ludicrous items, _e.g._ Let him take three Miskals of pure
“Union-with-the-lover,” etc.
Footnote 338:
In the Cotheal MS. Attaf seeks his paternal uncle and father-in-law
with the information that he is going to the Pilgrimage and
Visitation.
Footnote 339:
Called in the old translation or rather adaptation
“Scheffander-Hassan” or simply “Scheffander” = Shahbandar Hasan, for
which see vol. iv. 29. In the Cotheal MS. (p. 33) he becomes the “Emir
Omar, and the Báshá of Damascus” (p. 39).
Footnote 340:
The passage is exceedingly misspelt. “Ammá min Maylí Binti-ka sháshí
Aná Aswadu” (for Sháshí M. Houdas reads “Jáshí” = my heart) “Wa Taná”
(read “Thaná,” reputation) “Binti-ka abyazu min Sháshí.”
Footnote 341:
One of the formulæ of divorce.
Footnote 342:
In text “Muábalát min Shaani-ka.” M. Houdas reads the first word
“Muzábal” = zublán, wearied, flaccid, weak.
Footnote 343:
For “Al-’iddah,” in the case of a divorcée three lunar months, for a
widow four months and ten days and for a pregnant woman, the interval
until her delivery, see vols. iii. 292; vi. 256; and x. 43: also Lane
(M.E.) chap. iii.
Footnote 344:
In text “Alfi (4th form of ‘Lafw’) Hájatan,” the reading is that of M.
Houdas; and the meaning would be “what dost thou want (in the way of
amusement)? I am at thy disposal.”
Footnote 345:
Heron has here interpolated an adventure with a Bazar-cook and another
with a Confectioner: both discover Ja’afar also by a copy of the
“Giaffer” (Al-Jafr). These again are followed by an episode with a
fisherman who draws in a miraculous draught by pronouncing the letters
“Gim. Bi. Ouaow” (wáw = J. B. W.) _i.e._ Ja’afar, Barmecide, Wazir;
and discovers the Minister by a geomantic table. Then three Darvishes
meet and discourse anent the virtues of “Chebib” (_i.e._ Attaf); and
lastly come two blind men, the elder named Benphises, whose wife
having studied occultism and the Dom-Daniel of Tunis, discovers
Ja’afar. All this is to marshal the series of marvels and wonders upon
wonders predicted to Ja’afar by his father when commanding him to
visit Damascus; and I have neither space nor inclination to notice
their enormous absurdities.
Footnote 346:
This Governor must not be confounded with the virtuous and
parsimonious Caliph of the same name the tenth of the series (reign
A.D. 692–705) who before ruling studied theology at Al-Medinah and won
the sobriquet of “Mosque-pigeon.” After his accession he closed the
Koran saying, “Here you and I part,” and busied himself wholly with
mundane matters. The Cotheal MS. mentions only the “Nabob” (Náib =
lieutenant) of Syria.
Footnote 347:
“Kapú” (written and pronounced Kapi in Turk.) is a door, a house or a
government office and Kapújí = a porter; Kapújí-báshí = head porter;
also a chamberlain in Arab. “Hájíb”; and Kapú Katkhúdási (pron.
Kapi-Kyáyasí) = the agent which every Governor is obliged to keep at
Constantinople.
Footnote 348:
In text “Al-buyúrdi,” clerical error for “Buyúruldi” (pron. Buyúruldu)
= the written order of a Governor.
Footnote 349:
“Al-Yamaklak” = vivers, provaunt; from the T. “Yamak” = food, a meal.
Footnote 350:
Meaning that he waived his right to it.
Footnote 351:
In text “Zawádah” (gen. “Azwád” or “Azwi’dah”) = provisions, viaticum.
Footnote 352:
In text “Takhtrawán”; see vols. ii. 180; v. 175. In the Cotheal MS. it
is a “Haudaj” = camel-litter (vol. viii. 235).
Footnote 353:
“Kubbat al-’Asáfír,” now represented by the “Khan al-Asáfír,” on the
road from Damascus to Palmyra, about four hours’ ride from and to the
N. East of the Báb Túmá or N. Eastern gate. The name is found in
Baedeker (p. 541). In the C. MS. it becomes the “Thaníyyat al-’Ukáb” =
the Vulture’s Pass.
Footnote 354:
Meaning that Attaf had not the heart to see his cousin-wife leave her
home.
Footnote 355:
Written in Turkish fashion with the Jím (j) and three dots instead of
one. This Persian letter is still preserved in the Arabic alphabets of
Marocco, Algiers, etc.
Footnote 356:
In Arab. “Jinn” = spirit or energy of a man, which here corresponds
with the Heb. “Aub”; so in the Hamásah the poet says, “My Jinn have
not fled; my life is not blunted; my birds never drooped for fear,”
where, say commentators, the Arabs compare an energetic man with a
Jinní or Shaytán. So the Prophet declared of Omar, “I never saw such
an ’Abkarí amongst men,” ’Abkar, in Yamámah, like Yabrín and Wabár
near Al-Yaman, being a desolate region, the home of wicked races
destroyed by Allah and now haunted by gruesome hosts of non-human
nature. Chenery, pp. 478–9.
Footnote 357:
In the C. MS. it is an Emir of the Emirs.
Footnote 358:
Arab. “Tábah:” see vol. ii. 814.
Footnote 359:
This excellent episode is omitted in the C. MS. where Attaf simply
breaks gaol and reaching Aleppo joins a caravan to Baghdad.
Footnote 360:
In text “Katalú-ní”: see vols. v. 5; vi. 171.
Footnote 361:
In the C. MS. he enters a mosque and finds a Ja’ídí (vagabond) who
opens his bag and draws out a loaf, a roast fowl, lemons, olives,
cucumbers and date-cake, which suggest to Attaf, who had not eaten
such things for a month, “the table of Isá bin Maryam.” For the rest
see Mr. Cotheal’s version.
Footnote 362:
The C. MS. gives the short note in full.
Footnote 363:
In text “al-Towáb,” Arab. plur. of the Persian and Turk. “Top.” We
hardly expected to find ordnance in the age of Harun al-Rashid,
although according to Milton they date before the days of Adam.
Footnote 364:
M. Houdas would read for “Alhy Tys” in the text “Tuhà Tays” a general
feast: Tuhà = cooked meat and “Tays” = myriads of.
Footnote 365:
M. Houdas translates _les injures devancèrent les compliments_, an
idiom = he did not succeed in his design.
Footnote 366:
“Cousin” being more polite than “wife”: see vols. vi. 145; ix. 225.
Footnote 367:
_Les vertèbres ont fait bourrelet_, says M. Houdas who adds that
“Shakbán” is the end of a cloth, gown, or cloak, which is thrown over
the shoulders and serves, like the “Jayb” in front, to carry small
parcels, herbs, etc.
Footnote 368:
In the local Min jargon, the language of Fellahs, “Addíki” = I will
give thee.
Footnote 369:
In text “Min al-’Án wa sá’idan;” lit. = from this moment upwards.
Footnote 370:
“Tarajjum” taking refuge from Satan the Stoned (Rajím). See vol. iv.
242.
Footnote 371:
_i.e._ a descendant of Al-Háshim, great-grandfather of the Prophet.
See ix. 24.
Footnote 372:
In text “Shobási,” for “Sobáshí” which M. Houdas translates _prévôt du
Palais_.
Footnote 373:
In the C. MS. Attaf’s head was to be cut off.
Footnote 374:
In the C. MS. the anagnorisis is much more detailed. Ja’afar asks
Attaf if he knew a Damascus-man Attaf hight and so forth; and lastly
an old man comes forward and confesses to have slain the Sharíf or
Háshimi.
Footnote 375:
They drink before the meal, as is still the custom in Syria and Egypt.
See vol. vii. 132.
Footnote 376:
Gauttier (vii. 256), illustrating the sudden rise of low-caste and
uneducated men to high degree, quotes a contemporary celebrity, the
famous Mirza Mohammed Husayn Khan who, originally a Bakkál or
greengrocer, was made premier of Fath Ali Shah’s brilliant court, the
last bright flash of Iranian splendour and autocracy. But Irán is a
land upon which Nature has inscribed “Resurgam”; and despite her
present abnormal position between two vast overshadowing
empires—British India and Russia in Asia—she has still a part to play
in history. And I may again note that Al-Islam is based upon the
fundamental idea of a Republic which is, all (free) men are equal, and
the lowest may aspire to the highest dignity.
Footnote 377:
In text “’Aramramí.”
Footnote 378:
“Wa’lláhu ’l-Muwaffiku ’l-Mu’ín” = God prospereth and directeth, a
formula often prefixed or suffixed to a book.
Footnote 379:
MS. pp. 628–685. Gauttier, vii. 64–90; _Histoire du Prince Habib et de
la Princesse Dorrat-el-Gawas_. The English translation dubs it “Story
of Habib and Dorathil-goase, or the Arabian Knight” (vol. iii.
219–89); and thus degrades the high sounding name to a fair echo of
Dorothy Goose. The name = Pearl of the Diver: it is also the P. N. of
a treatise on desinental syntax by the grammarian-poet Al-Hariri
(Chenery, p. 539).
Footnote 380:
The “Banú Hilál,” a famous tribe which formed part of a confederation
against the Prophet on his expedition to Honayn. See Tabari, vol. iii.
chapt. 32, and Doughty, Arabia Deserta (Index, B. Helal). In the text
we have the vulgarism “Baní” for “Banú.”
Footnote 381:
Gauttier (vii. 64) clean omits the former Emir because he has nothing
to do with the tale. In Heron it is the same, and the second chief is
named “Emir-Ben-Hilac-Salamis”; or for shortness _tout bonnement_
“Salamis”; his wife becoming Amírala which, if it mean anything, is =
Colonel, or Captain R.N.
Footnote 382:
_i.e._ Moon of the Nobles.
Footnote 383:
= the Beloved, _le bien-aimé_.
Footnote 384:
As has been seen Gauttier reduces the title to “Prince.” Amongst
Arabs, however, it is not only a name proper but may denote any
dignity from a Shaykh to a Sultan rightly so termed.
Footnote 385:
For the seven handwritings see vol. iv. 196. The old English version
says, “He learned the art of writing with pens cut in seven different
ways.” To give an idea of the style it renders the quatrain:—“Father,”
said the youth, “you must apply to my master, to give you the
information you desire. As for me, I must long be all eye and all ear.
I must learn to use my hand, before I begin to exercise my tongue, and
to write my letters as pure as pearls from the water.” And this is
translation!
Footnote 386:
I need hardly note that “Voices from the other world” are a _lieu
commun_ of so-called Spiritualism. See also vol. i. 142 and Suppl.
vol. iii.
Footnote 387:
This tale and most of those in the MS. affect the Kála ’l-Ráwí (=quoth
the reciter) showing the true use of them. See Terminal Essay, vol. x.
163.
Footnote 388:
The missing apodosis would be, “You would understand the cause of my
weeping.”
Footnote 389:
In the text there are only five lines. I have borrowed the sixth from
the prose.
Footnote 390:
“Dáúd” = David: see vols. ii. 286; vi. 113.
Footnote 391:
For “Samharí” see vol. iv. 258.
Footnote 392:
From “Rudaynah,” either a woman or a place: see vols. ii. 1; vii. 265;
and for “Khatt Hajar” vol. ii. 1.
Footnote 393:
This is the idiomatic meaning of the Arab word “Nizál” = dismounting
to fight on foot.
Footnote 394:
In the text “Akyál,” plur. of “Kayl” = Kings of the Himyarite peoples.
See vol. vii. 60; here it is = the hero, the heroes.
Footnote 395:
An intensive word, “on the weight,” as the Arabs say of ’Abbás
(stern-faced) and meaning “Very stern-faced, austere, grim.” In the
older translations it becomes “Il Haboul”—utterly meaningless.
Footnote 396:
The Arab. “Moon of the Time” becomes in the olden versions
“Camaulzaman,” which means, if anything, “Complete Time,” and she is
the daughter of a Jinn-King “Illabousatrous (Al-’Atrús?).” He married
her to a potent monarch named “Shah-Goase” (Shah Ghawwás = King
Diver), in this version “Sábúr” (Shahpur), and by him Kamar Al-Zaman
became the mother of Durrat al-Ghawwas.
Footnote 397:
In text “Sádát wa Ashráf;” for the technical meaning of “Sayyid” and
“Sharif” see vols. iv. 170; v. 259.
Footnote 398:
Gauttier, vii. 71. _Les Isles Bellour_: see vol. iii. 194.
Footnote 399:
Heron’s “Illabousatrous” (?).
Footnote 400:
In text “Zayjah,” from Pers. “Záycheh” = lit. a horoscope, a table for
calculating nativities and so forth. In page 682 of the MS. the word
is used = marriage-lines.
Footnote 401:
In text “Snsál,” for “Salsál” = lit. chain.
Footnote 402:
In Sindbad the Seaman I have shown that riding men as asses is a
facetious exaggeration of an African practice, the Minister being
generally the beast of burden for the King. It was the same in the
Maldive Islands. “As soon as the lord desires to land, one of the
chief _Catibes_ (Arab. Khatíb = a preacher, not Kátíb = a writer)
comes forward to offer his shoulder (a function much esteemed) and the
other gets upon his shoulders; and so, with a leg on each side, he
rides him horse fashion to land, and is there set down.” See p. 71,
“The Voyage of Francois Pyrard,” etc. The volume is unusually well
edited by Mr. Albert Gray, formerly of the Ceylon Civil Service for
the Hakluyt Society, MDCCCLXXXVII: it is, however, regretable that he
and Mr. Bell, his collaborateur, did not trace out the Maldive words
to their “Aryan” origin showing their relationship to vulgar
Hindostani as _Mas_ to _Machhí_ (fish) from the Sanskrit _Matsya_.
Footnote 403:
In text “Ghayth al-Hátíl” = incessant rain of small drops and widely
dispread. In Arab. the names for clouds, rain and all such matters
important to a pastoral race are well nigh innumerable. Poetry has
seized upon the material terms and has converted them into a host of
metaphors; for “the genius of the Arabic language, like that of the
Hebrew, is to form new ideas by giving a metaphorical signification to
material objects (_e.g._ ’Azud, lit. the upper arm; met. a helper).”
Chenery p. 380.
Footnote 404:
In the text “To the palace:” the scribe, apparently forgetting that he
is describing Badawi life, lapses at times into “decorating the
capital” and “adorning the mansion,” as if treating of the normal
city-life. I have not followed his example.
Footnote 405:
Heron translates “A massy cuirass of Haoudi.”
Footnote 406:
In text, “Inbasata ’l-Layl al-Asá,” which M. Houdas renders _et
s’étendit la nuit (mère) de la tristesse_.
Footnote 407:
“Rauzah” in Algiers is a royal park; also a prairie, as “Rauz
al-Sanájirah,” plain of the Sinjars: Ibn Khaldun, ii. 448.
Footnote 408:
The “Miskál” (for which see vols. i. 126; ix. 262) is the weight of a
dinar = 1½ dirham = 71–72 grains avoir. A dose of 142 grains would
kill a camel. In 1848, when we were marching up the Indus Valley under
Sir Charles Napier to attack Náo Mall of Multan, the Sind Camel Corps
was expected to march at the rate of some 50 miles a day, and this was
done by making the animals more than half drunk with Bhang or Indian
hemp.
Footnote 409:
In text, “Yakhat,” probably clerical error for “Yakhbut,” lit. = he
was panting in a state of unconsciousness: see Dozy, Suppl. s. v.
Footnote 410:
In text “Al-Dán,” which is I presume a clerical error for “Al-Uzn” =
ear. [“Dán,” with the dual “Dánayn,” and “Wudn,” with the plural
“Audán,” are popular forms for the literary “Uzn.”—ST.]
Footnote 411:
This name has occurred in MS. p. 655, but it is a mere nonentity until
p. 657—the normal incuriousness. Heron dubs him “Rabir.”
Footnote 412:
In the text “Zimmat” = obligation, protection, clientship.
Footnote 413:
“Sahha ’alakah” (=a something) “fí hazá ’l-Amri.” The first word
appears _de trop_ being enclosed in brackets in the MS.
Footnote 414:
“Wa yabkí ’alaykum Mabálu-h.” [For “Mabál” I would read “Wabál,” in
the sense of crime or punishment, and translate: “lest the guilt of it
rest upon you.”—ST.]
Footnote 415:
In the text “Suwaydá” literally “a small and blackish woman”; and
“Suwaydá al-Kalb” (the black one of the heart) = original sin, as we
should say. [The diminutive of “Sayyid” would be “Suwayyid,” as
“Kuwayyis” from “Kayyis,” and “Juwayyid” from “Jayyid” (comp. supra p.
5). “Suwayd” and “Suwaydá” are diminutives of “Aswad,” black, and its
fem. “Saudá” respectively, meaning blackish. The former occurs in “Umm
al-Suwayd” = anus. “Suwaydá al-Kalb” = the blackish drop of clotted
blood in the heart, is synonymous with “Habbat al-Kalb” = the grain in
the heart, and corresponds to our core of the heart. Metaphorically
both are used for “original sin.”—ST.]
Footnote 416:
“Yákah Thiyábish;” the former word being Turkish (M. Houdas).
Footnote 417:
Arab. “Kaunayn” = the two entities, this world and the other world,
the past and the future, etc. Here it is opposed to “’A´lamína,” here
’Awálim = the (three) worlds, for which see vol. ii. 236.
Footnote 418:
In text “Changul,” again written with a three-dotted Chím.
Footnote 419:
In text “Al-Mazrab” which M. Houdas translates _cet endroit_.
Footnote 420:
In text “Yabahh” = saying “Bah, Bah!”
Footnote 421:
In text “Bahr al-Azrak” = the Blue Sea, commonly applied to the
Mediterranean: the origin of the epithet is readily understood by one
who has seen the Atlantic or the Black Sea.
Footnote 422:
_i.e._ “The Stubborn,” “The Obstinate.”
Footnote 423:
In text “Al-Jawádit,” where M. Houdas would read “Al-Hawádith” which
he renders by _animaux fraîchement tués_.
Footnote 424:
In the text “Kabad” = the liver, the sky-vault, the handle or grasp of
a bow.
Footnote 425:
In the text “Míná” = a port both in old Egyptian and mod. Persian: see
“Mitrahinna,” vol. ii. 257.
Footnote 426:
“Al-Nakáír,” plur. of “Nakír” = a dinghy, a dug-out.
Footnote 427:
For this “Pá-andáz,” as the Persians call it, see vol. iii. 141.
Footnote 428:
In text “Kataba Zayjata-há,” the word has before been noticed.
Footnote 429:
Again “Hizà (حظى, in MS. حفى) bi-Zayjati-há” = _le bonheur de ses
aventures_.
Footnote 430:
This impalement (“Salb,” which elsewhere means crucifying, vol. iii.
25) may be a barbarous punishment but it is highly effective, which
after all is its principal object. Old Mohammed Ali of Egypt never
could have subjugated and disciplined the ferocious Badawi of Al-Asir,
the Ophir region South of Al-Hijáz without the free use of the stake.
The banditti dared to die but they could not endure the idea of their
bodies being torn to pieces and devoured by birds and beasts. The
stake commonly called “Kházúk,” is a stout pole pointed at one end,
and the criminal being thrown upon his belly is held firm whilst the
end is passed up his fundament. His legs and body are then lashed to
it and it is raised by degrees and planted in a hole already dug, an
agonising part of the process. If the operation be performed by an
expert who avoids injuring any mortal part, the wretch may live for
three days suffering the pangs of thirst; but a drink of water causes
hemorrhage and instant death. This was the case with the young Moslem
student who murdered the excellent Marshal Kleber in the garden
attached to Shepherd’s Hotel, Cairo, wherein, by the by he suffered
for his patriotic crime. Death as in crucifixion is brought on by
cramps and nervous exhaustion, for which see Canon Farrar (Life of
Christ, ii. 392 et seqq.).
Footnote 431:
_Archæological Review_, July, 1888, pp. 331–342.
Footnote 432:
The proper names are overrun with accents and diaeretical points, of
which I have here retained but few.
Footnote 433:
Particularly mentioning Syntipas, the Forty Vizirs, a Turkish romance
relating to Alexander, in 120 volumes; and Mohammed al-‘Aufi.
Footnote 434:
Probably similar to those described in the story of the Warlock and
the Cook (anteà, pp. 135–142).
Footnote 435:
The last clause is very short and obscure in the French “qu’il n’a pas
son sabre,” but what follows shows the real meaning to be that given
above. (W. F. K.)
Footnote 436:
This I take to be the meaning of the words, “une autre monde sous la
terre _par sept fois_.” (W. F. K.).
Footnote 437:
Galland writes “on fait un jeu de Giret (tournoi) etc.” (W. F. K.)
Footnote 438:
Perhaps an error of Galland’s. (W. F. K.).
Footnote 439:
I do not know what the German edition referred to.
Footnote 440:
This great class of tales is quite as widely extended in the north of
Europe and Asia, as in the south. We meet with them in Siberia, and
they are particularly common in Lapland. I believe, too that the
Indian story of the Red Swan, (referred to by Longfellow, Hiawatha,
xii.) is only a Swan Maiden legend in a rather modified form. As
usual, we find a bizarre form of the Swan Maiden story among the
Samoghitians of Lithuania. The Zemyne is a one-eyed venomous snake,
with black blood which cures all diseases and neutralises all magic.
It is an enchanted maiden; and sometimes the skin has been stolen, and
she has married a man. But if she recovers her skin, she resumes her
snake-form, and bites and kills her husband and children. Many other
strange things are related of the Zemyne (Veckenstedt, Mythen, Sagen,
und Legenden der Zamaiten, ii., pp. 149–152).
Footnote 441:
About twenty pounds.
Footnote 442:
Spitta Bey (p. 27 note) suggests that this is a reminiscence of the
ancient Egyptian idea of the Scarabæus, which typifies life.
Footnote 443:
Southey, in his story of the Young Dragon, relates how Satan,
disapproving of the rapid conversion of the inhabitants of Antioch to
Christianity, laid an egg, and hatched out a dragon, which he sent to
destroy the inhabitants. But a Pagan, whose Christian daughter was
devoted to the dragon by lot, stole the thumb from a relic (the hand
of John the Baptist), as he pretended to kiss it, and cast it into the
mouth of the dragon, and blew him up.
Footnote 444:
This is a variant of the Nose-Tree; I do not remember another in
genuine Oriental literature (cf. Nights, x, app. p. 508).
Footnote 445:
How small the world becomes in this story!
Footnote 446:
It is evident that a _young_ she-bear is all that is meant.
Footnote 447:
These Vigilants and Purifiers, with that hypocritical severity which
ever makes the worst sinner in private the most rigorous judge in
public, lately had the imprudent impudence to summons a publisher who
had reprinted the Decameron with the “objectionable passages” in
French. Mr. Alderman Faudell Phillips had the good sense
contemptuously to dismiss the summons. Englishmen are no longer what
they were if they continue to tolerate this ignoble espionage of
vicious and prurient virtuous “Associations.” If they mean _real_ work
why do they commence by condemning scholar-like works, instead of
cleansing the many foul cesspools of active vice which are a public
disgrace to London.
Footnote 448: