN#303] Uncle of Mohammed. See vol. viii. 172.
[FN#304] First cousin of Mohammed. See ib.
[FN#305] This threat of "'Orf with her 'ead" shows the Caliph's
lordliness.
[FN#306] Arab. "Al-Bashkhanah."
[FN#307] i.e. Amen. See vol. ix. 131.
[FN#308] When asked, on Doomsday, his justification for having
slain her.
[FN#309] Khorasan which included our Afghanistan, turbulent then
as now, was in a chronic state of rebellion during the latter
part of Al-Rashid's reign.
[FN#310] The brutality of a Moslem mob on such occasions is
phenomenal: no fellow-feeling makes them decently kind. And so at
executions even women will take an active part in insulting and
tormenting the criminal, tearing his hair, spitting in his face
and so forth. It is the instinctive brutality with which wild
beasts and birds tear to pieces a wounded companion.
[FN#311] The popular way of stopping hemorrhage by plunging the
stump into burning oil which continued even in Europe till
Ambrose Pare taught men to take up the arteries.
[FN#312] i.e. folk of good family.
[FN#313] i.e. the result of thy fervent prayers to Allah for me.
[FN#314] Arab. "Al-Abarik" plur. of lbrik, an ewer containing
water for the Wuzu-ablution. I have already explained that a
Moslem wishing to be ceremonially pure, cannot wash as Europeans
do, in a basin whose contents are fouled by the first touch.
[FN#315] Arab. "Naihah ,the praefica or myriologist. See vol. i.
311. The proverb means, "If you want a thing done, do it
yourself."
[FN#316] Arab. "Burka'," the face veil of Egypt, Syria, and
Arabia with two holes for the eyes, and the end hanging to the
waist, a great contrast with the "Litham or coquettish fold of
transparent muslin affected by modest women in Stambul.
[FN#317] i.e. donned petticoat-trousers and walking boots other
than those she was wont to wear.
[FN#318] "Surah" (Koranic chapter) may be a clerical error for
"Surah" (with a Sad) = sort, fashion (of food).
[FN#319] This is solemn religious chaff; the Shaykh had doubtless
often dipped his hand abroad in such dishes; but like a good
Moslem, he contented himself at home with wheaten scones and
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