with a Jew than with a Christian. The former will “jew” me perhaps,
but his commercial cleverness will induce him to allow me some gain in
order that I may not be quite disheartened: the latter will strip me
of my skin and will grumble because he cannot gain more.
Footnote 124:
Arab. “Hálah mutawassitah,” a phrase which has a European touch.
Footnote 125:
In the text “Jauharjíyyah,” common enough in Egypt and Syria; an Arab.
plur. of an Arabised Turkish sing,—ji for—chi = (crafts-) man.
Footnote 126:
We may suppose some years may have passed in this process and that
Alaeddin from a lad of fifteen had reached the age of manhood. The H.
V. declares that for many a twelvemonth the mother and son lived by
cotton spinning and the sale of the plate.
Footnote 127:
_i.e._ Full moon of full moons: See vol. iii. 228. It is pronounced
“Badroo’l-Budoor,” hence Galland’s “Badr-oul-boudour.”
Footnote 128:
In the H. V. Alaeddin “bethought him of a room adjacent to the Baths
where he might sit and see the Princess through the door-chinks, when
she raised her veil before the handmaids and eunuchs.”
Footnote 129:
This is the common conceit of the brow being white as day and the hair
black as night.
Footnote 130:
Such a statement may read absurdly to the West but it is true in the
East. “Selim” had seen no woman’s face unveiled, save that of his
sable mother Rosebud in Morier’s Tale of Yeldoz, the wicked woman
(“The Mirza,” vol. iii. 135). The H. V. adds that Alaeddin’s mother
was old and verily had little beauty even in her youth. So at the
sight of the Princess he learnt that Allah had created women exquisite
in loveliness and heart-ensnaring; and at first glance the shaft of
love pierced his heart and he fell to the ground afaint. He loved her
with a thousand lives and, when his mother questioned him, “his lips
formed no friendship with his speech.”
Footnote 131:
“There is not a present (Teshurah) to bring to the Man of God” (1 Sam.
ix. 7), and Menachem explains Teshurah as a gift offered with the
object of being admitted to the presence. See also the offering of oil
to the King in Isaiah lvii. 9. Even in Maundriell’s Day Travels (p.
26) it was counted uncivil to visit a dignitary without an offering in
hand.
Footnote 132:
As we shall see further on, the magical effect of the Ring and the
Lamp extend far and wide over the physique and morale of the owner:
they turn a “raw laddie” into a finished courtier, warrior, statesman,
etc.
Footnote 133:
In Eastern states the mere suspicion of having such an article would
expose the suspected at least to torture. Their practical system of
treating “treasure trove,” as I saw when serving with my regiment in
Gujarát (Guzerat), is at once to imprison and “molest” the finder, in
order to make sure that he has not hidden any part of his find.
Footnote 134:
Here the MS. text is defective, the allusion is, I suppose, to the
Slave of the Lamp.
Footnote 135:
In the H. V. the King retired into his private apartment; and,
dismissing all save the Grand Wazir, “took cognisance of special
matters” before withdrawing to the Harem.
Footnote 136:
The levée, Divan or Darbár being also a _lit de justice_ and a Court
of Cassation: see vol. i. 29.
Footnote 137:
All this is expressed by the Arabic in one word “Tamanná.” Galland
adds _pour marquer qu’il etait prêt à la perdre s’il y manquait_; and
thus he conveys a wrong idea.
Footnote 138:
This would be still the popular address, nor is it considered rude or
slighting. In John (ii. 4) “Atto,” the Heb. Eshah, is similarly used,
not complimentarily, but in popular speech.
Footnote 139:
This sounds ridiculous enough in English, but not in German; _e.g._
Deine Königliche Hoheit is the formula de rigueur when an Austrian
officer, who always addresses brother-soldiers in the familiar second
person, is speaking to a camarade who is also a royalty.
Footnote 140:
“Suráyyát” (lit. = the Pleiades) and “Sham’ádín” a would be Arabic
plur. of the Persian “Sham’adán” = candlestick, chandelier, for which
more correctly Sham’adánát is used.
