By W. F. KIRBY.
History of the King's Son of Sind and the Lady Fatimah
(pp. 1-18).
P. 3.--This mixture of seeds, &c., is a very common incident in folk-tales.
P. 7.--Compare the well-known incident in John xviii. 1-11, which passage, by
the way, is considered to be an interpolation taken from the lost Gospel of
the Hebrews.
History of the Lovers of Syria (pp. 21-36).
P. 18.--Divination by the flight or song of birds is so universal that it is
ridiculous of Kreutzwald (the compiler of the Kalevipoeg) to quote the fact of
the son of Kalev applying to birds and beasts for advice as being intended by
the composers as a hint that he was deficient in intelligence.
In Bulwer Lytton's story of the Fallen Star (Pilgrims of the Rhine, ch. xix.)
he makes the imposter Morven determine the succession to the chieftainship by
means of a trained hawk.
P. 26, note 2.--Scott may possibly refer to the tradition that the souls of
the dead are stored up in the trumpet of Israfil, when he speaks of the
"receiving angel."
History of Al-Hajjaj Bin Yusuf and the Young Sayyid
(pp. 39-60).
P. 43, note 1.--I doubt if the story-teller intended to represent Al-Hajjaj as
ignorant. The story rather implies that he was merely catechising the youth,
in order to entangle him in his talk.
P. 46.--Compare the story of the Sandal-wood Merchant and the Sharpers
(Nights, vi. p. 206) in which the Merchant is required to drink up the sea [or
rather, perhaps, river], and requires his adversary to hold the mouth of the
sea for him with his hand.
P. 52, note 3.--It is well known that children should not be allowed to sleep
with aged persons, as the latter absorb their vitality.
Night Adventure of Harun Al-Rashid and the Youth Manjab
(pp. 61-105).
P. 102.--In the Danish ballads we frequently find heroes appealing to their
mothers or nurses in cases of difficulty. Compare "Habor and Signild," and
"Knight Stig's Wedding," in Prior's Danish Ballads, i. p. 216 and ii. p. 339.
Story of the Darwaysh and the Barber's Boy and the
Greedy Sultan (pp. 105-114).
This story belongs to the large category known to students of folk-lore as the
Sage and his Pupil; and of this again there are three main groups:
1. Those in which (as in the present instance) the two remain on friendly
terms.
2. Those in which the sage is outwitted and destroyed by his pupil (e.g.,
Cazotte's story of the Maugraby; or Spitta Bey's tales, No. 1).
3. Those in which the pupil attempts to outwit or to destroy the sage, and is
himself outwitted or destroyed (e.g., The Lady's Fifth Story, in Gibb's Forty
Vezirs, pp. 76-80; and his App. B. note v., p. 413).
The Loves of Al-Hayfa and Yusuf (pp. 121-210).
P. 149, note 1.--I believe that a sudden attack of this kind is always speedily fatal.
The Goodwife of Cairo and Her Four Gallants (pp.
251-294).
P. 255, note.--It may be worth while to note that Swedenborg asserts that it
is unlawful in Heaven for any person to look at the back of the head of
another, as by so doing he interrupts the divine influx. The foundation of
this idea is perhaps the desire to avoid mesmeric action upon the cerebellum.
Tale of Mohsin and Muss (pp. 232-241).
The notes on the story of Abu Niyyat and Abu Niyyateen (supra, pp. 356) will
apply still better to the present story.
The Merchant's Daughter, and the Prince of Al-irak (pp.
264-317).
Pp. 305-312.--The case of Tobias and Sara (Tobit, chaps. iii.-viii.) was very
similar: but in this instance the demon Asmodeus was driven away by fumigating
with the liver and heart of a fish.
Arabian Nights, Volume 15
Footnotes
[FN#1] In the same volume (ii. 161) we also find an "Introductory Chapter of the Arabian Tales," translated from an original manuscript by Jonathan Scott, Esq.; neither MS nor translation having any merit. In pp. 34, 35 (ibid.) are noticed the "Contents of a Fragment of the Arabian Nights procured in India by James Anderson, Esq., a copy of which" (made by his friend Scott) "is now in the possession of Jonathan Scott, Esq." (See Scott, vol. vi. p. 451.) For a short but sufficient notice of this fragment cf. the Appendix (vol. x. p. 497) to my Thousand Nights and a Night, the able and conscientious work of Mr. W. F. Kirby. "The Labourer and the Flying Chain" (No. x.) and "The King's Son who escaped death by the ingenuity of his Father's seven Viziers" (No. xi.) have been translated or rather abridged by Scott in his "Tales, Anecdotes and Letters" before alluded to, a vol. of pp. 446 containing scraps from the Persian "Tohfat al-Maj�lis" and "Hazliy�t' Abb�d Zahk�n�" (Faceti� of 'Abb�d the Jester), with letters from Aurangzeb and other such padding much affected by the home public in the Early XIXth Century.
[FN#2] So called from Herr Uri, a Hungarian scholar who first
catalogued "The Contents."
[FN#3] W. M. MS. iv. 165�189: Scott (vi. 238�245), "Story of the
Prince of Sind, and Fatima, daughter of Amir Bin Naomaun":
Gauttier (vi. 342�348) Histoire du Prince de Sind et de Fatime.
Sind is so called from Sindhu, the Indus (in Pers. Sind�b), is
the general name of the riverine valley: in early days it was a
great station of the so-called Aryan race, as they were migrating eastwards into India Proper, and it contains many Holy Places dating from the era of the Pur�n�s. The Moslems soon made
acquaintance with it, and the country was conquered and annexed
by Mohammed bin K�sim, sent to attack it by the famous or
infamous Hajj�j bin Y�suf the Thakafite, lieutenant of Al-'Ir�k
under the Ommiade Abd al-Malik bin Marw�n. For details, see my
"Sind Re-visited": vol. i. chapt. viii.
[FN#4] [In MS. "shakhat," a modern word which occurs in Spitta
Bey's "Contes Arabes Modernes," spelt with the palatal instead of the dental, and is translated there by "injurier."--ST.]
[FN#5] In the text "Sahr�j"; hence the "Chafariz" (fountain) of
Portugal, which I derived (Highlands of the Brazil, i. 46) from
"Sak�r�j." It is a "Moghrabin" word = fonte, a fountain, preserved in the Brazil and derided in the mother country, where a New World village is described as
--Chafariz,
Joam Antam e a Matriz:
which may be roughly rendered
--Parish church,
Pump on the Green and Johnny Birch.
[FN#6] [Here I suppose the scribe dropped a word, as "yaht�j," or the like, and the sentence should read: it requires, etc.--ST.]
[FN#7] In text "S�rayah," for "Sar�yah," Serai, Government House: vol. ix. 52.
[FN#8] A manner of metonymy, meaning that he rested his cheek
upon his right hand.
[FN#9] For the sig. of this phrase = words suggested by the
circumstances, see vol. i. 121.
[FN#10] Mr. Charles M. Doughty ("Arabia Deserta," i. 223) speaks
of the Badawin who "sit beating the time away, and for pastime
limning with their driving-sticks (the B�k�r) in the idle land."
[FN#11] In text "Lam yan�b al-W�hidu min-hum nisf haff�n." [I
cannot explain this sentence satisfactory to myself, but by
inserting "ill�" after "min-hum." Further I would read "nassaf" = libavit, delibavit, degustavit (Dozy, Suppl. s. v.) and "Hif�n," pl. of "Hafna" = handful, mouthful, small quantity, translating accordingly: "and none took his turn without sipping a few laps."--ST.]
[FN#12] "Tarajjama": Suppl. vol. iv. 188. I shall always
translate it by "he deprecated" scil. evil to the person
addressed.
[FN#13] [The text, as I read it, has: "In wahadtu (read wajadtu)
f� h�zih al-S�'�h shayyan naakul-hu wa nam�t bi-hi nart�h min
h�z� al-Taab wa'l-mashakkah la-akultu-hu" = if I could find at this hour a something (i.e. in the way of poison) which I might eat and die thereby and rest from this toil and trouble, I would
certainly eat it, etc.--ST.]
[FN#14] See vol. i. 311 for this "tom-tom" as Anglo-Indians call
it.
[FN#15] i.e. Whereinto the happy man was able to go, which he
could not whilst the spell was upon the hoard.
[FN#16] Here ends this tale, a most lame and impotent conclusion, in the W. M. MS. iv. 189. Scott (p. 244�5) copied by Gauttier (vi. 348) has, "His father received him with rapture, and the prince having made an apology to the sultana (!) for his former rude behaviour, she received his excuses, and having no child of her own readily adopted him as her son; so that the royal family lived henceforth in the utmost harmony, till the death of the sultan and sultana, when the prince succeeded to the empire."
[FN#17] W. M. MS. iv. 189. Scott (vi. 246-258) "Story of the Lovers of Syria; or, the Heroine:" Gauttier (iv. 348-354) Histoire des Amans de Syrie.
[FN#18] Scott (vi. 246) comments upon the text:--"The master of
the ship having weighed anchor, hoisted sail and departed: the
lady in vain entreating him to wait the return of her beloved, or send her on shore, for he was captivated with her beauty. Finding herself thus ensnared, as she was a woman of strong mind . . . she assumed a satisfied air; and as the only way to preserve her honour, received the addresses of the treacherous master with pretended complacency, and consented to receive him as a husband at the first port at which the ship might touch."
[FN#19] The captain, the skipper, not the owner: see vols. i.
127; vi. 12; the fem. (which we shall presently find) is
"Ra'isah."
[FN#20] Scott (p. 246) has:--"At length the vessel anchored near
a city, to which the captain went to make preparations for his
marriage; but the lady, while he was on shore, addressed the
ship's crew, setting forth with such force his treacherous
conduct to herself, and offering such rewards if they would
convey her to her lover at the port they had left, that the
honest sailors were moved in her favour, agreed to obey her as
their mistress, and hoisting sail, left the master to shift for
himself."
[FN#21] In text "Kamrah," = the chief cabin, from the Gr. ?a�??a = vault; Pers. Kamar; Lat. "Camera" or "Camara"; Germ. "Kammer."
It is still the popular term in Egypt for the "cuddy," which is
derived from Pers. "Kadah" = a room.
[FN#22] Scott makes the doughty damsel (p. 249), "relate to them
her own adventures, and assure them that when she should have
rejoined her lover, they should, if they chose it, be honourably
restored to their homes; but in the mean time she hoped they
would contentedly share her fortunes."
[FN#23] In text "Fid�wi," see "Fid�'i" and "Fidaw�yah," suppl.
vol. iv. 281.
[FN#24] [In the text "Al-K�z�n�t," pl. of "K�z�n," which occurs
in Spitta Bey's tales under the form "Kaz�n" on account of the
accent. It is the Turkish "Kazgh�n," vulgarly pronounced "Kazan," and takes in Persian generally the form "Kazk�n." In Night 652 it will be met again in the sense of crucibles.--ST.]
[FN#25] In text "Banj al-tayy�r," i.e. volatile: as we should
say, that which flies fastest to the brain.
[FN#26] This marvellous bird, the "Ter-il-bas" (Tayr T��s?), is a particular kind of peacock which is introduced with a monstrous amount of nonsense about "Dagon and his son Bil-il-Sanan" and made to determine elections by alighting upon the head of one of the candidates in Chavis and Cazotte, "History of Yamalladdin (Jam�l al-Din), Prince of Great Katay" (Kh�t� = Cathay = China). See Heron, iv. 159.
[FN#27] Lit. "hath given it to him."
[FN#28] Arab. "Jih�z," the Egypt. "Gah�z," which is the Scotch
"tocher," and must not be confounded with the "Mahr" = dowry,
settled by the husband upon the wife. Usually it consists of
sundry articles of dress and ornament, furniture (matting and
bedding carpets, divans, cushions and kitchen utensils), to which the Badawi add "Girbahs" (water-skins), querns, and pestles with mortars. These are usually carried by camels from the bride's house to the bridegroom's: they are the wife's property, and if divorced she takes them away with her and the husband has no control over the married woman's capital, interest or gains. For other details see Lane M.E. chapt. vi. and Herklots chapt. xiv. sec. 7.
[FN#29] [Arab. "Shuw�r" = trousseau, whence the verb "shawwara
binta-hu" = he gave a marriage outfit to his daughter. See Dozy
Suppl. s. v. and Arnold's Chrestom. 157, 1. --ST.]
[FN#30] Arab. "Ghash�m," see vol. ii. 330. It is a favourite word in Egypt extending to Badawi-land, and especially in Cairo, where it is looked upon as slighting if not insulting.
[FN#31] The whole of the scene is a replica of the marriage
between Kamar al-Zam�n and that notable blackguard the Lady Bud�r (vol. iii. 211), where also we find the pigeon slaughtered (p. 289). I have mentioned that the blood of this bird is supposed throughout the East, where the use of the microscope is unknown, and the corpuscles are never studied, most to resemble the results of a bursten hymen, and that it is the most used to
deceive the expert eyes of midwives and old matrons. See note to
vol. iii. p. 280.
[FN#32] Scott (p. 254) makes his heroine "erect a most
magnificent caravanserai, furnished with baths hot and cold, and
every convenience for the weary traveller." Compare this device
with the public and royal banquet (p. 212) contrived by the
slave-girl sultaness, the charming Zumurrud or Smaragdine in the
tale of Ali Sh�r, vol. iv. 187.
[FN#33] In text "Shakhs," see vol. iii. 26; viii. 159.
[FN#34] This assemblage of the dramatis person� at the end of the scene, highly artistic and equally improbably, reminds us of the ending of King Omar bin al-Nu'uman (vol. iii. 112).
[FN#35] The King and the Minister could not have recognised the
portrait as neither had seen the original.
[FN#36] In text "Ishtalaka" = he surmised, discovered (a secret).
[FN#37] In the Arab. "she knew them," but the careless
storyteller forgets the first part of his own story.
[FN#38] Story-telling being servile work.
[FN#39] [In the MS. "istanat� l�-ha." The translation in the text presupposes the reading "istanatt�" as the 10th form of "natt" = he jumped, he leaped. I am inclined to take it for the 8th form of "sanat," which according to Dozy stands in its 2nd form "sannat" for "sannat," a transposition of the classical "nassat" = he listened to. The same word with the same meaning of "listening attentively," recurs in the next line in the singular, applying to the captain and the following pronoun "la-h�" refers in both passages to "Hik�yah," tale, not to the lady-sultan who reveals herself only later, when she has concluded her narrative.--ST.]
[FN#40] Here the converse is probably meant, as we have before
seen.
[FN#41] Scott ends (p. 258) "Years of unusual happiness passed
over the heads of the fortunate adventurers of this history,
until death, the destroyer of all things, conducted them to a
grave which must one day be the resting-place for ages of us all, till the receiving (?) angel shall sound his trumpet."
[FN#42] Scott (vi. 259-267), "Story of Hyjuaje, the tyrannical
Governor of Coufeh, and the Young Syed." For the difference
between the "Sayyid" (descendant of Hasan) and the "Shar�f,"
derived from Husayn, see vol. v. 259. Being of the Holy House the youth can truly deny that he belongs to any place or race, as will be seen in the sequel.
[FN#43] This masterful administrator of the Caliphate under the
early Ommiades is noticed in vols. iv. 3, vii. 97. The succession to the Prophet began--as mostly happens in the proceedings of elective governments, republics, and so forth--with the choice of a nobody, "Abubakr the Veridical," a Meccan merchant, whose chief claim was the glamour of the Apostolate. A more notable personage, and seen under the same artificial light, was "Omar the Justiciary," also a trader of Meccah, who was murdered for an act of injustice. In Osman nepotism and corruption so prevailed, while distance began to dim the Apostolic glories, that the blood-thirsty turbulence of the Arab was aroused and caused the death of the third Caliph by what we should call in modern phrase "lynching." Ali succeeded, if indeed we can say he succeeded at all, to an already divided empire. He was the only one of the four who could be described as a man of genius, and therefore he had a host of enemies: he was a poet, a sage, a moralist and even a grammarian; brave as a lion, strong as a bull, a successful and experienced captain, yet a complete failure as a King. A mere child in mundane matters, he ever acted in a worldly sense as he should have avoided acting, and hence, after a short and disastrous reign, he also was killed. His two sons, Hasan and Husayn, inherited all the defects and few of the merits of their sire: Hasan was a pauvre diable, whose chief characteristic was addiction to marriage, and by poetical justice one of his wives murdered him. Husayn was of stronger mould, but he fought against the impossible; for his rival was Mu'�wiyah, the Cavour of the
Age, the longest-headed man in Arabia, and against Yez�d, who,
like Italy of the present day, flourished and prospered by the
artificial game which the far-seeing politician, his father, had
bequeathed to his house--the Ommiade. The fourth of this dynasty, 'Abd al-Malik bin Marw�n, "the Father of Flies," and his successor, Al-Walid, were happy in being served thoroughly and unscrupulously by Al-Hajj�j, the ablest of Lieutenants, whose specialty it was to take in hand a revolted province, such as Al-Hij�z, Al-Ir�k, or Khor�s�n, and to slaughter it into
submission; besides deaths in battle he is computed to have slain 120,000 men. He was an unflinching preacher of the Divine Right of Kings and would observe that the Lord says, "Obey Allah an ye can" (conditional), but as regards royal government "Hearing and obeying" (absolute); ergo, all opposition was to be cut down and uprooted. However, despite his most brilliant qualities, his learning, his high and knightly sense of honour, his insight and his foresight (e.g. in building W�sit), he won an immortality of infamy: he was hated by his contemporaries, he is the subject of silly tale and offensive legend (e.g., that he was born without anus, which required opening with instruments, and he was suckled by Satan's orders on blood), and he is still execrated as the tyrant, per excellentiam, and the oppressor of the Holy Family--the children and grand-children of the Apostle.
The traditional hatred of Al-Hajjaj was envenomed by the
accession of the Abbasides and this dynasty, the better to
distinguish itself from the Ommiades, affected love for the Holy
Family, especially Ali and his descendants, and a fanatical
hatred against their oppressors. The following table from Ibn
Khald�n (Introduct. xxii.) shows that the Caliphs were cousins,
which may account for their venomous family feud.
[First Version]
'Abd Manaf
|
____________|____________
| |
Hashim Abd Shams
| |
Abd al-Muttalib Umayyah
| |
___________|__________ ____|______
| | | | |
Al-Abbas Abdullah Abu Talib Harb Abu 'l-Aus
| | | | |
Abdullah Mohammed | Abu Sufyan Al-Hakim
| | | | |
Ali Fatimah married Ali Mu'awiyah Marwan
| _____|_____ (1st Ommiade)
| | |
Mohammed Al-Hasan Al-Husayn
|
Al-Saff�h
(1st Abbaside)
[Second Version]
'Abd Manaf, father of Hashim and Abd Shams
Hashim, father of Abd al-Muttalib
Abd al-Muttalib, father of Al-Abbas, Abdullah, and Abu Talib
Al-Abbas, father of Abdullah
Abdullah, father of Ali
Ali, father of Mohammed
Mohammed, father of Al-Saff�h (1st Abbaside)
Abdullah, father of Mohammed
Mohammed, father of Fatimah, who married Ali
(son of Abu Talib)
Fatimah, mother of Al-Hasan and Al-Husayn
Abu Talib, father of Ali
Abd Shams, father of Umayyah
Umayyah, father of Harb and Abu 'l-Aus
Harb, father of Abu Sufyan
Abu Sufyan, father of Mu'awiyah (1st Ommiade)
Abu 'l-Aus, father of Al-Hakim
Al-Hakim, father of Marwan
[FN#44] [The word here translated "invited guest" reads in the
MS. "Mad'�r." In this form it is no dictionary word, but under
the root "D'r" I find in the Muh�t: "wa 'l-'�matu tak�lu ful�nun
da'irun ya'n� ghal�zun j�fin" = the common people say such a one
is "da'ir," i.e., rude, churlish. "Mad'�r" may be a synonym and
rendered accordingly: as though thou wert a boor or clown.--ST]
[FN#45] A neat specimen of the figure anachronism. Al-Hajjaj died in A.H. 95 (= A.D. 714), and Cairo was built in A.H. 358 (= A.D. 968).
[FN#46] Perfectly true even in the present day. The city was famed for intelligence and sanguinary fanaticism; and no stranger in disguise could pass through it without detection. This ended with the massacre of 1840, which brought a new era into the Moslem East. The men are, as a rule, fine-looking, but they seem to be all show: we had a corps of them in the old B�sh-Buzuks, who, after a month or two in camp, seemed to have passed suddenly from youth into old age.
[FN#47] In text, "Yasta'amil�na al-Mrd," which may have a number
of meanings, e.g. "work frowardness" (Maradd), or "work the fruit of the tree Ar�k" (Marad = wild capparis) and so forth. I have chosen the word mainly because "Murd" rhymes to "Burd." The
people of Al-Yaman are still deep in the Sotadic Zone and
practice; this they owe partly to a long colonization of the
"'Ajam," or Persians. See my Terminal Essay, � "Pederasty," p.
205.
[FN#48] "Burd," plur. of "Burdah" = mantle or woollen plaid of
striped stuff: vol. vii. 95. They are still woven in Arabia, but
they are mostly white.
[FN#49] So in Tabari (vol. III. 127) Al Hajj�j sees a man of
haughty mien (Abd al-Rahm�n bin Abdullah), and exclaims, "Regarde comme il est orgueilleux: par Dieu, j'aurais envie de lui couper la t�te!"
[FN#50] [The phrase is Koranic (viii. 24): "Wa 'lam� anna 'll�ha
yah�lu bayna 'l-mari wa kalbi-hi," which Rodwell translates: Know that God cometh in between man and his own heart.--ST]
[FN#51] "Yathrib," the classical name ?at??ppa, one of the
multifarious titles of what is called in full "Mad�nat al-Nabi,"
City of the Prophet, and vulgarly, Al-Madinah, the City.
"Tayyibah," the good, sweet, or lawful: "Al-Munawwarah" = the
enlightened, i.e. by the light of The Faith and the column of
(odylic) flame supposed to be based upon the Prophet's tomb. For
more, see my Pilgrimage, ii. 162. I may note how ridiculously the story-teller displays ignorance in Al-Hajjaj, who knew the
Moslem's Holy Land by heart.
[FN#52] In text "Taaw�l," = the commentary or explanation of
Moslem Holy Writ: "Tanz�l" = coming down, revelation of the
Koran: "Tahr�m" = rendering any action "har�m" or unlawful, and
"Tahl�l" = the converse, making word or deed canonically legal.
Those are well-known theological terms.
[FN#53] The Ban� Gh�lib, whose eponymous forefather was Gh�lib,
son of Fihr, the well-known ancestor of Mohammed.
[FN#54] In text "Hasab wa Nasab." It is told of Al-Mu'izz bi
D�ni'llah, first Fatimite Caliph raised to the throne of Egypt,
that he came forward to the elective assembly and drew his sword
half way out of the scabbard and exclaimed "H�z� Nasab�" (this is my genealogy); and then cast handfuls of gold amongst the crowd, crying, "H�z� Hasab�" (such is my title to reign). This is as good as the traditional saying of Napoleon the Great at his first assuming the iron crown--"God gave her to me; woe for whoso toucheth her" (the crown).
[FN#55] [In MS. "takhsa-u," a curious word of venerable yet green old age, used in the active form with both transitive and
intransitive meaning: to drive away (a dog, etc.), and to be
driven away. In the Koran (xxiii. 110) we find the imper.
"ikhsa�" = be ye driven away, and in two other places (ii. 61,
vii. 166), the nomen agentis "kh�si" = "scouted" occurs, as
applied to the apes into which the Sabbath-breaking Jews were
transformed. In the popular language of the present day it has
become equivalent with "kh�ba," to be disappointed, and may here
be translated: thou wilt fail ignominiously.--ST]
[FN#56] Scott introduces (p. 262), "the tyrant, struck with his
magnanimity, became calm, and commanding the executioner to
release the youth, said, For the present I forbear, and will not
kill thee unless thy answers to my further questions shall
deserve it. They then entered on the following dialogue: Hyjuawje hoping to entrap him in discourse."
[FN#57] See the dialogue on this subject between Al-Hajjaj and
Y�hy� ibn Yamar in Ibn Khallikan, iv. 60.
[FN#58] Surah xxxiii. (The Confederates), v. 40, which ends, "And Allah knoweth all things."
[FN#59] Surah lix. (The Emigration), v. 40: the full quotation
would be, "The spoil, taken from the townsfolk and assigned by
Allah to His Apostle, belongeth to Allah and to the Apostle and
to his kindred and to the orphan and to the poor and to the
wayfarer, that naught thereof may circulate among such only of
you as be rich. What the Apostle hath given you, take. What he
hath refused you, refuse. And fear ye Allah, for Allah is sure in punishing."
[FN#60] The House of H�shim, great-grandfather to the Prophet.
[FN#61] Ibn Khallikan (vol. i. 354) warns us that "Al-Ta�" means
belonging to the Ta� which is a famous tribe. This relative
adjective is of irregular formation; analogy would require it to
be T���; but the formation of relative adjectives admits some
variations; thus from dahr (time) is derived duhr� (temporal) and from sahl (a plain), suhl� (plain, level). The author might also have told us that there is always a reason for such
irregularities; thus "Dahr�" (from Dahr) would mean a Mundanist,
one who believes in this world and not the next or another.
[FN#62] The "Ban� Thak�f" was a noble tribe sprung from Iy�d (Ibn Khallikan i. 358-363); but the ignorant and fanatic scribe uses every means, fair and foul, to defame Al-Hajjaj. It was a great race and a well known, living about T�if in the Highlands East of Meccah, where they exist to the present day. Mr. Doughty (loc. cit. ii. 174) mentions a kindred of the Juhaynah Badawin called El-Thegif (Thak�f) of whom the Medinites say, "Allah ya'alan Theg�f Kudd�m takuf" (God damn the Theg�f ere thou stand still). They are called "Yahud" (Jews), probably meaning pre-Islamitic Arabs, and are despised accordingly.
[FN#63] In Arab. "Jady" = the Zodiacal sign Capricorn.
[FN#64] We find a similar facetia in Mullah J�m� (Garden viii.).
When a sheep leapt out of the stream, her tail happened to be
raised, and a woolcarder said laughing:--"I have seen thy parts
genital." She turned her head and replied, "O miserable, for many a year I have seen thee mother-naked yet never laughed I." This alludes to the practice of such artisans who on account of the heat in their workshops and the fibre adhering to their clothes work in naturalibus. See p. 178, the Beharist�n (Abode of Spring). Printed by the Kamashastra Society for Private
Subscribers only. Benares, 1887.
[FN#65] This passage is not Koranic, and, according to Prof.
Houdas, the word "Muhkaman" is never found in the Holy Volume.
[The passage is not a literal quotation, but it evidently alludes to Koran iii. 5: "Huwa'llaz� anzal� 'alayka 'l-kit�ba minhu �y�tun muhkam�tun" = He it is who sent down to thee the book, some of whose signs (or versets) are confirmed. The singular "muhkamatun" is applied (xlvii.) to "S�ratun," a chapter, and in both places the meaning of "confirmed" is "not abrogated by later revelations." Hence the sequel of my first quotation these portions are called "the mother (i.e. groundwork) of the book," and the learned Sayyid is not far from the mark after all.--ST]
[FN#66] Surah ii. (The Cow) v. 56, the verse beginning, "Allah!
there be no God but He; ... His Throne overreacheth the Heavens
and the Hearth," etc.
[FN#67] Surah lxxiii. (The Bee) v. 92, ending with, "And he
forbiddeth frowardness and wrong-doing and oppression; and He
warneth you that haply may ye be warned."
[FN#68] Surah (Meccah) xcix. vv. 7 and 8: in text "Mithk�la
Zarratin," which Mr. Rodwell (p. 28) englishes "an atom's weight
of good," and adds in a foot-note, "Lit. a single ant." Prof.
Houdas would render it, Quiconque aura fait la valeur d'un
mitskal de millet en fait de bien; but I hardly think that
"Zarrah" can mean "Durrah" = millet. ["Mithk�l" in this context
is explained by the commentators by "Wazn" = weight, this being
the original meaning of the word which is a nomen instrumenti of
the form "Mif'�l," denoting "that by which the gravity of bodies
is ascertained." Later on it became the well-known technical term for a particular weight. "Zarrah," according to some glossarists, is the noun of unity of "Zarr," the young ones of the ant, an antlet, which is said to weigh the twelfth part of a "Kitm�r" = pedicle of the date-fruit, or the hundredth part of a grain of barley, or to have no weight at all. Hence "Mukhkh al-Zarr," the brains of the antlet, means a thing that does not exist or is impossible to be found. According to others, "Zarrah" is a particle of al-Hab�, i.e. of the motes that are seen dancing in the sunlight, called "Sonnenst�ubchen" in German, and "atomo solare" in Italian. Koran xxi. 48 and xxxi. 15 we find the expression "Mithk�la Habbatin min Khardalin" = of the weight of a mustard-seed, used in a similar sense with the present quotation.--ST]
[FN#69] Surah lxx. 38, Mr. Rodwell (p. 60) translates, "Is it
that every man of them would fain enter the Garden of Delights?"
[FN#70] Surah xxxix. 54: they sinned by becoming apostates from
Al-Islam. The verset ends, "Verily all sins doth Allah forgive:
aye, Gracious, and Merciful is He."
[FN#71] Surah ii. 159; the quotation in the MS. is cut short.
[FN#72] Surah ii. 107; the end of the verse is, "Yet both are
readers of the Book. So with like words say they (the pagan
Arabs) who have no knowledge."
[FN#73] Surah li. (The Scattering), v. 56.
[FN#74] Surah ii. v. 30.
[FN#75] Surah xl. (The Believer), v. 78. In the text it is
fragmentary. I do not see why Mr. Rodwell founds upon this verset a charge against the Prophet of ignorance concerning Jewish history: Mohammed seems to have followed the Talmud and tradition rather than the Holy Writ of the Hebrews.
[FN#76] Surah (The Believers) lxiv. 108.
[FN#77] Surah xxxv. (The Creator or the Angels), v. 31: The
sentence concludes in v. 32, "Who of His bounty hath placed us in a Mansion that shall abide for ever, therein no evil shall reach us, and therein no weariness shall touch us."
[FN#78] Surah ("Sad") lix. 54; Iblis, like Satan in the Book of
Job, is engaged in dialogue with the Almighty. I may here note
that Scott (p. 265) has partially translated these Koranic
quotations, but he has given only one reference.
[FN#79] In text "An� min ahli z�lika," of which the vulgar
equivalent would be "Kiz�" (for "Kaz�lika," "Kaz�") = so (it is)!
[FN#80] i.e. On an empty stomach, to "open the spittle" is = to
break the fast. Sir Wm. Gull in his evidence before a committee
of the House of Commons deposed that after severe labor he found
a bunch of dried raisins as efficacious a "pick-me-up" as a glass of stimulants. The value of dried grapes to the Alpinist is well known.
[FN#81] Arab. "Al-Kad�d" = jerked (charqui = chaire cuite) meat-flesh smoked, or (mostly) sun-dried.
[FN#82] I have noticed (i. 345) one of the blunders in our last
unfortunate occupation of Egypt where our soldiers died uselessly of dysenteric disease because they were rationed with heating beef instead of digestible mutton.
[FN#83] Arab. "Al-Marham al-akbar."
[FN#84] [In the text: "Al-Kisrat al-y�bisah 'al� 'l-R�k fa-innah� tukhlik jam�'a m� 'al� fum al-m�dah min al-balgham," of which I cannot make anything but: a slice of dry bread (kisrah = piece of bread) on the spittle (i.e. to break the fast), for it absorbs (lit. uses up, fourth form of "khalik" = to be worn out) all that there may be of phlegm on the mouth of the stomach. Can it be that the dish "Khushk-n�n" (Pers. = dry-bread) is meant, of which the village clown in one of Spitta Bey's tales, when he was treated to it by Harun al-Rashid thought it must be the "Hamm�m," because he had heard his grandmother say, that the Hamm�m (bath) is the most delightful thing in the world?�ST]
[FN#85] The stomach has two mouths, �sophagic above (which is
here alluded to) and pyloric below.
[FN#86] Arab. "'Irk al-Uns�" = chord� testiculorum, in Engl.
simply the cord.
[FN#87] The "'Aj�z" is a woman who ceases to have her monthly
period: the idea is engrained in the Eastern mind and I cannot
but believe in it seeing the old-young faces of men who have
"married their grandmothers" for money or folly, and what not.
[FN#88] Arab. "Al-'Ak�k," vol. iii. 179: it is a tradition of the Prophet that the best of bezels for a signet-ring is the
carnelian, and such are still the theory and practice of the
Moslem East.
[FN#89] Arab. "Tuh�l;" in text "Tayhal." Mr. Doughty (Arabia
Deserta, i. 547) writes the word "Tahal" and translates it
"ague-cake," i.e. the throbbing enlarged spleen, left after
fevers, especially those of Al-Hij�z and Khaybar. [The form
"Tayh�l" with a plural "Taw�hil" for the usual "Tih�l" = spleen
is quoted by Dozy from the valuable Vocabulary published by
Schiaparelli, 1871, after an old MS. of the end of the xiii.
century. It has the same relation to the verb "tayhal" = he
suffered from the spleen, which "Tih�l" bears to the verb
"tuhil," used passively in the same sense. The name of the
disease is "Tuh�l."--ST]
[FN#90] In text "Kasalah" = a shock of corn, assemblage of
sheaves. It may be a clerical error for "Kasabah" = stalk, haulm, straw.
[FN#91] Of course the conversation drifts into matters sexual and inter-sexual: in a similar story, "Tawaddud," the learned slave girl, "hangs down her head for shame and confusion" (vol. v. 225); but the young Sayyid speaks out bravely as becomes a male masculant.
[FN#92] [In the text: "Allat� lau nazarat il� 'l-sam� la-a'shab
(fourth form of 'ashab with the affirmative "la") al-Saf� (pl. of Saf�t), wa lau nazarat il� 'l-arz la amtar taghru-h� (read
thaghru-h�) L�luan lam yuskab wa r�ku-h� min al-Zul�l a'zab (for
a'zab min al-Zul�l)," which I would translate: Who if she look
upon the heavens, the very rocks cover themselves with verdure,
and an she look upon the earth, her lips rain unpierced pearls
(words of virgin eloquence) and the dews of whose mouth are
sweeter than the purest water.--ST.]
[FN#93] These lines have often occurred before: see index (vol.
x. 443) "Wa lau anunah� li 'l-Mushrik�n," etc. I have therefore
borrowed from Mr. Payne, vol. viii. 78, whose version is
admirable.
[FN#94] For the Jah�m-hell, see vol. viii. 111.
[FN#95] For the Seven Ages of womankind (on the Irish model) see
vol. ix. 175. Some form of these verses is known throughout the
Moslem East to prince and peasant. They usually begin:--
From the tenth to the twentieth year * To the gaze a charm doth
appear;
and end with:--
From sixty to three score ten * On all befal Allah's malison.
[FN#96] [Here I suppose the word "k�l" has been dropped after "bi 'l-shi'r," and it should be: He (the youth) replied, that was our common sire, Adam, etc.--ST.]
[FN#97] "H�b�l" and "K�b�l" are the Arab. equivalent of Abel and
Cain. Neither are named in the Koran (Surah v. "The Table," vv.
30-35), which borrows dialogue between the brothers derived from
the Targum (Jeirus. on Gen. iv. 8) and makes the raven show the
mode of burial to Cain, not to Adam, as related by the Jews.
Rodwell's Koran, p. 543.
[FN#98] Sit venia verbo: I have the less hesitation in making
Adam anticipate the widow Malone from a profound conviction that
some Hibernian antiquary, like Vallancey who found the Irish
tongue in the Punic language of Plautus, shall distinctly prove
that our first forefather spoke Keltic.
[FN#99] In text "R�h," wind, gust (of temper), pride, rage.
Amongst the Badaw�n it is the name given to rheumatism (gout
being unknown), and all obscure aching diseases by no means
confined to flatulence or distension. [The MS. has: "il� an
k�ta-ka 'l-'amal al-rab�h," which gives no sense whatever. Sir
Richard reads: "k�tala-ka 'l-'amal al-r�h," and thus arrives at
the above translation. I would simply drop a dot on the first
letter of "k�ta-ka," reading "f�ta-ka," when the meaning of the
line as it stands, would be: until the work that is profitable
passed away from thee, i.e., until thou ceasedst to do good. The
word "rab�h" is not found in Dictionaries, but it is evidently an intensive of "r�bih" (tij�rah r�bihah = a profitable traffic) and its root occurs in the Koran, ii. 15: "Fa-m� rabihat Tij�ratuhum" = but their traffic has not been gainful.--ST.]
[FN#100] Arab. "Badrah": see vol. iv. 281. [According to K�m�s,
"Badrah" is a purse of one thousand or ten thousand dirhams, or of seven thousand d�n�rs. As lower down it is called "Badrat Zahab," a purse of gold, I would take it here in the third sense.--ST.]
[FN#101] In text "Zardiy�," for "Zaradiyyah" = a small mail-coat, a light helmet.
[FN#102] Arab. "'Ind 'uzz�ti 's-sin�ni" = lit. the thorny shrubs
of ground bare of pasture.
[FN#103] This is another form of "inverted speech," meaning the
clean contrary; see vols. ii. 265; vi. 262; and viii. 179.
[FN#104] In text "Lam yakthir Khayrak"; this phrase (pronounced
"Kattir Khayrak") is the Egyptian (and Moslem) equivalent for our "thank you." Vols. iv. 6; v. 171. Scott (p. 267) makes Al-Hajjaj end with, "Cursed is he who doth not requite a sincere adviser, declareth our sacred Koran."
[FN#105] In the W.M. MS. this tale is followed by the "History of Uns al-Wuj�d and the Wazir's daughter Rose-in-hood," for which see vol. v. 32 et seq. Then comes the long romance "M�zin of Khor�s�n," which is a replica of "Hasan of Bassorah and the
King's daughter of the Jinn" (vol. viii. 7). I have noted (vol. x. 78) that this story shows us the process of transition from the Persian original to the Arabic copy. "M�zin" is also the P.N. of an Arab tribe: De Sacy, Chrest. i. 406.
[FN#106] MS. vol. v. pp. 92-94: Scott, vol. vi. 343: Gauttier,
vi. 376. The story is a replica of the Mock Caliph (vol. iv. 130) and the Tale of the First Lunatic (Suppl. vol. iv.); but I have retained it on account of the peculiar freshness and na�vet� of treatment which distinguishes it, also as a specimen of how extensively editors and scriveners can vary the same subject.
[FN#107] In text "Natar" (watching) for "Nataf" (indigestion,
disgust).
[FN#108] Here again we have the formula "K�la 'l-R�w�" = the
reciter saith, showing the purpose of the MS. See Terminal Essay, p. 163.
[FN#109] It were well to remind the reader that "Khal�fah" (never written "Khal�f") is = a viceregent or vicar, i.e. of the Prophet of Allah, not of Allah himself, a sense which was especially deprecated by the Caliph Abubakr as "vicar" supposes l'absence du chef; or Dieu est pr�sent partout et � tout instant. Ibn Khal. ii. 496.
[FN#110] This tale, founded on popular belief in tribadism, has
already been told in vol. vii. 130: in the W.M. MS. it occupies
23 pages (pp. 95- 118). Scott (vi. 343) has "Mesroor retired and
brought in Ali Ibn Munsoor Damuskkee, who related to the Caliph a foolish narrative (!) of two lovers of Bussorah, each of whom was coy when the other wished to be kind." The respectable Britisher evidently cared not to "read between the lines."
[FN#111] In pop. parlance "Let us be off."
[FN#112] Arab. "Al-�f�k" plur. of Ufk, "elegant" (as the
grammarians say) for the world, the universe.
[FN#113] [In MS. "Rankah" or "Ranakah," probably for "Raunakah,"
which usually means "troubled,"; speaking of water, but which,
according to Schiaparelli's Vocabulista, has also the meaning of
"Raunak" = amenitas. As however "Ranakah" taken as fem. of "Ranak" shares with Raunakah the signification of "troubled," it may perhaps also be a parallel form to the latter in the second
sense.--ST.]
[FN#114] The text has "Martabat Saltanah" (for Sult�niyah) which
may mean a royal Divan. The "Martabah" is a mattress varying in
size and thickness, stuffed with cotton and covered with cloths
of various colours and the latter mostly original and admirable
of figuration but now supplanted by the wretched printed calicoes of civilisation. It is placed upon the ground and garnished with cushions which are usually of length equally the width of the mattress and of a height measuring about half of that breadth. When the "Martabah" is placed upon its "Mastabah" (bench of masonry or timber) or upon its "Sar�r" (a framework of "jar�d" or midribs of the palm), it becomes the D�wan = divan.
[FN#115] In text "Bi-iz�-hum�;" lit. vis-�-vis to the twain.
[FN#116] These have occurred vol. i. 176: I quote Mr. Payne (i.
156).
[FN#117] In text "Hann�-kum� 'llah:" see "Hanian," vol. ii. 5.
[FN#118] This is usually a sign of grief, a symbolic act which
dates from the days of the Heb. patriarchs (Gen. xxxvii. 29-34);
but here it is the mark of strong excitement. The hand is placed
within the collar and a strong pull tears the light stuff all
down the breast. Economical men do this in a way which makes
darning easy.
[FN#119] [The MS. is very indistinct in this place, but by
supplying "'an" after "ghibta" and reading "'ayn�" for "'ann�," I have no doubt the words are: Wa in ghibta 'an 'ayni fa-m� ghibta 'an kalbi = and if thou art absent from my eyes, yet thou are not absent from my heart. The metre is Taw�l and the line has occurred elsewhere in The Nights.--ST.]
[FN#120] I have already noted that "Hil�l" is the crescent
(waxing or waning) for the first and last two or three nights:
during the rest of the lunar month the lesser light is called
"Kamar."
[FN#121] The sense is that of Coleridge.--
To be beloved is all I need;
And whom I love I love indeed.
[FN#122] There is something wrong in the text. I cannot help
again drawing the reader's attention to the skilful portraiture
of the model Moslem Minister, the unfortunate Ja'afar. He is
never described in the third person; but the simple dialogue
always sets him off as a wise, conciliatory, benevolent, loveable and man-loving character, whose constant object is to temper the harshness and headstrong errors of a despotic master as the Caliph is represented to be by way of showing his kingliness. See vol. i., 102. [The MS. is certainly wrong here, but perhaps it can be righted a little. It has: "Kad yak�n Z R H ahad f� M�l jaz�l wa harab al-Maz'�n," etc., where Sir Richard reads "zarra-hu" = he harmed, and Mazgh�n = the hated one, i.e. enemy. I have a strong suspicion that in the original from which our scribe copied, the two words were "zamin" and "al-Mazm�n." Zamin in the Arabic character would be {Arabic characters} The loop for the "m," if made small, is easily overlooked; the curve of the "n," if badly traced, can as easily be mistaken for "r" and a big dot inside the "n" might appear like a blotted "h". Mazm�n would become "Maz'�n" by simply turning the "m" loop upwards instead of downwards, an error the converse of which is so frequently committed in printed texts. Curiously enough the same error occurs p. 192 of the MS., where we shall find "na' 'al" with two 'Ayns instead of "na'mal" with 'Ayn and Mim. If this conjecture is correct the sense would be: Haply he may have stood security for someone for much money, and the person for whom security was given, took to flight, etc. For "zamin" with the acc. see Ibn Jubair ed. by Wright, 77, 2. I may say on this occasion, that my impression of the Montague MS. is, that it is a blundering copy of a valuable though perhaps indistinctly written original.--ST.]
[FN#123] In text "'Aurat" = nakedness: see vol. vi. 30.
[FN#124] In Arab. "'Urrah": see Fatimah the Dung in vol. x. 1.
[FN#125] [In the MS. "bi-Wuj�h al F�nij�t al-Mil�h." The
translator conjectures "al-f�tih�t," which he refers to "Wuj�h."
I read it "al-Gh�nij�t," in apposition with al-Mil�h, and render: the faces of the coquettish, the fair. See index under
"Ghunj."--ST.]
[FN#126] In text "Ball�t," the name still given to the limestone
slabs cut in the Torah quarries South of Cairo. The word is
classical, we find in Ibn Khald�n (vol. i. p. 21, Fr. Trans.) a
chief surnomm� el-Balt (le pav�), � cause de sa fermet� et de sa force de caract�re.
[FN#127] In text "Usbur�" = be ye patient, the cry addressed to
passengers by the Grandee's body-guard.
[FN#128] The "young person" here begins a tissue of impertinences which are supposed to show her high degree and her condescension in mating with the jeweller. This is still "pretty Fanny's way" amongst Moslems.
[FN#129] A "swear" peculiarly feminine, and never to be used by
men.
[FN#130] In text "'Al�-Akl�:" the whole passage is doubtful.
[I would read, and translate the passage as follows: "M� tastahl� 'al� haz� ill� shay l� tazann-hu allaz� (for "allat�," see Suppl. iv. 253) kayyamt�n� (2nd fem. sing.) min 'al� akl� wa an� zanantu innahu man y�jab la-hu al-kiy�m; thumma iltifatat illayya wa k�lat hakaz� sirtu an� la-ghaz�rat al-thiy�b al-wasikhat min al-fakr fa-hal m� ghasalta wajhak?" = Thou deservest not for this but a thing thou doest not fancy, thou who madest me rise from before my food, while I thought he was one to whom rising up is due. Then she turned towards me, saying, "Am I then in this manner (i.e. like thyself) a bundle of clothes all dirty from poverty, and hast thou therefore ("fa" indicating the effect of a cause) not washed thy face?" Or to put it in more intelligible English: "Am I then like thyself a heap of rags that thou shouldst come to me with unwashed face?"--ST.]
[FN#131] Of the respect due to food Lane (M. E. chapt. xiii.)
tells the following tale: "Two servants were sitting at the door
of their master's house, eating their dinner, when they observed
a Mameluke Bey with several of his officers, riding along the
streets towards them. One of these servants rose, from respect to the Grandee, who regarding him with indignation, exclaimed, Which is the more worthy of respect, the bread which is before thee or myself? Without awaiting a reply, he made, it is said, a
well-understood signal with his hand; and the unintending
offender was beheaded on the spot." I may add that the hero of
the story is said to have been the celebrated "Daftardar" whose
facetious cruelties have still a wide fame in the Nile Valley.
[FN#132] I would read (for "Sirtu ana" = I have become) "Sirt'
anta" = thou hast become.
[FN#133] In text "Mukh;" lit. = brain, marrow.
[FN#134] [In Ar. "Wa zand mujauhar f�-hi As�wir min al-Zahab
al-ahmar," which may mean: and a fore-arm (became manifest),
ornamented with jewels, on which were bracelets of red
gold.--ST.]
[FN#135] For this famous type of madman see Suppl. Vol. vi. 155.
[FN#136] [Ar. "Ghurr�t," which may be bright looks, charms, in
general, or according to Bocthor, fore-locks. The more usual plural of "Ghurrah" is "Ghurar."--ST.]
[FN#137] In the text "Darajah" = an instant; also a degree (of the Zodiac). We still find this division of time in China and Japan, where they divide the twenty-four hours into twelve periods, each of which is marked by a quasi-Zodiacal sign: e.g.--
Midnight until 2 a.m. is represented by the Rat.
2 a.m. until 4 a.m. is represented by the Ox.
4 a.m. until 6 a.m. is represented by the Tiger.
6 a.m. until 8 a.m. is represented by the Hare.
8 a.m. until 10 a.m. is represented by the Dragon.
10 a.m. until noon is represented by the Serpent.
Noon until 2 p.m. is represented by the Horse.
2 p.m. until 4 p.m. is represented by the Ram.
4 p.m. until 6 p.m. is represented by the Ape.
6 p.m. until 8 p.m. is represented by the Cock.
8 p.m. until 10 p.m. is represented by the Hog.
10 p.m. until midnight is represented by the Fox.
See p. 27 Edit. ii. of C. B. Mitford's Tales of Old Japan, a most important contribution to Eastern folklore.
["Darajah" is, however, also used for any short space of time;
according to Lane it is = 4 minutes (i.e. the 24 hours or 1,440
minutes of the astronomical day divided into 360 degrees of 4
minutes each), and Bocthor gives it as an equivalent for our
instant or moment.--ST.]
[FN#138] The young fool vaunts his intersexual powers, apparently unknowing that nothing can be more fatal to love than fulfilling the desires of a woman who, once accustomed to this high diet, revolts against any reduction of it. He appears to have been a polisson by his own tale told to the Caliph and this alone would secure the contempt of a high-bred and high-spirited girl.
[FN#139] The "nosebag"; vol. ii. 52, etc. The Badaw�yah (Badaw�
woman) generally prefers a red colour, in opposition to the white and black of civilisation; and she of the Arabian Desert
generally disdains to use anything of the kind.
[FN#140] This ablution of the whole body he was bound to perform
after having had carnal knowledge of a woman, and before washing
he was in a state of ceremonial impurity. For "Ghusl," or
complete ablution, see vol. v. 80.
[FN#141] "The Heart of the Koran," chap. xxxvi. see vol. iv. 50.
[FN#142] The Mand�l apparently had been left in the shop by the
black slave-girl. Women usually carry such articles with them
when "on the loose," and in default of water and washing they are used to wipe away the results of car. cop.
[FN#143] In Arab. "Shakk." The criminal was hung up by the heels, and the executioner, armed with a huge chopper, began to hew him down from the fork till he reached the neck, when, by a dextrous turn of the blade, he left the head attached to one half of the body. This punishment was long used in Persia and abolished, they say, by Fath Ali Shah, on the occasion when an offender so treated abused the royal mother and women relatives until the knife had reached his vitals. "Kata' al-'Arba'," or cutting off the four members, equivalent to our "quartering," was also a popular penalty.
[FN#144] In text "Ghibtu 'an al-Duny�," a popular phrase, meaning simply I fainted.
[FN#145] This was done to staunch the blood: see the salt-wench
in vol. i. 341.
[FN#146] This couplet has repeatedly occurred: in the preceding
volume, Night cdv. (Suppl. iv. 222); and in The Nights (proper),
vol. vi. 246. Here I have quoted Lane (A.N. iii. 220), who has
not offered a word of comment or of explanation concerning a
somewhat difficult couplet.
[FN#147] The plur. masc. for the sing. fem.: see vol. vii. 140.
[FN#148] He speaks after the recognised conventional fashion, as
if reporting the camp-shift of a Badaw� tribe.
[FN#149] See vol. i. 25 for the parallel of these lines.
[FN#150] The text inserts here, "Saith the Reciter of this
adventure and right joyous history strange as rare," etc.
[FN#151] Scott, in the "Story of the Sultan, the Dirveshe, and
the Barber's son" (vi. 348), calls the King "Rammaud." The tale
is magical and Rosicrucian, laid somewhat upon the lines of "The
Physician D�b�n"; i.45.
[FN#152] This is the custom among Eastern Moslems: the barber,
after his operations are over, presents his hand-mirror for the
patient to see whether all be satisfactory, saying at the same
time "Na'�man" = may it be pleasurable to thee! The customer
answers "Allah bring thee pleasure," places the fee upon the
looking-glass and returns it to the shaver. For "Na'�man" see
vol. ii. 5.
[FN#153] The least that honest Figaro expected to witness was an
attempt upon the boy's chastity.
[FN#154] In text "Tazaghzagha," gen. = he spoke hesitatingly, he
scoffed. [I read the words in the text: "Tazaghghara f�hi." The
K�m�s gives "Zaghara-hu" = he seized it by force, he took hold of him with violence, and this present fifth form, although not
given in the Dictionaries, has doubtlessly the same meaning.
Popularly we may render it: he pitched into him.--ST]
[FN#155] In the text "Kaz�n�t" (plur. of "K�z�n"), afterwards
written "K�z�t" (a clerical error?). They are opposed to the
"Kaw�lib" = moulds. [See note to p. 24.--ST.]
[FN#156] "Akhraja min Kul�hi-hi (Kulah?) b�sah."
[FN#157] "Akhaza min-h� 'ala ma' lakati 'l-Hil�l shay misl
al-Jinnah." [I have no doubt that "Kul�h" is meant for "Kul�h," a Dervish's cap. "B�sah" puzzles me. I am inclined to take it for a reed used as a case or sheath, as we shall see p. 263 of the MS. Prince Y�suf uses a "Kasabah" or reed to enclose a letter in it. "Mi'lakat (popular corruption for 'Mil'akat') al-Hil�l" may be the spoon or hollow part of an ear-picker, Hil�l being given by Bocthor as equivalent for "cure-oreille." Lastly for "al-Jinnah" I would read "al-Habbah" = grain. The article before the word may indicate that a particular grain is meant perhaps "al-Habbat al-halwah" = anise seed, or that it stands for "al-Hubbah," according to Lempri�re (A Tour to Marocco, London 1791, p. 383) a powder employed by the ladies of Marocco to produce embonpoint.--ST.]
[FN#158] So even in our day Mustaf� bin Ism'a�l who succeeded
"General Khayru 'l-D�n" as Prime Minister to "His Highness
Mohammed al-S�dik, Bey of Tunis," began life as apprentice to a
barber, became the varlet of an officer, rose to high dignity and received decorations from most of the European powers.
[FN#159] In text "Wij�k," a stove, a portable hearth.
[FN#160] In the text: ["Wa s�ra kulla-m� tastar� nafsuhu yak'ad
kudd�ma 'l-Darw�sh," which I would translate: and each time his
heart chose (8th form of "Sarw") he used to sit before the
Darwaysh, etc.--ST.]
[FN#161] In text "Dar�n" for "Zar�n" = what is powdered, collyrium.
[FN#162] The King failed because his "Niyat" or intention was not pure; that is, he worked for wealth, and not, as the Darwaysh had done, for the good of his brother man.
[FN#163] For the importance attached to this sign of sovereignty
see in my Pilgrimage (ii. 218-19) the trouble caused by the loss
of the Prophet's seal-ring (Kh�tim) at Al-Madinah.
[FN#164] The text is somewhat doubtful--"Min kudd�m-ak." [Perhaps it means only "from before thee," i.e. in thy presence, without letting him out of sight and thereby giving him a chance of escape.--ST.]
[FN#165] This especially is on the lines of "The Physician
D�b�n"; vol. i. 45.
[FN#166] In text "Wa min-hum man f�ha," evidently an error of the scribe for "Man naf�hu." Scott (vi. 351), after the fashion of the "Improver-school," ends the tale, which is somewhat
tail-less, after this fashion, "At the same instant, the Sultan
and his courtiers found themselves assaulted by invisible agents, who, tearing off their robes, whipped them with scourges till the blood flowed in streams from their lacerated backs. At length the punishment ceased, but the mortification of the Sultan did not end here, for all the gold which the Dirveshe had transmuted returned to its original metals. Thus, by his unjust credulity, was a weak Prince punished for his ungrateful folly. The barber and his son also were not to be found, so that the sultan could gain no intelligence of the Dirveshe, and he and his courtiers became the laughing-stock of the populace for years after their merited chastisement." Is nothing to be left for the reader's imagination?
[FN#167] See under the same name the story in my Suppl. vol. i.
162; where the genealogy and biography of the story is given. I
have translated the W.M. version because it adds a few items of
interest. A marginal note of Scott's (in the W.M. MS. v. 196)
says that the "Tale is similar to Lesson iv. in the Tirrea Bede." See note at the end of this History.
[FN#168] For the Badaw� tent, see vol. vii. 109.
[FN#169] In text "Birkah" = a fountain-basin, lake, pond,
reservoir. The Bresl. Edit. has "Sard�b" = a souterrain.
[FN#170] Arab. "Jummayz": see vol. iii. 302. In the Bresl. Edit.
it is a "tall tree," and in the European versions always a
"pear-tree," which is not found in Badawi-land.
[FN#171] "Ad�" in Egyptian (not Arabic) is = that man, the (man)
here; "Ad�n�" (in the text) is = Here am I, me voici. Spitta Bey
(loc. cit. iv. 20, etc.)
[FN#172] Arab. "Ma'm�rah." In the Bresl. Edit. "the place is full of Jinns and Marids." I have said that this supernatural agency, ever at hand and ever credible to Easterns, makes this the most satisfactory version of the world-wide tale.
[FN#173] The planet Mars.
[FN#174] The Asiatics have a very contemptible opinion of the
Russians, especially of the females, whom they believe to be void of common modesty. Our early European voyagers have expressed the same idea.--Scott.
[FN#175] i.e. having enjoyed the woman.--R.F.B.
[FN#176] The reader will doubtless recollect the resemblance
which the plot of this lesson bears to Pope's January and May,
and to one of Fontaine's Tales. Eenaiut Olla acknowledges his
having borrowed it from the Brahmins, from whom it may have
travelled through some voyage to Europe many centuries past, or
probably having been translated in Arabic or Persian, been
brought by some crusader, as were many Asiatic romances, which
have served as the groundwork of many of our old stories and
poems.--Scott.
[FN#177] In Scott (vi. 352) "Adventures of Aleefa and Eusuff."
This long and somewhat longsome history is by another pen, which
is distinguished from the ordinary text by constant attempts at
fine writing, patches of Saj'a or prose-rhyme and profuse poetry, mostly doggerel. I recommend it to the student as typically Arabian with its preponderance of verse over prose, its threadbare patches made to look meaner by the purpureus pannus; its immoderate repetition and its utter disregard of order and sequence. For the rest it is unedited and it strikes me as a sketch of adventure calculated to charm the Fellah-audience of a coffee-house, whose delight would be brightened by the normal accompaniment of a tambourine or a Rab�bah, the one-stringed viol.
[FN#178] This P. N. has occurred in vol. vi. 8, where I have
warned readers that it must not be confounded with the title
"Mah�r�j" = Great Rajah. Scott (vi. 352) writes "Mherejaun," and
Gauttier (vi. 380) "Myr-djyhan" (M�r Jah�n = Lord Life).
[FN#179] I need not inform the civilised reader that this
"feeling conception" is unknown except in tales.
[FN#180] i.e. "The Slim-waisted." Scott (vi. 352) persistently
corrupts the name to "Aleefa," and Gauttier (vi. 380) follows
suit with "Alifa."
[FN#181] In text "Al-Istikhr�j," i.e. making "elegant extracts."
[FN#182] These lines are the merest doggerel of a strolling R�w�, like all the pi�ces d'occasion in this MS.
[FN#183] Which are still worse: two couplets rhyme in ��n�, and
one in ��l�, which is not lawful.
[FN#184] In text "Dayr Nashsh�bah," a fancy name.
[FN#185] So in text: the name is unknown to me; its lit. meaning
would be, "of high-breasted Virgins."
[FN#186] In text "Al-Jay'a" which is a well-omened stone like the 'Ak�k = carnelian. The Arabs still retain our medi�val
superstitions concerning precious stones, and of these fancies I
will quote a few. The ruby appeases thirst, strengthens cardiac
action and averts plague and "thunderbolts." The diamond heals
diseases, and is a specific against epilepsy or the "possession"
by evil spirits: this is also the specialty of the emerald,
which, moreover, cures ophthalmia and the stings of scorpions and bites of venomous reptiles, blinding them if placed before their eyes. The turquoise is peculiarly auspicious, abating
fascination, strengthening the sight, and, if worn in a ring,
increasing the milk of nursing mothers: hence the blue beads hung as necklaces to cattle. The topaz (being yellow) is a
prophylactic against jaundice and bilious diseases. The
bloodstone when shown to men in rage causes their wrath to
depart: it arrests hemorrhage, heals toothache, preserves from
bad luck, and is a pledge of long life and happiness. The
"cat's-eye" nullifies Al-Ayn = malign influence by the look, and
worn in battle makes the wearer invisible to his foe. This is but a "fist-full out of a donkey-load," as the Persians say: the
subject is a favourite with Eastern writers.
[FN#187] Or white lead: in the text it is "Sap�daj,"
corresponding with the "Isfidaj" of vol. vi. 126.
[FN#188] In the text "Bashkh�nah"; corr. of the Pers.
"Peshkh�nah" = state-tents sent forward on the march.
[FN#189] This phrase, twice repeated, is the regular formula of
the R�w� or professional reciter; he most unjustifiably, however, neglects the "Inshallah."
[FN#190] The revetment of the old wells in Arabia is mostly of
dry masonry.
[FN#191] [Ar. "Taw�n�s," with a long final to rhyme with
"Kaw�d�s," instead of the usual "Taw�nis," pl. of "Taunas," which Dozy (Suppl. s.v.) identifies with the Greek t???? in the sense of cable.--ST.]
[FN#192] In Arab. "Haj�rata 'l-Bahram�n."
[FN#193] In text "Zamak�-h�."
[FN#194] I can see little pertinence in this couplet: but that is not a sine qu� non amongst Arabs. Perhaps, however, the Princess understands that she is in a gorgeous prison and relieves her heart by a cunning hint.
[FN#195] I again omit "Saith the Reciter of this marvellous
relation," a formula which occurs with unpleasant reiteration.
[FN#196] i.e. she cried "Astaghfiru 'llah" (which strangers
usually pronounce "Astaffira 'llah"); a pious exclamation,
humbling oneself before the Creator, and used in a score of
different senses, which are not to be found in the dictionaries.
[FN#197] In vol. viii. 183, there are two couplets of which the
first is here repeated.
[FN#198] [Here the translator seems to read "Khams Ghaff�r," = five pardoners,where however, grammar requires a plural after "khams." I take "khams" to be a clerical error for "Khamr" = wine, and read the next word "'uk�r," which is another name for wine, but is also used adjectively together with the former, as in the Breslau Edition iv. 6 "al-Khamr al-'uk�r" = choice wine.--ST.]
[FN#199] I understand this as the cupbearer who delights the five senses.
[FN#200] In the original we have, "Saith the Sayer of this
delectable narrative, the strange and seld-seen (and presently we will return to the relation full and complete with its sense
suitable and its style admirable), anent what befel and betided
of Destinies predestinate and the will of the Lord preordinate
which He decreed and determined to His creatures." I have omitted it for uniformity's sake.
[FN#201] Meaning "The easy-tempered." Scott (vi. 354) writes
"Sohul."
[FN#202] In text "Lit�m" = the mouth-band for man: ii. 31, etc. The "Mutalathsim�n" in North Africa are the races, like the Taw�rik, whose males wear this face-swathe of cloth.
[FN#203] "Drowned in her blood," says the text which to us
appears hyperbole run mad. So when King Omar (vol. ii. 123)
violently rapes the unfortunate Princess Abr�zah "the blood runs
down the calves of her legs." This is not ignorance, but that
systematic exaggeration which is held necessary to impressionise
an Oriental audience.
[FN#204] For this allusion see vol. v. 191.
[FN#205] This physical sign of delight in beauty is not
recognised in the literature of Europe, and The Nights usually
attributes it to old women.
[FN#206] In text "Him�" = the private and guarded lands of a Badawi tribe; viii. 102.
[FN#207] In text "Daylak�."
[FN#208] A small compact white turband and distinctive sign of
the True Believers: see vol. viii. 8.
[FN#209] [The words in the text seem to be: "wa Talattuf Alf�zak
wa Ma'�n�k al-his�n" = and for the pleasingness of thy sayings and meanings so fine and fair.--ST.]
[FN#210] [The Arabic seems here to contain a pun, the consonantic outline of "Tasht" = "basin" being the same as of "tashshat" = she was raining, sprinkling.--ST.]
[FN#211] In Arab. "Y� W�rid": see vol. iii. 56.
[FN#212] The growing beard and whisker being compared with black
letters on a white ground.
[FN#213] In the text these seven couplets form one quotation,
although the first three rhyme in --�ru and the second four in --�ru.
[FN#214] This "diapedesis" of bloodstained tears is frequently
mentioned in The Nights; and the "Bloody Sweat" is well-known by
name. The disease is rare and few have seen it whilst it has a
certain quasi-supernatural sound from the "Agony and bloody
sweat" in the Garden of Gethsemane. But the exudation of blood
from the skin was described by Theophrastus and Aristotle and
lastly by Lucan in these lines:--
--Sic omnia membra
Emisere simul rutilum pro sanguine virus.
Sanguis erant lachrym�, etc.
Of Charles IX. of France Mezaray declares "Le sang lui rejaillait par les pores et tous les conduits de son corps," but the superstitious Protestant holds this to be a "judgment." The same historian also mentions the phenomenon in a governor condemned to die; and Lombard in the case of a general after losing a battle and a nun seized by banditti--blood oozed from every pore. See Dr. Millingen's "Curiosities of Medical Experience," p. 485, London, Bentley, 1839.
[FN#215] [I read this line: "F� Hayyi-kum Taflatun|h�ma 'l-Faw�du bi-h� (Bas�t)" and translate: In your clan there is a maiden of whom my heart is enamoured. In the beginning of the next line the metre requires "tazakkarat," which therefore refers to "Aghsun," not to the speaker: "the branches remember (and by imitating her movements show that they remember) the time when she bent aside, and her bending, graceful beyond compare, taught me that her eyes kept watch over the rose of her cheek and knew how to protect it from him who might wish to cull it." This little gem of a Maww�l makes me regret that so many of the snatches of poetry in this MS. are almost hopelessly corrupted.--ST.]
[FN#216] In the text "Sim�'a," lit. hearing, applied
idiomatically to the ecstasy of Darwayshes when listening to
esoteric poetry.
[FN#217] The birds mentioned in the text are the "Kumr�"
(turtle-dove), the "Shabaytar" [also called "Samaytar" and "Abu
al-'Ayzar" = the father of the brisk one, a long-necked water bird of the heron kind.--ST.], the Shuhr�r (in MS. Suhr�r) = a blackbird [the Christians in Syria call St. Paul "Shuhr�r al-Kan�sah," the blackbird of the Church, on account of his eloquence.--ST.], the "Karaw�n," crane or curlew (Charadrius �dicnemus) vol. vi. 1; the "Haz�r;" nightingale or bird of a thousand songs, vol. v. 48; the "Ham�m," ruffed pigeon, culver, vol. v. 49; the "Kat�," or sandgrouse, vols. i. 131, iv. 111, etc.; and the "Samm�n" or quail, Suppl. vol. vi. 66.
[FN#218] The "S�'ah," I may here remark, is the German Stunde,
our old "Stound," somewhat indefinite but meaning to the good
Moslem the spaces between prayer times. The classical terms,
Al-Zuh� (undurn-hour, or before noon) and Maghrib = set of sun,
become in Badawi speech Al-Ghaylah = siesta-time and Ghaybat
al-Shams. (Doughty, index.)
[FN#219] For the beautiful song of the lute, referred to here,
see vol. viii. 281.
[FN#220] Alluding to the "Takht Raml," table of sand, geomantic
table?
[FN#221] As before noted, her love enables her to deal in a
somewhat of prophetic strain.
[FN#222] This scene may sound absurd; but it is admirable for its materialism. How often do youthful lovers find an all-sufficient pastime in dressing themselves up and playing the game of mutual admiration. It is well nigh worthy of that "silliest and best of love-stories"--Henrietta Temple.
[FN#223] The text bluntly says "Wa Nik�h," which can mean nothing else.
[FN#224] Scott calls him "Yiah": vi. 354.
[FN#225] Arab. "Akhbar�-hu," alluding to the lord Yahy�.
[FN#226] Here I presume a "K�la" (quoth he) is omitted; for the
next sentence seems appropriate to Yusuf.
[FN#227] In Arab. "Tastagh�s" = lit. crying out "Wa Ghaus�h"--Ho, to my aid!
[FN#228] The "Zug" or draught which gave him rheumatism--not a
romantic complaint for a young lover. See vol. ii. 9. But his
power of sudden invention is somewhat enviable, and lying is to
him, in Hindustani phrase, "easy as drinking water."
[FN#229] Who evidently ignored or had forgotten the little matter of the concubine, so that incident was introduced by the
story-teller for mere wantonness.
[FN#230] In text "Mazb�h" = slaughtered for food.
[FN#231] i.e. "I suffer from an acute attack of rheumatism"--a
complaint common in even the hottest climates.
[FN#232] Needless to say that amongst Moslems, as amongst
Christians, the Israelite medicine-man has always been a
favourite, despite an injunction in the "D�n�m" (Religious
Considerations) of the famous Andalusian Y�suf Caro. This most
fanatical work, much studied at Tiberias and Safet (where a
printing-press was established in the xvith century) decides that a Jewish doctor called to attend a Goi (Gentile) too poor to pay him is bound to poison his patient--if he safely can.
[FN#233] Lit. "The-Bull-(Taur for Thaur or Saur)numbered-and-for-battle-day-lengthened." In p.30 this charger is called, "The-bull-that-spurneth-danger-on-battle-day." See vol. vi. 270 for a similar compound name, The-Ghul-who-eateth-man-we-pray-Allah-for-safety.
[FN#234] In text "Al-J�riyah r�dih," the latter word being
repeated in p.282, where it is R�dih a P.N. [Here also I would
take it for a P.N., for if it were adjective to "al-J�riyah" it
should have the article.--ST.]
[FN#235] The "Rad�f," or back-rider, is common in Arabia, esp. on dromedaries when going to the Razzia: usually the crupper-man
loads the matchlock and his comrade fires it.
[FN#236] The text has "thirty," evidently a clerical error.
[FN#237] Arab. "Sakht�r" for "Shakht�r," vol. vii. 362.
[FN#238] Doggerel fit only for the coffee-house.
[FN#239] In text "Ta'ayyun" = influence, especially by the "'Ayn," or (Evil) Eye.
[FN#240] I have somewhat abridged the confession of the Princess, who carefully repeats every word known to the reader. This iteration is no objection in the case of a coffee-house audience to whom the tale is told bit by bit, but it is evidently unsuited for reading.
[FN#241] In text "Irham turham:" this is one of the few passive
verbs still used in popular parlance.
[FN#242] This formula will be in future suppressed.
[FN#243] I spare my readers the full formula:--"Y�suf took it and brake the seal (fazza-hu) and read it and comprehended its
contents and purport and significance: and, after perusing it,"
etc. These forms, decies repetit�, may go down with an Eastern
audience, but would be intolerable in a Western volume. The
absence of padding, however, reduces the story almost to a
patchwork of doggerel rhymes, for neither I nor any man can "make a silk purse from a suille ear."
[FN#244] Here again in full we have:--"He mounted the she-camel
and fared and ceased not faring until he drew near to the Palace
of Al-Hayf�, where he dismounted and concealed his dromedary
within the same cave. Then he swam the stream until he had
reached the Castle and here he landed and appeared before
Al-Hayf�," etc.
[FN#245] "'Tis dogged as does it" was the equivalent expression
of our British Aristotle; the late Charles Darwin.
[FN#246] Arab. "Jannat al-Khuld" = the Eternal Garden: vol. ix.
214.
[FN#247] [I read: Wa inn� la-ar'�kum wa ar'� wid�da-kum,
wa-hakki-kum� antum a'azzu 'l-War� 'and� = And I make much of you and of your love; by your rights (upon me, formula of swearing), you are to me the dearest of mankind.--ST.]
[FN#248] In text: "He swam the stream and bestrode his
she-camel."
[FN#249] In text "Then she folded the letter and after sealing
it," etc.
[FN#250] Not "her hands" after Christian fashion.
[FN#251] In text, "Ahyaf," alluding to Al-Hayf�.
[FN#252] Arab. "Al-Kaw�'ib," also P. N. of the river.
[FN#253] This is moralising with a witness, and all it means is
"handsome is that handsome does."
[FN#254] In text "'Arsh" = the Ninth Heaven; vol. v.167.
[FN#255] The Shi'ah doctrine is here somewhat exaggerated.
[FN#256] "Them" for "her," as has often occurred.
[FN#257] In the original "entrusted to her the missive:" whereas
the letter is delivered afterwards.
[FN#258] The cloud (which contains rain) is always typical of
liberality and generous dealing.
[FN#259] The Koranic chapt. No. xx., revealed at Meccah and
recounting the (apocryphal) history of Moses.
[FN#260] The "broken" (wall) to the North of the Ka'abah:
Pilgrimage iii. 165.
[FN#261] i.e. "Delight of the Age:" see vol. ii. 81.
[FN#262] In the text written "Imriyyu 'l-Kays": for this
pre-Islamitic poet see Term. Essay, p. 258. "The Man of Al-Kays"
or worshipper of the Priapus-idol was a marking figure in Arabian History. The word occurs, with those of Aera, Dusares (Theos Ares), Martabu, Allat and Man�t in the Nabath�an (Arabian) epigraphs brought by Mr. Doughty from Arabia Deserta (vol. i. pp. 180-184).
[FN#263] In text "Zakka," which means primarily a bird feeding
her young.
[FN#264] In the text "months and years," the latter seeming de
trop.
[FN#265] Or "Yathrib" = Al-Madinah; vol. iv. 114.
[FN#266] Scott (vi. 358 et seqq.) who makes Ali bin Ibrahim, "a
faithful eunuch," renders the passage, "by some accident the
eunuch's turban unfortunately falling off, the precious stones
(N.B. the lovers' gift) which, with a summary of the adventures
(!) of Eusuff and Aleefa, and his own embassy to Sind, were
wrapped in the folds, tumbled upon the floor."
[FN#267] i.e. "Drawer-out of Descriptions."
[FN#268] i.e. a Refuser, a Forbidder.
[FN#269] i.e. both could not be seen at the same time.
[FN#270] [The MS. has T Kh D H, which the translator reads
"takhuz-hu." I suspect that either the second or eighth form of
"ahad" is meant, in the sense that thou comest to an agreement
(Ittih�d) with him.--ST.]
[FN#271] In the MS. v. 327, we find four hemistichs which
evidently belong to Al-Mihrj�n; these are:--
Hadst come to court her in fairer guise * I had given Al-Hayf� in
bestest style;
But in mode like this hast thou wrought me wrong * And made Envy
gibe me with jeering smile."
Also I have been compelled to change the next sentence, which in
the original is, "And hardly had King Al-Mihrj�n ended his
words," etc.
[FN#272] In this doggerel, "Kur�d" (apes) occurs as a rhyme twice in three couplets.
[FN#273] "Upon the poll of his head" ('al� h�mati-hi) says the
Arabian author, and instantly stultifies the words.
[FN#274] Arab. "Haudaj" = a camel-litter: the word, often
corrupted to Had�j, is now applied to a rude pack-saddle, a
wooden frame of mimosa-timber set upon a "witr" or pad of old
tent-cloth, stuffed with grass and girt with a single cord. Vol.
viii. 235, Burckhardt gives "Maksar," and Doughty (i. 437)
"Muksir" as the modern Badawi term for the crates or litters in
which are carried the Shaykhly housewives.
[FN#275] In text "Sunnah" = the practice, etc., of the Prophet:
vol. v. 36, 167.
[FN#276] This, as the sequel shows, is the far-famed Musician,
Ibrahim of Mosul: vol. vii. 113.
[FN#277] In the text King of Al-S�n = China, and in p. 360 of MS. Yusuf is made "King of China and Sind," which would be much like "King of Germany and Brentford."
[FN#278] This is the full formula repeated in the case of all the ten blessed damsels. I have spared the patience of my readers.
[FN#279] This formula of the cup and lute is decies repetita,
justifying abbreviation.
[FN#280] i.e. The Beginner, the Originator.
[FN#281] The Zephyr, or rather the cool north breeze of upper
Arabia, vol. viii. 62.
[FN#282] The "Full Moon"; plur. Bud�r: vols. iii., 228, iv., 249.
[FN#283] "Dann" = amphora, Gr. ?�f??e?? short for ?�f?f??e?? = having two handles.
[FN#284] "The large-hipped," a form of R�dih.
[FN#285] In text "Minba'ada-hu" making Jesus of later date than
Imr al-Kays.
[FN#286] i.e. "The Delight": also a P.N. of one of the Heavens:
vols. iii. 19; iv. 143.
[FN#287] i.e. Joy, Contentment.
[FN#288] In text "L� khuzibat Ayday al-Fir�k," meaning, "may
separation never ornament herself in sign of gladness at the
prospect of our parting." For the Khaz�b-dye see vol. iii. 105.
[FN#289] i.e. "Bloom of the Tribe." "Zahrat" = a blossom especially yellow and commonly applied to orange-flower. In line 10 of the same page the careless scribe calls the girl "Jauharat (Gem) of the Tribe."
[FN#290] For this Hell, see vol. viii. 111.
[FN#291] "Core" or "Life-blood of Hearts."
[FN#292] Presently explained.
[FN#293] In text "Afr�kh al-Jinn," lit. = Chicks of the Jinns, a
mere vulgarism: see "Farkh 'Akrab," vol. iv. 46.
[FN#294] "Ibr�a" = deliverance from captivity, etc. Y� = �, and
M�m = m, composing the word "Ibrah�m." The guttural is concealed
in the Hamzah of Ibr�a, a good illustration of Dr. Steingass's
valuable remarks in Terminal Essay, pp. 235, 236.
[FN#295] "Kal�m" = one who speaks with another, a familiar.
Moses' title is Kal�mu'llah on account of the Oral Law and
certain conversations at Mount Sinai.
[FN#296] In text "Ist�f�" = choice, selection: hence Mustaf� =
the Chosen Prophet, Mohammed; vols i. 7; ii. 40.
[FN#297] In text "Jazr" = cutting, strengthening, flow (of tide).
[FN#298] In the text "N�fishah" = Pers. "N�fah," derived, I
presume, from the {root} "N�f" = belly or testicle, the part which in the musk-deer was supposed to store up the perfume.
[FN#299] For 'Nah�vand," the celebrated site in Al-Irak where the Persians sustained their final defeat at the hands of the Arabs A.H. 21. It is also one of the many musical measures, like the Ispah�ni, the R�sti, the Rayh�ni, the B�salik, the Nav�, etc., borrowed from the conquered 'Ajam�.
[FN#300] This second half of the story is laid upon the lines of
"The Man of Al-Yaman and his six Slave-girls": vol. iv. 245.
[FN#301] This history again belongs to the class termed "Abtar =
tailless. In the text we find for all termination, "After this he (Y�suf) invited Mohammed ibn Ibrahim to lie that night in the
palace." Scott (vi. 364) ends after his own fashion:--"They (the
ten girls) recited extempore verses before the caliph, but the
subject of each was so expressive of their wish to return to
their beloved sovereign, and delivered in so affecting a manner,
that Mamoon, though delighted with their wit and beauty,
sacrificed his own pleasure to their feelings, and sent them back to Eusuff by the officer who carried the edict, confirming him in his dominions, where the prince of Sind and the fair Aleefa continued long, amid a numerous progeny, to live the protectors of their happy subjects."
[FN#302] This tale is headless as the last is tailless. We must
suppose that soon after Mohammed ibn Ibrahim had quitted the
Caliph, taking away the ten charmers, Al-Maamun felt his "breast
straitened" and called for a story upon one of his R�w�s named
Ibn Ahyam. This name is repeated in the text and cannot be a
clerical error for Ibn Ibrahim.
[FN#303] Scott (vi. 366) "Adventures of the Three Princes, sons
of the Sultan of China."
[FN#304] In the text "'Ajam," for which see vol. i. 2, 120.
Al-Irak, I may observe, was the head-quarters of the extensive
and dangerous Kh�rijite heresy; and like Syria has ever a bad
name amongst orthodox Moslems.
[FN#305] In the Arab. "Salkh," meaning also a peculiar form of
circumcision, for which see Pilgrimage iii. 80-81. The Jew's
condition was of course a trick, presenting an impossibility and
intended as a mere pretext for murdering an enemy to his faith.
Throughout the Eastern world this idea prevails, and both Sir
Moses Montefiore and M. Cremieux were utterly at fault and
certainly knew it when they declared that Europe was teaching it
to Asia. Every Israelite community is bound in self-defence, when the murder of a Christian child or adult is charged upon any of its members, to court the most searching enquiry and to abate the scandal with all its might.
[FN#306] The text has "F� K�b," which Scott (vol. vi. 367)
renders "a mat." [According to the Muh�t "K�b" is a small thick
mat used to produce shade, pl. "Kiy�b" and "Aky�b." The same
authority says the word is of Persian origin, but this seems an
error, unless it be related to "Keb" with the Y� majh�l, which in the Appendix to the Burh�ni K�ti' is given as synonymous with
"Pech," twist, fold. Under "Bard�" = papyrus the Muh�t mentions
that this is the material from which the mats known by the name
of "Aky�b" are made.--ST.]
[FN#307] The text has here "Wasayah," probably a clerical error
for "wa Miah" (spelt "M�yah"), and a hundred pair of pigeons.--
ST.]
[FN#308] Showing utter ignorance of the Jewish rite which must
always be performed by the Mohel, an official of the Synagogue
duly appointed by the Sheliach = legatus; and within eight days
after birth. The rite consists of three operations. Milah = the
cut; Priah = tearing the foreskin and Mezz�zah = applying styptics to the wound. The latter process has become a matter of
controversy and the Israelite community of Paris, headed by the
Chief Rabbi, M. Zadoc Kahin, has lately assembled to discuss the
question. For the difference between Jewish and Moslem
circumcision see vol. v. 209.
[FN#309] The Jewish quarter (H�rah), which the Israelites
themselves call "Hazer," = a court-yard, an inclosure. In Mayer's valuable "Conversations-Lexicon" the Italian word is derived from the Talmudic "Ghet" = divorce, separation (as parting the Hebrews from the rest of the population) and the Rev. S. R. Melli, Chief Rabbi of Trieste, has kindly informed me that the word is Chaldaic.
[FN#310] [Ar. "Sarm�jah," from Persian "Sar-m�zah," a kind of
hose or gaiter worn over a boot.--ST.]
[FN#311] [Arab. "Yastan�t," aor. to the preter. "istanat," which
has been explained, p. 34.--ST.]
[FN#312] The bed would be made of a carpet or thin mattress
strewn upon the stucco flooring of the terrace-roof. But the
ignorant scribe overlooks the fact that by Mosaic law every
Jewish house must have a parapet for the "Sakf" (flat roof), a
precaution neglected by Al-Islam.
[FN#313] Good old classical English. In the "Breeches Bible"
(A.D. 1586) we read, "But a certaine woman cast a piece of
millstone upon Abimelech's head and broke his brain-panne" (Judges ix. 33).
[FN#314] [The words "'Irz," protection, in the preceding
sentence, "Hurmah" and "Shat�r�h" explain each other mutually.
The formula "f� 'irzak" (vulg. "arzak"), I place myself under thy protection, implies an appeal to one's honour ("'Irz"). Therefore the youth says: "Inna h�zih Hurmah lam 'alay-h� Shat�rah," i.e. "Truly this one is a woman" (in the emphatic sense of a sacred or forbidden object; "this woman" would be "h�zih al-Hurmah"), "I must not act vilely or rashly towards her," both vileness and rashness belonging to the many significations of "Shat�rah," which is most usually "cleverness." --ST.]
[FN#315] In the text "Sind," still confounding this tale with the preceding.
[FN#316] In text "Intih�ba 'l furas," lit. = the snatching of
opportunities, a jingle with "Kanas."
[FN#317] [Compare with this episode the viith of Spitta Bey's
Tales: Histoire du Prince qui apprit un m�tier.--ST.]
[FN#318] i.e. enables a man to conceal the pressure of
impecuniosity.
[FN#319] In text "Al-S�dah wa al-Khat�y�t."
[FN#320] Subaudi, "that hath not been pierced." "The first
night," which is often so portentous a matter in England and upon the Continent (not of North America), is rarely treated as
important by Orientals. A long theoretical familiarity with the
worship of Venus
Leaves not much mystery for the nuptial night.
Such lore has been carefully cultivated by the "young person"
with the able assistance of the ancient dames of the household,
of her juvenile companions and co-evals and especially of the
slave-girls. Moreover not a few Moslems, even Egyptians, the most lecherous and salacious of men, in all ranks of life from prince to peasant take a pride in respecting the maiden for a few nights after the wedding-feast extending, perhaps to a whole week and sometimes more. A brutal haste is looked upon as "low"; and, as sensible men, they provoke by fondling and toying Nature to speak ere proceeding to the final and critical act. In England it is very different. I have heard of brides over thirty years old who had not the slightest suspicion concerning what complaisance was expected of them: out of mauvaise honte, the besetting sin of the respectable classes, neither mother nor father would venture to enlighten the elderly innocents. For a delicate girl to find a man introducing himself into her bedroom and her bed, the shock must be severe and the contact of hirsute breast and hairy limbs with a satiny skin is a strangeness which must often breed loathing and disgust. Too frequently also, instead of showing the utmost regard for virginal modesty and innocence (alias ignorance), the bridegroom will not put a check upon his passions and precipitates matters with the rage of the bull, ruentis in venerem. Even after he hears "the cry" which, as the Arabs say, "must be cried," he has no mercy: the newly made woman lies quivering with mental agitation and physical pain, which not a few describe as resembling the tearing out of a back-tooth, and yet he insists upon repeating the operation, never supposing in his stupidity, that time must pass before the patient can have any sensation of pleasure and before the glories and delights of the sensual orgasm bathe her soul in bliss. Hence complaints, dissatisfaction, disgust, mainly caused by the man's fault, and hence not unfrequently a permanent distaste for the act of carnal congress. All women are by no means equally capable of such enjoyment, and not a few have become mothers of many children without ever being or becoming thoroughly reconciled to it. Especially in the case of highly nervous temperaments--and these seem to be increasing in the United States and notably in New England--the fear of nine months' pains and penalties makes the sex averse to the "deed of kind." The first child is perhaps welcomed, the second is an unpleasant prospect and there is a firm resolve not to conceive a third. But such conjugal chastity is incompatible, except in the case of "married saints," with a bon m�nage. The husband, scandalised and offended by the rejection and refusal of the wife, will seek a substitute more complaisant; and the spouse also may "by the decree of Destiny" happen to meet the right man, the man for whom and for whom only every woman will sweep the floor. And then adieu to prudence and virtue, honour and fair fame. For, I repeat, it is the universal custom of civilised and Christian Europeans to plant their womankind upon a pedestal exposed as butts to every possible temptation: and, if they fall, as must often be expected, to assail them with obloquy and contempt for succumbing to trials imposed upon them by the stronger and less sensitive sex. Far more sensible and practical, by the side of these high idealists, shows the Moslem who guards his jewel with jealous care and who, if his "honour," despite every precaution, insist upon disgracing him, draws the sabre and cuts her down with the general approbation and applause of society.
[FN#321] [Arab. "'Al� ghayri tar�k," which I would translate "out of the way," like the Persian "b�-R�h."--ST.]
[FN#322] In text "Kababj�" (for Kab�bji) seller of Kab�bs, mutton or kid grilled in small squares and skewered: see vol. vi. 225.
[FN#323] In text "Sujj�dah;" vol. vi. 193.
[FN#324] In text "Faddah" all through.
[FN#325] In text "Kirsh" ( = piastre) a word before explained. See Lane (M.E.) Appendix B.
[FN#326] In Arab. "Sam�r;" from the Pers. "Sumar" = a reed, a
rush.
[FN#327] In Arab. "D�w�n:" vols. vii. 340; ix. 108.
[FN#328] Scott has (vol. vi. 373), "The desired articles were
furnished, and the Sultan setting to work, in a few days finished a mat, in which he ingeniously contrived to plait in flowery characters, known only to himself and his vizier, the account of his situation."
[FN#329] In Arab. "Ghir�rah" (plur. "Ghar��r") = a sack. In Ibn
Khall. (iv. pp. 90, 104) it is a large sack for grain and the
especial name of a tax on corn.
[FN#330] In the text "Mohammed ibn Ibrahim," another confusion
with the last tale. This story is followed in the MS. by (1) "The History of the First Brave," (2) "The History of the Second
Brave," and "The Tale of the Noodle and his Asses," which I have
omitted because too feeble for insertion.
[FN#331] Scott (vi.375) "Story of the Good Vizier unjustly
imprisoned." Gauttier (vi. 394) Histoire du bon Vizier
injustement emprisonn�.
[FN#332] This detail has no significance, though perhaps its
object may be to affect the circumstantial, a favourite man�uvre
with the R�w�. [It may mean that the prisoner had to pass through seven gates before reaching it, to indicate its formidable strength and the hopelessness of all escape, except perhaps by a seven-warded, or as the Arabs would say, a seven-pinned key of gold. In the modern tale mentioned on p. 223 the kidnapped Prince and his Wazir are made to pass "through one door after the other until seven doors were passed," to emphasise the utter seclusion of their hiding place.--ST.]
[FN#333] i.e. the mats and mattresses, rugs and carpets, pillows
and cushions which compose the chairs, tables and beds of a
well-to-do Eastern lodging.
[FN#334] The pretext was natural. Pious Moslems often make such
vows and sometimes oblige themselves to feed the street dogs with good bread.
[FN#335] In text "Min hakk h�z� 'l-Kal�m sah�h."
[FN#336] In text "K��k" and "K��k-j�," the well-known ca�que of
the Bosphorus, a term which bears a curious family resemblance to the "Kayak" of the Eskimos.
[FN#337] Here coffee is mentioned without tobacco, whereas in
more modern days the two are intimately connected. And the reason is purely hygienic. Smoking increases the pulsations without strengthening them, and depresses the heart-action with a calming and soothing effect. Coffee, like alcohol, affects the
circulation in the reverse way by exciting it through the nervous system; and not a few authorities advise habitual smokers to end the day and prepare for rest with a glass of spirits and water. It is to be desired that the ignorants who write about "that filthy tobacco" would take the trouble to observe its effects on a large scale, and not base the strongest and extremest opinions, as is the wont of the Anglo-Saxon Halb-bildung, upon the narrowest and shakiest of bases. In Egypt, India and other parts of the Eastern world they will find nicotiana used by men, women and children, of all ranks and ages; and the study of these millions would greatly modify the results of observing a few hundreds at home. But, as in the case of opium-eating, populus vult decipi, the philanthrope does not want to know the truth, indeed he shrinks from it and loathes it. All he cares for is his own especial "fad."
[FN#338] Arab. "F�nj�l" systematically repeated for "Finj�n"
pronounced in Egypt "Fing�n" see vol. viii. 200. [The plural
"Fan�j�l," pronounced "Fan�g�l," occurs in Spitta Bey's Contes
Arabes Modernes, p. 92, and in his Grammar, p. 26, the same
author states that the forms "Fing�n" and "Fing�l" are used
promiscuously.--ST.]
[FN#339] For the "Khaznah" (Khaz�nah) or 10,000 k�s each = �5,
see vols. ii. 84; iii. 278.
[FN#340] A euphuism meaning some disaster. The text contains a
favourite incident in folklore; the first instance, I believe,
being that of Polycrates of Samos according to Herodotus (lib.
iii. 41-42). The theory is supported after a fashion by
experience amongst all versed in that melancholy wisdom the
"knowledge of the world." As Syr Cauline the knight
philosophically says:--
Everye white will have its blacke,
And everye sweete its sowre: etc.
[FN#341] Thus making the food impure and unfit for a religious
Moslem to eat. Scott (vi. 378) has "when a huge rat running from
his hole leaped into the dish which was placed upon the floor."
He is probably thinking of the East Indian "bandycoot."
[FN#342] In text this tale concludes, "It is ended and this
(next) is the History of the Barber."
[FN#343] A dandy, a macaroni, from the Turk. Chelebi, see vol. i. 22. Here the word is thoroughly Arabised. In old Turk. it means, a Prince of the blood; in mod. times a gentleman, Greek or European.
[FN#344] In the text "�zb�sh�" or "Uzb�sh�," a vile Egyptianism
for Y�zb�shi = head of a hundred (men), centurion, captain.
[FN#345] Scil. the household, the Harem, etc. As usual, the masc. is used for the fem.
[FN#346] [Ar. "Al-Rash�kah," a word is not found in the common
lexicons. In Dozy and "Engelmann's Glossary of Spanish and
Portuguese words derived from the Arabic," it is said to be a
fork with three prongs, here probably a hat-stand in the shape of such a fork.--ST.]
[FN#347] In text "Sh�'il" copyist's error for "Sh�ghil," act.
part. of "Shughl" = business, affairs. [Here it stands probably
for the fuller "Shughl sh�ghil," an urgent business.--ST.]
[FN#348] In text "Y� 'Ars, y� Mu'arras": vol. i. 338.
[FN#349] In Syria most houses have a rain cistern or tank into
which the terrace-roof drains and which looks from above like a
well with a cover. The water must have been low when the lover
hid himself in the reservoir.
[FN#350] [In the MS. "Min Hakk la-hu Asl an 'and-n� hun� R�jil,"
a thoroughly popular phrase. "Min Hakk" and "min Hakkan," where
in the adverbial meaning of Hakkan its grammatical form as an
accusative is so far forgotten that it allows itself to be
governed by the preposition "min," is rendered by Bocthor "tout
de bon," "s�rieusement." "Asl" = root has here the meaning of
foundation in fact. The literal translation of the passage would
therefore be: "Forsooth, is there any truth in it that a man is
here in our house?" "Min Hakk" has occurred page 235, where the
text, quoted in the note, may perhaps be translated: "Of a truth, is this saying soothfast?"--ST.]
[FN#351] [The MS. has: "Y� Gh�rat� a-Zay m� hun� R�jil;" "Y�
Gh�rat�" will recur presently, p. 256, along with "y� Mus�bat�" = Oh my calamity! I take it therefore to be an exclamation of
distress from "Gh�rat" = invasion, with its incidents of
devastation, rapine and ruin. It would be the natural outcry of
the women left helpless in an unprotected camp when invaded by a
hostile tribe. In "a-Zay m�" the latter particle is not the
negative, but the pronoun, giving to "a-Zay" = "in what manner,"
"how ?" the more emphatical sense of "how ever?" In the same
sense we find it again, infra, Night 754, "a-Zay m� taf�tn�" =
how canst thou quit me? I would therefore render: "Woe me I am
undone, how ever should there be a man here?" or something to
that purpose.--ST.]
[FN#352] In Persian he would be called "Par�-stricken,"--smitten
by the Fairies.
[FN#353] A quarter-staff (vols. i, 234; viii. 186) opp. to the
"Dabb�s," or club-stick of the Badawin, the Caffres' "Knob-
kerry," which is also called by the Arabs "Kan�," pron. "Gan�."
[FN#354] Scott's "Story of the Lady of Cairo and her four
Gallants" (vol. vi. 380): Gauttier, Histoire d' une Dame du Caire et de ses Galans (vi. 400). This tale has travelled over the Eastern world. See in my vol. vi. 172 "The Lady and her Five
Suitors," and the "Story of the Merchant's Wife and her Suitors"
in Scott's "Tales, Anecdotes, and Letters" (Cadell, London,
1800), which is in fact a garbled version of the former,
introduced into the r�pertoire of "The Seven Waz�rs." I translate the W. M. version of the tale because it is the most primitive known to me; and I shall point out the portions where it lacks finish.
[FN#355] This title does not appear till p. 463 (vol. v.) of the
MS., and it re-appears in vol. vi. 8.
[FN#356] i.e. in her haste: the text has "Kharrat." The Persians
who rhetorically exaggerate everything say "rising and sinking
like the dust of the road." [I doubt whether "Kharrat" could have the meaning given to it in the translation. The word in the MS. has no Tashd�d and I think the careless scribe meant it for
"Kharajat," she went out.--ST.]
[FN#357] I read "N�s malm�m�n = assembled men, a crowd of people."--ST.]
[FN#358] "Rajul Khw�j�:" see vol. vi. 46, etc. For "Sh�hbandar" = king of the port, a harbour-master, whose post I have compared with our "Consul," see vol. iv. 29. It is often, however, applied to Government officials who superintend trade and levy duties at inland marts.
[FN#359] Arab. "Khim�r," a veil or rather a covering for the back of the head. This was the especial whorishness with which
Shahrazad taxes the Goodwife: she had been too prodigal of her
charms, for the occiput and the "back hair" should not be
displayed even to the moon.
[FN#360] These four become five in the more finished tale--the
King, the Wazir, the Kazi, the Wali or Chief of Police and the
Carpenter. Moreover each one is dressed in different costume,
gowns yellow, blue, red and patched with headgear equally absurd.
[FN#361] In text "Turt�r" = the Badawi's bonnet: vol. ii. 143. Mr. Doughty (i. 160) found at Al-Khuraybah the figure of an ancient Arab wearing a close tunic to the knee and bearing on poll a coif. At Al-'Ula he was shown an ancient image of a man's head cut in sandstone: upon the crown was a low pointed bonnet. "Long caps" are also noticed in i. 562; and we are told that they were "worn in outlandish guise in Arabia."
[FN#362] In text "Emb�rah" (pron. 'Mb�rah); pop. for Al-b�rihah = the last part of the preceding day or night, yesterday. The vulgar Egyptian uses it as if it were a corruption of the Pers. "in b�r" = this time. The Arab Badawin pronounce it El-beyrih (with their exaggerated "Im�lah") and use it not only for "yesterday," but also for the past afternoon.
[FN#363] This device is far inferior in comic effect to the
carpenter's press or cabinet of five compartments, and it lacks
the ludicrous catastrophe in which all the lovers make water upon one another's heads.
[FN#364] Scott (vi. 386) "The Cauzee's story:" Gauttier (vi. 406) does not translate it.
[FN#365] In the text the message is delivered verbatim: this
iteration is well fitted for oral work, with its changes of tone
and play of face, and varied "gag"; but it is most annoying for
the more critical reader.
[FN#366] Arab. "Lukmah" = a balled mouthful: vols. i. 261, vii.
367.
[FN#367] The "Mift�h" (prop. "Miftah") or key used throughout the Moslem East is a bit of wood, 7�14 inches long, and provided with 4�10 small iron pins which correspond with an equal number of holes in the "Dabbah" or wooden bolt. If one of these teeth be withdrawn the lock will not open. Lane (M.E. Introduction) has a sketch of the "Miftah" and "Dabbah."
[FN#368] In text "Ayoh" which is here, I hold, a corruption of "� (or Ayy) h�" = "yes indeed he." [I take "aywah" (as I would read the word) to be a different spelling for "aywa" = yes indeed, which according to Spitta Bey, Gr. p. 168 is a contraction of "Ay (�) wa'll�hi," yes by Allah. "What? thy lover?" asks the husband, and she emphatically affirms the fact, to frighten the concealed tailor--ST.]
[FN#369] In the Arab. "Al-Ashkh�kh," plur. of "Shakhkh" and
literally "the stales" meaning either dejection. [I read: "bi
'l-Shakh�kh," the usual modern word for urine. "'Alayya Shakh�kh" is: I want to make water. See Dozy Suppl. s.v.--ST.]
[FN#370] In text "Ah� ma'�"--pure Fellah speech.
[FN#371] In the Arab. "laklaka-h�"--an onomatopoeia.
[FN#372] In text "Il� an yas�r Karmu-hu." The root Karm originally means cutting a slip of skin from the camel's nose by way of mark, in lieu of the normal branding.
[FN#373] In text "Yazghaz-h� f� shikkati-ha," the verb being
probably a clerical error for "Yazaghzagh," from {root} "Zaghzagha," = he opened a skin bag.
[FN#374] This is the far-famed balcony-scene in "Fanny" (of
Ernest Feydeau translated into English and printed by Vizetelly
and Co.) that phenomenal specimen of morbid and unmasculine
French (or rather Parisian) sentiment, which contrasts so
powerfully with the healthy and manly tone of The Nights. Here
also the story conveys a moral lesson and, contrary to custom,
the husband has the best of the affair. To prove that my judgment is not too severe, let me quote the following passages from a well-known and popular French novelist, translated by an English litt�rateur and published by a respectable London firm.