The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume XIII Part 27

[FN#281] For the diamond (Arab. "Alms" from {Greek}, and in Hind.

"Hra" and "Pann") see vols. vi. 15, i. ix. 325, and in latter correct, "Euritic," a misprint for "dioritic." I still cannot believe diamond-cutting to be an Indian art, and I must hold that it was known to the ancients. It could not have been an unpolished stone, that "Adamas notissimus" which according to Juvenal (vi. 156) Agrippa gave to his sister. Maundeville (A.D.

1322) has a long account of the mineral, "so hard that no man can polish it," and called Hamese ("Alms?"). For Mr. Petrie and his theory, see vol. ix. 325. In most places where the diamond has been discovered of late years it had been used as a magic stone, e.g., by the Pags or medicine-men of the Brazil, or for children's playthings, which was the case with the South-African "Caffres."

[FN#282] These stones, especially the carbuncle, which give out dight in darkness are a commonplace of Eastern folk-lore. For luminous jewels in folk-lore, see Mr. Clouston (i. 412): the belief is not wholly extinct in England, and I have often heard of it in the Brazil and upon the African Gaboon. It appears to me that there may be a basis of fact to tints fancy, the abnormal effect of precious stones upon mesmeric "sensitives."

[FN#283] The chimney and chimney-piece of Galland are not Eastern: the H. V. uses "Bukhr" = a place for steaming.

[FN#284] i.e. "Rachel."

[FN#285] In the text "lakh," the Anglicised "lac" = 100,000.

[FN#286] This use of camphor is noted by Gibbon (D. and F. iii.

195).

[FN#287] " b o haw" = climate: see vol. ii. 4.

[FN#288] Galland makes this article a linen cloth wrapped about the skull-cap or core of the turban.

[FN#289] Mr. Coote ( loc. cit. p. 185) is unable to produce a puramythe containing all of "Ali Bba;" but, for the two leading incidents he quotes from Prof. Sakellarios two tales collected in Cyprus One is Morgiana marking the village doors (p. 187), which has occurred doubtless a hundred times. The other, in the "Story of Drakos," is an ogre, hight "Three Eyes," who attempts the rescue of his wife with a party of blackamoors packed in bales and these are all discovered and slain.

[FN#290] Dans la fort, says Galland.

[FN#291] Or "Samsam," The grain = Sesamum Orientale: hence the French, Sesame, ouvre-toi! The term is cabalistical, like Slem, Slam or Shlam in the Directorium Vit Human of Johannes di Capu: Inquit vir: Ibam in nocte plenilunii et ascendebam super domum ubi furari intendebam, et accedens ad fenestram ubi radii lune ingrediebantur, et dicebam hanc coniurationem, scilicet sulem sulem, septies, deinde amplectebar lumen lune et sine lesione descendebam ad domum, etc. (pp. 24-25) par Joseph Derenbourg, Membre de l'Inst.i.tut 1re Fascicule, Paris, F. Vieweg, 67, Rue de Richelieu, 1887.

[FN#292] In the text "Jathni" = the wife of an elder brother.

Hindostani, like other Eastern languages, is rich in terms for kinship whereof English is so exceptionally poor. Mr. Francis Galtson, in his well-known work, "Hereditary Genius," a misnomer by the by for "HeredTalent," felt this want severely and was at pains to supply it.

[FN#293]In the text "Thag," our English "Thug," often p.r.o.nounced moreover by the Briton with the sibilant "th." It means simply a cheat: you say to your servant "T bar Thag hai" = thou art a precious rascal; but it has also the secondary meaning of robber, a.s.sa.s.sin, and the tertiary of Bhawni-worshippers who offer indiscriminate human sacrifices to the Dess of Destruction. The word and the thing have been made popular in England through the "Confessions of a Thug" by my late friend Meadows Taylor; and I may record my conviction that were the English driven out of India, "Thuggee," like piracy in Cutch and in the Persian Gulf, would revive at the shortest possible time.

[FN#294] i.e. the Civil Governor, who would want nothing better.

[FN#295]This is in Galland and it is followed by the H. V.; but it would be more natural to suppose that of the quarters two were hung up outside the door and the others within. VOL. XIII

[FN#296] I am unwilling to alter the time honoured corruption: properly it is written Marjnah = the "Coralline," from Marjn = red coral, for which see vols. ii. 100; vii. 373.

[FN#297] i.e. the " Iddah." during which she could not marry.

See vol. iii. 292.

[FN#298] In Galland he is a savetier * * * naturellement gai, et qui avait toujours le mot pour rire: the H. V. naturally changed him to a tailor as the Chmr or leather-worker would be inadmissible to polite conversation.

[FN#299] i.e. a leader of prayer; the Pers. "Psh-namz" = fore-prayer, see vols. ii. 203; iv. 111 and 227. Galland has "mn," which can mean only faith, belief, and in this blunder he is conscientiously followed by his translators--servum pecus

[FN#300] Galland nails down the corpse in the bier--a Christian practice--and he certainly knew better. Moreover, prayers for the dead are mostly recited over the bier when placed upon the brink of the grave; nor is it usual for a woman to play so prominent a part in the ceremony.

[FN#301] See vols. v. 111; ix. 163 and x. 47.

[FN#302] Galland is less merciful, "Aussitt le conducteur fut dclar digne de mort tout d'une voix, et il s'y cond.a.m.na lui-mme," etc. The criminal, indeed, condemns himself and firmly offers his neck to be stricken.

[FN#303] In the text "Lauh," for which see vol. v. 73.

[FN#304] In Arab. "Kama" = he rose, which, in vulgar speech especially in Egypt, = he began. So in Spitta-Bey's "Contes Arabes Modernes" (p. 124) "Kmat al-Sibhah dhkat fi yad akh-h"

= the chaplet began (lit. arose) to wax tight in his brother's hand. This sense is shadowed forth in cla.s.sical Arabic.

[FN#305] So in old Arabian history "Kasr" (the Little One), the Arab Zopyrus, stows away in huge camel-bags the 2,000 warriors intended to surprise masterful Queen Zebba. Chronique de Tabar, vol. ii., 26. Also the armed men in boxes by which Shamar, King of Al-Yaman, took Shamar-kand = Shamar's-town, now Samarkand.

(Ibid. ii. 158.)

[FN#306] i.e. for a walk, a "const.i.tutional": the phrase is very common in Egypt, and has occurred before.

[FN#307] These visions are frequent in Al-Islam; see Pilgrimage iii. 254-55. Of course Christians are not subject to them, as Moslems also are never favoured with glimpses of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints; the best proof of their "Subjectivity."

[FN#308] For this word see De Sacy, Chrest. ii. 421. It has already occurred in The Nights, vol. iii. 295.

[FN#309] Not a few pilgrims settle for a time or for life in the two Holy Places, which are thus kept supplied with fresh blood.

See Pilgrimage ii. 260.

[FN#310] i.e. Bayt al-Mukaddas, for which see vol. ii. 132.

[FN#311] An affidavit amongst Moslems is "litis decisio," as in the jurisprudence of medi val Europe.

[FN#312] In Arab folk-lore there are many instances of such precocious boys--enfants terribles they must be in real life. In Ibn Khall. (iii. 104) we find notices of a book "Kitb Nujab al-Abn" = Treatise on Distinguished Children, by Ibn Zakar al- Sakalli (the Sicilian), ob. A. D. 1169-70. And the boy-Kazi is a favourite role in the plays of peasant-lads who enjoy the irreverent "chaff" almost as much as when "making a Pasha." This reminds us of the boys electing Cyrus as their King in sport (Herodotus, i. 114). For the cycle of "Precocious Children" and their adventures, see Mr. Clouston (Popular Tales, etc., ii. 1- 14), who enters into the pedigree and affiliation. I must, however, differ with that able writer when he remarks at the end, "And now we may regard the story of Valerius Maximus with suspicion, and that of Lloyd as absolutely untrue, so far as William Noy's alleged share in the 'case.' " The jest or the event happening again and again is no valid proof of its untruth; and it is often harder to believe in derivation than in spontaneous growth.

[FN#313] In Galland Ali Cogia, Marchand de Bagdad, is directly followed by the Histoire du Cheval Enchant. For this "Ebony Horse," as I have called it, see vol. v. p. 32.

[FN#314] "Bn" = a lady, a dame of high degree generally, e.g.

the (Shah's) Banu-i-Harem in James Morier ("The Mirza," iii. 50), who rightly renders Pari Banu = Pari of the first quality. "Peri"

(Par) in its modern form has a superficial resemblance to "Fairy;" but this disappears in the "Pairika" of the Avesta and the "Pairik" of the modern Pa.r.s.ee. In one language only, the Multn, there is a masculine form for the word "Par" = a he-fairy (Scinde, ii. 203). In Al-Islam these Peris are beautiful feminine spirits who, created after the "Dvs" (Tabari, i. 7), mostly believe in Allah and the Koran and desire the good of mankind: they are often attacked by the said Dvs, giants or demons, who imprison them in cages hung to the highest trees, and here the captives are visited by their friends who feed them with the sweetest of scents. I have already contrasted them with the green-coated pygmies to which the grotesque fancy of Northern Europe has reduced them. Bn in Pers. = a princess, a lady, and is still much used, e.g. Bn--Harim, the Dame of the Serraglio, whom foreigners call "Queen of Persia," and rm-Banu="the calm Princess," a nickname. A Greek story equivalent of Prince Ahmad is told by Pio in Contes Populaires Grecs (No. ii. p. 98) and called {Greek}, the Golden box. Three youths ({Greek}) love the same girl and agree that whoever shall learn the best craft ({Greek}) shall marry her; one becomes an astrologer, the second can raise the dead, and the third can run faster than air. They find her at death's door, and her soul, which was at her teeth ready to start, goes down ({Greek}).

[FN#315] Light of the Day.

[FN#316] Galland has "Bisnagar," which the H. V. corrupts to Bishan-Garh = Vishnu's Fort, an utter misnomer. Bisnagar, like Bijnagar, Beejanuggur, Vizianuggur, etc., is a Prakrit corruption of the Sanskrit Vijyanagara = City of Victory, the far-famed Hindu city and capital of the Narasingha or Lord of Southern India, mentioned in The Nights, vols. vi. 18; ix. 84. Nicolo de'

Conti in the xvth century found it a magnificent seat of Empire some fifteen marches south of the pestilential mountains which contained the diamond mines. Accounts of its renown and condition in the last generation have been given by James Grant ("Remarks on the Dekkan") and by Captain Moore ("Operations of Little's Detachment against Tippoo Sultan"). The latest description of it is in "The Indian Empire," by Sir William W. Hunter. Vijyanagar, village in Bellary district, Madras, lat. 15 degrees 18' N., long. 76 degrees 30' E., pop. (1871), 437, inhabiting 172 houses.

The proper name of this village is Hampi, but Vijyanagar was the name of the dynasty (?) and of the kingdom which had its capital here and was the last great Hindu power of the South. Founded by two adventurers in the middle of the xivth century, it lasted for two centuries till its star went down at Tlikot in A. D. 1565.

For a description of the ruins of the old city of Vijyanagar, which covers a total area of nine square miles, see "Murray's Handbook for Madras," by E. B. Eastwick (1879), vol. ix. p. 235.

Authentic history in Southern India begins with the Hindu kingdom of Vijyanagar, or Narsinha, from A. D. 1118 to 1565. The capital can still be traced within the Madras district of Bellary, on the right bank of the Tungabhadra river--vast ruins of temples, fortifications, tanks and bridges, haunted by hy nas and snakes.

For at least three centuries Vijyanagar ruled over the southern part of the Indian triangle. Its Rajas waged war and made peace on equal terms with the Mohamadan sultans of the Deccan. See vol.

iv. p. 335, Sir W. W. Hunter's "Imperial Gazetteer of India,"

Edit. 1881.

[FN#317] The writer means the great Bazar, the Indian "Chauk,"

which = our English Carfax or Carfex (Carrefour) and forms the core of ancient cities in the East. It is in some places, as Damascus, large as one of the quarters, and the narrow streets or lanes, vaulted over or thatched, are all closed at night by heavy doors well guarded by men and dogs. Trades are still localised, each owning its own street, after the fashion of older England, where we read of Drapers' Lane and Butchers' Row; Lombard Street, Cheapside and Old Jewry.

[FN#318] The local name of the Patna ganzes. The term was originally applied to the produce of the Coan looms, which, however, was antic.i.p.ated in ancient Egypt. See p. 287 of "L'Archologie gyptienne" (Paris, A. Quantin) of the learned Professor G. Maspero, a most able popular work by a savant who has left many regrets on the banks of Nilus.

[FN#319] The great prototype of the Flying Carpet is that of Sulayman bin Dd, a fable which the Koran (chap. xxi. 81) borrowed from the Talmud, not from "Indian fictions." It was of green sendal embroidered with gold and silver and studded with precious stones, and its length and breadth were such that all the Wise King's host could stand upon it, the men to the left and the Jinns to the right of the throne; and when all were ordered, the Wind, at royal command, raised it and wafted it whither the Prophet would, while an army of birds flying overhead canopied the host from the sun. In the Middle Ages the legend a.s.sumed another form. "Duke Richard, surnamed 'Richard sans peur,'

walking with his courtiers one evening in the forest of Moulineaux, near one of his castles on the banks of the Seine, hearing a prodigious noise coming towards him, sent one of his esquires to know what was the matter, who brought him word that it was a company of people under a leader or King. Richard, with five hundred of his bravest Normans, went out to see a sight which the peasants were so accustomed to that they viewed it two or three times a week without fear. The sight of the troop, preceded by two men, who spread a cloth on the ground, made all the Normans run away, and leave the Duke alone. He saw the strangers form themselves into a circle on the cloth, and on asking who they were, was told that they were the spirits of Charles V., King of France, and his servants, condemned to expiate their sins by fighting all night against the wicked and the d.a.m.ned. Richard desired to be of their party, and receiving a strict charge not to quit the cloth, was conveyed with them to Mount Sinai, where, leaving them without quitting the cloth, he said his prayers in the Church of St. Catherine's Abbey there, while they were fighting, and returned with them. In proof of the truth of this story, he brought back half the wedding-ring of a knight in that convent, whose wife, after six years, concluded him dead, and was going to take a second husband." (Note in the Lucknow Edition of The Nights.)

[FN#320] Amongst Eastern peoples, and especially adepts, the will of man is not a mere term for a mental or cerebral operation, it takes the rank of a substance; it becomes a mighty motive power, like table-turning and other such phenomena which, now looked upon as child's play, will perform a prime part in the Kinetics of the century to come. If a few pair of hands imposed upon a heavy dinner-table can raise it in the air, as I have often seen, what must we expect to result when the new motive force shall find its Franklin and be shown to the world as real "Vril"? The experiment of silently willing a subject to act in a manner not suggested by speech or sign has been repeatedly tried and succeeded in London drawing-rooms; and it has lately been suggested that atrocious crimes have resulted from overpowering volition. In cases of paralysis the Faculty is agreed upon the fact that local symptoms disappear when the will-power returns to the brain. And here I will boldly and baldly state my theory that, in sundry cases, spectral appearances (ghosts) and abnormal smells and sounds are simply the effect of a Will which has, so to speak, created them.