tide.[303]
Daughter of nobles[304] they lead her forth[305] ✿ In raiment of goblets
beautified.
They belt her round with the brightest gems, ✿ And pearls and unions,
the Ocean’s pride;
So I by these signs and signets know ✿ Wherefore the Wine is entitled
“Bride.”[306]
And round about these vessels were confections and flowers, such as may
not be surpassed. When Al-Rashid saw this from Khalif, he inclined to
him and smiled upon him and invested him with an office; so Khalif
wished him continuance of honour and endurance of days and said, “Will
the Commander of the Faithful deign give me leave to bring him a singer,
a lute-player her like was never heard among mortals ever?” Quoth the
Caliph, “Thou art permitted!” So he kissed ground before him and going
to a secret closet, called Kut al-Kulub, who came after she had
disguised and falsed and veiled herself, tripping in her robes and
trinkets; and she kissed ground before the Commander of the Faithful.
Then she sat down and tuning the lute, touched its strings and played
upon it, till all present were like to faint for excess of delight;
after which she improvised these verses:—
Would Heaven I wot, will ever Time bring our beloveds back again? ✿ And,
ah! will Union and its bliss to bless two lovers deign?
Will Time assure to us united days and joinèd joy, ✿ While from the
storms and stowres of life in safety we remain?
Then O Who bade this pleasure be, our parting past and gone, ✿ And made
one house our meeting-stead throughout the Nights contain;
By him, draw near me, love, and closest cling to side of me ✿ Else were
my wearied wasted life, a vanity, a bane.
When the Caliph heard this, he could not master himself, but rent his
raiment and fell down a-swoon; whereupon all who were present hastened
to doff their dress and throw it over him, whilst Kut al-Kulub signed to
Khalif and said to him, “Hie to yonder chest and bring us what is
therein;” for she had made ready therein a suit of the Caliph’s wear
against the like of such hour as this. So Khalif brought it to her and
she threw it over the Commander of the Faithful, who came to himself and
knowing her for Kut al-Kulub, said, “Is this the Day of Resurrection and
hath Allah quickened those who are in the tombs; or am I asleep and is
this an imbroglio of dreams?” Quoth Kut al-Kulub, “We are on wake, not
on sleep, and I am alive, nor have I drained the cup of death.” Then she
told him all that had befallen her, and indeed, since he lost her, life
had not been light to him nor had sleep been sweet, and he abode now
wondering, then weeping and anon afire for longing. When she had made an
end of her story, the Caliph rose and took her by the hand, intending
for her palace, after he had kissed her inner lips, and had strained her
to his bosom; whereupon Khalif rose and said, “By Allah, O Commander of
the Faithful! Thou hast already wronged me once, and now thou wrongest
me again.” Quoth Al-Rashid, “Indeed thou speakest sooth, O Khalif,” and
bade the Wazir Ja’afar give him what should satisfy him. So he
straightway gifted him with all for which he wished and assigned him a
village, the yearly revenues whereof were twenty thousand dinars.
Moreover Kut al-Kulub generously presented him the house and all that
was therein of furniture and hangings and white slaves and slave-girls
and eunuchs great and small. So Khalif became possessed of this passing
affluence and exceeding wealth and took him a wife, and prosperity
taught him gravity and dignity, and good fortune overwhelmed him. The
Caliph enrolled him among his equerries and he abode in all solace of
life and its delights till he deceased and was admitted to the mercy of
Allah. Furthermore they relate a tale anent
-----
Footnote 263:
Arab. “Hásilah” prob. a corner of a “Godown” in some Khan or
Caravanserai.
Footnote 264:
Arab. “Funduk” from the Gr. πανδοχεῖον, whence the Italian Fondaco
_e.g._ at Venice the Fondaco de’ Turchi.
Footnote 265:
Arab. “Astár” plur. of Satr: in the Mac. Edit. Sátúr, both (says Dozy)
meaning “Couperet” (a hatchet). Habicht translates it “a measure for
small fish,” which seems to be a shot and a bad shot as the text talks
only of means of carrying fish. Nor can we accept Dozy’s emendation
Astál (plur. of Satl) pails, situlæ. In Petermann’s Reisen (i. 89)
Satr = assiette.
Footnote 266:
Which made him expect a heavy haul.
Footnote 267:
Arab. “Urkúb” = tendon Achilles in man hough or pastern in beast, etc.
It is held to be an incrementative form of ’Akab (heel); as Kur’úb of
Ka’b (heel) and Khurtúm of Khatm (snout).
Footnote 268:
Arab. “Karmút” and Zakzúk. The former (pronounced Garmút) is one of
the many Siluri (S. Carmoth Niloticus) very common and resembling the
Shál. It is smooth and scaleless with fleshy lips and soft meat and as
it haunts muddy bottoms it was forbidden to the Ancient Egyptians. The
Zakzúk is the young of the Shál (Synodontis Schal: Seetzen); its
plural form Zakázik (pronounced Zigázig) gave a name to the
flourishing town which has succeeded to old Bubastis and of which I
have treated in “Midian” and “Midian Revisited.”
Footnote 269:
“Yá A’awar” = O one eye! _i.e._ the virile member. So the vulgar
insult “Ya ibn al-aur” (as the vulgar pronounce it) “O son of a yard!”
When Al-Mas’údi writes (Fr. Trans. vii. 106), “Udkhul usbu’ak fi
aynih,” it must not be rendered “Il faut lui faire violence”: thrust
thy finger into his eye (’Ayn) means “put thy penis up his fundament!”
(’Ayn being = Dubur). The French remarks, “On en trouverait
l’équivalent dans les bas-fonds de notre langue.” So in English “pig’s
eye,” “blind eye.” etc.
Footnote 270:
Arab. Nabbút = a quarterstaff: see vol. i. 234.
Footnote 271:
Arab. “Banní,” vulg. Benni and in Lane (Lex. Bunni) the Cyprinus Bynni
(Forsk.), a fish somewhat larger than a barbel with lustrous silvery
scales and delicate flesh, which Sonnini believes may be the
“Lepidotes” (smooth-scaled) mentioned by Athenæus. I may note that the
Bresl. Edit. (iv. 332) also affects the Egyptian vulgarism
“Farkh-Banni” of the Mac. Edit. (Night dcccxxxii.)
Footnote 272:
The story-teller forgets that Khalif had neither basket nor knife.
Footnote 273:
Arab. “Rayhán” which may here mean any scented herb.
Footnote 274:
In the text “Fard Kalmah,” a vulgarism. The Mac. Edit. (Night
dcccxxxv.) more aptly says, “Two words” (Kalmatáni, vulg. Kalmatayn)
the Twofold Testimonies to the Unity of Allah and the Mission of His
Messenger.
Footnote 275:
The lowest Cairene chaff which has no respect for itself or others.
Footnote 276:
Arab. “Karrat azlá’ hú”: alluding to the cool skin of healthy men when
digesting a very hearty meal.
Footnote 277:
This is the true Fellah idea. A peasant will go up to his proprietor
with the “rint” in gold pieces behind his teeth and undergo an immense
amount of flogging before he spits them out. Then he will return to
his wife and boast of the number of sticks he has eaten instead of
paying at once and his spouse will say, “Verily thou art a man.”
Europeans know nothing of the Fellah. Napoleon Buonaparte, for
political reasons, affected great pity for him and horror of his
oppressors, the Beys and Pashas; and this affectation gradually became
public opinion. The Fellah must either tyrannise or be tyrannised
over; he is never happier than under a strong-handed despotism and he
has never been more miserable than under British rule or rather
misrule. Our attempts to constitutionalise him have made us the
laughing-stock of Europe.
Footnote 278:
The turban is a common substitute for a purse with the lower classes
of Egyptians; and an allusion to the still popular practice of
turban-snatching will be found in vol. i. p. 259.
Footnote 279:
Arab. “Sálih,” a devotee; here, a naked Dervish.
Footnote 280:
Here Khalif is made a conspicuous figure in Baghdad like Boccaccio’s
Calandrino and Co. He approaches in type the old Irishman now extinct,
destroyed by the reflux action of Anglo-America (U.S.) upon the
miscalled “Emerald Isle.” He blunders into doing and saying funny
things whose models are the Hibernian “bulls” and acts purely upon the
impulse of the moment, never reflecting till (possibly) after all is
over.
Footnote 281:
Arab. “Kaylúlah,” explained in vol. i. 51.
Footnote 282:
_i.e._ thy bread lawfully gained. The “Bawwák” (trumpeter) like the
“Zammár” (piper of the Mac. Edit.) are discreditable craftsmen,
associating with Almahs and loose women and often serving as their
panders.
Footnote 283:
_i.e._ he was indecently clad. Man’s “shame” extends from navel to
knees. See vol. vi. 30.
Footnote 284:
Rashád would be = garden-cresses or stones: Rashíd the
heaven-directed.
Footnote 285:
Arab. “Uff ’alayka” = fie upon thee! Uff = lit. Sordes Aurium and Tuff
(a similar term of disgust) = Sordes unguinum. To the English reader
the blows administered to Khalif appear rather hard measure. But a
Fellah’s back is thoroughly broken to the treatment and he would take
ten times as much punishment for a few piastres.
Footnote 286:
Arab. “Zurayk” dim. of Azrak = blue-eyed. See vol. iii. 104.
Footnote 287:
Of Baghdad.
Footnote 288:
Arab. “Hásil,” _i.e._ cell in a Khan for storing goods: elsewhere it
is called a Makhzan (magazine) with the same sense.
Footnote 289:
The Bresl. text (iv. 347) abbreviates, or rather omits; so that in
translation details must be supplied to make sense.
Footnote 290:
Arab. “Kamán,” vulgar Egyptian, a contraction from Kamá (as) + anna
(since, because). So “Kamán shuwayh” = wait a bit; “Kamán marrah” =
once more and “Wa Kamána-ka” = that is why.
Footnote 291:
_i.e._ Son of the Eagle: See vol. iv. 177. Here, however, as the text
shows it is hawk or falcon. The name is purely fanciful and made
mnemonically singular.
Footnote 292:
The Egyptian Fellah knows nothing of boxing like the Hausá man; but he
is fond of wrestling after a rude and uncultivated fashion, which
would cause shouts of laughter in Cumberland and Cornwall. And there
are champions in this line. See vol. iii. 93.
Footnote 293:
The usual formula. See vol. ii. 5.
Footnote 294:
As the Fellah still does after drinking a cuplet (“fingán” he calls
it) of sugared coffee.
Footnote 295:
He should have said “white,” the mourning colour under the Abbasides.
Footnote 296:
Anglicè, “Fine feathers make fine birds”; and in Eastern parlance,
“Clothe the reed and it will become a bride.” (Labbis al-Búsah tabkí
’Arúsah, Spitta Bey, No. 275.) I must allow myself a few words of
regret for the loss of this Savant, one of the most single-minded men
known to me. He was vilely treated by the Egyptian Government, under
the rule of the Jew-Moslem Riyáz; and, his health not allowing him to
live in Austria, he died shortly after return home.
Footnote 297:
Arab. “Saub (Tobe) ’Atábi”: see vol. iii. 149.
Footnote 298:
In text “Kimkhá,” which Dozy also gives Kumkh = chenille, tissu de
soie veloutee: Damasquète de soie or et argent de Venise, du Levant, à
fleurs, etc. It comes from Kamkháb or Kimkháb, a cloth of gold, the
well-known Indian “Kimcob.”
Footnote 299:
Here meaning = Enter in Allah’s name!
Footnote 300:
The Arabs have a saying, Wine breeds gladness, music merriment and
their offspring is joy.
Footnote 301:
Arab. “Jokh al-Saklát,” rich kind of brocade on broadcloth.
Footnote 302:
Arab. “Hanabát,” which Dozy derives from O. German Hnapf, Hnap now
Napf: thence too the Lat. Hanapus and Hanaperium: Ital. Anappo, Nappo;
Provenc. Enap and French and English “Hanap” = rich bowl, basket, bag.
But this is known even to the dictionaries.
Footnote 303:
Arab. “Kirám,” nobles, and “Kurúm,” vines, a word which appears in
Carmel = Karam-El (God’s vineyard).
Footnote 304:
Arab. “Suláf al-Khandarísí,” a contradiction. Suláf = the ptisane of
wine. Khandarísí, from Greek χόνδρος, lit. gruel, applies to old wine.
Footnote 305:
_i.e._ in bridal procession.
Footnote 306:
Arab. “Al-’Arús,” one of the innumerable tropical names given to wine
by the Arabs. Mr. Payne refers to Grangeret de la Grange, Anthologie
Arabe, p. 190.
MASRUR AND ZAYN AL-MAWASIF.[307]
There was once in days of yore and in ages and times long gone before a
man and a merchant Masrúr hight, who was of the comeliest of the folk of
his tide, a wight of wealth galore and in easiest case; but he loved to
take his pleasure in vergiers and flower-gardens and to divert himself
with the love of the fair. Now it fortuned one night, as he lay asleep,
he dreamt that he was in a garth of the loveliest, wherein were four
birds, and amongst them a dove, white as polished silver. That dove
pleased him and for her grew up in his heart an exceeding love.
Presently, he beheld a great bird swoop down on him and snatch the dove
from his hand, and this was grievous to him. After which he awoke and
not finding the bird strave with his yearnings till morning, when he
said in himself, “There is no help but that I go to-day to some one who
will expound to me this vision.”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of
day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Eight Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
merchant awoke, he strave with his yearnings till morning when he said
to himself, “There is no help but that I go this day to some one who
will expound to me this vision.” So he went forth and walked right and
left, till he was far from his dwelling-place, but found none to
interpret the dream to him. Then he would have returned, but on his way
behold, the fancy took him to turn aside to the house of a certain
trader, a man of the wealthiest, and when he drew near to it, suddenly
he heard from within a plaintive voice from a sorrowful heart reciting
these couplets:—
The breeze o’ Morn blows uswards from her trace ✿ Fragrant, and heals
the love-sick lover’s case.
I stand like captive on the mounds and ask ✿ While tears make answer for
the ruined place:
Quoth I, “By Allah, Breeze o’ Morning, say ✿ Shall Time and Fortune aye
this stead regrace?
Shall I enjoy a fawn whose form bewitched ✿ And languorous eyelids
wasted frame and face?”
When Masrur heard this, he looked in through the doorway and saw a
garden of the goodliest of gardens, and at its farther end a curtain of
red brocade, purfled with pearls and gems, behind which sat four
damsels, and amongst them a young lady over four feet and under five in
height, as she were the rondure of the lune and the full moon shining
boon: she had eyes Kohl’d with nature’s dye and joined eyebrows, a mouth
as it were Solomon’s seal and lips and teeth bright with pearls and
coral’s light; and indeed she ravished all wits with her beauty and
loveliness and symmetry and perfect grace. When Masrur espied her, he
entered the porch and went on entering till he came to the curtain:
whereupon she raised her head and glanced at him. So he saluted her and
she returned his salam with sweetest speech; and, when he considered her
more straitly, his reason was dazed and his heart amazed. Then he looked
at the garden and saw that it was full of jessamine and gilly flowers
and violets and roses and orange blossoms and all manner sweet-scented
blooms and herbs. Every tree was girt about with fruits and there
coursed down water from four daises, which faced one another and
occupied the four corners of the garden. He looked at the first Líwán
and found written around it with vermilion these two couplets:—
Ho thou the House! Grief never home in thee; ✿ Nor Time work treason on
thine owner’s head:
All good betide the House which every guest ✿ Harbours, when sore
distrest for way and stead!
Then he looked at the second daïs and found written thereon in red gold
these couplets:—
Robe thee, O House, in richest raiment Time, ✿ Long as the birdies on
the branchlets chime!
And sweetest perfumes breathe within thy walls ✿ And lover meet beloved
in bliss sublime:
And dwell thy dwellers all in joy and pride ✿ Long as the wandering
stars Heaven-hill shall climb.
Then he looked at the third, whereon he found written in ultramarine
these two couplets:—
Ever thy pomp and pride, O House! display ✿ While starkeneth Night and
shineth sheeny Day!
Boon Fortune bless all entering thy walls, ✿ And whomso dwell in thee,
for ever and aye!
Then he looked at the fourth and saw painted in yellow characters this
couplet:—
This garden and this lake in truth ✿ Are fair sitting-steads, by the
Lord of Ruth!
Moreover, in that garden were birds of all breeds, ring-dove and cushat
and nightingale and culver, each singing his several song, and amongst
them the lady, swaying gracefully to and fro in her beauty and grace and
symmetry and loveliness and ravishing all who saw her. Presently quoth
she to Masrur, “Hola man! what bringeth thee into a house other than thy
house and wherefore comest thou in unto women other than thy women,
without leave of their owner?” Quoth he, “O my lady, I saw this garden,
and the goodliness of its greenery pleased me and the fragrance of its
flowers and the carolling of its birds; so I entered, thinking to gaze
on it awhile and wend my way.” Said she, “With love and gladness!”; and
Masrur was amazed at the sweetness of her speech and the coquetry of her
glances and the straightness of her shape, and transported by her beauty
and seemlihead and the pleasantness of the garden and the birds. So in
the disorder of his spirits he recited these couplets:—
As a crescent-moon in the garth her form ✿ ’Mid Basil and Jasmine and
Rose I scan;
And Violet faced by the Myrtle-spray ✿ And Nu’umán’s bloom and
Myrobalan:
By her perfume the Zephyrs perfumèd breathe ✿ And with scented sighings
the branches fan.
O Garden, thou perfect of beauty art ✿ All charms comprising in perfect
plan;
And melodious birdies sing madrigals ✿ And the Full Moon[308] shineth in
branch-shade wan;
Its ring-dove, its culver, its mocking-bird ✿ And its Philomel sing my
soul t’ unman;
And the longing of love all my wits confuseth ✿ For her charms, As the
man whom his wine bemuseth.
Now when Zayn al-Mawásif heard his verse, she glanced at him with eyes
which bequeathed a thousand sighs and utterly ravished his wisdom and
wits and replied to him in these lines:—
Hope not of our favours to make thy prey ✿ And of what thou wishest thy
greed allay:
And cease thy longing; thou canst not win ✿ The love of the Fair thou’rt
fain t’ essay,
My glances to lovers are baleful and naught ✿ I reek of thy speech: I
have said my say!
“Ho, thou! Begone about thy business, for we are none of the woman-tribe
who are neither thine nor another’s.[309]” And he answered, “O my lady,
I said nothing ill.” Quoth she, “Thou soughtest to divert thyself[310]
and thou hast had thy diversion; so wend thy ways.” Quoth he, “O my
lady, belike thou wilt give me a draught of water, for I am athirst.”
Whereupon she cried, “How canst thou drink of a Jew’s water, and thou a
Nazarene?” But he replied, “O my lady, your water is not forbidden to us
nor ours unlawful to you, for we are all as one creation.” So she said
to her slave-girl, “Give him to drink;” and she did as she was bidden.
Then she called for the table of food, and there came four damsels,
high-bosomed maids, bearing four trays of meats and four gilt flagons
full of strong old-wine, as it were the tears of a slave of love for
clearness, and a table around whose edge were graven these couplets:—
For eaters a table they brought and set ✿ In the banquet-hall and ’twas
dight with gold:
Like th’ Eternal Garden that gathers all ✿ Man wants of meat and wines
manifold.
And when the high-breasted maids had set all this before him, quoth she,
“Thou soughtest to drink of our drink; so up and at our meat and drink!”
He could hardly credit what his ears had heard and sat down at the table
forthright; whereupon she bade her nurse[311] give him a cup, that he
might drink. Now her slave-girls were called, one Hubúb, another Khutúb
and the third Sukúb,[312] and she who gave him the cup was Hubub. So he
took the cup and looking at the outside there saw written these
couplets:—
Drain not the bowl but with lovely wight ✿ Who loves thee and wine makes
brighter bright.
And ’ware her Scorpions[313] that o’er thee creep ✿ And guard thy tongue
lest thou vex her sprite.
Then the cup went round and when he emptied it he looked inside and saw
written:—
And ’ware her Scorpions when pressing them, ✿ And hide her secrets from
foes’ despight.
Whereupon Masrur laughed her-wards and she asked him, “What causeth thee
to laugh?” “For the fulness of my joy,” quoth he. Presently, the breeze
blew on her and the scarf[314] fell from her head and discovered a
fillet[315] of glittering gold, set with pearls and gems and jacinths;
and on her breast was a necklace of all manner ring-jewels and precious
stones, to the centre of which hung a sparrow of red gold, with feet of
red coral and bill of white silver and body full of Nadd-powder and pure
ambergris and odoriferous musk. And upon its back was engraved:—
The Nadd is my wine-scented powder, my bread; ✿ And the bosom’s my bed
and the breasts my stead:
And my neck-nape complains of the weight of love, ✿ Of my pain, of my
pine, of my drearihead.
Then Masrur looked at the breast of her shift and behold, thereon lay
wroughten in red gold this verse:—
The fragrance of musk from the breasts of the fair ✿ Zephyr borrows, to
sweeten the morning air.
Masrur marvelled at this with exceeding wonder and was dazed by her
charms and amazement gat hold upon him. Then said Zayn al-Mawásif to
him, “Begone from us and go about thy business, lest the neighbours hear
of us and even us with the lewd.” He replied, “By Allah, O my lady,
suffer my sight to enjoy the view of thy beauty and loveliness.” With
this she was wroth with him and leaving him, walked in the garden, and
he looked at her shift-sleeve and saw upon it embroidered these lines:—
The weaver-wight wrote with gold-ore bright ✿ And her wrists on brocade
rained a brighter light:
Her palms are adorned with a silvern sheen; ✿ And favour her fingers the
ivory’s white:
For their tips are rounded like priceless pearl; ✿ And her charms would
enlighten the nightiest night.
And, as she paced the garth, Masrur gazed at her slippers and saw
written upon them these pleasant lines:—
The slippers that carry these fair young feet ✿ Cause her form to bend
in its gracious bloom:
When she paces and waves in the breeze she owns, ✿ She shines fullest
moon in the murkiest gloom.
She was followed by her women leaving Hubub with Masrur by the curtain,
upon whose edge were embroidered these couplets:—
Behind the veil a damsel sits with gracious beauty dight, ✿ Praise to
the Lord who decked her with these inner gifts of sprite!
Guards her the garden and the bird fain bears her company; ✿ Gladden her
wine-draughts and the bowl but makes her brighter-bright.
Apple and Cassia-blossom show their envy of her cheeks; ✿ And borrows
Pearl resplendency from her resplendent light;
As though the sperm that gendered her were drop of marguerite[316] ✿
Happy who kisses her and spends in her embrace the night.