The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume XV Part 25

[FN#96] [Here I suppose the word "kal" has been dropped after "bi 'l-shi'r," and it should be: He (the youth) replied, that was our common sire, Adam, etc.--ST.]

[FN#97] "Habil" and "Kabil" are the Arab. equivalent of Abel and Cain. Neither are named in the Koran (Surah v. "The Table," vv.

30-35), which borrows dialogue between the brothers derived from the Targum (Jeirus. on Gen. iv. 8) and makes the raven show the mode of burial to Cain, not to Adam, as related by the Jews.

Rodwell's Koran, p. 543.

[FN#98] Sit venia verbo: I have the less hesitation in making Adam antic.i.p.ate the widow Malone from a profound conviction that some Hibernian antiquary, like Vallancey who found the Irish tongue in the Punic language of Plautus, shall distinctly prove that our first forefather spoke Keltic.

[FN#99] In text "Rih," wind, gust (of temper), pride, rage.

Amongst the Badawin it is the name given to rheumatism (gout being unknown), and all obscure aching diseases by no means confined to flatulence or distension. [The MS. has: "ila an kata-ka 'l-'amal al-rabih," which gives no sense whatever. Sir Richard reads: "katala-ka 'l-'amal al-rih," and thus arrives at the above translation. I would simply drop a dot on the first letter of "kata-ka," reading "fata-ka," when the meaning of the line as it stands, would be: until the work that is profitable pa.s.sed away from thee, i.e., until thou ceasedst to do good. The word "rabih" is not found in Dictionaries, but it is evidently an intensive of "rabih" (tijarah rabihah = a profitable traffic) and its root occurs in the Koran, ii. 15: "Fa-ma rabihat Tijaratuhum"

= but their traffic has not been gainful.--ST.]

[FN#100] Arab. "Badrah": see vol. iv. 281. [According to Kamus, "Badrah is a purse of one thousand or ten thousand dirhams, or of seven thousand dinars. As lower down it is called "Badrat Zahab,"

a purse of gold, I would take it here in the third sense.--ST]

[FN#101] In text "Zardiya," for "Zardiyyah" = a small mail coat, a light helmet.

[FN#102] Arab. "'Ind 'uzzati 's-sinini" = lit. the th.o.r.n.y shrubs of ground bare of pasture.

[FN#103] This is another form of "inverted speech," meaning the clean contrary; see vols. ii. 265; vi. 262; and vii. 179.

[FN#104] In text "Lam yakthir Khayrak"; this phrase (p.r.o.nounced "Kattir Khayrak") is the Egyptian (and Moslem) equivalent for our "thank you." Vols. iv. 6; v. 171. Scott (p. 267) make Al-Hajjaj end with, "Cursed is he who doth not requite a sincere adviser, declareth our sacred Koran."

[FN#105] In the W.M. MS. this tale is followed by the "History of Uns al-Wujud and the Wazir's daughter Rose-in-hood," for which see vol. v. 32 et seq. Then comes the long romance "Mazin of Khorasan," which is a replica of "Hasan of Ba.s.sorah and the King's daughter of the Jinn" (vol. vii. 7). I have noted (vol. x.

75) that this story shows us the process of transition from the Persian original to the Arabic copy. "Mazin" is also the P.N. of an Arab tribe: De Sacy, Chrest. i. 406.

[FN#106] MS. vol. v. pp. 92-94: Scott, vol. vi. 343: Gauttier, vi. 376. The story is a replica of the Mock Caliph (vol. iv. 130) and the Tale of the First Lunatic (Suppl. vol. iv.); but I have retained it on account of the peculiar freshness and navete of treatment which distinguishes it, also as a specimen of how extensively editors and scriveners can vary the same subject.

[FN#107] In text "Natar" (watching) for "Nataf" (indigestion, disgust).

[FN#108] Here again we have the formula "Kala 'l-Rawi"=the reciter saith, showing the purpose of the MS. See Terminal Essay, p. 144.

[FN#109] It were well to remind the reader that "Khalifah" (never written "Khalif") is=a viceregent or vicar, i.e. of the Prophet of Allah, not of Allah himself, a sense which was especially deprecated by the Caliph Abubakr as "vicar" supposes l'absence du chef; or Dieu est present partout et a tout instant. Ibn Khal.

ii. 496.

[FN#110] This tale, founded on popular belief in tribadism, has already been told in vol. vii. 130: in the W.M. MS. it occupies 23 pages (pp. 95- 118). Scott (vi. 343) has "Mesroor retired and brought in Ali Ibn Munsoor Damuskkee, who related to the Caliph a foolish narrative (!) of two lovers of Bussorah, each of whom was coy when the other wished to be kind." The respectable Britisher evidently cared not to "read between the lines."

[FN#111] In pop. parlance "Let us be off."

[FN#112] Arab. "Al-afak" plur. of Ufk, "elegant" (as the grammarians say) for the world, the universe.

[FN#113] [In MS. "Rankah" or "Ranakah," probably for "Raunakah,"

which usually means "troubled,"; speaking of water, but which, according to Schiaparelli's Vocabulista, has also the meaning of "Raunak"=amenitas. As however "Ranakah" taken as fem. of "Ranak"

shares with Raunakah the signification of "troubled," it may perhaps also be a parallel form to the latter in the second sense.--ST.]

[FN#114] The text has "Martabat Saltanah" (for Sultaniyah) which may mean a royal Divan. The "Martabah" is a mattress varying in size and thickness, stuffed with cotton and covered with cloths of various colours and the latter mostly original and admirable of figuration but now supplanted by the wretched printed calicoes of civilisation. It is placed upon the ground and garnished with cushions which are usually of length equally the width of the mattress and of a height measuring about half of that breadth.

When the "Martabah" is placed upon its "Mastabah" (bench of masonry or timber) or upon its "Sarir" (a framework of "jarid" or midribs of the palm), it becomes the Diwan=divan.

[FN#115] In text "Bi-iza-huma;" lit. vis-a-vis to the twain.

[FN#116] These have occurred vol. i. 176: I quote Mr. Payne (i.

156).

[FN#117] In text "Hanna-k.u.mu 'llah:" see "Hanian," vol. ii. 5.

[FN#118] This is usually a sign of grief, a symbolic act which dates from the days of the Heb. patriarchs (Gen. x.x.xvii. 29-34); but here it is the mark of strong excitement. The hand is placed within the collar and a strong pull tears the light stuff all down the breast. Economical men do this in a way which makes darning easy.

[FN#119] [The MS. is very indistinct in this place, but by supplying "'an" after "ghibta" and reading "'ayni" for "'anni," I have no doubt the words are: Wa in ghibta 'an 'ayni fa-ma ghibta 'an kalbi=and if thou art absent from my eyes, yet thou are not absent from my heart. The metre is Tawil and the line has occurred elsewhere in The Nights.--ST.]

[FN#120] I have already noted that "Hilal" is the crescent (waxing or waning) for the first and last two or three nights: during the rest of the lunar month the lesser light is called "Kamar."

[FN#121] The sense is that of Coleridge.--

To be beloved is all I need; And whom I love I love indeed.

[FN#122] There is something wrong in the text. I cannot help again drawing the reader's attention to the skilful portraiture of the model Moslem Minister, the unfortunate Ja'afar. He is never described in the third person; but the simple dialogue always sets him off as a wise, conciliatory, benevolent, loveable and man-loving character, whose constant object is to temper the harshness and headstrong errors of a despotic master as the Caliph is represented to be by way of showing his kingliness. See vol. i., 102. [The MS. is certainly wrong here, but perhaps it can be righted a little. It has: "Kad yakun Z R H ahad fi Mal jazil wa harab al-Maz'un," etc., where Sir Richard reads "zarra-hu"=he harmed, and Mazghun=the hated one, i.e. enemy. I have a strong suspicion that in the original from which our scribe copied, the two words were "zamin" and "al-Mazmun." Zamin in the Arabic character would be {Arabic characters} The loop for the "m," if made small, is easily overlooked; the curve of the "n," if badly traced, can as easily be mistaken for "r" and a big dot inside the "n" might appear like a blotted "h". Mazmun would become "Maz'un" by simply turning the "m" loop upwards instead of downwards, an error the converse of which is so frequently committed in printed texts. Curiously enough the same error occurs p. 192 of the MS., where we shall find "na' 'al" with two 'Ayns instead of "na'mal" with 'Ayn and Mim. If this conjecture is correct the sense would be: Haply he may have stood security for someone for much money, and the person for whom security was given, took to flight, etc. For "zamin" with the acc. see Ibn Jubair ed. by Wright, 77, 2. I may say on this occasion, that my impression of the Montague MS. is, that it is a blundering copy of a valuable though perhaps indistinctly written original.--ST.]

[FN#123] In text "'Aurat"=nakedness: see vol. vi. 30.

[FN#124] In Arab. "'Urrah": see Fatimah the Dung in vol. x. 1.

[FN#125] [In the MS. "bi-Wujuh al Fanijat al-Milah." The translator conjectures "al-fatihat," which he refers to "Wujuh."

I read it "al-Ghanijat," in apposition with al-Milah, and render: the faces of the coquettish, the fair. See index under "Ghunj."--ST.]

[FN#126] In text "Ballat," the name still given to the limestone slabs cut in the Torah quarries South of Cairo. The word is cla.s.sical, we find in Ibn Khaldun (vol. i. p. 21, Fr. Trans.) a chief surnomme el-Balt (le pave), a cause de sa fermete et de sa force de caractere.

[FN#127] In text "Usburu"=be ye patient, the cry addressed to pa.s.sengers by the Grandee's body-guard.

[FN#128] The "young person" here begins a tissue of impertinences which are supposed to show her high degree and her condescension in mating with the jeweller. This is still "pretty f.a.n.n.y's way"

amongst Moslems.

[FN#129] A "swear" peculiarly feminine, and never to be used by men.

[FN#130] In text "'Ala-Akli:" the whole pa.s.sage is doubtful.

[I would read, and translate the pa.s.sage as follows: "Ma tastahli 'ala haza illa shay la tazann-hu allazi (for "allati," see Suppl.

iv. 197) kayyamtini (2nd fem. sing.) min 'ala akli wa ana zanantu innahu man yujab la-hu al-kiyam; thumma iltifatat illayya wa kalat hakaza sirtu ana la-ghazarat al-thiyab al-wasikhat min al-fakr fa-hal ma ghasalta wajhak?"=Thou deservest not for this but a thing thou doest not fancy, thou who madest me rise from before my food, while I thought he was one to whom rising up is due. Then she turned towards me, saying, "Am I then in this manner (i.e. like thyself) a bundle of clothes all dirty from poverty, and hast thou therefore ("fa" indicating the effect of a cause) not washed thy face?" Or to put it in more intelligible English: "Am I then like thyself a heap of rags that thou shouldst come to me with unwashed face?"--ST.]

[FN#131] Of the respect due to food Lane (M. E. chapt. xiii.) tells the following tale: "Two servants were sitting at the door of their master's house, eating their dinner, when they observed a Mameluke Bey with several of his officers, riding along the streets towards them. One of these servants rose, from respect to the Grandee, who regarding him with indignation, exclaimed, Which is the more worthy of respect, the bread which is before thee or myself? Without awaiting a reply, he made, it is said, a well-understood signal with his hand; and the unintending offender was beheaded on the spot." I may add that the hero of the story is said to have been the celebrated "Daftardar" whose facetious cruelties have still a wide fame in the Nile Valley.

[FN#132] I would read (for "Sirtu ansa"=I have become) "Sirt'

anta"=thou hast become.

[FN#133] In text "Mukh;" lit.=brain, marrow.

[FN#134] [In Ar. "Wa zand mujauhar fi-hi Asawir min al-Zahab al-ahmar," which may mean: and a fore-arm (became manifest), ornamented with jewels, on which were bracelets of red gold.--ST.]

[FN#135] For this famous type of madman see Suppl. Vol. vi.

[FN#136] [Ar. "Ghurrat," which may be bright looks, charms, in general, or according to Bocthor, fore-locks. The more usual plural of "Ghurrah" is "Ghurar."--ST.]