Marjanah bade her handmaids bring wine and they set it before her, she
fell to drinking with As'ad. Now, Allah (be He extolled and exalted!)
filled her heart with love for the Prince and she kept filling his cup
and handing it to him till his reason fled; and presently he rose and
left the hall to satisfy a call of nature. As he passed out of the
saloon he saw an open door through which he went and walked on till his
walk brought him to a vast garden full of all manner fruits and flowers;
and, sitting down under a tree, he did his occasion. Then he rose and
went up to a jetting fountain in the garden and made the lesser ablution
and washed his hands and face, after which he would have risen to go
away; but the air smote him and he fell back, with his clothes undone
and slept, and night overcame him thus. So far concerning him; but as
concerns Bahram, the night being come, he cried out to his crew, saying,
"Set sail and let us away!"; and they answered, "We hear and obey, but
wait till we fill our water-skins and then we will set sail." So they
landed with their water-skins and went round about the castle, and found
nothing but garden-walls: whereupon they climbed over into the garden
and followed the track of feet, which led them to the fountain; and
there they found As'ad lying on his back. They knew him and were glad to
find him; and, after filling their water-skins, they bore him off and
climbed the wall again with him and carried him back in haste to Bahram
to whom they said, "Hear the good tidings of thy winning thy wish; and
gladden thy heart and beat thy drums and sound thy pipes; for thy
prisoner, whom Queen Marjanah took from thee by force, we have found and
brought back to thee"; and they threw As'ad down before him. When Bahram
saw him, his heart leapt for joy and his breast swelled with gladness.
Then he bestowed largesse on the sailors and bade them set sail in
haste. So they sailed forthright, intending to make the Mountain of Fire
and stayed not their course till the morning. This is how it fared with
them; but as regards Queen Marjanah, she abode awhile, after As'ad went
down from her, awaiting his return in vain for he came not; thereupon
she rose and sought him, yet found no trace of him. Then she bade her
women light flambeaux and look for him, whilst she went forth in person
and, seeing the garden-door open, knew that he had gone thither. So she
went out into the garden and finding his sandals lying by the fountain,
searched the place in every part, but came upon no sign of him; and yet
she gave not over the search till morning. Then she enquired for the
ship and they told her, "The vessel set sail in the first watch of the
night"; wherefor she knew that they had taken As'ad with them, and this
was grievous to her and she was sore angered. She bade equip ten great
ships forthwith and, making ready for fight, embarked in one of the ten
with her Mamelukes and slave-women and men-at-arms, all splendidly
accoutred and weaponed for war. They spread the sails and she said to
the captains, "If you overtake the Magian's ship, ye shall have of me
dresses of honour and largesse of money; but if you fail so to do, I
will slay you to the last man." Whereat fear and great hope animated the
crews and they sailed all that day and the night and the second day and
the third day till, on the fourth they sighted the ship of Bahram, the
Magian, and before evening fell the Queen's squadron had surrounded it
on all sides, just as Bahram had taken As'ad forth of the chest and was
beating and torturing him, whilst the Prince cried out for help and
deliverance, but found neither helper nor deliverer: and the grievous
bastinado sorely tormented him. Now while so occupied, Bahram chanced to
look up and, seeing himself encompassed by the Queen's ships, as the
white of the eye encompasseth the black, he gave himself up for lost and
groaned and said, "Woe to thee, O As'ad! This is all out of thy head."
Then taking him by the hand he bade his men throw him overboard and
cried, "By Allah I will slay thee before I die myself!" So they carried
him along by the hands and feet and cast him into the sea and he sank;
but Allah (be He extolled and exalted!) willed that his life be saved
and that his doom be deferred; so He caused him to sink and rise again
and he struck out with his hands and feet, till the Almighty gave him
relief, and sent him deliverance; and the waves bore him far from the
Magian's ship and threw him ashore. He landed, scarce crediting his
escape, and once more on land he doffed his clothes and wrung them and
spread them out to dry; whilst he sat naked and weeping over his
condition, and bewailing his calamities and mortal dangers, and
captivity and strangerhood. And presently he repeated these two
couplets:—
Allah, my patience fails: I have no ward; ✿ My breast is straitened and
clean cut my cord;
To whom shall wretched slave of case complain, ✿ Save to his Lord? O
thou of lords the Lord!
