like grains of hail those lips like the lotus-fruit, or jujube: Arab.
"Unnab" or "Nabk," the plum of the Sidr or Zizyphus lotus.
Footnote 197:
Meaning to let Patience run away like an untethered camel.
Footnote 198:
_i.e._ her fair face shining through the black hair. "Camphor" is a
favourite with Arab poets; the Persians hate it because connected in
their minds with death; being used for purifying the corpse. We read
in Burckhardt (Prov. 464) "Singing without siller is like a corpse
without Hanút"—this being a mixture of camphor and rose-water
sprinkled over the face of the dead before shrouded. Similarly
Persians avoid speaking of coffee, because they drink it at funerals
and use tea at other times.
Footnote 199:
_i.e._ she is angry and bites her carnelion lips with pearly teeth.
Footnote 200:
Arab. "Wa ba'ad;" the formula which follows "Bismillah"—In the name of
Allah. The French translate it _or sus_, etc. I have noticed the
legend about its having been first used by the eloquent Koss, Bishop
of Najrán.
Footnote 201:
_i.e._ Her mind is so troubled she cannot answer for what she writes.
Footnote 202:
The Bul. Edit. (i. 329) and the Mac. Edit. (i. 780) give to Shams
al-Nahar the greater part of Ali's answer, as is shown by the Calc.
Edit. (230 _et seq._) and the Bresl. Edit. (ii. 366 _et seq._). Lane
mentions this (ii. 74) but in his usual perfunctory way gives no
paginal references to the Calc, or Bresl.; so that those who would
verify the text may have the displeasure of hunting for it.
Footnote 203:
Arab. "Bi'smi 'lláhi' r-Rahmáni'r-Rahím." This auspicatory formula was
borrowed by Al-Islam not from the Jews but from the Guebre
"Ba nám-i-Yezdán bakhsháishgar-i-dádár!" (in the name of
Yezdan—God—All-generous, All-just!) The Jews have, "In the name of the
Great God;" and the Christians, "In the name of the Father, etc." The
so-called Sir John Mandeville begins his book, In the name of God,
Glorious and Almighty. The sentence forms the first of the Koran and
heads every chapter except only the ninth, an exception for which
recondite reasons are adduced. Hence even in the present day it begins
all books, letters and writings in general; and it would be a sign of
Infidelity (_i.e._ non-Islamism) to omit it. The difference between
"Rahmán" and "Rahím" is that the former represents an accidental
(compassionating), the latter a constant quality (compassionate). Sale
therefore renders it very imperfectly by "In the name of the most
merciful God;" the Latinists better, "In nomine Dei misericordis,
clementissimi" (Gottwaldt in Hamza Ispahanensis); Mr. Badger much
better, "In the name of God, the Pitiful, the Compassionate"—whose
only fault is not preserving the assonance: and Maracci best, "In
nomine Dei miseratoris, misericordis."
Footnote 204:
Arab. Majnún (_i.e._ one possessed by a Jinni) the well-known model
lover of Layla, a fictitious personage for whom see D'Herbelot (_s.
v._ Megnoun). She was celebrated by Abu Mohammed Nizam al-Din of
Ganjah (ob. A.H. 597 = 1200) pop. known as Nizámi, the caustic and
austere poet who wrote:—
The weals of this world are the ass's meed!
Would Nizámi were of the ass's breed.
The series in the East begins chronologically with Yúsuf and Zulaykhá
(Potiphar's wife) sung by Jámi (nat. A.H. 817 = 1414); the next in
date is Khusraw and Shirin (also by Nizami); Farhad and Shirin; and
Layla and Majnun (the Night-black maid and the Maniac-man) are the
last. We are obliged to compare the lovers with "Romeo and Juliet,"
having no corresponding instances in modern days: the classics of
Europe supply a host as Hero and Leander, Theagenes and Charicleia,
etc. etc.
Footnote 205:
The jeweller of Eastern tales from Marocco to Calcutta, is almost
invariably a rascal: here we have an exception.
Footnote 206:
This must not be understood of sealing-wax, which, however, is of
ancient date. The Egyptians (Herod. ii. 38) used "sealing earth" (γῆ
σημαντρίς) probably clay, impressed with a signet (δακτὺλιον); the
Greeks mud-clay (πηλός); and the Romans first cretula and then wax
(Beckmann). Mediæval Europe had bees-wax tempered with Venice
turpentine and coloured with cinnabar or similar material. The modern
sealing-wax, whose distinctive is shell-lac, was brought by the Dutch
from India to Europe; and the earliest seals date from about A.D.
