white, and “Juzám” the black leprosy; the leprosy of the joints, mal
rouge. Both are attributed to undue diet as eating fish and drinking
milk; and both are treated with tonics, especially arsenic. Leprosy is
regarded by Moslems as a Scriptural malady on account of its
prevalence amongst the Israelites who, as Manetho tells us, were
expelled from Egypt because they infected and polluted the population.
In mediæval Christendom an idea prevailed that the Saviour was a
leper; hence the term “morbus sacer”; the honours paid to the
sufferers by certain Saints and the Papal address (Clement III. A.D.
1189) dilectis filiis leprosis. (Farrar’s Life of Christ, i. 149.) For
the “disgusting and impetuous lust” caused by leprosy, see Sonnini (p.
560) who visited the lepers at Canea in Candia. He is one of many who
describes this symptom; but in the Brazil, where the foul malady still
prevails, I never heard of it.
Footnote 502:
A city in Irak; famous for the three days’ battle which caused the
death of Yezdegird, last Sassanian king.
Footnote 503:
A mountain pass near Meccah famous for the “First Fealty of the Steep”
(Pilgrimage ii. 126). The mosque was built to commemorate the event.
Footnote 504:
To my surprise I read in Mr. Redhouse’s “Mesnevi” (Trübner, 1881),
“Arafat, the mount where the victims are slaughtered by the pilgrims”
(p. 60). This ignorance is phenomenal. Did Mr. Redhouse never read
Burckhardt or Burton?
Footnote 505:
_i.e._ listening to the sermon.
Footnote 506:
It is sad doggrel.
THE QUEEN OF THE SERPENTS.[507]
There was once, in days of yore and in ages and times long gone before,
a Grecian sage called Daniel, who had disciples and scholars; and the
wise men of Greece were obedient to his bidding and relied upon his
learning. Withal had Allah denied him a man-child. One night, as he lay
musing and weeping over the lack of a son who might inherit his lore, he
bethought him that Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) heareth the
prayer of those who resort to Him and that there is no doorkeeper at the
door of His bounties and that He favoureth whom He will without compt
and sendeth no supplicant empty away; nay He filleth their hands with
favours and benefits. So he besought the Almighty, the Bountiful, to
vouchsafe him a son to succeed him, and to endow him abundantly with His
beneficence. Then he returned home and carnally knew his wife who
conceived by him the same night.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Grecian sage
returned home and knew his wife who conceived by him the same night. A
few days after this he took ship for a certain place, but the ship was
wrecked and he saved himself on one of her planks, while only five
leaves remained to him of all the books he had. When he returned home,
he laid the five leaves in a box and locking it, gave the key to his
wife (who then showed big with child), and said to her, “Know that my
decease is at hand and that the time draweth nigh for my translation
from this abode temporal to the home which is eternal. Now thou art with
child and after my death wilt haply bear a son: if this be so, name him
Hásib Karím al-Dín[508] and rear him with the best of rearing. When the
boy shall grow up and shall say to thee:—What inheritance did my father
leave me? give him these five leaves, which when he shall have read and
understood, he will be the most learned man of his time.” Then he
farewelled her and heaving one sigh, departed the world and all that is
therein—the mercy of Allah the Most Highest be upon Him! His family and
friends wept over him and washed him and bore him forth in great state
and buried him; after which they wended their ways home. But few days
passed ere his widow bare a handsome boy and named him Hasib Karim
al-Din, as her husband charged her; and immediately after his birth she
summoned the astrologers, who calculated his ascendants and drawing his
horoscope, said to her, “Know, O woman! that this birth will live many a
year; but that will be after a great peril in the early part of his
life, wherefrom an he escape, he will be given the knowledge of all the
exact sciences.” So saying they went their ways. She suckled him two
years,[509] then weaned him, and when he was five years old, she placed
him in a school to learn his book, but he would read nothing. So she
took him from school and set him to learn a trade; but he would not
master any craft and there came no work from his hands. The mother wept
over this and the folk said to her, “Marry him: haply he will take heart
for his wife and learn him a trade.” So she sought out a girl and
married him to her; but, despite marriage and the lapse of time, he
remained idle as before, and would do nothing. One day, some neighbours
of hers, who were woodcutters, came to her and said, “Buy thy son an ass
and cords and an axe and let him go with us to the mountain and we will
all of us cut wood for fuel. The price of the wood shall be his and
ours, and he shall provide thee and his wife with his share.” When she
heard this, she joyed with exceeding joy and bought her son an ass and
cords and hatchet; then, carrying him to the woodcutters, delivered him
into their hands and solemnly committed him to their care. Said they,
“Have no concern for the boy, our Lord will provide him: he is the son
of our Shaykh.” So they carried him to the mountain, where they cut
firewood and loaded their asses therewith; then returned to the city
and, selling what they had cut, spent the monies on their families. This
they did on the next day and the third and ceased not for some time,
till it chanced one day, a violent storm of rain broke over them, and
they took refuge in a great cave till the downfall should pass away. Now
Hasib Karim al-Din went apart from the rest into a corner of the cavern
and sitting down, fell to smiting the floor with his axe. Presently he
noted that the ground sounded hollow under the hatchet; so he dug there
awhile and came to a round flagstone with a ring in it. When he saw
this, he was glad and called his comrades the woodcutters,——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Hasib Karim
al-Din saw the flagstone with the ring, he was glad and called his
comrades the woodcutters, who came to him and, finding it was fact, soon
pulled up the stone and discovered under it a trap-door, which, being
opened, showed a cistern full of bees’ honey.[510] Then said they to one
another, “This is a large store and we have nothing for it but to return
to the city and fetch vessels wherein to carry away the honey, and sell
it and divide the price, whilst one of us stands by the cistern, to
guard it from outsiders.” Quoth Hasib, “I will stay and keep watch over
it till you bring your pots and pans.” So they left him on guard there
and, repairing to the city, fetched vessels, which they filled with
honey and loading their asses therewith, carried them to the streets and
sold the contents. They returned on the morrow and thus they did several
days in succession, sleeping in the town by night and drawing off the
stuff by day, whilst Hasib abode on guard by it till but little
remained, when they said one to other, “It was Hasib Karim al-Din found
the honey, and to-morrow he will come down to the city and complain
against us and claim the price of it, saying, ‘Twas I found it; nor is
there escape for us but that we let him down into the cistern, to bale
out the rest of the honey, and leave him there; so will he die of
hunger, and none shall know of him.” They all fell in with this plot as
they were making for the place; and, when they reached it, one said to
him, “O Hasib, go down into the pit and bale out for us the rest of the
honey.” So he went down and passed up to them what remained of the
honey, after which he said to them, “Draw me up, for there is nothing
left.” They made him no answer; but, loading their asses, went off to
the city and left him alone in the cistern. Thereupon he fell to weeping
and crying, “There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah,
the Glorious, the Great!” Such was his case; but as regards his
comrades, when they reached the city and sold the honey, they repaired
to Hasib’s mother, weeping, and said to her, “May thy head outlive thy
son Hasib!” She asked, “What brought about his death?” and they
answered, “We were cutting wood on the mountain-top, when there fell on
us a heavy downfall of rain and we took shelter from it in a cavern; and
suddenly thy son’s ass broke loose and fled into the valley, and he ran
after it, to turn it back, when there came out upon them a great wolf,
who tore thy son in pieces and ravined the ass.” When the mother heard
this, she beat her face and strewed dust on her head and fell to
mourning for her son; and she kept life and soul together only by the
meat and drink which they brought her every day. As for the woodcutters
they opened them shops and became merchants and spent their lives in
eating and drinking and laughing and frolicking. Meanwhile Hasib Karim
al-Din, who ceased not to weep and call for help, sat down upon the
cistern-edge when behold, a great scorpion fell down on him; so he rose
and killed it. Then he took thought and said, “The cistern was full of
honey; how came this scorpion here?” Accordingly he got up and examined
the well right and left, till he found a crevice from which the scorpion
had fallen and saw the light of day shining through it. So he took out
his woodman’s knife and enlarged the hole, till it was big as a window,
when he crept through it and, after walking for some time, came to a
vast gallery, which led him to a huge door of black iron bearing a
padlock of silver wherein was a key of gold. He stole up to the door
and, looking through the chink, saw a great light shining within; so he
took the key and, opening the door, went on for some time, till he came
to a large artificial lake, wherein he caught sight of something that
shimmered like silver. He walked up to it and at last he saw, hard by a
hillock of green jasper and on the hill-top, a golden throne studded
with all manner gems,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Hasib reached
the hillock he found it of green jasper surmounted by a golden throne
studded with all manner gems, round which were set many stools, some of
gold, some of silver and others of leek-green emerald. He clomb the
hillock and, counting the stools, found them twelve thousand in number;
then he mounted the throne which was set on the centre and, seating
himself thereon, fell to wondering at the lake and the stools, and he
marvelled till drowsiness overcame him and he dropt asleep. Presently,
he was aroused by a loud snorting and hissing and rustling, so he opened
his eyes; and, sitting up, saw each stool occupied by a huge serpent, an
hundred cubits in length. At this sight, great fear gat hold of him; his
spittle dried up for the excess of his dread and he despaired of life,
as all their eyes were blazing like live coals. Then he turned towards
the lake and saw that what he had taken for shimmering water was a
multitude of small snakes, none knoweth their compt save Allah the Most
High. After awhile, there came up to him a serpent as big as a mule,
bearing on its back a tray of gold, wherein lay another serpent which
shone like crystal and whose face was as that of a woman[511] and who
spake with human speech. And as soon as she was brought up to Hasib, she
saluted him and he returned the salutation. Thereupon, one of the
serpents seated on the stools came up and, lifting her off the tray, set
her on one of the seats and she cried out to the other serpents in their
language, whereupon they all fell down from their stools and did her
homage. But she signed to them to sit and they did so. Then she
addressed Hasib, saying, “Have no fear of us, O youth; for I am the
Queen of the Serpents and their Sultánah.” When he heard her speak on
this wise, he took heart and she bade the serpents bring him somewhat of
food.[512] So they brought apples and grapes and pomegranates and
pistachio-nuts and filberts and walnuts and almonds and bananas and set
them before him, and the Queen-serpent said, “Welcome, O youth! What is
thy name?” Answered he, “Hasib Karim al-Din;” and she rejoined, “O
Hasib, eat of these fruits, for we have no other meat and fear thou
nothing from us at all.” Hearing this, he ate his fill and praised Allah
Almighty; and presently they took away the trays from before him, and
the Queen said, “Tell me, O Hasib, whence thou art and how camest thou
hither and what hath befallen thee.” So he told her his story from first
to last, the death of his father; his birth; his being sent to school
where he learnt nothing; his becoming a wood-cutter; his finding the
honey-cistern; his being abandoned therein; his killing the scorpion;
his widening the crevice; his finding the iron door and his coming upon
the Queen, and he ended his long tale with saying, “These be my
adventures from beginning to end and only Allah wotteth what will betide
me after all this!” Quoth the Queen, after listening to his words,
“Nothing save good shall betide thee:”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
[Illustration]
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-sixth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
Serpent-queen had heard his story she said, “Nothing save good shall
betide thee: but I would have thee, O Hasib, abide with me some time,
that I may tell thee my history and acquaint thee with the wondrous
adventures which have happened to me.” “I hear and obey thy hest,”
answered he; and she began to tell in these words,
_THE ADVENTURES OF BULUKIYA._
Know thou, O Hasib, there was once in the city of Cairo a King of the
Banu Isra’íl, a wise and a pious, who was bent double by poring over
books of learning, and he had a son named Bulúkiyá. When he grew old and
weak and was nigh upon death, his Grandees and Officers of state came up
to salute him, and he said to them, “O folk, know that at hand is the
hour of my march from this world to the next, and I have no charge to
lay on you, save to commend to your care my son Bulukiya.” Then said he,
“I testify that there is no god save _the_ God;” and, heaving one sigh,
departed the world—the mercy of Allah be upon him! They laid him out and
washed him and buried him with a procession of great state. Then they
made his son Bulukiya Sultan in his stead; and he ruled the kingdom
justly and the people had peace in his time. Now it befel one day that
he entered his father’s treasuries, to look about him, and coming upon
an inner compartment and finding the semblance of a door opened it and
passed in. And lo! he found himself in a little closet, wherein stood a
column of white marble, on the top of which was a casket of ebony; he
opened this also and saw therein another casket of gold, containing a
book. He read the book and found in it an account of our lord Mohammed
(whom Allah bless and preserve!) and how he should be sent in the latter
days[513] and be the lord of the first Prophets and the last. On seeing
the personal description Bulukiya’s heart was taken with love of him, so
he at once assembled all the notables of the Children of Israel, the
Cohens or diviners, the scribes and the priests, and acquainted them
with the book, reading portions of it to them and, adding, “O folk,
needs must I bring my father out of his grave and burn him.” The lieges
asked, “Why wilt thou burn him?”; and he answered, “Because he hid this
book from me and imparted it not to me.” Now the old King had excerpted
it from the Torah or Pentateuch and the Books of Abraham; and had set it
in one of his treasuries and concealed it from all living. Rejoined
they, “O King, thy father is dead; his body is in the dust and his
affair is in the hands of his Lord; thou shalt not take him forth of his
tomb.” So he knew that they would not suffer him to do this thing by his
sire and leaving them he repaired to his mother, to whom said he, “O my
mother, I have found, in one of my father’s treasuries, a book
containing a description of Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!), a
prophet who shall be sent in the latter days; and my heart is captivated
with love of him. Wherefore am I resolved to wander over the earth, till
I foregather with him; else I shall die of longing for his love.” Then
he doffed his clothes and donned an Abá-gown of goat’s hair and coarse
sandals, saying, “O my mother, forget me not in thy prayers.” She wept
over him and said, “What will become of us after thee?”; but Bulukiya
answered, “I can endure no longer, and I commit my affair and thine to
Allah who is Almighty.” Then he set out on foot Syria-wards without the
knowledge of any of his folk, and coming to the sea-board found a vessel
whereon he shipped as one of the crew. They sailed till he made an
island, where Bulukiya landed with the crew, but straying away from the
rest he sat down under a tree and sleep got the better of him. When he
awoke, he sought the ship but found that she had set sail without him,
and in that island he saw serpents as big as camels and palm-trees,
which repeated the names of Allah (be He extolled and exalted!) and
blessed Mohammed (whom the Lord assain and save!), proclaiming the Unity
and glorifying the Glorious; whereat he wondered——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-seventh Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Bulukiya saw
the serpents glorifying God and proclaiming the Unity, he wondered with
extreme wonder. When they saw him, they flocked to him and one of them
said to him, “Who and whence art thou, and whither goest thou, and what
is thy name?” Quoth he, “My name is Bulukiya; I am of the Children of
Israel and, being distracted for love of Mohammed (whom Allah bless and
keep!), I come in quest of him. But who are ye, O noble creatures?”
Answered they, “We are of the dwellers in the Jahannam-hell; and
Almighty Allah created us for the punishment of Kafirs.” “And how came
ye hither?” asked he, and the Serpents answered, “Know, O Bulukiya, that
Hell[514] of the greatness of her boiling, breatheth twice a year,
expiring in the summer and inspiring in the winter, and hence the
summer-heat and winter-cold. When she exhaleth, she casteth us forth of
her maw, and we are drawn in again with her inhaled breath.” Quoth
Bulukiya, “Say me, are there greater serpents than you in Hell?”; and
they said, “Of a truth we are cast out with the expired breath but by
reason of our smallness; for in Hell every serpent is so great, that
were the biggest of us to pass over its nose it would not feel us.[515]”
Asked Bulukiya, “Ye sing the praises of Allah and invoke blessings on
Mohammed, whom the Almighty assain and save! Whence wot ye of
Mohammed?”; and they answered, “O Bulukiya, verily his name is written
on the gates of Paradise; and, but for him, Allah had not created the
worlds[516] nor Paradise, nor heaven nor hell nor earth, for He made all
things that be, solely on his account, and hath conjoined his name with
His own in every place; wherefore we love Mohammed, whom Allah bless and
preserve!” Now hearing the serpents’ converse did but inflame Bulukiya’s
love for Mohammed and yearning for his sight; so he took leave of them;
and, making his way to the sea-shore, found there a ship made fast to
the beach; he embarked therein as a seaman and sailed nor ceased sailing
till he came to another island. Here he landed and walking about awhile
found serpents great and small, none knoweth their number save Almighty
Allah, and amongst them a white Serpent, clearer than crystal, seated in
a golden tray borne on the back of another serpent as big as an
elephant. Now this, O Hasib, was the Serpent-queen, none other than
myself. Quoth Hasib, “And what answer didst thou make him?” Quoth she,
“Know, O Hasib, that when I saw Bulukiya, I saluted him with the salam,
and he returned my salutation,” and I said to him, “Who and what art
thou and what is thine errand and whence comest thou and whither goest
thou?” Answered he, “I am of the Children of Israel; my name is
Bulukiya, and I am a wanderer for the love of Mohammed, whose
description I have read in the revealed scriptures, and of whom I go in
search. But what art thou and what are these serpents about thee?” Quoth
I, “O Bulukiya, I am the Queen of the Serpents; and when thou shalt
foregather with Mohammed (whom Allah assain and save!) bear him my
salutation.” Then Bulukiya took leave of me and journeyed till he came
to the Holy City which is Jerusalem. Now there was in that stead a man
who was deeply versed in all sciences, more especially in geometry and
astronomy and mathematics, as well as in white magic[517] and
Spiritualism; and he had studied the Pentateuch and the Evangel and the
Psalms and the Books of Abraham. His name was Affán; and he had found in
certain of his books, that whoso should wear the seal-ring of our lord
Solomon, men and Jinn and birds and beasts and all created things would
be bound to obey him. Moreover, he had discovered that our lord Solomon
had been buried in a coffin which was miraculously transported beyond
the Seven Seas to the place of burial;——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Four Hundred and Eighty-eighth Night,