Then, having ended his verse, he rose and donned his clothes but he knew
not whither to go or whence to come; so he fed on the herbs of the earth
and the fruits of the trees and he drank of the streams, and fared on
night and day till he came in sight of a city; whereupon he rejoiced and
hastened his pace; but when he reached it——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-sixth Night,
She said, it hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when he reached
the city the shades of evening closed around him and the gates were
shut. Now by the decrees of Fate and man's lot this was the very city
wherein he had been a prisoner and to whose King his brother Amjad was
Minister. When As'ad saw the gate was locked, he turned back and made
for the burial-ground, where finding a tomb without a door, he entered
therein and lay down and fell asleep, with his face covered by his long
sleeve.[396] Meanwhile, Queen Marjanah, coming up with Bahram's ship,
questioned him of As'ad. Now the Magian, when Queen Marjanah overtook
him with her ships, baffled her by his artifice and gramarye; swearing
to her that he was not with him and that he knew nothing of him. She
searched the ship, but found no trace of her friend, so she took Bahram
and, carrying him back to her castle, would have put him to death, but
he ransomed himself from her with all his good and his ship; and she
released him and his men. They went forth from her hardly believing in
their deliverance, and fared on ten days' journey till they came to
their own city and found the gate shut, it being eventide. So they made
for the burial-ground, thinking to lie the night there and, going round
about the tombs, as Fate and Fortune would have it, saw the building
wherein As'ad lay wide open; whereat Bahram marvelled and said, "I must
look into this sepulchre." Then he entered and found As'ad lying in a
corner fast asleep, with his head covered by his sleeve; so he raised
his head, and looking in his face, knew him for the man on whose account
he had lost his goods and his ship, and cried, "What! art thou yet
alive?" Then he bound him and gagged him without further parley, and
carried him to his house, where he clapped heavy shackles on his feet
and lowered him into the underground dungeon aforesaid prepared for the
tormenting of Moslems, and he bade his daughter by name Bostán,[397]
torture him night and day, till the next year, when they would again
visit the Mountain of Fire and there offer him up as a sacrifice. Then
he beat him grievously and locking the dungeon door upon him, gave the
keys to his daughter. By and by, Bostan opened the door and went down to
beat him, but finding him a comely youth and a sweet-faced with arched
brows and eyes black with nature's Kohl,[398] she fell in love with him
and asked him, "What is thy name?" "My name is As'ad," answered he;
whereat she cried, "Mayst thou indeed be happy as thy name,[399] and
happy be thy days! Thou deservest not torture and blows, and I see thou
hast been injuriously entreated." And she comforted him with kind words
and loosed his bonds. Then she questioned him of the religion of
Al-Islam and he told her that it was the true and right Faith and that
our lord Mohammed had approved himself by surpassing miracles[400] and
signs manifest, and that fire-worship is harmful and not profitable; and
he went on to expound to her the tenets of Al-Islam till she was
persuaded and the love of the True Faith entered her heart. Then, as
Almighty Allah had mixed up with her being a fond affection for As'ad,
she pronounced the Two Testimonies[401] of the Faith and became of the
people of felicity. After this, she brought him meat and drink and
talked with him and they prayed together: moreover, she made him chicken
stews and fed him therewith, till he regained strength and his sickness
left him and he was restored to his former health. Such things befel him
with the daughter of Bahram, the Magian; and so it happened that one day
she left him and stood at the house-door when behold, she heard the
crier crying aloud and saying, "Whoso hath with him a handsome young
man, whose favour is thus and thus, and bringeth him forth, shall have
all he seeketh of money; but if any have him and deny it, he shall be
hanged over his own door and his property shall be plundered and his
blood go for naught." Now As'ad had acquainted Bostan bint Bahram with
his whole history: so, when she heard the crier, she knew that it was he