1560. They called it Ziegel-lak, whence the German Siegel-lack, the
French preferring _cire-à-cacheter_, as distinguished from
_cire-à-sceller_, the softer material. The use of sealing-wax in India
dates from old times and the material, though coarse and unsightly, is
still preferred by Anglo-Indians because it resists heat whereas the
best English softens like pitch.
Footnote 207:
Evidently referring to the runaway Abu al-Hasan, not to the
she-Mercury.
Footnote 208:
An unmarried man is not allowed to live in a respectable quarter of a
Moslem city unless he takes such precaution. Lane (Mod. Egypt.
_passim_) has much to say on this point; and my excellent friend the
late Professor Spitta at Cairo found the native prejudice very
troublesome.
Footnote 209:
Arab. "Yá fulán" = O certain person (fulano in Span. and Port.) a
somewhat contemptuous address.
Footnote 210:
Mr. Payne remarks, "These verses apparently relate to Aboulhusn, but
it is possible that they may be meant to refer to Shemsennehar." (iii.
80.)
Footnote 211:
Arab. and Pers. "Bulúr" (vulg. billaur) retaining the venerable
tradition of the Belus-river. In Al-Hariri (Ass. of Halwán) it means
crystal and there is no need of proposing to translate it by onyx or
to identify it with the Greek βήρυλλος, the beryl.
Footnote 212:
The door is usually shut with a wooden bolt.
Footnote 213:
Arab. "Ritánah," from "Ratan," speaking any tongue not Arabic, the
allusion being to foreign mercenaries, probably Turks. In later days
Turkish was called Muwalla', a pied horse, from its mixture of
languages.
Footnote 214:
This is the rule; to guard against the _guet-apens_.
Footnote 215:
Arab. "Wálidati," used when speaking to one not of the family in lieu
of the familiar "Ummi" = my mother. So the father is Wálid = the
begetter.
Footnote 216:
This is one of the many euphemistic formulæ for such occasions: they
usually begin "May thy head live," etc.
Footnote 217:
Arab. "Kánún" Gr. κανὼν, an instrument not unlike the Austrian zither;
it is illustrated in Lane (ii. 77).
Footnote 218:
This is often done, the merit of the act being transferred to the soul
of the deceased.
Footnote 219:
The two amourists were martyrs; and their amours, which appear
exaggerated to the Western mind, have many parallels in the East. The
story is a hopeless affair of love; with only one moral (if any be
wanted) viz., there may be too much of a good thing. It is given very
concisely in the Bul. Edit. vol. i.; and more fully in the Mac. Edit.
aided in places by the Bresl. (ii. 320) and the Calc. (ii. 230).
TALE OF KAMAR AL-ZAMAN,
That there was in times of yore and in ages long gone before a King
called Shahrimán,[220] who was lord of many troops and guards, and
officers, and who reigned over certain islands, known as the Khálidán
Islands,[221] on the borders of the land of the Persians. But he was
stricken in years and his bones were wasted, without having been blessed
with a son, albeit he had four wives, daughters of Kings, and threescore
concubines, with each of whom he was wont to lie one night in turn.[222]
This preyed upon his mind and disquieted him, so that he complained
thereof to one of his Wazirs, saying, "Verily I fear lest my kingdom be
lost when I die, for that I have no son to succeed me." The Minister
answered, "O King, peradventure Allah shall yet bring something to pass;
so rely upon the Almighty and be instant in prayer. It is also my
counsel that thou spread a banquet and invite to it the poor and needy,
and let them eat of thy food; and supplicate the Lord to vouchsafe thee
a son; for perchance there may be among thy guests a righteous soul
whose prayers find acceptance; and thereby thou shalt win thy wish." So
the King rose, made the lesser ablution, and prayed a two-bow
prayer,[223] then he cried upon Allah with pure intention; after which
he called his chief wife to bed and lay with her forthright. By grace of
God she conceived and, when her months were accomplished, she bore a
male child, like the moon on the night of fulness. The King named him
Kamar al-Zamán,[224] and rejoiced in him with extreme joy and bade the
city be dressed out in his honour; so they decorated the streets seven
days, whilst the drums beat and the messengers bore the glad tidings
abroad. Then wet and dry nurses were provided for the boy and he was
reared in splendour and delight, until he reached the age of fifteen. He
grew up of surpassing beauty and seemlihead and symmetry, and his father
loved him so dear that he could not brook to be parted from him day or
night. One day he complained to a certain of his Ministers anent the
excess of his love for his only child, saying, "O thou the Wazir, of a
truth I fear for my son, Kamar al-Zaman, the shifts and accidents which
befal man and fain would I marry him in my lifetime." Answered the
Wazir, "O King, know thou that marriage is one of the most honourable of
moral actions, and thou wouldst indeed do well and right to marry thy
son in thy lifetime, ere thou make him Sultan." On this quoth the King,
"Hither with my son Kamar al-Zaman;" so he came and bowed his head to
the ground in modesty before his sire. "O Kamar al-Zaman," said King
Shahriman, "of a truth I desire to marry thee and rejoice in thee during
my lifetime." Replied he, "O my father, know that I have no lust to
marry nor doth my soul incline to women; for that concerning their craft
and perfidy I have read many books and heard much talk, even as saith
the poet:—
Now, an of women ask ye, I reply:— ✿ In their affairs I'm versed a
doctor rare!
When man's head grizzles and his money dwindles, ✿ In their affections
he hath naught for share."
And another said:—
Rebel against women and so shalt thou serve Allah the more; ✿ The youth
who gives women the rein must forfeit all hope to soar.
They'll baulk him when seeking the strange device, Excelsior, ✿ Tho'
waste he a thousand of years in the study of science and lore.
And when he had ended his verses he continued, "O my father, wedlock is
a thing whereto I will never consent; no, not though I drink the cup of
death." When Sultan Shahriman heard these words from his son, light
became darkness in his sight and he grieved thereat with great
grief.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventy-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when King
Shahriman heard these words from his son, the light became darkness in
his sight and he grieved over his son's lack of obedience to his
directions in the matter of marriage; yet, for the great love he bore
him, he was unwilling to repeat his wishes and was not wroth with him,
but caressed him and spake him fair and showed him all manner of
kindness such as tendeth to induce affection. All this, and Kamar
al-Zaman Increased daily in beauty and loveliness and amorous grace; and
the King bore with him for a whole year till he became perfect in
eloquence and elegant wit. All men were ravished with his charms; and
every breeze that blew bore the tidings of his gracious favour; his fair
sight was a seduction to the loving and a garden of delight to the
longing, for he was honey-sweet of speech and the sheen of his face
shamed the full moon; he was a model of symmetry and blandishment and
engaging ways; his shape was as the willow-wand or the rattan-cane and
his cheeks might take the place of rose or red anemone. He was, in fine
the pink of perfection, even as the poet hath said of him:—
He came and cried they, "Now be Allah blest! ✿ Praise Him that clad that
soul in so fair vest!"
He's King of Beauty where the beauteous be; ✿ All are his Ryots,[225]
all obey his hest:
His lip-dew's sweeter than the virgin honey; ✿ His teeth are pearls in
double row close prest:
All charms are congregate in him alone, ✿ And deals his loveliness to
man unrest.
Beauty wrote on those cheeks for worlds to see ✿ "I testify there is
none good but He."[226]
When the year came to an end, the King called his son to him and said,
"O my son, wilt thou not hearken to me?" Whereupon Kamar al-Zaman fell
down for respect and shame before his sire and replied, "O my father,
how should I not hearken to thee, seeing that Allah commandeth me to
obey thee and not gainsay thee?" Rejoined King Shahriman, "O my son,
know that I desire to marry thee and rejoice in thee whilst yet I live,
and make thee King over my realm, before my death." When the Prince
heard his sire pronounce these words he bowed his head awhile, then
raised it and said, "O my father, this is a thing which I will never do;
no, not though I drink the cup of death! I know of a surety that the
Almighty hath made obedience to thee a duty in religion; but, Allah upon
thee! press me not in this matter of marriage, nor fancy that I will
ever marry my life long; for that I have read the books both of the
ancients and the moderns, and have come to know all the mischiefs and
miseries which have befallen them through women and their endless
artifices. And how excellent is the saying of the poet:—
He whom the randy motts entrap ✿ Shall never see deliverance!
Though build he forts a thousand-fold, ✿ Whose mighty strength
lead-plates enhance,[227]
Their force shall be of no avail; ✿ These fortresses have not a chance!
