gold (tibr) is the amber-coloured wine, like the Vino d’oro of the
Libanus.
Footnote 90:
That is, fair, white and red: Turkish slaves then abounded at Baghdad.
Footnote 91:
A Wady near Meccah where one of Mohammed’s battles was fought. The
line means his waist is a thread connected broad breast and large hind
quarters.
Footnote 92:
Arab. “Zaurá” which may mean crooked, alluding to the well-known rib.
Footnote 93:
A pun. Bakr was the name of the eponymous chief and it also means
virgin, as in Abu Bakr.
Footnote 94:
Arab. “Jámi’ayn” = two cathedrals, any large (and consequently
vicious) city.
Footnote 95:
Arab. “Almá,” before noticed: I cannot translate “damask-lipped” to
suit European taste.
Footnote 96:
Sherbet flavoured with musk or apple to cool the mouth of “hot
coppers.”
Footnote 97:
Arab. “In’ásh” lit. raising from his bier. The whole tone is
rollicking and slangy.
Footnote 98:
_i.e._ In spite of himself: the phrase often occurs.
ABDALLAH BIN MA’AMAR WITH THE MAN OF BASSORAH AND HIS SLAVE-GIRL.
A certain man of Bassorah once bought a slave-girl and reared and
educated her right well. Moreover, he loved her very dearly and spent
all his substance in pleasuring and merry-making with her, till he had
naught left and extreme poverty was sore upon him. So she said to him,
“O my master, sell me; for thou needest my price and it maketh my heart
ache to see thy sorry and want-full plight. If thou vend me and make use
of my value, ‘twill be better for thee than keeping me by thee, and
haply Almighty Allah will ample thee and amend thy fortune.” He agreed
to this for the straitness of his case, and carried her to the bazar,
where the broker offered her for sale to the Governor of Bassorah, by
name Abdallah bin Ma’amar al-Taymi, and she pleased him. So he bought
her, for five hundred dinars and paid the sum to her master; but when he
took the money and was about to go away, the girl burst into tears and
repeated these two couplets:—
May coins thou gainest joy in heart instil; ✿ For me remaineth naught
save saddest ill:
I say unto my soul which sorely grieves, ✿ “Thy friend departeth an thou
will or nill.”
And when her master heard this, he groaned and replied in these
couplets:—
Albeit this thy case lack all resource, ✿ Nor findest aught but death’s
doom, pardon still:
Evening and morning, thoughts of thee will dole ✿ Comfort to heart all
woes and griefs full fill:
Peace be upon thee! meet we now no more ✿ Nor pair except at Ibn
Ma’amar’s will.
Now when Abdullah bin Ma’amar heard these verses and saw their
affection, he exclaimed, “By Allah, I will not assist fate in separating
you; for it is evident to me that ye two indeed love each other. So take
the money and the damsel, O man, and Allah bless thee in both; for
verily parting be grievous to lovers.” So they kissed his hand and going
away, ceased not to dwell together, till death did them part; and glory
be to Him whom death over-taketh not! And amongst stories is that of
THE LOVERS OF THE BANU[99] OZRAH.
There was once, among the Banu ‘Ozrah, a handsome and accomplished man,
who was never a single day out of love, and it chanced that he became
enamoured of a beauty of his own tribe and sent her many messages; but
she ceased not to entreat him with cruelty and disdain; till, for stress
of love and longing and desire and distraction, he fell sick of a sore
sickness and took to his pillow and murdered sleep. His malady redoubled
on him and his torments increased and he was well nigh dead when his
case became known among the folk and his passion notorious——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Eighty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the man took to
his pillow and murdered sleep. So his case became known among the folk
and his passion notorious; and his infirmity grew upon him and his pains
redoubled till he was well nigh dead. His family and hers were urgent
with her to visit him, but she refused, till he was at the point of
death when, being told of this, she relented towards him and vouchsafed
him a visit. As soon as he saw her, his eyes ran over with tears and he
repeated from a broken heart:—
An, by thy life, pass thee my funeral train, ✿ A bier upborne upon the
necks of four,
Wilt thou not follow it, and greet the grave ✿ Where shall my corpse be
graved for evermore?
Hearing this, she wept with sore weeping and said to him, “By Allah, I
suspected not that passion had come to such a pass with thee, as to cast
thee into the arms of death! Had I wist of this, I had been favourable
to thy wish, and thou shouldst have had thy will.” At this his tears
streamed down even as the clouds rail rain, and he repeated this verse:—
She drew near whenas death was departing us, ✿ And deigned union grant
when ‘twas useless all.
