A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night. Volume 7 (of 17)

199

Lit. for “we leave them for the present”; the formula is much used in this tale, showing another hand, author or copyist.

200

Arab. “Uzrah.”

201

i.e. “Thou art unjust and violent enough to wrong even the Caliph!”

202

I may note that a “donkey-boy” like our “post-boy” can be of any age in Egypt.

203

They could legally demand to be recouped but the chief would have found some pretext to put off payment. Such at least is the legal process of these days.

204

i.e. drunk with the excess of his beauty.

205

A delicate way of offering a fee. When officers commanding regiments in India contracted for clothing the men, they found these douceurs under their dinner-napkins. All that is now changed; but I doubt the change being an improvement: the public is plundered by a “Board” instead of an individual.

206

This may mean, I should know her even were my eyes blue (or blind) with cataract and the Bresl. Edit. ix., 231, reads “Ayní” = my eye; or it may be, I should know her by her staring, glittering, hungry eyes, as opposed to the “Hawar” soft-black and languishing (Arab. Prov. i. 115, and ii. 848). The Prophet said “blue-eyed (women) are of good omen.” And when one man reproached another saying “Thou art Azrak” (blue-eyed!) he retorted, “So is the falcon!” “Zurk-an” in Kor. xx. 102, is translated by Mr. Rod well “leaden eyes.” It ought to be blue-eyed, dim-sighted, purblind.

207

Arab. “Zalábiyah bi-’Asal.”

208

Arab. “Ká’ah,” their mess-room, barracks.

209

i.e. Camel shoulder-blade.

210

So in the Brazil you are invited to drink a copa d’agua and find a splendid banquet. There is a smack of Chinese ceremony in this practice which lingers throughout southern Europe; but the less advanced society is, the more it is fettered by ceremony and “etiquette.”

211

The Bresl. Edit. (ix. 239) prefers these lines:—

212

Arab. Shar’a = holy law; here it especially applies to Al-Kisás = lex talionis, which would order her eye-tooth to be torn out.

213

i.e., of the Afghans. Sulaymáni is the Egypt and Hijazi term for an Afghan and the proverb says “Sulaymáni harámi”—the Afghan is a villainous man. See Pilgrimage i. 59, which gives them a better character. The Bresl. Edit. simply says, “King Sulaymán.”

214

This is a sequel to the Story of Dalilah and both are highly relished by Arabs. The Bresl. Edit. ix. 245, runs both into one.

215

Arab. Misr, Masr, the Capital, says Savary, applied alternately to Memphis, Fostat and Grand Cairo each of which had a Jízah (pron. Gízah), skirt, angle outlying suburb.

216

For the curious street-cries of old Cairo see Lane (M. E. chapt. xiv.) and my Pilgrimage (i. 120): here the rhymes are of Zabíb (raisins), habíb (lover) and labíb (man of sense).

217

The Mac. and Bul. Edits. give two silly couplets of moral advice:—

Strike with thy stubborn steel, and never fearAught save the Godhead of Almighty Might;And shun ill practices and never showThrough life but generous gifts to human sight.

The above is from the Bresl. Edit. ix. 247.

218

Arab. “Al-Khanakah” now more usually termed a Takíyah (Pilgrim. i. 124).

219

Arab. “Ka’b al-ba’íd” (Bresl. Edit. ix. 255) = heel or ankle, metaph. for fortune, reputation: so the Arabs say the “Ka’b of the tribe is gone!” Here “the far one” = the caravan-leader.

220

Arab. “Sharít,” from Sharata = he Scarified; “Mishrat” = a lancet and “Sharítah” = a mason’s rule. Mr. Payne renders “Sharít” by whinyard: it must be a chopper-like weapon, with a pin or screw (laulab) to keep the blade open like the snap of the Spaniard’s cuchillo. Dozy explains it = epée, synonyme de Sayf.

221

Text “Dimágh,” a Persianism when used for the head: the word properly means brain or meninx.

222

They were afraid even to stand and answer this remarkable ruffian.

223

Ahmad the Abortion, or the Foundling, nephew (sister’s son) of Zaynab the Coney-catcher. See supra, p. 145.