Footnote 141:
_i.e._ betrothed to her—_j’agrée la proposition_, says Galland.
Footnote 142:
Here meaning Eunuch-officers and officials. In the cdlxxvith Night of
this volume the word is incorrectly written Ãghát in the singular.
Footnote 143:
In the H. V. Alaeddin on hearing this became as if a thunderbolt had
stricken him, and, losing consciousness, swooned away.
Footnote 144:
These calls for food at critical times, and oft-recurring allusions to
eating are not yet wholly obsolete amongst the civilised of the xixth
century. The ingenious M. Jules Verne often enlivens a tedious scene
by _Dejeunons_! And French travellers, like English, are not unready
to talk of food and drink, knowing that the subject is never
displeasing to their readers.
Footnote 145:
The H. V. gives a sketch of the wedding. “And when the ceremonies
ended at the palace with pomp and parade and pageant, and the night
was far spent, the eunuchs led the Wazir’s son into the bridal
chamber. He was the first to seek his couch; then the Queen, his
mother-in-law, came into him leading the bride, and followed by her
suite. She did with her virgin daughter as parents are wont to do,
removed her wedding-raiment, and donning a night-dress, placed her in
her bridegroom’s arms. Then, wishing her all joy, she with her ladies
went away and shut the door. At that instant came the Jinni,” etc.
Footnote 146:
The happy idea of the wedding night in the water-closet is repeated
from the tale of Nur al-Dín Ali Hasan (vol. i. 221), and the mishap of
the Hunchback bridegroom.
Footnote 147:
For the old knightly practice of sleeping with a drawn sword
separating man and maid, see vol. vii. 353 and Mr. Clouston’s “Popular
Tales and Fictions,” vol. i. 316. In Poland the intermediary who
married by procuration slept alongside the bride in all his armour.
The H. V. explains, “He (Alaeddin) also lay a naked sword between him
and the Princess, so she might perceive that he was ready to die by
that blade should he attempt to do aught of villainy by the bride.”
Footnote 148:
Galland says: _Ils ne s’aperçurent que de l’ébranlement du lit et que
de leur transport d’un lieu à l’autre: c’était bien assez pour leur
donner une frayeur qu’il est aisé d’imaginer_.
Footnote 149:
Galland very unnecessarily makes the Wazir’s son pass into the
wardrobe (_garderobe_) to dress himself.
Footnote 150:
Professional singing and dancing girls: properly the word is the fem.
of ’Álim = a learned man; but it has been anglicised by Byron’s
“The long chibouque’s dissolving cloud supply,
Where dance the Almahs to wild minstrelsy.”—(The Corsair, ii. 2.)
They go about the streets with unveiled faces and are seldom admitted
into respectable Harems, although on festal occasions they perform in
the court or in front of the house; but even this is objected to by
the Mrs. Grundy of Egypt. Lane (M. E. chap. xviii) derives with Saint
Jerome the word from the Heb. or Phœnician Almah = a virgin, a girl, a
singing-girl; and thus explains “Alámoth” in Psalms xlvi, and I Chron.
xv. 20. Parkhurst (s.v. ’Alamah) = an undeflowered virgin, renders Job
xxxix. 30, “the way of a man with a maid” (bi-álmah). “The way of a
man in his virgin state, shunning youthful lust and keeping himself
pure and unspotted.”
Footnote 151:
The text reads “Rafa’” (he raised) “al-Bashkhánah” which in Suppl.
Nights (ii. 165) is a hanging, a curtain. Apparently it is a
corruption of the Pers. “Pashkhánah,” a mosquito-curtain.
Footnote 152:
The father suspected that she had not gone to bed a clean maid.
Footnote 153:
Arab. Aysh = Ayyu Shayyin and Lalysh = li ayyi Shayyin. This
vulgarism, or rather popular corruption, is of olden date and was used
by such a purist as Al-Mutanabbi in such a phrase as “Aysh Khabara-k?”
= how art thou? See Ibn Khallikan, iii. 79.
Footnote 154:
In the H. V. the Minister sends the Chob-dár = rod-bearer,
mace-bearer, usher, etc.
