[FN#1] In the same volume (ii. 161) we also find an "Introductory
Chapter of the Arabian Tales," translated from an original
manuscript by Jonathan Scott, Esq. neither MS nor translation
having any meet. In pp. 34, 35 (ibid.) are noticed the 'Contents
of a Fragment of the Arabian Nights procured in India by James
Anderson, Esq., a copy of which" (made by his friend Scott) "is
now in the possession of Jonathan Scott, Esq." (See Scott, vol.
vi. p. 451.) For a short but sufficient notice of this fragment
cf. the Appendix (vol. x. p. 439) to my Thousand Nights and a
Night, the able and conscientious work of Mr. W. F. Kirby. "The
Labourer and the Flying Chain" (No. x.) and "The King's Son who
escaped death by the ingenuity of his Father's seven Viziers"
(No. xi.) have been translated or rather abridged by Scott in his
"Tales, Anecdotes and Letters" before alluded to, a vol. of pp.
446 containing scraps from the Persian "Tohfat al-Majális" and
"Hazliyát' Abbíd Zahkáni" (Facetiæ of ‘Abbíd the Jester), with
letters from Aurangzeb and other such padding much affected by
the home public in the Early XIXth Century.

[FN#2] So called from Herr Uri, a Hungarian scholar who first
catalogued "The Contents."

[FN#3] W. M. MS. iv. 165–189: Scott (vi. 238–245), "Story of the
Prince of Sind, and Fatima, daughter of Amir Bin Naomaun":
Gauttier (vi. 342–348) Histoire du Prince de Sind et de Fatime.
Sind is so called from Sindhu, the Indus (in Pers. Sindáb), is
the general name of the riverine valley: in early days it was a
great station of the so-called Aryan race, as they were migrating
eastwards into India Proper, and it contains many Holy Places
dating from the era of the Puránás. The Moslems soon made
acquaintance with it, and the country was conquered and annexed
by Mohammed bin Kásim, sent to attack it by the famous or
infamous Hajjáj bin Yúsuf the Thakafite, lieutenant of Al-'Irák
under the Ommiade Abd al-Malik bin Marwán. For details, see my
"Sind Re-visited": vol. i. chapt. viii.

[FN#4] [In MS. "shakhat," a modern word which occurs in Spitta
Bey's "Contes Arabes Modernes," spelt with the palatal instead of
the dental, and is translated there by "injurier."--ST.]

[FN#5] In the text "Sahríj"; hence the "Chafariz" (fountain) of
Portugal, which I derived (Highlands of the Brazil, i. 46) from
"Sakáríj." It is a "Moghrabin" word=fonte, a fountain, preserved
in the Brazil and derided in the mother country, where a New
World village is described as

--Chafariz,
Joam Antam e a Matriz:

which may be roughly rendered

--Parish church,
on the Green and Johnny Birch.

[FN#6] [Here I suppose the scribe dropped a word, as "yahtáj," or
the like, and the sentence should read: it requires, etc.--ST.]

[FN#7] In text "Sárayah," for "Saráyah," Serai, Government House:
vol. ix. 52.

[FN#8] A manner of metonymy, meaning that he rested his cheek
upon his right hand.

[FN#9] For the sig. of this phrase=words suggested by the
circumstances, see vol. i. 121.

[FN#10] Mr. Charles M. Doughty ("Arabia Deserta," i. 223) speaks
of the Badawin who sit beating the time away, and for pastime
limning with their driving-sticks (the Bákúr) in the idle land."

[FN#11] In text "Lam yanub al-Wáhidu min-hum nisf haffán." [I
cannot explain this sentence satisfactory to myself, but by
inserting "illá" after "min-hum." Further I would read
"nassaf"=libavit, delibavit degustavit (Dozy, Suppl. s. v.) and
"Hifán," pl. of "Hafna"=handful, mouthful, small quantity,
translating accordingly: "and none took his turn without sipping
a few laps."--ST.]

[FN#12] "Tarajjama": Suppl. vol. iv. 188. I shall always
translate it by "he deprecated" scil. evil to the person
addressed.

[FN#13] [The text, as I read it, has: "In wahadtu (read wajadtu)
fí házih al-Sá'áh shayyan naakul-hu wa namút bi-hi nartáh min
házá al-Taab wa'l-mashakkah la-akultu-hu"=if I could find at this
hour a something (i.e. in the way of poison) which I might eat
and die thereby and rest from this toil and trouble, I would
certainly eat it, etc.--ST.]

[FN#14] See vol. i. 311 for this "tom-tom" as Anglo-Indians call
it.

[FN#15] i.e. Whereinto the happy man was able to go, which he
could not whilst the spell was upon the hoard.

[FN#16] Here ends this tale, a most lame and impotent conclusion,
in the W. M. MS. iv. 189. Scott (p. 244–5) copied by Gauttier
(vi. 348) has, "His father received him with rapture, and the
prince having made an apology to the sultana (!) for his former
rude behaviour, she received his excuses, and having no child of
her own readily adopted him as her son; so that the royal family
lived henceforth in the utmost harmony, till the death of the
sultan and sultana, when the prince succeeded to the empire."

[FN#17] W.M MS. iv. 189. Scott (vi. 246-258) "Story of the Lovers
of Syria, or, the Heroine:" Gauttier (iv. 348-354) Histoire des
Amans de Syrie.

[FN#18] Scott (vi. 246) comments upon the text:--"The master of
the ship having weighed anchor, hoisted sail and departed: the
lady in vain entreating him to wait the return of her beloved, or
send her on shore, for he was captivated with her beauty. Finding
herself thus ensnared, as she was a woman of strong mind . . .
she assumed a satisfied air; and as the only way to preserve her
honour, received the addresses of the treacherous master with
pretended complacency, and consented to receive him as a husband
at the first port at which the ship might touch."

[FN#19] The captain, the skipper, not the owner: see vols. i.
127; vi. 12; the fem. (which we shall presently find) is
"Ra'isah."

[FN#20] Scott (p. 246) has:--"At length the vessel anchored near
a city, to which the captain went to make preparations for his
marriage; but the lady, while he was on shore, addressed the
ship's crew, setting forth with such force his treacherous
conduct to herself, and offering such rewards if they would
convey her to her lover at the port they had left, that the
honest sailors were moved in her favour, agreed to obey her as
their mistress, and hoisting sail, left the master to shift for
himself."

[FN#21] In text "Kamrah," = the chief cabin, from the Gr.
{Greek}(?) = vault; Pers. Kamar; Lat. "Camara"; Germ. "Kammer."
It is still the popular term in Egypt for the "cuddy," which is
derived from Pers. "Kadah" = a room.

[FN#22] Scott makes the doughty damsel (p. 249), "relate to them
her own adventures, and assure them that when she should have
rejoined her lover, they should, if they choose it be honourably
restored to their homes; but in the mean time she hoped they
would contentedly share her fortunes."

[FN#23] In text "Fidáwi," see "Fidá'i" and "Fidawíyah," suppl.
col. iv. 220.

[FN#24] [In the text "Al-Kázánat," pl. of "Kázán," which occurs
in Spitta Bey's tales under the form "Kazán" on account of the
accent. It is the Turkish "Kazghán," vulgarly pronounced "Kazan,"
and takes in Persian generally the form "Kazkán." In Night 652 it
will be met again in the sense of crucibles.--ST.]

[FN#25] In text "Banj al-tayyár," i.e. volatile: as we should
say, that which flies fastest to the brain.

[FN#26] This marvellous bird, the "Ter-il-bas" (Tayr Táús?), is a
particular kind of peacock which is introduced with a monstrous
amount of nonsense about "Dagon and his son Bil-il-Sanan" and
made to determine elections by alighting upon the head of one of
the candidates in Chavis and Cazotte, "History of Yamalladdin
(Jamál al-Din), Prince of Great Katay" (Khátá = Cathay = China).
See Heron, iv. 159.

[FN#27] Lit. "hath given it to him."

[FN#28] Arab. "Jiház," the Egypt. "Gaház," which is the Scotch
"tocher," and must not be confounded with the "Mahr" = dowry,
settled by the husband upon the wife. Usually it consists of
sundry articles of dress and ornament, furniture (matting and
bedding carpets, divans, cushions and kitchen utensils), to which
the Badawi add "Gribahs" (water-skins) querns, and pestles with
mortars. These are usually carried by camels from the bride's
house to the bridegroom's: they are the wife's property, and if
divorced she takes them away with her and the husband has no
control over the married woman's capital, interest or gains. For
other details see Lane M.E. chapt. vi. and Herklots chapt. xiv.
sec. 7.

[FN#29] [Arab. "Shuwár" = trousseau, whence the verb "shawwara
binta-hu" = he gave a marriage outfit to his daughter. See Dozy
Suppl. s. v. and Arnold Chrestom. 157, 1. --ST.]

[FN#30] Arab. "Ghashím," see vol. ii. 330. It is a favourite word
in Egypt extending to Badawiland, and especially in Cairo, where
it is looked upon as slighting if not insulting.

[FN#31] The whole of the scene is a replica of the marriage
between Kamar al-Zamán and that notable blackguard the Lady Budúr
(vol. iii. 211), where also we find the pigeon slaughtered (p.
289). I have mentioned that the blood of this bird is supposed
throughout the East, where the use of the microscope is unknown,
and the corpuscles are never studied, most to resemble the
results of a bursten hymen, and that it is the most used to
deceive the expert eyes of midwives and old matrons. See note to
vol. iii. p. 289.

[FN#32] Scott (p. 254) makes his heroine "erect a most
magnificent caravanserai, furnished with baths hot and cold, and
every convenience for the weary traveller." Compare this device
with the public and royal banquet (p. 212) contrived by the
slave-girl sultaness, the charming Zumurrud or Smaragdine in the
tale of Ali Shár, vol. iv. 187.

[FN#33] In text "Shakhs," see vol. iii. 26; viii. 159.

[FN#34] This assemblage of the dramatis personæ at the end of the
scene, highly artistic and equally improbably, reminds us of the
ending of King Omar bin al-Nu'uman (vol. iii. 112)

[FN#35] The King and the Minister could not have recognised the
portrait as neither had seen the original.

[FN#36] In text "Ishtalaka" = he surmised, discovered (a secret).

[FN#37] In the Arab. "she knew them," but the careless
storyteller forgets the first part of his own story.

[FN#38] Story-telling being servile work.

[FN#39] [In the MS. "istanatú lá-ha." The translation in the text
presupposes the reading "istanattú" as the 10th form of "matt) =
he jumped, he leapt. I am inclined to take it for the 8th form of
"sanat," which according to Dozy stands in its 2nd form "sannat"
for "sannat," a transposition of the classical "nassat" = he
listened to. The same word with the same meaning of "listening
attentively," recurs in the next line in the singular, applying
to the captain and the following pronoun "la-há" refers in both
passages to "Hikáyah," tale, not to the lady-sultan who reveals
herself only later, when she has concluded her narrative.--ST.]

[FN#40] Here the converse is probably meant, as we have before
seen.

[FN#41] Scott ends (p. 258) "Years of unusual happiness passed
over the heads of the fortunate adventurers of this history,
until death, the destroyer of all things, conducted them to a
grave which must one day be the resting-place for ages of us all,
till the receiving (?) angel shall sound his trumpet."

[FN#42] Scott (vi. 259-267), "Story of Hyjuaje, the tyrannical
Governor of Coufeh, and the Young Syed." For the difference
between the "Sayyid" (descendant of Hasan) and the "Sharíf,"
derived from Husayn, see vol. v. 259. Being of the Holy House the
youth can truly deny tat he belongs to any place or race, as will
be seen in the sequel.

[FN#43] This masterful administrator of the Caliphate under the
early Ommiades is noticed in vols. iv. 3, vii. 97. The succession
to the Prophet began--as mostly happens in the proceedings of
elective governments, republics, and so forth--with the choice of
a nobody, "Abubakr the Veridical," a Meccan merchant, whose chief
claim was the glamour of the Apostolate. A more notable
personage, and seen under the same artificial light, was "Omar
the Justiciary," also a trader of Meccah, who was murdered for an
act of injustice. In Osman nepotism and corruption so prevailed,
while distance began to dim the Apostolic glories, that the
blood-thirsty turbulence of the Arab was aroused and caused the
death of the third Caliph by what we should call in modern phrase
"lynching." Ali succeeded, if indeed we can say he succeeded at
all, to an already divided empire. He was only one of the four
who could be described as a man of genius, and therefore he had a
host of enemies: he was a poet, a sage, a moralist and even a
grammarian; brave as a lion, strong as a bull, a successful and
experienced captain, yet a complete failure as a King. A mere
child in mundane matters, he ever acted in a worldly sense as he
should have avoided acting, and hence, after a short and
disastrous reign, he also was killed. His two sons, Hasan and
Husayn, inherited all the defects and few of the merits of their
sire: Hasan was a pauvre diable, whose chief characteristic was
addiction to marriage, and by poetical justice one of his wives
murdered him. Husayn was of stronger mould, but he fought against
the impossible; for his rival was Mu'áwiyah, the Cavour of the
Age, the longest-headed man in Arabia, and against Yazíd, who,
like Italy of the present day, flourished and prospered by the
artificial game which the far-seeing politician, his father, had
bequeathed to his house--the Ommiade. The fourth of this dynasty,
‘Abd al-Malik bin Marwán, "the Father of Flies," and his
successor, Al-Walid, were happy in being served thoroughly and
unscrupulously by Al-Hajjáj, the ablest of Lieutenants. whose
specialty it was to take in hand a revolted province, such as
Al-Hijáz, Al-Irák, or Khorásán, and to slaughter it into
submission; besides deaths in battle he is computed to have slain
120,000 men. He was an unflinching preacher of the Divine Right
of Kings and would observe that the Lord says, "Obey Allah and ye
can" (conditional), but as regards royal government "Hearing and
obeying" (absolute); ergo, all opposition was to be cut down and
uprooted. However, despite his most brilliant qualities, his
learning, his high and knightly sense of honour, his insight and
his foresight (e.g. in building Wásit), he won an immortality of
infamy: he was hated by his contemporaries, he is the subject of
silly tale and offensive legend (e.g., that he was born without
anus, which required opening with instruments, and he was suckled
by Satan's orders on blood), and he is still execrated as the
tyrant, per excellentiam, and the oppressor of the Holy Family--
the children and grand-children of the Apostle.

The traditional hatred of Al-Hajjaj was envenomed by the
accession of the Abbasides and this dynasty, the better to
distinguish itself from the Ommiades, affected love for the Holy
Family, especially Ali and his descendants, and a fanatical
hatred against their oppressors. The following table from Ibn
Khaldún (Introduct. xxii.) shows that the Caliphs were cousins,
which may account for their venomous family feud.

[First Version]

'Abd Manaf
|
____________|____________
| |
Hashim Abd Shams
| |
Abd al-Muttalib Umayyah
| |
___________|__________ ____|______
| | | | |
Al-Abbas Abdullah Abu Talib Harb Abu 'l-Aus
| | | | |
Abdullah Mohammed | Abu Sufyan Al-Hakim
| | | | |
Ali Fatimah married Ali Mu'awiyah Marwan
| _____|_____ (1st Ommiade)
| | |
Mohammed Al-Hasan Al-Husayn
|
Al-Saffáh
(1st Abbaside)


[Second Version]

'Abd Manaf, father of Hashim and Abd Shams
Hashim, father of Abd al-Muttalib
Abd al-Muttalib, father of Al-Abbas, Abdullah, and Abu Talib
Al-Abbas, father of Abdullah
Abdullah, father of Ali
Ali, father of Mohammed
Mohammed, father of Al-Saffáh (1st Abbaside)
Abdullah, father of Mohammed
Mohammed, father of Fatimah, who married Ali
(son of Abu Talib)
Fatimah, mother of Al-Hasan and Al-Husayn
Abu Talib, father of Ali
Abd Shams, father of Umayyah
Umayyah, father of Harb and Abu 'l-Aus
Harb, father of Abu Sufyan
Abu Sufyan, father of Mu'awiyah (1st Ommaide)
Abu 'l-Aus, father of Al-Hakim
Al-Hakim, father of Marwan

[FN#44] [The word here translated "invited guest" reads in the
MS. "Mad'úr." In this form it is no dictionary word, but under
the root "D'r" I find in the Muhít: "wa 'l-'ámatu takúlu fulánun
da'irun ya'ní ghalízun jáfin" = the common people say such a one
is "daiir," i.e., rude, churlish. "Mad'úr" may be a synonym and
rendered accordingly: as though thou wert a boor or clown.--ST]

[FN#45] A neat specimen of the figure anachronism. Al-Hajjaj died
in A.H. 95 (= AD 714), and Cairo was built in A.H. 358 (= AD
968).

[FN#46] Perfectly true in the present day. The city was famed for
intelligence and sanguinary fanaticism; and no stranger in
disguise could pass through it without detection. This ended with
the massacre of 1840, which brought a new era into the Moslem
East. The men are, as a rule, fine-looking, but they seem to be
all show: we had a corps of them in the old Básh-Buzuks, who,
after a month or two in camp, seemed to have passed suddenly from
youth into old age.

[FN#47] In text, "Yasta'amilúna al-Mrd," which may have a number
of meanings, e.g. "work frowardness" (Maradd), or "work the fruit
of the tree Arák" (Maradd = wild capparis) and so forth. I have
chosen the word mainly because "Murd" rhymes to "Burd." The
people of Al-Yaman are still deep in the Sotadic Zone and
practice; this they owe partly to a long colonization of the
"'Ajam," or Persians. See my Terminal Essay, § "Pederasty," p.
178.

[FN#48] "Burd," plur. of "Burdah" = mantle or woolen plaid of
striped stuff: vol. vii. 95. They are still woven in Arabia, but
they are mostly white.

[FN#49] So in Tabari (vol. III. 127) Al Hajjáj sees a man of
haughty mien (Abd al-Rahmán bin Abdullah), and exclaims, "Regarde
comme il est orgueilleux: par Dieu, j'aurais envie de lui couper
la tête!"

[FN#50] [The phrase is Koranic (viii. 24): "Wa 'lamú anna 'lláha
yahúlu bayna 'l-mari wa kalbi-hi," which Rodwell translates: Know
that God cometh in between man and his own heart.--ST]

[FN#51] "Yathrib," the classical name ‘{Greek}, one of the
multifarious titles of what is called in full "Madinat al-Nabi,"
City of the Prophet, and vulgarly, Al-Madinah, the City.
"Tayyibah," the good, sweet, or lawful: "Al-Munawwarah" = the
enlightened, i.e. by the light of The Faith and the column of
(odylic) flame supposed to be based upon the Prophet's tomb. For
more, see my Pilgrimage, ii. 162. I may note how ridiculously the
story-teller displays ignorance in Al-Hajjaj, who knew the
Moslem's Holy Land by heart.

[FN#52] In text "Taawíl," = the commentary or explanation of
Moslem Holy Writ: "Tanzíl" = coming down, revelation of the
Koran: "Tahrím" = rendering any action "harám" or unlawful, and
"Tahíl" = the converse, making word or deed canonically legal.
Those are well known theological terms.

[FN#53] The Banú Ghálib, whose eponymous forefather was Ghálib,
son of Fihr, the well known ancestor of Mohammed.

[FN#54] In text "Hasab wa Nasab." It is told of Al-Mu'izz bi
Díni'llah, first Fatimate Caliph raised to the throne of Egypt,
that he came forward to the elective assembly and drew his sword
half way out of the scabbard and exclaimed "Házá Nasabí" (this is
my genealogy); and then cast handfuls of gold amongst the crowd,
crying, "Házá Hasabí" (such is my title to reign). This is as
good as the traditional saying of Napoleon the Great at his first
assuming the iron crown--"God gave her to me; woe for whoso
toucheth her" (the crown).

[FN#55] [In MS. "takhs-u," a curious word of venerable yet green
old age, used in the active form with both transitive and
intransitive meaning: to drive away (a dog, etc.), and to be
driven away. In the Koran (xxiii. 110) we find the imper.
"ikhsaú" = be ye driven away, an in two other places (ii. 61,
vii. 166), the nomen agentis "khási" = "scouted" occurs, as
applied to the apes into which the Sabbath-breaking Jews were
transformed. In the popular language of the present day it has
become equivalent with "khába," to be disappointed, and may here
be translated: thou wilt fail ignominiously.--ST]

[FN#56] Scott introduces (p. 262), "the tyrant, struck with his
magnanimity, became calm, and commanding the executioner to
release the youth, said, For the present I forbear, and will not
kill thee unless thy answers to my further questions shall
deserve it. They then entered on the following dialogue: Hyjuawje
hoping to entrap him in discourse."

[FN#57] See the dialogue on this subject between Al-Hajjaj and
Yáhyá ibn Yamar in Ibn Khallikan, iv. 60.

[FN#58] Surah xxxiii. (The Confederates), v. 40, which ends, "And
Allah knoweth all things."

[FN#59] Surah lix. (The Emigration), v. 40: the full quotation
would be, "The spoil, taken from the townsfolk and assigned by
Allah to His Apostle, belongeth to Allah and to the Apostle and
to his kindred and to the orphan and to the poor and to the
wayfarer, that naught thereof may circulate among such only of
you as be rich. What the Apostle hath given you, take. What he
hath refused you, refuse. And fear ye Allah, for Allah is sure in
punishing."

[FN#60] The House of Háshim, great-grandfather to the Prophet.

[FN#61] Ibn Khallikan (vol. i. 354) warns us that "Al-Taî" means
belonging to the Taî which is a famous tribe. This relative
adjective is of irregular formation; analogy would require it to
be Táîî; but the formation of relative adjectives admits some
variations; thus from dahr (time) is derived duhrí (temporal) and
from sahl (a plain), suhlí (plain, level). The author might also
have told us that there is always a reason for such
irregularities; thus "Dahrí" (from Dahr) would mean a Mundanist,
one who believes in this world and not the next or another.

[FN#62] The "Banú Thakíf" was a noble tribe sprung from Iyád (Ibn
Khallikan i. 358-363); but the ignorant and fanatic scribe uses
every means, fair and foul, to defame Al-Hajjaj. It was a great
race and a well known, living about Táif in the Highlands East of
Meccah, where they exist to the present day. Mr. Doughty (loc.
cit. ii. 174) mentions a kindred of the Juhaynah Badawin called
El-Thegif (Thakíf) of whom the Medinites say, "Allah ya'alan
Thegíf Kuddám takuf" (God damn the Thegíf ere thou stand still).
They are called "Yahud" (Jews), probably meaning pre-Islamitic
Arabs, and are despised accordingly.

[FN#63] In Arab. "Jady" = the Zodiacal sign Capricorn.

[FN#64] We find similar facetia in Mullah Jámí (Garden viii.).
When a sheep leapt out of the stream, her tail happened to be
raised, and a woolcarder said laughing:--"I have seen thy parts
genital." She turned her head and replied, "O miserable, for many
a year I have seen thee mother-naked yet never laughed I." This
alludes to the practice of such artisans who on account of the
heat in their workshops and the fibre adhering to their clothes
work in naturalibus. See p. 178, the Beharistán (Abode of
Spring). Printed by the Kamashastra Society for Private
Subscribers only. Benares, 1887.

[FN#65] This passage is not Koranic, and, according to Prof.
Houdas, the word "Muhkaman" is never found in the Holy Volume.
[The passage is not a literal quotation, but it evidently alludes
to Koran iii. 5: "Huwa'llazí anzalá ‘alayka ‘l-kitába minhu
áyâtun muh-kamátun" = He it is who sent down to thee the book,
some of whose signs (or versets) are confirmed. The singular
"muhkamatun" is applied (xlvii.) to "Sáratun," a chapter, and in
both places the meaning of "confirmed" is "not abrogated by later
revelations." Hence the sequel of my first quotation these
portions are called "the mother (i.e. groundwork) of the book,"
and the learned Sayyid is not far from the mark after all.--ST]

[FN#66] Surah ii. (The Cow) v. 56, the verse beginning, "Allah!
there be no God but He; ... His Throne overreacheth the Heavens
and the Hearth," etc.

[FN#67] Surah lxxiii. (The Bee) v. 92, ending with, "And he
forbiddeth frowardness and wrong-doing and oppression; and He
warneth you that haply may ye be warned."

[FN#68] Surah (Meccah) xcix. vv. 7 and 8: in text "Mithkála
Zarratin," which Mr. Rodwell (p. 28) englishes "an atom's weight
of good," and adds in a foot-note, "Lit. a single ant." Prof.
Houdas would render it, Quiconque aura fait la valeur d'un
mitskal de millet en fait de bien; but I hardly think that
"Zarrah" can mean "Durrah" = millet. ["Mithkál" in this context
is explained by the commentators by "Wazn" = weight, this being
the original meaning of the word which is a nomen instrumenti of
the form "Mif'ál," denoting "that by which the gravity of bodies
is ascertained." Later on it became the well-known technical term
for a particular weight. "Zarrah," according to some glossarists,
is the noun of unity of "Zarr," the young ones of the any, an
antlet, which is said to weigh the twelfth part of a "Kitmír" =
pedicle of the date0fruit, or the hundredth part of a grain of
barley, or to have no weight at all. Hence "Mukhkh al-Zarr," the
brains of the antlet, means a thing that does not exist or is
impossible to be found. According to others, "Zarrah" is a
particle of al-Habá, i.e. of the motes that are seen dancing in
the sunlight, called "Sonnenstäubchen" in German, and "atomo
solare" in Italian. Koran xxi. 48 and xxxi. 15 we find the
expression "Mithkála Habbatin min Khardalin" = of the weight of a
mustard-seed, used in a similar sense with the present
quotation.--ST]

[FN#69] Surah lxx. 38, Mr. Rodwell (p. 60) translates, "Is it
that every man of them would fain enter the Garden of Delights?"

[FN#70] Surah xxxix. 54: they sinned by becoming apostates from
Al-Islam. The verset ends, "Verily all sins doth Allah forgive:
aye, Gracious, and Merciful is He."

[FN#71] Surah ii. 159; the quotation in the MS. is cut short.

[FN#72] Surah ii. 107; the end of the verse is, "Yet both are
readers of the Book. So with like words say they (the pagan
Arabs) who have no knowledge."

[FN#73] Surah li. (The Scattering), v. 56.

[FN#74] Surah ii. v. 30.

[FN#75] Surah xl. (The Believer), v. 78. In the text it is
fragmentary. I do not see why Mr. Rodwell founds upon this verset
a charge against the Prophet of ignorance concerning Jewish
history: Mohammed seems to have followed the Talmud and tradition
rather than the Holy Writ of the Hebrews.

[FN#76] Surah (The Believers) lxiv. 108.

[FN#77] Surah xxxv. (The Creator or the Angels), v. 31: The
sentence concludes in v. 32, "Who of His bounty hath placed us in
a Mansion that shall abide for ever, therein no evil shall reach
us, and therein no weariness shall touch us."

[FN#78] Surah ("Sad") lix. 54; Iblis, like Satan in the Book of
Job, is engaged in dialogue with the Almighty. I may here note
that Scott (p. 265) has partially translated these Koranic
quotations, but he has given only one reference.

[FN#79] In text "Aná min ahli zálika," of which the vulgar
equivalent would be "Kizí" (for "Kazálika," "Kazá") = so (it is)!

[FN#80] i.e. On an empty stomach, to "open the spittle" is = to
break the fast. Sir Wm. Gull in his evidence before a committee
of the House of Commons deposed that after severe labor he found
a bunch of dried raisins as efficacious a "pick-me up" as a glass
of stimulants. The value of dried grapes to the Alpinist is well
known.

[FN#81] Arab. "Al-Kadíd" = jerked (charqui = chaire cuite)
meat-flesh smoked, or (mostly) sun-dried.

[FN#82] I have noticed (i. 345) one of the blunders in our last
unfortunate occupation of Egypt where our soldiers died uselessly
of dysenteric disease because they were rationed with heating
beef instead of digestible mutton.

[FN#83] Arab. "Al-Marham al-akbar."

[FN#84] [In the text: "Al-Kisrat al-yábisah 'alá 'l-Rík fa-innahá
tukhlik jamí'a má 'alá fum al-mádah min al-balgham," of which I
cannot make anything but: a slice of dry bread (kisrah = piece of
bread) on the spittle (i.e. to break the fast), for it absorbs
(lit. uses up, fourth form of "khalik" = to be worn out) all that
there may be of phlegm on the mouth of the stomach. Can it be
that the dish "Khushk-nán" (Pers. = dry bread) is meant, of which
the village clown in one of Spitta Bey's tales, when he was
treated to it by Harun al-Rashid thought it must be the "Hammám,"
because he has heard his grandmother say, that the Hammám (bath)
is the most delightful thing in the world?–ST]

[FN#85] The stomach has two mouths, oesophagic above (which is
here alluded to) and pyloric below.

[FN#86] Arab. "'Irk al-Unsá" = chordæ testiculorum, in Engl.
simply the cord.

[FN#87] The "'Ajúz" is a woman who ceases to have her monthly
period: the idea is engrained in the Eastern mind and I cannot
but believe in it seeing the old-young faces of men who have
"married their grandmothers" for money or folly, and what not.

[FN#88] Arab. "Al-'Akík," vol. iii. 179: it is a tradition of the
Prophet that the best of bezels for a signet-ring is the
carnelian, and such are still the theory and practice of the
Moslem East.

[FN#89] Arab. "Tuhál;" in text "Tayhal." Mr. Doughty (Arabia
Deserta, i. 547) writes the word "Tahal" and translates it
"ague-cake," i.e. the throbbing enlarged spleen, left after
fevers, especially those of Al-Hijáz and Khaybar. [The form
"Tayhál" with a plural "Tawáhil" for the usual "Tihál" = spleen
is quoted by Dozy from the valuable Vocabulary published by
Schiaparelli, 1871, after an old MS. of the end of the xiii.
century. It has the same relation to the verb "tayhal" = he
suffered from the spleen, which "Tihál" bears the same verb
"tuhil," used passively in the same sense. The name of the
disease is "Tuhál."--ST]

[FN#90] In text "Kasalah" = a shock of corn, assemblage of
sheaves. It may be a clerical error for "Kasabah" = stalk, haulm,
straw.

[FN#91] Of course the conversation drifts into matters sexual and
inter-sexual: in a similar story, "Tawad dud," the learned slave
girl, "hangs her head down for shame and confusion" (vol. v.
225); but the young Sayyid speaks out bravely as becomes a male
masculant.

[FN#92] [In the text: "Allatí lau nazarat ilá 'l-samá la-a'shab
(fourth form of 'ashab with the affirmative 'la') al-Safá (pl. of
Safát), wa lau nazarat ilá 'l-arz la amtar taghru há (read
thaghru-há) Lúluan lam yuskab wa ríku-há min al-Zulál a'zab (for
a'zab min al-Zulál)," which I would translate: Who if she look
upon the heavens, the very rocks cover themselves with verdure,
and an she look upon the earth, her lips rain unpierced pearls
(words of virgin eloquence) and the dews of whose mouth are
sweeter than the purest water. - ST.]

[FN#93] These lines have often occurred before: see index (vol.
x. 395) "Wa lau anunahá li 'l-Mushrikin," etc. I have therefore
borrowed from Mr. Payne, vol. viii. 78, whose version is
admirable.

[FN#94] For the Jahín-hell, see vol. viii. 111.

[FN#95] For the Seven Ages of womankind (on the Irish model) see
vol. ix. 175. Some form of these verses is known throughout the
Moslem East to prince and peasant. They usually begin:--

From the tenth to the twentieth year * To the gaze a charm doth
appear;

and end with:--

From sixty to three score ten * On all befal Allah's malison.

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

[FN#97] "Habíl" and "Kábíl" are the Arab. equivalent of Abel and
Cain. Neither are named in the Koran (Surah v. "The Table," vv.
30-35), which borrows dialogue between the brothers derived from
the Targum (Jeirus. on Gen. iv. 8) and makes the raven show the
mode of burial to Cain, not to Adam, as related by the Jews.
Rodwell's Koran, p. 543.

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

[FN#99] In text "Ríh," wind, gust (of temper), pride, rage.
Amongst the Badawín it is the name given to rheumatism (gout
being unknown), and all obscure aching diseases by no means
confined to flatulence or distension. [The MS. has: "ilá an
káta-ka 'l-'amal al-rabíh," which gives no sense whatever. Sir
Richard reads: "kátala-ka 'l-'amal al-ríh," and thus arrives at
the above translation. I would simply drop a dot on the first
letter of "káta-ka," reading "fáta-ka," when the meaning of the
line as it stands, would be: until the work that is profitable
passed away from thee, i.e., until thou ceasedst to do good. The
word "rabíh" is not found in Dictionaries, but it is evidently an
intensive of "rábih" (tijárah rábihah = a profitable traffic) and
its root occurs in the Koran, ii. 15: "Fa-má rabihat Tijáratuhum"
= but their traffic has not been gainful.--ST.]

[FN#100] Arab. "Badrah": see vol. iv. 281. [According to Kámús,
"Badrah is a purse of one thousand or ten thousand dirhams, or of
seven thousand dínárs. As lower down it is called "Badrat Zahab,"
a purse of gold, I would take it here in the third sense.--ST]

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

[FN#102] Arab. "'Ind 'uzzáti 's-siníni" = lit. the thorny shrubs
of ground bare of pasture.

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

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

[FN#105] In the W.M. MS. this tale is followed by the "History of
Uns al-Wujúd and the Wazir's daughter Rose-in-hood," for which
see vol. v. 32 et seq. Then comes the long romance "Mázin of
Khorásán," which is a replica of "Hasan of Bassorah and the
King's daughter of the Jinn" (vol. vii. 7). I have noted (vol. x.
75) that this story shows us the process of transition from the
Persian original to the Arabic copy. "Mázin" is also the P.N. of
an Arab tribe: De Sacy, Chrest. i. 406.

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

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

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

[FN#109] It were well to remind the reader that "Khalífah" (never
written "Khalíf") is=a viceregent or vicar, i.e. of the Prophet
of Allah, not of Allah himself, a sense which was especially
deprecated by the Caliph Abubakr as "vicar" supposes l'absence du
chef; or Dieu est présent partout et à tout instant. Ibn Khal.
ii. 496.

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

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

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

[FN#113] [In MS. "Rankah" or "Ranakah," probably for "Raunakah,"
which usually means "troubled,"; speaking of water, but which,
according to Schiaparelli's Vocabulista, has also the meaning of
"Raunak"=amenitas. As however "Ranakah" taken as fem. of "Ranak"
shares with Raunakah the signification of "troubled," it may
perhaps also be a parallel form to the latter in the second
sense.--ST.]

[FN#114] The text has "Martabat Saltanah" (for Sultániyah) which
may mean a royal Divan. The "Martabah" is a mattress varying in
size and thickness, stuffed with cotton and covered with cloths
of various colours and the latter mostly original and admirable
of figuration but now supplanted by the wretched printed calicoes
of civilisation. It is placed upon the ground and garnished with
cushions which are usually of length equally the width of the
mattress and of a height measuring about half of that breadth.
When the "Martabah" is placed upon its "Mastabah" (bench of
masonry or timber) or upon its "Sarír" (a framework of "jaríd" or
midribs of the palm), it becomes the Díwan=divan.

[FN#115] In text "Bi-izá-humá;" lit. vis-à-vis to the twain.

[FN#116] These have occurred vol. i. 176: I quote Mr. Payne (i.
156).

[FN#117] In text "Hanná-kumú 'llah:" see "Hanian," vol. ii. 5.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[FN#125] [In the MS. "bi-Wujúh al Fániját al-Miláh." The
translator conjectures "al-fátihát," which he refers to "Wujúh."
I read it "al-Ghániját," in apposition with al-Miláh, and render:
the faces of the coquettish, the fair. See index under
"Ghunj."--ST.]

[FN#126] In text "Ballát," the name still given to the limestone
slabs cut in the Torah quarries South of Cairo. The word is
classical, we find in Ibn Khaldún (vol. i. p. 21, Fr. Trans.) a
chief surnommé el-Balt (le pavé), à cause de sa fermeté et de sa
force de caractère.

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

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

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

[FN#130] In text "'Alà-Aklí:" the whole passage is doubtful.
[I would read, and translate the passage as follows: "Má tastahlí
'alá hazá illá shay lá tazann-hu allazí (for "allatí," see Suppl.
iv. 197) kayyamtíní (2nd fem. sing.) min 'alá aklí wa aná zanantu
innahu man yújab la-hu al-kiyám; thumma iltifatat illayya wa
kálat hakazá sirtu aná la-ghazárat al-thiyáb al-wasikhat min
al-fakr fa-hal má ghasalta wajhak?"=Thou deservest not for this
but a thing thou doest not fancy, thou who madest me rise from
before my food, while I thought he was one to whom rising up is
due. Then she turned towards me, saying, "Am I then in this
manner (i.e. like thyself) a bundle of clothes all dirty from
poverty, and hast thou therefore ("fa" indicating the effect of a
cause) not washed thy face?" Or to put it in more intelligible
English: "Am I then like thyself a heap of rags that thou
shouldst come to me with unwashed face?"--ST.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

[FN#137] In the text "Darajah"=an instant; also a degree (of the
Zodiac). We still find this division of time in China and Japan,
where they divide the twenty-four hours into twelve periods, each
of which is marked by a quasi-Zodiacal sign: e.g.--

Midnight until 2 a.m. is represented by the Rat.
2 a.m. until 4 a.m. is represented by the Ox.
4 a.m. until 6 a.m. is represented by the Tiger.
6 a.m. until 8 a.m. is represented by the Hare.
8 a.m. until 10 a.m. is represented by the Dragon.
10 a.m. until noon is represented by the Serpent.
Noon until 2 p.m. is represented by the Horse.
2 p.m. until 4 p.m. is represented by the Ram.
4 p.m. until 6 p.m. is represented by the Ape.
6 p.m. until 8 p.m. is represented by the Cock.
8 p.m. until 10 p.m. is represented by the Hog.
10 p.m. until midnight is represented by the Fox.

See p. 27 Edit. ii. of C. B. Mitford's Tales of Old Japan, a most
important contribution to Eastern folklore.

["Darajah" is, however, also used for any short space of time;
according to Lane It is=4 minutes (i.e. the 24 hours or 1,440
minutes of the astronomical day divided into 360 degrees of 4
minutes each), and Bocthor gives it as an equivalent for our
instant or moment.--ST.]

[FN#138] The young fool vaunts his intersexual powers, apparently
unknowing that nothing can be more fatal to love than fulfilling
the desires of a woman who, once accustomed to this high diet,
revolts against any reduction of it. He appears to have been a
polisson by his own tale told to the Caliph and this alone would
secure the contempt of a high-bred and high-spirited girl.

[FN#139] The "nosebag"; vol. ii. 52, etc. The Badawíyah (Badawí
woman) generally prefers a red colour, in opposition to the white
and black of civilisation; and she of the Arabian Desert
generally disdains to use anything of the kind.

[FN#140] This ablution of the whole body he was bound to perform
after having had carnal knowledge of a woman, and before washing
he was in a state of ceremonial impurity. For "Ghusl," or
complete ablution, see vol. v. 80.

[FN#141] "The Heart of the Koran," chap. xxxvi. see vol. iv. 50.

[FN#142] The Mandíl apparently had been left in the shop by the
black slave-girl. Women usually carry such articles with them
when "on the loose," and in default of water and washing they are
used to wipe away the results of car. cop.

[FN#143] In Arab. "Shakk." The criminal was hung up by the heels,
and the executioner, armed with a huge chopper, began to hew him
down from the fork till he reached the neck, when, by a dextrous
turn of the blade, he left the head attached to one half of the
body. This punishment was long used in Persia and abolished, they
say, by Fath Ali Shah, on the occasion when an offender so
treated abused the royal mother and women relatives until the
knife had reached his vitals. "Kata' al-'Arba'," or cutting off
the four members, equivalent to our "quartering," was also a
popular penalty.

[FN#144] In text "Ghibtu 'an al-Dunyá," a popular phrase, meaning
simply I fainted.

[FN#145] This was done to staunch the blood: see the salt-wench
in vol. i. 341.

[FN#146] This couplet has repeatedly occurred: in the preceding
volume, Night cdv. (Suppl. iv. 172); and in The Nights (proper),
vol. vi. 246. Here I have quoted Lane (A.N. iii. 220), who has
not offered a word of comment or of explanation concerning a
somewhat difficult couplet.

[FN#147] The plur. masc. for the sing. fem.: see vol. vii. 140.

[FN#148] He speaks after the recognised conventional fashion, as
if reporting the camp-shift of a Badawí tribe.

[FN#149] See vol. i. 25 for the parallel of these lines.

[FN#150] The text inserts here, "Saith the Reciter of this
adventure and right joyous history strange as rare," etc.

[FN#151] Scott, in the "Story of the Sultan, the Dirveshe, and
the Barber's son" (vi. 348), calls the King "Rammaud." The tale
is magical and Rosicrucian, laid somewhat upon the lines of "The
Physician Dúbán"; i.45.

[FN#152] This is the custom among Eastern Moslems: the barber,
after his operations are over, presents his hand-mirror for the
patient to see whether all be satisfactory, saying at the same
time "Na'íman"=may it be pleasurable to thee! The customer
answers "Allah bring thee pleasure," places the fee upon the
looking-glass and returns it to the shaver. For "Na'íman" see
vol. ii. 5.

[FN#153] The least that honest Figaro expected to witness was an
attempt upon the boy's chastity.

[FN#154] In text "Tazaghzagha," gen.=he spoke hesitatingly, he
scoffed. [I read the words in the text: "Tazaghghara fíhi." The
Kámús gives "Zaghara-hu"=he seized it by force, he took hold of
him with violence, and this present fifth form, although not
given in the Dictionaries, has doubtlessly the same meaning.
Popularly we may render it: he pitched into him.--ST]

[FN#155] In the text "Kazánát" (plur. of "Kázán"), afterwards
written "Kázát" (a clerical error?). They are opposed to the
"Kawálib"=moulds. [See note to p. 17.--ST.]

[FN#156] "Akhraja min Kuláhi-hi (Kulah?) búsah."

[FN#157] "Akhaza min-há 'ala ma' lakati 'l-Hilál shay misl
al-Jinnah." [I have no doubt that "Kuláh" is meant for "Kuláh," a
Dervish's cap. "Búsah" puzzles me. I am inclined to take it for a
reed used as a case or sheath, as we shall see p. 263 of the MS.
Prince Yúsuf uses a "Kasabah" or reed to enclose a letter in it.
"Mi'lakat (popular corruption for 'Mil'akat') al-Hilál" may be
the spoon or hollow part of an ear-picker, Hilál being given by
Bocthor as equivalent for "cure-oreille." Lastly for "al-Jinnah"
I would read "al-Habbah"=grain. The article before the word may
indicate that a particular grain is meant perhaps "al-Habbat
al-halwah"=anise seed, or that it stands for "al-Hubbah,"
according to Lemprière (A Tour to Marocco, London 1791, p. 383) a
powder employed by the ladies of Marocco to produce
embonpoint.--ST.]

[FN#158] So even in our day Mustafá bin Ism'aíl who succeeded
"General Khayru 'l-Dín" as Prime Minister to "His Highness
Mohammed al-Sádik, Bey of Tunis," began life as apprentice to a
barber, became the varlet of an officer, rose to high dignity and
received decorations from most of the European powers.

[FN#159] In text "Wiják," a stove, a portable hearth.

[FN#160] In the text: ["Wa sára kulla-má tastarí nafsuhu yak'ad
kuddáma 'l-Darwish," which I would translate: and each time his
heart chose (8th form of "Sarw") he used to sit before the
Darwaysh, etc.--ST.]

[FN#161] In text "Darín" for "Zarín"=what is powdered, collyrium.

[FN#162] The King failed because his "Niyat" or intention was not
pure; that is, he worked for wealth, and not, as the Darwaysh had
done, for the good of his brother man.

[FN#163] For the importance attached to this sign of sovereignty
see in my Pilgrimage (ii. 218-19) the trouble caused by the loss
of the Prophet's seal-ring (Khátim) at Al-Madinah.

[FN#164] The text is somewhat doubtful--"Min kuddám-ak." [Perhaps
it means only "from before thee," i.e. in thy presence, without
letting him out of sight and thereby giving him a chance of
escape.--ST.]

[FN#165] This especially is on the lines of "The Physician
Dúbán"; vol. i. 45.

[FN#166] In text "Wa min-hum man fáha," evidently an error of the
scribe for "Man nafáhu." Scott (vi. 351), after the fashion of
the "Improver-school," ends the tale, which is somewhat
tail-less, after this fashion, "At the same instant, the Sultan
and his courtiers found themselves assaulted by invisible agents,
who, tearing off their robes, whipped them with scourges till the
blood flowed in streams from their lacerated backs. At length the
punishment ceased, but the mortification of the Sultan did not
end here, for all the gold which the Dirveshe had transmuted
returned to its original metals. Thus, by his unjust credulity,
was a weak Prince punished for his ungrateful folly. The barber
and his son also were not to be found, so that the sultan could
gain no intelligence of the Dirveshe, and he and his courtiers
became the laughing-stock of the populace for years after their
merited chastisement." Is nothing to be left for the reader's
imagination?

[FN#167] See under the same name the story in my Suppl. vol. i.
162; where the genealogy and biography of the story is given. I
have translated the W.M. version because it adds a few items of
interest. A marginal note of Scott's (in the W.M. MS. v. 196)
says that the "Tale is similar to Lesson iv. in the Tirrea Bede."
See note at the end of this History.

[FN#168] For the Badawí tent, see vol. vii. 109.

[FN#169] In text "Birkah"=a fountain-basin, lake, pond,
reservoir. The Bresl. Edit. has "Sardáb"=a souterrain.

[FN#170] Arab. "Jummayz": see vol. iii. 302. In the Bresl. Edit.
it is a "tall tree," and in the European versions always a
"pear-tree," which is not found in Badawi-land.

[FN#171] "Adí" in Egyptian (not Arabic) is=that man, the (man)
here; "Adíní" (in the text) is=Here am I, me voici. Spitta Bey
(loc. cit. iv. 20, etc.)

[FN#172] Arab. "Ma'múrah." In the Bresl. Edit. "the place is full
of Jinns and Marids." I have said that this supernatural agency,
ever at hand and ever credible to Easterns, makes this the most
satisfactory version of the world-wide tale.

[FN#173] The planet Mars.

[FN#174] The Asiatics have a very contemptible opinion of the
Russians, especially of the females, whom they believe to be void
of common modesty. Our early European voyagers have expressed the
same idea.--Scott.

[FN#175] i.e. having enjoyed the woman.--R.F.B.

[FN#176] The reader will doubtless recollect the resemblance
which the plot of this lesson bears to Pope's January and May,
and to one of Fontaine's Tales. Eenaiut Olla acknowledges his
having borrowed it from the Brahmins, from whom it may have
travelled through some voyage to Europe many centuries past, or
probably having been translated in Arabic or Persian, been
brought by some crusader, as were many Asiatic romances, which
have served as the groundwork of many of our old stories and
poems.--Scott.

[FN#177] In Scott (vi. 352) "Adventures of Aleefa and Eusuff."
This long and somewhat longsome history is by another pen, which
is distinguished from the ordinary text by constant attempts at
fine writing, patches of Saj'a or prose-rhyme and profuse poetry,
mostly doggerel. I recommend it to the student as typically
Arabian with its preponderance of verse over prose, its
threadbare patches made to look meaner by the purpureus pannus;
its immoderate repetition and its utter disregard of order and
sequence. For the rest it is unedited and it strikes me as a
sketch of adventure calculated to charm the Fellah-audience of a
coffee-house, whose delight would be brightened by the normal
accompaniment of a tambourine or a Rabábah, the one-stringed
viol.

[FN#178] This P. N. has occurred in vol. vi. 8, where I have
warned readers that it must not be confounded with the title
"Maháráj"=Great Rajah. Scott (vi. 352) writes "Mherejaun," and
Gauttier (vi. 380) "Myr-djyhan" (Mír Jahán=Lord Life).

[FN#179] I need not inform the civilised reader that this
"feeling conception" is unknown except in tales.

[FN#180] i.e. "The Slim-waisted." Scott (vi. 352) persistently
corrupts the name to "Aleefa," and Gauttier (vi. 380) follows
suit with "Alifa."

[FN#181] In text "Al-Istikhráj," i.e. making "elegant extracts."

[FN#182] These lines are the merest doggerel of a strolling Ráwí,
like all the pièces d'occasion in this MS.

[FN#183] Which are still worse: two couplets rhyme in –ání, and
one in –álí, which is not lawful.

[FN#184] In text "Dayr Nashshábah," a fancy name.

[FN#185] So in text: the name is unknown to me; its lit. meaning
would be, "of high-breasted Virgins."

[FN#186] In text "Al-Jay'a" which is a well-omened stone like the
'Akík=carnelian. The Arabs still retain our mediaeval
superstitions concerning precious stones, and of these fancies I
will quote a few. The ruby appeases thirst, strengthens cardiac
action and averts plague and "thunderbolts." The diamond heals
diseases, and is a specific against epilepsy or the "possession"
by evil spirits: this is also the specialty of the emerald,
which, moreover, cures ophthalmia and the stings of scorpions and
bites of venomous reptiles, blinding them if placed before their
eyes. The turquoise is peculiarly auspicious, abating
fascination, strengthening the sight, and, if worn in a ring,
increasing the milk of nursing mothers: hence the blue beads hung
as necklaces to cattle. The topaz (being yellow) is a
prophylactic against jaundice and bilious diseases. The
bloodstone when shown to men in rage causes their wrath to
depart: it arrests hemorrhage, heals toothache, preserves from
bad luck, and is a pledge of long life and happiness. The
"cat's-eye" nullifies Al-Ayn=malign influence by the look, and
worn in battle makes the wearer invisible to his foe. This is but
a "fist-full out of a donkey-load," as the Persians say: the
subject is a favourite with Eastern writers.

[FN#187] Or white lead: in the text it is "Sapídaj,"
corresponding with the "Isfidaj" of vol. vi. 126.

[FN#188] In the text "Bashkhánah"; corr. of the Pers.
"Peshkhánah"=state-tents sent forward on the march.

[FN#189] This phrase, twice repeated, is the regular formula of
the Ráwí or professional reciter; he most unjustifiably, however,
neglects the "Inshallah."

[FN#190] The revetment of the old wells in Arabia is mostly of
dry masonry.

[FN#191] [Ar. "Tawánís," with a long final to rhyme with
"Kawádís," instead of the usual "Tawánis," pl. of "Taunas," which
Dozy (Suppl. s.v.) identifies with the Greek in the sense of
cable.--ST.]

[FN#192] In Arab. "Hajárata 'l-Bahramán."

[FN#193] In text "Zamakú-há."

[FN#194] I can see little pertinence in this couplet: but that is
not a sine quâ non amongst Arabs. Perhaps, however, the Princess
understands that she is in a gorgeous prison and relieves her
heart by a cunning hint.

[FN#195] I again omit "Saith the Reciter of this marvellous
relation," a formula which occurs with unpleasant reiteration.

[FN#196] i.e. she cried "Astaghfiru 'llah" (which strangers
usually pronounce "Astaffira 'llah"); a pious exclamation,
humbling oneself before the Creator, and used in a score of
different senses, which are not to be found in the dictionaries.

[FN#197] In vol. viii. 183, there are two couplets of which the
first is here repeated.

[FN#198] [Here the translator seems to read "Khams Ghaffár,"=five
pardoners,where however, grammar requires a plural after "khams."
I take "khams" to be a clerical error for "Khamr"=wine, and read
the next word "'ukár," which is another name for wine, but is
also used adjectively together with the former, as in the Breslau
Edition iv. 6 "al-Khamr al-'ukár"=choice wine.--ST.]

[FN#199] I understand this as the cupbearer who delights the five
senses.

[FN#200] In the original we have, "Saith the Sayer of this
delectable narrative, the strange and seld-seen (and presently we
will return to the relation full and complete with its sense
suitable and its style admirable), anent what befel and betided
of Destinies predestinate and the will of the Lord preordinate
which He decreed and determined to His creatures." I have omitted
it for uniformity's sake.

[FN#201] Meaning "The easy-tempered." Scott (vi. 354) writes
"Sohul."

[FN#202] In text "Litám"=the mouth-band for man: ii. 31, etc. The
"Mutalathsimín" in North Africa are the races, like the Tawárik,
whose males wear this face-swathe of cloth.

[FN#203] "Drowned in her blood," says the text which to us
appears hyperbole run mad. So when King Omar (vol. ii. 123)
violently rapes the unfortunate Princess Abrízah "the blood runs
down the calves of her legs." This is not ignorance, but that
systematic exaggeration which is held necessary to impressionise
an Oriental audience.

[FN#204] For this allusion see vol. v. 191.

[FN#205] This physical sign of delight in beauty is not
recognised in the literature of Europe, and The Nights usually
attributes it to old women.

[FN#206] In text "Himà"=the private and guarded lands of a Badawi
tribe; viii. 102.

[FN#207] In text "Daylakí."

[FN#208] A small compact white turband and distinctive sign of
the True Believers: see vol. viii. 8.

[FN#209] [The words in the text seem to be: "wa Talattuf Alfázak
wa Ma'áník al-hisán"=and for the pleasingness of thy sayings and
meanings so fine and fair.--ST.]

[FN#210] [The Arabic seems here to contain a pun, the consonantic
outline of "Tasht"="basin" being the same as of "tashshat"=she
was raining, sprinkling.--ST.]

[FN#211] In Arab. "Yá Wárid": see vol. iii. 56.

[FN#212] The growing beard and whisker being compared with black
letters on a white ground.

[FN#213] In the text these seven couplets form one quotation,
although the first three rhyme in ----áru and the second four in-
-íru.

[FN#214] This "diapedesis" of bloodstained tears is frequently
mentioned in The Nights; and the "Bloody Sweat" is well-known by
name. The disease is rare and few have seen it whilst it has a
certain quasi-supernatural sound from the "Agony and bloody
sweat" in the Garden of Gethsemane. But the exudation of blood
from the skin was described by Theophrastus and Aristotle and
lastly by Lucan in these lines:--

--Sic omnia membra
Emisere simul rutilum pro sanguine virus.
Sanguis erant lachrymæ, etc.

Of Charles IX. of France Mezaray declares "Le sang lui rejaillait
par las pores et tous les conduits de son corps," but the
superstitious Protestant holds this to be a "judgment." The same
historian also mentions the phenomenon in a governor condemned to
die; and Lombard in the case of a general after losing a battle
and a nun seized by banditti--blood oozed from every pore. See
Dr. Millingen's "Curiosities of Medical Experience," p. 485,
London, Bentley, 1839.

[FN#215] [I read this line: "Fí Hayyi-kum Taflatun háma 'l-Fawádu
bi-há (Basít)" and translate: In your clan there is a maiden of
whom my heart is enamoured. In the beginning of the next line the
metre requires "tazakkarat," which therefore refers to "Aghsun,"
not to the speaker: "the branches remember (and by imitating her
movements show that they remember) the time when she bent aside,
and her bending, graceful beyond compare, taught me that her eyes
kept watch over the rose of her cheek and knew how to protect it
from him who might wish to cull it." This little gem of a Mawwál
makes me regret that so many of the snatches of poetry in this
MS. are almost hopelessly corrupted.--ST.]

[FN#216] In the text "Simá'a," lit. hearing, applied
idiomatically to the ecstasy of Darwayshes when listening to
esoteric poetry.

[FN#217] The birds mentioned in the text are the "Kumrí"
(turtle-dove), the "Shabaytar" [also called "Samaytar" and "Abu
al-'Ayzar"=the father of the brisk one, a long-necked water bird
of the heron kind.--ST.], the Shuhrúr (in MS. Suhrúr)=a blackbird
[the Christians in Syria call St. Paul "Shuhrúr al-Kanísah," the
blackbird of the Church, on account of his eloquence.--ST.], the
"Karawán," crane or curlew (Charadrius ædicnemus) vol. vi. 1; the
"Hazár;" nightingale or bird of a thousand songs, vol. v. 48; the
"Hamám," ruffed pigeon, culver, vol. v. 49; the "Katá," or
sandgrouse, vols. i. 131, iv. 111, etc.; and the "Sammán" or
quail, Suppl. vol. vi.

[FN#218] The "Sá'ah," I may here remark, is the German Stunde,
our old "Stound," somewhat indefinite but meaning to the good
Moslem the spaces between prayer times. The classical terms,
Al-Zuhá (undurn-hour, or before noon) and Maghrib=set of sun,
become in Badawi speech Al-Ghaylah=siesta-time and Ghaybat
al-Shams. (Doughty, index.)

[FN#219] For the beautiful song of the lute, referred to here,
see vol. viii. 281.

[FN#220] Alluding to the "Takht Raml," table of sand, geomantic
table?

[FN#221] As before noted, her love enables her to deal in a
somewhat of prophetic strain.

[FN#222] This scene may sound absurd; but it is admirable for its
materialism. How often do youthful lovers find an all-sufficient
pastime in dressing themselves up and playing the game of mutual
admiration. It is well nigh worthy of that "silliest and best of
love-stories"--Henrietta Temple.

[FN#223] The text bluntly says "Wa Nikáh," which can mean nothing
else.

[FN#224] Scott calls him "Yiah": vi. 354.

[FN#225] Arab. "Akhbarú-hu," alluding to the lord Yahyá.

[FN#226] Here I presume a "Kála" (quoth he) is omitted; for the
next sentence seems appropriate to Yusuf.

[FN#227] In Arab. "Tastaghís"=lit. crying out "Wa Ghausáh"--Ho,
to my aid!

[FN#228] The "Zug" or draught which gave him rheumatism--not a
romantic complaint for a young lover. See vol. ii. 9. But his
power of sudden invention is somewhat enviable, and lying is to
him, in Hindustani phrase, "easy as drinking water."

[FN#229] Who evidently ignored or had forgotten the little matter
of the concubine, so that incident was introduced by the
story-teller for mere wantonness.

[FN#230] In text "Mazbúh"=slaughtered for food.

[FN#231] i.e. "I suffer from an acute attack of rheumatism"--a
complaint common in even the hottest climates.

[FN#232] Needless to say that amongst Moslems, as amongst
Christians, the Israelite medicine-man has always been a
favourite, despite an injunction in the "Díním" (Religious
Considerations) of the famous Andalusian Yúsuf Caro. This most
fanatical work, much studied at Tiberias and Safet (where a
printing-press was established in the xvith century) decides that
a Jewish doctor called to attend a Goi (Gentile) too poor to pay
him is bound to poison his patient--if he safely can.

[FN#233] Lit. "The-Bull-(Taur for Thaur or
Saur)numbered-and-for-battle-day-lengthened." In p.30 this
charger is called, "The-bull-that-spurneth-danger-on-battle-day."
See vol. vi. 270 for a similar compound name,
The-Ghul-who-eateth-man-we-pray-Allah-for-safety.

[FN#234] In text "Al-Járiyah rádih," the latter word being
repeated in p.282, where it is Rádih a P.N. [Here also I would
take it for a P.N., for if it were adjective to "al-Járiyah" it
should have the article.--ST.]

[FN#235] The "Radíf," or back-rider, is common in Arabia, esp. on
dromedaries when going to the Razzia: usually the crupper-man
loads the matchlock and his comrade fires it.

[FN#236] The text has "thirty," evidently a clerical error.

[FN#237] Arab. "Sakhtúr" for "Shakhtúr," vol. vii. 362.

[FN#238] Doggerel fit only for the coffee-house.

[FN#239] In text "Ta'ayyun"=influence, especially by the "'Ayn,"
or (Evil) Eye.

[FN#240] I have somewhat abridged the confession of the Princess,
who carefully repeats every word known to the reader. This
iteration is no objection in the case of a coffee-house audience
to whom the tale is told bit by bit, but it is evidently unsuited
for reading.

[FN#241] In text "Irham turham:" this is one of the few passive
verbs still used in popular parlance.

[FN#242] This formula will be in future suppressed.

[FN#243] I spare my readers the full formula:--"Yúsuf took it and
brake the seal (fazza-hu) and read it and comprehended its
contents and purport and significance: and, after perusing it,"
etc. These forms, decies repetita, may go down with an Eastern
audience, but would be intolerable in a Western volume. The
absence of padding, however, reduces the story almost to a
patchwork of doggerel rhymes, for neither I nor any man can "make
a silk purse from a suille ear."

[FN#244] Here again in full we have:--"He mounted the she-camel
and fared and ceased not faring until he drew near to the Palace
of Al-Hayfá, where he dismounted and concealed his dromedary
within the same cave. Then he swam the stream until he had
reached the Castle and here he landed and appeared before
Al-Hayfá," etc.

[FN#245] "'Tis dogged as does it" was the equivalent expression
of our British Aristotle; the late Charles Darwin.

[FN#246] Arab. "Jannat al-Khuld"=the Eternal Garden: vol. ix.
214.

[FN#247] [I read: Wa inní la-ar'ákum wa ar'á widáda-kum,
wa-hakki-kumú antum a'azzu 'l-Wará 'andí=And I make much of you
and of your love; by your rights (upon me, formula of swearing),
you are to me the dearest of mankind.--ST.]

[FN#248] In text: "He swam the stream and bestrode his
she-camel."

[FN#249] In text "Then she folded the letter and after sealing
it," etc.

[FN#250] Not "her hands" after Christian fashion.

[FN#251] In text, "Ahyaf," alluding to Al-Hayfá.

[FN#252] Arab. "Al-Kawá'ib," also P. N. of the river.

[FN#253] This is moralising with a witness, and all it means is
"handsome is that handsome does."

[FN#254] In text "'Arsh" = the Ninth Heaven; vol. v.167.

[FN#255] The Shi'ah doctrine is here somewhat exaggerated.

[FN#256] "Them" for "her," as has often occurred.

[FN#257] In the original "entrusted to her the missive:" whereas
the letter is delivered afterwards.

[FN#258] The cloud (which contains rain) is always typical of
liberality and generous dealing.

[FN#259] The Koranic chapt. No. xx., revealed at Meccah and
recounting the (apocryphal) history of Moses.

[FN#260] The "broken" (wall) to the North of the Ka'abah:
Pilgrimage iii. 165.

[FN#261] i.e. "Delight of the Age:" see vol. ii. 81.

[FN#262] In the text written "Imriyyu 'l-Kays": for this
pre-Islamitic poet see Term. Essay, p. 223. "The Man of Al-Kays"
or worshipper of the Priapus-idol was a marking figure in Arabian
History. The word occurs, with those of Aera, Dusares (Theos
Ares), Martabu, Allat and Manát in the Nabathæan (Arabian)
epigraphs brought by Mr. Doughty from Arabia Deserta (vol. i. pp.
180-184).

[FN#263] In text "Zakka," which means primarily a bird feeding
her young.

[FN#264] In the text "months and years," the latter seeming de
trop.

[FN#265] Or "Yathrib" = Al-Madinah; vol. iv. 114.

[FN#266] Scott (vi. 358 et seqq.) who makes Ali bin Ibrahim, "a
faithful eunuch," renders the passage, "by some accident the
eunuch's turban unfortunately falling off; the precious stones
(N.B. the lovers' gift) which, with a summary of the adventures
(!) of Eusuff and Aleefa, and his own embassy to Sind, were
wrapped in the folds, tumbled upon the floor,"

[FN#267] i.e. "Drawer-out of Descriptions."

[FN#268] i.e. a Refuser, a Forbidder.

[FN#269] i.e. both could not be seen at the same time.

[FN#270] [The MS. has T Kh D H, which the translator reads
"takhuz-hu." I suspect that either the second or eighth form of
"ahad" is meant, in the sense that thou comest to an agreement
(Ittihád) with him.--ST.]

[FN#271] In the MS. v. 327, we find four hemistichs which
evidently belong to Al-Mihrján; these are:--

Hadet come to court her in fairer guise * I had given Al-Hayfá in
bestest style;
But in mode like this hast thou wrought me wrong * And made Envy
gibe me with jeering smile."

Also I have been compelled to change the next sentence, which in
the original is, "And hardly had King Al-Mihrján ended his
words," etc.

[FN#272] In this doggerel, "Kurúd" (apes) occurs as a rhyme twice
in three couplets.

[FN#273] "Upon the poll of his head" ('alá hámati-hi) says the
Arabian author, and instantly stultifies the words.

[FN#274] Arab. "Haudaj" = a camel-litter: the word, often
corrupted to Hadáj, is now applied to a rude pack-saddle, a
wooden frame of mimosa-timber set upon a "witr" or pad of old
tent-cloth, stuffed with grass and girt with a single cord. Vol.
viii. 235, Burckhardt gives "Maksar," and Doughty (i. 437)
"Muksir" as the modern Badawi term for the crates or litters in
which are carried the Shaykhly housewives.

[FN#275] In text "Sunnah" = the practice, etc., of the Prophet:
vol. v. 36, 167.

[FN#276] This, as the sequel shows, is the far-famed Musician,
Ibrahim of Mosul: vol. vii. 113.

[FN#277] In the text King of Al-Sín=China, and in p. 360 of MS.
Yusuf is made "King of China and Sind," which would be much like
"King of Germany and Brentford."

[FN#278] This is the full formula repeated in the case of all the
ten blessed damsels. I have spared the patience of my readers.

[FN#279] This formula of the cup and lute is decies repetita,
justifying abbreviation.

[FN#280] i.e. The Beginner, the Originator.

[FN#281] The Zephyr, or rather the cool north breeze of upper
Arabia, vol. viii. 62.

[FN#282] The "Full Moon"; plur. Budúr: vols. iii., 228, iv., 249.

[FN#283] "Dann" = amphora, Gr. {Greek} short for {Greek} = having
two handles.

[FN#284] "The large-hipped," a form of Rádih.

[FN#285] In text "Minba'ada-hu" making Jesus of later date than
Imr al-Kays.

[FN#286] i.e. "The Delight": also a P.N. of one of the Heavens:
vols. iii. 19; iv. 143.

[FN#287] i.e. Joy, Contentment.

[FN#288] In text "Lá khuzibat Ayday al-Firák," meaning, "may
separation never ornament herself in sign of gladness at the
prospect of our parting." For the Khazíb-dye see vol. iii. 105.

[FN#289] i.e. "Bloom or the Tribe." "Zahrat"=a blossom especially
yellow and commonly applied to orange-flower. In line 10 of the
same page the careless scribe calls the girl "Jauharat (Gem) of
the Tribe."

[FN#290] For this Hell, see vol. viii. 111.

[FN#291] "Core" or "Life-blood of Hearts."

[FN#292] Presently explained.

[FN#293] In text "Afrákh al-Jinn," lit.=Chicks of the Jinns, a
mere vulgarism: see "Farkh 'Akrab," vol. iv. 46.

[FN#294] "Ibráa" = deliverance from captivity, etc. Yá = í, and
Mím = m, composing the word "Ibrahím." The guttural is concealed
in the Hamzah of Ibráa, a good illustration of Dr. Steingass's
valuable remarks in Terminal Essay, pp. 235, 236.

[FN#295] "Kalím" = one who speaks with another, a familiar.
Moses' title is Kalímu'llah on account of the Oral Law and
certain conversations at Mount Sinai.

[FN#296] In text "Istífá" = choice, selection: hence Mustafà =
the Chosen Prophet, Mohammcd; vols i. 7; ii. 40.

[FN#297] In text "Jazr" = cutting, strengthening, flow (of tide).

[FN#298] In the text "Náfishah" Pers. "Náfah," derived, I
presume, from "Náf" = belly or testicle, the part which in the
musk-deer was supposed to store up the perfume.

[FN#299] For 'Nahávand," the celebrated site in Al-Irak where the
Persians sustained their final defeat at the hands of the Arabs
A.H. 21. It is also one of the many musical measures, like the
Ispaháni, the Rásti, the Rayháni, the Búsalik, the Navá, etc.,
borrowed from the conquered 'Ajamí.

[FN#300] This second half of the story is laid upon the lines of
"The Man of Al-Yaman and his six Slave-girls": vol. iv. 245.

[FN#301] This history again belongs to the class termed "Abtar =
tailless. In the text we find for all termination, "After this he
(Yúsuf) invited Mohammed ibn Ibrahim to lie that night in the
palace." Scott (vi. 364) ends after his own fashion:--"They (the
ten girls) recited extempore verses before the caliph, but the
subject of each was so expressive of their wish to return to
their beloved sovereign, and delivered in so affecting a manner,
that Mamoon, though delighted with their wit and beauty,
sacrificed his own pleasure to their feelings, and sent them back
to Eusuff by the officer who carried the edict, confirming him in
his dominions, where the prince of Sind and the fair Aleefa
continued long, amid a nnmerous progeny, to live the protectors
of their happy subjects."

[FN#302] This tale is headless as the last is tailless. We must
suppose that soon after Mohammed ibn Ibrahim had quitted the
Caliph, taking away the ten charmers, Al-Maamun felt his "breast
straitened" and called for a story upon one of his Ráwís named
Ibn Ahyam. This name is repeated in the text and cannot be a
clerical error for Ibn Ibrahim.

[FN#303] Scott (vi. 366) "Adventures of the Three Princes, sons
of the Sultan of China."

[FN#304] In the text "'Ajam," for which see vol. i. 2, 120.
Al-Irak, I may observe, was the head-quarters of the extensive
and dangerous Khárijite heresy; and like Syria has ever a bad
name amongst orthodox Moslems.

[FN#305] In the Arab. "Salkh," meaning also a peculiar form of
circumcision, for which see Pilgrimage iii. 80-81. The Jew's
condition was of course a trick, presenting an impossibility and
intended as a mere pretext for murdering an enemy to his faith.
Throughout the Eastern world this idea prevails, and both Sir
Moses Montefiore and M. Cremieux were utterly at fault and
certainly knew it when they declared that Europe was teaching it
to Asia. Every Israelite community is bound in self-defence, when
the murder of a Christian child or adult is charged upon any of
its members, to court the most searching enquiry and to abate the
scandal with all its might.

[FN#306] The text has "Fí Kíb," which Scott (vol. vi. 367)
renders "a mat." [According to the Muhít "Kíb" is a small thick
mat used to produce shade, pl. "Kiyáb" and "Akyáb." The same
authority says the word is of Persian origin, but this seems an
error, unless it be related to "Keb" with the Yá majhúl, which in
the Appendix to the Burháni Káti' is given as synonymous with
"Pech," twist, fold. Under "Bardí"==papyrus the Muhít mentions
that this is the material from which the mats known by the name
of "Akyáb" are made.--ST.]

[FN#307] The text has here "Wasayah," probably a clerical error
for "wa Miah" (spelt Máyah"), and a hundred pair of pigeons.--
ST.]

[FN#308] Showing utter ignorance of the Jewish rite which must
always be performed by the Mohel, an official of the Synagogue
duly appointed by the Sheliach==legatus; and within eight days
after birth. The rite consists of three operations. Milah==the
cut; Priah==tearing the foreskin and Messízah==applying styptics
to the wound. The latter process has become a matter of
controversy and the Israelite community of Paris, headed by the
Chief Rabbi, M. Zadoc Kahin, has lately assembled to discuss the
question. For the difference between Jewish and Moslem
circumcision see vol. v. 209.

[FN#309] The Jewish quarter (Hárah), which the Israelites
themselves call "Hazer,"==a court-yard, an enclosure. In Mayer's
valuable "Conversations-lexicon" the Italian word is derived from
the Talmudic "Ghet"==divorce, separation (as parting the Hebrews
from the rest of the population) and the Rev. S. R. Melli, Chief
Rabbi of Trieste, has kindly informed me that the word is
Chaldaic.

[FN#310] [Ar. "Sarmújah," from Persian "Sar-múzah," a kind of
hose or gaiter worn over a boot.--ST.]

[FN#311] [Arab. "Yastanít," aor. to the preter. "istanat," which
has been explained, supra, p. 24.--ST.]

[FN#312] The bed would be made of a carpet or thin mattress
strewn upon the stucco flooring of the terrace-roof. But the
ignorant scribe overlooks the fact that by Mosaic law every
Jewish house must have a parapet for the "Sakf" (flat roof), a
precaution neglected by Al-Islam.

[FN#313] Good old classical English. In the "Breeches Bible"
(A.D. 1586) we read, "But a certaine woman cast a piece of
millstone upon Abimelech's head and broke his brain-panne" Judges
ix. 33).

[FN#314] [The words "'Irz," protection, in the preceding
sentence, "Hurmah" and "Shatáráh" explain each other mutually.
The formula "fí 'irzak" (vulg. "arzak"), I place myself under thy
protection, implies an appeal to one's honour ("'Irz"). Therefore
the youth says: "Inna házih Hurmah lam 'alay-há Shatárah," i.e.
"Truly this one is a woman" (in the emphatic sense of a sacred or
forbidden object; "this woman" would be "házih al-Hurmah"), "I
must not act vilely or rashly towards her," both vileness and
rashness belonging to the many significations of "Shatárah,"
which is most usually "cleverness." --ST.]

[FN#315] In the text "Sind," still confounding this tale with the
preceding.

[FN#316] In text "Intihába 'l furas," lit.==the snatching of
opportunities, a jingle with "Kanas."

[FN#317] [Compare with this episode the viith of Spitta Bey's
Tales: Histoire du Prince qui apprit un métier.--ST.]

[FN#318] i.e. enables a man to conceal the pressure of
impecuniosity.

[FN#319] In text "Al-Sádah wa al-Khatáyát."

[FN#320] Subaudi, "that hath not been pierced." "The first
night," which is often so portentous a matter in England and upon
the Continent (not of North America), is rarely treated as
important by Orientals. A long theoretical familiarity with the
worship of Venus

Leaves not much mystery for the nuptial night.

Such lore has been carefully cultivated by the "young person"
with the able assistance of the ancient dames of the household,
of her juvenile companions and co-evals and especially of the
slave-girls. Moreover not a few Moslems, even Egyptians, the most
lecherous and salacious of men, in all ranks of life from prince
to peasant take a pride in respecting the maiden for a few nights
after the wedding-feast extending, perhaps to a whole week and
sometimes more. A brutal haste is looked upon as "low"; and, as
sensible men, they provoke by fondling and toying Nature to speak
ere proceeding to the final and critical act. In England it is
very different. I have heard of brides over thirty years old who
had not the slightest suspicion concerning what complaisance was
expected of them: out of mauvaise honte, the besetting sin of the
respectable classes, neither mother nor father would venture to
enlighten the elderly innocents. For a delicate girl to find a
man introducing himself into her bedroom and her bed, the shock
must be severe and the contact of hirsute breast and hairy limbs
with a satiny skin is a strangeness which must often breed
loathing and disgust. Too frequently also, instead of showing the
utmost regard for virginal modesty and innocence (alias
ignorance), the bridegroom will not put a check upon his passions
and precipitates matters with the rage of the bull, ruentis in
venerem. Even after he hears "the cry" which, as the Arabs say,
"must be cried," he has no mercy: the newly made woman lies
quivering with mental agitation and physical pain, which not a
few describe as resembling the tearing out of a back-tooth, and
yet he insists upon repeating the operation, never supposing in
his stupidity, that time must pass before the patient can have
any sensation of pleasure and before the glories and delights of
the sensual orgasm bathe her soul in bliss. Hence complaints,
dissatisfaction, disgust, mainly caused by the man's fault, and
hence not unfrequently a permanent distaste for the act of carnal
congress. All women are by no means equally capable of such
enjoyment, and not a few have become mothers of many children
without ever being or becoming thoroughly reconciled to it.
Especially in the case of highly nervous temperaments--and these
seem to be increasing in the United States and notably in New
England--the fear of nine months' pains and penalties makes the
sex averse to the "deed of kind." The first child is perhaps
welcomed, the second is an unpleasant prospect and there is a
firm resolve not to conceive a third. But such conjugal chastity
is incompatible, except in the case of "married saints," with a
bon ménage. The husband, scandalised and offended by the
rejection and refusal of the wife, will seek a substitute more
complaisant; and the spouse also may "by the decree of Destiny"
happen to meet the right man, the man for whom and for whom only
every woman will sweep the floor. And then adieu to prudence and
virtue, honour and fair fame. For, I repeat, it is the universal
custom of civilised and Christian Europeans to plant their
womankind upon a pedestal exposed as butts to every possible
temptation: and, if they fall, as must often be expected, to
assail them with obloquy and contempt for succumbing to trials
imposed upon them by the stronger and less sensitive sex. Far
more sensible and practical, by the side of these high idealists,
shows the Moslem who guards his jewel with jealous care and who,
if his "honour," despite every precaution, insist upon disgracing
him, draws the sabre and cuts her down with the general
approbation and applause of society.

[FN#321] [Arab. "'Alà ghayri tarík," which I would translate "out
of the way," like the Persian "bí-Ráh."--ST.]

[FN#322] In text "Kababjí" (for Kababji) seller of Kabábs, mutton
or kid grilled in small squares and skewered: see vol. vi. 225.

[FN#323] In text "Sujjádah;" vol. vi. 193.

[FN#324] In text "Faddah" all through.

[FN#325] In text "Kirsh" (==piastre) a word before explained. See
Lane (M.E.) Appendix B.

[FN#326] In Arab. "Samár;" from the Pers. "Sumar"==a reed, a
rush.

[FN#327] In Arab. "Díwán:" vols. vii. 340; ix. 108.

[FN#328] Scott has (vol. vi. 373), "The desired articles were
furnished, and the Sultan setting to work, in a few days finished
a mat, in which he ingeniously contrived to plait in flowery
characters, known only to himself and his vizier, the account of
his situation."

[FN#329] In Arab. "Ghirárah" (plur. "Gharáír")==a sack. In Ibn
Khall. (iv. pp. 90, 104) it is a large sack for grain and the
especial name of a tax on corn.

[FN#330] In the text "Mohammed ibn Ibrahim," another confusion
with the last tale. This story is followed in the MS. by (1) "The
History of the First Brave," (2) "The History of the Second
Brave," and "The Tale of the Noodle and his Asses," which I have
omitted because too feeble for insertion.

[FN#331] Scott (vi.375) "Story of the Good Vizier unjustly
imprisoned." Gauttier (vi. 394) Histoire du bon Vizier
injustement emprisonné.

[FN#332] This detail has no significance, though perhaps its
object may be to affect the circumstantial, a favourite manoeuvre
with the Ráwí. [It may mean that the prisoner had to pass through
seven gates before reaching it, to indicate its formidable
strength and the hopelessness of all escape, except perhaps by a
seven-warded, or as the Arabs would say, a seven-pinned key of
gold. In the modern tale mentioned on p. 174 the kidnapped Prince
and his Wazir are made to pass "through one door after the other
until seven doors were passed," to emphasize the utter seclusion
of their hiding place.--ST.]

[FN#333] i.e. the mats and mattresses, rugs and carpets, pillows
and cushions which compose the chairs, tables and beds of a
well-to-do Eastern lodging.

[FN#334] The pretext was natural. Pious Moslems often make such
vows and sometimes oblige themselves to feed the street dogs with
good bread.

[FN#335] In text "Min hakk házá 'l-Kalám sahíh."

[FN#336] In text "Káík" and "Káík-jí," the well-known caïque of
the Bosphorus, a term which bears a curious family resemblance to
the "Kayak" of the Eskimos.

[FN#337] Here coffee is mentioned without tobacco, whereas in
more modern days the two are intimately connected. And the reason
is purely hygienic. Smoking increases the pulsations without
strengthening them, and depresses the heart-action with a calming
and soothing effect. Coffee, like alcohol, affects the
circulation in the reverse way by exciting it through the nervous
system; and not a few authorities advise habitual smokers to end
the day and prepare for rest with a glass of spirits and water.
It is to be desired that the ignorants who write about "that
filthy tobacco" would take the trouble to observe its effects on
a large scale, and not base the strongest and extremest opinions,
as is the wont of the Anglo-Saxon Halb-bildung, upon the
narrowest and shakiest of bases. In Egypt, India and other parts
of the Eastern world they will find nicotiana used by men, women
and children, of all ranks and ages; and the study of these
millions would greatly modify the results of observing a few
hundreds at home. But, as in the case of opium-eating, populus
vult decipi, the philanthrope does not want to know the truth,
indeed he shrinks from it and loathes it. All he cares for is his
own especial "fad."

[FN#338] Arab. "Fínjál" systematically repeated for "Finján"
pronounced in Egypt "Fingán" see vol. viii. 200. [The plural
"Fanájíl," pronounced "Fanágíl," occurs in Spitta Bey's Contes
Arabes Modernes, p. 92, and in his Grammar, p. 26, the same
author states that the forms "Fingán" and "Fingál" are used
promiscuously.--ST.]

[FN#339] For the "Khaznah" (Khazínah) or 10,000 kís each = £5,
see vols. ii. 84; iii. 278.

[FN#340] A euphuism meaning some disaster. The text contains a
favourite incident in folklore; the first instance, I believe,
being that of Polycrates of Samos according to Herodotus (lib.
iii. 41-42). The theory is supported after a fashion by
experience amongst all versed in that melancholy wisdom the
"knowledge of the world." As Syr Cauline the knight
philosophically says:--

Everye white will have its blacke,
And everye sweete its sowre: etc.

[FN#341] Thus making the food impure and unfit for a religious
Moslem to eat. Scott (vi. 378) has "when a huge rat running from
his hole leaped into the dish which was placed upon the floor."
He is probably thinking of the East Indian "bandycoot."

[FN#342] In text this tale concludes, "It is ended and this
(next) is the History of the Barber."

[FN#343] A dandy, a macaroni, from the Turk. Chelebi, see vol i
22. Here the word is thoroughly Arabised. In old Turk. it means,
a Prince of the blood; in mod. times a gentleman, Greek or
European.

[FN#344] In the text "Úzbáshá" or "Uzbáshá," a vile Egyptianism
for Yúzbashi-head of a hundred (men) centurion, captain.

[FN#345] Scil. the household, the Harem, etc. As usual, the masc.
is used for the fem.

[FN#346] [Ar. "Al-Rashákah," a word is not found in the common
lexicons. In Dozy and "Engelmann's Glossary of Spanish and
Portuguese words derived from the Arabic," it is said to be a
fork with three prongs, here probably a hat-stand in the shape of
such a fork.--ST.]

[FN#347] In text "Shá'il" copyist's error for "Shághil," act.
part. of "Shughl" = business, affairs. [Here it stands probably
for the fuller "Shughl shághil," an urgent business.--ST.]

[FN#348] In text "Yá 'Ars, yá Mu'arras": vol. i. 338.

[FN#349] In Syria most houses have a rain cistern or tank into
which the terrace-roof drains and which looks from above like a
well with a cover. The water must have been low when the lover
hid himself in the reservoir.

[FN#350] [In the MS. "Min Hakk la-hu Asl an 'and-ná huná Rájil,"
a thoroughly popular phrase. "Min Hakk" and "min Hakkan," where
in the adverbial meaning of Hakkan its grammatical form as an
accusative is so far forgotten that it allows itself to be
governed by the preposition "min," is rendered by Bocthor "tout
de bon," "sérieusement." "Asl" = root has here the meaning of
foundation in fact. The literal translation of the passage would
therefore be: "Forsooth, is there any truth in it that a man is
here in our house?" "Min Hakk" has occurred page 183, where the
text, quoted in the note, may perhaps be translated: "Of a truth,
is this saying soothfast?"--ST.]

[FN#351] [The MS. has: "Yá Gháratí a-Zay má huná Rájil;" "Yá
Gháratí" will recur presently, p. 195, along with "yá Musíbatí" =
Oh my calamity! I take it therefore to be an exclamation of
distress from "Ghárat" = invasion, with its incidents of
devastation, rapine and ruin. It would be the natural outcry of
the women left helpless in an unprotected camp when invaded by a
hostile tribe. In "a-Zay má" the latter particle is not the
negative, but the pronoun, giving to "a-Zay" = "in what manner,"
"how ?" the more emphatical sense of "how ever?" In the same
sense we find it again, infra, Night 754, "a-Zay má tafútní" =
how canst thou quit me? I would therefore render: "Woe me I am
undone, how ever should there be a man here?" or something to
that purpose.--ST.]

[FN#352] In Persian he would be called "Parí-stricken,"--smitten
by the Fairies.

[FN#353] A quarter-staff (vols. i, 234; viii. 186) opp. to the
"Dabbús," or club-stick of the Badawin, the Caffres' "Knob-
kerry," which is also called by the Arabs "Kaná," pron. "Ganá."

[FN#354] Scott's "Story of the Lady of Cairo and her four
Gallants" (vol. vi. 380): Gauttier, Histoire d' une Dame du Caire
et de ses Galans (vi. 400). This tale has travelled over the
Eastern world. See in my vol. vi. 172 "The Lady and her Five
Suitors," and the "Story of the Merchant's Wife and her Suitors"
in Scott's "Tales, Anecdotes, and Letters" (Cadell, London,
1800), which is in fact a garbled version of the former,
introduced into the répertoire of "The Seven Wazírs." I translate
the W. M. version of the tale because it is the most primitive
known to me; and I shall point out the portions where it lacks
finish.

[FN#355] This title does not appear till p. 463 (vol. v.) of the
MS., and it re-appears in vol. vi. 8.

[FN#356] i.e. in her haste: the text has "Kharrat." The Persians
who rhetorically exaggerate everything say "rising and sinking
like the dust of the road." [I doubt whether "Kharrat" could have
the meaning given to it in the translation. The word in the MS.
has no Tashdíd and I think the careless scribe meant it for
"Kharajat," she went out.--ST.]

[FN#357] I read "Nás malmumín=assembled men, a crowd of people."-
-ST.]

[FN#358] "Rajul Khwájá:" see vol. vi. 46, etc. For
"Sháhbandar"=king of the port, a harbourmaster, whose post I have
compared with our "Consul," see vol. iv. 29. It is often,
however, applied to Government officials who superintend trade
and levy duties at inland marts.

[FN#359] Arab. "Khimár," a veil or rather a covering for the back
of the head. This was the especial whorishness with which
Shahrazad taxes the Goodwife: she had been too prodigal of her
charms, for the occiput and the "back hair" should not be
displayed even to the moon.

[FN#360] These four become five in the more finished tale--the
King, the Wazir, the Kazi, the Wali or Chief of Police and the
Carpenter. Moreover each one is dressed in different costume,
gowns yellow, blue, red and patched with headgear equally absurd.

[FN#361] In text "Turtúr"=the Badawi's bonnet: vol. ii. 143. Mr.
Doughty (i. 160) found at Al-Khuraybah the figure of an ancient
Arab wearing a close tunic to the knee and bearing on poll a
coif. At Al-'Ula he was shown an ancient image of a man's head
cut in sandstone: upon the crown was a low pointed bonnet. "Long
caps" are also noticed in i. 562; and we are told that they were
"worn in outlandish guise in Arabia."

[FN#362] In text "Embárah" (pron. 'Márah); pop. for
Al-bárihah=the last part of the preceding day or night,
yesterday. The vulgar Egyptian uses it as if it were a corruption
of the Pers. "in bár"=this time. The Arab Badawin pronounce it
El-beyrih (with their exaggerated "Imálah") and use it not only
for "yesterday," but also for the past afternoon.

[FN#363] This device is far inferior in comic effect to the
carpenter's press or cabinet of five compartments, and it lacks
the ludicrous catastrophe in which all the lovers make water upon
one another's heads.

[FN#364] Scott (vi. 386) "The Cauzee's story:" Gauttier (vi. 406)
does not translate it.

[FN#365] In the text the message is delivered verbatim: this
iteration is well fitted for oral work, with its changes of tone
and play of face, and varied "gag"; but it is most annoying for
the more critical reader.

[FN#366] Arab. "Lukmah"=a balled mouthful: vols. i. 261, vii.
367.

[FN#367] The "Miftáh" (prop. "Miftah") or key used throughout the
Moslem East is a bit of wood, 7–14 inches long, and provided with
4–10 small iron pins which correspond with an equal number of
holes in the "Dabbah" or wooden bolt. If one of these teeth be
withdrawn the lock will not open. Lane (M.E. Introduction) has a
sketch of the "Miftah" and "Dabbah."

[FN#368] In text "Ayoh" which is here, I hold, a corruption of "Í
(or Ayy) hú"="yes indeed he." [I take "aywah" (as I would read
the word) to be a different spelling for "aywa"=yes indeed, which
according to Spitta Bey, Gr. p. 168 is a contraction of "Ay (Í)
wa'lláhi," yes by Allah. "What? thy lover?" asks the husband, and
she emphatically affirms the fact, to frighten the concealed
tailor--ST.]

[FN#369] In the Arab. "Al-Ashkhakh," plur. of "Shakhkh" and
literally "the stales" meaning either dejection. [I read: "bi
'l-Shakhákh," the usual modern word for urine. "'Alayya Shakhákh"
is: I want to make water. See Dozy Suppl. s.v.-ST.]

[FN#370] In text "Ahú ma'í"--pure Fellah speech.

[FN#371] In the Arab. "laklaka-há"--an onomatopoeia.

[FN#372] In text "Ilà an yasír Karmu-hu." Karm originally means
cutting a slip of skin from the camel's nose by way of mark, in
lieu of the normal branding.

[FN#373] In text "Yazghaz-há fí shikkati-ha," the verb being
probably a clerical error for "Yazaghzagh," from "Zaghzagha,"=he
opened a skin bag.

[FN#374] This is the far-famed balcony-scene in "Fanny" (of
Ernest Feydeau translated into English and printed by Vizetelly
and Co.) that phenomenal specimen of morbid and unmasculine
French (or rather Parisian) sentiment, which contrasts so
powerfully with the healthy and manly tone of The Nights. Here
also the story conveys a moral lesson and, contrary to custom,
the husband has the best of the affair. To prove that my judgment
is not too severe, let me quote the following passages from a
well-known and popular French novelist, translated by an English
littérateur and published by a respectable London firm.

In "A Ladies' Man:" by Guy de Maupassant, we read:--

Page 62.--And the conversation, descending from elevated theories
concerning love, strayed into the flowery garden of polished
blackguardism. It was the moment of clever, double meanings;
veils raised by words, as petticoats are lifted by the wind;
tricks of language, cleverly disguised audacities; sentences
which reveal nude images in covered phrases, which cause the
vision of all that may not be said to flit rapidly before the
eyes of the mind, and allow well-bred people the enjoyment of a
kind of subtle and mysterious love, a species of impure mental
contact, due to the simultaneous evocations of secret, shameful
and longed-for pleasures.

Page 166.--George and Madeleine amused themselves with watching
all these couples, the woman in summer toilette and the man
darkly outlined beside her. It was a huge flood of lovers flowing
towards the Bois, beneath the starry and heated sky. No sound was
heard save the dull rumble of wheels. They kept passing by, two
by two in each vehicle, leaning back on the seat, clasped one
against the other, lost in dreams of desire, quivering with the
anticipation of coming caresses. The warm shadow seemed full of
kisses. A sense of spreading lust rendered the air heavier and
more suffocating. All the couples, intoxicated with the same
idea, the same ardour, shed a fever about them.

Page 187--As soon as she was alone with George, she clasped him
in her arms, exclaiming: "Oh! my darling Pretty-boy, I love you
more and more every day."

The cab conveying them rocked like a ship.

"It is not so nice as our own room," said she.

He answered; "Oh, no." But he was thinking of Madame Waller.

Page 198.--He kissed her neck, her eyes, her lips with eagerness,
without her being able to avoid his furious caresses, and whilst
repulsing him, whilst shrinking from his mouth, she, despite
herself, returned his kisses. All at once she ceased to struggle,
and, vanquished, resigned, allowed him to undress her. One by one
he neatly and rapidly stripped off the different articles of
clothing with the light fingers of a lady's maid. She had
snatched her bodice from his hands to hide her face in it, and
remained standing amidst the garments fallen at her feet. He
seized her in his arms and bore her towards the couch. Then she
murmured in his ear in a broken voice, "I swear to you, I swear
to you, that I have never had a lover."

And he thought, "That is all the same to me."

[FN#375] In text "Ant' amilta maskhará (for maskharah) matah (for
matà)," idiomatical Fellah-tongue.

[FN#376] Scott (Appendix vol. vi. 460) simply called this tale
"The Syrian." In M. Clouston's "Book of Noodles" (pp. 193–194) we
find a man who is searching for three greater simpletons than his
wife, calling himself "Saw ye ever my like?" It is quoted from
Campbell's "Popular Tales of the West Highlands" (ii. 385–387),
but it lacks the canopic wit of the Arabo-Egyptian. I may note
anent the anecdote of the Gabies (p. 201), who proposed, in order
to make the tall bride on horseback enter the low village-gate,
either to cut off her head or the legs of her steed, that
precisely the same tale is told by the biting wits of Damascus
concerning the boobies of Halbún. "Halbáún," as these villagers
call their ancient hamlet, is justly supposed to be the Helbon
whose wine is mentioned by Ezekiel in the traffic of Damascus,
although others less reasonably identify it with Halab=Aleppo.

[FN#377] In text "La'bat Shawáribu-hu"=lit. his mustachios
played.

[FN#378] For the "Wakálah," or caravanserai, see vol. i. 266.

[FN#379] In text "Kabút," plur. Kabábít:

Oh! who is more brave than a dark Suliote,
In his snowy camise and his shaggy capote?
"Childe Harold," Canto II.

And here I cannot but notice the pitiful contrast (on the
centenary of the poet's nativity, Jan. 22nd, '88) between the
land of his birth and that of his death. The gallant Greeks
honoured his memory with wreaths and panegyrics and laudatory
articles, declaring that they will never forget the anniversaries
of his nativity and his decease. The British Pharisee and
Philistine, true to his miserable creed, ignored all the "real
Lord Byron"--his generosity, his devotion to his friends, his
boundless charity, and his enthusiasm for humanity. They exhaled
their venom by carping at Byron's poetry (which was and is to
Europe a greater boon than Shakespeare's), by condemning his
morality (in its dirty sexual sense) and in prophesying for him
speedy oblivion. Have these men no shame in presence of the noble
panegyric dedicated by the Prince of German poets, Goethe, to his
brother bard whom he welcomed as a prophet? Can they not blush
before Heine (the great German of the future), before Flaubert,
Alfred de Musset, Lamartine, Leopardi and a host of Italian,
Spanish and Portuguese notables? Whilst England will not forgive
Byron for having separated from his unsympathetic wife, the
Literary society of Moscow celebrated his centenary with all
honour; and Prof. Nicholas Storojenko delivered a speech which
has found an echo

further west
Than his sires' "Islands of the Blest."

He rightly remarked that Byron's deadly sin in the eyes of the
Georgian-English people was his Cosmopolitanism. He was the
poetical representative of the <I>Sturm und Drang</I> period of
the xixth century. He reflected, in his life and works, the wrath
of noble minds at the collapse of the cause of freedom and the
reactionary tendency of the century. Even in the distant regions
of Monte Video Byron's hundredth birthday was not forgotten, and
Don Luis Desteffanio's lecture was welcomed by literary society.

[FN#380] He cried out thinking of the mystical meaning of such
name. So {Greek}, would mean in Sufí language--Learn from thyself
what is thy Lord;--corresponding after a manner with the
Christian "looking up through Nature to Nature's God."

[FN#381] The phrase prob. means so drunk that his circulation had
apparently stopped.

[FN#382] This is the article usually worn by the professional
buffoon. The cap of the "Sutarí" or jester of the Arnaut
(Albanian) regiments--who is one of their professional braves--is
usually a felt cone garnished with foxes' brushes.

[FN#383] In Arab. "Sabbal alayhim (for Alayhinna, the usual masc.
pro fem.) Al-Sattár"=lit. the Veiler let down a curtain upon
them.

[FN#384] The barber being a surgeon and ever ready to bleed a
madman.

[FN#385] i.e. Can play off equally well the soft-brained and the
hard-headed.

[FN#386] i.e. a deputy (governor, etc.); in old days the governor
of Constantinople; in these times a lieutenant-colonel, etc.

[FN#387] Which, as has been said, is the cab of Modern Egypt,
like the gondola and the caïque. The heroine of the tale is a
Nilotic version of "Aurora Floyd."

[FN#388] In text "Rafaka" and infrà (p. 11) "Zafaka."

[FN#389] [In text "Misla 'l-Kalám," which I venture to suggest is
another clerical blunder for: "misla 'l-Kiláb"=as the dogs do.--
ST.]

[FN#390] i.e. My wife. In addition to notes in vols. i. 165, and
iv. 9, 126, I would observe that "Harím" (women) is the broken
plur. of "Hurmah;" from Haram, the honour of the house, forbidden
to all save her spouse. But it is also an infinitive whose plur.
is Harîmát=the women of a family; and in places it is still used
for the women's apartment, the gynaeceum. The latter by way of
distinction I have mostly denoted by the good old English
corruption "Harem."

[FN#391] In text "Misla 'l-khárúf" (for Kharúf) a common phrase
for an "innocent," a half idiot, so our poets sing of "silly
(harmless, Germ. Selig) sheep."

[FN#392] In text this ends the tale.

[FN#393] In text "Wa lá huwa 'ashamná min-ka talkash 'alà
Harimi-ná." "'Ashama," lit.=he greeded for; and "Lakasha"=he
conversed with. [There is no need to change the "talkas" of the
text into "talkash." "Lakasa" is one of the words called "Zidd,"
i.e. with opposite meanings: it can signify "to incline
passionately towards," or "to loath with abhorrence." As the noun
"Laks" means "itch" the sentence might perhaps be translated:
"that thou hadst an itching after our Harím." What would lead me
to prefer the reading of the MS. is that the verb is construed
with the preposition "'alà"=upon, towards, for, while "lakash,"
to converse, is followed by "ma'"=with.--ST.]

[FN#394] Such was the bounden duty of a good neighbour.

[FN#395] He does not insist upon his dancing because he looks
upon the offence as serious, but he makes him tell his tale--for
the sake of the reader.

[FN#396] "Sáhib al-Hayát:" this may also=a physiognomist, which,
however, is probably not meant here.

[FN#397] In text "Harárah"=heat, but here derived from
"Hurr"=freeborn, noble.

[FN#398] In text "Azay má tafút-ní?"

[FN#399] In the Arab. "Rajul Khuzarí"=a green-meat man. [The
reading "Khuzarí" belongs to Lane, M.E. ii. 16, and to Bocthor.
In Schiaparelli's Vocabulista and the Muhít the form "Khuzrí" is
also given with the same meaning.--ST.]

[FN#400] [In text "Farárijí," as if the pl. of "Farrúj"=chicken
were "Farárij" instead of "Faráríj." In modern Egyptian these
nouns of relation from irregular plurals to designate
tradespeople not only drop the vowel of the penultimate but
furthermore, shorten that of the preceding syllable, so that
"Farárijí" becomes "Fararjí." Thus "Sanádikí," a maker of boxes,
becomes "Sanadkí," and "Dakhákhiní, a seller of tobacco brands,"
"Dakhakhní." See Spitta Bey's Grammar, p. 118.--ST.]

[FN#401] In the Arab. "Al-Májúr," for "Maajúr"=a vessel, an
utensil.

[FN#402] In text "shaklaba" here="shakala"=he weighed out (money,
whence the Heb. Shekel), he had to do with a woman.

[FN#403] [The trade of the man is not mentioned here, p. 22 of
the 5th vol. of the MS., probably through negligence of the
copyist, but it only occurs as far lower down as p. 25.--ST.]

[FN#404] A certain reviewer proposes "stained her eyes with
Kohl," showing that he had never seen the Kohl-powder used by
Asiatics.

[FN#405] ["Bi-Má al-fasíkh 'alà Akrás al-Jullah." "Má
al-Fasíkh"=water of salt-fish, I would translate by "dirty brine"
and "Akrás al-Jullah" by "dung-cakes," meaning the tale should be
written with a filthy fluid for ink upon a filthy solid for
paper, more expressive than elegant.--ST.]

[FN#406] "Al-Janínáti"; or, as the Egyptians would pronounce the
word, "Al-Ganínátí". [Other Egyptian names for gardener are
"Janáiní," pronounced "Ganáiní," "Bustánjí" pronounced
"Bustangi," with a Turkish termination to a Persian noun, and
"Bakhshawángí," for Baghchawánjí," where the same termination is
pleonastically added to a Persian word, which in Persian and
Turkish already means "gardener."--ST.]

[FN#407] A Koranic quotation from "Joseph," chap. xii. 28: Sale
has "for verily your cunning is great," said by Potiphar to his
wife.

[FN#408] I have inserted this sentence, the tale being absolutely
without termination. So in the Mediaeval Lat. translations the
MSS. often omit "explicit capitulum (primum). Sequitur capitulum
secundum," this explicit being a sine qua non.

[FN#409] In text "Fatáirí" = a maker of "Fatírah" = pancake, or
rather a kind of pastry rolled very thin, folded over like a
napkin, saturated with butter and eaten with sugar or honey
poured over it.

[FN#410] In Arab. "Nayízáti," afterwards "Nuwayzátí," and lastly
"Rayhání" (p. 34)=a man who vends sweet and savoury herbs. We
have neither the craft nor the article, so I have rendered him by
"Herbalist."

[FN#411] In text a "Mihtár"=a prince, a sweeper, a scavenger, the
Pers. "Mihtar," still used in Hindostani. [In Quatremère's
Histoire des Sultans Mamlouks "Mihtar" occurs also in the sense
of superintendent, of head-equerry, and of chief of a military
band. See Dozy Supp. s. v.--ST.]

[FN#412] "Ant' aysh" for "man," decidedly not complimentary,
"What (thing) art thou?"

[FN#413] Arab. "Kabsh." Amongst the wilder tubes of the East
ram's mutton is preferred because it gives the teeth more to do:
on the same principle an old cock is the choicest guest-gift in
the way of poultry.

[FN#414] "Naubah," lit.=a period, keeping guard, and here a band
of pipes and kettledrums playing before the doors of a great man
at certain periods.

[FN#415] In text "Al-Mubtali."

[FN#416] Arab. "Hawwálín"; the passage is apparently corrupt.
["Hawálín" is clerical error for either "hawálà"=all around, or
"Hawálí" = surroundings, surrounding parts, and "Audán" is pl. of
the popular "Widn" or "Wudn" for the literary "Uzn," ear.--ST.]

[FN#417] The exclamation would be uttered by the scribe or by
Shahrazad. I need hardly remind the reader that "Khizr" is the
Green Prophet and here the Prophet of greens.

[FN#418] For "Isráfíl"=Raphael, the Archangel who will blow the
last trump, see vol. ii. 287.

[FN#419] Gen. meaning "Look sharp," here syn. with "Allah!
Allah!"=I conjure thee by God. Vol. i. 346.

[FN#420] A Persian would say, "I am a Irání but Walláhi indeed I
am not lying."

[FN#421] [This sentence of wholesale extermination passed upon
womankind, reminds me of the Persian lines which I find quoted in
'Abdu 'l-Jalíl's History of the Barmecides:

Agar nek búdí Zan u Ráy-i-Zan
Zan-rá Ma-zan Nám búdí, na Zan,

and which I would render Anglicè:

If good there were in Woman and her way
Her name would signify "Slay not," not "Slay."

"Zan" as noun=woman; as imp. of "zadan"=strike, kill, whose
negative is "mazan."--ST.]

[FN#422] In the text the Shaykh, to whom "Amán" was promised, is
also gelded, probably by the neglect of the scribe.

[FN#423] This tale is a variant of "The First Constable's
History:" Suppl. Nights, vol. ii. 3-11.

[FN#424] In text "Al-Bawwábah"=a place where door-keepers meet, a
police-station; in modern tongue "Karakol," for
"Karaghol-khánah"=guard-house.

[FN#425] In text 'Kází al-'Askar"=the great legal authority of a
country: vol. vi. 131.

[FN#426] Anglo-Indice "Mucuddum"=overseer, etc., vol. iv. 42.

[FN#427] i.e. is not beyond our reach.

[FN#428] In text "Yá Sultán-am" with the Persian or Turkish
suffixed possessional pronoun.

[FN#429] In text "mál," for which see vol. vi. 267. Amongst the
Badawin it is also applied to hidden treasure.

[FN#430] I carefully avoid the obnoxious term "intoxication"
which properly means "poisoning," and should be left to those
amiable enthusiasts the "Teetotallers."

[FN#431] A sign of foul play; the body not having been shrouded
and formally buried.

[FN#432] For the title, the office and the date see vol. ix. 289.

[FN#433] The names are=Martha and Mary.

[FN#434] MS. vi. 57-77, not translated by Scott, who entitles it
(vi. 461) "Mhassun, the Liberal, and Mouseh, the treacherous
Friend." It is a variant of "The Envier and the Envied:" vol. i.
123.

[FN#435] The Arab. "Jarrah": vol. viii. 177.

[FN#436] i.e. One who does good, a benefactor.

[FN#437] In the text "Músà wa Múzi," the latter word==vexatious,
troublesome. [I notice that in the MS. the name is distinctly and
I believe purposely spelt with Hamzah above the Wáw and Kasrah
beneath the Sín, reading "Muusí." It is, therefore, a travesty of
the name Músà, and the exact counterpart of "Muhsin", being the
active participle of "asáa", 4th form of "sáa,"==he did evil, he
injured, and nearly equivalent with the following "Muuzí." The
two names may perhaps be rendered: Muhsin, the Beneficent, and
Muusí, the Malignant, the Malefactor.--ST.]

[FN#438] In text "Fatír" for "Fatírah"==a pancake, before
described.

[FN#439] In text "Bi-khátiri-k"==Thy will be done; the whole
dialogue is in pure Fellah speech.

[FN#440] Supposed to be American, but, despite Bartlett, really
old English from Lancashire, the land which has supplied many of
the so-called "American" neologisms. A gouge is a hollow chisel,
a scoop; and to gouge is to poke out the eye: this is done by
thrusting the fingers into the side-hair thus acting as a base
and by prising out the ball with the thumbnail which is purposely
grown long.

[FN#441] [In the text: "Fa tarak-hu Muusí am'à dáir yaltash fí
'l-Tarík." Latash has the meaning of beating, tapping; I
therefore think the passage means: "hereupon Muusí left him,
blind as he was, tramping and groping his way" (feeling it with
his hands or stick). -ST.]

[FN#442] In text "Biiru milyánah Moyah." As a rule the Fellah of
Egypt says "Mayyeh," the Cairene "Mayya," and the foreigner
"Moyah": the old Syrian is "Mayá," the mod. "Moy," and the
classical dim. of "Má" is "Muwayy," also written"Muwayy" and
"Muwayhah."

[FN#443] "Sabt"==Sabbath, Saturday: vol. ii. 305, and passim.

[FN#444] i.e. "By Allah," meaning "Be quick!"

[FN#445] For this well-nigh the sole equivalent amongst the
Moslems of our "thank you," see Vol. iv. 6. and v. 171.

[FN#446] In Arab. "Ana 'l-Tabíb, al-Mudáwi." In pop. parlance,
the former is the scientific practitioner and the latter
represents the man of the people who deals in simples, etc.

[FN#447] In text "Rákiba-há," the technical term for demoniac
insiliation or possession: the idea survives in our "succubi" and
"incubi." I look upon these visions often as the effects of
pollutio nocturne. A modest woman for instance dreams of being
possessed by some man other than her husband; she loves the
latter and is faithful to him, and consequently she must explain
the phenomena superstitiously and recur to diabolical agency. Of
course it is the same with men, only they are at less trouble to
excuse themselves.

[FN#448] The construction here, MS. p. 67, is very confused. [The
speech of Muhsin seems to be elliptical. In Ar. it runs: "Li-anní
izá, lam nukhullis-ha (or nukhlis-há, 2nd or 4th form) taktulní,
wa aná iz lam tattafik ma'í anní izá khallastu-há tu'tí-há
alayya" --which I believe to mean: "for if I do not deliver her,
thou wilt kill me; so I (say) unless thou stipulate with me that
when I have delivered her thou wilt give her to me in marriage--"
supply: "well then I wash my hand of the whole business." The
Shaykh acts on the tit for tat principle in a style worthy of the
"honest broker" himself.--ST.]

[FN#449] In text "Yaum Sabt" again.

[FN#450] As has been said (vol. ii. 112) this is a sign of
agitation. The tale has extended to remote Guernsey. A sorcier
named Hilier Mouton discovers by his art that the King's daughter
who had long and beautiful tresses was dying because she had
swallowed a hair which had twined round her praecordia. The cure
was to cut a small square of bacon from just over the heart, and
tie it to a silken thread which the Princess must swallow, when
the hair would stick to it and come away with a jerk. See (p. 29)
"Folk-lore of Guernsey and Sark," by Louise Lane-Clarke, printed
by E. Le Lievre, Guernsey, 1880; and I have to thank for it a
kind correspondent, Mr. A. Buchanan Brown, of La Coûture, p. 53,
who informs us why the Guernsey lily is scentless, emblem of the
maiden who sent it from fairy-land.

[FN#451] The text says only, "O my father, gift Shaykh Mohsin."

[FN#452] Her especial "shame" would be her head and face: vol.
vi. 30, 118.

[FN#453] In northern Africa the "Dár al-Ziyáfah" was a kind of
caravanserai in which travellers were lodged at government
expense. Ibn Khaldún (Fr. Transl. i. 407).

[FN#454 In most of these tales the well is filled in over the
intruding "villain" of the piece. Ibn Khaldun (ii. 575) relates a
"veritable history" of angels choking up a well; and in Mr.
Doughty (ii. 190) a Pasha-governor of Jiddah does the same to a
Jinni-possessed pit.

[FN#455] This tale is of a kind not unfrequent amongst Moslems,
exalting the character of the wife, whilst the mistress is a mere
shadow.

[FN#456] Here written "Jalabí" (whence Scott's "Julbee," p. 461)
and afterwards (p. 77, etc.) "Shalabí": it has already been
noticed in vol. i. 22 and elsewhere.

[FN#457] In text "Baltah" for Turk. "Báltah"==an axe, a hatchet.
Hence "Baltah-ji" a pioneer, one of the old divisions of the
Osmanli troops which survives as a family name amongst the
Levantines and semi-European Perotes of Constantinople.

[FN#458] Here the public gaol is in the Head Policeman's house.
So in modern times it is part of the Wali or Governor's palace
and is included in the Maroccan "Kasbah" or fortalice.

[FN#459] In text "Naakhaz bi-lissati-him;" "Luss" is after a
fashion {Greek}; but the Greek word included piracy which was
honourable, whenas the Arab. term is mostly applied to larcenists
and similar blackguards. [I would read the word in the text
"Balsata-hum," until I have received their "ransom."--ST.]

[FN#460] In the text "Tajrís" which I have rendered by a
circumlocution. [For the exact meaning of "Tajrís," see Dozy,
Suppl.s.v. "jarras," where an interesting passage from "Mas'údí"
is quoted.--ST.]

[FN#461] In Moslem lands prisoners are still expected to feed
themselves, as was the case in England a century ago and is still
to be seen not only in Al-Islam, Egypt and Syria, but even in
Madeira and at Goa.

[FN#462] In text "Hudá Sirru-hu," i.e. his secret sin was guided
(by Allah) to the safety of concealment. [A simpler explanation
of this passage would perhaps be: "wa hadá Sirru-hu,"== and his
mind was at rest.--ST.]

[FN#463] Arab. "Audáj" (plur. of "Wadaj") a word which applies
indiscriminately to the carotid arteries and jugular veins. The
latter, especially the external pair, carry blood from the face
and are subject abnormally to the will: the late lamented Mr.
Charley Peace, who murdered and "burgled" once too often, could
darken his complexion and even change it by arresting jugular
circulation. The much-read Mr. F. Marion Crawford (Saracinesca,
chapt. xii.) makes his hero pass a foil through his adversary's
throat, "without touching the jugular artery (which does not
exist)or the spine." But what about larynx and pharynx? It is to
be regretted that realistic writers do not cultivate a little
more personal experience. No Englishman says "in guard" for "on
guard." "Colpo del Tancredi" is not=="Tancred's lunge" but "the
thrust of the (master) Tancredi:" it is quite permissible and to
say that it loses half its dangers against a left-handed man is
to state what cannot be the fact as long as the heart is more
easily reached from the left than from the right flank.

[FN#464] Lit. "Then faring forth and sitting in his own place." I
have modified the too succinct text which simply means that he
was anxious and agitated.

[FN#465] After this in the text we have only, "End of the
Adventure of the Kazi's Daughter. It is related among the many
wiles of women that there was a Fellah-man, etc." I have supplied
the missing link.

[FN#466] On the margin of the W. M. MS. (vi. 92) J. Scott has
written: "This story bears a faint resemblance to one in the
Bahardanush." He alludes to the tale I have already quoted. I
would draw attention to "The Fellah and his Wicked Wife," as it
is a characteristic Fellah-story showing what takes place too
often in the villages of Modern Egypt which the superficial
traveller looks upon as the homes of peace and quiet. The text is
somewhat difficult for technicalities and two of the pages are
written with a badly nibbed reed-pen which draws the lines
double.

[FN#467] The "Faddán" (here miswritten "Faddád") = a plough, a
yoke of oxen, a "carucate," which two oxen can work in a single
season. It is also the common land-measure of Egypt and Syria
reduced from acre 1.1 to less than one acre. It is divided into
twenty-four Kiráts (carats) and consists or consisted of 333
Kasabah (rods), each of these being 22-24 Kabzahs (fists with the
thumb erect about = 6 1/2 inches). In old Algiers the Faddán was
called "Zuijah" (= a pair, i.e. of oxen) according to Ibn Khaldun
i. 404.

[FN#468] In text "Masbúbah."

[FN#469] Arab. "Dashísh," which the Dicts. make=wheat-broth to be
sipped. ["Dashísh" is a popular corruption of the classical
"Jashísh" = coarsely ground wheat (sometimes beans), also called
"Sawík," and "Dashíshah" is the broth made of it.-ST.]

[FN#470] In text "Ahmar" = red, ruddy-brown, dark brown.

[FN#471] In text "Kas'at (=a wooden platter, bowl) afrúkah." [The
"Mafrúkah," an improvement upon the Fatírah, is a favourite dish
with the Badawí, of which Dozy quotes lengthy descriptions from
Vansleb and Thévenot. The latter is particularly graphical, and
after enumerating all the ingredients says finally: "ils en font
une grosse pâte dont ils prennent de gros morceaux.--ST.]

[FN#472] The Fellah will use in fighting anything in preference
to his fists and a stone tied up in a kerchief or a rag makes no
mean weapon for head-breaking.

[FN#473] The cries of an itinerant pedlar hawking about woman's
wares. See Lane (M. E.) chapt. xiv. "Flfl'a" (a scribal error?)
may be "Filfil"=pepper or palm-fibre. "Tutty," in low- Lat.
"Tutia," probably from the Pers. "Tutiyah," is protoxide of zinc,
found native in Iranian lands, and much used as an eye-wash.

[FN#474] In text "Samm Sá'ah."

[FN#475] "Laban halíb," a trivial form="sweet milk;" "Laban"
being the popular word for milk artificially soured. See vols.
vi. 201; vii. 360.

[FN#476] In text "Nisf ra'as Sukkar Misri." "Sukkar" (from Pers.
"Shakkar," whence the Lat. Saccharum) is the generic term, and
Egypt preserved the fashion of making loaf-sugar (Raas Sukkar)
from ancient times. "Misri" here=local name, but in India it is
applied exclusively to sugar-candy, which with Gúr (Molasses) was
the only form used throughout the country some 40 years ago.
Strict Moslems avoid Europe-made white sugar because they are
told that it is refined with bullock's blood, and is therefore
unlawful to Jews and the True Believers.

[FN#477] Lit. "that the sugar was poison."

[FN#478] In text "Kata'a Judúr-há" (for "hu"). [I refer the
pronoun in "Judúr-há" to "Rakabah," taking the "roots of the
neck" to mean the spine.-ST.]

[FN#479] In text "Fahata" for "Fahasa" (?) or perhaps a clerical
error for "Fataha"=he opened (the ground). ["Fahata," probably a
vulgarisation of "fahatha" (fahasa)=to investigate, is given by
Bocthor with the meaning of digging, excavating. Nevertheless I
almost incline to the reading "fataha," which, however, I would
pronounce with Tashdíd over the second radical, and translate:
"he recited a 'Fátihah' for them," the usual prayer over the dead
before interment. The dative "la-hum," generally employed with
verbs of prayer, seems to favour this interpretation. It is true
I never met with the word in this meaning, but it would be quite
in keeping with the spirit of the language, and in close analogy
with such expressions as "kabbara," he said "Allabu akbar,"
"Hallala," he pronounced the formula of unity, and a host of
others. Here it would, in my opinion, wind up the tale with a
neat touch of peasant's single-mindedness and loyal adherence to
the injunctions of religion even under provoking circumstances.-
-ST.]

[FN#480] In the MS. we have only "Ending. And it is also told,"
etc. I again supply the connection.

[FN#481] Scott does not translate this tale, but he has written
on the margin (MS. vi. 101), "A story which bears a strong
resemblance to that I have read (when a boy) of the Parson's maid
giving the roasted goose to her Lover and frightening away the
guests, lest he should geld them."

[FN#482] In text "Zakarayn Wizz (ganders) simán"; but afterwards
"Wizzatayn"=geese.

[FN#483] These dried fruits to which pistachios are often added,
form the favourite "filling" of lamb and other meats prepared in
"puláo" (pilaff).

[FN#484] "Anta jáib(un) bas rájul (an) wáhid (an)"--veritable and
characteristic peasant's jargon.

[FN#485] i.e., it is a time when men should cry for thy case. "Lá
Haula"=there is no Majesty, etc. An ejaculation of displeasure,
disappointments, despair.

[FN#486] In text "Maháshima-k"=good works, merits; in a secondary
sense beard and mustachios. The word yard (etymologically a rod)
is medical English, and the young student is often surprised to
see, when a patient is told to show his yard, a mere inchlet of
shrunken skin. ["Maháshim," according to Bocthor, is a plural
without singular, meaning: les parties de la génération. Pedro de
Alcala gives "Hashshúm," pl. "Hasháshim," for the female parts,
and both words are derived from the verb "hasham, yahshím," he
put to shame.--ST.]

[FN#487] Characteristic words of abuse, "O thou whose fate is
always to fail, O thou whose lot is ever subject to the accidents
of Fortune!"

[FN#488] Arab. "Bayzah"=an egg, a testicle. See "Bayza'áni," vol.
ii. 55.

[FN#489] Here the text ends with the tag, "Concluded is the story
of the Woman with her Husband and her Lover. It is related of a
man which was a Kazi," etc. I have supplied what the writer
should have given.

[FN#490] The "Mahkamah" (Place of Judgment), or Kazi's Court, at
Cairo is mostly occupied with matrimonial disputes, and is
fatally famous for extreme laxness in the matter of bribery and
corruption. During these days it is even worse than when Lane
described it. M.E. chapt. iv.

[FN#491] The first idea of an Eastern would be to appeal from the
Kazi to the Kazi's wife, bribing her if he failed to corrupt the
husband; and he would be wise in his generation as the process is
seldom known to fail.

[FN#492] In Arab. "Sitta-há": the Mauritanians prefer "Sídah,"
and the Arabian Arabs Kabírah"=the first lady, Madame Mère.

[FN#493] In text "Ahú 'inda-k,"--pure Fellah speech.

[FN#494] In text here and below "Maghbún" usually=deceived,
cajoled.

[FN#495] He began to fear sorcery, Satan, etc. "Muslimína" is
here the reg. Arab. plur. of "Muslim"=a True Believer. "Musulmán"
(our "Mussalman" too often made plur. by "Mussalmen") is
corrupted Arab. used in Persia, Turkey and India by the best
writers as Sa'adi; the plur. is "Musulmánán" and the Hind. fem.
is Musalmání. Francois Pyrard, before alluded to, writes (i. 261)
"Mouselliman, that is, the faithful."

[FN#496] In the text "help ye the Moslems."

[FN#497] Again the old, old story of the "Acrisian maid," and a
prose variant of "Yusuf and Al-Hayfa" for which see supra p. 93.
I must note the difference of treatment and may observe that the
style is rough and the incidents are unfinished, but it has the
stuff of an excellent tale.

[FN#498] In text "Min ghayr Wa'ad" = without appointment, sans
préméditation, a phrase before noticed.

[FN#499] In text, "Al-Mukawwamína wa Arbábu 'l-Aklam," the latter
usually meaning "Scribes skilled in the arts of caligraphy."

[FN#500] In text "Zarb al-Fál" = casting lots for presage, see v.
136.

[FN#501] "The Mount of Clouds."

[FN#502] In the margin is written "Kbb," possibly "Kubb" for
"Kubbah" = a vault, a cupola. [I take "Kubba" for the passive of
the verb "Kabba" = he cut, and read "Fajwatun" for "Fajwatan" =
"and in that cave there is a spot in whose innermost part from
the inside a crevice is cut which," etc.--ST.]

[FN#503] "Zarb al-Aklám," before explained: in a few pages we
shall come upon "San'at al-Aklám.

[FN#504] A pun upon the name of the Mountain.

[FN#505] In text "Wa kulli Tárik" = Night-traveller, magician,
morning-star.

[FN#506] i.e. In Holy Writ--the Koran and the Ahádís.

[FN#507] "Walad al-Hayáh" for "Hayát" i.e. let him be long-lived.

[FN#508] This and other incidents appear only at the latter end
of the tale, MS. p. 221.

[FN#509] i.e. "Father of a Pigeon," i.e. surpassing in swiftness
the carrier-pigeon.

[FN#510] "Bi-sab'a Sikak" = lit. "with seven nails;" in the MS.
vol. vi. p. 133, 1. 2, and p. 160, 1. 4, we have "four Sikak,"
and the word seems to mean posts or uprights whereto the chains
were attached. ["Sakk," pl. "Sikák" and "Sukúk," is nail, and
"Sikkah," pl. "Sikak," has amongst many other meanings that of
"an iron post or stake" (Bocthor: piquet de fer).--ST.]

[FN#511] In text "Al-Lijám w' al-Bílám" = the latter being a
"Tábi'" or dependent word used only for jingle. [The Muhít
explains "Bilám" by "Kimám at-Thaur" = muzzle of a bull, and
Bocthor gives as equivalent for it the French "cavecon" (English
"cavesson" nose-band for breaking horses in). Here, I suppose, it
means the headstall of the bridle.--ST.]

[FN#512] In Arab. "Al-Sayfu w'-al Kalani."

[FN#513] In text "Itowwaha," which is repeated in p. 146, 1. 2.
["Ittawwah" seems to be the modern Egyptian 5th form of "Tauh."
In classical Arabic it would be "tatawwah," but in the dialect of
to-day the prefix becomes "it," whose final dental here
assimilates with the initial palatal of the root; p. 146 the word
is correctly spelt with two Tashdids. The meaning is: he threw
himself (with his right foot foremost) upon the horse's back.
Instances of this formation, which has now become all but general
in Egyptian, are not infrequent in old Arabic, witness chapters
lxxiii. and lxxiv. of the Koran, which begin with "ayyuhá 'l
Muddassiru" and "ayyuhà 'l-Muzzammilu" respectively.--ST.]

[FN#514] In text "Ramaha bi-h."

[FN#515] The vowel points in the MS. show this to be a quotation.

[FN#516] In text "Yarjú," I presume an error for "yarja'u." [I
believe "yarju" is an error for yajrú," and the various paces to
which they put their horses are meant: sometimes they galloped
(ramahú), sometimes they trotted (Pedro de Alcala gives "trotar"
for "jará yajrí"), sometimes they ambled (yasírú).--ST.]

[FN#517] In text "Saith the Sayer of this say so wondrous and
this delectable matter seld-seen and marvellous,"--which I omit
as usual.

[FN#518] In text "Sar'a 'l-Lijám."

[FN#519] The invariable practice of an agent de police in England
and France, according to the detective tales of MM. Gaboriau and
Du Boisgobey. In Africa the guide often attempts to follow
instead of leading the party, and this proceeding should always
awake suspicion.

[FN#520] In text another prothesis without apodosis: see vol. vi.
203, etc.

[FN#521] In text "Fa ghába thaláthat ayyamin" = and he (or it the
mountain?) disappeared for three days. ["Ghába" = departed, may
have here the meaning of "passed away" and three days had gone,
and he ever travelling, before (ilà an) he reached it.--ST.]

[FN#522] A feeling well-known to the traveller: I have often been
laughed at for gazing fondly upon the scanty brown-green growth
about Suez after a few months' sojourn in the wolds of Western
Arabia. It is admirably expressed in that book of books Eothen
(chapt. xvii.): --"The next day I entered upon Egypt, and floated
along (for the delight was as the delight of bathing) through
green wavy fields of rice, and pastures fresh and plentiful, and
dived into the cold verdure of grasses and gardens, and quenched
my hot eyes in shade, as though in deep, rushing waters."

[FN#523] The writer does not mean to charge the girl with
immodesty (after the style "Come to my arms, my slight
acquaintance!") but to show how powerfully Fate and Fortune
wrought upon her. Hence also she so readily allowed the King's
son to possess her person.

[FN#524] [I read "al-Muhibbattu," fem. of "Muhibb," lover (in
Tasawwuf particularly = lover of God), and take the "lam taku
taslah" in the second verse for the 3rd person fem., translating:
The loving maiden has come in obedience to the lover's call,
proudly trailing her skirts ("tajarru min al-Tíhi Azyála-há"),
and she is meet, etc.--ST.]

[FN#525] Again the work of Fate which intended to make the lovers
man and wife and probably remembered the homely old English
proverb, "None misses a slice from a cut loaf."

[FN#526] A little matter of about a ton at the smallest
computation of 200 lbs. to each beast.

[FN#527] In text "Natawású sawíyah" [Clerical error for
"natawánasú (nataánasú, the rarely used 6th form of anisa)
shuwayyah" = let us divert ourselves a little.--ST.]

[FN#528] In text "salaku-hu wa nashalú-hu." The "salk" = scoring
the skin and the "nashl" = drawing meat from the cooking-pot with
the fingers or a flesh-hook or anything but a ladle which would
be "Gharf."

[FN#529] This account has been slightly abridged seeing that it
is a twice-told tale.

[FN#530] "Written" either on the Preserved Tablet (vol. ii. 68)
or on the sutures of the skull (iii. 123).

[FN#531] In Arab. "Khálat-kí insánun," meaning also to lie with.
Lat. misceo. [The same word occurs presently in another tropical
sense: "Khálata-há al-Khajal wa 'l-Hayá" = shame and abashment
mixed with her, i.e. suffused or overwhelmed her.--ST.]

[FN#532] In text "Istanade 'alà Shakkati-h." ["Istanáda 'alà" is
in the Vocabulista in Arabico rendered by "recumbere" and
"Shikkah" is a rug, while I can find no authority for "Shakkah"
as "quarter." The passage may therefore mean he lay down on his
rug. If he had been leaning against the standing horse, it would
on bolting have thrown him on the ground and awaked him rudely.--
ST.]

[FN#533] "Rajul ikhtiyár," a polite term for an old man: See i.
55. In the speech of the Badawin it means a man of substance and
hospitality.

[FN#534] **In**? Arab. "Wa lásh: Murádí bas Ism al-Madinah." I
seem to hear some Fellah speaking to me from the door of his clay
hut.

[FN#535] "Madínat al-Andalús" = usually Seville.

[FN#536] In text "Kabdán," the usual form being "Kaptan," from
the Ital. Capitano (iv. 85): here, however, we have the Turk.
form as in "Kapúdán-pashá" = Lord High Admiral of ancient
Osmanli-land.

[FN#537] Arab. "Khaznat al-Síláh." When Easterns, especially
Maroccan Moslems and Turkish Pilgrims, embark as passengers,
their weapons are taken from them, ticketed and placed in a safe
cabin.

[FN#538] Arab. "Waka'h" = an affair (of fight).

[FN#539] i.e. crying the war-cry, "Alláho Akbar" = God is most
Great (vol. ii. 89, etc.) and "Lá iláha illa 'llah," the refrain
of Unity: vol. ii. 236.

[FN#540] In text "A'atú Al-Wírah." ["Wírah" is gerund of the
Turkish "wírmek" or "wermek," to give, to give up, and the phrase
in the text corresponds to the Turkish "wírah wírmek" = to
capitulate.--ST.]

[FN#541] The "buccaneers," quite as humane, made their useless
prisoners "walk a plank." The slave-ships, when chased and
hard-driven, simply tossed the poor devil niggers overboard; and
the latter must often have died, damning the tender mercies of
the philanthrope which had doomed them to untimely deaths instead
of a comfortable middle passage from Blackland to Whiteland.

[FN#542] [In the text "Kárishín" = chasing, being in hot pursuit
of; see Dozy, Suppl. s. v. "karash."--ST.]

[FN#543] See in Mr. Doughty's valuable "Arabia Deserta" (i. 309)
how the Badawi's mare puts down her soft nose to be kissed by the
sitters about the coffee-hearth.

[FN#544] In text, "Hadda 'lláho bayní wa baynakum."

[FN#545] The last clause is omitted in the text which is
evidently defective: MS. vol. vi. p. 180, line 7.

[FN#546] In text "Tauhán al-Husán."

[FN#547] In Abyssinia the "Khil'at" = robe of honour (see vol. i.
195) is an extensive affair composed of a dress of lion's pelt
with silver-gilt buttons, a pair of silken breeches, a cap and
waist-shawl of the same material, a sword, a shield and two
spears; a horse with furniture of silk and silver and a mule
similarly equipped. These gifts accompany the insignia of the
"Order of Solomon," which are various medals bearing an imperial
crown, said to represent the Hierosolymitan Temple of the Wise
King, and the reverses show the Amharic legend "Yohanne Negus zei
Etiopia"--John, Emperor of Ethiopia. The orders are distinguished
as (1) the Grand Cross, a star of 100 grammes in massive gold,
hammer-wrought, and studded with gems, given only to royalties;
(2) the Knighthood, similar, but of 50 grammes, and without
jewels, intended for distinguished foreigners; (3) the Officer's
Star, silver-gilt, of 50 grammes; and (4) the Companion's, of
pure silver, and the same weight. All are worn round the neck
save the last, which hangs upon the chest. This practice of
gilding the metals prevails also in Europe, for instance in
Austria, where those made of gunmetal are often gilt by the
recipients contrary to all official etiquette.

[FN#548] Meaning only that the babe was perfectly beautiful.

[FN#549] In order that the cord might not be subject to the evil
eye or fall into the hand of a foe who would use it magically to
injure the babe. The navel-string has few superstitions in
England. The lower classes mostly place over the wound a bit of
cloth wherein a hole has been burned, supposing that the carbon
will heal the cut, and make it fast to the babe by a "binder" or
swathe round the body, as a preventative to "pot-belly." But
throughout the East there are more observances. In India, on the
birth of the babe, the midwife demands something shining, as a
rupee or piece of silver, and having touched the navel-string
therewith she divides it and appropriates the glittering
substance, under the pretence that the absence of the
illuminating power of some such sparkling object would prevent
her seeing to operate. The knife with which the umbilical cord
has been cut is not used for common purposes but is left beside
the puerpera until the "Chilla" (fortieth day), when "Kajjal"
(lamp-black), used by way of Kohl, is collected on it and applied
to the child's eyelids. Whenever the babe is bathed or taken out
of the house the knife must be carried along with it; and when
they are brought in again the instrument is deposited in its
former place near the mother. Lastly, on the "Chilla"-day they
must slaughter with the same blade a cock or a sheep (Herklots,
chapt. i. sec. 3). Equally quaint is the treatment of the
navel-string in Egypt; but Lane (M.E.) is too modest to give
details.

[FN#550] In text "Sarsarah," a clerical error for "Akhaza(?)
surratan." See MS. vol. vi. p. 197, line 9. [I read "sarra Surrah
(Surratan)" = he tied up a purse.--ST.]

[FN#551] In the text "on account of the dust-cloud" which, we
were just told, had cleared away [The translator seems to have
overlooked the "kána" before "kad dákhala-hu al-Ra'b," which
gives to the verb the force of a pluperfect: "and fear had
entered into him at the sight of the dust-cloud."--ST.]

[FN#552] i.e. his daughter, of whom he afterwards speaks in the
plur.

[FN#553] These concealments are inevitable in ancient tale and
modern novel, and it need hardly be said that upon the nice
conduct of them depends all the interest of the work. How careful
the second-rate author is to spoil his plot by giving a needless
"pregustation" of his purpose, I need hardly say.

[FN#554] The mysteries of the marriage-night are touched with a
light hand because the bride had already lost her virginity.

[FN#555] In text "Abúyah," a Fellah vulgarism for Abí which
latter form occurs a few lines lower down.

[FN#556] In text "Wa-Sawábi 'hu (Asábi 'a-hu?) fí hanaki-h:" this
is explained in MS. p. 216: "Bi-yarza'u fí Asábí hi." [Dozy,
Suppl. i. 815, gives "Sawábi'" as an irregular pl. of "Asba'"
quoting from Bresl. ed. iii. 381, 9.] I would rather say it is a
regularly formed broken plural of a singular "Sábi'" = the
pointing one, i.e. index, now commonly called "Sabbábah" the
reviler, where the same idea of pointing at with contempt seems
to prevail, and "Sháhid" = the witnessing, because it is raised
in giving testimony. In the plural it would be naturally
generalised to "finger," and in point of fact, the sing. "Sábi'"
is used nowadays in this sense in Egypt along with the other
popular form of "Subá'."

[FN#557] I write "Cafilah" and not "Cafila" with the
unjustifiable suppression of the final "h" which is always made
sensible in the pure pronunciation of the Badawi. The malpractice
has found favour chiefly through the advocacy of Dr. Redhouse, an
eminent Turkish scholar whose judgments must be received with
great caution; and I would quote on this subject the admirable
remarks of my late lamented friend Dr. G. P. Badger in "The
Academy" of July 2, 1887. "Another noticeable default in the same
category is that, like Sale, Mr. Wherry frequently omits the
terminal ‘h' in his transliteration of Arabic. Thus he writes
Sura, Amína, Fátima, Madína, Taháma; yet, inconsistently enough,
he gives the ‘h' in Allah, Khadijah, Kaabah, Makkah, and many
other words. This point deserves special notice, owing to Dr.
Redhouse's letter, published in ‘The Academy' of November 22
last, in which he denounces as ‘a very common European error' the
addition of the ‘h' or ‘final aspirate,' in the English
transliteration of many Arabic words. Hence, as I read the
eminent Orientalist's criticism, when that aspirate is not
sounded in pronunciation he omits it, writing "F&amacron;tima,"
not Fatimah, lest, as I presume, the unwary reader may aspirate
the ‘h.' But in our Bibles we find such names as Sarah, Hannah,
Judah, Beulah, Moriah, Jehovah, in the enunciation of which no
one thinks of sounding the last letter as an aspirate. I quite
agree with Dr. Redhouse that in the construct case the final h
assumes the sound of t, as in Fatimatu bint-Muhammed; yet that
does not strike me as a valid reason for eliding the final h,
which among other uses, is indicative of the feminine gender, as
in Fâtimah, Khadîjah, Amînah, etc.; also of the nomina vicis, of
many abstract nouns, nouns of multitude and of quality, as well
as of adjectives of intensiveness, all which important
indications would be lost by dropping the final h. And further
unless the vowel a, left after the elision of that letter, be
furnished with some etymological mark of distinction, there would
be great risk of its being confounded with the â, formative of
the singular of many verbal nouns, such as binâ, safâ, jalâ; with
the masculine plurals ending in the same letters, such as hukamâ,
ághniyâ, kúfarâ; and with the feminine plurals of many
adjectives, such as kúbra, súghra, húsna, etc. Dr. Redhouse says
that ‘many eminent Arabists avoid such errors'--a remark which
rather surprises me, since Pocock, Lane and Palmer, and Fresnel
and Perron among French Orientalists, as also Burton, all retain
the final aspirate h, the latter taking special care to
distinguish, by some adequate, diacritical sign, those
substantive and adjective forms with which words ending in the
final aspirate h might otherwise be confounded."

[FN#558] In the text, "Wa sába'l-dár wa Zaujatu-hu mutawassíyín
bi-há." [I cannot explain to myself the plural "Mutawassín"
unless by supposing that the preceding "Sáb al-Dár" is another
blunder of the scribe for "Sáhibu 'l-Dár" when the meaning would
be: "and the master of the house and his wife took charge of her
(the nurse) during the days of suckling." --ST.]

[FN#559] In text "Sárú yaráshú-hu wa yatawassu."

[FN#560] [In the text "Fikí" the popular form of the present day
"Fikíh," properly "learned in the law" (LL.D. as we would say),
but now the usual term for "school-master."--ST.]

[FN#561] Both of which are practised by Easterns from horseback,
the animal going at fullest speed. With the English saddle and
its narrow stirrup-irons we can hardly prove ourselves even
moderately good shots after Parthian fashion.

[FN#562] In text "Ihtimám wa Ghullah": I suspect that the former
should be written with the major h, meaning fever.

[FN#563] See Suppl. vol. iv. p. 191.

[FN#564] i.e. tempt not Providence unless compelled so to do by
necessity.

[FN#565] The youth was taking a "Fál" or omen: see vol. v. 136.

[FN#566] In text "Hasal," for which I would read "Khasal."

[FN#567] A wiser Sprichwort than those of France and America. It
compares advantageously with the second par. of the Declaration
of Independence (July 4, 1776) by the Representatives of the
U.S., which declares, "these truths to be self-evident:--that all
men are created equal," etc. It is regretable that so trenchant a
state-paper should begin with so gross and palpable a fallacy.
Men are not born equal, nor do they become equal before their
death-days even in condition, except by artificial levelling; and
in republics and limited monarchies, where all are politically
equal, the greatest social inequalities ever prevail. Still
falser is the shibboleth-crow of the French cock, "Liberté,
Egalité, Fraternité," which has borrowed its plumage from the
American Bird o' Freedom. And Douglas Jerrold neatly expressed
the truth when he said,--"We all row in the same boat but not
with the same sculls."

[FN#568] Sayf Kunúzí = a talismanic scymitar: see "Kanz," ix.
320.

[FN#569] In Arab. "Al-Kutb al-Ghauth" = lit. the pole-star of
invocation for help; or simply "Al-Ghauth" is the highest degree
of sanctity in the mystic fraternity of Tasawwuf. See v. 384; and
Lane (A. N.) i. 232. Students who would understand these titles
will consult vol. iii. chapt. 12 of The Dabistán by Shaw and
Troyer, Paris and London, 1843. By the learned studies of Dr.
Pertsch the authorship of this work of the religious eclecticism
of Akbar's reign, has been taken from the wrongful claimant and
definitively assigned to the legitimate owner, Mobed Shah. (See
Z. d. M. G. xvi. 224.) It is regretable that the index of the
translation is worthless as its contents are valuable.

[FN#570] Arab. "Su'ubán" = cockatrice, etc., vols. i. 172; vii.
322. Ibn Khaldun (vol. iii. 350) tells us that it was the title
of a famous and fatal necklace of rubies.

[FN#571] In Ar. "Anakati-h." [This is a very plausible conjecture
of the translator for the word written in the text: "'Anfakati-h"
= the hair between the lower lips and the chin, and then used for
the chin itself.--ST.]

[FN#572] In the text "Tisht" (a basin for the ewer), which I have
translated tray: these articles are often six feet in diameter.

[FN#573] A neat touch of realism: the youth is worn out by the
genial labours of the night which have made the bride only the
merrier and the livelier. It is usually the reverse with the
first post-nuptial breakfast: the man eats heartily and the woman
can hardly touch solid food. Is this not a fact according to your
experience, Mesdames?

[FN#574] In text "Tazarghít" a scribal error for "Zaghrítah." In
Mr. Doughty (ii. 621) "Zalághít" for "Zaghárit" and the former is
erroneously called a "Syrian word." The traveller renders it by
"Lullul-lullul-lullul-lá." [Immediately before, however, the
correct form "hiya tazaghritu," she was lulli-looing, had been
used. The word occurs in numerous forms, differentiated by the
interchange of the dental and palatal "t" and of the liquid
letters "r" and "l." Dozy gives: "Zaghrata," "Zaghlata" and
"Zalghata" for the verb, and "Zaghrítah," "Zaghrútah" (both with
pl. "Zaghárít"), "Zalghútah," "Zalghatah" (both with pl.
"Zalághít"), and even a plural "Zaghálít" for the noun.--ST.]

[FN#575] In these cases usually an exception is made of brigands,
assassins and criminals condemned for felony. See Ibn Khaldun,
iv. 189.

[FN#576] [In text: "biyarza' fí Asábí-hi" (see supra p. 294).
This is, as far as I remember, the only instance where in the MS.
the aorist is preceded by the preposition "bi," a construction
now so common in the popular dialects. Strange as it may appear
at first sight, it has a deep foundation in the grammatical
sentiment, if I may say so, of the Arabic language, which always
ascribed a more or less nominal character to the aorist. Hence
its inflection by Raf' (u), Nasb (a) and Jazm (absence of final
vowel), corresponding to the nominative, accusative and oblique
case of the noun. Moreover in the old language itself already
another preposition ("li") was joined to the aorist. The less
surprising, therefore, can it be to find that the use of a
preposition in connection with it has so largely increased in the
modern idiom, where it serves to mark this semi-nominal character
of the aorist, which otherwise would be lost in consequence of
the loss of the vowel terminations. This interesting subject
deserves a fuller development, but I must reserve it for another
opportunity--inshá 'lláh!--ST.]

[FN#577] [Again "yastanit" = he listened attentively; comp. note
p. 24.--ST.]

[FN#578] In text "Zarb al-Aklám."

[FN#579] Vol. iii. 247-261. This violation of the Harem is very
common in Egypt.

[FN#580] Arab. "Fadáwi," here again = a blackguard, see Suppl.
vol. iv. 220.

[FN#581] The Irishman says, Sleep with both feet in one stocking.

[FN#582] Arab. or rather Egypt. "Bábúj," from "Bábúg," from the
Pers. "Pay-púsh" = foot-clothing, vulg. "Pápúsh." To beat with
shoe, slipper, or pipe-stick is most insulting; the idea, I
believe, being that these articles are not made, like the rod and
the whip, for coporal chastisement, and are therefore used by way
of slight. We find the phrase "he slippered the merchant" in old
diaries, e.g. Sir William Ridges, 1683, Hakluyts, mdccclxxvii.

[FN#583] Arab. "Sarmújah" = sandals, slippers, shoes, esp. those
worn by slaves.

[FN#584] Suggesting carnal need.

[FN#585] The young man being grown up did not live in his
father's house.

[FN#586] Arab. "Tartara." The lexicons give only the sigs.
"chattering" and so forth. Prob. it is an emphatic reduplication
of "Tarra" = sprouting, pushing forward.

[FN#587] The youth plays upon the bride's curiosity, a favourite
topic in Arab. and all Eastern folk-lore.

[FN#588] There is a confusion in the text easily rectified by the
sequel. The facetia suggests the tale of the Schildburgers, who
on a fine summer's day carried the darkness out of the house in
their caps and emptied it into the sunshine which they bore to
the dark room.

[FN#589] A kindly phrase popularly addressed to the returning
traveller whether long absent or not.

[FN#590] In the text "Hamákah."

[FN#591] Arab. "Adi" which has occurred before.

[FN#592] This "little orgie," as moderns would call it, strongly
suggests the Egyptian origin of the tale.

[FN#593] MS. vol. vi. 262-271. Arab. " 'Adím al-Zauk" which the
old Latin dictionaries translate "destitutus experientiæ" and
"expers desiderii," and it is = to our deficient in taste,
manners, etc. The term is explained in vol. ix. 266. Here it
evidently denotes what we call "practical joking," a dangerous
form of fun, as much affected by Egyptians as by the Hibernians.

[FN#594] In text "Wakálah" = an inn: vol. i. 266.

[FN#595] " 'Ausaj," for which the dictionaries give only a thorny
plant, a bramble.

[FN#596] The grand old Eastern or Desert-gate of Cairo: see vol.
vi. 234.

[FN#597] Arab. "Thakálah," lit. = heaviness, dullness, stupidity.

[FN#598] This is a mere shot: the original has "Baítharán."

[FN#599] Arab. "Mayzah" = the large hall with a central fountain
for ablution attached to every great Mosque.

[FN#600] In the text "Shashmah," from Pers. "Chashmah" a
fountain; applied in Egypt to the small privies with slab and
hole; vol. i. 221.

[FN#601] [In Ar. "Unsak," an expression principally used when
drinking to one's health, in which sense it occurs, for instance,
in the Bresl. ed. of The Nights, i. 395, 7.-ST.]

[FN#602] Arab. "Mutáti bi zahri-h": our ancestors' expression was
not polite, but expressive and picturesque.

[FN#603] The normal pun: "Fátihah," fem. of "fátih" = an opener,
a conqueror, is the first Koranic chapter, for which see iv. 36.

[FN#604] This appears to be a kind of padding introduced to fill
up the Night. The loan of an ass is usually granted gratis in
Fellah villages and Badawi camps. See Matth. xxi. 2, 3; Mark xi.
2-6, and Luke xix. 30-34.

[FN#605] i.e. O Moslem, opposed to Enemy of Allah = a non-Moslem.
In text Yá 'Ibád, plur. for sing.

[FN#606] Arab. "Kashshara" = grinned a ghastly smile; it also
means laughing so as to show the teeth.

[FN#607] This tale follows "The Kazi of Baghdd, his Treacheous
Brother and his Virtuous Wife," which is nothing but a replica o
"The Jewish Kazi and his Pious Wife" (vol. v. 256). Scott has
translated it, after his fashion, in vol. vi. p. 396-408, and
follows it up with "The sultan's Story of Himself," which ends
his volume as it shall be the conclusion of mine.

[FN#608] In text, "Wa yaakhazu 'l thalátha arbá' min máli-hi wa
salbi hálí-hi."

[FN#609] In text, "La-hu Diráah (for "Diráyah" = prudence) fí
tadbírí 'l-Mulúk."

[FN#610] In text, "Al-Sirru 'l-iláhi," i.e. the soul, which is
"divinæ particula auræ."

[FN#611] In text, "Nuwájiru 'l-wukúfat." [I read "nuwájiru (for
nuájiru") 'l-wukúfát," taking the first word to be a verb
corresponding to the preceding, "nabí'u," and the second a
clerical error for "al-Maukúfát." In this case the meaning would
be: "and letting for hire such parts of my property as were
inalienable."--ST.]

[FN#612] Here the text has the normal enallage of persons, the
third for the first, "the youth" for "I." I leave it unaltered by
way of specimen.

[FN#613] In text "'Arús muhallíyah."

[FN#614] He fainted thinking of the responsibilities of whoso
should sit thereupon.

[FN#615] Here is a third enallage, the King returning to the
first person, the oratio directa.

[FN#616] i.e. "by Allah;" for "Bi" (the particle proper of
swearing) see viii. 310.

[FN#617] Here again is a fourth enallage; the scribe continuing
the narrative.

[FN#618] i.e. well fed, sturdy and bonny.

[FN#619] "Sára lá-hu Shanán." [The work in the text, which is
exceedingly badly written, looks to me as if it were meant for
"Thániyan" = and he (the youth) became second to him (the
Sultan), i.e. his alter ego.--ST.]

[FN#620] In text "Yatama'ash min-hu." [A denominative of the 5th
form from "Ma'ásh," livelihood. It usually has the meaning of
"earning one's living," but occurs in Makkari's Life of Ibn
al-Khatíb also in the sense of "feeding or glutting upon,"
although applied there not to victuals but to books.--ST.]

[FN#621] In text "Sára yuráshí-h." ["Yuráshí" and "yuráshú,"
which had occured p. 304, are the 6th form of "rashá, yarshú" =
he bestowed a gift (principally for the sake of bribery, hence
"Rashwah" or "Rishwah" = a bribe), he treated kindly.--ST.]

[FN#622] "Markab Mausúkah," from "Wask" = conceiving, being
pregnant, etc.

[FN#623] "Mutawassi * * * al-Wisayát al-Támmah." ["Mutawassi" has
been met with before (see p. 303) and "Wisáyah" is the
corresponding noun = he charged himself with (took upon himself)
her complete charge, i.e. maintnance.--ST.]

[FN#624] [In Ar. "khallí-ná nak'ud," a thoroughly modern
expression. It reads like a passage from Spitta Bey's Contes
Arabes Modernes, where such phrases as: "khallí-ná niktib
al-Kitáb," let us write the marriage contract, "ma-ttkhallihsh
(for "má takhallí-hu shay") yishúfak," let him not see thee and
the like are very frequent.--ST.]

[FN#625] "Fi Kashshi 'l-Markab;" According to custome in the East
all the ship's crew had run on shore about their own business as
soon as she cast anchor. This has happened to me on board an
Egyptian man-of-war where, on arriving at Suez, I found myself
the sum total of the crew.

[FN#626] In text, "Jílan ba'da Jíl:" the latter word =
revolutions, change of days, tribe, people.

[FN#627] The dénoument is a replica of "The Tale of the King who
lost kingdom and wife and wealth and Allah restored them to him"
(Suppl. Nights, vol. i. 221). That a Sultan should send his
Ministers to keep watch over a ship's cargo sounds passably
ridiculous to a European reader, but a coffee-house audience in
the East would have found it perfectly natural. Also, that three
men, the Sultan and his sons, should live together for years
without knowing anything of one another's lives seems to us an
absurdity; in the case of an Oriental such detail would never
strike him even as impossible or even improbable.