eunuch of the Harim having informed the Princess how she had been
demanded in marriage by the Great King and having heard her reply, “I
hear and I obey,” returned therewith to the King and gave him this
answer, whereat he rejoiced with exceeding joy and, calling for a costly
robe of honour, threw it over the Wazir’s shoulders. Furthermore, he
ordered him ten thousand dinars and bade him carry the answer to the
Great King and crave leave for him to pay him a visit. “Hearing and
obeying,” answered the Minister; and, returning to his master, delivered
him the reply and Abd al-Kadir’s message, and repeated all their talk,
whereat he rejoiced greatly and Ardashir was transported for delight and
his breast broadened and he was a most happy man. King Sayf al-A’azam
also gave King Abd al-Kadir leave to come forth to visit him; so, on the
morrow, he took horse and rode to the camp of the Great King, who came
to meet him and saluting him, seated him in the place of honour, and
gave him welcome; and they two sat whilst Ardashir stood before them.
Then arose an orator of the King Abd al-Kadir’s court and pronounced an
eloquent discourse, giving the Prince joy of the attainment of his
desire and of his marriage with the Princess, a Queen among King’s
daughters. When he sat down the Great King caused bring a chest full of
pearls and gems, together with fifty thousand dinars, and said to King
Abd al-Kadir, “I am my son’s deputy in all that concerneth this matter.”
So Abd al-Kadir acknowledged receipt of the marriage-portion and amongst
the rest, fifty thousand dinars for the nuptial festivities; after which
they fetched the Kazis and the witnesses, who wrote out the contract of
marriage between the Prince and Princess, and it was a notable day,
wherein all lovers made merry and all haters and enviers were mortified.
They spread the marriage-feasts and banquets and lastly Ardashir went in
unto the Princess and found her a jewel which had been hidden, an union
pearl unthridden and a filly that none but he had ridden, so he notified
this to his sire. Then King Sayf al-A’azam asked his son, “Hast thou any
wish thou wouldst have fulfilled ere we depart?”; and he answered, “Yes,
O King, know that I would fain take my wreak of the Wazir who entreated
us on evil wise and the eunuch who forged a lie against us.” So the King
sent forthright to Abd al-Kadir, demanding of him the Minister and the
castrato, whereupon he despatched them both to him and he commanded to
hang them over the city gate. After this, they abode a little while and
then sought of Abd al-Kadir leave for his daughter to equip her for
departure. So he equipped her and mounted her in a Takhtrawán, a
travelling litter of red gold, inlaid with pearls and gems and drawn by
noble steeds. She carried with her all her waiting-women and eunuchs, as
well as the nurse, who had returned, after her flight, and resumed her
office. Then King Sayf al-A’azam and his son mounted and Abd al-Kadir
mounted also with all the lords of his land, to take leave of his
son-in-law and daughter; and it was a day to be reckoned of the
goodliest of days. After they had gone some distance, the Great King
conjured Abd al-Kadir to turn back; so he farewelled him and his son,
after he had strained him to his breast and kissed him between the eyes
and thanked him for his grace and favours and commended his daughter to
his care. Then he went in to the Princess and embraced her; and she
kissed his hands and they wept in the standing-place of parting. After
this he returned to his capital and Ardashir and his company fared on,
till they reached Shiraz, where they celebrated the marriage-festivities
anew. And they abode in all comfort and solace and joyance of life, till
there came to them the Destroyer of delights and Severer of societies;
the Depopulator of palaces and the Garnerer of graveyards. And men also
relate the tale of
-----
Footnote 261:
Omitted by Lane (iii. 252) “because little more than a repetition” of
Taj al-Mulúk and the Lady Dunyá. This is true; but the nice progress
of the nurse’s pimping is a well-finished picture and the old woman’s
speech (_infra_ p. 243) is a gem.
Footnote 262:
Artaxerxes; in the Mac. Edit. Azdashír, a misprint.
Footnote 263:
I use “kiss ground” as we say “kiss hands.” But it must not be
understood literally: the nearest approach would be to touch the earth
with the finger-tips and apply them to the lips or brow. Amongst
Hindus the Ashtánga-prostration included actually kissing the ground.
Footnote 264:
The “key” is mentioned because a fee so called (miftáh) is paid on its
being handed to the new lodger (Pilgrimage i. 62).
Footnote 265:
The Koranic term for semen, often quoted.
Footnote 266:
Koran, xii. 31, in the story of Joseph, before noticed.