Footnote 155:
In the text Sáhal for Sahal, again the broad “Doric” of Syria.
Footnote 156:
Arab. Dahab ramli = gold dust washed out of the sand, _placer_-gold. I
must excuse myself for using this Americanism, properly a diluvium or
deposit of sand, and improperly (Bartlett) a find of drift gold. The
word, like many mining terms in the Far West, is borrowed from the
Spaniards; it is not therefore one of the many American vulgarisms
which threaten hopelessly to defile the pure well of English speech.
Footnote 157:
Arab. “Ratl,” by Europeans usually pronounced “Rotl” (Rotolo).
Footnote 158:
In the H. V. she returns from the bazar; and, “seeing the house filled
with so many persons in goodliest attire, marvelled greatly. Then
setting down the meat lately bought she would have taken off her veil,
but Alaeddin prevented her and said,” etc.
Footnote 159:
The word is popularly derived from Serai in Persian = a palace; but it
comes from the Span. and Port. _Cerrar_ = to shut up, and should be
written with the reduplicated liquid.
Footnote 160:
In the H. V. the dresses and ornaments of the slaves were priced at
ten millions (Karúr = a crore) of gold coins. I have noticed that
Messer Marco “Milione” did not learn his high numerals in Arabia, but
that India might easily have taught them to him.
Footnote 161:
Arab. “Ráih yasír,” peasant’s language.
Footnote 162:
Arab. Ká’ah, the apodyterium or undressing room upon which the
vestibule of the Hammam opens. See the plan in Lane’s M. E. chapt.
xvi. The Kár’ah is now usually called “Maslakh” = stripping-room.
Footnote 163:
Arab. “Hammam-hu” = went through all the operations of the Hammam,
scraping, kneading, soaping, wiping and so forth.
Footnote 164:
For this aphrodisiac see vol. vi. 60. The subject of aphrodisiacs in
the East would fill a small library: almost every medical treatise
ends in a long disquisition upon fortifiers, provocatives, etc. We may
briefly divide them into three great classes. The first is the
medicinal, which may be either external or internal. The second is the
mechanical, such as scarification, flagellation, and the application
of insects as practised by certain savage races. There is a venerable
Joe Miller of an old Brahmin whose young wife always insisted, each
time before he possessed her, upon his being stung by a bee in certain
parts. The third is magical, superstitious and so forth.
Footnote 165:
This may sound exaggerated to English ears, but a petty Indian Prince,
such as the Gáikwár, or Rajah of Baroda, would be preceded in state
processions by several led horses all whose housings and saddles were
gold studded with diamonds. The sight made one’s mouth water.
Footnote 166:
_i.e._ the ’Arab al-’Arbá; for which see vols. i. 112; v. 101.
Footnote 167:
Arab. “Al-Kandíl al-’ajíb:” here its magical virtues are specified and
remove many apparent improbabilities from the tale.
Footnote 168:
This was the highest of honours. At Abyssinian Harar even the Grandees
were compelled to dismount at the door of the royal “compound.” See my
“First Footsteps in East Africa,” p. 296.
Footnote 169:
“The right hand” seems to me a European touch in Galland’s
translation, _leur chef mit Aladdin à sa droite_. Amongst Moslems the
great man sits in the sinistral corner of the Divan as seen from the
door, so the place of honour is to his left.
Footnote 170:
Arab. “Músiká,” classically “Musikí” = Μουσικὴ: the Pers. form is
“Músikár”; and the Arab. equivalent is Al-Lahn. In the H. V. the King
“made a signal and straightway drums (_dhol_) and trumpets (_trafír_)
and all manner wedding instruments struck up on every side.”
Footnote 171:
Arab. “Marmar Sumáki” = porphyry of which ancient Egypt supplied the
finest specimens. I found a vein of it in the Anti-Libanus. Strange to
say, the quarries which produced the far-famed giallo antico, verd’
antico (serpentine limestone) and rosso antico (mostly a porphyry)
worked by the old Nilotes, are now unknown to us.
Footnote 172:
_i.e._ velvets with gold embroidery: see vol. viii. 201.