224

Here the sharp lad discovers the direction without pointing it out. I need hardly enlarge upon the prehensile powers of the Eastern foot: the tailor will hold his cloth between his toes and pick up his needle with it, whilst the woman can knead every muscle and at times catch a mosquito between the toes. I knew an officer in India whose mistress hurt his feelings by so doing at a critical time when he attributed her movement to pleasure.

225

Arab. “Hullah” = dress. In old days it was composed of the Burd or Ridá, the shoulder-cloth from 6 to 9 or 10 feet long, and the Izár or waistcloth which was either tied or tucked into a girdle of leather or metal. The woman’s waistcloth was called Nitáh and descended to the feet while the upper part was doubled and provided with a Tikkah or string over which it fell to the knees overhanging the lower folds. This doubling of the “Hujrah,” or part round the waist, was called the “Hubkah.”

226

Arab. “Taghaddá,” the dinner being at eleven a.m. or noon.

227

Arab. Ghandúr for which the Dictionaries give only “fat, thick.” It applies in Arabia especially to a Harámi, brigand or freebooter, most honourable of professions, slain in foray or fray, opposed to “Fatís” or carrion (the corps crévé of the Klephts), the man who dies the straw-death. Pilgrimage iii. 66.

228

My fair readers will note with surprise how such matters are hurried in the East. The picture is, however, true to life in lands where “flirtation” is utterly unknown and, indeed, impossible.

229

Arab. “Zabbah,” the wooden bolt (before noticed) which forms the lock and is opened by a slider and pins. It is illustrated by Lane (M. E. Introduction).

230

i.e. I am not a petty thief.

231

Arab. “Satl” = kettle, bucket. Lat. Situla (?)

232

i.e. “there is no chance of his escaping.” It may also mean, “And far from him (Hayhát) is escape.”

233

Arab. “Ihtilám,” the sign of puberty in boy or girl; this, like all emissions of semen, voluntary or involuntary, requires the Ghuzl or total ablution before prayers can be said, etc. See vol. v. 199, in the Tale of Tawaddud.

234

This is the way to take an Eastern when he tells a deliberate lie; and it often surprises him into speaking the truth.

235

The conjunctiva in Africans is seldom white; often it is red and more frequently yellow.

236

So in the texts, possibly a clerical error for the wine which he had brought with the kabobs. But beer is the especial tipple of African slaves in Egypt.

237

Arab. Laun, prop. = color, hue; but applied to species and genus, our “kind”; and especially to dishes which differ in appearance; whilst in Egypt it means any dish.

238

Arab. “Zardah” = rice dressed with honey and saffron. Vol. ii. 313. The word is still common in Turkey.

239

Arab. “Laylat Ams,” the night of yesterday (Al-bárihah) not our “last night” which would be the night of the day spoken of.

240

Arab. “Yakhní,” a word much used in Persia and India and properly applied to the complicated broth prepared for the rice and meat. For a good recipe see Herklots, Appendix xxix.

241

In token of defeat and in acknowledgment that she was no match for men.

242

This is a neat touch of nature. Many a woman, even of the world, has fallen in love with a man before indifferent to her because he did not take advantage of her when he had the opportunity.

243

The slightest movement causes a fight at a funeral or a wedding-procession in the East; even amongst the “mild Hindus.”

244

Arab. “Al-Musrán” (plur. of “Masír”) properly the intestines which contain the chyle. The bag made by Ali was, in fact, a “Cundum” (so called from the inventor, Colonel Cundum of the Guards in the days of Charles Second) or “French letter”; une capote anglaise, a “check upon child.” Captain Grose says (Class. Dict. etc. s.v. Cundum) “The dried gut of a sheep worn by a man in the act of coition to prevent venereal infection. These machines were long prepared and sold by a matron of the name of Philips at the Green Canister in Half Moon Street in the Strand * * * Also a false scabbard over a sword and the oilskin case for the colours of a regiment.” Another account is given in the Guide Pratique des Maladies Secrètes, Dr. G. Harris, Bruxelles. Librairie Populaire. He calls these petits sachets de baudruche “Candoms, from the doctor who invented them.” (Littré ignores the word) and declares that the famous Ricord compared them with a bad umbrella which a storm can break or burst, while others term them cuirasses against pleasure and cobwebs against infection. They were much used in the last century. “Those pretended stolen goods were Mr. Wilkes’s Papers, many of which tended to prove his authorship of the North Briton, No. 45, April 23, 1763, and some Cundums enclosed in an envelope” (Records of C. of King’s Bench, London, 1763). “Pour finir l’inventaire de ces curiosités du cabinet de Madame Gourdan, il ne faut pas omettre une multitude de redingottes appelées d’Angleterre, je ne sais pourquois. Vous connoissez, au surplus, ces espèces de boucliers qu’on oppose aux traits empoisonnés de l’amour; et qui n’emoussent que ceux du plaisir.” (L’Observateur Anglois, Londres 1778, iii. 69). Again we read:—

245

Arab. “Yá Ustá” (for “Ustáz.”) The Pers. term is Ustád = a craft-master, an artisan and especially a barber. Here it is merely a polite address.

246

In common parlance Arabs answer a question (like the classics of Europe who rarely used Yes and No, Yea and Nay), by repeating its last words. They have, however, many affirmative particles e.g. Ni’am which answers a negative “Dost thou not go?”—Ni’am (Yes!); and Ajal, a stronger form following a command, e.g. Sir (go)—Ajal, Yes verily. The popular form is Aywá (’lláhi) = Yes, by Allah. The chief negatives are Má and Lá, both often used in the sense of “There is not.”

247

Arab. “Khalbús,” prop. the servant of the Almah-girls who acts buffoon as well as pimp. The “Maskharah” (whence our “mask”) corresponds with the fool or jester of mediæval Europe: amongst the Arnauts he is called “Suttari” and is known by his fox’s tails: he mounts a mare, tom-toms on the kettle-drum and is generally one of the bravest of the corps. These buffoons are noted for extreme indecency: they generally appear in the ring provided with an enormous phallus of whip-cord and with this they charge man, woman and child, to the infinite delight of the public.

248

Arab. “Shúbash” pronounced in Egypt Shobash: it is the Persian Sháh-básh lit. = be a King, equivalent to our bravo. Here, however, the allusion is to the buffoon’s cry at an Egyptian feast, “Shohbash ’alayk, yá Sáhib al-faraj,” = a present is due from thee, “O giver of the fête!” See Lane M. E. xxvii.

249

Arab. “Ka’ak al-I’d:” the former is the Arab form of the Persian “Kahk” (still retained in Egypt) whence I would derive our word “cake.” It alludes to the sweet cakes which are served up with dates, the quatre mendiants and sherbets during visits of the Lesser (not the greater) Festival, at the end of the Ramazan fast. (Lane M.E. xxv).

250

Arab. “Tásúmah,” a rare word for a peculiar slipper. Dozy (s.v.) says only, espèce de chaussure, sandale, pantoufle, soulier.

251

Arab. “Ijtilá” = the displaying of the bride on her wedding night so often alluded to in The Nights.

252

Arab. Khiskhánah; a mixed word from Khaysh = canvass or stuffs generally and Pers. Khánah = house room. Dozy (s.v.) says armoire, buffet.

253

The Bresl. Edit. “Kamaríyah” = Moon-like (fem.) for Moon.

254

Every traveller describes the manners and customs of dogs in Eastern cities where they furiously attack all canine intruders. I have noticed the subject in writing of Al-Medinah where the beasts are confined to the suburbs (Pilgrimage ii. 52–54).

255

She could legally compel him to sell her; because, being an Infidel, he had attempted to debauch a Moslemah.

256

Arab. “Haláwat wa Mulabbas”; the latter etymologically means one dressed or clothed. Here it alludes to almonds, etc., clothed or coated with sugar. See Dozy s.v. “labas.”

257

Arab. “’Ubb” from a root = being long: Dozy (s.v.), says poche au sein; Habb al-’ubb is a woman’s ornament.

258

Who, it will be remembered, was Dalilah’s grandson.

259

Arab. “Tábút,” a term applied to the Ark of the Covenant (Koran ii. 349), which contained Moses’ rod and shoes, Aaron’s mitre, the manna-pot, the broken Tables of the Law, and the portraits of all the prophets which are to appear till the end of time—an extensive list for a box measuring 3 by cubits. Europeans often translate it coffin, but it is properly the wooden case placed over an honoured grave. “Irán” is the Ark of Moses’ exposure, also the large hearse on which tribal chiefs were carried to earth.

260

i.e. What we have related is not “Gospel Truth.”

