The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume XIV Part 18

[FN#149] This form of cleverness is a favourite topic in Arabian folk-lore. The model man was Iyas al-Muzani, al-Kazi (of Ba.s.sorah), in the 2nd century A.H., mentioned by Al-Hariri in his 7th a.s.s. and noted in Arab. Prov. (i. 593) as "more intelligent than Iyas." Ibn Khallikan (i. 233) tells sundry curious tales of him. Hearing a Jew ridicule the Moslem Paradise where the blessed ate and drank ad libitum but pa.s.sed nothing away, he asked if all his food were voided: the Jew replied that G.o.d converted a part of it into nourishment and he rejoined, "Then why not the whole?"

Being once in a courtyard he said that there was an animal under the bricks and a serpent was found: he had noted that only two of the tiles showed signs of dampness and this proved that there was something underneath that breathed. Al-Maydani relates of him that hearing a dog bark, he declared that the beast was tied to the brink of a well; and he judged so because the bark was followed by an echo. Two men came before him, the complainant claimed money received by the defendant who denied the debt. Iyas asked the plaintiff where he had given it, and was answered, "Under a certain tree." The judge told him to go there by way of refreshing his memory and in his absence asked the defendant if his adversary could have reached it. "Not yet," said the rogue, forgetting himself; "'tis a long way off"--which answer convicted him. Seeing three women act upon a sudden alarm, he said, "One of them is pregnant, another is nursing, and the third is a virgin."

He explained his diagnosis as follows: "In time of danger persons lay their hands on what they most prize. Now I saw the pregnant woman in her flight place her hand on her belly, which showed me she was with child; the nurse placed her hand on her bosom, whereby I knew that she was suckling, and the third covered her parts with her hand proving to me that she was a maid."

(Chenery's Al Hariri, p. 334.)

[FN#150] Such an address would be suited only to a King or a ruler.

[FN#151] MS. iii. 231-240; Scott's "Story of the Sisters and the Sultana their mother," vi. 82; Gauttier's Histoire de la Sulthane et de ses trois Filles, vi. 228.

[FN#152] Arab, "Darajatani"=lit. two astronomical degrees: the word is often used in this MS.

[FN#153] Arab. "Siwan;" plur. "Siwawin."

[FN#154] Arab. "'Ala hudud (or Ala hadd) al-Shauk," repeated in MS. iii. 239.

[FN#155] Here the writer, forgetting that the youngest sister is speaking, breaks out into the third person--"their case"--"their mother," etc.

[FN#156] The idea is that of the French anonyma's "Mais, Monsieur, vous me suivez comme un lavement."

[FN#157] The text (p. 243) speaks of two eunuchs, but only one has been noticed.

[FN#158] Arab. "Manjanik;" there are two forms of this word from the Gr. {Greek}, or {Greek}, and it survives in our mangonel, a battering engine. The idea in the text is borrowed from the life of Abraham whom Nimrod cast by means of a catapult (which is a bow worked by machinery) into a fire too hot for man to approach.

[FN#159] Showing that he was older; otherwise she would have addressed him, "O my cousin." A man is "young," in Arab speech, till forty and some say fifty.

[FN#160] The little precatory formula would keep off the Evil Eye.

[FN#161] Supper comes first because the day begins at sundown.

[FN#162] Calotte or skull-cap; vol. i. 224; viii. 120.

[FN#163] This is a new "fact" in physics and certainly to be counted amongst "things not generally known." But Easterns have a host of "dodges" to detect physiological differences such as between man and maid, virgin and matron, imperfect castratos and perfect eunuchs and so forth. Very Eastern, mutatis mutandis, is the tale of the thief-catcher, who discovered a fellow in feminine attire by throwing an object for him to catch in his lap and by his closing his legs instead of opening them wide as the petticoated ones would do.

[FN#164] She did not wish to part with her maidenhead at so cheap a price.

[FN#165] Arab. "Subu'" (for "Yaum al-Subu'") a festival prepared on the seventh day after a birth or a marriage or return from pilgrimage. See Lane (M. E. pa.s.sim) under "Subooa."

[FN#166] For this Anglo-Indian term,=a running courier, see vol.

vii. 340. It is the gist of the venerable Joe Miller in which the father asks a friend to name his seven-months child. "Call him 'Cossid' for verily he hath accomplished a march of nine months in seven months."

[FN#167] Arab. "Madafi al-Salamah," a custom showing the date of the tale to be more modern than any in the ten vols. of The Nights proper.

[FN#168] Master, captain, skipper (not owner): see vols. i. 127; vi. 112.

[FN#169] Zahr al-Bahr=the surface which affords a pa.s.sage to man.

[FN#170] Arab. "Batiyah," gen.=a black jack, a leathern flagon.

[FN#171] "Kunafah"=a vermicelli cake often eaten at breakfast: see vol. x. 1: "Kunafani" is the baker or confectioner. Scott (p.

101) converts the latter into a "maker of cotton wallets for travelling."

[FN#172] In the text (iii. 260) "Midi," a clerical error for "Mayyidi," an abbreviation of "Muayyadi," the Faddah, Nuss or half-dirham coined under Sultan al-Muayyad, A.H. ixth cent.=A.D.

xvth.

[FN#173] Arab. "Rub'" (plur. "Arba'")=the fourth of a "Waybah,"

the latter being the sixth of an Ardabb (Irdabb)=5 bushels. See vol. i. 263.

[FN#174] A royal pavilion; according to Shakespear (Hind. Dict.

sub voce) it is a corruption of the Pers. "Sayaban."=canopy.

[FN#175] Arab. "Musajja'"=rhymed prose: for the Saj'a, see vol.

i. 116, and Terminal Essay, vol. x. p. 220. So Chaucer:--

In rhyme or elles in cadence.

[FN#176] Arab. "Huwa inna na'rifu-h" lit.=He, verily we wot him not: the juxtaposition of the two first p.r.o.nouns is intended to suggest "I am he."

[FN#177] In Moslem tales decency compels the maiden, however much she may be in love, to show extreme unwillingness in parting with her maidenhead especially by marriage; and this farce is enacted in real life (see vol. viii. 40). The French tell the indecent truth,

Desir de fille est un feu qui devore: Desir de femme est plus fort encore.

[FN#178] The Arab. form (our old "bashaw") of the Turk. "Pasha,"

which the French and many English write Pacha, thus confusing the vulgar who called Ibrahim Pacha "Abraham Parker." The origin of the word is much debated and the most fanciful derivations have been proposed. Some have taken it from the Sansk. "Paksha"=a wing: Fuerst from Pers. Paigah=rank, dignity; Von Hammer (History) from Pai-Shah=foot of the king; many from "Padishah"=the Sovran, and Mr. E. T. W. Gibb suspects a connection with the Turk. "Bash"=a head. He writes to me that the oldest forms are "Bashah" and "Bashah"; and takes the following quotation from Colonel Jevad Bey, author of an excellent work on the Janissaries published a few years ago. "As it was the custom of the (ancient) Turks to call the eldest son 'Pasha,' the same style was given to his son Ala al-Din (Aladdin) by Osman Ghazi, the founder of the Empire; and he kept this heir at home and beside him, whilst he employed the cadet Orkhan Bey as his commander-in-chief. When Orkhan Ghazi ascended the throne he conferred the t.i.tle of Pasha upon his son Sulayman. Presently reigned Murad (Amurath), who spying signs of disaffection in his first-born Sawuji Bey about the middle of his reign created Kara Khalil (his Kazi-Askar or High Chancellor) Wazir with the t.i.tle Kazyr al-Din Pasha; thus making him, as it were, an adopted son.

After this the word pa.s.sed into the category of official t.i.tles and came to be conferred upon those who received high office."

Colonel Jevad Bey then quotes in support of his opinion the "History of Munajjim Pasha" and the "Fatayah al-Waku'at"=Victories of Events. I may note that the old t.i.tle has been sadly prost.i.tuted in Egypt as well as in Turkey: in 1851 Pashas could be numbered on a man's fingers; now they are innumerable and of no account.

[FN#179] Arab. "'Ala babi 'llah"=for the love of the Lord, gratis, etc., a most popular phrase.

[FN#180] Arab. "Bahar," often used for hot spices generally.

[FN#181] In the text Shajarat Rih.

[FN#182] Arab. "Ma'adin"=minerals, here mentioned for the first time.

[FN#183] For the ear conceiving love before the eye (the basis of half these love-stories), see vol. iii. 9.

[FN#184] According to Dr. Steinga.s.s "Mirwad"=the iron axle of a pulley or a wheel for drawing water or lifting loads, hence possibly a bar of metal, an ingot. But he is more inclined to take it in its usual sense of "Kohl-pencil." Here "Mirwad" is the broader form like "Miftah" for "Miftah," much used in Syria.

[FN#185] For the Ashrafi, a gold coin of variable value, see vol.

iii. 294. It is still coined; the Calcutta Ashrafi worth 1 11s.

8d. is 1/16th (about 5s. to the oz.) better than the English standard, and the Regulations of May, 1793, made it weigh 190.894 grs. Troy.

[FN#186] In text "Anjar"=a flat platter; Pers.

[FN#187] By what physical process the author modestly leaves to the reader's imagination. Easterns do not often notice this feminine venereal paroxysm which takes the place of seminal emission in the male. I have seen it happen to a girl when hanging by the arms a trifle too long from a gymnastic cross-bar; and I need hardly say that at such moments (if men only knew them) every woman, even the most modest, is an easy conquest. She will repent it when too late, but the flesh has been too strong for her.

[FN#188] A neat and suggestive touch of Eastern manners and morals.

[FN#189] In text "Ghayr Wa'd," or "Min ghayr Wa'd." Lit. without previous agreement: much used in this text for suddenly, unexpectedly, without design.