Then he groaned one groan and died. So she fell on him, kissing him and
weeping and ceased not weeping till she swooned away; and when she came
to herself, she charged her people to bury her in his grave and with
streaming eyes recited these two couplets:-
We lived on earth a life of fair content; ✿ And tribe and house and home
of us were proud;
But Time in whirling flight departed us, ✿ To join us now in womb of
earth and shroud.[100]
Then she fell again to weeping, nor gave over shedding tears and
lamenting till she fainted away; and she lay three days, senseless. Then
she died and was buried in his grave. This is one of the strange chances
of love.[101] And I have heard related a tale of the
-----
Footnote 99:
Europeans usually write “Beni” for “Banu;” the oblique for the
nominative. I prefer “Odhrah” or “Ozrah” to Udhrah; because the Ayn
before the Zál takes in pronunciation the more open sound.
Footnote 100:
Possibly meaning that they were shrouded together; this would be
opposed to Moslem sense of decorum in modern days, but the ancient
were not so squeamish. See Night cccxi.
Footnote 101:
This phase of passion in the “varium et mutabile” is often treated of
by Oriental story-tellers, and not unoften seen in real Eastern life.
WAZIR OF AL-YAMAN AND HIS YOUNG BROTHER.
It is said that Badr al-Din, Wazir of Al-Yaman, had a young brother of
singular beauty and kept strait watch over him; so he applied himself to
seek a tutor for him and, coming upon a Shaykh of dignified and reverend
aspect, chaste and religious, lodged him in a house next his own. This
lasted a long time, and he used to come daily from his dwelling to that
of Sáhib[102] Badr al-Din and teach the young brother. After a while,
the old man’s heart was taken with love for the youth, and longing grew
upon him and his vitals were troubled, till one day, he bemoaned his
case to the boy, who said, “What can I do, seeing that I may not leave
my brother night or day? and thou thyself seest how careful he is over
me.” Quoth the Shaykh, “My lodging adjoineth thine; so there will be no
difficulty, when thy brother sleepeth, to rise and entering the privy,
feign thyself asleep. Then come to the parapet[103] of the terrace-roof
and I will receive thee on the other side of the wall; so shalt thou sit
with me an eye-twinkling and return without thy brother’s knowledge.” “I
hear and obey,” answered the lad; and the tutor began to prepare gifts
suitable to his degree. Now when a while of the night was past, he
entered the water-closet and waited till his brother lay down on his bed
and took patience till he was drowned in sleep, when he rose and going
to the parapet of the terrace-roof, found standing there to await him
the old man, who gave him his hand and carried him to the
sitting-chamber, where he had made ready various dainties for his
entertainment, and they sat down to carouse. Now it was the night of the
full moon and, as they sat with the wine-cup going round, her rays shone
upon them, and the governor fell to singing. But, whilst they were thus
in joy and jollity and mirth and merriment, such as confoundeth the wit
and the sight and defieth description, lo! the Wazir awoke and, missing
his brother, arose in affright and found the door open. So he went up to
the roof and hearing a noise of talk, climbed over the parapet to the
adjoining terrace and saw a light shining from the lodging. He looked in
from behind the wall, and espied his brother and his tutor sitting at
carouse: but the Shaykh became aware of him and sang cup in hand, to a
lively measure these couplets:—
He made me drain his wine of honeyed lips, ✿ Toasting with cheeks which
rose and myrtle smother:
Then nighted in embrace, cheek to my cheek, ✿ A loveling midst mankind
without another.
When the full moon arose on us and shone ✿ Pray she traduce us not to
the big brother.
And it proved the perfect politeness of the Wazir Badr al-Din that, when
he heard this, he said, “By Allah, I will not betray you!” And he went
away and left them to their diversions. They also tell a tale concerning
-----
Footnote 102:
As has been said, “Sáhib” (preceding the name not following it as in
India) is a Wazirial title in mediæval Islam.
Footnote 103:
This parapet was rendered obligatory by Moses (Deut. xxii. 8) on
account of the danger of leaving a flat roof without _garde-fou_.
Eastern Christians neglect the precaution and often lose their
children by the neglect.
THE LOVES OF THE BOY AND GIRL AT SCHOOL.