261

Omitted by Lane (iii. 252) “because little more than a repetition” of Taj al-Mulúk and the Lady Dunyá. This is true; but the nice progress of the nurse’s pimping is a well-finished picture and the old woman’s speech (infra p. 243) is a gem.

262

Artaxerxes; in the Mac. Edit. Azdashír, a misprint.

263

I use “kiss ground” as we say “kiss hands.” But it must not be understood literally: the nearest approach would be to touch the earth with the finger-tips and apply them to the lips or brow. Amongst Hindus the Ashtánga-prostration included actually kissing the ground.

264

The “key” is mentioned because a fee so called (miftáh) is paid on its being handed to the new lodger (Pilgrimage i. 62).

265

The Koranic term for semen, often quoted.

266

Koran, xii. 31, in the story of Joseph, before noticed.

267

Probably the white woollens, so often mentioned, whose use is now returning to Europe, where men have a reasonable fear of dyed stuffs, especially since Aniline conquered Cochineal.

268

Arab. “samír,” one who enjoys the musámarah or night-talk outside the Arab tents. “Samar” is the shade of the moon, or half darkness when only stars shine without a moon, or the darkness of a moonless night. Hence the proverb (A. P. ii. 513) “Má af’al-hú al-samar wa’l kamar;” I will not do it by moon-darkness or by moonshine, i.e. never. I have elsewhere remarked that “Early to bed and early to rise” is a civilised maxim; most barbarians sit deep into the night in the light of the moon of a camp-fire and will not rise till nearly noon. They agree in our modern version of the old saw:—

Early to bed and early to riseMakes a man surly and gives him red eyes.

269

Suspecting that it had been sent by some Royal lover.

270

Arab. “Rubbamá” a particle more emphatic than rubba, = perhaps, sometimes, often.

271

“The broken (wall)” from Hatim = breaking. It fences the Hijr or space where Ishmael is buried (vol. vi. 205); and I have described it in Pilgrimage iii. 165.

272

Arab. “Faráis” (plur. of farísah): the phrase has often occurred and is = our “trembled in every nerve.” As often happens in Arabic, it is “horsey;” alluding to the shoulder-muscles (not shoulder-blades, Preston p. 89) between neck and flank which readily quiver in blood-horses when excited or frightened.

273

Arab. “Fazl” = exceeding goodness as in “Fazl wa ma’rifah” = virtue and learning.

274

Arab. “Al-Mafárik” (plur. of Mafrak), = the pole or crown of the head, where the hair parts naturally and where baldness mostly begins.

275

Arab. Ná’í al-maut, the person sent round to announce a death to the friends and relations of the deceased and invite them to the funeral.

276

Arab. Táir al-bayn, any bird, not only the Hátim or black crow, which announces separation. Crows and ravens flock for food to the camps broken up for the springtide and autumnal marches, and thus become emblems of desertion and desolation. The same birds are also connected with Abel’s burial in the Koran (v. 34), a Jewish tradition borrowed by Mohammed. Lastly, here is a paronomasia in the words “Ghuráb al-Bayn” = Raven of the Wold (the black bird with white breast and red beak and legs): “Ghuráb” (Heb. Oreb) connects with Cuba = strangerhood, exile, and “Bayn” with distance, interval, disunion, the desert (between the cultivated spots). There is another and a similar pun anent the Bán-tree; the first word meaning “he fared, he left.”

277

Arab. “Tayr,” any flying thing, a bird; with true Arab carelessness the writer waits till the tale is nearly ended before letting us know that the birds are pigeons (Hamám).

278

Arab. “Karalynn.” The Arabs say, “Allah cool thine eye,” because tears of grief are hot and those of joy cool (Al-Asma’i); others say the cool eye is opposed to that heated by watching; and Al-Hariri (Ass. xxvii.) makes a scorching afternoon “hotter than the tear of a childless mother.” In the burning climate of Arabia coolth and refrigeration are equivalent to refreshment and delight.

279

Arab. “Muunah,” the “Mona” of Maroccan travellers (English not Italian who are scandalised by “Mona”) meaning the provisions supplied gratis by the unhappy villagers to all who visit them with passport from the Sultan. Our cousins German have lately scored a great success by paying for all their rations which the Ministers of other nations, England included, were mean enough to accept.

