description in the Kathá Sarit Sagara, _e.g._ “Then a confused battle
arose with dint of arrow, javelin, lance, mace and axe, costing the
lives of countless soldiers (N.B.—Millions are nothing to him); rivers
of blood flowed with the bodies of elephants and horses for
alligators, with the pearls from the heads of elephants for sands and
with the heads of heroes for stones. That feast of battle delighted
the flesh-loving demons who, drunk with blood instead of wine, were
dancing with the palpitating trunks,” etc., etc. Fasc. xii. 526.
Footnote 60:
The giraffe is here mal-placé: it is, I repeat, one of the most timid
of the antelope tribe. Nothing can be more graceful than this huge
game as it stands under a tree extending its long and slender neck to
the foliage above it; but when in flight all the limbs seem loose and
the head is carried almost on a level with the back.
Footnote 61:
The fire-arms may have been inserted by the copier; the cross-bow
(Arcubalista) is of unknown antiquity. I have remarked in my book of
the Sword (p. 19) that the bow is the first crucial evidence of the
distinction between the human weapon and the bestial arm, and like the
hymen or membrane of virginity proves a difference of degree if not of
kind between man and the so-called lower animals. I note from Yule’s
Marco Polo (ii., 143) “that the cross-bow was re-introduced into
European warfare during the twelfth century”; but the arbalest was
well known to the _bon roi_ Charlemagne (Regnier Sat. X).
Footnote 62:
In Al-Islam this was unjustifiable homicide, excused only because the
Kafir had tried to slay his own son. He should have been summoned to
become a tributary and then, on express refusal, he might legally have
been put to death.
Footnote 63:
_i.e._ “Rose King,” like the Sikh name “Gulab Singh” = Rosewater Lion,
sounding in translation almost too absurd to be true.
Footnote 64:
“Repentance acquits the penitent” is a favourite and noble saying
popular in Al-Islam. It is first found in Seneca; and is probably as
old as the dawn of literature.
Footnote 65:
Here an ejaculation of impatience.
Footnote 66:
_i.e._ “King Intelligence”: it has a ludicrous sound suggesting only
“Dandanha-i-Khirad” = wisdom-teeth. The Mac. Edit. persistently keeps
“Ward Shah,” copyist-error.
Footnote 67:
_i.e._ Fakhr Taj, who had been promised him in marriage. See Night
dcxxxiii. _supra_, vol. vi.
Footnote 68:
The name does not appear till further on, after vague Eastern fashion
which, here and elsewhere I have not had the heart to adopt. The same
may be found in Ariosto, _passim_.
Footnote 69:
A town in Persian Irak, unhappily far from the “Salt sea.”
Footnote 70:
“Earthquake son of Ennosigaius” (the Earthquake-maker).
Footnote 71:
Arab. “Ruba’al-Kharáb” or Ruba’al-Khálí (empty quarter), the great
central wilderness of Arabia covering some 50,000 square miles and
still left white on our maps (Pilgrimage, i. 14).
Footnote 72:
Pers. “Life King,” women also assume the title of Shah.
Footnote 73:
Arab. “Mujauhar”: the watery or wavy mark upon Eastern blades is
called the “jauhar,” lit. = jewel. The peculiarity is also called
water and grain, which gives rise to a host of _double-entendres_,
puns, paronomasias and conceits more or less frigid.
Footnote 74:
Etymologically meaning tyrants or giants; and applied to great heathen
conquerors like Nimrod and the mighty rulers of Syria, the Anakim,
Giants and other peoples of Hebrew fable. The Akásirah are the
Chosroës before noticed.
Footnote 75:
Arab. “Askar jarrár” lit. “drawing”: so in Egyptian slang “Nás jarrár”
= folk who wish to draw your money out of your pocket, greedy cheats.
Footnote 76:
In Turkestan: the name means “Two lights.”
Footnote 77:
In Armenia, mentioned by Sadik Isfaháni (Transl. p. 62).
Footnote 78:
This is the only ludicrous incident in the tale which justifies Von
Hammer’s suspicion. Compare it with the combat between Rustam and his
son Sohráb.
OTBAH[79] AND RAYYA.
I went one year on the pilgrimage to the Holy House of Allah, and when I
had accomplished my pilgrimage, I turned back for visitation of the tomb
of the Prophet, whom Allah bless and keep! One night, as I sat in the
garden,[80] between the tomb and the pulpit, I heard a low moaning in a
soft voice; so I listened to it and it said:—
Have the doves that moan in the lotus-tree ✿ Woke grief in thy heart and
bred misery?
Or doth memory of maiden in beauty deckt ✿ Cause this doubt in thee,
this despondency?
O night, thou art longsome for love-sick sprite ✿ Complaining of Love
and its ecstacy:
Thou makest him wakeful, who burns with fire ✿ Of a love, like the live
coal’s ardency.
The moon is witness my heart is held ✿ By a moonlight brow of the
brightest blee:
I reckt not to see me by Love ensnared ✿ Till ensnared before I could
reck or see.
Then the voice ceased and not knowing whence it came to me I abode
perplexed; but lo! it again took up its lament and recited:—
Came Rayya’s phantom to grieve thy sight ✿ In the thickest gloom of the
black-haired Night!
And hath love of slumber deprived those eyes ✿ And the phantom-vision
vexed thy sprite?
I cried to the Night, whose glooms were like ✿ Seas that surge and
billow with might, with might:
“O Night, thou art longsome to lover who ✿ Hath no aid nor help save the
morning-light!”
She replied, “Complain not that I am long: ✿ ’Tis love is the cause of
thy longsome plight!”
Now, at the first of the couplets, I sprang up and made for the quarter
whence the sound came, nor had the voice ended repeating them, ere I was
with the speaker and saw a youth of the utmost beauty, the hair of whose
side face had not sprouted and in whose cheeks tears had worn twin
trenches.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Six Hundred and Eighty-first Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abdullah ibn
Ma’amar al-Kaysi thus continued:—So I sprang up and made for the quarter
whence the sound came, nor had the voice ended repeating the verses, ere
I was with the speaker and saw a youth on whose side face the hair had
not sprouted and in whose cheeks tears had worn twin trenches. Quoth I
to him, “Fair befal thee for a youth!”; and quoth he, “And thee also!
Who art thou?” I replied, “Abdullah bin Ma’amar al-Kaysi;” and he said,
“Dost thou want aught?” I rejoined, “I was sitting in the garden and
naught hath troubled me this night but thy voice. With my life would I
ransom thee! What aileth thee?” He said, “Sit thee down.” So I sat down
and he continued, “I am Otbah bin al-Hubáb bin al-Mundhir bin al-Jamúh
the Ansárí.[81] I went out in the morning to the Mosque Al-Ahzáb[82] and
occupied myself there awhile with prayer-bows and prostrations, after
which I withdrew apart, to worship privily. But lo! up came women, as
they were moons, walking with a swaying gait, and surrounding a damsel
of passing loveliness, perfect in beauty and grace, who stopped before
me and said:—O Otbah, what sayst thou of union with one who seeketh
union with thee? Then she left me and went away; and since that time I
have had no tidings of her nor come upon any trace of her; and behold, I
am distracted and do naught but remove from place to place.” Then he
cried out and fell to the ground fainting. When he came to himself, it
was as if the damask of his cheeks were dyed with safflower,[83] and he
recited these couplets:—
I see you with my heart from far countrie ✿ Would Heaven you also me
from far could see
My heart and eyes for you are sorrowing; ✿ My soul with you abides and
you with me.
I take no joy in life when you’re unseen ✿ Or Heaven or Garden of
Eternity.
Said I, “O Otbah, O son of my uncle, repent to thy Lord and crave pardon
for thy sin; for before thee is the terror of standing up to Judgment.”
He replied, “Far be it from me so to do. I shall never leave to love
till the two mimosa-gatherers return.”[84] I abode with him till
daybreak, when I said to him, “Come let us go to the Mosque Al-Ahzab.”
So we went thither and sat there, till we had prayed the midday prayers,
when lo! up came the women; but the damsel was not among them. Quoth
they to him, “O Otbah, what thinkest thou of her who seeketh union with
thee?” He said, “And what of her?”; and they replied, “Her father hath
taken her and departed to Al-Samawah.”[85] I asked them the name of the
damsel and they said, “She is called Rayyá, daughter of Al-Ghitríf
al-Sulami.”[86] Whereupon Otbah raised his head and recited these
verses:—
My friends, Rayyá hath mounted soon as morning shone, ✿ And to Samáwah’s
wilds her caravan is gone.
My friends, I’ve wept till I can weep no more, Oh, say, ✿ Hath any one a
tear that I can take on loan.
Then said I to him, “O Otbah, I have brought with me great wealth,
wherewith I desire to succour generous men; and by Allah, I will lavish
it before thee,[87] so thou mayst attain thy desire and more than thy
desire! Come with me to the assembly of the Ansaris.” So we rose and
went, till we entered their assembly, when I salam’d to them and they
returned my greeting civilly. Then quoth I, “O assembly, what say ye of
Otbah and his father?”: and they replied, “They are of the princes of
the Arabs.” I continued, “Know that he is smitten with the calamity of
love and I desire your furtherance to Al-Samawah.” And they said, “To
hear is to obey.” So they mounted with us, the whole party, and we rode
till we drew near the place of the Banu Sulaym. Now when Ghitrif heard
of our being near, he hastened forth to meet us, saying, “Long life to
you, O nobles!”; whereto we replied, “And to thee also! Behold we are
thy guests.” Quoth he, “Ye have lighted down at a most hospitable abode
and ample;” and alighting he cried out, “Ho, all ye slaves, come down!”
So they came down and spread skin-rugs and cushions and slaughtered
sheep and cattle; but we said, “We will not taste of thy food, till thou
have accomplished our need.” He asked, “And what is your need?”; and we
answered, “We demand thy noble daughter in marriage for Otbah bin Hubab
bin Mundhir the illustrious and well-born.” “O my brethren,” said he,
“she whom you demand is owner of herself, and I will go in to her and
tell her.” So he rose in wrath[88] and went in to Rayya, who said to
him, “O my papa, why do I see thee show anger?” And he replied, saying,
“Certain of the Ansaris have come upon me to demand thy hand of me in
marriage.” Quoth she, “They are noble chiefs; the Prophet, on whom be
the choicest blessings and peace, intercedeth for them with Allah. For
whom among them do they ask me?” Quoth he, “For a youth known as Otbah
bin al-Hubab;” and she said, “I have heard of Otbah that he performeth
what he promiseth and findeth what he seeketh.” Ghitrif cried, “I swear
that I will never marry thee to him; no, never, for there hath been
reported to me somewhat of thy converse with him.” Said she, “What was
that? But in any case, I swear that the Ansaris shall not be uncivilly
rejected; wherefore do thou offer them a fair excuse.” “How so?” “Make
the dowry heavy to them and they will desist.” “Thou sayst well,” said
he, and going out in haste, told the Ansaris, “The damsel of the
tribe[89] consenteth; but she requireth a dowry worthy herself. Who
engageth for this?” “I,” answered I. Then said he, “I require for her a
thousand bracelets of red gold and five thousand dirhams of the coinage
of Hajar[90] and a hundred pieces of woollen cloth and striped
stuffs[91] of Al-Yaman and five bladders of ambergris.” Said I, “Thou
shalt have that much; dost thou consent?”; and he said, “I do consent.”
So I despatched to Al-Medinah the Illumined[92] a party of the Ansaris,
who brought all for which I had become surety; whereupon they
slaughtered sheep and cattle and the folk assembled to eat of the food.
We abode thus forty days when Ghitrif said to us, “Take your bride.” So
we sat her in a dromedary-litter and her father equipped her with thirty
camel-loads of things of price; after which we farewelled him and
journeyed till we came within a day’s journey of Al-Medinah the
Illumined, when there fell upon us horsemen, with intent to plunder, and
methinks they were of the Banu Sulaym. Otbah drove at them and slew of
them much people, but fell back, wounded by a lance-thrust, and
presently dropped to the earth. Then there came to us succour of the
country people, who drove away the highwaymen; but Otbah’s days were
ended. So we said, “Alas for Otbah, oh!;” and the damsel hearing it cast
herself down from the camel and throwing herself upon him, cried out
grievously and repeated these couplets:—
Patient I seemed, yet Patience shown by me ✿ Was but self-guiling till
thy sight I see:
Had my soul done as due my life had gone, ✿ Had fled before mankind
forestalling thee:
Then, after me and thee none shall to friend ✿ Be just, nor any soul
with soul agree.
Then she sobbed a single sob and gave up the ghost. We dug one grave for
them and laid them in the earth, and I returned to the dwellings of my
people, where I abode seven years. Then I betook me again to Al-Hijaz
and entering Al-Medinah the Illumined for pious visitation said in my
mind, “By Allah, I will go again to Otbah’s tomb!” So I repaired
thither, and, behold, over the grave was a tall tree, on which hung
fillets of red and green and yellow stuffs.[93] So I asked the people of
the place, “How be this tree called?”; and they answered, “The tree of
the Bride and the Bridegroom.” I abode by the tomb a day and a night,
then went my way; and this is all I know of Otbah. Almighty Allah have
mercy upon him! And they also tell this tale of
-----
Footnote 79:
I cannot understand why Trébutien, iii., 457, writes this word Afba.
He remarks that it is the “Oina and Riya” of Jámí, elegantly
translated by M. de Chezy in the Journal Asiatique, vol. 1, 144.
Footnote 80:
I have described this part of the Medinah Mosque in Pilgrimage ii,
62–69. The name derives from a saying of Mohammed (of which there are
many variants), “Between my tomb and my pulpit is a garden of the
Gardens of Paradise” (Burckhardt, Arabia, p. 337). The whole Southern
portico (not only a part) now enjoys that honoured name and the tawdry
decorations are intended to suggest a parterre.
Footnote 81:
Mohammed’s companions (Asháb), numbering some five hundred, were
divided into two orders, the Muhájirin (fugitives) or Meccans who
accompanied the Apostle to Al-Medinah (Pilgrimage ii. 138) and the
Ansár (Auxiliaries) or Medinites who invited him to their city and
lent him zealous aid (Ibid ii. 130). The terms constantly occur in
Arab history.
Footnote 82:
The “Mosque of the Troops,” also called Al-Fath (victory), the largest
of the “Four Mosques:” it is still a place of pious visitation where
prayer is granted. Koran, chapt. xxxiii., and Pilgrimage ii. 325.
Footnote 83:
Arab. “Al-Wars,” with two meanings. The Alfáz Adwiyah gives it =
Kurkum, curcuma, turmeric, safran d’Inde; but popular usage assigns it
to Usfur, Kurtum or safflower (_carthamus tinctorius_). I saw the
shrub growing all about Harar which exports it, and it is plentiful in
Al-Yaman (Niebuhr, p. 133), where women affect it to stain the skin a
light yellow and remove freckles: it is also an internal remedy in
leprosy. But the main use is that of a dye, and the Tob stained with
Wars is almost universal in some parts of Arabia. Sonnini (p. 510)
describes it at length and says that Europeans in Egypt call it
“Parrot-seeds” because the bird loves it, and the Levant trader
“Saffrenum.”
Footnote 84:
Two men of the great ’Anazah race went forth to gather Karaz, the
fruit of the Sant (_Mimosa Nilotica_) both used for tanning, and never
returned. Hence the proverb which is obsolete in conversation. See
Burckhardt, Prov. 659: where it takes the place of “_ad Graecas
Kalendas_.”
Footnote 85:
Name of a desert (Mafázah) and a settlement on the Euphrates’ bank
between Basrah and the site of old Kufah near Kerbela; the well known
visitation place in Babylonian Irak.
Footnote 86:
Of the Banu Sulaym tribe; the adjective is Sulami not Sulaymi.
Footnote 87:
Arab. “Amám-ak” = before thee (in space); from the same root as Imám =
antistes, leader of prayer; and conducing to perpetual puns, _e.g._
“You are Imám-i (my leader) and therefore should be Amám-i” (in
advance of me).
Footnote 88:
He was angry, as presently appears, because he had heard of certain
love passages between the two and this in Arabia is a dishonour to the
family.
Footnote 89:
Euphemy for “my daughter.”
Footnote 90:
The Badawin call a sound dollar “Kirsh hajar” or “Riyal hajar” (a
stone dollar; but the word is spelt with the greater _h_).
Footnote 91:
Arab. Burdah and Habárah. The former often translated mantle is a
thick woollen stuff, brown or gray, woven oblong and used like a plaid
by day and by night. Mohammed’s Burdah woven in his Harem and given to
the poet, Ka’ab, was 7½ ft. long by 4½: it is still in the upper
Serraglio of Stambul. In early days the stuff was mostly striped; now
it is either plain or with lines so narrow that it looks like one
colour. The Habarah is a Burd made in Al-Yaman and not to be
confounded with the Egyptian mantilla of like name (Lane, M. E. chapt.
iii).
Footnote 92:
Every Eastern city has its special title. Al-Medinah is entitled
“Al-Munawwarah” (the Illumined) from the blinding light which
surrounds the Prophet’s tomb and which does not show to eyes profane
(Pilgrimage ii. 3). I presume that the idea arose from the huge lamps
of “The Garden.” I have noted that Mohammed’s coffin suspended by
magnets is an idea unknown to Moslems, but we find the fancy in
Al-Harawi related of St. Peter, “Simon Cephas (the rock) is in the
City of Great Rome, in its largest church within a silver ark hanging
by chains from the ceiling.” (Lee, Ibn Batutah, p. 161).
Footnote 93:
Here the fillets are hung instead of the normal rag-strips to denote
an honoured tomb. Lane (iii. 242) and many others are puzzled about
the use of these articles. In many cases they are suspended to trees
in order to transfer sickness from the body to the tree and whoever
shall touch it. The Sawáhílí people term such articles a Keti (seat or
vehicle) for the mysterious haunter of the tree who prefers occupying
it to the patient’s person. Briefly the custom still popular
throughout Arabia, is African and Fetish.
HIND DAUGHTER OF AL-NU’MAN AND AL-HAJJAJ.[94]
It is related that Hind daughter of Al-Nu’man was the fairest woman of
her day, and her beauty and loveliness were reported to Al-Hajjaj, who
sought her in marriage and lavished much treasure on her. So he took her
to wife, engaging to give her a dowry of two hundred thousand dirhams in
case of divorce, and when he went into her, he abode with her a long
time. One day after this, he went in to her and found her looking at her
face in the mirror and saying:—
Hind is an Arab filly purest bred, ✿ Which hath been covered by a
mongrel mule;
An colt of horse she throw by Allah! well; ✿ If mule, it but results
from mulish rule.[95]
When Al-Hajjaj heard this, he turned back and went his way, unseen of
Hind; and, being minded to put her away, he sent Abdullah bin Táhir to
her, to divorce her. So Abdullah went in to her and said to her,
“Al-Hajjaj Abu Mohammed saith to thee: Here be the two hundred thousand
dirhams of thy contingent dowry he oweth thee; and he hath deputed me to
divorce thee.” Replied she, “O Ibn Tahir, I gladly agree to this; for
know that I never for one day took pleasure in him; so, if we separate,
by Allah, I shall never regret him, and these two hundred thousand
dirhams I give to thee as a reward for the glad tidings thou bringest me
of my release from yonder dog of the Thakafites.”[96] After this, the
Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin Marwán, heard of her beauty
and loveliness, her stature and symmetry, her sweet speech and the
amorous grace of her glances and sent to her, to ask her in
marriage;——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Six Hundred and Eighty-second Night,
She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Prince of
True Believers, Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, hearing of the lady’s beauty
and loveliness, sent to ask her in marriage; and she wrote him in reply
a letter, in which, after the glorification of Allah and benediction of
His Prophet, she said, “But afterwards. Know, O Commander of the
Faithful, that the dog hath lapped in the vase.” When the Caliph read
her answer, he laughed and wrote to her, citing his saying (whom may
Allah bless and keep!) “If a dog lap in the vessel of one of you, let
him wash seven times, once thereof with earth,” and adding, “Wash the
affront from the place of use.”[97] With this she could not gainsay him;
so she replied to him, saying (after praise and blessing), “O Commander
of the Faithful I will not consent save on one condition, and if thou
ask me what it is, I reply that Al-Hajjaj lead my camel to the town
where thou tarriest barefoot and clad as he is.”[98] When the Caliph
read her letter, he laughed long and loudly and sent to Al-Hajjaj,
bidding him do as she wished. He dared not disobey the order, so he
submitted to the Caliph’s commandment and sent to Hind, telling her to
make ready for the journey. So she made ready and mounted her litter,
when Al-Hajjaj with his suite came up to Hind’s door and as she mounted
and her damsels and eunuchs rode around her, he dismounted and took the
halter of her camel and led it along, barefooted, whilst she and her
damsels and tirewomen laughed and jeered at him and made mock of him.
Then she said to her tirewoman, “Draw back the curtain of the litter;”
and she drew back the curtain, till Hind was face to face with
Al-Hajjaj, whereupon she laughed at him and he improvised this couplet:—
Though now thou jeer, O Hind, how many a night ✿ I’ve left thee wakeful
sighing for the light.
And she answered him with these two:—
We reck not, an our life escape from bane, ✿ For waste of wealth and
gear that went in vain:
Money may be regained and rank re-won ✿ When one is cured of malady and
pain.
And she ceased not to laugh at him and make sport of him, till they drew
near the city of the Caliph, when she threw down a dinar with her own
hand and said to Al-Hajjaj, “O camel-driver, I have dropped a dirham;
look for it and give it to me.” So he looked and seeing naught but the
dinar, said, “This is a dinar.” She replied, “Nay, ’tis a dirham.” But
he said, “This is a dinar.” Then quoth she, “Praised be Allah who hath
given us in exchange for a paltry dirham a dinar! Give it us.” And
Al-Hajjaj was abashed at this. Then he carried her to the palace of the
Commander of the Faithful, and she went in to him and became his
favourite.——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying
her permitted say.
Now when it was the Six Hundred and Eighty-third Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that men also tell a
tale anent
-----
Footnote 94:
Al-Mas’údí (chapt. xcv.), mentions a Hind bint Asmá and tells a
facetious story of her and the “enemy of Allah,” the poet Jarír.
Footnote 95:
Here the old Shiah hatred of the energetic conqueror of Oman crops out
again. Hind’s song is that of Maysum concerning her husband Mu’áwiyah
which Mrs. Godfrey Clark (’Ilâm-en-Nâs, p. 108) thus translates:—
A hut that the winds make tremble
Is dearer to me than a noble palace;
And a dish of crumbs on the floor of my home
Is dearer to me than a varied feast;
And the soughing of the breeze through every crevice
Is dearer to me than the beating of drums.
Compare with Dr. Carlyle’s No. X.:—
The russet suit of camel’s hair
With spirits light and eye serene
Is dearer to my bosom far
Than all the trappings of a queen, etc. etc.
And with mine (Pilgrimage iii. 262):—
O take these purple robes away,
Give back my cloak of camel’s hair
And bear me from this towering pile
To where the black tents flap i’ the air, etc. etc.
Footnote 96:
Al-Hajjaj’s tribal name was Al-Thakifi or descendant of Thakíf.
According to Al-Mas’udi, he was son of Faríghah (the tall Beauty) by
Yúsuf bin Ukayl the Thakafite and vint au monde tout difforme avec
l’anus obstrué. As he refused the breast, Satan, in human form,
advised suckling him with the blood of two black kids, a black
buck-goat and a black snake; which had the desired effect.
Footnote 97:
Trébutien, iii. 465, translates these sayings into Italian.