who was sought for and, going down to him, told him the news. Then he
fared forth and made for the mansion of the Wazir, whom, when As'ad saw,
he exclaimed, "By Allah, this Minister is my brother Amjad!" Then he
went up (and the damsel walking behind him) to the Palace, where he
again saw his brother, and threw himself upon him; whereupon Amjad also
knew him and fell upon his neck and they embraced each other, whilst the
Wazir's Mamelukes dismounted and stood round them. They lay awhile
insensible and, when they came to themselves, Amjad took his brother and
carried him to the Sultan, to whom he related the whole story, and the
Sultan charged him to plunder Bahram's house.——And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Two Hundred and Thirty-Seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Sultan ordered
Amjad to plunder Bahram's house and to hang its owner. So Amjad
despatched thither for that purpose a company of men, who sacked the
house and took Bahram and brought his daughter to the Wazir by whom she
was received with all honour, for As'ad had told his brother the
torments he had suffered and the kindness she had done him. Thereupon
Amjad related in his turn to As'ad all that had passed between himself
and the damsel; and how he had escaped hanging and had become Wazir; and
they made moan, each to other, of the anguish they had suffered for
separation. Then the Sultan summoned Bahram and bade strike off his
head; but he said, "O most mighty King, art thou indeed resolved to put
me to death?" Replied the King, "Yes, except thou save thyself by
becoming a Moslem." Quoth Bahram, "O King, bear with me a little while!"
Then he bowed his head groundwards and presently raising it again, made
profession of The Faith and islamised at the hands of the Sultan. They
all rejoiced at his conversion and Amjad and As'ad told him all that had
befallen them, whereat he wondered and said, "O my lords, make ready for
the journey and I will depart with you and carry you back to your
father's court in a ship." At this they rejoiced and wept with sore
weeping; but he said, "O my lords, weep not for your departure, for it
shall reunite you with those you love, even as were Ni'amah and Naomi."
"And what befel Ni'amah and Naomi?" asked they. "They tell," replied
Bahram, (but Allah alone is All-knowing) the following tale of
-----
Footnote 220:
Lane is in error (vol. ii. 78) when he corrects this to "Sháh Zemán";
the name is fanciful and intended to be old Persian, on the "weight"
of Kahramán. The Bul. Edit. has by misprint "Shahramán."
Footnote 221:
The "topothesia" is worthy of Shakespeare's day. "Khálidán" is
evidently a corruption of "Khálidatáni" (for Khálidát), the Eternal,
as Ibn Wardi calls the Fortunate Islands, or Canaries, which owe both
their modern names to the classics of Europe. Their present history
dates from A.D. 1385, unless we accept the Dieppe-Rouen legend of
Labat which would place the discovery in A.D. 1326. I for one
thoroughly believe in the priority, on the West African Coast, of the
gallant descendants of the Northmen.
Footnote 222:
Four wives are allowed by Moslem law and for this reason. If you marry
one wife she holds herself your equal, answers you and "gives herself
airs"; two are always quarrelling and making a hell of the house;
three are "no company" and two of them always combine against the
nicest to make her hours bitter. Four _are_ company; they can quarrel
and "make it up" amongst themselves, and the husband enjoys
comparative peace. But the Moslem is bound by his law to deal equally
with the four; each must have her dresses, her establishment and her
night, like her sister wives. The number is taken from the Jews (Arbah
Turim Ev. Hazaer, i.) "the wise men have given good advice that a man
should not marry more than four wives." Europeans, knowing that Moslem
women are cloistered and appear veiled in public, begin with believing
them to be mere articles of luxury; and only after long residence they
find out that nowhere has the sex so much real liberty and power as in
the Moslem East. They can possess property and will it away without
the husband's leave: they can absent themselves from the house for a
month without his having a right to complain; and they assist in all
his counsels for the best of reasons: a man can rely only on his wives
and children, being surrounded by rivals who hope to rise by his ruin.
