satisfied my censurers and pleased their enmity:
I did amiss and wot it not; so deign to tell me now ✿ Whatso they told
thee, haply ‘twas the merest calumny.
I wish to welcome thee, dear love, even as welcome I ✿ Sleep to these
eyes and eyelids in the place of sleep to be.
And since ‘tis thou hast made me drain th’ unmixèd cup of love, ✿ If me
thou see with wine bemused heap not thy blame on me!
And when she had written the missive,——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Budur had
written the missive, she sealed it and gave it to me; and I said, “O
my lady, in good sooth this thy letter will make the sick man whole
and ease the thirsting soul.” Then I took it and went from her, when
she called me back and said to me, “O son of Mansur, say to him:—She
will be thy guest this night.” At this I joyed with exceeding great
joy and carried the letter to Jubayr, whom I found with his eyes fixed
intently on the door, expecting the reply and as soon as I gave him
the letter and he opened and read it and understood it, he uttered a
great cry and fell down in a fainting fit. When he came to himself, he
said to me, “O Ibn Mansur, did she indeed write this note with her
hand and feel it with her fingers?” Answered I, “O my lord, do folk
write with their feet?” And by Allah, O Commander of the Faithful, I
had not done speaking these words, when we heard the tinkle-tinkle of
her anklets in the vestibule and she entered. And seeing her he sprang
to his feet as though nothing pained or ailed him and embraced her
like the letter L embraceth the letter A;[344] and the infirmity, that
erst would not depart at once left him.[345] Then he sat down, but she
abode standing and I said to her, “O my lady, why dost thou not sit?”
Said she, “O Ibn Mansur, save on a condition that is between us, I
will not sit.” I asked, “And what is that?”; and she answered, “None
may know lovers’ secrets,” and putting her mouth to Jubayr’s ear
whispered to him; whereupon he replied, “I hear and I obey.” Then he
rose and said somewhat in a whisper to one of his slaves, who went out
and returned in a little while with a Kazi and two witnesses.
Thereupon Jubayr stood up and taking a bag containing an hundred
thousand dinars, said, “O Kazi, marry me to this young lady and write
this sum to her marriage-settlement.” Quoth the Kazi to her, “Say
thou, I consent to this.” “I consent to this,” quoth she, whereupon he
drew up the contract of marriage and she opened the bag; and, taking
out a handful of gold, gave it to the Kazi and the witnesses and
handed the rest to Jubayr. Thereupon the Kazi and the witnesses
withdrew, and I sat with them, in mirth and merriment, till the most
part of the night was past, when I said in my mind, “These are lovers
and they have been this long while separated. I will now arise and go
sleep in some place afar from them and leave them to their privacy,
one with other.” So I rose, but she caught hold of my skirts, saying,
“What thinkest thou to do?” “Nothing but so and so,” answered I; upon
which she rejoined, “Sit thee down; and when we would be rid of thee,
we will send thee away.” So I sat down with them till near daybreak,
when she said to me, “O Ibn Mansur, go to yonder chamber; for we have
furnished it for thee and it is thy sleeping-place.” Thereupon I arose
and went thither and slept till morning, when a page brought me basin
and ewer, and I made the ablution and prayed the dawn-prayer. Then I
sat down and presently, behold, Jubayr and his beloved came out of the
bath in the house, and I saw them both wringing their locks.[346] So I
wished them good morning and gave them joy of their safety and
reunion, saying to Jubayr, “That which began with constraint and
conditions hath ended in cordial contentment.” He answered, “Thou
sayest well, and indeed thou deservest thy honorarium;” and he called
his treasurer, and said, “Bring hither three thousand dinars.” So he
brought a purse containing the gold pieces and Jubayr gave it to me,
saying, “Favour us by accepting this.” But I replied, “I will not
accept it till thou tell me the manner of the transfer of love from
her to thee, after so huge an aversion.” Quoth he, “Hearkening and
obedience! Know that we have a festival called New Year’s day,[347]
when all the people fare forth and take boat and go a-pleasuring on
the river. So I went out with my comrades, and saw a skiff, wherein
were ten damsels like moons and amongst them, the Lady Budur lute in
hand.” She preluded in eleven modes, then, returning to the first,
sang these two couplets:—
Fire is cooler than fires in my breast, ✿ Rock is softer than heart of
my lord,
Marvel I that he’s formèd to hold ✿ In water-soft frame heart rock-hard!
“Said I to her:—Repeat the couplets and the air! But she would
not;”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Jubayr continued,
“So cried I to her:—Repeat the couplets and the air! But she would not;
whereupon I bade the boatmen pelt her with oranges, and they pelted her
till we feared her boat would founder. Then she went her way, and this
is how the love was transferred from her heart to mine.” So I wished
them joy of their union; and, taking the purse with its contents, I
returned to Baghdad. Now when the Caliph heard Ibn Mansur’s story his
heart was lightened and the restlessness and oppression from which he
suffered forsook him. And they also tell the tale of
-----
Footnote 326:
Lane (ii. 494) relates from Al-Makrizi, that when Khamárawayh,
Governor of the Egypt (ninth century), suffered from insomnia his
physician ordered a pool of quicksilver, 50 by 50 cubits, to be laid
out in front of his palace, now the Rumaylah square. “At the corners
of the pool were silver pegs to which were attached by silver rings,
strong bands of silk, and a bed of skins, inflated with air, being
thrown upon the pool and secured by the bands remained in a continual
state of agreeable vacillation.” We are not told that the Prince was
thereby salivated like the late Colonel Sykes when boiling his mercury
for thermometric experiments.
Footnote 327:
The name seems now unknown. “Al-Khalí’a” is somewhat stronger than
“Wag,” meaning at least a “wicked wit.” Properly it is the Span.
“perdido,” a youth cast off (Khala’) by his friends; though not so
strong a term as “Harfúsh” = a blackguard.
Footnote 328:
Arab. “Farsakh” = parasang.
Footnote 329:
Arab. “Nahás asfar” = yellow copper, brass as opposed to Nahás ahmar =
copper. The reader who cares to study the subject will find much about
it in my “Book of The Sword,” chapt. iv.
Footnote 330:
Lane (ii. 479) translates one stanza of this mukhammas (pentastich)
and speaks of “five more,” which would make six.
Footnote 331:
A servile name, Delicacy, Elegance.
Footnote 332:
These verses have occurred twice: (Night ix. etc.) so I give Lane’s
version (ii. 482).
Footnote 333:
A Badawi tribe to which belonged the generous Ma’an bin Za’idah, often
mentioned in The Nights.
Footnote 334:
Wealthy harems, I have said, are hot-beds of Sapphism and Tribadism.
Every woman past her first youth has a girl whom she calls her
“Myrtle” (in Damascus). At Agbome, capital of Dahome, I found that a
troop of women was kept for the use of the “Amazons” (Mission to
Gelele, ii. 73). Amongst the wild Arabs, who ignore Socratic and
Sapphic perversions, the lover is always more jealous of his beloved’s
girl-friends than of men rivals. In England we content ourselves with
saying that women corrupt women more than men do.
Footnote 335:
The Hebrew Pentateuch; Roll of the Law.
Footnote 336:
I need hardly notice the brass trays, platters and table-covers with
inscriptions which are familiar to every reader: those made in the
East for foreign markets mostly carry imitation inscriptions lest
infidel eyes fall upon Holy Writ.
Footnote 337:
These six distichs are in Night xiii. I borrow Torrens (p. 125) to
show his peculiar treatment of spinning out 12 lines to 38.
Footnote 338:
Arab. “Musámirah” = chatting at night. Easterns are inordinately fond
of the practice and the wild Arabs often sit up till dawn, talking
over the affairs of the tribe, indeed a Shaykh is expected to do so.
“Early to bed and early to rise” is a civilised not a savage or a
barbarous saying. Samír is a companion in night talk; Rafík of the
road; Rahíb in riding horse or camel; Ká’id in sitting; Sharíb and
Rafís at drink, and Nadím at table: Ahíd is an ally, and Sharík a
partner—all on the model of “Fa’íl.”
Footnote 339:
In both lover and beloved the excess of love gave them this
clairvoyance.
Footnote 340:
The prayer will be granted for the excess (not the purity) of her
love.
Footnote 341:
This wailing over the Past is one of the common-places of Badawi
poetry. The traveller cannot fail, I repeat, to notice the chronic
melancholy of peoples dwelling under the brightest skies.
Footnote 342:
Moons = Budúr: in Paradise as a martyr.
Footnote 343:
_i.e._ to intercede for me in Heaven; as if the young woman were the
Prophet.
Footnote 344:
The comparison is admirable as the two letters are thus written
[Illustration] or لا. It occurs in Al-Hariri (Ass. of Ramlah)
So I embraced him close as Lám cleaves to Alif;
And again:—
She laid aside reluctance and I embraced her close
As if I were Lám and my love Alif.
The Lomad-Olaph in Syraic is similarly colligated.
Footnote 345:
Here is a double entendre “and the infirm letters (viz. a, w and y)
not subject to accidence, left him.” The three make up the root “Awi”
= pitying, condoling.
Footnote 346:
Showing that consummation had taken place. It was a sign of good
breeding to avoid all “indecent hurry” when going to bed. In some
Moslem countries the bridegroom does not consummate the marriage for
seven nights; out of respect for (1) father (2) mother (3) brother and
so forth. If he hurry matters he will be hooted as an “impatient man”
and the wise will quote, “Man is created of precipitation” (Koran
chapt. xxi. 38), meaning hasty and inconsiderate. I remark with
pleasure that the whole of this tale is told with commendable
delicacy. O si sic omnia!
Footnote 347:
Pers. Nauroz (= nau roz, new day): here used in the Arab. plur.
“Nawáriz” as it lasted six days. There are only four universal
festivals; the solstices and the equinoxes; and every successive
religion takes them from the sun and perverts them to its own private
purposes. Lane (ii. 496) derives the venerable Nauroz whose birth is
hid in the outer glooms of antiquity from “the Jewish Passover” (!)
THE MAN OF AL-YAMAN AND HIS SIX SLAVE-GIRLS.
The Caliph Al-Maamun was sitting one day in his palace, surrounded by
his Lords of the realm and Officers of state, and there were present
also before him all his poets and cup-companions, amongst the rest one
named Mohammed of Bassorah. Presently the Caliph turned and said to him,
“O Mohammed, I wish thee forthwith to tell me something that I have
never before heard.” He replied, “O Commander of the Faithful, dost thou
wish me to tell thee a thing I have heard with my ears or a thing I have
seen with my eyes?” Quoth Al-Maamun, “Tell me whichever is the rarer;”
so Mohammed Al-Basri began:—Know, then, O Commander of the Faithful,
that there lived once upon a time a wealthy man, who was a native of
Al-Yaman; but he emigrated from his native land and came to this city of
Baghdad, whose sojourn so pleased him that he transported hither his
family and possessions. Now he had six slave-girls, like moons one and
all; the first white, the second brown, the third fat, the fourth lean,
the fifth yellow and the sixth lamp-black; and all six were comely of
countenance and perfect in accomplishments and skilled in the arts of
singing and playing upon musical instruments. Now it so chanced that,
one day, he sent for the girls and called for meat and wine; and they
ate and drank and were mirthful and made merry. Then he filled the cup
and, taking it in his hand, said to the blonde girl, “O new-moon face,
let us hear somewhat of thy pleasant songs.” So she took the lute and
tuning it, made music thereon with such sweet melody that the place
danced with glee; after which she played a lively measure and sang these
couplets:—
I have a friend, whose form is fixed within mine eyes,[348] ✿ Whose name
deep buried in my very vitals lies:
Whenas remembers him my mind all heart am I, ✿ And when on him my gaze
is turned I am all eyes.
My censor saith, “Forswear, forget, the love of him,” ✿ “Whatso is not
to be, how shall’t be?” My reply is.
Quoth I, “O Censor mine, go forth from me, avaunt! ✿ And make not light
of that on humans heavy lies.”
Hereat their master rejoiced and, drinking off his cup, gave the damsels
to drink, after which he said to the berry-brown girl, “O
brasier-light[349] and joy of the sprite, let us hear thy lovely voice,
whereby all that hearken are ravished with delight.” So she took the
lute and thereon made harmony till the place was moved to glee; then,
captivating all hearts with her graceful swaying, she sang these
couplets:—
I swear by that fair face’s life, I’ll love but thee ✿ Till death us
part; nor other love but thine I’ll see;
O full moon, with thy loveliness mantilla’d o’er, ✿ The loveliest of our
earth beneath thy banner be:
Thou, who surpassest all the fair in pleasantness ✿ May Allah, Lord of
worlds, be everywhere with thee!
The master rejoiced and drank off his cup and gave the girls to drink;
after which he filled again; and, taking the goblet in his hand, signed
to the fat girl and bade her sing and play a different motive. So she
took the lute and striking a grief-dispelling measure, sang these
couplets:—
An thou but deign consent, O wish to heart affied! ✿ I care not wrath
and rage to all mankind betide.
And if thou show that fairest face which gives me life, ✿ I reck not an
diminished heads the Kings go hide.
I seek thy favours only from this ‘versal world: ✿ O thou in whom all
beauty doth firm-fixt abide!
The man rejoiced and, emptying his cup, gave the girls to drink. Then he
signed to the thin girl and said to her, “O Houri of Paradise, feed thou
our ears with sweet words and sounds.” So she took the lute; and, tuning
it, preluded and sang these two couplets:—
Say me, on Allah’s path[350] hast death not dealt to me, ✿ Turning from
me while I to thee turn patiently:
Say me, is there no judge of Love to judge us twain, ✿ And do me justice
wronged, mine enemy, by thee?
Their lord rejoiced and, emptying the cup, gave the girls to drink. Then
filling another he signed to the yellow girl and said to her, “O sun of
the day, let us hear some nice verses.” So she took the lute and,
preluding after the goodliest fashion, sang these couplets:—
I have a lover and when drawing him, ✿ He draws on me a sword-blade
glancing grim:
Allah avenge some little of his wrongs, ✿ Who holds my heart yet wreaks
o’erbearing whim:
Oft though I say, “Renounce him, heart!” yet heart ✿ Will to none other
turn excepting him.
He is my wish and will of all men, but ✿ Fate’s envious hand to me’s aye
grudging him.
The master rejoiced and drank and gave the girls to drink; then he
filled the cup and taking it in hand, signed to the black girl, saying,
“O pupil of the eye, let us have a taste of thy quality, though it be
but two words.” So she took the lute and tuning it and tightening the
strings, preluded in various modes, then returned to the first and sang
to a lively air these couplets:—
Ho ye, mine eyes, let prodigal tears go free; ✿ This ecstasy would see
my being unbe:[351]
All ecstasies I dree for sake of friend ✿ I fondle, maugre enviers’
jealousy:
Censors forbid me from his rosy cheek, ✿ Yet e’er inclines my heart to
rosery:
Cups of pure wine, time was, went circuiting ✿ In joy, what time the
lute sang melody,
While kept his troth the friend who madded me, ✿ Yet made me rising star
of bliss to see:
But—with Time, turned he not by sin of mine; ✿ Than such a turn can
aught more bitter be?
Upon his cheek there grows and glows a rose, ✿ Nay two, whereof grant
Allah one to me!
An were prostration[352] by our law allowed ✿ To aught but Allah, at his
feet I had bowed.
Thereupon rose the six girls and, kissing the ground before their lord,
said to him, “Do thou justice between us, O our lord!” So he looked at
their beauty and loveliness and the contrast of their colours and
praised Almighty Allah and glorified Him. Then said he, “There is none
of you but hath learnt the Koran by heart, and mastered the musical art
and is versed in the chronicles of yore and the doings of peoples which
have gone before; so it is my desire that each one of you rise and,
pointing finger at her opposite, praise herself and dispraise her
co-concubine; that is to say, let the blonde point to the brunette, the
plump to the slender and the yellow to the black girl; after which the
rivals, each in her turn, shall do the like with the former; and be this
illustrated with citations from Holy Writ and somewhat of anecdotes and
verse, so as to show forth your fine breeding and elegance of your
pleading.” And they answered him, “We hear and we obey!”——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Three Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the handmaids
answered the man of Al-Yaman, “We hear and we obey!” Accordingly the
blonde rose first and, pointing at the black girl, said to her:—Out on
thee, blackamoor! It is told by tradition that whiteness saith:—I am the
shining light, I am the rising moon of the fourteenth night. My hue is
patent and my brow is resplendent and of my beauty quoth the poet:—
White girl with softly rounded polished cheeks ✿ As if a pearl concealed
by Beauty’s boon:
Her stature Alif-like;[353] her smile like Mím[354] ✿ And o’er her eyes
two brows that bend like Nún.[355]
‘Tis as her glance were arrow, and her brows ✿ Bows ever bent to shoot
Death-dart eftsoon:
If cheek and shape thou view, there shalt thou find ✿ Rose, myrtle,
basil and Narcissus wone.
Men wont in gardens plant and set the branch; ✿ How many garths thy
stature-branch doth own!
So my colour is like the hale and healthy day and the newly-culled
orange-spray and the star of sparkling ray;[356] and indeed quoth
Almighty Allah, in His precious Book, to his prophet Moses (on whom be
peace!):—Put thy hand into thy bosom; it shall come forth white, without
hurt.[357] And again He saith:—But they whose faces shall become white,
shall be in the mercy of Allah; therein shall they remain for ever.[358]
My colour is a sign, a miracle, and my loveliness supreme and my beauty
a term extreme. It is on the like of me that raiment showeth fair and
fine and to the like of me that hearts incline. Moreover, in whiteness
are many excellences; for instance, the snow falleth white from heaven,
and it is traditional that the beautifullest of colours is white. The
Moslems also glory in white turbands; but I should be tedious, were I to
tell all that may be told in praise of white; little and enough is
better than too much of unfilling stuff. So now I will begin with thy
dispraise, O black, O colour of ink and blacksmith’s dust, thou whose
face is like the raven which bringeth about the parting of lovers.
Verily, the poet saith in praise of white and blame of black:—
Seest not that pearls are prized for milky hue, ✿ But with a dirham buy
we coals in load?
And while white faces enter Paradise, ✿ Black faces crowd Gehenna’s
black abode.
And indeed it is told in certain histories, related on the authority of
devout men, that Noah (on whom be peace!) was sleeping one day, with his
sons Cham and Shem seated at his head, when a wind sprang up and,
lifting his clothes, uncovered his nakedness; whereat Cham looked and
laughed and did not cover him: but Shem arose and covered him.
Presently, their sire awoke and learning, what had been done by his
sons, blessed Shem and cursed Cham. So Shem’s face was whitened and from
him sprang the prophets and the orthodox Caliphs and Kings; whilst
Cham’s face was blackened and he fled forth to the land of Abyssinia,
and of his lineage came the blacks.[359] All people are of one mind in
affirming the lack of understanding of the blacks, even as saith the
adage, “How shall one find a black with a mind?” Quoth her master, “Sit
thee down, thou hast given us sufficient and even excess.” Thereupon he
signed to the negress, who rose and, pointing her finger at the blonde,
said:—Dost thou not know that in the Koran sent down to His prophet and
apostle, is transmitted the saying of God the Most High, “By the night
when it covereth all things with darkness; by the day when it shineth
forth!”[360] If the night were not the more illustrious, verily Allah
had not sworn by it nor had given it precedence of the day. And indeed
all men of wit and wisdom accept this. Knowest thou not that black is
the ornament of youth and that, when hoariness descendeth upon the head,
delights pass away and the hour of death draweth in sight? Were not
black the most illustrious of things, Allah had not set it in the core
of the heart[361] and the pupil of the eye; and how excellent is the
saying of the poet:—
I love not black girls but because they show ✿ Youth’s colour, tinct of
eye and heart-core’s hue;
Nor are in error who unlove the white, ✿ And hoary hairs and
winding-sheet eschew.
And that said of another:—
Black[362] girls, not white, are they ✿ All worthy love I see:
Black girls wear dark-brown lips;[363] ✿ Whites, blotch of leprosy.
And of a third:—
Black girls in acts are white, and ‘tis as though ✿ Like eyes, with
purest shine and sheen they show;
If I go daft for her, be not amazed; ✿ Black bile[364] drives
melancholic-mad we know:
‘Tis as my colour were the noon of night; ✿ For all no moon it be, its
splendours glow.
Moreover, is the foregathering of lovers good but in the night? Let this
quality and profit suffice thee. What protecteth lovers from spies and
censors like the blackness of night’s darkness; and what causeth to them
to fear discovery like the whiteness of the dawn’s brightness? So, how
many claims to honour are there not in blackness and how excellent is
the saying of the poet!—
I visit them, and night-black lendeth aid to me ✿ Seconding love, but
dawn-white is mine enemy.
And that of another:—
How many a night I’ve passed with the beloved of me, ✿ While gloom with
dusky tresses veilèd our desires:
But when the morn-light showed it caused me sad affright; ✿ And I to
Morning said, “Who worship light are liars!”[365]
And saith a third:—
He came to see me, hiding neath the skirt of night, ✿ Hasting his steps
as wended he in cautious plight.
I rose and spread my cheek upon his path like rug, ✿ Abject, and trailed
my skirt to hide it from his sight;
But rose the crescent moon and strave its best to show ✿ The world our
loves, like nail-slice raying radiant light:[366]
Then what befel befel: I need not aught describe; ✿ But think thy best,
and ask me naught of wrong or right.
Meet not thy lover save at night for fear of slander ✿ The Sun’s a
tittle-tattler and the Moon’s a pander.
And a fifth:—
I love not white girls blown with fat who puff and pant; ✿ The maid for
me is young brunette embonpoint-scant.
I’d rather ride a colt that’s dark upon the day ✿ Of race, and set my
friends upon the elephant.
And a sixth:—
My lover came to me one night, ✿ And clipt we both with fond embrace;
And lay together till we saw ✿ The morning come with swiftest pace.
Now I pray Allah and my Lord ✿ To reunite us of His grace;
And make night last me long as he ✿ Lies in the arms that tightly lace.
Were I to set forth all the praises of blackness, my tale would be
tedious; but little and enough is better than too much of unfilling
stuff. As for thee, O blonde, thy colour is that of leprosy and thine
embrace is suffocation,[367] and it is of report that hoar-frost and icy
cold[368] are in Gehenna for the torment of the wicked. Again, of things
black and excellent is ink, wherewith is written Allah’s word; and were
it not for black ambergris and black musk, there would be no perfumes to
carry to Kings. How many glories I may not mention dwell in blackness,
and how well saith the poet:—
Seest not that musk, the nut-brown musk, e’er claims the highest price,
✿ Whilst for a load of whitest lime none more than dirham bids?
And while white speck upon the eye deforms the loveliest youth, ✿ Black
eyes discharge the sharpest shafts in lashes from their lids.