280

Arab. “Kaannahu huwa”; lit. = as he (was) he. This reminds us of the great grammarian, Sibawayh, whose name the Persians derive from “Apple-flavour” (Sib + BA). He was disputing, in presence of Harun al-Rashid with a rival Al-Kiss, and advocated the Bastian form, “Fa-izá huwa hú” (behold, it was he) against the Ku fan, “Fa-izá huwa IA” (behold, it was him). The enemy overcame him by appealing to Badawin, who spoke impurely, whereupon Sibawayh left the court, retired to Khorasan and died, it is said of a broken heart.

281

This is a sign of the Sada or melancholic temperament in which black bile predominates. It is supposed to cause a distaste for society and a longing for solitude, an unsettled habit of mind and neglect of worldly affairs. I remarked that in Arabia students are subject to it, and that amongst philosophers and literary men of Mecca and Al-Medinah there was hardly one who was not spoken of as a “Sada.” See Pilgrimage ii. 49, 50.

282

i.e. I am a servant and bound to tell thee what my orders are.

283

A touching lesson how tribes settle matters in the East.

284

i.e. fresh from water (Arab. “Rutub”), before the air can tarnish them. The pearl (margarita) in Arab is Lulu’; the “Union” or large pearl Durr, plur. Durar. In modern parlance Durr is the second quality of the twelve into which pearls are divided.

285

i.e. the Wazir, but purposely left vague.

286

The whole of the nurse’s speech is admirable: its naïve and striking picture of conjugal affection goes far to redeem the grossness of The Nights.

287

The bitterness was the parting in the morning.

288

English “Prin´cess,” too often pronounced in French fashion Princess.

289

In dictionaries “Bán” (Anglice ben-tree) is the myrobalan which produces gum benzoin. It resembles the tamarisk. Mr. Lyall (p. 74 Translations of Ancient Arab Poetry, Williams and Norgate, 1885), calls it a species of Moringa, tall, with plentiful and intensely green foliage used for comparisons on account of its straightness and graceful shape of its branches. The nut supplies a medicinal oil.

290

A sign of extreme familiarity: the glooms are the hands and the full moons are the eyes.

291

Arab. “Khal’a al-’izár”: lit. = stripping off jaws or side-beard.

292

Arab. “Shimál” = the north wind.

293

An operation well described by Juvenal—

294

The same traveller notes a singular property in the Henna-flower that when smelt closely it exhales a “very powerful spermatic odour,” hence it became a favourite with women as the tea-rose with us. He finds it on the nails of mummies, and identifies it with the Kupros of the ancient Greeks (the moderns call it Kene or Kena) and the Βότρυς τῆς κύπρου (Botrus cypri) of Solomon’s Song (i. 14). The Hebr. is “Copher,” a well-known word which the A. V. translates by “a cluster of camphire (?) in the vineyards of En-gedi”; and a note on iv. 13 ineptly adds, “or, cypress.” The Revised Edit. amends it to “a cluster of henna-flowers.” The Solomonic (?) description is very correct; the shrub affects vineyards, and about Bombay forms fine hedges which can be smelt from a distance.

295

Hardly the equivalent of the Arab. “Kataba” (which includes true tattooing with needles) and is applied to painting “patches” of blue or green colour, with sprigs and arabesques upon the arms and especially the breasts of women. “Kataba” would also be applied to striping the fingers with Henna which becomes a shining black under a paste of honey, lime and sal-ammoniac. This “patching” is alluded to by Strabo and Galen (Lane M. E. chapt ii.); and we may note that savages and barbarians can leave nothing of beauty unadorned; they seem to hate a plain surface like the Hindu silversmith, whose art is shown only in chasing.

296

A violent temper, accompanied with voies de fait and personal violence, is by no means rare amongst Eastern princesses; and terrible tales are told in Persia concerning the daughters of Fath Ali Shah. Few men and no woman can resist the temptations of absolute command. The daughter of a certain Dictator all-powerful in the Argentine Republic was once seen on horseback with a white bridle of peculiar leather; it was made of the skin of a man who had boasted of her favours. The slave-girls suffer first from these masterful young persons and then it is the turn of the eunuchry.

297

A neat touch; she was too thoroughbred to care for herself first.

298

Here the ground or earth is really kissed.

299

Corresponding with our phrase, “His heart was in his mouth.”

300

Very artful is the contrast of the love-lorn Princess’s humility with her furious behaviour, in the pride of her purity, while she was yet a virginette and fancy free.