Tales from the Arabic Part 61

[FN#17] Joseph is the Mohammedan prototype of beauty.

[FN#18] For the loss of Joseph. Jacob, in like manner, is the Muslim type of inconsolable grief.

[FN#19] Uncle of the Prophet.

[FN#20] First cousin of the Prophet.

[FN#21] i.e. cut off her head.

[FN#22] When asked, on the Day of Judgment, why he had slain her.

[FN#23] i.e. that some one of the many risings in Khora.s.san (which was in a chronic state of rebellion during Er Reshid's reign) had been put down.

[FN#24] Lit. fry. The custom is to sear the stump by plunging it into boiling oil.

[FN#25] Lit. of those having houses.

[FN#26] i.e. from G.o.d in the world to come.

[FN#27] I look to get G.o.d's favour in consequence of thy fervent prayers for me.

[FN#28] Provided for ablution.

[FN#29] i.e. if you want a thing done, do it yourself.

[FN#30] i.e. put on the ordinary walking dress of the Eastern lady, which completely hides the person.

[FN#31] This is apparently said in jest; but the Muslim Puritan (such as the strict Wehhabi) is often exceedingly punctilious in refusing to eat or use anything that is not sanctified by mention in the Koran or the Traditions of the Prophet, in the same spirit as the old Calvinist Scotchwoman of popular tradition, who refused to eat m.u.f.fins, because they "warna mentioned in the Bible."

[FN#32] i.e. a leader (lit. foreman, antistes) of the people at prayer.

[FN#33] Koran ii. 168.

[FN#34] i.e. I have eaten largely and the food lies heavy on my stomach.

[FN#35] Wine is considered by the Arabs a sovereign digestive. See my "Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night," Vol. IV. p. 357.

[FN#36] "The similitude of Paradise, the which is promised unto those who fear [G.o.d]. Therein are rivers of water incorruptible and rivers of milk, the taste whereof changeth not, and rivers of wine, a delight to the drinkers, and rivers of clarified honey."--Koran xlvii. 16, 17.

[FN#37] The ox is the Arab type of stupidity, as with us the a.s.s.

[FN#38] Syn. wood (oud).

[FN#39] i.e. my pallor and emaciation testify to the affliction of my heart and the latter bears witness that the external symptoms correctly indicate the internal malady.

[FN#40] Lit. he is [first] the deposit of G.o.d, then thy deposit.

[FN#41] Or "by."

[FN#42] See supra, Vol. I. p. 35, note.

[FN#43] i.e. made him Chief of the Police of Baghdad, in place of the former Prefect, whom he had put to death with the rest of Noureddin's oppressors.

[FN#44] For affright.

[FN#45] i.e. religious ceremonies so called. See my "Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night," Vol. IX. p. 113, note.

[FN#46] Breslau Text, vol. xii. pp. 116-237, Nights dcccclxvi-dcccclxxix.

[FN#47] i.e. A member of the tribe of Sheiban. No such King of Baghdad (which was not founded till the eighth century) as Ins ben Cais is, I believe, known to history.

[FN#48] The cities and provinces of Ba.s.sora and Cufa are generally known as "The Two Iraks"; but the name is here in all probability used in its wider meaning of Irak Arabi (Chaldaea) and Irak Farsi (Persian Irak).

[FN#49] i.e. all those languages the knowledge whereof is necessary to an interpreter or dragoman (properly terjeman). Or quaere is the word terjemaniyeh (dragomanish) here a mistranscription for turk.u.maniyeh (Turcoman).

[FN#50] i.e. gilded?

[FN#51] i.e. sperma hominis.

[FN#52] Syn. good breeding.

[FN#53] i.e. those women of equal age and rank with herself.

[FN#54] i.e. vaunting himself of offering richer presents.

[FN#55] Apparently Zebid, the ancient capital of the province of Tehameh in Yemen, a town on the Red Sea, about sixty miles north of Mocha. The copyist of the Tunis MS. appears to have written the name with the addition of the characteristic desinence (oun) of the nominative case, which is dropped except in the Koran and in poetry.

[FN#56] Name of the province in which Mecca is situated.

[FN#57] Syn. a.s.sembly.

[FN#58] i.e. day and night, to wit, for ever.

[FN#59] Syn. the loftiness of his purpose.

[FN#60] Lit "I charm thee by invoking the aid of G.o.d for thee against evil" or "I seek refuge with G.o.d for thee."

[FN#61] Or "determinate."

[FN#62] Koran x.x.xiii. 38.

[FN#63] Or "accomplishments."

[FN#64] i.e. to make a pleasure-excursion.

[FN#65] Lit. beset his back.

[FN#66] Lit. in its earth.