Tales from the Arabic Part 63

[FN#117] i.e. all the delights of Paradise, as promised to the believer by the Koran.

[FN#118] "Him" in the text and so on throughout the piece; but Mariyeh is evidently the person alluded to, according to the common practice of Muslim poets of a certain cla.s.s, who consider it indecent openly to mention a woman as an object of love.

[FN#119] i.e. from the witchery of her beauty. See Vol. II. p. 240, note.

[FN#120] Lit "if thou kohl thyself" i.e. use them as a cosmetic for the eye.

[FN#121] i.e. we will a.s.sume thy debts and responsibilities.

[FN#122] Lit "behind."

[FN#123] i.e. a specially auspicious hour, as ascertained by astrological calculations. Eastern peoples have always laid great stress upon the necessity of commencing all important undertakings at an (astrologically) favourable time.

[FN#124] Or "more valuable." Red camels are considered better than those of other colours by some of the Arabs.

[FN#125] i.e. couriers mounted on dromedaries, which animals are commonly used for this purpose, being (for long distances) swifter and more enduring than horses.

[FN#126] Lit. he sinned against himself.

[FN#127] i.e. in falsetto?

[FN#128] i.e. of gold or rare wood, set with bala.s.s rubies.

[FN#129] i.e. whose absence.

[FN#130] i.e. in a throat voice?

[FN#131] Koranic synonym, victual (rihan). See Vol. II. p. 247, note.

[FN#132] Apparently, the apple of the throat.

[FN#133] Apparently, the belly.

[FN#134] Apparently, the bosom.

[FN#135] Cf. Fletcher's well-known song in The b.l.o.o.d.y Brother;

"Hide, O hide those hills of snow, That thy frozen bosom bears, On Whose Tops the Pinks That Grow Are of those that April wears."

[FN#136] i.e. the b.r.e.a.s.t.s themselves.

[FN#137] i.e. your languishing beauties are alone present to my mind's eye. A drowsy voluptuous air of languishment is considered by the Arabs an especial charm.

[FN#138] Syn. chamberlain (hajib).

[FN#139] Syn. eyebrow (hajib). The usual trifling play of words is of course intended.

[FN#140] Lit. feathers.

[FN#141] Solomon is fabled by the Muslims to have compelled the wind to bear his throne when placed upon his famous magic carpet. See my "Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night,"

Vol. V. pp. 235-6.

[FN#142] Quaere the teeth.

[FN#143] i.e. the return of our beloved hath enabled us to remove the barriers that stood between us and delight.

[FN#144] Singing (as I have before pointed out) is not, in the eyes of the strict Muslim, a reputable occupation and it is, therefore, generally the first idea of the "repentant" professional songstress or (as in this case) enfranchised slave-girl, who has been wont to entertain her master with the display of her musical talents, to free herself from all signs of her former profession and identify herself as closely as possible with the ordinary "respectable" bourgeoise of the harem, from whom she has been distinguished hitherto by unveiled face and freedom of ingress and egress; and with this aim in view she would naturally be inclined to exaggerate the rigour of Muslim custom, as applied to herself.

[FN#145] Breslau Text, vol. xii. pp. 383-4 (Night mi).

[FN#146] i.e. that of the king, his seven viziers, his son and his favourite, which in the Breslau Edition immediately follows the Story of El Abbas and Mariyeh and occupies pp. 237-383 of vol.

xii. (Nights dcccclxxix-m). It will be found translated in my "Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night," Vol. V. pp. 260-346, under the name of "The Malice of Women."

[FN#147] i.e. those who practise it.

[FN#148] Or "cause" (sebeb).

[FN#149] Or "preservation" (selameh).

[FN#150] Or "turpitude, anything that is hateful or vexatious" (keraheh).

[FN#151] Or "preservation" (selameh).

[FN#152] Or "turpitude, anything that is hateful or vexatious" (keraheh).

[FN#153] These preliminary words of Shehrzad have no apparent connection with the story that immediately follows and which is only her own told in the third person, and it is difficult to understand why they should be here introduced. The author may have intended to connect them with the story by means of a further development of the latter and with the characteristic carelessness of the Eastern story-teller, forgotten or neglected to carry out his intention; or, again, it is possible that the words in question may have been intended as an introduction to the Story of the Favourite and her Lover (see post, p. 165), to which they seem more suitable, and have been misplaced by an error of transcription. In any case, the text is probably (as usual) corrupt.

[FN#154] Breslau Text, vol. xii. pp. 384-394.

[FN#155] The kingdom of the elder brother is afterwards referred to as situate in China. See post, p. 150.

[FN#156] Tubba was the dynastic t.i.tle of the ancient Himyerite Kings of Yemen, even as Chosroes and Caesar of the Kings of Persia and the Emperors of Constantinople respectively.

[FN#157] i.e. a king similar in magnificence and dominion to the monarchs of the three dynasties aforesaid, whose names are in Arab literature synonyms for regal greatness.

[FN#158] i.e. his rage was ungovernable, so that none dared approach him in his heat of pa.s.sion.

[FN#159] i.e. maidens cloistered or concealed behind curtains and veiled in the harem.

[FN#160] i.e. those whose business it is to compose or compile stories, verses, etc., for the entertainment of kings and grandees.

[FN#161] i.e. that his new and d.a.m.nable custom. The literal meaning of bidah is "an innovation or invention, anything new;" but the word is commonly used in the sense of "heresy" or "heterodox innovation," anything new being naturally heretical in the eyes of the orthodox religionist.

[FN#162] i.e. women.

[FN#163] Breslau Text, vol. xii. pp. 394-398.

[FN#164] i.e. his apathy or indifference to the principles of right and wrong and the consequences of his wicked behaviour.