As regards political matters the Circassian women of Constantinople
really rule the Sultanate and there _soignez la femme!_ is the first
lesson of getting on in the official world.
Footnote 223:
This two-bow prayer is common on the bride-night; and at all times
when issue is desired.
Footnote 224:
The older Camaralzaman = "Moon of the age." Kamar is the moon between
her third and twenty-sixth day: Hilál during the rest of the month:
Badr (plur. Budúr, whence the name of the Princess) is the full moon.
Footnote 225:
Arab. "Ra'áyá" plur. of "Ra'íyat" our Anglo-Indian Ryot, lit. a liege,
a subject; secondarily a peasant, a Fellah.
Footnote 226:
Another audacious parody of the Moslem "testification" to the one God,
and to Mohammed the Apostle.
Footnote 227:
Showing how long ago forts were armed with metal plates which we have
applied to war-ships only of late years.
Footnote 228:
The comparison is abominably true—in the East.
Footnote 229:
Two fallen angels who taught men the art of magic. They are mentioned
in the Koran (chapt. ii.); and the commentators have extensively
embroidered the simple text. Popularly they are supposed to be hanging
by their feet in a well in the territory of Babel hence the frequent
allusions to "Babylonian sorcery" in Moslem writings; and those who
would study the black art at head-quarters are supposed to go there.
They are counterparts of the Egyptian Jamnes and Mambres, the Jannes
and Jambres of St. Paul (2 Tim. iii. 8).
Footnote 230:
An idol or idols of the Arabs (Allat and Ozza) before Mohammed (Koran
chapt. ii. 256). Etymologically the word means "error" and the
termination is rather Hebraic than Arabic.
Footnote 231:
Arab. "Khayt hamayán" (wandering threads of vanity), or Mukhát
al-Shaytan (Satan's snivel), = our "gossamer" = God's summer
(Mutter-Gottes-Sommer) or God's cymar (P).
Footnote 232:
These lines occur in Night xvii.; so I borrow from Torrens (p. 163) by
way of variety.
Footnote 233:
A posture of peculiar submission; contrasting strongly with the
attitude afterwards assumed by Prince Charming.
Footnote 234:
A mere term of vulgar abuse not reflecting on either parent: I have
heard a mother call her own son, "Child of adultery."
Footnote 235:
Arab. "Ghazá," the Artemisia (Euphorbia?) before noticed. If the word
be a misprint for Ghadá it means a kind of Euphorbia which, with the
Arák (wild caper-tree) and the Daum-palm (Crucifera thebiaca), is one
of the three normal growths of the Arabian desert (Pilgrimage iii.
22).
Footnote 236:
Arab. "Banát al-Na'ash," usually translated daughters of the bier, the
three stars which represent the horses in either Bear, "Charles'
Wain," or Ursa Minor, the waggon being supposed to be a bier. "Banát"
may be also sons, plur. of Ibn, as the word points to irrational
objects. So Job (ix. 9 and xxxviii. 32) refers to U. Major as "Ash" or
"Aysh" in the words, "Canst thou guide the bier with its sons?"
(erroneously rendered "Arcturus with his sons"). In the text the lines
are enigmatical, but apparently refer to a death-parting.
Footnote 237:
The Chapters are: 2, 3, 36, 55, 67 and the two last ("Daybreak" cxiii.
and "Men" cxiv.), which are called Al-Mu'izzatáni (vulgar
Al-Mu'izzatayn), the "Two Refuge-takings or Preventives," because they
obviate enchantment. I have translated the two latter as follows:—
"Say:—Refuge I take with the Lord of the Daybreak ✿ from mischief of
what He did make ✿ from mischief of moon eclipse-showing ✿ and from
mischief of witches on cord-knots blowing ✿ and from mischief of
envier when envying."
"Say:—Refuge I take with the Lord of men ✿ the sovran of men ✿ the God
of men ✿ from the Tempter, the Demon ✿ who tempteth in whisper the
breasts of men ✿ and from Jinnis and (evil) men."