Footnote 267:
Probably the white woollens, so often mentioned, whose use is now
returning to Europe, where men have a reasonable fear of dyed stuffs,
especially since Aniline conquered Cochineal.
Footnote 268:
Arab. “samír,” one who enjoys the musámarah or night-talk outside the
Arab tents. “Samar” is the shade of the moon, or half darkness when
only stars shine without a moon, or the darkness of a moonless night.
Hence the proverb (A. P. ii. 513) “Má af’al-hú al-samar wa’l kamar;” I
will not do it by moon-darkness or by moonshine, _i.e._ never. I have
elsewhere remarked that “Early to bed and early to rise” is a
civilised maxim; most barbarians sit deep into the night in the light
of the moon of a camp-fire and will not rise till nearly noon. They
agree in our modern version of the old saw:—
Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man surly and gives him red eyes.
The Shayks of Arab tribes especially transact most of their public
business during the dark hours.
Footnote 269:
Suspecting that it had been sent by some Royal lover.
Footnote 270:
Arab. “Rubbamá” a particle more emphatic than rubba, = perhaps,
sometimes, often.
Footnote 271:
“The broken (wall)” from Hatim = breaking. It fences the Hijr or space
where Ishmael is buried (vol. vi. 205); and I have described it in
Pilgrimage iii. 165.
Footnote 272:
Arab. “Faráis” (plur. of farísah): the phrase has often occurred and
is = our “trembled in every nerve.” As often happens in Arabic, it is
“horsey;” alluding to the shoulder-muscles (not shoulder-blades,
Preston p. 89) between neck and flank which readily quiver in
blood-horses when excited or frightened.
Footnote 273:
Arab. “Fazl” = exceeding goodness as in “Fazl wa ma’rifah” = virtue
and learning.
Footnote 274:
Arab. “Al-Mafárik” (plur. of Mafrak), = the pole or crown of the head,
where the hair parts naturally and where baldness mostly begins.
Footnote 275:
Arab. Ná’í al-maut, the person sent round to announce a death to the
friends and relations of the deceased and invite them to the funeral.
Footnote 276:
Arab. Táir al-bayn, any bird, not only the Hátim or black crow, which
announces separation. Crows and ravens flock for food to the camps
broken up for the springtide and autumnal marches, and thus become
emblems of desertion and desolation. The same birds are also connected
with Abel’s burial in the Koran (v. 34), a Jewish tradition borrowed
by Mohammed. Lastly, here is a paronomasia in the words “Ghuráb
al-Bayn” = Raven of the Wold (the black bird with white breast and red
beak and legs): “Ghuráb” (Heb. Oreb) connects with Cuba =
strangerhood, exile, and “Bayn” with distance, interval, disunion, the
desert (between the cultivated spots). There is another and a similar
pun anent the Bán-tree; the first word meaning “he fared, he left.”
Footnote 277:
Arab. “Tayr,” any flying thing, a bird; with true Arab carelessness
the writer waits till the tale is nearly ended before letting us know
that the birds are pigeons (Hamám).
Footnote 278:
Arab. “Karalynn.” The Arabs say, “Allah cool thine eye,” because tears
of grief are hot and those of joy cool (Al-Asma’i); others say the
cool eye is opposed to that heated by watching; and Al-Hariri (Ass.
xxvii.) makes a scorching afternoon “hotter than the tear of a
childless mother.” In the burning climate of Arabia coolth and
refrigeration are equivalent to refreshment and delight.
Footnote 279:
Arab. “Muunah,” the “Mona” of Maroccan travellers (English not Italian
who are scandalised by “Mona”) meaning the provisions supplied gratis
by the unhappy villagers to all who visit them with passport from the
Sultan. Our cousins German have lately scored a great success by
paying for all their rations which the Ministers of other nations,
England included, were mean enough to accept.
Footnote 280:
Arab. “Kaannahu huwa”; lit. = as he (was) he. This reminds us of the
great grammarian, Sibawayh, whose name the Persians derive from
“Apple-flavour” (Sib + BA). He was disputing, in presence of Harun
al-Rashid with a rival Al-Kiss, and advocated the Bastian form,
“Fa-izá huwa hú” (behold, it was he) against the Ku fan, “Fa-izá huwa
IA” (behold, it was him). The enemy overcame him by appealing to
Badawin, who spoke impurely, whereupon Sibawayh left the court,
retired to Khorasan and died, it is said of a broken heart.