Women aye deal in treachery ✿ To far and near o'er earth's expanse;
With fingers dipt in Henna-blood ✿ And locks in braids that mad the
glance;
And eyelids painted o'er with Kohl ✿ They gar us drink of dire
mischance.
And how excellently saith another:—
Women, for all the chastity they claim, ✿ Are offal cast by kites
where'er they list:
This night their talk and secret charms are thine; ✿ That night another
joyeth calf and wrist:
Like inn, whence after night thou far'st at dawn, ✿ And lodges other
wight thou hast not wist."[228]
Now when King Shahriman heard these his son's words and learnt the
import of his verses and poetical quotations, he made no answer, of his
excessive love for him, but redoubled in graciousness and kindness to
him. He at once broke up the audience and, as soon as the seance was
over, he summoned his Minister and taking him apart, said to him, "O
thou the Wazir! tell me how I shall deal with my son in the matter of
marriage."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventy-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King summoned
his Minister; and, taking him apart, said to him, "O thou the Wazir,
tell me what I shall do with my son in the matter of marriage. Of a
truth I took counsel with thee thereon and thou didst counsel me to
marry him, before making him King. I have spoken with him of wedlock
time after time and he still gainsaid me; so do thou, O Wazir,
forthright advise me what to do." Answered the Minister, "O King, wait
another year and, if after that thou be minded to speak to him on the
matter of marriage, speak not to him privily, but address him on a day
of state, when all the Emirs and Wazirs are present with the whole of
the army standing before thee. And when all are in crowd then send for
thy son, Kamar al-Zaman, and summon him; and, when he cometh, broach to
him the matter of marriage before the Wazirs and Grandees and Officers
of state and Captains; for he will surely be bashful and daunted by
their presence and will not dare to oppose thy will." Now when King
Shahriman heard his Wazir's words, he rejoiced with exceeding joy,
seeing success in the project, and bestowed on him a splendid robe of
honour. Then he took patience with his son another year, whilst, with
every day that passed over him, Kamar al-Zaman increased in beauty and
loveliness, and elegance and perfect grace, till he was nigh twenty
years old. Indeed Allah had clad him in the cloak of comeliness and had
crowned him with the crown of completion: his eye-glance was more
bewitching than Hárút and Marút[229] and the play of his luring looks
more misleading than Tághút;[230] and his cheeks shone like the dawn
rosy-red and his eyelashes stormed the keen-edged blade: the whiteness
of his brow resembled the moon shining bright, and the blackness of his
locks was as the murky night; and his waist was more slender than the
gossamer[231] and his back parts than two sand-heaps bulkier, making a
Babel of the heart with their softness; but his waist complained of the
weight of his hips and loins; and his charms ravished all mankind, even
as one of the poets saith in these couplets:—
"By his eyelash tendril curled, by his slender waist I swear,
By the dart his witchery feathers, fatal hurtling through the air;
By the just roundness of his shape, by his glances bright and keen,
By the swart limning of his locks, and his fair forehead shining sheen;
By his eyebrows which deny that she who looks on them should sleep,
Which now commanding, now forbidding, o'er me high dominion keep;
By the roses of his cheek, his face as fresh as myrtle wreath,
His tulip lips, and those pure pearls that hold the places of his teeth;
By his noble form, which rises featly turned in even swell
To where upon his jutting chest two young pomegranates seem to dwell;
By his supple moving hips, his taper waist, and silky skin,
By all he robbed Perfection of, and holds enchained his form within;
By his tongue of steadfastness, his nature true, and excellent,
By the greatness of his rank, his noble birth, and high descent,
Musk from my love her savour steals, who musk exhales from every limb
And all the airs ambergris breathes are but the Zephyr's blow o'er him.