Footnote 173:
The Arabic says, “There was a kiosque with four-and-twenty alcoves
(Líwán, for which see vols. iv. 71; vi. 347) all builded of emerald,
etc., and one remained with the kiosque (kushk) unfinished.” I adopt
Galland’s reading _salon à vingt-quatre croisées_ which are mentioned
in the Arab. text towards the end of the tale, and thus avoid the
confusion between kiosque and window. In the H. V. there is a domed
belvedere (bárah-dari-i-gumbaz-dár), four-sided, with six doors on
each front (_i.e._ twenty-four), and all studded with diamonds, etc.
Footnote 174:
In Persia this is called “Pá-andáz,” and must be prepared for the Shah
when he deigns to visit a subject. It is always of costly stuffs, and
becomes the perquisite of the royal attendants.
Footnote 175:
Here the European hand again appears to me: the Sultan as a good
Moslem should have made the Wuzú-ablution and prayed the dawn-prayers
before doing anything worldly.
Footnote 176:
Arab. “Fí ghuzúni zálika,” a peculiar phrase; Ghazn = a crease, a
wrinkle.
Footnote 177:
In the H. V. the King “marvelled to see Alaeddin’s mother without her
veil and magnificently adorned with costly jewels and said in his
mind, ‘Methought she was a grey-haired crone, but I find her still in
the prime of life and comely to look upon, somewhat after the fashion
of Badr al-Budúr.’” This also was one of the miracles of the Lamp.
Footnote 178:
For this word see vols. i. 46, vii. 326. A Joe Miller is told in
Western India of an old General Officer boasting his knowledge of
Hindostani. “How do you say, Tell a plain story, General?” asked one
of the hearers, and the answer was, “Maydán-kí bát bolo!” = “speak a
word about the plain” (or level space).
Footnote 179:
The prehistoric Arabs: see supra p. 134.
Footnote 180:
Popularly, Jeríd, the palm-frond used as javelin: see vol. vi. 263.
Footnote 181:
In order to keep off the evil eye, one of the functions of iron and
steel: see vol. ii. 316.
Footnote 182:
The H. V. adds, “Little did the Princess know that the singers were
fairies whom the Slave of the Lamp had brought together.”
Footnote 183:
Alexander the Great: see vols. v. 252, x. 57. The H. V. adds, “Then
only one man and one woman danced together, one with other, till
midnight, when Alaeddin and the Princess stood up; for it was the wont
of China in those days that bride and bridegroom perform together in
presence of the wedding company.”
Footnote 184:
The exceptional reserve of this and other descriptions makes M. H.
Zotenberg suspect that the tale was written for one of the Mameluke
Princesses: I own to its modesty but I doubt that such virtue would
have recommended it to the dames in question. The H. V. adds a few
details:—“Then, when the bride and bridegroom had glanced and gazed
each at other’s face, the Princess rejoiced with excessive joy to
behold his comeliness, and he exclaimed, in the courtesy of his
gladness, ‘O happy me, whom thou deignest, O Queen of the Fair, to
honour despite mine unworth, seeing that in thee all charms and graces
are perfected.’”
Footnote 185:
The term has not escaped ridicule amongst Moslems. A common fellow
having stood in his way the famous wit Abú al-’Ayná asked “What is
that?” “A man of the Sons of Adam” was the reply. “Welcome, welcome,”
cried the other, “Allah grant thee length of days! I deemed that all
his sons were dead.” See Ibn Khallikan iii. 57.
Footnote 186:
This address to an inanimate object (here a window) is highly
idiomatic and must be cultivated by the practical Arabist. In the H.
V. the unfinished part is the four-and-twentieth door of the
fictitious (ja’alí) palace.
Footnote 187:
This is true Orientalism, a personification or incarnation which
Galland did not think proper to translate.
Footnote 188:
Arab. “La’ab al-Andáb;” the latter word is from the √ “Nadb” =
brandishing or throwing the javelin.
Footnote 189:
The “mothers” are the prime figures, the daughters being the
secondary. For the “’Ilm al-Raml” = (Science of the sand) our geomancy
see vol. iii. 269, and D’Herbelot’s sub. v. _Raml_ or _Reml_.
Footnote 190:
This is from Galland, whose _certaine boisson chaude_ evidently means
tea. It is preserved in the H. V.
Footnote 191:
_i.e._ his astrolabe, his “Zíj” or table of the stars, his almanack,
etc. For a highly fanciful derivation of the “Arstable” see Ibn
Khallikán (iii. 580). He makes it signify “balance or lines (Pers.
‘Astur’) of the sun,” which is called “Láb” as in the case of wicked
Queen Láb (The Nights, vol. vii. 296). According to him the Astrolabe
was suggested to Ptolemy by an armillary sphere which had accidentally
been flattened by the hoof of his beast: this is beginning late in the
day, the instrument was known to the ancient Assyrians. Chardin
(Voyages ii. 149) carefully describes the Persian variety of—
“The cunning man hight Sidrophil
(as Will. Lilly was called). Amongst other things he wore at his
girdle an astrolabe not bigger than the hollow of a man’s hand, often
two to three inches in diameter and looking at a distance like a
medal.” These men practised both natural astrology = astronomy, as
well as judicial astrology which foretells events and of which Kepler
said that “she, albeit a fool, was the daughter of a wise mother, to
whose support and life the silly maid was indispensable.” Isidore of
Seville (A.D. 600–636) was the first to distinguish between the two
branches, and they flourished side by side till Newton’s day. Hence
the many astrological terms in our tongue, _e.g._ consider,
contemplate, disaster, jovial, mercurial, saturnine, etc.
Footnote 192:
In the H. V. “New brass lamps for old ones! who will exchange?” So in
the story of the Fisherman’s son, a Jew who had been tricked of a
cock, offers to give new rings for old rings. See Jonathan’s Scott’s
excerpts from the Wortley-Montague MSS. vol. vi. pp. 210–12. This is
one of the tales which I have translated for vol. iv.
Footnote 193:
The H. V. adds that Alaeddin loved to ride out a-hunting and had left
the city for eight days whereof three had passed by.
Footnote 194:
Galland makes her say, _Hé bien, folle, veux-tu me dire pourquoi tu
ris?_ The H. V. renders “Cease, giddyhead, why laughest thou?” and the
vulgate “Well, giggler,” said the Princess, etc.
Footnote 195:
Nothing can be more improbable than this detail, but upon such
abnormal situations almost all stories, even in our most modern
“Society-novels,” depend and the cause is clear—without them there
would be no story. And the modern will, perhaps, suggest that “the
truth was withheld for a higher purpose, for the working out of
certain ends.” In the H. V. Alaeddin, when about to go a-hunting,
always placed the Lamp high up on the cornice with all care lest any
touch it.
Footnote 196:
The H. V. adds, “The Magician, when he saw the Lamp, at once knew that
it must be the one he sought; for he knew that all things, great and
small, appertaining to the palace would be golden or silvern.”
Footnote 197:
In truly Oriental countries the Wazir is expected to know everything,
and if he fail in this easy duty be may find himself in sore trouble.
Footnote 198:
_i.e._, must be obeyed.
Footnote 199:
We see that “China” was in those days the normal Oriental “despotism
tempered by assassination.”
Footnote 200:
In the H. V. Alaeddin promises, “if I fail to find and fetch the
Princess, I will myself cut off my head and cast it before the
throne.” Hindus are adepts in suicide and this self-decapitation,
which sounds absurd further West, is quite possible to them.
Footnote 201:
In Galland Alaeddin unconsciously rubbed the ring against _un petit
roc_, to which he clung in order to prevent falling into the stream.
In the H. V. “The bank was high and difficult of descent and the youth
would have rolled down headlong had he not struck upon a rock two
paces from the bottom and remained hanging over the water. This mishap
was of the happiest for during his fall he struck the stone and rubbed
his ring against it,” etc.
Footnote 202:
In the H. V. he said, “First save me that I fall not into the stream
and then tell me where is the pavilion thou builtest for her and who
hath removed it.”