Footnote 281:
This is a sign of the Sada or melancholic temperament in which black
bile predominates. It is supposed to cause a distaste for society and
a longing for solitude, an unsettled habit of mind and neglect of
worldly affairs. I remarked that in Arabia students are subject to it,
and that amongst philosophers and literary men of Mecca and Al-Medinah
there was hardly one who was not spoken of as a “Sada.” See Pilgrimage
ii. 49, 50.
Footnote 282:
_i.e._ I am a servant and bound to tell thee what my orders are.
Footnote 283:
A touching lesson how tribes settle matters in the East.
Footnote 284:
_i.e._ fresh from water (Arab. “Rutub”), before the air can tarnish
them. The pearl (margarita) in Arab is Lulu’; the “Union” or large
pearl Durr, plur. Durar. In modern parlance Durr is the second quality
of the twelve into which pearls are divided.
Footnote 285:
_i.e._ the Wazir, but purposely left vague.
Footnote 286:
The whole of the nurse’s speech is admirable: its naïve and striking
picture of conjugal affection goes far to redeem the grossness of The
Nights.
Footnote 287:
The bitterness was the parting in the morning.
Footnote 288:
English “Prin´cess,” too often pronounced in French fashion Princess.
Footnote 289:
In dictionaries “Bán” (Anglice ben-tree) is the myrobalan which
produces gum benzoin. It resembles the tamarisk. Mr. Lyall (p. 74
Translations of Ancient Arab Poetry, Williams and Norgate, 1885),
calls it a species of Moringa, tall, with plentiful and intensely
green foliage used for comparisons on account of its straightness and
graceful shape of its branches. The nut supplies a medicinal oil.
Footnote 290:
A sign of extreme familiarity: the glooms are the hands and the full
moons are the eyes.
Footnote 291:
Arab. “Khal’a al-’izár”: lit. = stripping off jaws or side-beard.
Footnote 292:
Arab. “Shimál” = the north wind.
Footnote 293:
An operation well described by Juvenal—
Illa supercilium, modicâ fuligine tactum,
Obliquâ producit acu, pingitque, trementes
Attolens oculos.
Sonnini (Travels in Egypt, chapt. xvi.) justly remarks that this
pencilling the angles of the eyes with Kohl, which the old Levant
trade called _alquifoux_ or _arquifoux_, makes them appear large and
more oblong; and I have noted that the modern Egyptian (especially
Coptic) eye, like that of the Sphinx and the old figures looks in
profile as if it were seen in full (Pilgrimage i. 214).
Footnote 294:
The same traveller notes a singular property in the Henna-flower that
when smelt closely it exhales a “very powerful spermatic odour,” hence
it became a favourite with women as the tea-rose with us. He finds it
on the nails of mummies, and identifies it with the Kupros of the
ancient Greeks (the moderns call it Kene or Kena) and the Βότρυς τῆς
κύπρου (Botrus cypri) of Solomon’s Song (i. 14). The Hebr. is
“Copher,” a well-known word which the A. V. translates by “a cluster
of camphire (?) in the vineyards of En-gedi”; and a note on iv. 13
ineptly adds, “or, cypress.” The Revised Edit. amends it to “a cluster
of henna-flowers.” The Solomonic (?) description is very correct; the
shrub affects vineyards, and about Bombay forms fine hedges which can
be smelt from a distance.
Footnote 295:
Hardly the equivalent of the Arab. “Kataba” (which includes true
tattooing with needles) and is applied to painting “patches” of blue
or green colour, with sprigs and arabesques upon the arms and
especially the breasts of women. “Kataba” would also be applied to
striping the fingers with Henna which becomes a shining black under a
paste of honey, lime and sal-ammoniac. This “patching” is alluded to
by Strabo and Galen (Lane M. E. chapt ii.); and we may note that
savages and barbarians can leave nothing of beauty unadorned; they
seem to hate a plain surface like the Hindu silversmith, whose art is
shown only in chasing.
Footnote 296:
A violent temper, accompanied with _voies de fait_ and personal
violence, is by no means rare amongst Eastern princesses; and terrible
tales are told in Persia concerning the daughters of Fath Ali Shah.
Few men and no woman can resist the temptations of absolute command.
The daughter of a certain Dictator all-powerful in the Argentine
Republic was once seen on horseback with a white bridle of peculiar
leather; it was made of the skin of a man who had boasted of her
favours. The slave-girls suffer first from these masterful young
persons and then it is the turn of the eunuchry.
Footnote 297:
A neat touch; she was too thoroughbred to care for herself first.
Footnote 298:
Here the ground or earth is really kissed.
Footnote 299:
Corresponding with our phrase, “His heart was in his mouth.”
Footnote 300:
Very artful is the contrast of the love-lorn Princess’s humility with
her furious behaviour, in the pride of her purity, while she was yet a
virginette and fancy free.
Footnote 301:
Arab. “Suhbat-hu” lit. = in company with him, a popular idiom in Egypt
and Syria. It often occurs in the Bresl. Edit.
JULNAR THE SEA-BORN AND HER SON KING BADR BASIM OF PERSIA.
There was once in days of yore and in ages and times long gone before,
in Ajam-land, a King Shahrimán[302] hight, whose abiding-place was
Khorásán. He owned an hundred concubines, but by none of them had he
been blessed with boon of child, male or female, all the days of his
life. One day, among the days, he bethought him of this and fell
lamenting for that the most part of his existence was past and he had
not been vouchsafed a son, to inherit the kingdom after him, even as he
had inherited it from his fathers and forebears; by reason whereof there
betided him sore cark and care and chagrin exceeding. As he sat thus one
of his Mamelukes came in to him and said, “O my lord, at the door is a
slave-girl with her merchant, and fairer than she eye hath never seen.”
Quoth the King, “Hither to me with merchant and maid!”; and both came in
to him. Now when Shahriman beheld the girl, he saw that she was like a
Rudaynian lance,[303] and she was wrapped in a veil of gold-purfled
silk. The merchant uncovered her face, whereupon the place was illumined
by her beauty and her seven tresses hung down to her anklets like
horses’ tails. She had Nature-kohl’d eyes, heavy hips and thighs and
waist of slenderest guise; her sight healed all maladies and quenched
the fire of sighs, for she was even as the poet cries:—
I love her madly for she is perfect fair, ✿ Complete in gravity and
gracious way;
Nor over-tall nor over-short, the while ✿ Too full for trousers are
those hips that sway:
Her shape is midmost ’twixt o’er small and tall; ✿ Nor long to blame nor
little to gainsay:
O’erfall her anklets tresses black as night ✿ Yet in her face resplends
eternal day.
The King seeing her marvelled at her beauty and loveliness, her symmetry
and perfect grace and said to the merchant, “O Shaykh, how much for this
maiden?” Replied the merchant, “O my lord, I bought her for two thousand
dinars of the merchant who owned her before myself, since when I have
travelled with her three years and she hath cost me, up to the time of
my coming hither, other three thousand gold pieces; but she is a gift
from me to thee.” The King robed him with a splendid robe of honour and
ordered him ten thousand ducats, whereupon he kissed his hands, thanking
him for his bounty and beneficence, and went his ways. Then the King
committed the damsel to the tire-women, saying, “Amend ye the case of
this maiden[304] and adorn her and furnish her a bower and set her
therein.” And he bade his chamberlains carry her everything she needed
and shut all the doors upon her. Now his capital wherein he dwelt, was
called the White City and was seated on the sea-shore; so they lodged
her in a chamber, whose latticed casements overlooked the main.——And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the King after
taking the maiden, committed her to the tire-women bidding them amend
her case and set her in a bower, and ordered his chamberlains to shut
all the doors upon her when they had lodged her in a chamber whose
latticed casements overlooked the main. Then Shahriman went in to her;
but she spake not to him neither took any note of him.[305] Quoth he,
“’Twould seem she hath been with folk who have not taught her manners.”
Then he looked at the damsel and saw her surpassing beauty and
loveliness and symmetry and perfect grace, with a face like the rondure
of the moon at its full or the sun shining in the sheeny sky. So he
marvelled at her charms of favour and figure and he praised Allah the
Creator (magnified be His might!), after which he walked up to her and
sat him down by her side; then he pressed her to his bosom and seating
her on his thighs, sucked the dew of her lips, which he found sweeter
than honey. Presently he called for trays spread with richest viands of
all kinds and ate and fed her by mouthfuls, till she had enough; yet she
spoke not one word. The King began to talk to her and asked her of her
name; but she abode still silent and uttered not a syllable nor made him
any answer, neither ceased to hang down her head groundwards; and it was
but the excess of her beauty and loveliness and the amorous grace that
saved her from the royal wrath. Quoth he to himself, “Glory be to God,
the Creator of this girl! How charming she is, save that she speaketh
not! But perfection belongeth only to Allah the Most High.” And he asked
the slave-girls whether she had spoken, and they said, “From the time of
her coming until now she hath not uttered a word nor have we heard her
address us.” Then he summoned some of his women and concubines and bade
them sing to her and make merry with her, so haply she might speak.
Accordingly they played before her all manner instruments of music and
sports and what not and sang, till the whole company was moved to mirth,
except the damsel, who looked at them in silence, but neither laughed
nor spoke. The King’s breast was straitened; thereupon he dismissed the
women and abode alone with that damsel: after which he doffed his
clothes and disrobing her with his own hand, looked upon her body and
saw it as it were a silvern ingot. So he loved her with exceeding love
and falling upon her, took her maidenhead and found her a pure virgin;
whereat he rejoiced with excessive joy and said in himself, “By Allah,
’tis a wonder that a girl so fair of form and face should have been left
by the merchants a clean maid as she is!”[306] Then he devoted himself
altogether to her, heeding none other and forsaking all his concubines
and favourites, and tarried with her a whole year as it were a single
day. Still she spoke not till, one morning he said to her (and indeed
the love of her and longing waxed upon him), “O desire of souls, verily
passion for thee is great with me, and I have forsaken for thy sake all
my slave-girls and concubines and women and favourites and I have made
thee my portion of the world and had patience with thee a whole year;
and now I beseech Almighty Allah, of His favour, to soften thy heart to
me, so thou mayst speak to me. Or, an thou be dumb, tell me by a sign,
that I may give up hope of thy speech. I pray the Lord (extolled be He!)
to vouchsafe me by thee a son child, who shall inherit the kingdom after
me; for I am old and lone and have none to be my heir. Wherefore, Allah
upon thee, an thou love me, return me a reply.” The damsel bowed her
head awhile in thought, and presently raising it, smiled in his face;
whereat it seemed to him as if lightning filled the chamber. Then she
said, “O magnanimous liege lord, and valorous lion, Allah hath answered
thy prayer, for I am with child by thee and the time of my delivery is
near at hand, though I know not if the unborn babe be male or
female.[307] But, had I not conceived by thee, I had not spoken to thee
one word.” When the King heard her speech, his face shone with joy and
gladness and he kissed her head and hands for excess of delight, saying,
“Alhamdolillah—laud to Lord—who hath vouchsafed me the things I
desired!; first, thy speech, and secondly, thy tidings that thou art
with child by me.” Then he rose up and went forth from her and, seating
himself on the throne of his kingship, in an ecstasy of happiness, bade
his Wazir distribute to the poor and needy and widows and others an
hundred thousand dinars, by way of thank-offering to Allah Most High and
alms on his own account. The Minister did as bidden by the King who,
returning to the damsel, sat with her and embraced and pressed her to
his breast, saying, “O my lady, my queen, whose slave I am, prithee what
was the cause of this thy silence? Thou hast been with me a whole year,
night and day, waking and sleeping, yet hast not spoken to me till this
day.” She replied, “Hearken, O King of the Age, and know that I am a
wretched exile, broken-hearted and far-parted from my mother and my
family and my brother.” When the King heard her words, he knew her
desire and said, “As for thy saying that thou art wretched, there is for
such speech no ground, inasmuch as my kingdom and good and all I possess
are at thy service and I also am become thy bondman; but, as for thy
saying:—I am parted from my mother and brother and family, tell me where
they are and I will send and fetch them to thee.” Thereupon she
answered, “Know, then, O auspicious King, that I am called Julnár[308]
the Sea-born and that my father was of the Kings of the Main. He died
and left us his reign, but while we were yet unsettled, behold, one of
the other Kings arose against us and took the realm from our hands. I
have a brother called Sálih, and my mother also is a woman of the sea;
but I fell out with my brother “The Pious” and swore that I would throw
myself into the hands of a man of the folk of the land. So I came forth
of the sea and sat down on the edge of an island in the moonshine,[309]
where a passer-by found me and, carrying me to his house, besought me of
love-liesse; but I smote him on the head, so that he all but died;
whereupon he carried me forth and sold me to the merchant from whom thou
hadst me, and this was a good man and a virtuous; pious, loyal and
generous. Were it not that thy heart loved me and that thou promotedest
me over all thy concubines, I had not remained with thee a single hour,
but had cast myself from this window into the sea and gone to my mother
and family; but I was ashamed to fare them-wards, being with child by
thee; for they would have deemed evilly of me and would not have
credited me, even although I swore to them, an I told them that a King
had bought me with his gold and made me his portion of the world and
preferred me over all his wives and every thing that his right hand
possessed. This then is my story and—the Peace!”——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Fortieth Night,