The sun, methinks, the broad bright sun, as low before my love should
quail
As would my love himself transcend the paltry paring of his nail!"[232]
So King Shahriman, having accepted the counsel of his Wazir, waited for
another year and a great festival,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventy-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Shahriman having
accepted the counsel of his Wazir, waited for another year and a great
festival, a day of state when the audience hall was filled with his
Emirs and Wazirs and Grandees of his reign and Officers of State and
Captains of might and main. Thereupon he sent for his son Kamar al-Zaman
who came, and kissing the ground before him three times, stood in
presence of his sire with his hands behind his back the right grasping
the left.[233] Then said the King to him, "Know O my son, that I have
not sent for thee on this occasion and summoned thee to appear before
this assembly and all these officers of estate here awaiting our orders
save and except that I may lay a commandment on thee, wherein do thou
not disobey me; and my commandment is that thou marry, for I am minded
to wed thee to a King's daughter and rejoice in thee ere I die." When
the Prince heard this much from his royal sire, he bowed his head
groundwards awhile, then raising it towards his father and being moved
thereto at that time by youthful folly and boyish ignorance, replied,
"But for myself I will never marry; no, not though I drink the cup of
death! As for thee, thou art great in age and small of wit: hast thou
not, twice ere this day and before this occasion, questioned me of the
matter of marriage, and I refused my consent? Indeed thou dotest and are
not fit to govern a flock of sheep!" So saying Kamar al-Zaman unclasped
his hands from behind his back and tucked up his sleeves above his
elbows before his father, being in a fit of fury; moreover, he added
many words to his sire, knowing not what he said in the trouble of his
spirits. The King was confounded and ashamed, for that this befel in the
presence of his grandees and soldier-officers assembled on a high
festival and a state occasion; but presently the majesty of Kingship
took him, and he cried out at his son and made him tremble. Then he
called to the guards standing before him and said, "Seize him!" So they
came forward and laid hands on him and, binding him, brought him before
his sire, who bade them pinion his elbows behind his back and in this
guise make him stand before the presence. And the Prince bowed down his
head for fear and apprehension, and his brow and face were beaded and
spangled with sweat; and shame and confusion troubled him sorely.
Thereupon his father abused him and reviled him and cried, "Woe to thee,
thou son of adultery and nursling of abomination![234] How durst thou
answer me on this wise before my captains and soldiers? But hitherto
none hath chastised thee."——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventy-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that King Shahriman
cried out to his son Kamar al-Zaman, "How durst thou answer me on this
wise before my captains and soldiers? But hitherto none hath chastised
thee. Knowest thou not that this deed thou hast done were a disgrace to
him had it been done by the meanest of my subjects?" And the King
commanded his Mamelukes to loose his elbow bonds and imprison him in one
of the bastions of the citadel. So they took the Prince and thrust him
into an old tower, wherein there was a dilapidated saloon and in its
middle a ruined well, after having first swept it and cleansed its
floor-flags and set therein a couch on which they laid a mattress, a
leathern rug and a cushion; and then they brought a great lanthorn and a
wax candle, for that place was dark, even by day. And lastly the
Mamelukes led Kamar al-Zaman thither, and stationed an eunuch at the
door. And when all this was done, the Prince threw himself on the couch,
sad-spirited, and heavy-hearted; blaming himself and repenting of his
injurious conduct to his father, whenas repentance availed him naught,
and saying, "Allah curse marriage and marriageables and married women,
the traitresses all! Would I had hearkened to my father and accepted a
wife! Had I so done it had been better for me than this jail." This is
how it fared with him; but as regards King Shahriman, he remained seated
on his throne all through the day until sundown; then he took the
Minister apart and said to him, "Know thou, O Wazir, that thou and thou
only wast the cause of all this that hath come to pass between me and my
son by the advice thou wast pleased to devise; and so what dost thou
counsel me to do now?" Answered he, "O King, leave thy son in limbo for
the space of fifteen days: then summon him to thy presence and bid him
wed; and assuredly he shall not gainsay thee again."——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Hundred and Seventy-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir said to
King Shahriman, "Leave thy son in limbo for the space of fifteen days;
then summon him to thy presence and bid him wed; and assuredly he shall
not gainsay thee again." The King accepted the Wazir's opinion and lay
down to sleep that night troubled at heart concerning his son; for he
loved him with dearest love because he had no other child but this; and
it was his wont every night not to sleep, save after placing his arm
under his son's neck. So he passed that night in trouble and unease on
the Prince's account, tossing from side to side, as he were laid on
coals of Artemisia-wood[235]; for he was overcome with doubts and fears
and sleep visited him not all that livelong night; but his eyes ran over
with tears and he began repeating:
While slanderers slumber, longsome is my night; ✿ Suffice thee a heart
so sad in parting-plight;
I say, while night in care slow moments by, ✿ "What! no return for thee,
fair morning light?"
And the saying of another:—
When saw I Pleiad-stars his glance escape ✿ And Pole-star draught of
sleep upon him pour;
And the Bier-daughters[236] wend in mourning dight, ✿ I knew that
morning was for him no more!