A free boy and a slave-girl once learnt together in school, and the boy
fell passionately in love with the girl.——And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Eighty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the lad fell
passionately in love with the slave-lass: so one day, when the other
boys were heedless, he took her tablet[104] and wrote on it these two
couplets:—
What sayest thou of him by sickness waste, ✿ Until he’s clean distraught
for love of thee?
Who in the transport of his pain complains, ✿ Nor can bear load of heart
in secrecy?
Now when the girl took her tablet, she read the verses written thereon
and understanding them, wept for ruth of him; then she wrote thereunder
these two couplets:—
An if we behold a lover love-fordone ✿ Desiring us, our favours he shall
see:
Yea, what he wills of us he shall obtain, ✿ And so befal us what
befalling be.
Now it chanced that the teacher came in on them and taking the tablet,
unnoticed, read what was written thereon. So he was moved to pity of
their case and wrote on the tablet beneath those already written these
two couplets addressed to the girl:—
Console thy lover, fear no consequence; ✿ He is daft with loving lowe’s
insanity;
But for the teacher fear not aught from him; ✿ Love-pain he learnèd long
before learnt ye.
Presently it so happened that the girl’s owner entered the school about
the same time and, finding the tablet, read the above verses indited by
the boy, the girl and the schoolmaster; and wrote under them these two
couplets:—
May Allah never make you parting dree ✿ And be your censurer shamèd
wearily!
But for the teacher ne’er, by Allah, eye ✿ Of mine beheld a bigger pimp
than he!
Then he sent for the Kazi and witnesses and married them on the spot.
Moreover, he made them a wedding-feast and treated them with exceeding
munificence; and they ceased not abiding together in joy and happiness,
till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and the Severer of
societies. And equally pleasant is the story of
-----
Footnote 104:
Arab. “Lauh.” A bit of thin board washed white used for lessons as
slates are amongst us, and as easily cleaned because the inks contain
no minerals. It is a long parallelogram with triangular ears at the
short sides; and the shape must date from ages immemorial as it is
found, throughout Syria and its adjoinings, in the oldest rock
inscriptions to which the form serves as a frame. Hence the “abacus”
or counting table derives from the Gr. ἄβαζ a slab (or in Phenician
“sand”), dust or sand in old days having been strewed on a table or
tablet for schoolboys’ writings and mathematical diagrams.
AL-MUTALAMMIS AND HIS WIFE UMAYMAH.
It is related that Al-Mutalammis[105] once fled from Al-Nu’uman bin
Munzir[106] and was absent so long that folk deemed him dead. Now he had
a beautiful wife, Umaymah by name, and her family urged her to marry
again; but she refused, for that she loved her husband Al-Mutalammis
very dearly. However, they were urgent with her, because of the
multitude of her suitors, and importuned her till she at last consented,
albe reluctantly; and they espoused her to a man of her own tribe. Now
on the night of the wedding, Al-Mutalammis came back and, hearing in the
camp a noise of pipes and tabrets and seeing signs of a wedding
festival, asked some of the children what was the merry making, to which
they replied, “They have married Umaymah wife of Al-Mutalammis, to such
an one, and he goes in to her this night.” When he heard this, he
planned to enter the house amongst the mob of women and saw the twain
seated on the bridal couch.[107] By and by, the bridegroom came up to
her, whereupon she sighed heavily and weeping, recited this couplet:—
Would Heaven I knew (but many are the shifts of joy and woe) ✿ In what
far distant land thou art, my Mutalammis, oh!
Now Al-Mutalammis was a renowned poet; so he answered her saying:—
Right near at hand, Umaymah mine! whene’er the caravan ✿ Halted, I never
ceased for thee to pine, I would thou know.
When the bridegroom heard this, he guessed how the case stood and went
forth from among them in haste improvising:—
I was in bestest luck, but now my luck goes contrary: ✿ A hospitable
house and room contain your loves, you two!
And he returned not but left the twain to their privacy. So
Al-Mutalammis and his wife abode together in all comfort and solace of
life and in all its joys and jollities till death parted them. And glory
be to Him at whose command the earth and the heavens shall arise! And
among other tales is that of
-----
Footnote 105:
A pre-Islamitic bard and friend of Tarafah the poet of the Suspended
or “Prize Poem.” The tale is familiar to all the Moslem East.
Tarafah’s Laura was one Khaulá.
Footnote 106:
King of Hirah in Chaldæa, a drunken and bloodthirsty tyrant. When
offended by the lampoons of the two poets he sent them with litteræ
Bellerophontiæ to the Governor of Al-Bahrayn. Al-Mutalammis “smelt a
rat” and destroyed his charge, but Tarafah was mutilated and buried
alive, the victim of a trick which is old as (and older than) good
King David and Uriah. Of course neither poet could read.
Footnote 107:
On this occasion, and in presence of the women only, the groom first
sees or is supposed to see the face of his wife. It is, I have said,
the fashion for both to be greatly overcome and to appear as if about
to faint: the groom looks especially ridiculous when so
attitudinising.
THE CALIPH HARUN AL-RASHID AND QUEEN ZUBAYDAH IN THE BATH.
The Caliph Harun al-Rashid loved the Lady Zubaydah with exceeding love
and laid out for her a pleasaunce, wherein he made a great tank and set
thereabouts a screen of trees and led thither water from all sides;
hence the trees grew and interlaced over the basin so densely, that one
could go in and wash, without being seen of any, for the thickness of
the leafage. It chanced, one day, that Queen Zubaydah entered the garden
and, coming to the swimming-bath,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Eighty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Queen Zubaydah
entered the garden one day and, coming to the swimming-bath, gazed upon
its goodliness; and the sheen of the water and the overshading of the
trees pleased her. Now it was a day of exceeding heat; so she doffed her
clothes and, entering the tank, which was not deep enough to cover the
whole person, fell to pouring the water over herself from an ewer of
silver. It also happened that the Caliph heard she was in the pool; so
he left his palace and came down to spy upon her through the screen of
the foliage. He stood behind the trees and espied her mother-nude,
showing everything that is kept hidden. Presently, she became aware of
him and turning, saw him behind the trees and was ashamed that he should
see her naked. So she laid her hands on her parts, but the Mount of
Venus escaped from between them, by reason of its greatness and
plumpness; and the Caliph at once turned and went away, wondering and
reciting this couplet:—
I looked on her with loving eyne ✿ And grew anew my old repine:
But he knew not what to say next; so he sent for Abu Nowas and said to
him, “Make me a piece of verse commencing with this line.” “I hear and
obey,” replied the poet and in an eye-twinkling extemporised these
couplets:—
I looked on her with longing eyne ✿ And grew anew my old repine
For the gazelle, who captured me ✿ Where the two lotus-trees incline:
There was the water poured on it ✿ From ewer of the silvern mine;
And seen me she had hidden it ✿ But ‘twas too plump for fingers fine.
Would Heaven that I were on it, ✿ An hour, or better two hours,
li’en.[108]
Thereupon the Commander of the Faithful smiled and made him a handsome
present and he went away rejoicing. And I have heard another story of
-----
Footnote 108:
This leisurely operation of the “deed of kind” was sure to be noticed;
but we do not find in The Nights any allusion to that systematic
_prolongatio veneris_ which is so much cultivated by Moslems under the
name Imsák = retention, withholding _i.e._ the semen. Yet Eastern
books on domestic medicine consist mostly of two parts; the first of
general prescriptions and the second of aphrodisiacs especially those
_qui prolongent le plaisir_ as did the Gaul by thinking of _sa pauvre
mère_. The Ananga-Ranga, by the Reverend Koka Pandit before quoted,
gives a host of recipes which are used, either externally or
internally, to hasten the paroxysm of the woman and delay the orgasm
of the man (p. 27). Some of these are curious in the extreme. I heard
of a Hindi who made a candle of frogs’ fat and fibre warranted to
retain the seed till it burned out: it failed notably because, relying
upon it, he worked too vigorously. The essence of the “retaining art”
is to avoid over-tension of the muscles and to pre-occupy the brain:
hence in coition Hindus will drink sherbet, chew betel-nut and even
smoke. Europeans ignoring the science and practice, are contemptuously
compared with village-cocks by Hindu women who cannot be satisfied,
such is their natural coldness, increased doubtless by vegetable diet
and unuse of stimulants, with less than twenty minutes. Hence too
while thousands of Europeans have cohabited for years with and have
had families by “native women,” they are never loved by them:—at least
I never heard of a case.
HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE THREE POETS.
The Prince of True Believers, Caliph Harun al-Rashid, was exceeding
restless one night; so he rose and walked about his palace, till he
happened on a handmaid overcome with wine. Now he was prodigiously
enamoured of this damsel; so he played with her and pulled her to him,
whereupon her zone fell down and her petticoat-trousers were loosed and
he besought her of amorous favour. But she said to him, “O Commander of
the Faithful wait till to-morrow night, for I am unprepared for thee,
knowing not of thy coming.” So he left her and went away. But, when the
morrow showed its light and the sun shone bright, he sent a page to her
saying, “The Commander of the Faithful is about to visit thine
apartment;” but she replied, “Day doth away with the promise of night.”
So he said to his courtiers, make me somewhat of verse, introducing
these words, “The promise of Night is effaced by Day.” Answered they,
“We hear and obey,” and Al-Rakáshi[109] came forward and recited the
following couplets:—
By Allah, couldst thou but feel my pain, ✿ Thy rest had turned and had
fled away.
Hath left me in sorrow and love distraught, ✿ Unseen and unseeing, that
fairest may:
She promised me grace, then jilted and said, ✿ “The promise of night is
effaced by day!”
Then Abu Mus’ab came forward and recited these couplets:—
When wilt thou be wise and love-heat allay ✿ That from food and sleeping
so leads astray?
Suffices thee not ever weeping eye, ✿ And vitals on fire when thy name
they say?
He must smile and laugh and in pride must cry ✿ “The promise of Night is
effaced by Day.”
Last came Abu Nowas and recited the following couplets:—
As love waxt longer less met we tway ✿ And fell out, but ended the
useless fray;
One night in the palace I found her fou’; ✿ Yet of modesty still there
was some display:
The veil from her shoulders had slipt; and showed ✿ Her loosened
trousers Love’s seat and stay:
And rattled the breezes her huge hind cheeks ✿ And the branch where two
little pomegranates lay:
Quoth I, “Give me tryst;” whereto quoth she ✿ “To-morrow the fane shall
wear best array:”
Next day I asked her, “Thy word?” Said she ✿ “The promise of Night is
effaced by Day.”
The Caliph bade give a myriad of money each to Al-Rakashi and Abu
Mus’ab, but bade strike off the head of Abu Nowas, saying, “Thou wast
with us yesternight in the palace.” Said he, “By Allah, I slept not but
in my own house! I was directed to what I said by thine own words as to
the subject of the verse; and indeed quoth Almighty Allah (and He is the
truest of all speakers):—As for poets (devils pursue them!) dost thou
not see that they rove as bereft of their senses through every valley
and that they say that which they do not?”[110] So the Caliph forgave
him and gave him two myriads of money. And another tale is that of
-----
Footnote 109:
Abu ‘l Abbas al-Rakáshi, a poet of the time. The saying became
proverbial (Burckhardt’s A. Proverbs No. 561) and there are variants,
_e.g._ The night’s promise is spread with butter that melteth when day
ariseth.
Footnote 110:
Koran xxvi. 5, 6 or “And those who err (Arab. Al-gháwún) follow the
footsteps of the poets,” etc.
MUS’AB BIN AL-ZUBAYR AND AYISHAH DAUGHTER OF TALHAH.
It is told of Mus’ab bin al-Zubayr[111] that he met in Al-Medinah Izzah,
who was one of the shrewdest of women, and said to her, “I have a mind
to marry Ayishah[112] daughter of Talhah, and I should like thee to go
her-wards and spy out for me how she is made.” So she went away and
returning to Mus’ab, said, “I have seen her, and her face is fairer than
health; she hath large and well-opened eyes and under them a nose
straight and smooth as a cane; oval cheeks and a mouth like a cleft
pomegranate, a neck as a silver ewer and below it a bosom with two
breasts like twin-pomegranates and further down a slim waist and a
slender stomach with a navel therein as it were a casket of ivory, and
back parts like a hummock of sand; and plumply rounded thighs and calves
like columns of alabaster; but I saw her feet to be large, and thou wilt
fall short with her in time of need.” Upon this report he married
her——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Eighty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Izzah this
wise reported of Ayishah bint Talhah, Mus’ab married her and went in to
her. And presently Izzah invited Ayishah and the women of the tribe
Kuraysh to her house, when Ayishah sang these two couplets with Mus’ab
standing by:—
And the lips of girls, that are perfume sweet; ✿ So nice to kiss when
with smiles they greet:
Yet ne’er tasted I them, but in thought of him; ✿ And by thought the
Ruler rules worldly seat.