Arab. “Zill,” lit. “shadow me.”
Footnote 86:
Arab. “Istinshák,” one of the items of the “Wuzú” or lesser ablution:
see vol. v. 198.
Footnote 87:
In Chavis her name is “Zaliza” and she had “conceived an unhappy
passion” for her master, to whom she “declared her sentiments without
reserve.”
Footnote 88:
Arab. “Armaghánát,” the Arab. plur. of “Armaghán,” Pers. = a present.
Footnote 89:
In the text, “jumlatun min al-mál,” which Scott apparently reads
“Hamlat al-jamal” and translates (p. 38) “a camel’s load of treasure.”
Footnote 90:
The learned man was to exorcise some possible “evil spirit” or “the
eye,” a superstition which seems to have begun, like all others, with
the ancient Egyptians.
Footnote 91:
The MS., I have said, always writes “Khwájá” instead of “Khwájah”
(plur. “Khwáját”): for this word, the modern Egyptian “Howájah,” see
vol. vi. 46. Here it corresponds with our “goodman.”
Footnote 92:
Arab. “Yatazáwadú” = increasing.
Footnote 93:
By which she accepted the offer.
Footnote 94:
This incident has already occurred in the tale of the Portress (Second
Lady of Baghdad, vol. i. 179), but here the consequences are not so
tragical. In Chavis the vulgar cock becomes “a golden Censer
ornamented with diamonds, to be sold for two thousand sequins” (each =
9 shill.).
Footnote 95:
A royal sign of wrath generally denoting torture and death. See vols.
iv. 72; vi. 250.
Footnote 96:
Arab. “Yá Sallám,” addressed to Allah.
Footnote 97:
Here more is meant than meets the eye. When a Moslem’s head was struck
off, in the days of the Caliphate, it was placed under his armpit,
whereas that of a Jew or a Christian was set between his legs, close
to the seat of dishonour.
Footnote 98:
In Chavis and Cazotte the lady calls to “Morigen, her first eunuch and
says, Cut off his head!” Then she takes a theorbo and “composed the
following couplets”—of which the first may suffice:—
Since my swain unfaithful proves,
Let him go to her he loves, etc., etc.
Footnote 99:
The device has already occurred in “Ali Baba.”
Footnote 100:
Arab. “Al-ma’húd min ghayr wa’d.”
Footnote 101:
In Chavis and Cazotte the king is Harun al-Rashid and the masterful
young person proves to be Zeraida, the favourite daughter of Ja’afar
Bermaki; whilst the go-between is not the young lady’s mother but
Nemana, an old governess. The over-jealous husband in the Second Lady
of Baghdad (vol. i. 179) is Al-Amín, son and heir of the Caliph Harun
al-Rashid.
Footnote 102:
Vol. iii. pp. 168–179: and Scott’s “Story of the Second Lunatic,” pp.
45–51. The name is absurdly given as the youth was anything but a
lunatic; but this is Arab symmetromania. The tale is virtually the
same as “Women’s Wiles,” in Supplemental Nights, vol. ii. 137–151.
Footnote 103:
This forward movement on the part of the fair one is held to be very
insulting by the modest Moslem. This incident is wanting in “Women’s
Wiles.”
Footnote 104:
Arab. “Labbah,” usually the part of the throat where ornaments are
hung or camels are stabbed.
Footnote 105:
The Chief of the Moslem Church. For the origin of the office and its
date (A.D. 1453) see vols. ix. 289, and x. 85.
Footnote 106:
Arab. “Satíhah” = a she-Satíh: this seer was a headless and neckless
body, with face in breast, lacking members and lying prostrate on the
ground. His fellow, “Shikk,” was a half-man, and both foretold the
divine mission of Mohammed. (Ibn Khall. i. 487.)
Footnote 107:
Arab. “Wakt al-Zuhà;” the division of time between sunrise and midday.
Footnote 108:
In the text “Sufrah” = the cloth: see vol. i. 178, etc.
Footnote 109:
Arab. “Ya Tinjír,” lit. = O Kettle.
Footnote 110:
Arab. “Tari,” lit. = wet, with its concomitant suggestion, soft and
pleasant like desert-rain.
Footnote 111:
Here meaning “Haste, haste!” See vol. i. 46.
Footnote 112:
The chief man (Aghá) of the Gypsies, the Jink of Egypt whom Turkish
soldiers call Ghiovendé, a race of singers and dancers; in fact
professional Nautch-girls. See p. 222, “Account of the Gypsies of
India,” by David MacRitchie (London, K. Paul, 1886), a most useful
manual.
Footnote 113:
Arab. “Kurúsh,” plur. of “Kirsh” (pron. “Girsh”), the Egyptian piastre
= one-fifth of a shilling. The word may derive from a ✔ Karsh =
collecting money; but it is more probably a corruption of Groschen,
primarily a great or thick piece of money and secondarily a small
silver coin = 3 kreuzers = 1 penny.
Footnote 114:
The purse (“Kís”) is = 500 piastres (kurúsh) = £5; and a thousand
purses compose the Treasury (“Khaznah”) = £5,000.
Footnote 115:
MS. vol. iii. pp. 179–303. It is Scott’s “Story of the Retired Sage
and his Pupil, related to the Sultan by the Second Lunatic,” vi. pp.
52–67; and Gauttier’s _Histoire du Sage_, vi. 199–214. The scene is
laid in Cairo.
Footnote 116:
Meaning that he was an orphan and had, like the well-known widow,
“seen better days.”
Footnote 117:
The phrase, I have noted, is not merely pleonastic: it emphasises the
assertion that it was a chance day.
Footnote 118:
An old Plinian fable long current throughout the East. It is the Pers.
Ním-chihreh, and the Arab Shikk and possibly Nasnás = nisf al-Nás (?)
See vol. v. 333. Shikk had received from Allah only half the form of a
man, and his rival diviner Satíh was a shapeless man of flesh without
limbs. They lived in the days of a woman named Tarífah, daughter of
Al-Khayr al-Himyarí and wife of Amrú bin ’Ámir who was famous for
having intercourse with the Jann. When about to die she sent for the
two, on account of their deformity and the influence exercised upon
them by the demons; and, having spat into their mouths, bequeathed to
them her Jinni, after which she departed life and was buried at
Al-Johfah. Presently they became noted soothsayers; Shikk had issue
but Satih none; they lived 300 (some say 600) years, and both died
shortly before the birth of the Prophet concerning whom they
prophesied. When the Tobba of Al-Yaman dreamed that a dove flew from a
holy place and settled in the Tihámah (lowland-seaboard) of Meccah,
Satih interpreted it to signify that a Prophet would arise to destroy
idols and to teach the best of faiths. The two also predicted
(according to Tabari) to Al-Rabí’ah, son of Nasr, a Jewish king of
Al-Yaman, that the Habash (Abyssinians) should conquer the country,
govern it, and be expelled, and after this a Prophet should arise
amongst the Arabs and bring a new religion which all should embrace
and which should endure until Doomsday. Compare this with the divining
damsel in Acts xvi. 16–18.
Footnote 119:
Arab. “Kahramánah;” the word has before been explained as a nurse, a
duenna, an Amazon guarding the Harem. According to C. de Perceval
(père) it was also the title given by the Abbasides to the Governess
of the Serraglio.
Footnote 120:
So in the Apocrypha (“Tobias” vi. 8). Tobit is taught by the Archangel
Raphael to drive away evil spirits (or devils) by the smoke of a bit
of fish’s heart. The practice may date from the earliest days when
“Evil Spirits” were created by man. In India, when Europeans deride
the existence of Jinns and Rakshasas, and declare that they never saw
one, the people receive this information with a smile which means
only, “I should think not! you and yours are worse than any of our
devils.”
Footnote 121:
An Inquisitorial costume called in the text “Shámiyát bi al-Nár.”
Footnote 122:
A tribe of the Jinn sometimes made synonymous with “Márid” and at
other times contrasted with these rebels, as in the Story of Ma’aruf
and J. Scott’s “History of the Sultan of Hind” (vol. vi. 195). For
another note see The Nights, iv. 88.
Footnote 123:
Arab. “’Ilm al-Hurúf,” not to be confounded with “the ’Ilm al-Jumal,”
or “Hisáb Al-Jumal,” a notation by numerical values of the alphabet.
See Lumsden’s Grammar of the Persian Language, i. 37.
Footnote 124:
Like our “Cut your mutton,” or _manger la soupe_ or _die Suppe
einzunehmen_. For this formula meaning like the Brazilian “cup of
water,” a grand feast, see vol. vii. 168.
Footnote 125:
Arab. “Tafazzal,” a most useful word employed upon almost all
occasions of invitation and mostly equivalent to “Have the kindness,”
etc. See vol. ii. 103.
Footnote 126:
The Shaykh for humility sits at the side, not at the “Sadr,” or top of
the room; but he does not rise before the temporal power. The Sultan
is equally courteous and the Shaykh honours him by not keeping
silence.
Footnote 127:
Arab. “Miat Mamlúk kitábí,” the latter word meaning “one of the Book,
a Jew” (especially), or a Christian.
Footnote 128:
This MS. prefers the rare form “Al-Jánn” for the singular.
Footnote 129:
These flags, I have noticed, are an unfailing accompaniment of a Jinn
army.
Footnote 130:
MS. vol. iii. pp. 203–210; Scott, “Night Adventure of the Sultan,” pp.
68–71. Gauttier, _Aventure nocturne du Sulthan_, vi. 214.
Footnote 131:
Arab. “Mashrút shadak.” Ashdak is usually applied to a wide-chapped
face, like that of Margaret Maultasch or Mickle-mouthed Meg. Here,
however, it alludes to an accidental deformity which will presently be
described.
Footnote 132:
Arab. “Amsik lisána-k”: the former word is a standing “chaff” with the
Turks, as in their tongue it means cunnus-penis and nothing else. I
ever found it advisable when speaking Arabic before Osmanlis, to use
some such equivalent as Khuz = take thou.
Footnote 133:
This is the familiar incident in “Ali Baba”: Supplem. vol. iii. 384,
etc.
Footnote 134:
MS. iii. 210–214. Scott’s “Story of the broken-backed Schoolmaster,”
vi. pp. 72–75, and Gauttier, “_Histoire du Maitre d’école éreinté_,”
vi. 217. The Arabic is “Muaddib al-Atfál” = one who teacheth children.
I have before noted that amongst Moslems the Schoolmaster is always a
fool. So in Europe of the 16th century probably no less than one-third
of the current jests turned upon the Romish clergy and its phenomenal
ignorance compared with that of the pagan augur. The Story of the
First Schoolmaster is one of the most humorous in this MS.
Footnote 135:
For the usual ceremony when a Moslem sneezes, see vol. ix. 220.
Footnote 136:
The “day in the country,” lately become such a favourite with English
schools, is an old Eastern custom.
Footnote 137:
MS. iii. 214–219. Scott’s “Story of the wry-mouthed Schoolmaster,” vi.
pp. 74–75: Gauttier’s _Histoire du Second Estropié_, vi. p. 220.
Footnote 138:
In these days the whole would be about 10d.
Footnote 139:
Pay-day for the boys in Egypt. The Moslem school has often been
described but it always attracts the curiosity of strangers. The
Moorish or Maroccan variety is a simple affair; “no forms, no desks,
few books. A number of boards about the size of foolscap, whitewashed
on either side, whereon the lessons—from the alphabet to sentences of
the Koran—are plainly written in large black letters; a pen and ink, a
book and a switch or two, complete the paraphernalia. The dominie,
squatting on the ground, tailor-fashion, like his pupils, who may
number from ten to thirty, repeats the lesson in a sonorous sing-song
voice, and is imitated by the urchins, who accompany their voices by a
rocking to and fro which sometimes enables them to keep time. A sharp
application of the cane is wonderfully effectual in recalling
wandering attention; and lazy boys are speedily expelled. On the
admission of a pupil, the parents pay some small sum, varying
according to their means, and every Wednesday, which is a
half-holiday, a payment is made from ¼d. to 2d. New moons and feasts
are made occasions for larger payments, and are also holidays, which
last ten days during the two greater festivals. Thursdays are whole
holidays, and no work is done on Friday mornings, that day being the
Mohammedan ‘Sabbath,’ or at least ‘meeting day,’ as it is called. When
the pupils have mastered the first short chapter of the Koran, it is
customary for them to be paraded round the town on horseback, with
ear-splitting music, and sometimes charitably disposed persons make
small presents to the youngster by way of encouragement. After the
first, the last is learned, then the last but one, and so on,
backwards, as, with the exception of the first, the longest chapters
are at the beginning. Though reading and a little writing are taught
at the same time, all the scholars do not arrive at the pitch of
perfection necessary to indite a polite letter, so that consequently
there is plenty of employment for the numerous scribes or _Tálibs_ who
make a profession of writing. These may frequently be seen in small
rooms opening on to the street, usually very respectably dressed in a
white flowing haik and large turban, and in most cases of venerable
appearance, their noses being adorned with huge goggles. Before them
are their appliances,—pens made of reeds, ink, paper, and sand in lieu
of blotting paper. They usually possess also a knife and scissors,
with a case to hold them all. In writing, they place the paper on the
knee, or upon a pad of paper in the left hand.” The main merit of the
village school in Eastern lands is its noises which teaches the boy to
concentrate his attention. As Dr. Wilson of Bombay said, the young
idea is taught to shout as well as to shoot and this vivâ voce process
is a far better mnemonic than silent reading. Moreover it is fine
practice in the art of concentrating attention.
Footnote 140:
Arab. “Mikshat,” whose ✔ would be “Kasht” = skinning (a camel).
Footnote 141:
Evidently said ironicè as of innocents. In “The Forty Vezirs” we read,
“At length they perceived that all this tumult arose from their
trusting on this wise the words of children.” (Lady’s XXth Tale).
Footnote 142:
MS. iii. 219–220. For some unaccountable reason it is omitted by Scott
(vi. 76), who has written English words in the margin of the W. M.
Codex.
Footnote 143:
In text “Kádúm” for “Kudúm,” a Syrian form.
Footnote 144:
Arab. “Hidyah,” which in Egypt means a falcon; see vol. iii. 138.
Footnote 145:
Arab. “Sifah,” = lit. a quality.
Footnote 146:
Arab. “Istiláh” = specific dialect, idiom. See De Sacy, Chrestomathie,
i. 443, where the learned Frenchman shows abundant learning, but does
very little for the learner.
Footnote 147:
In the text “Kattán” = linen, flax.
Footnote 148:
Arab. “Fí Jífán ka’l-Jawábí!” which, I suppose, means small things (or
men) and great.
Footnote 149:
This form of cleverness is a favourite topic in Arabian folk-lore. The
model man was Iyás al-Muzani, al-Kazi (of Bassorah), in the 2nd
century A.H., mentioned by Al-Harírí in his 7th Ass. and noted in
Arab. Prov. (i. 593) as “more intelligent than Iyás.” Ibn Khallikan
(i. 233) tells sundry curious tales of him. Hearing a Jew ridicule the
Moslem Paradise where the blessed ate and drank ad libitum but passed
nothing away, he asked if all his food were voided: the Jew replied
that God converted a part of it into nourishment and he rejoined,
“Then why not the whole?” Being once in a courtyard he said that there
was an animal under the bricks and a serpent was found: he had noted
that only two of the tiles showed signs of dampness and this proved
that there was something underneath that breathed. Al-Maydáni relates
of him that hearing a dog bark, he declared that the beast was tied to
the brink of a well; and he judged so because the bark was followed by
an echo. Two men came before him, the complainant claimed money
received by the defendant who denied the debt. Iyás asked the
plaintiff where he had given it, and was answered, “Under a certain
tree.” The judge told him to go there by way of refreshing his memory
and in his absence asked the defendant if his adversary could have
reached it. “Not yet,” said the rogue, forgetting himself; “’tis a
long way off”—which answer convicted him. Seeing three women act upon
a sudden alarm, he said, “One of them is pregnant, another is nursing,
and the third is a virgin.” He explained his diagnosis as follows. “In
time of danger persons lay their hands on what they most prize. Now I
saw the pregnant woman in her flight place her hand on her belly,
which showed that she was with child; the nurse placed her hand on her
bosom, whereby I knew that she was suckling, and the third covered her
parts with her hand proving to me that she was a maid.” (Chenery’s
Al-Hariri, p. 334).
Footnote 150:
Such an address would be suited only to a King or a ruler.
Footnote 151:
MS. iii. 231–240; Scott’s “Story of the Sisters and the Sultana their
mother,” vi. 82; Gauttier’s _Histoire de la Sulthane et de ses trois
Filles_, vi. 228.
Footnote 152:
Arab. “Darajatáni” = lit. two astronomical degrees: the word is often
used in this MS.
Footnote 153:
Arab. “Síwán;” plur. “Síwáwín.”
Footnote 154:
Arab. “’Alà hudúd (or Alà hadd) al-Shauk,” repeated in MS. iii. 239.
Footnote 155:
Here the writer, forgetting that the youngest sister is speaking,
breaks out into the third person—“their case”—“their mother,” etc.
Footnote 156:
The idea is that of the French anonyma’s “Mais, Monsieur, vous me
suivez comme un lavement.”
Footnote 157:
The text (p. 243) speaks of two eunuchs, but only one has been
noticed.
Footnote 158:
Arab. “Manjaník;” there are two forms of this word from the Gr.
Μάγγανον, or Μηχανὴ and it survives in our mangonel, a battering
engine. The idea in the text is borrowed from the life of Abraham whom
Nimrod cast by means of a catapult (which is a bow worked by
machinery) into a fire too hot for man to approach.
Footnote 159:
Showing that he was older; otherwise she would have addressed him, “O
my cousin.” A man is “young,” in Arab speech, till forty and some say
fifty.
Footnote 160:
The little precatory formula would keep off the Evil Eye.
Footnote 161:
Supper comes first because the day begins at sundown.
Footnote 162:
Calotte or skull-cap; vol. i. 224; viii. 120.
Footnote 163:
This is a new “fact” in physics and certainly to be counted amongst
“things not generally known.” But Easterns have a host of “dodges” to
detect physiological differences such as between man and maid, virgin
and matron, imperfect castratos and perfect eunuchs and so forth. Very
Eastern, _mutatis mutandis_, is the tale of the thief-catcher, who
discovered a fellow in feminine attire by throwing an object for him
to catch in his lap and by his closing his legs instead of opening
them wide as the petticoated ones would do.
Footnote 164:
She did not wish to part with her maidenhead at so cheap a price.
Footnote 165:
Arab. “Subú’” (for “Yaum al-Subú’”) a festival prepared on the seventh
day after a birth or a marriage or return from pilgrimage. See Lane
(M. E. passim) under “Subooa.”
Footnote 166:
For this Anglo-Indian term, = a running courier, see vol. vii. 340. It
is the gist of the venerable Joe Miller in which the father asks a
friend to name his seventh-months child. “Call him ‘Cossid,’ for
verily he hath accomplished a march of nine months in seven months.”
Footnote 167:
Arab. “Madáfi al-Salámah,” a custom showing the date of the tale to be
more modern than any in the ten vols. of The Nights proper.
Footnote 168:
Master, captain, skipper (not owner): see vols. i. 127; vi. 112.
Footnote 169:
Zahr al-Bahr = the surface which affords a passage to man.
Footnote 170:
Arab. “Batiyah,” gen. = a black jack, a leathern flagon.
Footnote 171:
“Kunáfah” = a vermicelli cake often eaten at breakfast: see vol. x. 1:
“Kunafání” is the baker or confectioner. Scott (p. 101) converts the
latter into a “maker of cotton wallets for travelling.”
Footnote 172:
In the text (iii. 260) “Mídí,” a clerical error for “Mayyidí,” an
abbreviation of “Muayyadí,” the Faddah, Nuss or half-dirham coined
under Sultan al-Muayyad, A.H. ixth cent. = A.D. xvth.
Footnote 173:
Arab. “Rub’” (plur. “Arbá’”) = the fourth of a “Waybah,” the latter
being the sixth of an Ardabb (Irdabb) = 5 bushels. See vol. i. 263.
Footnote 174:
A royal pavilion; according to Shakespear (Hind. Dict. _sub voce_) it
is a corruption of the Pers. “Sayabán;” = canopy.
Footnote 175:
Arab. “Musajja’” = rhymed prose: for the Saj’a, see vol. i. 116, and
Terminal Essay, vol. x. p. 255. So Chaucer:—
In rhyme or ellès in cadence.
Footnote 176:
Arab. “Huwa inná lam na’rifu-h” lit. = He, verily we wot him not: the
juxtaposition of the two first pronouns is intended to suggest “I am
he.”
Footnote 177:
In Moslem tales decency compels the maiden, however much she may be in
love, to show extreme unwillingness in parting with her maidenhead
especially by marriage; and this farce is enacted in real life (see
vol. viii. 40). The French tell the indecent truth,
Désir de fille est un feu qui dévore:
Désir de femme est plus fort encore.
Footnote 178:
The Arab. form (our old “bashaw”) of the Turk. “Pasha,” which the
French and many English write Pacha, thus confusing the vulgar who
called Ibrahim Pacha “Abraham Parker.” The origin of the word is much
debated and the most fanciful derivations have been proposed. Some
have taken it from the Sansk. “Paksha” = a wing: Fuerst from Pers.
Páigah = rank, dignity; Von Hammer (History) from Pái-Sháh = foot of
the king; many from “Pádisháh” = the Sovran, and Mr. E. T. W. Gibb
suspects a connection with the Turk. “Básh” = a head. He writes to me
that the oldest forms are “Bashah” and “Báshah”; and takes the
following quotation from Colonel Jevád Bey, author of an excellent
work on the Janissaries published a few years ago. “As it was the
custom of the (ancient) Turks to call the eldest son ‘Páshá,’ the same
style was given to his son Alà al-Dín (Aladdin) by Osmán Ghází, the
founder of the Empire; and he kept this heir at home and beside him,
whilst he employed the cadet Orkhan Bey as his commander-in-chief.
When Orkhán Ghází ascended the throne he conferred the title of Páshá
upon his son Sulayman. Presently reigned Murád (Amurath), who spying
signs of disaffection in his first-born Sáwújí Bey about the middle of
his reign created Kárá Khalíl (his Kází-Askar or High Chancellor)
Wazir with the title Kazyr al-Dín Pasha; thus making him, as it were,
an adopted son. After this the word passed into the category of
official titles and came to be conferred upon those who received high
office.” Colonel Jevád Bey then quotes in support of his opinion the
“History of Munajjim Pasha” and the “Fatáyah al-Wukú’at” = Victories
of Events. I may note that the old title has been sadly prostituted in
Egypt as well as in Turkey: in 1851 Páshás could be numbered on a
man’s fingers; now they are innumerable and of no account.
Footnote 179:
Arab. “’Alà bábi ’lláh” = for love of the Lord, gratis, etc., a most
popular phrase.
Footnote 180:
Arab. “Bahár,” often used for hot spices generally.
Footnote 181:
In the text Shajarat Ríh.
Footnote 182:
Arab. “Ma’ádin” = minerals, here mentioned for the first time.
Footnote 183:
For the ear conceiving love before the eye (the basis of half these
love-stories), see vol. iii. 9.
Footnote 184:
According to Dr. Steingass “Mirwad” = the iron axle of a pulley or a
wheel for drawing water or lifting loads, hence possibly a bar of
metal, an ingot. But he is more inclined to take it in its usual sense
of “Kohl-pencil.” Here “Mirwád” is the broader form like “Miftáh” for
“Miftah,” much used in Syria.
Footnote 185:
For the Ashrafi, a gold coin of variable value, see vol. iii. 294. It
is still coined; the Calcutta Ashrafi worth £1 11s. 8d. is 1/16th
(about 5s. to the oz.) better than the English standard, and the
Regulations of May, 1793, made it weigh 190·894 grs. Troy.
Footnote 186:
In text “Anjar” = a flat platter; Pers.
Footnote 187:
By what physical process the author modestly leaves to the reader’s
imagination. Easterns do not often notice this feminine venereal
paroxysm which takes the place of seminal emission in the male. I have
seen it happen to a girl when hanging by the arms a trifle too long
from a gymnastic cross-bar; and I need hardly say that at such moments
(if men only knew them) every woman, even the most modest, is an easy
conquest. She will repent it when too late, but the flesh has been too
strong for her.
Footnote 188:
A neat and suggestive touch of Eastern manners and morals.
Footnote 189:
In text “Ghayr Wa’d,” or “Min ghayr Wa’d.” Lit. without previous
agreement: much used in this text for suddenly, unexpectedly, without
design.
Footnote 190:
The reader will have remarked the use of the Arabic “’Alaka” = he
hung, which with its branches greatly resembles the Lat. _pendere_.
Footnote 191:
Arab. “Min al-Malábis”, plur. of “Malbas” = anything pleasant or
enjoyable; as the plural of “Milbas” = dress, garment, it cannot here
apply.
Footnote 192:
_i.e._ “The Tigris” (Hid-dekel), with which the Egyptian writer seems
to be imperfectly acquainted. See vols. i. 180; viii. 150.
Footnote 193:
The word, as usual misapplied in the West, is to be traced through the
Turk. Kúshk (pron. Kyúshk) to the Pers. “Kushk” = an upper chamber.
Footnote 194:
Four including the door-keeper. The Darwayshes were suspected of
kidnapping, a practice common in the East, especially with holy men. I
have noticed in my Pilgrimage (vols. ii. 273; iii. 327), that both at
Meccah and at Al-Medinah the cheeks of babes are decorated with the
locally called “Masháli” = three parallel gashes drawn by the barber
with the razor down the fleshy portion of each cheek, from the
exterior angles of the eyes almost to the corners of the mouth.
According to the citizens, this “Tashrít” is a modern practice
distinctly opposed to the doctrine of Al-Islam; but, like the
tattooing of girls, it is intended to save the children from being
carried off, for good luck, by kidnapping pilgrims, especially
Persians.
Footnote 195:
The hair being shaven or plucked and showing the darker skin. In the
case of the axilla-pile, vellication is the popular process: see vol.
ix. 139. Europeans who do not adopt this essential part of cleanliness
in hot countries are looked upon as impure by Moslems.
Footnote 196:
Here a little abbreviation has been found necessary: “of no avail is a
twice-told tale.”
Footnote 197:
The nearest approach in Eastern tales to Western hysterics.
Footnote 198:
A tent-pitcher, body servant, etc. See vol. vii. 4. The word is still
popular in Persia.
Footnote 199:
The amount of eating and drinking in this tale is phenomenal; but, I
repeat, Arabs enjoy reading of “meat and drink” almost as much as
Englishmen.
Footnote 200:
Arab writers always insist upon the symptom of rage which
distinguishes the felines from the canines; but they do not believe
that the end of the tail has a sting.
Footnote 201:
The circular leather which acts alternately provision bag and
table-cloth. See vols. i. 178; v. 8; viii. 269; and ix. 141.
Footnote 202:
He refused because he suspected some trick and would not be on terms
of bread and salt with the stranger.
Footnote 203:
The story contains excellent material, but the writer or the copier
has “scamped” it in two crucial points, the meeting of the bereaved
Sultan and his wife (Night ccclxxvii) and the finale where we miss the
pathetic conclusions of the Mac. and Bresl. Edits. Also a comparison
of this hurried dénouement with the artistic tableau of “King Omar bin
al-Nu’uman,” where all the actors are mustered upon the stage before
the curtain falls, measures the difference between this MS. and the
printed texts, showing the superior polish and finish of the latter.
Footnote 204:
Vol. iii. pp. 386–97, where it follows immediately the last story.
Scott (Story of the Avaricious Cauzee and his Wife, vi. 112) has
translated it after his own fashion, excising half and supplying it
out of his own invention; and Gauttier has followed suit in the
_Histoire du Cadi avare et de sa Femme_, vi. 254.
Footnote 205:
Tarábulus and Atrábulus are Arabisations of Tripolis (hod. Tripoli)
the well-known port-town north of Bayrút; founded by the Phœnicians,
rose to fame under the Seleucidæ, and was made splendid by the Romans.
See Socin’s “Bædeker,” p. 509.
Footnote 206:
_i.e._ the Kazi’s court-house.
Footnote 207:
Arab. “Buksumah” = “hard bread” (Americanicè).
Footnote 208:
Arab. “Sufrah umm jalájil.” Lit. an eating-cloth with little bells,
like those hung to a camel, or metal plates as on the rim of a
tambourine.
Footnote 209:
The Kursi here = the stool upon which the “Síníyah” or tray of tinned
copper is placed, the former serving as a table. These stools, some 15
inches high and of wood inlaid with bone, tortoise-shell or
mother-of-pearl, are now common in England, where one often sees
children using them as seats. The two (Kursi and Síníyah) compose the
Sufrah, when the word is used in the sense of our “dinner-table.” Lane
(M.E. chapt. v.) gives an illustration of both articles.
Footnote 210:
Arab. “Jarídah,” a palm-frond stripped of its leaves (Supplemental,
vol. i. 264); hence the “Jaríd” used as a javelin; see vol. vi. 263.
Footnote 211:
An Egyptian or a Syrian housewife will make twenty dishes out of roast
lamb, wholly unlike the “good plain cook” of Great or Greater Britain,
who leaves the stomach to do all the work of digestion in which she
ought to but does not assist.
Footnote 212:
A plate of “Baysár” or “Faysár,” a dish peculiar to Egypt; beans
seasoned with milk and honey and generally eaten with meat. See Mr.
Guy Lestrange’s “Al-Mukaddasi,” Description of Syria, p. 80; an author
who wrote cir. A.H. 986. Scott (vi. 119) has “A savoury dish called
byssarut, which is composed of parched beans and pounded salt meat,
mixed up with various seeds, onions and garlic.” Gauttier (vi. 261)
carefully avoids giving the Arabic name, which occurs in a subsequent
tale (Nights cdxliv.) when a laxative is required.
Footnote 213:
Arab. “Mulúkhíyah náshiyah,” lit. = flowing; _i.e._ soft like
_épinards au jus_. Mulúkhíyá that favourite vegetable, the _malva
esculenta_ is derived from the Gr. μαλάχη (also written μολύχη) from
μαλάσσω = to soften, because somewhat relaxing. In ancient Athens it
was the food of the poorer classes and in Egypt it is eaten by all,
taking the place of our spinach and sorrel.
Footnote 214:
Arab. “Kalak” = lit. “agitation,” “disquietude” and here used as syn.
with “Kúlanj,” a true colic.
Footnote 215:
Arab. “Mazarát,” from the ✔ “Mazr,” = being addled (an egg).
Footnote 216:
Here is an allusion to the “Massage,” which in these days has assumed
throughout Europe all the pretensions of scientific medical treatment.
The word has been needlessly derived from the Arab. “Mas’h” = rubbing,
kneading; but we have the Gr. synonym μάσσω and the Lat. Massare. The
text describes child-bed customs amongst Moslem women; and the
delivery of the Kazi has all the realism of M. Zola’s accouchement in
_La Joie de Vivre_.
Footnote 217:
Arab. “Fa’álah” = the building craft, builder’s trade.
Footnote 218:
In text “Kawwárah,” which is not found in the dictionaries. “Kuwárah”
= that which is cut off from the side of a thing, etc. My translation
is wholly tentative: perhaps Kawwára may be a copyist’s error for
“Kazázah” = vulg. a (flask of) glass.
Footnote 219:
The “Khaznah,” = treasury, is a thousand “Kís” = 500 piastres, or £5
at par; and thus represents £5,000, a large sum for Tripoli in those
days.
Footnote 220:
The same incident occurs in that pathetic tale with an ill name—“How
Abu al-Hasan brake Wind,” vol. v. 135.
Footnote 221:
Arab. “Karkabah,” clerical error (?) for “Karkarah” = driving (as wind
the clouds); rumbling of wind in bowels. Dr. Steingass holds that it
is formed by addition of a second “k,” from the ✔ “Karb,” one of whose
meanings is: “to inflate the stomach.”
Footnote 222:
For Ummu ’Amrin = mother of ’Amru, so written and pronounced “’Amr,” a
fancy name, see vol. v. 118, for the Tale of the Schoolmaster, a
well-known “Joe Miller.” [Ummu ’Amrin, like Ummu ’Ámirin, is a slang
term for “hyena.” Hence, if Ass and Umm Amr went off together, it is
more than likely that neither came back. St.]
Footnote 223:
A slang name for Death. “Kash’am” has various sigs. esp. the lion,
hence Rabí’at al-Faras (of the horses), one of the four sons of Nizár
was surnamed Al-Kash’am from his cœur de lion (Al-Mas’údi iii. 238).
Another pleasant term for departing life is Abu Yáhyá = Father of
_John_, which also means “The Living” from Hayy—Death being the lord
of all: hence “Yamút” lit. = he dies, is an ill-omened name amongst
Arabs. Kash’am is also a hyena, and Umm Kash’am is syn. with Umm ’Ámir
(vol. I. 43). It was considered a point of good breeding to use these
“Kunyah” for the purpose of varying speech (see Al-Hariri Ass. xix).
The phrase in the text = meaning went to hell, as a proverb was first
used by Zuhayr, one of the “Suspended Poets.” Umm Kash’am was the P.N.
of a runaway camel which, passing by a large fire, shied and flung its
riding saddle into the flames. So in Al-Siyúti’s “History of the
Caliphs” (p. 447), the text has “And Malak Shah went to where her
saddle was thrown by Umm Kash’am,” which Major Jarrett renders
“departed to hell-fire.”
Footnote 224:
Scott’s “Story of the Bhang-eater and Cauzee,” vi. 126; Gauttier,
_Histoire du Preneur d’Opium et du Cadi_, vi. 268.
Footnote 225:
Arab. “Lawwaha” = lit. pointing out, making clear.
Footnote 226:
Text “in his belly,” but afterwards in his “Halkah” = throat,
throttle, which gives better sense.
Footnote 227:
In text “Háyishah” from ✔ “Haysh” = spoiling, etc.
Footnote 228:
Arab. “Yauh!” See vols. ii. 321; vi. 235.
Footnote 229:
Arab. “Yá Jad’án” (pron. “Gád’án”) more gen. “Yá Jad’a” = mon brave!
Footnote 230:
In text “Yá ’Arzád”: prob. a clerical slip for “’Urzát,” plur. of
“’Urzah” = a companion, a (low) fellow, a man evil spoken of.
Footnote 231:
Easterns love drinking in a bright light: see vol. ii. 59.
Footnote 232:
Arab. “’Akl” (= comprehension, understanding) and “Nakl” (= copying,
describing, transcribing), a favourite phrase in this MS.
Footnote 233:
Arab. “Ummálí”; gen. Ummál, an affirmation; Certes, I believe you!
Footnote 234:
For the many preparations of this drug, see Herklots, Appendix, pp.
lxviii.-ciii. It is impossible to say how “Indian hemp,” like opium,
datura, ether and chloroform, will affect the nervous system of an
untried man. I have read a dozen descriptions of the results, from the
highly imaginative Monte Christo to the prose of prosaic travellers;
and do not recognise that they are speaking of the same thing.
Footnote 235:
This tranquil enjoyment is popularly called “Kayf.” See my Pilgrimage
i. 13. In a coarser sense it is applied to all manners of
intoxication; and the French traveller Sonnini says, “The Arabs (by
which he means the Egyptians) give the name of Kayf to the voluptuous
relaxation, the delicious stupor, produced by the smoking of hemp.” I
have smoked it and eaten it for months without other effect than a
greatly increased appetite and a little drowsiness.
Footnote 236:
These childish indecencies are often attributed to Bhang-eaters. See
“Bákún’s Tale of the Hashísh-eater,” vol. ii. 91. Modest Scott (vi.
129) turns the joke into “tweaking the nose.” Respectable Moslems
dislike the subject, but the vulgar relish it as much as the sober
Italian enjoys the description of a drinking bout—in novels.
Footnote 237:
In the text “Finjál,” a vulgarism for “Finján”: so the converse
“Isma’ín” for “Ism’afl” = Ishmael. Mr. J. W. Redhouse (The Academy No.
764) proposes a new date for coffee in Al-Yaman. Colonel Playfair
(History of Yemen, Bombay 1859) had carelessly noted that its “first
use at Aden was by a judge of the place who had seen it drunk at
Zayla’, on the African coast opposite Aden,” and he made the judge die
in A.H. 875 = A.D. 1470. This is about the date of the Shaykh
al-Sházalí’s tomb at Mocha, and he was the first who brought the plant
from about African Harar to the Arabian seaboard. But Mr. Redhouse
finds in a Turkish work written only two centuries ago, and printed at
Constantinople, in A.D. 1732, that the “ripe fruit was discovered
growing wild in the mountains of Yemen (?) by a company of dervishes
banished thither.” Finding the berry relieve their hunger and support
their vigils the prior, “Shaykh ’Umar advised their stewing it (?) and
the use became established. They dried a store of the fruit; and its
use spread to other dervish communities, who perhaps (!) sowed the
seed wherever it would thrive throughout Africa (N.B. where it is
indigenous) and India (N.B. where both use and growth are quite
modern). From Africa, two centuries later, its use was reimported to
Arabia at Aden (?) by the judge above mentioned, who in a season of
scarcity of the dried fruit (?) tried the seed” (N.B. which is the
fruit). This is passing strange and utterly unknown to the learned De
Sacy (Chrest. Arab. i. 412–481).
Footnote 238:
Koran iii. 128. D’Herbelot and Sale (Koran, chap. iii. note) relate on
this text a noble story of Hasan Ali-son and his erring slave which
The Forty Vezirs (Lady’s eighth story, p. 113) ignorantly attributes
to Harun al-Rashid:—Forthwith the Caliph rose in wrath and was about
to hew the girl in pieces, when she said, “O Caliph, Almighty Allah
saith in His glorious Word (the Koran), ‘And the stiflers of Wrath”
(iii. 128). Straightway the Caliph’s wrath was calmed. Again said the
girl, “And the pardoners of men.” (_ibid._) Quoth the Caliph, ‘I have
forgiven the crimes of all the criminals who may be in prison.’ Again
said the slave-girl, ‘And Allah loveth the beneficent’ (_ibid._) Quoth
the Caliph, ‘God be witness that I have with my own wealth freed thee
and as many male and female slaves as I have, and that this day I have
for the love of Allah given the half of all my good in alms to the
poor.’ This is no improvement upon the simple and unexaggerated story
in Sale. “It is related of Hasan, the son of Ali, that a slave having
once thrown a dish on him boiling hot, as he sat at table, and fearing
his master’s resentment, fell on his knees and repeated these words,
Paradise is for those who bridle their anger. Hasan answered, I am not
angry. The slave proceeded, And for those who forgive men. I forgive
you, said Hasan. The slave, however, finished the verse, For Allah
loveth the beneficent. Since it is so, replied Hasan, I give you your
liberty and four hundred pieces of silver.”
Footnote 239:
The old name of the parish bull in rural England.
Footnote 240:
Arab. “Kawík:” see The Nights, vol. vi. 182, where the bird is called
“Ak’ak.” Our dicts. do not give the word, but there is a ✔ “Kauk”
(Káka, yakúku) to cluck, and “Kauk” = an aquatic bird with a long
neck. I assume “Kawík” to be an intensive form of the same root. The
“Mother of Solomon” is a fanciful “Kunyah,” or bye name given to the
bird by the Bhang-eater, suggesting his high opinion of her wisdom.
Footnote 241:
Arab. “Nátúr,” prop. a watchman: also a land-mark, a bench-mark of
tamped clay.
Footnote 242:
In text “Bartamán” for “Martaban” = a pot, jar, or barrel-shaped
vessel: others apply the term to fine porcelain which poison cannot
affect. See Col. Yule’s _Glossary_, s. v. Martabán, where the
quotation from Ibn Batutah shows that the term was current in the
xivth century. Linschoten (i. 101) writes, “In this town (Martaban of
Pegu) many of the great earthen pots are made, which in India are
called _Martananas_, and many of them are carried throughout all India
of all sorts both small and great: and some are so great that they
will fill two pipes of water.” Pyrard (i. 259) applies the name to
“certain handsome jars, of finer shape and larger than I have seen
elsewhere” (Transl. by Albert Gray for the Hakluyt Soc. 1887). Mr.
Hill adds that at Málé the larger barrel-shaped jars of earthenware
are still called “Mátabán,” and Mr. P. Brown (Zillah Dictionary, 1852)
finds the word preserved upon the Madras coast = a black jar in which
rice is imported from Pegu.
Footnote 243:
The Arabic here changes person, “he repeated” after Eastern fashion,
and confuses the tale to European readers.
Footnote 244:
Such treasure trove belonging to the State, _i.e._ the King.
Footnote 245:
Arab. “Húrí” for “Húr” = a pool, marsh, or quagmire, in fact
corresponding with our vulgar “bogshop.” Dr. Steingass would read
“Haurí,” a “mansúb” of “Haur” = pond, quagmire, which, in connection
with a Hammam, may = sink, sewer, etc.
Footnote 246:
The Bedlam: see vol. i. 288.
Footnote 247:
Arab. “Tamtar aysh?” (_i.e._ Ayyu shayyin, see vol. i. 79). I may note
that the vulgar abbreviation is of ancient date. Also the Egyptian
dialect has borrowed, from its ancestor the Coptic, the practice of
putting the interrogatory pronoun or adverb after (not before) the
verb, _e.g._ “Rá’ih fayn?” = Wending (art thou) whither? It is
regretable that Egyptian scholars do not see the absolute necessity of
studying Coptic, and this default is the sole imperfection of the late
Dr. Spitta Bey’s admirable Grammar of Egyptian.
Footnote 248:
Arab. “’Arsah,” akin to “Mu’arris” (masc.) = a pimp, a pander. See
vol. i. 338; and Supp. vol. i. 206; and for its use Pilgrimage, i.
276.
Footnote 249:
_i.e._ Abú Kásim the Drummer. The word “Tambúr” is probably derived
from “Tabl” = a drum, which became by the common change of liquids
“Tabur” in O. French and “Tabour” in English. Hence the mod. form
“Tambour,” which has been adopted by Turkey, _e.g._ Tambúrji = a
drummer. In Egypt, however, “Tambúr” is applied to a manner of
mandoline or guitar, mostly used by Greeks and other foreigners. See
Lane, M.E. chap. xviii.
Footnote 250:
Arab. “Bál” (sing. Bálah) = a bale, from the Span. Bala and Italian
Balla, a small parcel made up in the shape of a bale, Lat. Palla.
Footnote 251:
Arab. “Walásh,” _i.e._ “Was lá shayya” = “And nihil” (nil, non ens,
naught).
Footnote 252:
Arab. “Kurbáj” = cravache: vol. viii. 17. The best are made of
hippopotamus-hide (imported from East Africa), boiled and hammered
into a round form and tapering to the point. Plied by a strong arm
they cut like a knout.
Footnote 253:
The text “Yá Sultán-am,” a Persian or Turkish form for the Arab. “Yá
Sultán-i.”
Footnote 254:
In text “Kalb” for “Kulbat” = a cave, a cavern.
Footnote 255:
The houses were of unbaked brick or cob, which readily melts away in
rain and requires annual repairing at the base of the walls where
affected by rain and dew. In Sind the damp of the earth with its
nitrous humour eats away the foundations and soon crumbles them to
dust.
Footnote 256:
Here meaning the under-Governor or head Clerk.
Footnote 257:
“Níl” (= the Nile), in vulgar Egyptian parlance the word is = “high
Nile,” or the Nile in flood.
Footnote 258:
Arab. “Darwayshah” = a she-Fakír, which in Europe would be represented
by that prime pest a begging nun.
Footnote 259:
Arab. “Allah háfiz-ik” = the popular Persian expression, “Khudá
Háfiz!”
Footnote 260:
Arab. “Sálihín” = the Saints, the Holy Ones.
Footnote 261:
Arab. “Sharkh” = in dicts. the unpolished blade of a hiltless sword.
Footnote 262:
In the text “Miláyah,” a cotton stuff some 6 feet long, woven in small
chequers of white and indigo-blue with an ending of red at either
extremity. Men wrap it round the body or throw it over the shoulder
like our plaid, whose colours I believe are a survival of the old
body-paintings, Pictish and others. The woman’s “Miláyah” worn only
out of doors may be of silk or cotton: it is made of two pieces which
are sewed together lengthwise and these cover head and body like a
hooded cloak. Lane figures it in M.E. chapt. i. When a woman is too
poor to own a “Miláyah” or a “Habarah” (a similar article) she will
use a bed-sheet for out-of-doors work.
Footnote 263:
The pun here is “Khalíyát” = bee-hive and empty: See vols. vi., 246;
ix. 291. It will occur again in Supplementary vol. v. Night DCXLVI.
Footnote 264:
_i.e._ Caravan, the common Eastern term. In India it was used for a
fleet of merchantmen under convoy: see Col. Yule, _Glossary_, s. v.
Footnote 265:
Again “Bartamán” for “Martabán.”
Footnote 266:
The “Sáhib” = owner, and the “Dallál” = broker, are evidently the same
person.
Footnote 267:
“Alà kám” for “kam” (how much?)—peasants’ speech.
Footnote 268:
She has appeared already twice in The Nights, esp. in The Tale of
Ghánim bin ’Ayyúb (vol. ii. 45) and in Khalífah the Fisherman of
Baghdad (vol. viii. 145). I must again warn my readers not to confound
“Kút” = food with “Kuwwat” = force, as in Scott’s “Koout al Koolloob”
(vi. 146). See Terminal Essay p. 110.
Footnote 269:
In text “Mu’ammarjiyah” (master-masons), a vulgar Egyptianism for
“Mu’ammarin.” See “Jáwashiyah,” vols. ii. 49; viii. 330. In the third
line below we find “Muhandizín” = geometricians, architects, for
“Muhandisín.” [Perhaps a reminiscence of the Persian origin of the
word “Handasah” = geometry, which is derived from “Andázah” =
measurement, etc.—ST.]
Footnote 270:
The text ends this line in Arabic.
Footnote 271:
Alluding to the curious phenomenon pithily expressed in the Latin
proverb, “Suus cuique crepitus benè olet,” I know of no exception to
the rule, except amongst travellers in Tibet, where the wild onion,
the only procurable green-stuff, produces an odour so rank and fetid
that men run away from their own crepitations. The subject is not
savoury, yet it has been copiously illustrated: I once dined at a
London house whose nameless owner, a noted bibliophile, especially of
“facetiæ,” had placed upon the drawing-room table a dozen books
treating of the “Crepitus ventris.” When the guests came up and drew
near the table, and opened the volumes, their faces were a study. For
the Arab. “Faswah” = a silent break wind, see vol. ix. 11 and 291. It
is opposed to “Zirt” = a loud fart and the vulgar term, see vol. ii.
88.
Footnote 272:
Arab. “Yá Házá,” see vol. i. 290.
Footnote 273:
In text “Yumkinshayy,” written in a single word, a favourite
expression, Fellah-like withal, throughout this MS.
Footnote 274:
In text “Tafazzalú”; see vol. ii. 103.
Footnote 275:
The word (Saráy) is Pers. but naturalised throughout Egypt and Syria;
in places like Damascus where there is no King it is applied to the
official head-quarters of the Walí (provincial governor), and contains
the prison like the Maroccan “Kasbah.” It must not be confounded with
“Serraglio” = the Harem, Gynecium or women’s rooms, which appears to
be a bastard neo-Latin word “Serrare,” through the French _Serrer_. I
therefore always write it with the double “canine letter.”
Footnote 276:
I have noted (vol. i. 95) that the “Khil’ah” = robe of honour,
consists of many articles, such as a horse, a gold-hilted sword, a
fine turban, etc., etc.
Footnote 277:
This again shows the “Nakkál” or coffee-house tale-teller. See vol. x.
163.
Footnote 278:
This is the Moslem version of “Solomon’s Judgment” (1 Kings iii.
16–20). The Hebrew legend is more detailed but I prefer its rival for
sundry reasons. Here the women are not “harlots” but the co-wives of
one man and therefore hostile; moreover poetical justice is done to
the constructive murderess.
Footnote 279:
I am not aware that the specific gravity of the milks has ever been
determined by modern science; and perhaps the experiment is worthy a
trial.
Footnote 280:
Arab. “Dúna-k.” See vol. iv. p. 20.
Footnote 281:
“Al-Wazíru’l-’Arif bi-lláhi Ta’álà,” a title intended to mimic those
of the Abbaside Caliphs; such as “Mu’tasim bi’llah” (servant of
Allah), the first of the long line whose names begin with an epithet
(the Truster, the Implorer, etc.), and end with “bi’llah.”
Footnote 282:
[Tarajjama, which is too frequently used in this MS. to be merely
considered as a clerical error, I suppose to mean: he pronounced for
him the formula: “A’uzzu bi lláhi mina ’l-Shaytáni ’l-_Rajími_” = I
take refuge with Allah against Satan the Stoned. See Koran xvi. 100.
It would be thus equivalent with the usual ta’awwaza.—ST.]
Footnote 283:
The MS. here ends Night cdxii. and begins the next. Up to this point I
have followed the numeration but from this forwards as the Nights
become unconscionably short compared with the intervening dialogues, I
have thrown two and sometimes three into one. The Arabic numbers are,
however, preserved for easier reference.
Footnote 284:
This is a poor and scamped version of “Ali the Persian and the Kurd
Sharper,” in vol. iv. 149. It is therefore omitted.
Footnote 285:
The dish-cover, usually made of neatly plaited straw variously
coloured, is always used, not only for cleanliness but to prevent the
Evil Eye falling upon and infecting the food.
Footnote 286:
The “Bámiyah,” which = the Gumbo, Occra (Okrá) or Bhendi of Brit.
India which names the celebrated bazar of Bombay, is the esculent
hibiscus, the polygonal pod (some three inches long and thick as a
man’s finger) full of seeds and mucilage making it an excellent
material for soups and stews. It is a favourite dish in Egypt and
usually eaten with a squeeze of lime-juice. See Lane, Mod. Egypt.
chapt. v., and Herklots (App. p. xlii.) who notices the curry of
“Bandakí” or _Hibiscus esculentus_.
Footnote 287:
Written “Bakshísh” for “Bakhshísh,” after Fellah-fashion.
Footnote 288:
[In the MS.: Wa’l-Sultánu karaa Wirduh (Wirda-hu) wa jalasa li
’l-Munádamah = And the Sovran recited his appointed portion of the
Koran, and then sat down to convivial converse. This reminds of the
various passages of the present Shah of Persia’s Diary, in which he
mentions the performance of his evening devotions, before setting out
for some social gathering, say a supper in the Guildhall, which he
neatly explains as a dinner after midnight (Shám ba’d az
nisf-i-shab).—ST.]
Footnote 289:
This is Scott’s “Story of the Three Princes and Enchanting Bird,” vol.
vi. 160. On the margin of the W. M. MS. he has written “Story of the
King and his Three Sons and the Enchanting Bird” (vol. i., Night
cdxvii). Gauttier, vi. 292, names it _Histoire des Trois Princes et de
l’Oiseau Magicien_. Galland may have used parts of it in the “Two
Sisters who envied their Cadette”: see Supp. vol. iii. pp. 492–549.
Footnote 290:
In text “Al-Bulaybul” (the little Nightingale, Philomelet), “Al
Sayyáh” (the Shrieker). The latter epithet suggests to me the German
novel which begins, “We are in Italy where roses bestink the day and
Nightingales howl through the live-long night,” &c.
Footnote 291:
“Sanják,” Turk. = flag, banner, and here used (as in vulg. Arab.) for
Sanják-dár, the banner-bearer, ensign. In mod. parlance, Sanják =
minor province, of which sundry are included in an “Iyálah” =
government-general, under the rule of a Wálí (Wiláyah).
Footnote 292:
In the MS. “Zifr” = nail, claw, talon.
Footnote 293:
“Al-Rizk maksúm,” an old and sage byword pregnant with significance:
compare “Al-Khauf (fear) maksúm” = cowardice is equally divided. Vol.
iii. 173. [I read: “Yas’à ’l-Kadamu li-’Umrin danà au li-Rizkin
qusima,” taking “Rizk” as an equivalent for “al-Rizku ’l-hasanu” = any
good thing which a man obtains without exerting himself in seeking for
it, and the passive “qusima” in the sense of Kismah, vulgo “Kismet.”
Hence I would translate: The foot speeds to a life that is mean, or to
a boon that is pre-ordained.—ST.]
Footnote 294:
In the text “Bát” (for Bit), in Fellah-speech “Pass the night here!”
The Bird thus makes appeal to the honour and hospitality of his
would-be captor, and punishes him if he consent. I have translated
after Scott (v. 161). [I cannot persuade myself to take “bát” for an
imperative, which would rather be “bít” for “bit,” as we shall find
“kúm” for “kum,” “rúh” for “ruh.” It seems to me that the preterite
“bát” means here “the night has passed,” and rendering “man” by the
interrogative, I would translate: “O! who will say to the sad, the
separated, night is over?” Complaints of the length of night are
frequent with the parted in Arab poetry. This accords also better with
the following ’Atús al-Shams, the sneezing of the sun, which to my
knowledge, applies only to daybreak, as in Hariri’s 15th Assembly
(al-Farzíyah), where “the nose of the morning” sneezes.—ST.]
Footnote 295:
_i.e._ they bound kerchiefs stained blue or almost black round their
brows. In modern days Fellah women stain their veils (face and head),
kerchiefs and shirts with indigo; and some colour their forearms to
the elbow.
Footnote 296:
Here again and in the following adventure we have “Khudadad and his
Brothers.” Suppl. vol. iii. 209–304.
Footnote 297:
In sign of despair. See vol. i. 298.
Footnote 298:
In text “Kalamátu ’llah” = the Koran: and the quotation is from chapt.
cxiii. 5. For the “Two Refuge-takings” (Al-Mu’awizzatáni), see vol.
iii. 222.
Footnote 299:
_i.e._, caused his brothers to recover life.
[I read: Allazí ’amaltu fí-him natíjah yujázúní bi-Ziddi-há = Those to
whom I did a good turn, requite me with the contrary thereof. Allazí,
originally the masc. sing. is in this MS. vulgarly, like its still
more vulgar later contraction, “illí,” used for both genders and the
three numbers.—ST.]
Footnote 300:
Arab. “Házir!” I have noted that this word, in Egypt and Syria,
corresponds with the English waiter’s “Yes sir!”
Footnote 301:
Koran, Chapter of Joseph, xii. 19.
Footnote 302:
Arab. “Hanút:” this custom has become almost obsolete: the corpse is
now sprinkled with a mixture of water, camphor diluted and the dried
and pounded leaves of various trees, especially the “Nabk” (lote-tree
or _Zizyphus lotus_).—Lane M. E. chapt. xxviii.
Footnote 303:
These comical measures were taken by “Miss Lucy” in order to charm
away the Evil Eye which had fascinated the article in question. Such
temporary impotence in a vigorous man, which results from an
exceptional action of the brain and the nervous system, was called in
old French _Nouement des aiguilettes_ (_i.e._ point-tying, the points
which fastened the _haut-de-chausses_ or hose to the jerkin, and its
modern equivalent would be to “button up the flap”). For its cure, the
“_Déliement des aiguilettes_” see Davenport “Aphrodisiacs” p. 36, and
the French translation of the Shaykh al-Nafzáwi (Jardin Parfumé,
chapt. xvii. pp. 251–53.) The Moslem heal such impotence by the usual
simples, but the girl in the text adopts a moral course of treatment
which buries the dead parts in order to resurrect them. A friend of
mine, a young and vigorous officer, was healed by a similar process.
He had carried off a sergeant’s wife, and the husband lurked about the
bungalow to shoot him, a copper cap being found under the window,
hence a state of nervousness which induced perfect impotence. He
applied to the regimental surgeon, happily a practised hand, and was
gravely supplied with pills and a draught; his diet was carefully
regulated and he was ordered to sleep by the woman but by no means to
touch her for ten days. On the fifth he came to his adviser with a
sheepish face and told him that he had not wholly followed the course
prescribed, as last night he had suddenly—by the blessing of the
draught and the pills—recovered and had given palpable evidence of his
pristine vigour. The surgeon deprecated such proceeding until the
patient should have had full benefit of his drugs—bread pills and
cinnamon-water.
Footnote 304:
Here ends vol. iii. of the W. M. MS. and begins Night cdxxvi.
Footnote 305:
In the text “Rísah,” copyist’s error for “Ríshah” = a thread, a line:
it afterwards proves to be an ornament for a falcon’s neck. [I cannot
bring myself to adopt here the explanation of “Ríshah” as a string
instead of its usual meaning of “feather,” “plume.” My reasons are the
following: 1. The youth sets it upon his head; that is, I suppose, his
cap, or whatever his head-gear may be, which seems a more appropriate
place for a feather than for a necklace. 2. Further on, Night cdxxx.,
it is said that the Prince left the residence of his second spouse _in
search_ (tálib) of the city of the bird. If the word “Ríshah,” which,
in the signification of thread, is Persian, had been sufficiently
familiar to an Arab to suggest, as a matter of course, a bird’s
necklace, and hence the bird itself, we would probably find a trace of
this particular meaning, if not in other Arabic books, at least in
Persian writers or dictionaries; but here the word “Ríshah,” by some
pronounced “Reshah” with the Yá majhúl, never occurs in connection
with jewels; it means fringe, filament, fibre. On the other hand, the
suggestion of the bird presents itself quite naturally at the sight of
the feather. 3. Ib. p. 269 the youth requests the old man to tell him
concerning the “Tayrah allazí Rísh-há (not Rishat-há) min Ma’ádin,”
which, I believe, can only be rendered by: the bird whose plumage is
of precious stones. The “Ríshah” itself was said to be “_min_ Zumurrud
wa Lúlú,” of emeralds and pearls; and the cage will be “min Ma’ádin wa
Lúlú,” of precious stones and pearls, in all which cases the use of
the preposition “min” points more particularly to the material of
which the objects are wrought than the mere Izáfah. The wonderfulness
of the bird seems therefore rather to consist in his jewelled plumage
than the gift of speech or other enchanting qualities, and I would
take it for one of those costly toys, in imitation of trees and
animals, in which Eastern princes rejoice, and of which we read so
many descriptions, not only in books of fiction, but even in
historical works. If it were a live-bird of the other kind, he would
probably have put in his word to expose the false brothers of the
Prince.—ST.]
Footnote 306:
This is conjectural: the text has a correction which is hardly
legible. [I read: “Wa lákin hú ajmalu min-hum bi-jamálin mufritin,
lakinnahu matrúdun hú wa ummu-hu” = “and yet he was more beautiful
than they with surpassing beauty, but he was an outcast, he and his
mother,” as an explanation, by way of parenthesis, for their daring to
treat him so shamefully.—ST.]
Footnote 307:
The venerable myth of Andromeda and Perseus (who is Horus in disguise)
brought down to Saint George (his latest descendant), the Dragon
(Typhon) and the fair Saba in the “Seven Champions of Christendom.”
See my friend M. Clermont Ganneau’s _Horus et Saint-Georges_; Mr. J.
R. Anderson’s “Saint Mark’s Rest; the Place of Dragons;” and my “Book
of the Sword,” chapt. ix.
Footnote 308:
_i.e._ there was a great movement and confusion.
Footnote 309:
[In the text ’Afár, a word frequently joined with “Ghubár,” dust, for
the sake of emphasis; hence we will find in Night ccccxxix. the verb
“yu’affiru,” he was raising a dust-cloud.—ST.]
Footnote 310:
Upon the subject of “throwing the kerchief” see vol. vi. 285. Here it
is done simply as a previously concerted signal of recognition.
Footnote 311:
In text “’Alá Yadín;” for which vulgarism see vol. iii. 51.
Footnote 312:
Elephants are usually, as Cuvier said of the (Christian) “Devil” after
a look at his horns and hoofs, vegetarians.
Footnote 313:
[The MS. has “yughaffiru wa yuzaghdimu.” The former stands probably
for “yu’affíru,” for which see supra p. 262, note 2. The writing is,
however, so indistinct that possibly “yufaghghiru” is intended, which
means he opened his mouth wide. “Yuzaghdimu” is one of those
quadriliterals which are formed by blending two tri-literals in one
verb, in order to intensify the idea. “Zaghada” and “Zaghama” mean
both “he roared,” more especially applied to a camel, and by joining
the “d” of the one with the “m” of the other, we obtain “Zaghdama,” he
roared fiercely.—ST.]
Footnote 314:
[Sára’a-hu wa láwa’a-hu = he rushed upon him and worried him. The root
law’ means to enfeeble, render sick, especially applied to
love-sickness (Lau’ah). The present 3rd form is rarely used, but here
and in a later passage, Night cdxlv., the context bears out the sense
of harassing.—ST.]
Footnote 315:
In text “Zaghárit” plur. of Zaghrútah: see vol. ii. p. 80.
Footnote 316:
[Yá walad al-Halál. I would translate: “O! son of a lawful wedlock,”
simply meaning that he takes him to be a decent fellow, not a scamp or
Walad al-Harám.—ST.]
Footnote 317:
The repetition is a sign of kindness and friendliness; see vol. vi.
370.
Footnote 318:
This Arabian “Sattár” corresponds passing well with “Jupiter
Servator.”
Footnote 319:
“Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise.”
Matt. xxi. 16. The idea is not less Moslem than Christian.
Footnote 320:
[I read “Sarkhah adwat la-há al-Saráyah” = a cry to which the
palace-women raised an echo, a cry re-echoed by the palace-women.
“Adwà” is the fourth form of “Dawiya,” to hum or buzz, to produce an
indistinct noise, and it is vulgarly used in the above sense, like the
substantive “Dawi,” an echo. Al-Saráyah is perhaps only an Arabized
form of the Persian Saráy, and the sentence might be, to which the
palace resounded.—ST.]
Footnote 321:
The Princess is not logical: on the other hand she may plead that she
is right.
Footnote 322:
Arab. “Ma’lúmah,” which may also mean the “made known,” or
“afore-mentioned.”
Footnote 323:
A sensible remark which shows that the King did not belong to the
order called by Mr. Matthew Arnold “Barbarians.”
Footnote 324:
In text: “Rajul Ja’ídí,” for which see p. 14.
Footnote 325:
Arab. “Fidawiyah,” sing. “Fidáwi” = lit. one who gives his life to a
noble cause, a forlorn hope, esp. applied to the Ismai’liyah race,
disciples of the “Assassin” Hasan-i-Sabáh. See De Sacy, “Mémoire sur
les Assassins Mém. de l’Instit,” etc. iv. 7 et seqq. Hence perhaps a
castaway, a “perdido,” one careless of his life. I suspect, however,
that it is an Egyptianised form of the Pers. “Fidá’i” = a robber, a
murderer. The Lat. catalogue prefers “Sicarius,” which here cannot be
the meaning.
Footnote 326:
Arab “Kirsh,” pop. “Girsh.”
Footnote 327:
I have noticed that there is a Shaykh or head of the Guild, even for
thieves, in most Moslem capitals. See vol. vi. 204.
Footnote 328:
Here is the normal enallage of persons, “luh” = to him for “lí” = to
me.
Footnote 329:
In text “Na’mil ma’allazí, etc. ... makídah.” I have attempted to
preserve the idiom.
Footnote 330:
[In the MS. “al-’Ashrah Miah,” which, I think, can scarcely be
translated by “ten times one hundred.” If Miah were dependent on
al-’Ashrah, the latter could not have the article. I propose therefore
to render “one hundred for the (_i.e._ every) ten” = ten-fold.—ST.]
Footnote 331:
For this “nosebag,” see vols. ii. 52, and vi. 151, 192.
Footnote 332:
[Until here the change from the first person into the third, as
pointed out in note 2, has been kept up in the MS.—“He reached the
barracks,” “he found,” etc. Now suddenly the gender changes as well,
and the tale continues: “And lo, the girl went to them and said,” etc.
etc. This looseness of style may, in the mouth of an Eastern Ráwí,
have an additional dramatic charm for his more eager than critical
audience; but it would be intolerable to European readers. Sir Richard
has, therefore, very properly substituted the first person all
through.—ST.]
Footnote 333:
“Riyál” is from the Span. “Real” = royal (coin): in Egypt it was so
named by order of Ali Bey, the Mameluke, in A.H. 1185 (A.D. 1771–72)
and it was worth ninety Faddahs = 5⅖d. The word, however, is still
applied to the dollar proper (Maria Theresa), to the Riyál Fransá or
five-franc piece and to the Span. pillar dollar: the latter is also
nicknamed “Abu Madfa’” Father of a Cannon (the columns being mistaken
for cannons); also the Abú Tákah (Father of a Window), whence we
obtain the Europeanised “Patacco” (see Lane, Appendix ii.) and
“Pataca,” which Littré confounds with the “Patard” and of which he
ignores the origin.
Footnote 334:
See The Nights, vol. x. 12.
Footnote 335:
_i.e._ “pleasant,” “enjoyable”; see “White as milk” opposed to “black
as mud,” etc., vol. iv. 140. Here it is after a fashion synonymous
with the French _nuit blanche_.
Footnote 336:
[The MS. seems here to read “wa jasad-hu yuhazdimu,” (thus at least
the word, would have to be vocalized if it were a quadriliteral verbal
form), and of this I cannot make out any sense. I suspect the final
syllable is meant for “Dam,” blood, of which a few lines lower down
the plural “Dimá” occurs. Remains to account for the characters
immediately preceding it. I think that either the upper dot of the
Arabic belongs to the first radical instead of the second, reading
“yukhirru,” as the fourth or causative form of “kharra yakhurru,” to
flow, to ripple, to purl; or that the two dots beneath are to be
divided between the first two characters, reading “bajaza.” The
latter, it is true, is no dictionary word, but we have found supra p.
228 “muhandiz” for “muhandis,” so here “bajaza” may stand for “bajasa”
= gushed forth, used intransitively and transitively. In either case
the translation would be “his body was emitting blood freely.”—ST.]
Footnote 337:
The MS. here is hardly intelligible but the sense shows the word to be
“Misallah” (plur. “Misáll”) = a large needle for sewing canvas, &c. In
Egypt the usual pronunciation is “Musallah,” hence the vulgar name of
Cleopatra’s needle “Musallat Far’aun” (of Pharaoh) the two terms
contending for which shall be the more absurd. I may note that
Commander Gorridge, the distinguished officer of the U.S. Navy who
safely and easily carried the “Needle” to New York after the English
had made a prodigious mess with their obelisk, showed me upon the
freshly uncovered base of the pillar the most distinct intaglio
representations of masonic implements, the plumb-line, the square, the
compass, and so forth. These, however, I attributed to masonry as the
craft, to the guild; he to Freemasonry, which in my belief was unknown
to the Greeks and Romans, and is never mentioned in history before the
eight Crusades (A.D. 1096–1270). The practices and procedure were
evidently borrowed from the various Vehms and secret societies which
then influenced the Moslem world, and our modern lodges have strictly
preserved in the “Architect of the Universe,” Arian and Moslem
Unitarianism as opposed to Athanasian and Christian Tritheism; they
admit the Jew and the Mussulman as apprentices, but they refuse the
Hindú and the Pagan. It seems now the fashion to run down the mystic
craft, to describe it as a “goose-club” and no more; it is, however,
sleeping, not dead; the charities of the brethren are still active,
and the society still takes an active part in politics throughout the
East. As the late Pope Pius IX. (fitly nicknamed “Pio no-no”), a free
mason himself, forbade Freemasonry to his church because a secret
society is incompatible with oral confession (and priestcraft
tolerates only its own mysteries), and made excommunication the
penalty, the French lodges have dwindled away and the English have
thriven upon their decay, thus enlisting a host of neophytes who, when
the struggle shall come on, may lend excellent aid.
Footnote 338:
The “Janázah,” or bier, is often made of planks loosely nailed or
pegged together into a stretcher or platform, and it would be easy to
thrust a skewer between the joints. I may remind the reader that
“Janázah” = a bier with a corpse thereon (vol. ii. 46), whereas the
“Sarír” is the same when unburdened, and the “Na’ash” is a box like
our coffin, but open at the tip.
Footnote 339:
[In the Arab. text “they will recognise me,” which I would rather
refer to the Vagabonds than to the crowd, as the latter merely cries
wonder at the resuscitation, without apparently troubling much about
the wonder-worker.—ST.]
Footnote 340:
[Ar. “na’tázu,” viii. form of ’áza = it escaped, was missing, lacked,
hence the meaning of this form, “we are in want of,” “we need.”—ST.]
Footnote 341:
For the “Ardabb” (prop. “Irdabb”) = five bushels: see vol. i. 263.
Footnote 342:
[In the MS. “’Ayyinah,” probably a mis-reading for “’Ayniyyah” = a
sample, pattern.—ST.]
Footnote 343:
In text “Kubbah” = vault, cupola, the dome of unbaked brick upon
peasants’ houses in parts of Egypt and Syria, where wood for the
“Sat’h” or flat roof is scarce. The household granary is in the
garret, from which the base of the dome springs, and the
“expense-magazines” consist of huge standing coffers of wattle and dab
propped against the outside walls of the house.
Footnote 344:
Gen. “Baysár” or “Faysár,” = beans cooked in honey and milk. See
retro, Night ccclxxxviii. for its laxative properties.
Footnote 345:
[In the MS. “barbastu,” with the dental instead of the palatal
sibilant (Sín instead of Sád). Spelled in the former way the verb
“barbasa” means, he sought, looked for, and is therefore out of place
here. Spelled in the second manner, it signifies literally, he watered
the ground abundantly. Presently we shall find the passive participle
“mubarbasah” in the feminine, because referring to the noun “Tíz” =
anus, which, like its synonym “Ist,” professes the female gender.—ST.]
Footnote 346:
[In Ar. “Mubarbasah,” for which see the preceding note.—ST.]
Footnote 347:
The Moslem’s tomb is an arched vault of plastered brick, large enough
for a man to sit up at ease and answer the Questioning Angels; and the
earth must not touch the corpse as it is supposed to cause torture. In
the graves of the poorer classes a niche (_lahad_) offsets from the
fosse and is rudely roofed with palm-fronds and thatch. The trick
played in the text is therefore easy; see Lane’s illustration M.E.
chapt. xviii. The reader will not forget that all Moslems make water
squatting upon their hunkers in a position hardly possible to an
untrained European: see vol. i. 259.
Footnote 348:
The bull being used in the East to turn the mill and the water-wheel;
vol. i. 16.
Footnote 349:
In text “Ratl.” See vol. iv. 124.
Footnote 350:
About 1s. 2d.
Footnote 351:
The man was therefore in hiding for some crime. [The MS. has “lá
tafzah-ní” = Do not rend _my_ reputation, etc. I would, therefore,
translate “Sáhib-há” by “her lover,” and suggest that the crime in
question is simply what the French call “conversation
criminelle.”—ST.]
Footnote 352:
The “’Ishá”-prayer (called in Egypt “’Eshè”) consists of ten “Ruka’át”
= bows or inclinations of the body (not “of the head” as Lane has it,
M. E. chapt. iii.): of these four are “Sunnah” = traditional or
customary (of the Prophet), four are Farz (divinely appointed _i.e._
by the Koran) and two again Sunnah. The hour is nightfall when the
evening has closed in with some minor distinctions, _e.g._ the Hanafí
waits till the whiteness and the red gleam in the west (“Al-Shafak
al-ahmar”) have wholly disappeared, and the other three orthodox only
till the ruddy light has waned. The object of avoiding sundowntide
(and sunrise equally) was to distinguish these hours of orisons from
those of the Guebres and other faiths which venerate, or are supposed
to venerate, the sun.
Footnote 353:
Scott. “History of the Sultan of Hind,” vol. vi. 194–209.
Footnote 354:
Red robes being a sign of displeasure: see vol. iv. 72; Scott (p. 294)
wrongly makes them “robes of mourning.”
Footnote 355:
A Moslem negroid from Central and Western North Africa. See vol. ii.
15. They share in popular opinion the reputation of the Maghrabi or
Maroccan for magical powers.
Footnote 356:
This is introduced by the translator; as usual with such unedited
tales, the name does not occur till much after the proper place for
specifying it.
Footnote 357:
In text “Iz lam naakhaz-há, wa-illá,” &c. A fair specimen of Arab.
ellipsis.——If I catch her not (’twill go hard hard with me), and
unless (I catch her) I will, &c.
Footnote 358:
_i.e._ “How far is the fowl from thee!”
Footnote 359:
[In the MS. “turayyih,” a modern form for “turawwih.”—ST.]
Footnote 360:
[The above translation pre-supposes the reading “Farkhah lá atammat,”
and would require, I believe, the conjunction “hattà” or “ilà an” to
express “till.” I read with the MS. “lá tammat,” and would translate:
“a chick not yet full grown, when the crow seized it and flew away
with it,” as a complaint of the father for the anticipated untimely
end of his son.—ST.]
Footnote 361:
For “’Aun,” a high degree amongst the “Genies,” see vol. iv. p. 83.
Readers will be pleased with this description of a Jinni; and not a
few will regret that they have not one at command. Yet the history of
man’s locomotion compels us to believe that we are progressing towards
the time when humanity will become volatile. Pre-historic Adam was
condemned to “Shanks his mare,” or to “go on foot-back,” as the Boers
have it, and his earliest step was the chariot; for, curious to say,
driving amongst most peoples preceded riding, as the row-boat forewent
the sailer. But as men increased and the world became smaller and time
shorter the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, after many
abortive attempts, converted the chariot into a railway-car and the
sailer into a steamer. Aerostatics are still in their infancy and will
grow but little until human society shall find some form of flying an
absolute necessity when, as is the history of all inventions, the
winged woman (and her man) of Peter Wilkins will pass from fiction
into fact. But long generations must come and go before “homo sapiens”
can expect to perfect a practice which in the present state of mundane
society would be fatal to all welfare.
Footnote 362:
Scott (p. 200) “Welcome to the sovereign of the Aoon, friendly to his
brethren,” (siddík al Akhwán) etc. Elsewhere he speaks of “the Oone.”
Footnote 363:
So he carried a portable “toilette,” like a certain Crown Prince and
Prince Bahman in Suppl. vol. iii. 510.
Footnote 364: