The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume XII Part 24

[FN#186] Slaves, male as well as female, are as fond of talking over their sale as European dames enjoy looking back upon the details of courtship and marriage.

[FN#187] Arab. "Du'a,"=supplication, prayer, as opposed to 'Salat"=divine worship, "prayers" For the technical meaning of the latter see vol. iv. 65. I have objected to Mr. Redhouse's distinction without a difference between Moslem's worship and prayer: voluntary prayers: are not prohibited to them and their praises of the Lord are mingled, as amongst all worshippers, with pet.i.tions.

[FN#188] Al-Muzfir=the Twister; Zafair al-Jinn=Adiantum capillus veneris Luluah=The Pearl, or Wild Heifer; see vol. ix. 218.

[FN#189] Arab. "Bi jildi 'l-baker." I hope that captious critics will not find fault with my rendering, as they did in the case of Fals ahmar=a red cent, vol. i. 321.

[FN#190] Arab. "Farasah"=lit. knowing a horse. Arabia abounds in tales ill.u.s.trating abnormal powers of observation. I have noted this in vol. viii. 326.

[FN#191] i.e. the owner of this palace.

[FN#192] She made the Ghusl not because she had slept with a man, but because the impurity of Satan's presence called for the major ablution before prayer.

[FN#193] i.e. she conjoined the prayers of nightfall with those of dawn.

[FN#194] i.e.. Those of midday, mid-afternoon and sunset.

[FN#195] Arab. "Sahba" red wine preferred for the morning draught.

[FN#196] The Apostle who delighted in women and perfumes. Persian poetry often alludes to the rose which, before white, was dyed red by his sweat.

[FN#197] For the etymology of Julnar--Byron's "Gulnare"--see vol.

vii. 268. Here the rhymer seems to refer to its origin; Gul (Arab. Jul) in Persian a rose; and Anar, a pomegranate, which in Arabic becomes Nar=fire.

[FN#198] i.e. "The brilliant," the enlightened.

[FN#199] i.e.. the moral beauty.

[FN#200] A phenomenon well known to spiritualists and to "The House and the Haunter." An old Dutch factory near Hungarian Fiume is famed for this mode of "obsession" the inmates hear the sound of footfalls, etc., behind them, especially upon the stairs; and see nothing.

[FN#201] The two short Koranic chapters, The Daybreak (cxiii.) and The Men (cxiv. and last) evidently so called from the words which occur in both (versets i., "I take refuge with"). These "Ma'uzatani," as they are called, are recited as talismans or preventives against evil, and are worn as amulets inscribed on parchment; they are also often used in the five canonical prayers. I have translated them in vol. iii. 222.

[FN#202] The artistes or fugleman at prayer who leads off the orisons of the congregation; and applied to the Caliph as the head of the faith. See vol. ii. 203 and iv. 111.

[FN#203] Arab. " 'Ummar" i.e. the Jinn, the "spiritual creatures"

which walk this earth, and other non-humans who occupy it.

[FN#204] A parallel to this bodiless Head is the Giant Face, which appears to travellers (who expect it) in the Lower Valley of the Indus. See Sind Re-visited, ii. 155.

[FN#205] Arab. "Ghalili"=my yearning.

[FN#206] Arab. "Ahbabu-na" plur. for singular=my beloved.

[FN#207] i.e. her return.

[FN#208] Arab. "Arja'" lit. return! but here meaning to stop. It is much used by donkey-boys from Cairo to Fez in the sense of "Get out of the way." Hence the Spanish arre! which gave rise to arriero=a carrier, a muleteer.

[FN#209] Arab. "Afras" lit.=a better horseman.

[FN#210] A somewhat crippled quotation from Koran lvi. 87-88, "As for him who is of those brought near unto Allah, there shall be for him easance and basil and a Garden of Delights (Na'im)."

[FN#211] i.e. Queen Sunbeam.

[FN#212] See vol. i. 310 for this compound perfume which contains musk, ambergris and other essences.

[FN#213] I can hardly see the sequence of this or what the carpets have to do here.

[FN#214] Here, as before, some insertion has been found necessary.

[FN#215] Arab. "Dukhulak" lit.=thy entering, entrance, becoming familiar.

[FN#216] Or "And in this there shall be to thee great honour over all the Jinn."

[FN#217] Mr. Payne thus amends the text, "How loathly is yonder Genie Meimoun! There is no eating (in his presence);" referring back to p. 61.

[FN#218] i.e. "I cannot bear to see him!"

[FN#219] This a.s.sertion of dignity, which is permissible in royalty, has been absurdly affected by certain "dames" in Anglo-Egypt who are quite the reverse of queenly; and who degrade "dignity" to the vulgarest affectation.

[FN#220] i.e. "May thy visits never fail me!"

[FN#221] i.e. Ash-coloured, verging upon white.

[FN#222] i.e. "She will double thy store of presents."

[FN#223] The Arab boy who, unlike the Jew, is circ.u.mcised long after infancy and often in his teens, thus making the ceremony conform after a fashion with our "Confirmation," is displayed before being operated upon, to family and friends; and the seat is a couch covered with the richest tapestry. So far it resembles the bride-throne.

[FN#224] Tohfah.

[FN#225] i.e. Hindu, Indian.

[FN#226] j.a.phet, son of Noah.

[FN#227] Mr. Payne translates "Take this and glorify thyself withal over the people of the world." His reading certainly makes better sense, but I do not see how the text can carry the meaning. He also omits the bussing of the bosom, probably for artistic reasons.

[FN#228] A skit at Ishak, making the Devil praise him. See vol.

vii. 113.

[FN#229] Arab. "Mawazi" (plur. of Mauza')=lit. places, shifts, pa.s.sages.

[FN#230] The bed (farsh), is I presume, the straw-spread (?) store-room where the apples are preserved.

[FN#231] Arab. "Farkh warak", which sounds like an atrocious vulgarism.

[FN#232] The Moss-rose; also the eglantine, or dog-rose, and the sweet-briar, whose leaf, unlike other roses, is so odorous.

[FN#233] The lily in Heb., derived by some from its six (shash) leaves, and by others from its vivid cheerful brightness. "His lips are lilies" (Cant. v. 13), not in colour, but in odoriferous sweetness.

[FN#234] The barber is now the usual operator; but all operations began in Europe with the "barber-surgeon."