Footnote 238:
The recitations were Náfilah, or superogatory, two short chapters only
being required; and the taking refuge was because he slept in a ruin,
a noted place in the East for Ghuls as in the West for ghosts.
Footnote 239:
Lane (ii. 222) first read "Múroozee" and referred it to the Murúz
tribe near Herat: he afterwards (iii. 748) corrected it to "Marwazee,"
of the fabric of Marw (Margiana), the place now famed for
"Mervousness." As a man of Rayy (Rhages) becomes Rází (_e.g._ Ibn
Fáris al-Rází), so a man of Marw is Marázi, not Murúzi nor Márwazi.
The "Mikna'" was a veil forming a kind of "respirator," defending from
flies by day and from mosquitos, dews and draughts by night. Easterns
are too sensible to sleep with bodies kept warm by bedding, and heads
bared to catch every blast. Our grandfathers and grandmothers did well
to wear bonnets-de-nuit, however ridiculous they may have looked.
Footnote 240:
Iblis, meaning the Despairer, is called in the Koran (chapt. xviii.
48) "One of the genii (Jinnis) who departed from the command of his
Lord." Mr. Rodwell (_in loco_) notes that the Satans and Jinnis
represent in the Koran (ii. 32, etc.) the evil-principle and finds an
admixture of the Semitic Satans and demons with the "Genii from the
Persian (Babylonian?) and Indian (Egyptian?) mythologies."
Footnote 241:
Of course she could not see his eyes when they were shut; nor is this
mere Eastern inconsequence. The writer means, "had she seen them, they
would have showed," etc.
Footnote 242:
The eyes are supposed to grow darker under the influence of wine and
sexual passion.
Footnote 243:
To keep off the evil eye.
Footnote 244:
Like Dahnash this is a fanciful P. N., fit only for a Jinni. As a rule
the appellatives of Moslem "genii" end in—ús (oos), as Tarnús,
Húliyánus; the Jewish in—nas, as Jattunas; those of the Tarsá (the
"funkers" _i.e._ Christians) in—dús, as Sidús; and the Hindus in—tús,
as Naktús (who entered the service of the Prophet Shays, or Seth, and
was converted to the Faith). The King of the Genii is Malik Katshán
who inhabits Mount Kaf; and to the west of him lives his son-in-law,
Abd al-Rahman with 33,000 domestics: these names were given by the
Apostle Mohammed. "Baktanús" is lord of three Moslem troops of the
wandering Jinns, which number a total of twelve bands and extend from
Sind to Europe. The Jinns, Divs, Peris ("fairies") and other
pre-Adamitic creatures were governed by seventy-two Sultans all known
as Sulayman and the last I have said was Ján bin Ján. The angel Háris
was sent from Heaven to chastise him, but in the pride of victory he
also revolted with his followers the Jinns whilst the Peris held
aloof. When he refused to bow down before Adam he and his chiefs were
eternally imprisoned but the other Jinns are allowed to range over
earth as a security for man's obedience. The text gives the three
orders, flyers, walkers and divers.
Footnote 245:
_i.e._ distracted (with love); the Lakab, or poetical name, of
apparently a Spanish poet.
Footnote 246:
Nothing is more "anti-pathetic" to Easterns than lean hips and flat
hinder-cheeks in women and they are right in insisting upon the
characteristic difference of the male and female figure. Our modern
sculptors and painters, whose study of the nude is usually most
perfunctory, have often scandalised me by the lank and greyhound-like
fining off of the frame, which thus becomes rather simian than human.
Footnote 247:
The small fine foot is a favourite with Easterns as well as Westerns.
Ovid (A. A.) is not ashamed "ad teneros Oscula (not basia or suavia)
ferre pedes." Ariosto ends the august person in
Il breve, asciutto, e ritondetto piede,
(The short-sized, clean-cut, roundly-moulded foot).
And all the world over it is a sign of "blood," _i.e._ the fine
nervous temperament.
Footnote 248:
_i.e._ "full moons"; the French have corrupted it to "Badoure"; we to
"Badoura," which is worse.
Footnote 249:
As has been said a single drop of urine renders the clothes
ceremoniously impure, hence a stone or a handful of earth must be used
after the manner of the torche-cul. Scrupulous Moslems, when squatting
to make water, will prod the ground before them with the point of
stick or umbrella, so as to loosen it and prevent the spraying of the
urine.
Footnote 250:
It is not generally known to Christians that Satan has a wife called
Awwá ("Hawwá" being the Moslem Eve) and, as Adam had three sons, the
Tempter has nine, viz., Zu 'lbaysun who rules in bazars; Wassin who
prevails in times of trouble; Awan who counsels kings; Haffan patron
of wine-bibbers; Marrah of musicians and dancers; Masbut of
newspreaders (and newspapers?); Dulhán who frequents places of worship
and interferes with devotion; Dasim, lord of mansions and dinner
tables, who prevents the Faithful saying "Bismillah" and "Inshallah,"
as commanded in the Koran (xviii. 23), and Lakís, lord of
Fire-worshippers (Herklots, chap. xxix. sect. 4).
Footnote 251:
Strong perfumes, such as musk (which we Europeans dislike and
suspect), are always insisted upon in Eastern poetry; and Mohammed's
predilection for them is well known. Moreover the young and the
beautiful are held (justly enough) to exhale a natural fragrance which
is compared with that of the blessed in Paradise. Hence in the
Mu'allakah of Imr al-Kays:—
Breathes the scent of musk when they rise to rove, ✿ As the Zephyr's
breath with the flavour o' clove.
It is made evident by dogs and other fine-nosed animals that every
human being has his, or her, peculiar scent which varies according to
age and health. Hence animals often detect the approach of death.
Footnote 252:
Arab. "Kahlá." This has been explained. Mohammed is said to have been
born with "Kohl'd eyes."
Footnote 253:
Hawá al-'uzrí, before noticed (Night cxiv.)
Footnote 254:
These lines, with the Názir (eye or steward), the Hájib (Groom of the
Chambers or Chamberlain) and Joseph, are also repeated from Night
cxiv. For the Nazir see Al-Hatiri (Nos. xiii. and xxii.)
Footnote 255:
The usual allusion to the Húr (Houris) from "Hawar," the white and
black of the eye shining in contrast. The Persian Magi also placed in
their Heaven (Bihisht or Minu) "Huran," or black-eyed nymphs, under
the charge of the angel Zamiyád.
Footnote 256:
In the first hemistich, "bi-shitt 'il wády" (by the wady-bank): in the
second, "wa shatta 'l wády" ("and my slayer"—_i.e._ wády act. part. of
wady, killing—"hath paced away").
Footnote 257:
The _double entendre_ is from the proper names Budúr and Su'ád
(Beatrice) also meaning "auspicious (or blessed) full moons."
Footnote 258:
Arab. "Házir" (also Ahl al-hazar, townsmen) and Bádi, a Badawi, also
called "Ahl al-Wabar," people of the camel's hair (tent) and A'aráb
(Nomadic) as opposed to Arab (Arab settled or not). They still boast
with Ibn Abbas, cousin of Mohammed, that they have kerchiefs (not
turbands) for crowns, tents for houses, loops for walls, swords for
scarves and poems for registers or written laws.
Footnote 259:
This is a peculiarity of the Jinn tribe when wearing hideous forms. It
is also found in the Hindu Rakshasa.
Footnote 260:
Which, by the by, are small and beautifully shaped. The animal is very
handy with them, as I learnt by experience when trying to "Rareyfy"
one at Bayrut.
Footnote 261:
She being daughter of Al-Dimiryát, King of the Jinns. Mr. W. F. Kirby
has made him the subject of a pretty poem.
Footnote 262:
These lines have occurred in Night xxii. I give Torrens's version (p.
223) by way of variety.
Footnote 263: