1. THE THIRTY-EIGHTH VEZIR"S STORY.

There was in the city of Cairo a merchant, and one day he bought a slave-girl, and took her to his house. There was in his house an ape; this the merchant fetched and dragged up to the slave-girl. He said, "Yield thyself over to this, and I will set thee free." The slave-girl did so of necessity, and she conceived by him. When her time was come she bare a son all of whose members were shaped like those of a man, save that he had a tail like an ape. The merchant and the slave-girl occupied themselves bringing up this son. One day, when the son was five or six months old, the merchant filled a large cauldron with milk, and lighted a great fire under it. When it was boiling, he seized the son and cast him into the cauldron; and the girl began to lament. The merchant said, "Be silent, make no lamentation; go and be free;" and he gave her some sequins. Then he turned, and the cauldron had boiled so that not even any bones were left. The merchant took down the cauldron, and placed seven strainers, one above the other; and he took the scum that had gathered on the liquid in the cauldron and filtered it through the seven strainers, and he took that which was in the last and put it into a bottle. And the slave-girl bare in her heart bitter hatred against the merchant, and she said in herself, "Even as thou hast burned my liver will I burn thee;" and she began to watch her opportunity. (One day) the merchant said to her, "Make ready some food," and went out. So the girl cooked the food, and she mixed some of that poison in the dish. When the merchant returned she brought the tray and laid it down, and then withdrew into a corner. The merchant took a spoonful of that food, and as soon as he put it into his mouth, he knew it to be the poison, and he cast the spoon that was in his hand at the girl. A piece, of the bigness of a pea, of that poisoned food fell from the spoon on the girl"s hand, and it made the place where it fell black. As for the merchant, he turned all black, and swelled till he became like a blown-out skin, and he died. But the slave-girl medicined herself and became well; and she kept what remained of the poison and sold it to those who asked for it.

2. THE FORTIETH VEZIR"S STORY.

There was of old time a tailor, and he had a fair wife. One day this woman sent her slave-girl to the carder"s to get some cotton teased. The slave-girl went to the carder"s shop and gave him cotton for a gown to get teased. The carder while teasing the cotton displayed his yard to the slave-girl. She blushed and passed to his other side. As she thus turned round the carder displayed his yard on that side also. Thus the slave-girl saw it on that side too. And she went and said to her mistress, "Yon carder, to whom I went, has two yards." The lady said to her, "Go and say to yon carder, "My mistress wishes thee; come at night."" So the slave-girl went and said this to the carder. As soon as it was night the carder went to that place and waited. The woman went out and met the carder and said, "Come and have to do with me while I am lying by my husband." When it was midnight the carder came and waked the woman. The woman lay conveniently and the carder fell to work. She felt that the yard which entered her was but one, and said, "Ah my soul, carder, at it with both of them." While she was softly speaking her husband awaked and asked, "What means thy saying, "At it with both of them?"" He stretched out his hand to his wife"s kaze and the carder"s yard came into it. The carder drew himself back and his yard slipped out of the fellow"s hand, and he made shift to get away. The fellow said, "Out on thee, wife, what meant that saying of thine, "At it with both of them?"" The woman said, "O husband, I saw in my dream that thou wast fallen into the sea and wast swimming with one hand and crying out, "Help! I am drowning!" I shouted to thee from the shore, "At it with both of them," and thou begannest to swim with both thy hands." Then the husband said, "Wife, I too know that I was in the sea, from this that a wet fish came into my hand and then slipped out and escaped; thou speakest truly." And he loved his wife more than before.

3. THE LADY"S THIRTY-FOURTH STORY.

They tell that there was a Khoja and he had an exceeding fair son, who was so beautiful that he who looked upon him was confounded. This Khoja watched over his son right carefully; he let him not come forth from a certain private chamber, and he left not the ribbon of his trousers unsealed. When the call to prayer was chanted from the minaret, the boy would ask his father saying, "Why do they cry out thus?" and the Khoja would answer, "Someone has been undone and has died, and they are calling out to bury him." And the boy believed these words. The beauty of this boy was spoken of in Persia; and a Khoja came from Persia to Baghdad with his goods and chattels for the love of this boy. And he struck up a friendship with the boy"s father, and ever gave to him his merchandise at an easy price, and he sought to find out where his son abode. When the Khoja had discovered that the boy was kept safe in that private chamber, he one day said to his father, "I am about to go to a certain place; and I have a chest whereinto I have put whatsoever I possess of valuables; this I shall send to thee, and do thou take it and shut it up in that chamber where thy son is." And the father answered, "Right gladly." So the Khoja let build a chest so large that he himself might lie in it, and he put therein wine and all things needful for a carouse. Then he said to his servant, "Go, fetch a porter and take this chest to the house of Khoja Such-an-one, and say, "My master has sent this to remain in your charge," and leave it and come away. And again on the morrow go and fetch it, saying, "My master wishes the chest."" So the servant went for a porter, and the Khoja hid himself in the chest. Then the boy laded the porter with the chest and took it to the other Khoja"s house, where he left it and went away. When it was night the Khoja came forth from the chest, and he saw a moon-face sleeping in the bed-clothes, and a candle was burning in a candlestick at his head; and when the Khoja beheld this he was confounded and exclaimed, "And blessed be God, the fairest of Creators!"[FN#426] Then the Khoja laid out the wine and so forth; and he went up softly and waked the boy. And the boy arose from his place and addressed himself to speak, saying, "Wherefore hast thou come here?" Straight-way the Khoja filled a cup and gave it to him, saying, "Drink this, and then I shall tell thee what manner of man I am." And he besought the boy and spread out sequins before him. So the boy took the cup and drank what was in it. When the Khoja had given him to drink three or four cups the face of the boy grew tulip-hued, and he became heated with the wine and began to sport with the Khoja. So all that night till morning did the Khoja make merry with the boy; and whatsoever his desire was, he attained thereto. When it was morning, the Khoja again went into the chest; and the servant came and laded the porter with the same and took it back to his house. And on the morrow, when the boy and his father were sitting together, the mu"ezzin chanted the call to prayer, whereupon the boy exclaimed, "Out on thee, father; and the boy who is undone dies, and so this fellow goes up there and bawls out; last night they undid me; how is it that I am not dead?" Then the father smote the boy on the mouth and said, "Speak not such words; they are a shame." And then he knew why the chest had come.

Footnotes

[FN#1] From the Wortley Montague MS. vol. iii. pp. 80-96. J. Scott: vol. vi. pp. 1-7. Histoire du Sulthan d"Yemen et de ses trots fils; Gauttier vol. vi. pp. 158-165. [FN#2] The worst disease in human life, now recognised as "Annus Domini." [FN#3] Arab. "Mál wa Ghawál": in Badawi parlance "Mál" would=flocks and herds (pecunia, pecus); and amongst the burghers=ready money, coin. Another favourite jingle of similar import is "Mál wa Nawál." There is an older form of the Sultan of Al Yaman and his three sons, to be found in M. Zotenberg"s "Chronique de Tabari," vol. ii. pp. 357-61. [FN#4] In the W. M. MS. the sisters are called "Shahrzádeh" (=City born) and "Dinárzádeh" (=ducat born) and the royal brothers Shahrbáz (=City player or City falcon) and Kahramán (vol. i. p. 1) alias Samarbán (ibid.). I shall retain the old spelling. [FN#5] I have hitherto translated "wa adraka (masc.) Shahrázáda al-Sabáh," as=And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day; but it is more correct as well as more picturesque to render the phrase "was surprised (or overtaken) by the dawn." [FN#6] Arab. ""Adrán,"=much and heavy rain. [FN#7] For "Halwá" see vol. ii. pp. 47-212. Scott (vol. vi. 413) explains "Hámiz" as "a species of small grain," probably confounding it with Hummus (or Himmis)=vetches. It is the pop. term for pickles, "sour meat" as opposed to "sweetmeats." The Arabs divide the camel"s pasture into "Khullah" which means sweet food called bread and into "Hámiz" termed fruit: the latter is composed mainly of salsolaceae, and as camels feed upon it during the hot season it makes them drink. Hence in Al Hariri (Preface) "I change the pasture," i.e., I pass from grave to gay, from light to dignified style. (Chenery, p. 274). [FN#8] This is the modern version of the tale which the author of "Zadig" has made familiar to Europe. The hero is brought before the King and Queen of Babylon for stealing a horse and a dog; and, when held by the chief "Destour" (priest) to be a thief, justifies himself. I have given in full the older history from Tabari, the historian (vixit A.D. 839-923). For the tracker ("Paggí") and the art of tracking see Sind Revisited, i. 180-183. I must again express my wonder that the rural police of Europe still disdain the services of trained dogs when these are about to be introduced into the army. [FN#9] Arab. "Bitá"i"=my own. I have already noticed that this is the Egypt. form and the Nilotes often turn the "Ayn into an H, e.g. Bitáht for Bitá"at, e.g. Ash Shabakah bitáht as-Sayd, thy net for fishing. (Spitta Bey, Contes Arabes Modernes, p. 43.) [FN#10] Arab. "Mukabbab;" prop. vaulted, arched, domed in Kubbah (or cupola)-shape. [FN#11] Arab. "Firásah." "Sciences are of three kinds: one the science of Faith, another the science of Physiognomy (Firásah), and another the science of the Body; but unless there be the science of Physiognomy, other science availeth not." So says "The Forty Vizirs:" Lady"s vith story and Vizir"s xxxist story. For a note on "Firásah" see vol. viii. 326. [FN#12] Arab. "In lam tazidd Kayni"=lit. unless thou oppose my forming or composition. [FN#13] Arab. "Faráfish," a word which I cannot find in the dictionary, and so translate according to the context. Dr. Steingass remarks that the nearest approach to it would be "Faráfík" (plur. of Furfák)=fine, thin or soft bread. [FN#14] See, in the "Turkish Tales" by Petis de la Croix (Weber, Tales of the East, vol. iii. 196), the History of the Sophi of Baghdad, where everything returns to (or resembles) its origin. Thus the Wazir who proposed to cut up a criminal and hang him in the shambles was the self-convicted son of a butcher; he who advised boiling him down and giving his flesh to the dogs was the issue of a cook, and the third who proposed to pardon him was nobly born. See Night cccxli. [FN#15] Arab. "Al-Mafyaat," lit.=a shady place; a locality whereupon the sun does not rise. [FN#16] Arab. "Ja"idiyah," a favourite word in this MS. "Ja"ad"=a curl, a liberal man: Ja"ad al-yad=miserly, and Abú ja"dah=father of curls,=a wolf. Scott (passim) translates the word "Sharper;" Gore Ouseley "Labourer;" and De Sacy (Chrestomathie ii. 369, who derives it from Ju"d=avoir les cheveux crépus): in Egypt, homme de la populace, canaille. He finds it in the Fabrica Linguæ Arab. of Germanus of Silesia (p. 786)=ignavis, hebes, stupidus, esp. a coward. Ibrahim Salamah of Alexandria makes the term signify in Syria, impudent, thieving, wicked. Spitta Bey translates this word musicien ambulant in his Gloss. to Contes Arabes, p. 171. According to Dr. Steingass, who, with the Muhít al-Muhít, reads "Ju"aydíyah," Ju"ayd is said to be the P. N. of an Egyptian clown, who, with bell-hung cap and tambourine in hand, wandered about the streets singing laudatory doggrel and pestering the folk for money. Many vagabonds who adopted this calling were named after him and the word was generalised in that sense. [FN#17] MS. vol. iii. pp. 96-121. Scott, "Story of the Three Sharpers and the Sultan," pp. 7-17; Gauttier, Histoire des trois filous et d"un Sulthan, vi. 165-176. [FN#18] Arab. Yasrahú=roaming, especially at early dawn; hence the wolf is called "Sirhán," and Yaklishu (if I read it aright) is from Kulsh, and equivalent to "kicking" (their heels). [FN#19] Nusf=half a dirham, drachma or franc, see ii. 37; vi. 214, etc. [FN#20] Bast, a preparation of Bhang (Cannabis Sativa), known in Egypt but not elsewhere: see Lane, M. E., chapt. xv. Here it is made synonymous with "Hashísh"=Bhang in general. [FN#21] Ghaushah, a Persianism for which "Ghaughá" is a more common form. "Ghaush" is a tree of hard wood whereof musical instruments were made; hence the mod. words "Ghásha" and "Ghawwasha"=he produced a sound, and "Ghaushah"=tumult, quarrel. According to Dr. Steingass, the synon. in the native dicts. are "Khisám," "Lag-hat," "Jalabah," etc. [FN#22] Said ironicè, the jeweller being held to be one of the dishonest classes, like the washerman, the water-carrier, the gardener, etc. In England we may find his representative in the "silversmith," who will ask a pound sterling for a bit of metal which cost him perhaps five shillings or even less, and who hates to be bought by weight. The Arab. has "Jauhar-ji," a Turkish form for Jauhari; and here "jauhar" apparently means a pearl, the stone once peculiar to royalty in Persia, but the kind of gem is left undetermined. [FN#23] Arab. "Sáza, yasízu," not a dictionary word. Perhaps it is a clerical error for "S sa," he groomed or broke in a horse, hence understood all about horses. [FN#24] In the orig. "Shorbah," Pers.=a mess of pottage: I have altered it for reasons which will presently appear. [FN#25] Arab. "Ghabasah," from Ghabas=obscure, dust-coloured. [FN#26] Arab. "Súsah"=a weevil, a moth, a worm. It does not mean simply a flaw, but a live animal (like our toads in the rock); and in the popular version of the tale the lapidary discovers its presence by the stone warming in his hand. [FN#27] Arab. "Mashá"íli" the cresset-bearer who acted hangman: see vol. i. 259, etc. [FN#28] Arab. "Ta"kíl," tying up a camel"s foreleg above the knee; the primary meaning of Akl, which has so many secondary significations. [FN#29] Arab. "Suwán," lit.=rock, syenite, hard stone, flint; here a marteau de guerre. [FN#30] Arab. "Hálik"=intensely black, so as to look blue under a certain angle of light. [FN#31] Arab. "Rikáb" (=stirrup) + "dár" Pers. (=holder). [FN#32] I have ransacked dictionaries and vocabularies but the word is a mere blank. [FN#33] Arab. "Jámúsah." These mules are believed in by the Arabs. Shaw and other travellers mention the Mauritanian "Jumart," the breed between a bull and a mare (or jennyass) or an ass and a cow. Buffon disbelieved in the mongrel, holding it to be a mere bardeau, got by a stallion horse out of an ass. Voltaire writes "Jumarre" after German fashion and Littré derives it from jument + art (finale péjorative), or the Languedoc "Gimere" which according to Diez suggests "Chimæra." Even in London not many years ago a mule was exhibited as the issue of a horse and a stag. No Indian ever allows his colt to drink buffalo"s milk, the idea being that a horse so fed will lie down in instead of fording or swimming a stream. [FN#34] See Sindbad the Seaman, vol. vi. 9. [FN#35] Arab. "Mubattat" from batt=a duck: in Persia the Batt-i-May is a wine-glass shaped like the duck. Scott (vi. 12) translates "thick and longish." [FN#36] Arab. "his Harím"; see vol. i. 165; iv. 126. VOL. XIV. [FN#37] Again "he" for she. See vol. ii. 179. [FN#38] Arab. "Gháziyah": for the plur. "Ghawázi" see vol. i. 214; also Lane (M.E.) index under "Ghazeeyehs." [FN#39] The figure prothesis without apodosis. Understand "will slay thee": see vol. vi. 203. [FN#40] Because the girl had not been a professional dancer, i.e a public prostitute. [FN#41] Arab. "Amán"=quarter, mercy: see vol. i. 342. [FN#42] For the "Mandíl" of mercy see vol. i. 343; for that of dismissal x. 47 and Ibn Khall. iv. 211. In Spitta Bey"s "Contes Arabes" (p. 223), I find throwing the kerchief (tarammá al mahramah) used in the old form of choosing a mate. In the Tale of the Sultan of AlYaman and his three Sons (Supplem. Nights, vol. iv.) the Princesses drop their kerchiefs upon the head of the Prince who had saved them, by way of pointing him out. [FN#43] Arab. "Sattár:" see vols. i. 258 and iii. 41. [FN#44] In the text "Arghá" for "Arkhá"=he "brayed" (like an ostrich, etc.) for "his limbs relaxed." It reminds one of the German missionary"s fond address to his flock, "My prethren, let us bray!" [FN#45] Arab. "Azbad," from Zbd (Zabd)=foaming, frothing, etc., whence "Zubaydah," etc. [FN#46] Arab. "Zabh" (Zbh)=the ceremonial killing of animals for food: see vols. v. 391; viii. 44. I may note, as a proof of how modern is the civilisation of Europe that the domestic fowl was unknown to Europe till about the time of Pericles (ob. B.C. 429). [FN#47] See in "The Forty Vizirs" (Lady"s ivth Tale) how Khizr tells the King the origin of his Ministers from the several punishments which they propose for the poor man. I have noticed this before in Night cccxxxiii. Boethius, translated by Chaucer, explains the underlying idea, "All thynges seken ayen to hir propre course and all thynges rejoysen in hir returninge agayne to hir nature." [FN#48] For the Taylasán hood see vol. iv. 286. [FN#49] The "Kalansuwah"-cap is noted by Lane (A. N. chapt. iii. 22) as "Kalensuweh." In M. E. (Supplement i. "The Copts") he alters the word to Kalás"weh and describes it as a strip of woollen stuff, of a deep blue or black colour, about four inches wide, attached beneath the turban and hanging down the back to the length of about a foot. It is the distinguishing mark of the Coptic regular clergy. [FN#50] W. M. MS. vol. iii. pp. 121-141. Scott, "The Adventures of the abdicated Sultan," pp. 18-19; including the "History of Mahummud, Sultan of Cairo," pp. 20-30. [FN#51] "Káhirah." I repeat my belief (Pilgrimage i. 171) that "Káhirah," whence our "Cairo" through the Italian corruption, means not la victorieuse (Mediant al-Káhirah) as D"Herbelot has it; but City of Kahir or Mars the planet. It was so called because as Richardson informed the world (sub voce) it was founded in A.H. 358 (=A.D. 968) when the warlike planet was in the ascendant by the famous General Jauhar a Dalmatian renegade (not a "Greek slave") for the first of the Fatimite dynasty Al-Mu"izz li "l-dini "lláh. [FN#52] According to Caussin de Perceval (père) in his translation of the "Contes Arabes," there are four wonders in the Moslem world: (1) the Pharos of Alexandria; (2) the Bridge of Sanjia in Northern Syria; (3) The Church of Rohab (Edessa); and (4) the Amawi Mosque of Damascus. [FN#53] Arab. "Faddah," lit.=silver, because made of copper alloyed with nobler metal; the smallest Egyptian coin=Nuss (i.e. Nusf, or half a dirham) and the Turk. paráh. It is the fortieth of the piastre and may be assumed at the value of a quarter-farthing. [FN#54] This word, in Egypt. "Harág," is the cry with which the Dallál (broker) announces each sum bidden at an auction. [FN#55] The Portuguese Xerafim: Supplemental Nights, vol. iii. 166. [FN#56] A Khan or caravanserai: see vol. i. 266 and Pilgrimage i. 60. [FN#57] Arab. "Hilm" (vision) "au "Ilm" (knowledge) a phrase peculiar to this MS. [FN#58] The careless scribe forgets that the Sultan is speaking and here drops into the third person. This "Enallage of persons" is, however, Koranic and therefore classical: Arab critics aver that in such cases the "Hikáyah" (=literal reproduction of a discourse, etc.) passes into an "Ikhbár"=mere account of the same discourse). See Al Mas"údi iii. 216. I dare not reproduce this figure in English. [FN#50] Arab. "Auzah," the Pers. Oták and the Turk. Otah (vulg. "Oda" whence "Odalisque"), a popular word in Egypt and Syria. [FN#60] Arab. "Al Afandiyah" showing the late date or reduction of the tale. The Turkish word derives from the Romaic Afentis ({Greek}) the corrupted O.G.{Greek}=an absolute commander, and "authentie." The word should not be written as usual "Effendi," but "Efendi," as Prof. Galland has been careful to do. [FN#61] Arab. "Al-dakhlah"; repeatedly referred to in The Nights. The adventure is a replica of that in "Abu Mohammed highs Lazybones," vol. iv., pp. 171-174. [FN#62] Usual in the East, not in England, where some mothers are idiots enough not to tell their daughters what to expect on the wedding night. Hence too often unpleasant surprises, disgust and dislike. The most modern form is that of the chloroform"d bride upon whose pillow the bridegroom found a paper pinned and containing the words, "Mamma says you"re to do what you like." [FN#63] Arab. "Akhaztu dam wajhhi há." [FN#64] Arab. "Dilk" more commonly "Khirkah," the tattered and pieced robe of a religious mendicant. [FN#65] Arab. "Darbálah." Scott (p. 24) must have read "Gharbálah" when he translated "A turban full of holes as a sieve." In classical Arabic the word is written "Darbalah," and seems to correspond with the Egyptian "Darábukkah," a tabor of wood or earthenware figured by Lane (M.E. chapt. xviii.). It is, like the bowl, part of the regular Darwaysh"s begging gear. [FN#66] Vulg. Maghribi. For this word see the story of Alaeddin, Supplem., vol. iii. 31. According to Heron, "History of Maugraby," the people of Provence, Languedoc and Gascony use Maugraby as a term of cursing: Maugrebleu being used in other parts of France. [FN#67] In text "Fanárát"; the Arab. plur. of the Pers. "Fanár"=a light-house, and here equiv. to the Mod. Gr. {Greek}, a lantern, the Egypt. "Fánús." [FN#68] This Sultan of the Jann preceded by sweepers, flag-bearers and tent-pitchers always appears in the form of second-sight called by Egyptians "Darb al Mandal"=striking the magic circle in which the enchanter sits when he conjures up spirits. Lane (M. E. chapt. xii.) first made the "Cairo Magician" famous in Europe, but Herklots and others had described a cognate practice in India many years before him. [FN#69] Arab, "Jáwúsh" for Cháwush (vulg. Chiaush) Turk.=an army serjeant, a herald or serjeant at arms; an apparitor or officer of the Court of Chancery (not a "Mace-bearer or Messenger," Scott). See vol. vii. 327. [FN#70] Arab. from Persian "Bímáristán," a "sick-house," hospital, a mad-house: see vol. i. 288. [FN#71] The text says only that "he was reading:" sub. the Holy Volume. [FN#72] MS. vol. iii., pp. 142-168. Scott, "Story of the First Lunatic," pp. 31 44. Gauttier, Histoire du Premier Fou, vol. vi. 187. It is identical with No. ii. of Chavis and Cazotte, translated by C. de Perceval, Le Bimaristan (i.e. the Hospital), ou Histoire du jeune Marchand de Bagdad et de la Dame inconnue (vol. viii. pp. 179-180). Heron terms it the "Story of Halechalbe (Ali Chelebi?) and the Unknown Lady," and the narrative is provided with a host of insipid and incorrect details, such as "A gentleman enjoying his pipe." The motif of this tale is common in Arab. folk lore, and it first appears in the "Tale of Azíz and Azízah," ii. 328. A third variant will occur further on. [FN#73] Spelt in vol. iii. 143 and elsewhere, "Khwájá" for "Khwájah." [FN#74] Arab. "Hubban li-raasik,"=out of love for thy head, i.e. from affection for thee. Dr. Steingass finds it analogous with the Koranic "Hubban li "llahi" (ii. 160), where it is joined with "Ashaddu"=stronger, as regards love to or for Allah, more Allah loving. But it can stand adverbially by itself=out of love for Allah, for Allah"s sake. [FN#75] Arab. "Zahr," lit. and generically a blossom; but often used in a specific sense throughout The Nights. [FN#76] Arab. "Kursi" here=a square wooden seat without back and used for sitting cross-legged. See Suppl. vol. i. 9. [FN#77] Arab. "Sujjádah"=lit. a praying carpet, which Lane calls "Seggádeh." [FN#78] Arab. "Wakíl," lit.=agent: here the woman"s representative, corresponding roughly with the man who gives away the bride amongst ourselves. [FN#79] The mention of coffee and sherbet, here and in the next page, makes the tale synchronous with that of Ma"arúf or the xviith. century. [FN#80] The MS. writes "Zardakát" for "Zardakhán": see below. [FN#81] Scott (p. 36) has "mahazzim (for maházim), al Zerdukkaut (for al-Zardakhán)" and "munnaskif (for manáshif) al fillfillee." Of the former he notes (p. 414) "What this composition is I cannot define: it may be translated compound of saffron, yoke of egg or of yellowish drugs." He evidently confounds it with the Pers. Zard-i-Kháyah=yoke of egg. Of the second he says "compound of peppers, red, white and black." Lane (The Nights, vol. i. p. 8) is somewhat scandalised at such misrepresentation, translating the first "apron-napkins of thick silk," and the second "drying towels of Líf or palm-fibre," further suggesting that the text may have dropped a conjunction=drying towels and fibre. [FN#82] Arab. "Líwàn al-barrání," lit.=the outer bench in the "Maslahk" or apodyterium. [FN#83] Arab. "Ma"jún," pop. applied to an electuary of Bhang (Cannabis sativa): it is the "Maagoon" sold by the "Maagungee" of Lane (M.E. chapt. xv.). Here, however, the term may be used in the sense of "confections" generally, the sweetmeats eaten by way of restoratives in the Bath. [FN#84] He speaks of taking her maidenhead as if it were porter"s work and so defloration was regarded by many ancient peoples. The old Nilotes incised the hymen before congress; the Phœnicians, according to Saint Athanasius, made a slave of the husband"s abate it. The American Chibchas and Caribs looked upon virginity as a reproach, proving that the maiden had never inspired love. For these and other examples see p. 72, chap. iii. "L"Amour dans l"Humanité," by P. Mantegazza, a civilised and unprejudiced traveller. [FN#85] Arab. "Zill," lit. "shadow me." [FN#86] Arab. "Istinshák," one of the items of the "Wuzú" or lesser ablution: see vol. v. 198. [FN#87] In Chavis her name is "Zaliza" and she had "conceived an unhappy passion" for her master, to whom she "declared her sentiments without reserve." [FN#88] Arab. "Armaghánát," the Arab. plur. of "Armaghán," Pers.=a present. [FN#89] In the text, "jumlatun min al-mál," which Scott apparently reads "Hamlat al-jamal" and translates (p. 38) "a camel"s load of treasure." [FN#90] The learned man was to exorcise some possible "evil spirit" or "the eye," a superstition which seems to have begun, like all others, with the ancient Egyptians. [FN#91] The MS., I have said, always writes "Khwájá" instead of "Khwájah" (plur. "Khwájat"): for this word, the modern Egyptian "Howájah," see vol. vi. 46. Here it corresponds with our "goodman." [FN#92] Arab. "Yatazáwadú"=increasing. [FN#93] By which she accepted the offer. [FN#94] This incident has already occurred in the tale of the Portress (Second Lady of Baghdad, vol. i. 179), but here the consequences are not so tragical. In Chavis the vulgar cock becomes "a golden Censer ornamented with diamonds, to be sold for two thousand sequins" (each=9 shill.). [FN#95] A royal sign of wrath generally denoting torture and death. See vols. iv. 72; vi. 250. [FN#96] Arab. "Yá Sallám," addressed to Allah. [FN#97] Here more is meant than meets the eye. When a Moslem"s head was struck off, in the days of the Caliphate, it was placed under his armpit, whereas that of a Jew or a Christian was set between his legs, close to the seat of dishonour. [FN#98] In Chavis and Cazotte the lady calls to "Morigen, her first eunuch, and says, Cut off his head!" Then she takes a theorbo and "composed the following couplets"--of which the first may suffice: Since my swain unfaithful proves, Let him go to her he loves, etc., etc. [FN#99] The device has already occurred in "Ali Baba." [FN#100] Arab. "Al-ma"húd min ghayr wa"d." [FN#101] In Chavis and Cazotte the king is Harun al-Rashid and the masterfl young person proves to be Zeraida, the favourite daughter of Ja"afar Bermaki; whilst the go-between is not the young lady"s mother but Nemana, an old governess. The over- jealous husband in the Second Lady of Baghdad (vol. i. 179) is Al-Amín, son and heir of the Caliph Marun al-Rashid. [FN#102] Vol. iii. pp. 168-179: and Scott"s "Story of the Second Lunatic," pp. 45-51. The name is absurdly given as the youth was anything but a lunatic; but this is Arab symmetromania. The tale is virtually the same as "Women"s Wiles," in Supplemental Nights, vol. ii. 99-107. [FN#103] This forward movement on the part of the fair one is held to be very insulting by the modest Moslem. This incident is wanting in "Women"s Wiles." [FN#104] Arab. "Labbah," usually the part of the throat where ornaments are hung or camels are stabbed. [FN#105] The chief of the Moslem Church. For the origin of the office and its date (A.D. 1453) see vols. ix. 289, and x. 81. [FN#106] Arab. "Satíhah"=a she-Satih: this seer was a headless and neckless body, with face in breast, lacking members and lying prostrate on the ground. His fellow, "Shikk," was a half-man, and both foretold the divine mission of Mohammed. (Ibn Khall. i. 487.) [FN#107] Arab. "Wakt al-Zuhà;" the division of time between sunrise and midday. [FN#108] In the text "Sufrah"=the cloth: see vol. i. 178, etc. [FN#109] Arab. "Ya Tinjír," lit.