Footnote 203:
Alluding to the preparatory washing, a mere matter of cleanliness
which precedes the formal Wuzú-ablution.
Footnote 204:
In the H. V. the Princess ends with, “I had made this resolve that
should he approach me with the design to win his wish perforce, I
would destroy my life. By day and by night I abode in fear of him; but
now at the sight of thee my heart is heartened.”
Footnote 205:
The Fellah had a natural fear of being seen in fine gear, which all
would have supposed to be stolen goods; and Alaeddin was justified in
taking it perforce, because _necessitas non habet legem_. See a
similar exchange of dress in Spitta-Bey’s “Contes Arabes Modernes,” p.
91. In Galland the peasant when pressed consents; and in the H. V.
Alaeddin persuades him by a gift of money.
Footnote 206:
_i.e._ which would take effect in the shortest time.
Footnote 207:
Her modesty was startled by the idea of sitting at meat with a strange
man and allowing him to make love to her.
Footnote 208:
In the text Kidí, pop. for Ka-zálika. In the H. V. the Magician
replies to the honeyed speech of the Princess, “O my lady, we in
Africa have not so gracious customs as the men of China. This day I
have learned of thee a new courtesy which I shall ever keep in mind.”
Footnote 209:
Galland makes the Princess poison the Maghrabi, which is not gallant.
The H. V. follows suit and describes the powder as a mortal poison.
Footnote 210:
Contrast this modesty with the usual scene of reunion after severance,
as in the case of Kamar al-Zamán and immodest Queen Budúr, vol. iii.
pp. 302–304.
Footnote 211:
His dignity forbade him to walk even the length of a carpet: see vol.
vii. for this habit of the Mameluke Beys. When Harun al-Rashid made
his famous pilgrimage afoot from Baghdad to Meccah (and he was the
last of the Caliphs who performed this rite), the whole way was spread
with a “Pá-andáz” of carpets and costly cloths.
Footnote 212:
The proverb suggests our “par nobile fratrum,” a pair resembling each
other as two halves of a split bean.
Footnote 213:
In the H. V. “If the elder Magician was in the East the other was in
the West; but once a year, by their skill in geomancy, they had
tidings of each other.”
Footnote 214:
The act was religiously laudable, but to the Eastern, as to the South
European mind, fair play is _not_ a jewel; moreover the story-teller
may insinuate that vengeance would be taken only by foul and unlawful
means—the Black Art, perjury, murder and so forth.
Footnote 215:
For this game, a prime favourite in Egypt, see vol. vi. 145. De Sacy
(Chrestomathie i. 477) and his authorities Hyde, Syntagma Dissert. ii.
374; P. Labat, “Mémoires du Chev. d’Arvieux,” iii. 321; Thevenot,
“Voyage du Levant,” p. 107; and Niebuhr, “Voyages,” I, 139, Plate 25,
fig. H.
Footnote 216:
In the text ضامه evidently = “(jeu de) dames” (supposed to have been
invented in Paris during the days of the Regency: see Littré); and,
although in certain Eastern places now popular, a term of European
origin. It is not in Galland. According to Ibn Khallikan (iii. 69)
“Nard” = tables, arose with King Ardashír son of Babuk, and was
therefore called Nardashír (Nard Ardashír?). He designed it as an
image of the world and its people, so the board had twelve squares to
represent the months; the thirty pieces or men represented the days
and the dice were the emblems of Fate and Lot.
Footnote 217:
_i.e._ a weaner, a name of good omen for a girl-child: see vol. vi.
145. The Hindi translator, Totárám Shayyán, calls her Hamídah = the
Praiseworthy.
Footnote 218:
Arab. Kirámát: see vols. ii. 237; iv. 45. The Necromancer clearly
smells a rat holding with Diderot:—
De par le Roi! Defense à Dieu
De faire miracle en ce lieu;
and the stage properties afterwards found with the holy woman, such as
the gallipot of colouring ointment, justify his suspicion.
Footnote 219:
“’Ajáib” plur. of “’Ajíb,” a common exclamation amongst the populace.
It is used in Persian as well as in Arabic.
Footnote 220: