The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume XIII Part 23

[FN#112] Arab. Ban Adam, as opposed to Ban Elohim (Sons of the G.o.ds), B. al-Jnn etc The Ban al-Asfar = sons of the yellow, are Esau's posterity in Edom, also a term applied by Arab historians to the Greeks and Romans whom Jewish fable derived from Idum a: in my vol. ii. 220, they are the people of the yellow or tawny faces. For the legend see Ibn Khall. iii. 8, where the translator suggests that the by-name may be = the "sees of the Emperor"

Flavius, confounded with "flavus," a t.i.tle left by Vespasian to his successors The Ban al Khashkhash = sons of the (black) poppy are the Ethiopians.

[FN#113] Arab, H! h! so Hka (fem. Haki) = Here for thee!

[FN#114] So in Medieval Europe Papal bulls and Kings' letters were placed for respect on the head. See Duffield's "Don Quixote," Part i. x.x.xi.

[FN#115] Galland makes the Juif only rus et adroit.

[FN#116] Arab. "Ghashm" = a "Johnny Raw" from the root "Ghashm"

= iniquity: Builders apply the word to an unhewn stone; addressed to a person it is considered slighting, if not insulting. See vol. ii. 330.

[FN#117] The carat (Krt) being most often, but not always, one twenty-fourth of the diner. See vols. iii. 239; vii. 289.

[FN#118] Kann, plur. of Kinnnah.

[FN#119] Here and below silver is specified, whenas the platters in Night dx.x.xv. were of gold This is one of the many changes'

contradictions and confusions which are inherent in Arab stones.

See Spitta-Bey's "Contes Arabes," Preface.

[FN#120] i.e., the Slave of the Lamp.

[FN#121] This may be true, but my experience has taught me to prefer dealing with a Jew than with a Christian. The former will "jew" me perhaps, but his commercial cleverness will induce him to allow me some gain in order that I may not be quite disheartened: the latter will strip me of my skin and will grumble because he cannot gain more.

[FN#122] Arab. "Hlah mutawa.s.sitah," a phrase which has a European Touch.

[FN#123] In the text "Jauharjyyah," common enough in Egypt and Syria, an Arab. plur. of an Arabised Turkish sing.--ji for--ch = (crafts-) man.

[FN#124] We may suppose some years may have pa.s.sed in this process and that Alaeddin from a lad of fifteen had reached the age of manhood. The H. V. declares that for many a twelve month the mother and son lived by cotton spinning and the sale of the plate

[FN#125] i.e. Full moon of full moons: See vol. iii. 228. It is p.r.o.nounced "Badroo'l- Budoor," hence Galland's " Badr-oul- boudour. "

[FN#126] In the H. V. Alaeddin "bethought him of a room adjacent to the Baths where he might sit and see the Princess through the door-c.h.i.n.ks, when she raised her veil before the handmaids and eunuchs."

[FN#127] This is the common conceit of the brow being white as day and the hair black as night.

[FN#128] Such a statement may read absurdly to the West but it is true in the East. "Selim" had seen no woman's face unveiled, save that of his sable mother Rosebud in Morier's Tale of Yeldoz, the wicked woman ("The Mirza," vol. iii. 135). The H. V. adds that Alaeddin's mother was old and verily had little beauty even in her youth. So at the sight of the Princess he learnt that Allah had created women exquisite in loveliness and heart- ensnaring; and at first glance the shaft of love pierced his heart and he fell to the ground afaint He loved her with a thousand lives and, when his mother questioned him, "his lips formed no friendship with his speech."

[FN#129] "There is not a present (Teshurah) to bring to the Man of G.o.d" (1 Sam. ix. 7), and Menachem explains Teshurah as a gift offered with the object of being admitted to the presence. See also the offering of oil to the King in Isaiah lvii. 9. Even in Maundriell's Day Travels (p. 26) it was counted uncivil to visit a dignitary without an offering in hand.

[FN#130] As we shall see further on, the magical effect of the Ring and the Lamp extend far and wide over the physique and morale of the owner: they turn a "raw laddie" into a finished courtier, warrior, statesman, etc.

[FN#131] In Eastern states the mere suspicion of having such an article would expose the suspected at least to torture. Their practical system of treating "treasure trove," as I saw when serving with my regiment in Gujart (Guzerat), is at once to imprison and "molest" the finder, in order to make sure that he has not hidden any part of his find.

[FN#132] Here the MS. text is defective, the allusion is, I suppose, to the Slave of the Lamp.

[FN#133] In the H. V. the King retired into his private apartment; and, dismissing all save the Grand Wazir, "took cognisance of special matters" before withdrawing to the Harem.

[FN#134] The leve, Divan or Darbr being also a lit de justice and a Court of Ca.s.sation: See vol. i. 29.

[FN#135] All this is expressed by the Arabic in one word "Tamann." Galland adds pour marquer qu'il etait prt perdre s'il y manquait; and thus he conveys a wrong idea.

[FN#136] This would be still the popular address, nor is it considered rude or slighting. In John (ii. 4) "Atto," the Heb.

Eshah, is similarly used, not complimentarily, but in popular speech.

[FN#137] This sounds ridiculous enough in English, but not in German, e.g. Deine Knigliche Hoheit is the formula de rigueur when an Austrian officer, who always addresses brother-soldiers in the familiar second person, is speaking to a camarade who is also a royalty.

[FN#138] "Suryyt (lit. = the Pleiades) and "Sham'dn" a would-be Arabic plur. of the Persian "Sham'adn"=candlestick, chandelier, for which more correctly Sham'adnt is used.

[FN#139] i.e., betrothed to her--j'agre la proposition, says Galland.

[FN#140] Here meaning Eunuch-officers and officials. In the cdlxxvith Night of this volume the word is incorrectly written ght in the singular.

[FN#141] In the H. V. Alaeddin on hearing this became as if a thunderbolt had stricken him, and losing consciousness, swooned away.

[FN#142] These calls for food at critical times, and oft- recurring allusions to eating are not yet wholly obsolete amongst the civilised of the xixth century. The ingenious M. Jules Verne often enlivens a tedious scene by Dejeunons! And French travellers, like English, are not unready to talk of food and drink, knowing that the subject is never displeasing to their readers.

[FN#143] The H. V. gives a sketch of the wedding. "And when the ceremonies ended at the palace with pomp and parade and pageant, and the night was far spent, the eunuchs led the Wazir's son into the bridal chamber. He was the first to seek his couch; then the Queen his mother-in-law, came into him leading the bride, and followed by her suite. She did with her virgin daughter as parents are wont to do, removed her wedding-raiment, and donning a night-dress, placed her in her bridegroom's arms. Then, wishing her all joy, she with her ladies went away and shut the door. At that instant came the Jinni," etc.

[FN#144] The happy idea of the wedding night in the water-closet is repeated from the tale of Nur-al-Dn Ali Hasan (vol. i. 221), and the mishap of the Hunchback bridegroom.

[FN#145] For the old knightly practice of sleeping with a drawn sword separating man and maid see vol. vii. 353 and Mr.

Clouston's "Popular Tales and Fictions," vol. i. 316. In Poland the intermediary who married by procuration slept alongside the bride in all his armour. The H. V. explains, "He (Alaeddin) also lay a naked sword between him and the Princess so she might perceive that he was ready to die by that blade should he attempt to do aught of villainy by the bride."

[FN#146] Galland says: Ils ne s'aperurent que de l'branlement du lit et que de leur transport d'un lieu l'autre: c'tait bien a.s.sez pour leur donner une frayeur qu'il est ais d'imaginer.

[FN#147] Galland very unnecessarily makes the Wazir's son pa.s.s into the wardrobe (garderobe) to dress himself.

[FN#148] Professional singing and dancing girls: Properly the word is the fem. Of ' lim = a learned man; but it has been anglicised by Byron's

"The long chibouque's dissolving cloud supply Where dance the Almahs to wild minstrelsy."

--(The Corsair, ii. 2.)

They go about the streets with unveiled faces and are seldom admitted into respectable Harems, although on festal occasions they perform in the court or in front of the house, but even this is objected to by the Mrs. Grundy of Egypt. Lane (M.E. chap.

xviii.) derives with Saint Jerome the word from the Heb. or Phoenician Almah = a virgin, a girl, a singing- girl; and thus explains "Almoth" in Psalms xlvi. and I Chron. xv. 20. Parkhurst (s.v. 'Alamah = an undeflowered virgin) renders Job x.x.xix. 30, "the way of a man with a maid" (bi-lmah). The way of a man in his virgin state, shunning youthful l.u.s.t and keeping himself "pure and unspotted."

[FN#149] The text reads "Rafa' " (he raised) "al-Bashkhnah"

which in Suppl. Nights (ii. 119) is a hanging, a curtain.

Apparently it is a corruption of the Pers. "Paskhkhnah," a mosquito-curtain.

[FN#150] The father suspected that she had not gone to bed a clean maid.

[FN#151] Arab. Aysh = Ayyu Shayyin and Laysh = li ayyi Shayyin.

This vulgarism, or rather popular corruption, is of olden date and was used by such a purist as Al-Mutanabbi in such a phrase as "Aysh Khabara-k?" = how art thou? See Ibn Khallikan, iii. 79.

[FN#152] In the H. V. the Minister sends the Chob-dr= = rod- bearer, mace-bearer, usher, etc.

[FN#153] In the text Shal for Sahal, again the broad "Doric" of Syria.