=O Kettle. [FN#110] Arab. "Tari," lit.=wet, with its concomitant suggestion, soft and pleasant like desert-rain. [FN#111] Here meaning "Haste, haste!" See vol. i. 46. [FN#112] The chief man (Aghá) of the Gypsies, the Jink of Egypt whom Turkish soldiers call Ghiovendé, a race of singers and dancers; in fact professional Nautch-girls. See p. 222, "Account of the Gypsies of India," by David MacRitchie (London, K. Paul, 1886), a most useful manual. [FN#113] Arab. "Kurúsh," plur of. "Kirsh" (pron. "Girsh"), the Egyptian piastre=one-fifth of a shilling. The word may derive from Karsh=collecting money; but it is more probably a corruption of Groschen, primarily a great or thick piece of money and secondarily a small silver coin=3 kreuzers=1 penny. [FN#114] The purse ("Kís") is=500 piastres (kurúsh)=£5; and a thousand purses compose the Treasury ("Khaznah")=£5,000. [FN#115] MS. vol. iii. pp. 179-303. It is Scott"s "Story of the Retired Sage and his Pupil, related to the Sultan by the Second Lunatic," vi. pp. 52-67; and Gauttier"s Histoire du Sage, vi. 199-2l4. The scene is laid in Cairo. [FN#116] Meaning that he was an orphan and had, like the well-known widow, "seen better days." [FN#117] The phrase, I have noted, is not merely pleonastic: it emphasises the assertion that it was a chance day. [FN#118] An old Plinian fable long current throughout the East. It is the Pers. Ním-chihreh, and the Arab Shikk and possibly Nasnás=nisf al-Nás (?) See vol. v. 333. Shikk had received from Allah only half the form of a man, and his rival diviner Satíh was a shapeless man of flesh without limbs. They lived in the days of a woman named Tarífah, daughter of Al-Khayr al-Himyarí and wife of Amrú bin "Amir who was famous for having intercourse with the Jann. When about to die she sent for the two, on account of their deformity and the influence exercised upon them by the demons; and, having spat into their mouths, bequeathed to them her Jinni, after which she departed life and was buried at Al-Johfah. Presently they became noted soothsayers; Shikk had issue but Satih none; they lived 300 (some say 600) years, and both died shortly before the birth of the Prophet concerning whom they prophesied. When the Tobba of Al-Yaman dreamed that a dove flew from a holy place and settled in the Tihámah (lowland-seaboard) of Meccah, Satih interpreted it to signify that a Prophet would arise to destroy idols and to teach the best of faiths. The two also predicted (according to Tabari) to Al-Rabí"ah, son of Nasr, a Jewish king of Al-yaman, that the Habash (Abyssinians) should conquer the country, govern it, and be expelled, and after this a Prophet should arise amongst the Arabs and bring a new religion which all should embrace and which should endure until Doomsday. Compare this with the divining damsel in Acts xvi. 16-18. [FN#119] Arab. "Kahramánah;" the word has before been explained as a nurse, a duenna, an Amazon guarding the Harem. According to C. de Perceval (père) it was also the title given by the Abbasides to the Governess of the Serraglio. [FN#120] So in the Apocrypha ("Tobias" vi. 8). Tobit is taught by the Archangel Raphael to drive away evil spirits (or devils) by the smoke of a bit of fish"s heart. The practice may date from the earliest days when "Evil Spirits" were created by man. In India, when Europeans deride the existence of Jinns and Rakshasas, and declare that they never saw one, the people receive this information with a smile which means only, "I should think not! you and yours are worse than any of our devils." [FN#121] An Inquisitorial costume called in the text "Shámiyát bi al-Nár." [FN#122] A tribe of the Jinn sometimes made synonymous with "Márid" and at other times contrasted with these rebels, as in the Story of Ma"aruf and J. Scott"s "History of the Sultan of Hind" (vol. vi. 195). For another note see The Nights, iv. 88. [FN#123] Arab. ""Ilm al-Hurúf," not to be confounded with the ""Ilm al-Jumal," or "Hisáb Al-Jumal," a notation by numerical values of the alphabet. See Lumsden"s Grammar of the Persian Language, i. 37. [FN#124] Like our "Cut your mutton," or manger la soupe or die suppe einzunehmen. For this formula meaning like the Brazilian "cup of water," a grand feast, see vol. vii. 168. [FN#125] Arab. "Tafazzal," a most useful word employed upon almost all occasions of invitation and mostly equivalent to "Have the kindness," etc. See vol. ii. 103. [FN#126] The Shaykh for humility sits at the side, not at the "Sadr," or top of the room; but he does not rise before the temporal power. The Sultan is equally courteous and the Shaykh honours him by not keeping silence. [FN#127] Arab. "Miat Mamlúk kitábí," the latter word meaning "one of the Book, a Jew" (especially), or a Christian. [FN#128] This MS. prefers the rare form "Al-Jánn" for the singular. [FN#129] These flags, I have noticed, are an unfailing accompaniment of a Jinn army. [FN#130] MS. vol. iii. pp. 203-210; Scott, "Night Adventure of the Sultan," pp. 68-71. Gauttier, Aventure nocturne du Sulthan, vi. 214. [FN#131] Arab. "Mashrút shadak." Ashdak is usually applied to a wide-chapped face, like that of Margaret Maultasch or Mickle-mouthed Meg. Here, however, it alludes to an accidental deformity which will presently be described. [FN#132] Arab. "Amsik lisána-k": the former word is a standing "chaff" with the Turks, as in their tongue it means cunnus-penis and nothing else. I ever found it advisable when speaking Arabic before Osmanlis, to use some such equivalent as Khuz=take thou. [FN#133] This is the familiar incident in "Ali Baba": Supplem. vol iii. 231, etc. [FN#134] MS. iii. 210-214. Scott"s "Story of the broken-backed Schoolmaster," vi. pp. 72-75, and Gauttier"s "Histoire du Maitre d"école éreinté," vi. 217. The Arabic is "Muaddib al-Atfál"=one who teacheth children. I have before noted that amongst Moslems the Schoolmaster is always a fool. So in Europe of the 16th century probably no less than one-third of the current jests turned upon the Romish clergy and its phenomenal ignorance compared with that of the pagan augur. The Story of the First Schoolmaster is one of the most humorous in this MS. [FN#135] For the usual ceremony when a Moslem sneezes, see vol. ix. 220. [FN#136] The "day in the country," lately become such a favourite with English schools, is an old Eastern custom. [FN#137] MS. iii. 214-219. Scott"s "Story of the wry-mouthed Schoolmaster," vi. pp. 74-75: Gauttier"s Histoire du Second Estropié, vi. p. 220. [FN#138] In these days the whole would be about 10d. [FN#139] Pay-day for the boys in Egypt. The Moslem school has often been described but it always attracts the curiosity of strangers. The Moorish or Maroccan variety is a simple affair; "no forms, no desks, few books. A number of boards about the size of foolscap, whitewashed on either side, whereon the lessons--from the alphabet to sentences of the Koran--are plainly written in large black letters; a pen and ink, a book and a switch or two, complete the paraphernalia. The dominie, squatting on the ground, tailor-fashion, like his pupils, who may number from ten to thirty, repeats the lesson in a sonorous singsong voice, and is imitated by the urchins, who accompany their voices by a rocking to and fro which sometimes enables them to keep time. A sharp application of the cane is wonderfully effectual in recalling wandering attention; and lazy boys are speedily expelled. On the admission of a pupil, the parents pay some small sum, varying according to their means, and every Wednesday, which is a half-holiday, a payment is made from 1/4d. to 2d. New moons and feasts are made occasions for larger payments, and are also holidays, which last ten days during the two greater festivals. Thursdays are whole holidays, and no work is done on Friday mornings, that day being the Mohammedan "Sabbath," or at least "meeting day," as it is called. When the pupils have mastered the first short chapter of the Koran, it is customary for them to be paraded round the town on horseback, with ear-splitting music, and sometimes charitably disposed persons make small presents to the youngster by way of encouragement. After the first, the last is learned, then the last but one, and so on, backwards, as, with the exception of the first, the longest chapters are at the beginning. Though reading and a little writing are taught, at the same time, all the scholars do not arrive at the pitch of perfection necessary to indite a polite letter, so that consequently there is plenty of employment for the numerous scribes or Tálibs who make a profession of writing. These may frequently be seen in small rooms opening on to the street, usually very respectably dressed in a white flowing haik and large turban, and in most cases of venerable appearance, their noses being adorned with huge goggles. Before them are their appliances,--pens made of reeds, ink, paper, and sand in lieu of blotting paper. They usually possess also a knife and scissors, with a case to hold them all. In writing, they place the paper on the knee, or upon a pad of paper in the left hand." The main merit of the village school in Eastern lands is its noises which teach the boy to concentrate his attention. As Dr. Wilson of Bombay said, the young idea is taught to shout as well as to shoot, and this vivâ voce process is a far better mnemonic than silent reading. Moreover it is fine practice in the art of concentrating attention. [FN#140] Arab. "Mikshat," whose root would be "Kasht"=skinning (a camel). [FN#141] Evidently said ironicè as of innocents. In "The Forty Vezirs" we read, "At length they perceived that all this tumult arose from their trusting on this wise the words of children." (Lady"s XXth Tale.) [FN#142] MS. iii. 219-220. For some unaccountable reason it is omitted by Scott (vi. 76), who has written English words in the margin of the W. M. Codex. [FN#143] In text "Kádúm," for "Kudúm," a Syrian form. [FN#144] Arab. "Hidyah," which in Egypt means a falcon; see vol. iii. 138. [FN#145] Arab. "Sifah,"=lit. a quality. [FN#146] Arab. "Istiláh"=specific dialect, idiom. See De Sacy, Chrestomathie, i. 443, where the learned Frenchman shows abundant learning, but does very little for the learner. [FN#147] In the text "Kattán"=linen, flax. [FN#148] Arab. "Fí Jífán ka"l-Jawábí!" which, I suppose, means small things (or men) and great. [FN#149] This form of cleverness is a favourite topic in Arabian folk-lore. The model man was Iyás al-Muzani, al-Kazi (of Bassorah), in the 2nd century A.H., mentioned by Al-Harírí in his 7th Ass. and noted in Arab. Prov. (i. 593) as "more intelligent than Iyás." 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 passed nothing away, he asked if all his food were voided: the Jew replied that God 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-Maydáni 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. Iyás 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, "Darajatáni"=lit. two astronomical degrees: the word is often used in this MS. [FN#153] Arab. "Síwan;" plur. "Síwáwín." [FN#154] Arab. ""Alá hudúd (or Alá 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. "Manjaník;" 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. "Subú"" (for "Yaum al-Subú"") a festival prepared on the seventh day after a birth or a marriage or return from pilgrimage. See Lane (M. E. passim) 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. "Madáfi al-Salámah," 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 passage to man. [FN#170] Arab. "Batiyah," gen.=a black jack, a leathern flagon. [FN#171] "Kunafáh"=a vermicelli cake often eaten at breakfast: see vol. x. 1: "Kunafáni" 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) "Mídi," a clerical error for "Mayyidí," an abbreviation of "Muayyadí," the Faddah, Nuss or half-dirham coined under Sultan al-Muayyad, A.H. ixth cent.=A.D. xvth. [FN#173] Arab. "Rub"" (plur. "Arbá"")=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. "Sayabán."=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 ellès in cadence. [FN#176] Arab. "Huwa inná na"rifu-h" lit.=He, verily we wot him not: the juxtaposition of the two first pronouns 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, Désir de fille est un feu qui dévore: Désir 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. Páigáh=rank, dignity; Von Hammer (History) from Pái-Sháh=foot of the king; many from "Pádisháh"=the Sovran, and Mr. E. T. W. Gibb suspects a connection with the Turk. "Básh"=a head. He writes to me that the oldest forms are "Bashah" and "Báshah"; and takes the following quotation from Colonel Jevád 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 "Páshá," the same style was given to his son Alá al-Din (Aladdín) by Osmán Gházi, 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 Orkhán Gházi ascended the throne he conferred the title of Páshá upon his son Sulayman. Presently reigned Murád (Amurath), who spying signs of disaffection in his first-born Sáwújí Bey about the middle of his reign created Kárá Khalíl (his Kází-Askar or High Chancellor) Wazir with the title Kazyr al-Dín Pasha; thus making him, as it were, an adopted son. After this the word passed into the category of official titles and came to be conferred upon those who received high office." Colonel Jevád Bey then quotes in support of his opinion the "History of Munajjim Pasha" and the "Fatáyah al-Wakú"at"=Victories of Events. I may note that the old title has been sadly prostituted in Egypt as well as in Turkey: in 1851 Páshás could be numbered on a man"s fingers; now they are innumerable and of no account. [FN#179] Arab. ""Alà bábi "lláh"=for the love of the Lord, gratis, etc., a most popular phrase. [FN#180] Arab. "Bahár," often used for hot spices generally. [FN#181] In the text Shajarat Ríh. [FN#182] Arab. "Ma"ádin"=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. Steingass "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 "Mirwád" is the broader form like "Miftáh" 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. [FN#190] The reader will have remarked the use of the Arabic ""Alaka"=he hung, which with its branches greatly resembles the Lat. pendere. [FN#191] Arab. "Min al-Malábis," plur. of "Malbas"=anything pleasant or enjoyable; as the plural of "Milbas"=dress, garment, it cannot here apply. [FN#192] i.e. "The Tigris" (Hid-dekel), with which the Egyptian writer seems to be imperfectly acquainted. See vols. i. 180; viii. 150. [FN#193] The word, as usual misapplied in the West, is to be traced through the Turk. Kúshk (pron. Kyúshk) to the Pers. "Kushk"=an upper chamber. [FN#194] Four including the doorkeeper. The Darwayshes were suspected of kidnapping, a practice common in the East, especially with holy men. I have noticed in my Pilgrimage (vols. ii. 273; iii. 327), that both at Meccah and at Al-Medinah the cheeks of babes are decorated with the locally called "Masháli"=three parallel gashes drawn by the barber with the razor down the fleshy portion of each cheek, from the exterior angles of the eyes almost to the corners of the mouth. According to the citizens this "Tashrít" is a modern practice distinctly opposed to the doctrine of Al-Islam; but, like the tattooing of girls, it is intended to save the children from being carried off, for good luck, by kidnapping pilgrims, especially Persians. [FN#195] The hair being shaven or plucked and showing the darker skin. In the case of the axilla-pile, vellication is the popular process: see vol. ix. 139. Europeans who do not adopt this essential part of cleanliness in hot countries are looked upon as impure by Moslems. [FN#196] Here a little abbreviation has been found necessary: "of no avail is a twice-told tale." [FN#197] The nearest approach in Eastern tales to Western hysterics. [FN#198] A tent-pitcher, body servant, etc. See vol. vii. 4. The word is still popular in Persia. [FN#199] The amount of eating and drinking in this tale is phenomenal; but, I repeat, Arabs enjoy reading of "meat and drink" almost as much as Englishmen. [FN#200] Arab writers always insist upon the symptom of rage which distinguishes the felines from the canines; but they do not believe that the end of the tail has a sting. [FN#201] The circular leather which acts alternately provision bag and table-cloth. See vols. i. 178; v. 8; viii. 269, and ix. 141. [FN#202] He refused because he suspected some trick and would not be on terms of bread and salt with the stranger. [FN#203] The story contains excellent material, but the writer or the copier has "scamped" it in two crucial points, the meeting of the bereaved Sultan and his wife (Night ccclxxvii.) and the finale where we miss the pathetic conclusions of the Mac. and Bresl. Edits. Also a comparison of this hurried dénouement with the artistic tableau of "King Omar bin al-Nu"uman," where all the actors are mustered upon the stage before the curtain falls, measures the difference between this MS. and the printed texts, showing the superior polish and finish of the latter. [FN#204] Vol. iii. pp. 386-97, where it follows immediately the last story. Scott (Story of the Avaricious Cauzee and his Wife, vi. 112) has translated it after his own fashion, excising half and supplying it out of his own invention; and Gauttier has followed suit in the Histoire du Cadi avare et de sa Femme, vi. 254. [FN#205] Tarábulus and Atrábulus are Arabisations of Tripolis (hod. Tripoli) the well-known port-town north of Bayrút; founded by the Phoenicians, rose to fame under the Seleucidæ, and was made splendid by the Romans. See Socin"s "Bædeker," p. 509. [FN#206] i.e. the Kazi"s court-house [FN#207] Arab. "Buksumah" = "hard bread" (Americanicè). [FN#208] Arab. "Sufrah umm jalájil." Lit. an eating-cloth with little bells, like those hung to a camel, or metal plates as on the rim of a tambourine. [FN#209] The Kursi here = the stool upon which the "Síníyah" or tray of tinned copper is placed, the former serving as a table. These stools, some 15 inches high and of wood inlaid with bone, tortoise-shell or mother-of-pearl, are now common in England, where one often sees children using them as seats. The two (Kursi and Síníyah) compose the Sufrah, when the word is used in the sense of our "dinner-table." Lane (M.E. chapt. v.) gives an illustration of both articles. [FN#210] Arab. "Jarídah," a palm-frond stripped of its leaves (Supplemental vol. i. 203), hence the "Jaríd" used as a javelin; see vol. vi. 263. [FN#211] An Egyptian or a Syrian housewife will make twenty dishes out of roast lamb, wholly unlike the "good plain cook" of Great or Greater Britain, who leaves the stomach to do all the work of digestion in which she ought to but does not assist. [FN#212] A plate of "Baysár" or "Faysár," a dish peculiar to Egypt; beans seasoned with milk and honey and generally eaten with meat. See Mr. Guy Lestrange"s "Al-Mukaddasi," Description of Syria, p. 80; an author who wrote cir. A.H. 986. Scott (vi. 119) has "A savoury dish called byssarut, which is composed of parched beans and pounded salt meat, mixed up with various seeds, onions and garlic." Gauttier (vi. 261) carefully avoids giving the Arabic name, which occurs in a subsequent tale (Nights cdxliv.) when a laxative is required. [FN#213] Arab. "Mulúkhíyah náshiyah," lit. = flowing; i.e. soft like épinards au jus. Mulúkhíya that favourite vegetable, the malva esculenta is derived from the Gr. {Greek} (also written {Greek}) from {Greek} = to soften, because somewhat relaxing. In ancient Athens it was the food of the poorer classes and in Egypt it is eaten by all, taking the place of our spinach and sorrel. [FN#214] Arab. "Kalak" = lit. "agitation," "disquietude" and here used as syn. with "Kúlanj," a true colic. [FN#215] Arab. "Mazarát," from "Mazr," = being addled (an egg). [FN#216] Here is an allusion to the "Massage," which in these days has assumed throughout Europe all the pretensions of scientific medical treatment. The word has been needlessly derived from the Arab. "Mas"h" = rubbing, kneading; but we have the Gr. synonym and the Lat. Massare. The text describes child-bed customs amongst Moslem women, and the delivery of the Kazi has all the realism of M. Zola"s accouchement in La Joie de Vivre. [FN#217] Arab. "Fa"álah" = the building craft, builders" trade. [FN#218] In text "Kawwárah," which is not found in the dictionaries. "Kuwáray"= that which is cut off from the side of a thing, etc. My translation is wholly tentative: perhaps Kawwára may be a copyist"s error for "Kazázah" = vulg. a (flask of) glass. [FN#219] The "Khaznah," = treasury, is a thousand "Kís" = 500 piastres, or £5 at par; and thus represents £5,000, a large sum for Tripoli in those days. [FN#220] The same incident occurs in that pathetic tale with an ill name = "How Abu al-Hasan brake Wind." vol. v. 135. [FN#221] Arab. "Karkabah," clerical error (?) for "Karkarah" = driving (as wind the clouds); rumbling of wind in bowels. Dr. Steingass holds that it is formed by addition of a second "K," from the root "Karb," one of whose meanings is: "to inflate the stomach." [FN#222] For Ummu "Amrin = mother of "Amru, so written and pronounced " "Amr," a fancy name, see vol. v. 118, for the Tale of the Schoolmaster, a well-known "Joe Miller." [Ummu "Amrin, like Ummu "Ámirin, is a slang term for "hyena." Hence, if Ass and Umm Amr went off together, it is more than likely that neither came back.--St.] [FN#223] A slang name for Death. "Kash"am" has various sigs. esp. the lion, hence Rabí"at al-Faras (of the horses), one of the four sons of Nizár was surnamed Al-Kash"am from his cœur de lion (Al- Mas"udi iii. 238). Another pleasant term for departing life is Abú Yáhyá = Father of John, which also means "The Living" from Hayy--Death being the lord of all: hence "Yamút" lit.= he dies, is an ill-omened name amongst Arabs. Kash"am is also a hyena, and Umm Kash"am is syn. with Umm "Ámir (vol. i. 43). It was considered a point of good breeding to use these "Kunyah" for the purpose of varying speech (see al-Hariri Ass. xix.). The phrase in the text = meaning went to hell, as a proverb was first used by Zuhayr, one of the "Suspended Poets." Umm Kash"am was the P.N. of a runaway camel which, passing by a large fire, shied and flung its riding saddle into the flames. So in Al-Siyúti"s "History of the Caliphs" (p. 447), the text has "And Malak Shah went to where her saddle was thrown by Umm Kash"am," which Major Jarrett renders "departed to hell-fire." [FN#224] Scott"s "Story of the Bhang-eater and Cauzee," vi. 126: Gauttier, Histoire du Preneur d"Opium et du Cadi, vi. 268. [FN#225] Arab. "Lawwaha" = lit. pointing out, making clear. [FN#226] Text "in his belly," but afterwards in his "Halkah" = throat, throttle, which gives better sense. [FN#227] In text "Háyishah" from "Haysh" = spoiling, etc. [FN#228] Arab. "Yauh!" See vols. ii. 321; vi. 235. [FN#229] Arab. "Yá Jad"án" (pron. "Gád"án") more gen. "Yá Jad"a" = mon brave! [FN#230] In text "Yá "Arzád": prob. a clerical slip for ""Urzát," plur. of ""Urzah" = a companion, a (low) fellow, a man evil spoken of. [FN#231] Easterns love drinking in a bright light: see vol. ii. 59. [FN#232] Arab. ""Akl" (= comprehension, understanding) and "Nakl" (= copying, describing, transcribing), a favourite phrase in this MS. [FN#233] Arab. "Ummáli"; gen. Ummál, an affirmation; Certes, I believe you! [FN#234] For the many preparations of this drug, see Herklots, Appendix, pp. lxviii. ciii. It is impossible to say how "Indian hemp," like opium, datura, ether and chloroform, will affect the nervous system of an untried man. I have read a dozen descriptions of the results, from the highly imaginative Monte Cristo to the prose of prosaic travellers; and do not recognise that they are speaking of the same thing. [FN#235] This tranquil enjoyment is popularly called "Kayf." See my Pilgraimage i. 13. In a coarser sense it is applied to all manners of intoxication; and the French traveller Sonnini says, "The Arabs (by which he means the Egyptians) give the name of Kayf to the voluptuous relaxation, the delicious stupor, produced by the smoking of hemp." I have smoked it and eaten it for months without other effect than a greatly increased appetite and a little drowsiness. [FN#236] These childish indecencies are often attributed to Bhang-eaters. See "Bákún"s Tale of the Hashísh-eater," vol. ii. 91. Modest Scott (vi. 129) turns the joke into "tweaking the nose." Respectable Moslems dislike the subject, but the vulgar relish it as much as the sober Italian enjoys the description of a drinking bout--in novels. [FN#237] In the text "Finjál," a vulgarism for "Finján": so the converse "Isma"ín" for "Ism"aíl" = Ishmael. Mr. J. W. Redhouse (The Academy No. 764) proposes a new date for coffee in Al-Yaman. Colonel Playfair (History of Yemen, Bombay 1859) had carelessly noted that its "first use at Aden was by a judge of the place who had seen it drunk at Zayla", on the African coast opposite Aden," and he made the judge die in A.H. 875 = A.D. 1470. This is about the date of the Shaykh al-Sházalí"s tomb at Mocha, and he was the first who brought the plant form about African Harar to the Arabian seaboard. But Mr. Redhouse finds in a Turkish work written only two centuries ago, and printed at Constantinople, in A.D. 1732, that the "ripe fruit was discovered growing wild in the mountains of Yemen (?) by a company of dervishes banished thither." Finding the berry relieve their hunger and support their vigils the prior, "Shaykh "Umar advised their stewing it (?) and the use became established. They dried a store of the fruit; and its use spread to other dervish communities, who perhaps (?) sowed the seed wherever it would thrive throughout Africa (N.B. where it is indigenous) and India (N.B. where both use and growth are quite modern). From Africa, two centuries later, its use was reimported to Arabia at Aden (?) by the judge above mentioned, who in a season of scarcity of the dried fruit (?) tried the seed" (N.B. which is the fruit). This is passing strange and utterly unknown to the learned De Sacy (Chrest. Arab. i. 412-481). [FN#238] Koran iii. 128. D"Herbelot and Sale (Koran, chap. iii. note) relate on this text a noble story of Hasan Ali-son and his erring slave which The Forty Vezirs (Lady"s eighth story, p. 113) ignorantly attributes to Harun al-Rashid:--Forthwith the Caliph rose in wrath and was about to hew the girl to pieces, when she said, "O Caliph, Almighty Allah saith in His glorious Word (the Koran), "And the stiflers of Wrath"" (iii. 128). Straightway the Caliph"s wrath was calmed. Again said the girl, ""And the pardoners of men."" (ibid.) Quoth the Caliph, "I have forgiven the crimes of all the criminals who may be in prison." Again said the slave-girl, ""And Allah loveth the beneficent."" (ibid.) Quoth the Caliph, "God be witness that I have with my own wealth freed thee and us many male and female slaves as I have, and that this day I have for the love of Allah given the half of all my good in alms to the poor." This is no improvement upon the simple and unexaggerated story in Sale. "It is related of Hasan, the son of Ali, that a slave having once thrown a dish on him boiling hot, as he sat at table, and fearing his master"s resentment, fell on his knees and repeated these words, Paradise is for those who bridle their anger. Hasan answered, I am not angry. The slave proceeded, And for those who forgive men. I forgive you, said Hasan. The slave, however, finished the verse, For Allah loveth the beneficent. Since it is so, replied Hasan, I give you your liberty and four hundred pieces of silver." [FN#239] The old name of the parish bull in rural England. [FN#240] Arab. "Kawík:" see The Nights, vol. vi. 182, where the bird is called "Ak"ak." Our dicts. do not give the word, but there is a "Kauk" (Káka, yakúku) to cluck, and "Kauk" = an aquatic bird with a long neck. I assume "Kawík" to be an intensive form of the same root. The "Mother of Solomon" is a fanciful "Kunyah," or bye name given to the bird by the Bhang-eater, suggesting his high opinion of her wisdom. [FN#241] Arab. "Nátúr," prop. a watchman: also a land-mark, a bench-mark of tamped clay. [FN#242] In text "Bartamán" for "Martaban" = a pot, jar, or barrel-shaped vessel: others apply the term to fine porcelain which poison cannot affect. See Col. Yule"s Glossary, s. v. Martabán, where the quotation from Ibn Batutah shows that the term was current in the xivth century. Linschoten (i. 101) writes, "In this town (Martaban of Pegu) many of the great earthen pots are made, which in India are called Martananas, and many of them are carried throughout all India of all sorts both small and great: and some are so great that they will fill two pipes of water." Pyrard (i. 259) applies the name to "certain handsome jars, of finer shape and larger than I have seen elsewhere" (Transl. by ALBERT Gray for the Hakluyt Soc. 1887). Mr. Hill adds that at Málé the larger barrel-shaped jars of earthenware are still called "Mátabán," and Mr. P. Brown (Zillah Dictionary, 1852) finds the word preserved upon the Madras coast = a black jar in which rice is imported from Pegu. [FN#243] The Arabic here changes person, "he repeated" after Eastern Fashion, and confuses the tale to European readers. [FN#244] Such treasure trove belonging to the State, i.e. the King. [FN#245] Arab. "Húrí" for "Hír" = a pool, marsh, or quagmire, in fact corresponding with our vulgar "bogshop." Dr. Steingass would read "Haurí," a "mansúb" of "Haur" = pond, quagmire, which, in connection with a Hammam, may = sink, sewer, etc. [FN#246] The Bedlam: see vol. i. 288. [FN#247] Arab. "Tamtar aysh?" (i.e. Ayyu shayyin, see vol. i. 79). I may note that the vulgar abbreviation is of ancient date. Also the Egyptian dialect has borrowed, from its ancestor the Coptic, the practice of putting the interrogatory pronoun or adverb after (not before the verb, e.g. "Rá"ih fayn?" = Wending (art thou) whither? It is regretable that Egyptian scholars do not see the absolute necessity of studying Coptic, and this default is the sole imperfection of the late Dr. Spitta Bey"s admirable Grammar of Egyptian. [FN#248] Arab. ""Arsah," akin to "Mu"arris" (masc.) = a pimp, a pander. See vol. i. 338; and Supp. vol. i. 138; and for its use Pilgrimage i. 276. [FN#249] i.e. Abú Kásim the Drummer. The word "Tambúr" is probably derived from "Tabl" = a drum, which became by the common change of liquids "Tabur" in O. French and "Tabour" in English. Hence the mod. form "Tambour," which has been adopted by Turkey, e.g. Tambúrji = a drummer. In Egypt, however, "Tambúr" is applied to a manner of mandoline or guitar, mostly used by Greeks and other foreigners. See Lane, M.E. chap. xviii. [FN#250] Arab. "Bál" (sing. Bálah) = a bale, from the Span. Bala and Italian Balla, a small parcel made up in the shape of a bale, Lat. Palla. [FN#251] Arab. "Walásh," i.e. "Was lá shayya" = "And nihil" (nil, non ens, naught). [FN#252] Arab. "Kurbáj" = cravache: vol. viii. 17. The best are made of hippopotamus-hide (imported from East Africa), boiled and hammered into a round form and tapering to the point. Plied by a strong arm they cut like a knout. [FN#253] The text "Yá Sultán-am," a Persian or Turkish form for the Arab. "Yá Sultán-i." [FN#254] In text "Kalb" for "Kulbat" = a cave, a cavern. [FN#255] The houses were of unbaked brick or cob, which readily melts away in rain and requires annual repairing at the base of the walls where affected by rain and dew. In Sind the damp of the earth with its nitrous humour eats away the foundations and soon crumbles them to dust. [FN#256] Here meaning the under-Governor or head Clerk. [FN#257] "Níl" (= the Nile), in vulgar Egyptian parlance the word is = "high Nile," or the Nile in flood. [FN#258] Arab. "Darwayshsah" = a she-Fakír, which in Europe would be represented by that prime pest a begging nun. [FN#259] Arab. "Allah háfiz-ik" = the popular Persian expression, "Khudá Háfiz!" [FN#260] Arab. "Sálihin" = the Saints, the Holy Ones. [FN#261] Arab. "Sharkh" = in dicts. the unpolished blade of a hiltless sword. [FN#262] In the text "Miláyah," a cotton stuff some 6 feet long, woven in small chequers of white and indigo-blue with an ending of red at either extremity. Men wrap it round the body or throw it over the shoulder like our plaid, whose colours I believe are a survival of the old body-paintings, Pictish and others. The woman"s "Miláyah" worn only out of doors may be of silk or cotton: it is made of two pieces which are sewed together lengthwise and these cover head and body like a hooded cloak. Lane figures it in M.E. chapt. i. When a woman is too poor to own a "Miláyah" or a "Habarah" (a similar article) she will use a bed-sheet for out-of-doors work. [FN#263] The pun here is "Khalíyát" = bee-hive and empty: See vols. vi. 246 ix. 291. It will occur again in Supplementary vol. v. Night DCXLVI. [FN#264] i.e. Caravan, the common Eastern term. In India it was used for a fleet of merchantmen under convoy: see Col. Yule, Glossary, s. v. [FN#265] Again "Bartamán" for "Martabán." [FN#266] The "Sáhib" = owner, and the "Dallál" = broker, are evidently the same person. [FN#267] "Alà kám" for "kam" (how much?)--peasants" speech. [FN#268] She has appeared already twice in The Nights, esp. in The Tale of Ghánim bin "Ayyúb (vol. ii. 45) and in Khalifah the Fisherman of Baghdad (vol. viii. 145). I must again warn my readers nto to confound "Kút" = food with "Kuwwat" = force, as in Scott"s "Koout al Koolloob" (vi. 146). See Terminal Essay p. 101. [FN#269] In text "Mu"ammarjiyah" (master-masons), a vulgar Egyptianism for "Mu"ammarin." See "Jáwashiyah," vols. ii. 49; viii. 330. In the third line below we find "Muhandizín" = gemoetricians, architects, for "Muhandísm." [Perhaps a reminiscence of the Persian origin of the word "Handasah" = geometry, which is derived from "Andázah" = measurement, etc.-St.] [FN#270] The text ends this line in Arabic. [FN#271] Alluding to the curious phenomenon pithily expressed in the Latin proverb, "Suus cuique crepitus benè olet," I know of no exception to the rule, except amongst travellers in Tibet, where the wild onion, the only procurable green-stuff, produces an odour so rank and fetid that men run away from their own crepitations. The subject is not savoury, yet it has been copiously illustrated: I once dined at a London house whose nameless owner, a noted bibliophile, especially of "facetiæ," had placed upon the drawing-room table a dozen books treating of the "Crepitus ventris." When the guests came up and drew near the table, and opened the volumes, their faces were a study. For the Arab. "Faswah" = a silent break wind, see vol. ix. 11 and 291. It is opposed to "Zirt" = a loud fart and the vulgar term, see vol. ii. 88. [FN#272] Arab. "Yá Házá," see vol. i. 290. [FN#273] In text "Yumkinshayy," written in a single word, a favourite expression, Fellah-like withal, throughout this MS. [FN#274] In text "Tafazzalú;" see vol. ii. 103. [FN#275] The word (Saráy) is Pers. But naturalised throughout Egypt and Syria; in places like Damascus where there is no king it is applied to the official head-quarters of the Walí (provincial governor), and contains the prison like the Maroccan "Kasbah." It must not be confounded with "Serraglio" = the Harem, Gynecium or women"s rooms, which appears to be a bastard neo-Latin word "Serrare," through the French Serrer. I therefore always write it with the double "canine letter." [FN#276] I have noted (vol. i. 95) that the "Khil"ah" = robe of honour, consists of many articles, such as a horse, a gold-hilted sword, a fine turban, etc., etc. [FN#277] This again shows the "Nakkál" or coffee-house tale-teller. See vol. x. 144. [FN#278] This is the Moslem version of "Solomon"s Judgment" (1 Kings iii. 16-20). The Hebrew legend is more detailed but I prefer its rival for sundry reasons. Here the women are not "harlots" but the co-wives of one man and therefore hostile; moreover poetical justice is done to the constructive murderess. [FN#279] I am not aware that the specific gravity of the milks has ever been determined by modern science; and perhaps the experiment is worthy a trial. [FN#280] Arab. "Dúna-k." See vol. iv. p. 20. [FN#281] "Al-Wazíru"l-Arif bi-lláhi Ta"álà," a title intended to mimic those of the Abbaside Caliphs; such as "Mu"tasim bi"llah" (servant of Allah), the first of the long line whose names begin with an epithet (the Truster, the Implorer, etc.), and ed with "bi"llah." [FN#282] [Tarajjama, which is too frequently used in this MS. to be merely considered as a clerical error, I suppose to mean: he pronounced for him the formula: "A"uzzu bi lláhi mina "l-Shaytáni "l-Rajimi" = I take refuge with Allah against Satan the Stoned. See Koran xvi. 100. It would be thus equivalent with the usual taßwwaza.-St.] [FN#283] The MS. here ends Night cdxii. and begins the next. Up to this point I have followed the numeration but from this forwards as the Nights become unconscionably short compared with the intervening dialogues, I have thrown two and sometimes three into one. The Arabic numbers are, however, preserved for easier reference. [FN#284] This is a poor and scamped version of "Ali the Persian and the Kurd Sharper," in vol. v. 149. It is therefore omitted. [FN#285] The dish-cover, usually made of neatly plaited straw variously coloured, is always used, not only for cleanliness but to prevent the Evil Eye falling upon and infecting the food. [FN#286] The "Bámiyah," which = the Gumbo, Occra (Okrá) or Bhendi of Brit. India which names the celebrated bazar of Bombay, is the esculent hibiscus, the polygonal pod (some three inches long and thick as a man"s finger) full of seeds and mucilage making it an excellent material for soups and stews. It is a favourite dish in Egypt and usually eaten with a squeeze of lime-juice. See Lane, Mod. Egypt. chapt. v., and Herklots (App. p. xlii.) who notices the curry of "Bandakí" or Hibiscus esculentus. [FN#287] Written "Bakshísh," after Fellah-fashion. [FN#288] [In the MS.: Wa"l-Sultánu karaa Wirduh (Wirda-hu) wa jalasa li Munádamah = And the Sovran recited his appointed portion of the Koran, and then sat down to convivial converse. This reminds of the various passages of the present Shah of Persia"s Diary, in which he mentions the performance of his evening devotions, before setting out for some social gathering, say a supper in the Guildhall, which he neatly explains as a dinner after midnight (Shám ba"d az nisf-i-shab).--St.] [FN#289] This is Scott"s "Story of the Three Princes and Enchanting Bird," vol. vi. 160. On the margin of the W. M. MS. he has written, "Story of the King and his Three Sons and the Enchanting Bird" (vol. i. Night cdxvii.). Gauttier, vi. 292, names it Histoire des Trois Princes et de l"Oiseau Magicien. Galland may have used parts of it in the "Two Sisters who envied their Cadette": see Supp. vol. iii. pp. 313-361. [FN#290] In text "Al-Bulaybul" (the little Nightingale, Philomelet) "Al Sayyáh" (the Shrieker). The latter epithet suggests to me the German novel which begins, "We are in Italy where roses bestink the day and Nightingales howl through the live-long night," &c. [FN#291] "Sanjak," Turk. = flag, banner, and here used (as in vulg. Arab.) for Sanják-dár, the banner-bearer, ensign. In mod. parlance, Sanják = minor province, of which sundry are included in an "Iyálah" = government-general, under the rule of a Wáli (Wiláyah). [FN#292] In the MS. "Zifr" = nail, claw, talon. [FN#293] "Al-Rizk maksúm," an old and sage byword pregnant with significance: compare "Al-Khauf (fear) maksúm" = cowardice is equally divided. Vol. iii. 173. [I read: "Yas"à "l-Kadamu li-"Umrin dana au li-Rizkin qusima," taking "Rizk" as an equivalent for "al-Rizku "l-hasanu" = any good thing which a man obtains without exerting himself in seeking for it, and the passive "qusima" in the sense of Kismah, vulgo "Kismet." Hence I would translate: The foot speeds to a life that is mean, or to a boon that is pre-ordained.-St.] [FN#294] In the text "Bát" (for Bit), in Fellah-speech "Pass the night here!" The Bird thus makes appeal to the honour and hospitality of his would-be captor, and punishes him if he consent. I have translated after Scott (v. 161). [I cannot persuade myself to take "bát" for an imperative, which would rather be "bít" for "bit," as we shall find "kúm" for "kum," "rúh" for "ruh." It seems to me that the preterite "bát" means here "the night has passed," and rendering "man" by the interrogative, I would translate: "O! who shall say to the sad, the separated, night is over?" Complaints of the length of night are frequent with the parted in Arab poetry. This accords also better with the following "Atús al-Shams, the sneezing of the sun, which to my knowledge, applies only to daybreak, as in Hariri"s 15th Assembly (al-Farziyah), where "the nose of the morning" sneezes.--St.] [FN#295] i.e., they bound kerchiefs stained blue or almost black round their brows. In modern days Fellah women stain their veils (face and head), kerchiefs and shirts with indigo; and some colour their forearms to the elbow. [FN#296] Here again and in the following adventure we have "Khudadad and his Brothers." Suppl. vol. iii. 145-174. [FN#297] In sign of despair. See vol. i. 298. [FN#298] In text "Kalamátu "llah" = the Koran: and the quotation is from chapt. cxiii. 5. For the "Two Refuge-takings" (Al-Mu"awizzatáni), see vol. iii. 222. [FN#299] i.e., caused his brothers to recover life. [I read: Allazí "amaltu fí-him natíjah yujázúní bi-Ziddi-há = Those to whom I did a good turn, requite me with the contrary thereof. Allazí, originally the masc. Sing. is in this MS. vulgarly, like its still more vulgar later contraction, "illí," used for both genders and the three numbers.--St.] [FN#300] Arab. "Házir!" I have noted that this word, in Egypt and Syria, corresponds with the English waiter"s "Yes sir!" [FN#301] Koran, Chapter of Joseph, xii. 19. [FN#302] Arab. "Hanút:" this custom has become almost obsolete: the corpse is now sprinkled with a mixture of water, camphor diluted and the dried and pounded leaves of various trees, especially the "Nabk" (lote-tree or Zizyphus lotus).--Lane M.E. chapt. xxviii. [FN#303] These comical measures were taken by "Miss Lucy" in order to charm away the Evil Eye which had fascinated the article in question. Such temporary impotence in a vigorous man, which results from an exceptional action of the brain and the nervous system, was called in old French Nouement des aiguilettes (i.e. point-tying, the points which fastened the haut-de-chausses or hose to the jerkin, and its modern equivalent would be to "button up the flap"). For its cure, the "Deliement des aiguilettes" see Davenport "Aphrodisiacs" p. 36, and the French translation of the Shaykh al-Nafzáwi (Jardin Parfumé, chapt. xvii. pp. 251-53). The Moslem heals such impotence by the usual simples, but the girl in the text adopts a moral course which buries the dead parts in order to resurrect them. A friend of mine, a young and vigorous officer, was healed by a similar process. He had carried off a sergeant"s wife, and the husband lurked about the bungalow to shot him, a copper cap being found under the window hence a state of nervousness which induced perfect impotence. He applied to the regimental surgeon, happily a practised hand, and was gravely supplied with pills and a draught; his diet was carefully regulated and he was ordered to sleep by the woman but by no means to touch her for ten days. On the fifth he came to his adviser with a sheepish face and told him that he had not wholly followed the course prescribed, as last night he had suddenly--by the blessing of the draught and the pills--recovered and had given palpable evidence of his pristine vigour. The surgeon deprecated such proceeding until the patient should have full benefit of his drugs--bread pills and cinnamon-water. [FN#304] Here ends vol. iii. of the W. M. MS. and begins Night cdxxvi. [FN#305] In the next "Rísah," copyist"s error for "Ríshah" = a thread, a line: it afterwards proves to be an ornament for a falcon"s neck. [I cannot bring myself to adopt her the explanation of "Ríshah" as a string instead of its usual meaning of "feather," "plume." My reasons are the following: 1. The youth sets it upon his head; that is, I suppose, his cap, or whatever his head-gear may be, which seems a more appropriate place for a feather than for a necklace. 2. Further on, Night cdxxx., it is said that the Prince left the residence of his second spouse in search (talíb) of the city of the bird. If the word "Ríshah," which, in the signification of thread, is Persian, had been sufficiently familiar to an Arab to suggest, as a matter of course, a bird"s necklace, and hence the bird itself, we would probably find a trace of this particular meaning, if not in other Arabic books, at least in Persian writers or dictionaries; but here the word "Ríshah," by some pronounced "Reshah" with the Yá majhúl, never occurs in connection with jewels; it means fringe, filament, fibre. On the other hand, the suggestion of the bird presents itself quite naturally at the sight of the feather. 3. Ib. p. 210 the youth requests the old man to tell him concerning the "Tayrah allazí Rísh-há (not Rishat-há) min Ma"ádin," which, I believe, can only be rendered by: the bird whose plumage is of precious stones. The "Ríshah" itself was said to be "min Zumurrud wa Lúlú," of emeralds and pearls; and the cage will be "min Ma"ádin wa Lúlú," of precious stones and pearls, in all which cases the use of the preposition "min" points more particularly to the material of which the objects are wrought than the mere Izáfah. The wonderfulness of the bird seems therefore rather to consist in his jewelled plumage than the gift of speech or other enchanting qualities, and I would take it for one of those costly toys, in imitation of trees and animals, in which Eastern princes rejoice, and of which we read so many descriptions, not only in books of fiction, but even in historical works. If it were a live-bird of the other kind, he would probably have put in his word to expose the false brothers of the Prince.--St.] [FN#306] This is conjectural: the text has a correction which is hardly legible. [I read: "Wa lákin hú ajmalu min-hum bi-jamálin mufritin, lakinnahu matrúdun hú wa ummu-hu" = "and yet he was more beautiful than they with surpassing beauty, but he was an outcast, he and his mother," as an explanation, by way of parenthesis, for their daring to treat him so shamefully.--St.] [FN#307] The venerable myth of Andromeda and Perseus (who is Horus in disguise) brought down to Saint George (his latest descendant), the Dragon (Typhon) and the fair Saba in the "Seven Champions of Christendom." See my friend M. Clermont Ganneau"s Horus et Saint-Georges; Mr. J. R. Anderson"s "Saint Mark"s Rest; the Place of Dragons;" and my "Book of the Sword," chapt. ix. [FN#308] i.e. there was a great movement and confusion. [FN#309] [In the text "Afár, a word frequently joined with "Ghubár," dust, for the sake of emphasis; hence we will find in Night ccccxxix. the verb "yu"affiru," he was raising a dust-cloud.--St.] [FN#310] Upon the subject of "throwing the kerchief" see vol. vi. 285. Here it is done simply as a previously concerted signal of recognition. [FN#311] In text ""Alá Yadín;" for which vulgarism see vol. iii. 51. [FN#312] Elephants are usually, as Cuvier said of the (Christian) "Devil" after a look at his horns and hoofs, vegetarians. [FN#313] [The MS. has "yughaffiru wa yuzaghdimu." The former stands probably for "yu"-affíru," for which see supra p. 205, note 2. The writing is, however, so indistinct that possibly "yufaghghiru" is intended, which means he opened his mouth wide. "Yuzaghdimu" is one of those quadriliterals which are formed by blending two triliterals in one verb, in order to intensify the idea. "Zaghada" and "Zaghama" mean both "he roared," more especially applied to a camel, and by joining the "d" of the one with the "m" of the other, we obtain "Zaghdama," he roared fiercely.--St.] [FN#314] [Sára"a-hu wa láwa"a-hu = he rushed upon him and worried him. The root law" means to enfeeble, render sick, especially applied to love-sickness (Lau"ah). The present 3rd form is rarely used, but here and in a later passage, Night cdxlv., the context bears out the sense of harassing.--St.] [FN#315] In text "Zaghárit" plur. of Zaghrútah: see vol. ii. p. 80. [FN#316] [Yá walad al-Halál. I would translate: "O! son of a lawful wedlock," simply meaning that he takes him to be a decent fellow, not a scamp or Walad al-Harám.--St.] [FN#317] The repetitium is a sign of kindness and friendliness; see vol. vi. 370. [FN#318] This Arabian "Sattár" corresponds passing well with "Jupiter Servator." [FN#319] "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise." Matt. Xxi. 16. The idea is not less Moslem than Christian. [FN#320] [I read "Sarkhah adwat la-há al-Saráyah" = a cry to which the palace-women raised an echo, a cry re-echoed by the palace-women. "Adwá" is the fourth form of "Dawiya," to hum or buzz, to produce an indistinct noise, and it is vulgarly used in the above sense, like the substantive "Dawi," an echo. Al-Saráyah is perhaps only an Arabised form of the Persian Saráy, and the sentence might be, to which the palace resounded.--St.] [FN#321] The Princess is not logical: on the other hand she may plead that she is right. [FN#322] Arab. "Ma"lúmah," which may also mean the "made known," or "aforemention." [FN#323] A sensible remark which shows that the King did not belong to the order called by Mr. Matthew Arnold "Barbarians." [FN#324] In text: "Rajul Ja"ídí," for which see supra p. 9. [FN#325] Arab. "Fidawiyah," sing. "Fidáwi" = lit. one who gives his life to a noble cause, a forlorn hope, esp. applied to the Ismai"liyah race, disciples of the "Assassin" Hasan-i-Sabáh. See De Sacy, "Mémoire sur les Assassins Mém. de l"Institut," etc. iv. 7 et seqq. Hence perhaps a castaway, a "perdido," one careless of his life. I suspect, however, that is is an Egyptianised form of the Pers. "Fidá"i" = a robber, a murderer. The Lat. Catalogue prefers "Sicarius" which here cannot be the meaning. [FN#326] Arab. "Kirsh," pop. "Girsh." [FN#327] I have noticed that there is a Shaykh or head of the Guild, even for thieves, in most Moslem capitals. See vol. vi. 204. [FN#328] Here is the normal enallage of persons, "luh" = to him for "lí" = to me. [FN#329] In text "Na"mil ma"allazí, etc....makídah." I have attempted to preserve the idiom. [FN#330] [In the MS. "al-"Ashrah Miah," which, I think, can scarcely be translated by "ten times one hundred." If Miah were dependent on al-"Ashrah, the latter could not have the article. I propose therefore to render "one hundred for the (i.e. every) ten" = tenfold.--St.] [FN#331] For this "nosebag," see vols. Ii. 52, and vi. 151, 192. [FN#332] [Until here the change fromt eh first person into the third, as pointed out in note 2, has been kept up in the MS.--"He reached the barracks," "he found," etc. Now suddenly the gender changes as well, and the tale continues: "And lo, the girl went to them and said," etc. etc. This looseness of style may, in the mouth of an Eastern Ráwí, have an additional dramatic charm for his more eager than critical audience; but it would be intolerable to European readers. Sir Richard has, therefore, very properly substituted the first person all through.--St.] [FN#333] "Riyál" is from the Span. "Real" = royal (coin): in Egypt it was so named by order of Ali Bey, the Mameluke, in A.H. 1183 (A.D. 1771-72) and it was worth ninety Faddahs = 5 2/5d. The word, however, is still applied to the dollar proper (Maria Theresa), to the Riyál Fransá or five-france piece and to the Span. pillar dollar: the latter is also nicknamed "Abu Madfa"" Father of a Cannon (the columns being mistaken for cannons); also the Abú Tákah (Father of a Window), whence we obtaint he Europeanised "Patacco" (see Lane, Appendix ii.) and "Pataca," which Littré confounds with the "Patard" and of which he ignores the origin. [FN#334] See The Nights, vol. x. 12. [FN#335] i.e. "pleasant," "enjoyable"; see "White as milk" opposed to "black as mud," etc., vol. iv. 140. Here it is after a fashion synonymous with the French nuit blanche. [FN#336] [The MS. seems here to read "wa jasad-hu yuhazdimu," (thus at least the word, would have to be vocalised if it were a quadrilateral verbal form), and of this I cannot make out any sense. I suspect the final syllable is meant for "Dam," blood, of which a few lines lower down the plural "Dimá" occurs. Reamins to account for the characters immediately preceding it. I think that either the upper dot of the Arabic belongs to the first radical instead of the second, reading "yukhirru," as the fourth or causative form of "kharra yakhurru," to flow, to ripple, to purl; or that the two dots beneath are to be divided between the first two characters, reading "bajaza." The latter, it is true, is no dictionary word, but we have found supra p. 176, "muhandiz" for "muhandis," so here "bajaza" may stand for "bajasa" = gushed forth, used intransitively and transitively. In either case the translation would be "his body was emitting blood freely."-St.] [FN#337] The MS. here is hardly intelligible but the sense shows the word to be "Misallah" (plur. "Misáll") = a large needle for sewing canvas, &c. In Egypt the usual pronunciation is "Musallah," hence the vulgar name of Cleopatra"s needle "Musallat Far"aun" (of Pharaoh) the two terms contending for which shall be the more absurd. I may note that Commander Gorridge, the distinguished officer of the U.S. Navy who safely and easily carried the "Needle" to New York after the English had made a prodigious mess with their obelisk, showed me upon the freshly uncovered base of the pillar the most distinct intaglio representations of masonic implements, the plumb-line, the square, the compass, and so forth. These, however, I attributed to masonry as the craft, to the guild; he to Freemasonry, which in my belief was unknown to the Greeks and Romans, and is never mentioned in history before the eight Crusades (A.D. 1096-1270). The practices and procedure were evidently borrowed from the various Vehms and secret societies which then influenced the Moslem world, and our modern lodges have strictly preserved in the "Architect of the Universe," Arian and Moslem Unitarianism as opposed to Athanasian and Christian Tritheism; they admit the Jew and the Mussulman as apprentices, but they refuse the Hindu and the Pagan. It seems now the fashion to run down the mystic charities of the brethren are still active, and the society still takes an active part in politics throughout the East. As the late Pope Pius IX. (fitly nicknamed "Pio no-no"), a free mason himself, forbade Freemasonry to his church because a secret society is incompatible with oral confession (and priestcraft tolerates only its own mysteries), and made excommunication the penalty, the French lodges have dwindled away and the English have thriven upon their decay, thus enlisting a host of neophytes who, when the struggle shall come on, may lend excellent aid. [FN#338] The "Janázah" or bier, is often made of planks loosely nailed or pegged together into a stretcher or platform, and it would be easy to thrust a skewer between the joints. I may remind the reader that "Janázah" = a bier with a corpse thereon (vol. ii. 46), whereas the "Sarír" is the same when unburdened, and the "Na"ash" is a box like our coffin, but open at the tip. [FN#339] [In the Arab. Text "They will recognise me," which I would rather refer to the Vagabonds than to the crowd, as the latter merely cries wonder at the resuscitation, without apparently troubling much about the wonder-worker.--St.] [FN#340] [Ar. "na"tázu," viii. form of "áza = it escaped, was missing, lacked, hence the meaning of this form, "we are in want of," "we need."--St.] [FN#341] For the "Ardabb" (prop. "Irdabb") = five bushels: see vol. i. 263. [FN#342] [In the MS. ""Ayyinah," probably a mis-reading for ""Ayniyyah" = a sample, pattern.--St.] [FN#343] In text "Kubbah" = vault, cupola, the dome of unbaked brick upon peasants" houses in parts of Egypt and Syria, where wood for the "Sat"h" or flat roof is scarce. The household granary is in the garret, from which the base of the dome springs, and the "expense-magazines" consist of huge standing coffers of wattle and dab propped against the outside walls of the house. [FN#344] Gen. "Baysár" or "Faysár," = beans cooked in honey and milk. See retro, Night ccclxxxviii., for its laxative properties. [FN#345] [In the MS. "barbastu," with the dental instead of the palatal sibilant (Sín instead of Sád). Spelled in the former way the verb "barbasa" means, he sought, looked for, and is therefore out of place here. Spelled in the second manner, it signifies literally, he watered the ground abundantly. Presently we shall find the passive participle "mubarbasah" in the feminine, because referring to the noun "Tíz" = anus, which, like its synonym, "1st," professes the female gender. --St.] [FN#346] [In Ar. "Mubarbasah," for which see the preceding note.--St.] [FN#347] The Moslem"s tomb is an arched vault of plastered brick, large enough for a man to sit up at ease and answer the Questioning Angels; and the earth must not touch the corpse as it is supposed to cause torture. In the graves of the poorer classes a niche (lahad) offsets from the fosse and is rudely roofed with palm-fronds and thatch. The trick played in the text is therefore easy; see Lane"s illustration M.E. chapt. xviii. The reader will not forget that all Moslems make water squatting upon their hunkers ina position hardly possible to an untrained European: see vol. i. 259. [FN#348] The bull being used in the East to turn the mill and the water-wheel; vol. i. 16. [FN#349] In text "Ratl." See vol. iv. 124. [FN#350] About 1s. 2d. [FN#351] The man was therefore in hiding for some crime. [The MS. has "lá tafzah-ní" = Do not rend my reputation, etc. I would, therefore, translate "Sáhib-há" by "her lover," and suggest that the crime in question is simply what the French call "conversation criminelle."--St.] [FN#352] The ""Ishá"-prayer (called in Egypt ""Eshè") consists of ten "Ruka"át" = bows or inclinations of the body (not "of the head" as Lane has it, M.E. chapt. iii.): of these four are "Sunnah" = traditional or customary (of the Prophet), four are Farz (divinely appointed i.e. by the Koran) and two again Sunnah. The hour is nightfall when the evening has closed in with some minor distinctions, e.g. the Hanafí waits till the whiteness and the red gleam in the west ("Al-Shafak al-ahmar") have wholly disappeared, and the other three orthodox only till the ruddy light has waned. The object of avoiding sundowntide (and sunrise equally) was to distinguish these hours of orisons from those of the Guebres and other faiths which venerate, or are supposed to venerate, the sun. [FN#353] Scott. "History of the Sultan of Hind," vol. vi. 194-209. [FN#354] Red robes being a sign of displeasure: see vol. iv. 72; Scott (p. 294) wrongly makes them "robes of mourning." [FN#355] A Moslem negroid from Central and Western North Africa. See vol. ii. 15. They share in popular opinion the reputation of the Maghrabi or Maroccan for magical powers. [FN#356] This is introduced by the translator; as usual with such unedited tales, the name does not occur till much after the proper place for specifying it. [FN#357] In text "Iz lam naakhaz-há, wa-illá," &c. A fair specimen of Arab. ellipsis.--If I catch her not ("twill go hard with me), and unless (I catch her) I will, &c. [FN#358] i.e. "How far is the fowl from thee!" [FN#359] [In the MS. "turayyih," a modern form for "turawwih."--ST.] [FN#360] [The above translation pre-supposes the reading "Farkhah lá atammat," and would require, I believe, the conjunction "hattà" or "ilà an" to express "till." I read with the MS. "lá tammat," and would translate: "a chick not yet full grown, when the crow seized it and flew away with it," as a complaint of the father for the anticipated untimely end of his son.--ST.] [FN#361] For ""Aun," a high degree amongst the "Genies," see vol. iv. p. 83. Readers will be pleased with this description of a Jinni; and not a few will regret that they have not one at command. Yet the history of man"s locomotion compels us to believe that we are progressing towards the time when humanity will become volatile. Pre-historic Adam was condemned to "Shanks his mare," or to "go on footback," as the Boers have it, and his earliest step was the chariot; for, curious to say, driving amongst most peoples preceded riding, as the row-boat forewent the sailer. But as men increased and the world became smaller and time shorter the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, after many abortive attempts, converted the chariot into a railway-car and the sailer into a steamer. Aerostatics are still in their infancy and will grow but little until human society shall find some form of flying an absolute necessity when, as is the history of all inventions, the winged woman (and her man) of Peter Wilkins will pass from fiction into fact. But long generations must come and go before "homo sapiens" can expect to perfect a practice which in the present state of mundane society would be fatal to all welfare. [FN#362] Scott (p. 200) "Welcome to the sovereign of the Aoon, friendly to his brethren," (siddík al Akhwán) etc. Elsewhere he speaks of "the Oone." [FN#363] So he carried a portable "toilette," like a certain Crown Prince and Prince Bahman in Suppl. vol. iii. 329. [FN#364] There is another form of the saw in verse:-- Good is good and he"s best whoso worketh it first; * And ill is for me of provisions the worst. The provision is=viaticum, provaunt for the way. [The MS. has "akram" and "azlam"="the more generous," "the more iniquitous," meaning that while good should be requited by good, and evil provokes further evil in retaliation, the beginner in either case deserves the greater praise or blame.--ST.] [FN#365] I have noted (vols. iii. 75, and viii. 266) that there are two "Soudans" as we write the word, one Eastern upon the Upper Nile Valley and the other Western and drained by the Niger water-shed. The former is here meant. It is or should be a word of shame to English ears after the ungodly murder and massacre of the gallant "Soudanese" negroids who had ever been most friendly to us and whom with scant reason to boast we attacked and destroyed because they aspired to become free from Turkish task-masters and Egyptian tax-gatherers. That such horrors were perpetrated by order of one of the most humane amongst our statesmen proves and decidedly proves one thing, an intense ignorance of geography and ethnology. [FN#366] [In the MS. "lawá "a-hu" for which Sir Richard conjectures the reading "lawwahahu" taking the pronoun to refer to the sword. I believe, however, the word to be a clerical error for our old acquaintance "láwa"a-hu" (see supra p. 203) and, referring the pronoun in the three verbs to the Lion, would translate: "and he worried him," etc.--ST.] [FN#367] Arab. "Al-bashárah," see vol. i. 30: Scott has (vi. 204) "Good tidings to our sovereign." [FN#368] [The MS. is here rather indistinct; still, as far as I can make out, it runs: "wa Hakki man aulàní házá "l-Mulk"=and by the right of (i.e. my duty towards) Him who made me ruler over this kingdom.--ST.] [FN#369] [The word in the MS. is difficult to decipher. In a later passage we find corresponding with it the expression "yumázasa-hu fií "l-Kalám," which is evidently a clerical error for "yumárasa-hu"=he tested or tried him in his speech. Accordingly I would read here: "yakhburu ma"ahu fí "l-Kalám," lit.=he experimented with him, i.e. put him to his test. The idea seems to be, that he first cross-examined him and then tried to intimidate him. With this explanation "yusáhí-hu" and later on "yulhí-hu" would tally, which both have about the same meaning: to divert the attention, to make forget one thing over another, hence to confuse and lead one to contradict himself.--ST.] [FN#370] Here we find the old superstitious idea that no census or "numbering of the people" should take place save by direct command of the Creator. Compare the pestilence which arose in the latter days of David when Joab by command of the King undertook the work (2 Sam. xxiv. 1-9, etc.). [FN#371] The text has "Salásín"=thirty, evidently a clerical error. [FN#372] [In Ar. "yanjaaru," vii. form of "jaara" (med. Hamzah), in which the idea of "raising," "lifting up," seems to prevail, for it is used for raising the voice in prayer to God, and for the growing high of plants.--ST.] [FN#373] The text, which is wholly unedited, reads, "He found the beasts and their loads (? the camels) and the learned men," &c. A new form of "Bos atque sacerdos" and of place pour les ânes et les savants, as the French soldiers cried in Egypt when the scientists were admitted into the squares of infantry formed against the doughty Mameluke cavalry. [FN#374] [In the MS. "wáraytaní ilà l-turáb"=thou hast given me over to the ground for concealment, iii. form of "wara," which takes the meaning of "hiding," "keeping secret."--ST.] [FN#375] [The MS. has "wa dazz-há," which is an evident corruption. The translator, placing the diacritical point over the first radical instead of the second, reads "wa zarr-há," and renders accordingly. But if in the MS. the dot is misplaced, the Tashdid over it would probably also belong to the Dál, resp. Zal, and as it is very feasible that a careless writer should have dropped one Waw before another, I am inclined to read "wa wazzar-ha" = "and he left her," "let her go," "set her free." In classical Arabic only the imperative "Zar," and the aorist "yazaru" of the verb "wazara" occur in this sense, while the preterite is replaced by "taraka," or some other synonym. But the language of the common people would not hesitate to use a form scorned by the grammarians, and even to improve upon it by deriving from it one of their favourite intensives.--St.] [FN#376] Both are civil forms of refusal: for the first see vols. i. 32; vi. 216; and for the second ix. 309. [FN#377] Everything being fair in love and war and dealing with a "Káfir," i.e. a non-Moslem. [FN#378] In text "Labbayka" = here am I: see vol. i. 226. [FN#379] In text ""Úd Khayzarán" - wood of the rattan, which is orig. "Rota," from the Malay "Rotan." Vol. ii. 66, &c. [FN#380] [In the MS. "al-Zamán." The translation here adopted is plausible enough. Still I think it probable that the careless scribe has omitted the words "yá al-Malik" before it, and meant to write "O king of the age!" as in so many preceding places.- -St.] [FN#381] Arab. "Al-Kuhná," plur. Of "Káhin "t" = diviner, priest (non-Levitical): see "Cohen," ii. 221. [The form is rather curious. The Dictionaries quote "Kuhná" as a Syriac singular, but here it seems to be taken as a plural of the measure "fu"alá" (Kuhaná), like Umará of Amír or Shu"ará of Shá"ir. The usual plurals of Káhin are Kahanah and Kuhhán.--St.] [FN#382] This is a celebrated incident in "Alaeddin," "New lamps for old:" See Suppl. vol. iii. 119. [FN#383] In text "Jazdán" = a pencase (Pers.) more pop. called "Kalamdán" = reed-box, vol. iv. 167: Scott (p. 212) has a "writing-stand." It appears a queer place wherein to keep a ring, but Easterns often store in these highly ornamented boxes signets and other small matters. [FN#384] Arab. "Bahr al-Muhít" = Circumambient Ocean; see vol. i. 133. [FN#385] Arab. "Fár" (plur. "Firán") = mouse rather than rat. [FN#386] Sleep at this time is considered very unwholesome by Easterns. See under "Kaylúlah" = siesta, vols. i. 51; ii. 178, and viii. 191. [FN#387] Modern science which, out of the depths of its self-consciousness, has settled so many disputed questions, speaking by the organs of Messieurs Woodman and Tidy ("Medical Jurisprudence") has decided that none of the lower animals can bear issue to man. But the voice of the world is against them and as Voltaire says one cannot be cleverer than everybody. To begin with there is the will: the she-quadruman shows a distinct lust for man by fondling him and displaying her parts as if to entice him. That carnal connection has actually taken place cannot be doubted: my late friend Mirza Ali Akbar, of Bombay, the famous Munshi to Sir Charles Napier during the conquest of Sind, a man perfectly veracious and trustworthy, assured me that in the Gujarát province he had witnessed a case with his own eyes. He had gone out "to the jungle," as the phrase is, with another Moslem who, after keeping him waiting for an unconscionable time, was found carnally united to a she-monkey. My friend, indignant as a good Moslem should be, reproved him for his bestiality and then asked him how it had come to pass: the man answered that the she-monkey came regularly to look at him on certain occasions, that he was in the habit of throwing her something to eat and that her gratitude displayed such sexuality that he was tempted and "fell." That the male monkey shows an equal desire for the woman is known to every frequenter of the "Zoo." I once led a party of English girls to see a collection of mandrill and other anthropoid apes in the Ménagerie of a well-known Russian millionaire, near Florence, when the Priapism displayed was such that the girls turned back and fled in fright. In the mother-lands of these anthropoids (the Gaboon, Malacca etc.) the belief is universal and women have the liveliest fear of them. In 1853 when the Crimean war was brewing a dog-faced baboon in Cairo broke away from his "Kuraydati" (ape-leader), threw a girl in the street and was about to ravish her when a sentinel drew his bayonet and killer the beast. The event was looked upon as an evil omen by the older men, who shook their heads and declared that these were bad times when apes attempted to ravish the daughters of Moslems. But some will say that the grand test, the existence of the mule between man and monkey, though generally believed in, is characteristically absent, absent as the "missing link" which goes so far as to invalidate Darwinism in one and perhaps the most important part of its contention. Of course the offspring of such union would be destroyed, yet t he fact of our never having found a trace of it except in legend and idle story seems to militate against its existence. When, however, man shall become "Homo Sapiens" he will cast off the prejudices of the cradle and the nursery and will ascertain by actual experiment if human being and monkey can breed together. The lowest order of bimana, and the highest order of quadrumana may, under most favourable circumstances, bear issue and the "Mule," who would own half a soul, might prove most serviceable as a hewer of wood and a drawer of water, in fact as an agricultural labourer. All we can say is that such "miscegenation" stands in the category of things not proven and we must object to science declaring them non-existing. A correspondent favours me with the following note upon the subject:--Castanheda (Annals of Portugal) relates that a woman was transporter to an island inhabited by monkeys and took up her abode in a cavern where she was visited by a huge baboon. He brought her apples and fruit and at last had connection with her, the result being two children in two to three years; but when she was being carrier off by a ship the parent monkey kissed his progeny. The woman was taken to Lisbon and imprisoned for life by the King. Langius, Virgilius Polydorus and others quote many instances of monstruous births in Rome resulting from the connection of women with dogs and bears, and cows with horses, &c. The following relative conditions are deduced on the authority of MM. Jean Polfya and Mauriceau:--1. If the sexual organism of man or woman be more powerful than that of the monkey, dog, etc. the result will be a monster in the semblance of man. 2. If vice-versa the appearance will be that of a beast. 3. If both are equal the result will be a distinct sub-species as of the horse with the ass. [FN#388] Arab. "Taním" (plur. of Tamímit) = spells, charms, amulets, as those hung to a horse"s neck, the African Greegree and the Heb. Thummim. As was the case with most of these earliest superstitions, the Serpent, the Ark, the Cherubim, the Golden Calf (Apis) and the Levitical Institution, the Children of Israel derived the now mysterious term "Urím" (lights) and "Thummim" (amulets) from Egypt and the Semitic word (Tamímah) still remains to explain the Hebrew. "Thummim," I may add, is by "general consensus" derived from "Tôm" = completeness and is englished "Perfection," but we can find a better origin near at hand in spoken Arabic. [FN#389] These verses have already occurred, see my vol. i. p. 275. I have therefore quoted Payne, i. p. 246. [FN#390] Arab. "Wakíl" who, in the case of a grown-up girl, declares her consent to the marriage in the presence of two witnesses and after part payment of the dowry. [FN#391] Such is the meaning of the Arab. "Thayyib." [FN#392] This appears to be the popular belief in Egypt. See vol. iv. 297, which assures us that "no thing poketh and stroketh more strenuously than the Gird" (or hideous Ahyssinian cynocephalus). But it must be based upon popular ignorance: the private parts of the monkey although they erect stiffly, like the priapus of Osiris when swearing upon his Phallus, are not of the girth sufficient to produce that friction which is essential to a woman"s pleasure. I may here allude to the general disappointment in England and America caused by the exhibition of my friend Paul de Chaillu"s Gorillas: he had modestly removed penis and testicles, the latter being somewhat like a bull"s, and his squeamishness caused not a little grumbling and sense of grievance--especially amongst the curious sex. [FN#393] [In the MS. "fahakat," lit. she flowed over like a brimful vessel.--ST.] [FN#394] In 1821, Scott (p. 214) following Gilchrist"s method of transliterating eastern tongues wrote "Abou Neeut" and "Neeuteen" (the latter a bad blunder making a masc. plural of a fem. dual). In 1822 Edouard Gauttier (vi. 320) gallicised the names to "Abou- Nyout" and "Abou-Nyoutyn" with the same mistake and one superadded; there is no such Arabic word as "Niyút." Mr. Kirby in 1822, "The New Arabian Nights" (p. 366) reduced the words to "Abu Neut" and "Abu Neuteen," which is still less intelligible than Scott"s; and, lastly, the well-known Turkish scholar Dr. Redhouse converted the tortured names to "Abú Niyyet" and "Abú Niyyeteyn," thus rightly giving a "tashdíd" (reduplication sign) to the Yá (see Appendix p. 430 to Suppl. Vol. No iii. and Turk. Dict. sub voce "Niyyat"). The Arab. is "Niyyah" = will, purpose, intent; "Abú Niyyah" (Grammat. "Abú Niyyatin") Father of one Intent = single-minded and "Abú Niyyatayn" = Father of two Intents or double-minded; and Richardson is deficient when he writes only "Niyat" for "Niyyat." I had some hesitation about translating this tale which begins with the "Envier and the Envied" (vol. i. 123) and ends with the "Sisters who envied their Cadette" (Supple. vol. iii. 313). But the extant versions of it are so imperfect in English and French that I made up my mind to include it in this collection.--[Richardson"s "Niyat" is rather another, although rarer form of the same word.--St.] [FN#395] [I read: "wa tukarribu "I-"abda ilayya," referring the verb to "al-Sadakh" (the alms) and translating: "and it bringeth the servant near to me," the speaker, in Coranic fashion supposed to be Allah.--St.] [FN#396] The text prefers the Egyptian form "Sherífi" pl. "Sherífíyah," which was adopted by the Portuguese. [FN#397] The grace after meat, "Bismillah" being that which precedes it. Abu Niyyah was more grateful than a youth of my acquaintance who absolutely declined asking the Lord to "make him truly thankful" after a dinner of cold mutton. [FN#398] [The root "Kart" is given in the dictionaries merely to introduce the word "karít" = complete, speaking of a year, &c., and "Takrít," the name of a town in Mesopotamia, celebrated for its velvets and as the birth-place of Saladin. According to the first mentioned word I would take the signification of "Kart" to "complement" which here may fitly be rendered by "remainder," for that which with regard to the full contents of the dinner tray is their complement would of course be their remainder with regard to the viands that have been eaten.--St.] [FN#399] For the "Zakát" = legal alms, which must not be less than two-and-a-half per cent, see vol. i. 339. [FN#400] In text "Kazdír," for which see vols. iv. 274 and vi. 39. Here is may allude to the canisters which make great show in the general store of a petty shopkeeper. [FN#401] [The MS. reads "murafraf" (passive) from, "Rafraf" = a shelf, arch, anything overhanging something else, there here applying either to the eyebrows as overhanging the eyes, or to the sockets, as forming a vault or cave for them. Perhaps it should be "murafrif" (active part), used of a bird, who spreads his wings and circles round his prey, ready to pounce upon it; hence with prying, hungry, greedy eyes.--St.] [FN#402] Arab. "Niyyah" with the normal pun upon the name. [FN#403] Arab. ""Amil Rasad," lit. acting as an observatory: but the style is broken as usual, and to judge from the third line below the sentence may signify "And I am acting as Talisman (to the Hoard)". [FN#404] In the text "Ishári," which may have many meanings: I take a "shot" at the most likely. In "The Tale of the Envier and the Envied" the counter-spell in a fumigation by means of some white hair plucked from a white spot, the size of a dirham, at the tail-end of a black tom-cat (vol. i. 124). According to the Welsh legend, "the Devil hates cocks"--I suppose since that fowl warned Peter of his fall. [FN#405] In text "Yaum al-Ahad," which begins the Moslem week: see vols. iii. 249, and vi. 190. [FN#406] [In Ar. "Harj wa Laght." The former is generally joined with "Marj" (Harj wa Marj) to express utter confusion, chaos, anarchy. "Laght" (also pronounced Laghat and written with the palatal "t") has been mentioned supra p. 11 as a synonym of "Jalabah" = clamour, tumult, etc.--St.] [FN#407] [In Ar. "yahjubu," aor. Of "hajaba" = he veiled, put out of sight, excluded, warded off. Amongst other significations the word is technically used of a nearer degree of relationship excluding entirely or partially a more distant one from inheritance.--St.] [FN#408] Arab. "Yaum al-Jum"ah" = Assembly-day, Friday: see vol. vi. 120. [FN#409] A regular Badawi remedy. This Artemisia (Arab. Shayh), which the Dicts. translate "wormwood of Pontus," is the sweetest herb of the Desert, and much relished by the wild men: see my "Pilgrimage," vol. i. 228. The Finnish Arabist Wallin, who died Professor of Arabic at Helsingfors, speaks of a "Faráshat al- Shayh" = a carpet of wormwood. [FN#410] "Sáhibi-h," the masculine; because, as the old grammar tells us, that gender is more worthy than the feminine. [FN#411] i.e., his strength was in the old: see vol. i. 340. [FN#412] Arab. "Haysumah" = smooth stones (water-rounded?). [FN#413] For "his flesh was crushed upon his bones," a fair specimen of Arab. "Metonomy-cum-hyperbole." In the days when Mr. John Bull boasted of his realism versus Gallic idealism, he "got wet to the skin" when M. Jean Crapaud was mouillé jusqu"aux os. For the Angels supposed to haunt a pure and holy well, and the trick played by Ibn Túmart, see Ibn Khaldun"s Hist. of the Berbers, vol. ii. 575. [FN#414] Here begins the second tale which is a weak replica of Galland"s "Two Sisters," &c. [FN#415] This is the usual term amongst savages and barbarians, and during that period the father has no connection with the mother. Civilisation has abolished this natural practice which is observed by all the lower animals and has not improved human matters. For an excellent dissertation on the subject see the letter on Polygamy by Mrs. Belinda M. Pratt, in "The City of the Saints," p. 525. [FN#416] In text "Kuwayyis," dim. of "Kayyis," and much used in Egypt as an adj. = "pretty," "nice," and as an adv. "well," "nicely." See s.v. Spitta Bey"s Glossary to Contes Arabes Modernes. The word is familiar to the travellers in the Nile- valley. [FN#417] In Arab. a "Kanát;" see vol. iii. 141. The first occupation came from nature; the second from seeing the work of the adopted father. [FN#418] Abu Niyyah, like most house masters in the East, not to speak of Kings, was the last to be told a truth familiar to everyone but himself and his wife. [FN#419] The MS. breaks off abruptly at this sentence and evidently lacks finish. Scott (vi., 228) adds, "The young princes were acknowledged and the good Abou Neeut had the satisfaction of seeing them grow up to follow his example." In the MS. this tale is followed by a "Story of his own Adventures related by a connection to an Emir of Egypt." I have omitted it because it is a somewhat fade replica of "The Lovers of the Banú Ozrah" (Vol. vii. 177; Lane iii. 247). [FN#420] Mr. Chandler remarks (p. 25, "On Lending Bodleian Books, &c."):--"It is said that the Curators can refuse any application if they choose; of course they can, but as a matter of fact no application has ever been refused, and every name added will make it more and more difficult, more and more invidious to refuse anyone." I have, therefore, the singular honour of being the first chosen for rejection. [FN#421] Mr. Chandler"s motion (see p. 28, "Booklending, &c.") was defeated by an amendment prepared by Professor Jowett and the former fought, with mixed success, the report of the Committee of Loans; the document being so hacked as to become useless, and, in this mangled condition, it was referred back to the Committee with a recommendation to consider the best way of carrying out the present statute. The manly and straightforward course of at once proposing a new statute was not adopted, nor was it even formally proposed. Lastly, the applications for loans, which numbered sixteen were submitted to the magnates and were all refused! whilst the application of an Indian subject that MSS. be sent to the India Office for his private use was at once granted. In my case Professors B. Price and Max Müller, who had often voted for loans, and were willing enough to lend anything to anybody, declined to vote. [FN#422] According to the statutes, "The Chancellor must be acquainted with the Business (of altering laws concerning the Library), and he must approve, and refer it to the Head of Houses, else no dispensation can be proposed." [FN#423] The following telegram from the Vienna correspondent of "The Times" (November 16, 1886), is worth quotation:-- "The Committee of the Vienna Congress (of Orientalists) is now preparing a memorial, which will be signed by Archduke Renier, and will be forwarded in a few days to the trustees of the British Museum and to the Secretary of State, praying that a Bill may be introduced into Parliament empowering the British Museum to lend out its Oriental MSS. to foreign savants under proper guarantees. A resolution pledging the members of the Oriental Congress to this course was passed at the Congress of Leyden, in 1883, on the motion of Professor D. H. Müller, of Vienna; but it has not yet been acted upon so thoroughly as will be the case now. "The British Museum is the only great library in Europe which does not lend out its MSS. to foreigners. The university and court libraries of Vienna, the royal and state libraries of Berlin and Munich, those of Copenhagen and Leyden, and Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris all are very liberal in their loans to well-recommended foreigners. In Paris a diplomatic introduction is required. In Munich the library does not lend directly to the foreign borrower; but sends to the library of the capital whence the borrower may have made his application, and leaves all responsibility to that library. In the other libraries, the discretion is left to the librarian, who generally lends without any formalities beyond ascertaining the bona fides and trustworthiness of the applicant. In Vienna, however, there has occasionally been some little excess of formality, so a petition is about to be presented to the Emperor by the University professors, begging that the privilege of borrowing may be considered as general, and not as depending on the favour of an official. "As regards Oriental MSS., it is remarked that the guarantees need not be so minute as in the case of old European MSS., which are often unique copies. According to the learned Professor of Sanskrit in this city, Herr George Bühler, there are very few unique Oriental MSS. in existence of Sanskrit--perhaps not a dozen." [FN#424] (1.) "On Lending Bodleian Books and Manuscripts" (not published). June 10, 1866; (2) Appendix. Barlow"s Argument. June, 1866; (3) On Book-lending as practised at the Bodleian Library. July 27, 1886; Baxter, Printer, Oxford. The three papers abound in earnestness and energy; but they have the "defects of their qualities," as the phrase is; and the subject often runs away with the writer. A single instance will suffice. No. i. p. 23 says, "In a library like the Bodleian, where the practice of lending prevails as it now does, a man may put himself to great inconvenience in order to visit it; he may even travel from Berlin, and when he arrives he may find that all his trouble has been in vain, the very book he wants is out." This must have been written during the infancy of Sir Rowland Hill, and when telegrams were unknown to mankind; all that the Herr has to do in our times is to ask per wire if the volume be at home or not. [FN#425] Chandler, "On Lending Bodleian Books," etc., p. 18. [FN#426] Koran, xxiii. 14.