A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 9

R >> Richard F. Burton >> The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 9




[FN#467] Arab. "Nakisatu'aklin wa din": the words are attributed
to the Prophet whom we find saying, "Verily in your wives and
children ye have an enemy, wherefore beware of them" (Koran lxiv.
14): compare 1 Cor. vii. 28, 32. But Maitre Jehan de Meung went
farther,

"Toutes etez, serez ou fuses
De faict ou de volonte, putes."

[FN#468] Arab. "Habibi wa tabibi," the common jingle.

[FN#469] Iblis and his connection with Diabolos has been noticed
in vol. i. 13. The word is foreign as well as a P.N. and
therefore is imperfectly declined, although some authorities
deduce it from "ablasa"=he despaired (of Allah's mercy). Others
call him Al-Haris (the Lion) hence Eve's first-born was named in
his honour Abd al-Harts. His angelic name was Azazil before he
sinned by refusing to prostrate himself to Adam, as Allah had
commanded the heavenly host for a trial of faith, not to worship
the first man, but to make him a Keblah or direction of prayer
addressed to the Almighty. Hence he was ejected from Heaven and
became the arch enemy of mankind (Koran xviii. 48). He was an
angel but related to the Jinn: Al-Bayzawi, however (on Koran ii.
82), opines that angelic by nature he became a Jinn by act. Ibn
Abbas held that he belonged to an order of angels who are called
Jinn and begot issue as do the nasnas, the Ghul and the Kutrub
which, however are male and female, like the pre-Adamite manwoman
of Genesis, the "bi-une" of our modern days. For this subject see
Terminal Essay.


[FN#470] As usual in the East and in the West the husband was
the last to hear of his wife's ill conduct. But even Othello did
not kill Emilia.

[FN#471] i.e. Star of the Morning: the first word occurs in Bar
Cokba Barchocheba=Son of the Star, i.e., which was to come out of
Jacob (Numbers xxiv. 17). The root, which does not occur in Heb.,
is Kaukab to thine. This Rabbi Akilah was also called Bar Cozla=
Son of the Lie.

[FN#472] Here some excision has been judged advisable as the
names of the bridegrooms and the brides recur with damnable
iteration.

[FN#473] See the note by Lane's Shaykh at the beginning of the
tale. The contrast between the vicious wife of servile origin and
the virtuous wife of noble birth is fondly dwelt upon but not
exaggerated.

[FN#474] i.e. those of his water skins for the journey, which as
usual required patching and supplying with fresh handles after
long lying dry.

[FN#475] A popular saying also applied to men. It is usually
accompanied with showing the open hand and a reference to the
size of the fingers. I find this story most interesting from an
anthropological point of view; suggesting how differently various
races regard the subject of adultery. In Northern Europe the
burden is thrown most unjustly upon the man, the woman who tempts
him being a secondary consideration; and in England he is
absurdly termed "a seducer." In former times he was "paraded" or
"called out," now he is called up for damages, a truly ignoble
and shopkeeper-like mode of treating a high offence against
private property and public morality. In Anglo-America, where
English feeling is exaggerated, the lover is revolver'd and the
woman is left unpunished. On the other hand, amongst Eastern and
especially Moslem peoples, the woman is cut down and scant
reckoning is taken from the man. This more sensible procedure has
struck firm root amongst the nations of Southern Europe where the
husband kills the lover only when he still loves his wife and
lover like is furious at her affection being alienated.

Practically throughout the civilised world there are only two
ways of treating women, Moslems keep them close, defend them from
all kinds of temptations and if they go wrong kill them.
Christians place them upon a pedestal, the observed of all
observers, expose them to every danger and if they fall, accuse
and abuse them instead of themselves. And England is so grandly
logical that her law, under certain circumstances, holds that
Mrs. A. has committed adultery with Mr. B. but Mr. B. has not
committed adultery with Mrs. A. Can any absurdity be more absurd?
Only "summum jus, summa injuria." See my Terminal Essay. I shall
have more to say upon this curious subject, the treatment of
women who can be thoroughly guarded only by two things, firstly
their hearts and secondly by the "Spanish Padlock."

[FN#476] Lane owns that this is "one of the most entertaining tales
in the work," but he omits it "because its chief and best portion
is essentially the same as the story of the First of the Three
Ladies of Baghdad." The truth is he was straitened for space by
his publisher and thus compelled to cut out some of the best
stories in The Nights.

[FN#477] i.e. Ibrahim of Mosul, the musician poet often mentioned
in The Nights. I must again warn the reader that the name is
pronounced Is-hak (like Isaac with a central aspirate) not Ishak.
This is not unnecessary when we hear Tait-shill for Tait's hill
and "Frederick-shall" for Friedrich, shall.

[FN#478] i.e. He was a proficient, an adept.

[FN#479] Arab. from Pers. Dulab=a waterwheel, a buttery, a
cupboard.

[FN#480] Arab. "Futur," the chhoti haziri of Anglo-India or
breakfast proper, eaten by Moslems immediately after the dawn-
prayer except in Ramazan. Amongst sensible people it is a
substantial meal of bread and boiled beans, eggs, cheese, curded
milk and the pastry called fatirah, followed by coffee and a
pipe. See Lane M. E. chapt. v. and my Pilgrimage ii. 48.

[FN#481] This "off-with-his-head" style must not be understood
literally. As I have noted, it is intended by the writer to show
the Kingship and the majesty of the "Vicar of Allah."

[FN#482] Lit. "the calamity of man (insan) is from the tongue"
(lisan).

[FN#483] For Khatt Sharif, lit.=a noble letter, see vol. ii. 39.

[FN#484] Arab. "Allah yastura-k"=protect thee by hiding what had
better be hidden.

[FN#485] Arab. "Janazir"=chains, an Arabised plural of the Pers.
Zanjir with the metathesis or transposition of letters peculiar
to the vulgar; "Janazir" for "Zanajir."

[FN#486] Arab. "Safinah"=(Noah's) Ark, a myth derived from the
Baris of Egypt with subsequent embellishments from the Babylonian
deluge-legends: the latter may have been survivals of the days
when the waters of the Persian Gulf extended to the mountains of
Eastern Syria. Hence I would explain the existence of extinct
volcanoes within sight of Damascus (see Unexplored Syria i. p.
159) visited, I believe, for the first time by my late friend
Charles F. Tyrwhitt-Drake and myself in May, 1871.

[FN#487] Mansur and Nasir are passive and active participles from
the same root, Nasr=victory; the former means triumphant and the
latter triumphing.

[FN#488] The normal term of Moslem mourning, which Mohammed
greatly reduced disliking the abuse of it by the Jews who even in
the present day are the strictest in its observance.

[FN#489] An euphuistic and euphemistic style of saying, "No, we
don't know."

[FN#490] Arab. "Rahan," an article placed with him in pawn.

[FN#491] A Moslem is bound, not only by honour but by religion,
to discharge the debts of his dead father and mother and so save
them from punishment on Judgment-day. Mohammed who enjoined mercy
to debtors while in the flesh (chapt. ii. 280, etc.) said "Allah
covereth all faults except debt; that is to say, there will be
punishment therefor." Also "A martyr shall be pardoned every
fault but debt." On one occasion he refused to pray for a Moslem
who died insolvent. Such harshness is a curious contrast with the
leniency which advised the creditor to remit debts by way of
alms. And practically this mild view of indebtedness renders it
highly unadvisable to oblige a Moslem friend with a loan.

[FN#492] i.e. he did not press them for payment; and, it must be
remembered, he received no interest upon his monies, this being
forbidden in the Koran.

[FN#493] Al-Mas'udi (chap. xvii.) alludes to furs of Sable
(Samur), hermelline (Al-Farwah) and Bortas (Turkish) furs of
black and red foxes. For Samur see vol. iv. 57. Sinjab is Persian
for the skin of the grey squirrel (Mu. lemmus, the lemming), the
meniver, erroneously miniver, (menu vair) as opposed to the
ermine=(Mus Armenius, or mustela erminia.) I never visit England
without being surprised at the vile furs worn by the rich, and
the folly of the poor in not adopting the sheepskin with the wool
inside and the leather well tanned which keeps the peasant warm
and comfortable between Croatia and Afghanistan.

[FN#494] Arab. "Tajir Alfi" which may mean a thousand dinars
(Stearling500) or a thousand purses (=Stearling5,000). "Alfi" is
not an uncommon P.N., meaning that the bearer (Pasha or pauper)
had been bought for a thousand left indefinite.

[FN#495] Tigris-Euphrates.

[FN#496] Possibly the quarter of Baghdad so called and mentioned
in The Nights more than once.

[FN#497] For this fiery sea see Sind Revisited i. 19.

[FN#498] Arab. "Al-Ghayb" which may also mean "in the future"
(unknown to man).

[FN#499] Arab. "Jabal"; here a mountainous island: see vol. i.
140.

[FN#500] i.e. ye shall be spared this day's miseries. See my
Pilgrimage vol. i. 314, and the delight with which we glided into
Marsa Damghah.

[FN#501] Arab. "Suwan"="Syenite" (-granite) also used for flint
and other hard stones. See vol. i. 238.

[FN#502] Koran xxiv. Male children are to the Arab as much prized
an object of possession as riches, since without them wealth is
of no value to him. Mohammed, therefore, couples wealth with
children as the two things wherewith one wards off the ills of
this world, though they are powerless against those of the world
to come.

[FN#503] An exclamation derived from the Surat Nasr (cx. 1) one
of the most affecting in the Koran. It gave Mohammed warning of
his death and caused Al-Abbas to shed tears; the Prophet sings a
song of victory in the ixth year of the Hijrah (he died on the
xth) and implores the pardon of his Lord.

[FN#504] Arab. "Dairah," a basin surrounded by hills. The words
which follow may mean, "An hour's journey or more in breadth.

[FN#505] These petrified folk have occurred in the "Eldest Lady's
Tale" (vol. i. 165), where they are of "black stone."

[FN#506] Arab. "Taj Kisrawi," such as was worn by the Chosroes
Kings. See vol. i. 75.

[FN#507] The familiar and far-famed Napoleonic pose, with the
arms crossed over the breast, is throughout the East the attitude
assumed by slave and servant in presence of his master. Those who
send statues to Anglo-India should remember this.

[FN#508] Arab. "Ta alik"=hanging lamps, often in lantern shape
with coloured glass and profuse ornamentation; the Maroccan are
now familiar to England.

[FN#509] Arab. "Kidrah," lit.=a pot, kettle; it can hardly mean
"an interval."

[FN#510] The wicket or small doorway, especially by the side of a
gate or portal, is called "the eye of the needle" and explains
Matt. xix. 24, and Koran vii. 38. In the Rabbinic form of the
proverb the camel becomes an elephant. Some have preferred to
change the Koranic Jamal (camel) for Habl (cable) and much
ingenuity has been wasted by Christian commentators on Mark x.
25, and Luke xviii. 25.

[FN#511] i.e. A "Kanz" (enchanted treasury) usually hidden
underground but opened by a counter-spell and transferred to
earth's face. The reader will note the gorgeousness of the
picture.

[FN#512] Oriental writers, Indian and Persian, as well as Arab,
lay great stress upon the extreme delicacy of the skin of the
fair ones celebrated in their works, constantly attributing to
their heroines bodies so sensitive as to brook with difficulty
the contact of the finest shift. Several instances of this will
be found in the present collection and we may fairly assume that
the skin of an Eastern beauty, under the influence of constant
seclusion and the unremitting use of cosmetics and the bath,
would in time attain a pitch of delicacy and sensitiveness such
as would in some measure justify the seemingly extravagant
statements of their poetical admirers, of which the following
anecdote (quoted by Ibn Khellikan from the historian Et Teberi)
is a fair specimen. Ardeshir ibn Babek (Artaxerxes I.), the first
Sassanian King of Persia (A.D. 226-242), having long
unsuccessfully besieged El Hedr, a strong city of Mesopotamia
belonging to the petty King Es Satiroun, at last obtained
possession of it by the treachery of the owner's daughter Nezireh
and married the latter, this having been the price stipulated by
her for the betrayal to him of the place. "It happened afterwards
that, one night, as she was unable to sleep and turned from side
to side in the bed, Ardeshir asked her what prevented her from
sleeping. She replied, 'I never yet slept on a rougher bed than
this; I feel something irk me.' He ordered the bed to be changed,
but she was still unable to sleep. Next morning, she complained
of her side, and on examination, a myrtle-leaf was found adhering
to a fold of the skin, from which it had drawn blood. Astonished
at this circumstance, Ardeshir asked her if it was this that had
kept her awake and she replied in the affirmative. 'How then,'
asked he, 'did your father bring you up?' She answered, 'He
spread me a bed of satin and clad me in silk and fed me with
marrow and cream and the honey of virgin bees and gave me pure
wine to drink.' Quoth Ardeshir, 'The same return which you made
your father for his kindness would be made much more readily to
me'; and bade bind her by the hair to the tail of a horse, which
galloped off with her and killed her." It will be remembered that
the true princess, in the well-known German popular tale, is
discovered by a similar incident to that of the myrtle-leaf. I
quote this excellent note from Mr. Payne (ix. 148), only
regretting that annotation did not enter into his plan of
producing The Nights. Amongst Hindu story-tellers a phenomenal
softness of the skin is a lieu commun: see Vikram and the Vampire
(p.285, "Of the marvellous delicacy of their Queens"); and the
Tale of the Sybarite might be referred to in the lines given
above.

[FN#513]
"(55) Indeed joyous on that day are the people of Paradise in
their employ;
(56) In shades, on bridal couches reclining they and their
wives:
(57) Fruits have they therein and whatso they desire.
(58) 'Peace!' shall be a word from a compassionating Lord."
Koran xxxvi. 55-58, the famous Chapt. "Ya Sin;" which most
educated Moslems learn by heart. See vol. iii. 19. In addition to
the proofs there offered that the Moslem Paradise is not wholly
sensual I may quote, "No soul wotteth what coolth of the eyes is
reserved (for the good) in recompense of their works" (Koran lxx.
17). The Paradise of eating, drinking, and copulating which Mr.
Palgrave (Arabia, i. 368) calls "an everlasting brothel between
forty celestial concubines" was preached solely to the baser sort
of humanity which can understand and appreciate only the
pleasures of the flesh. To talk of spiritual joys before the
Badawin would have been a non-sens, even as it would be to the
roughs of our great cities.

[FN#514] Arab. "Lajlaj" lit.=rolling anything round the mouth
when eating; hence speaking inarticulately, being tongue-tied,
stuttering, etc.

[FN#515] The classical "Phylarchs," who had charge of the
Badawin.

[FN#516] "The Jababirah" (giant-rulers of Syria) and the
"Akasirah" (Chosroes-Kings of Persia).

[FN#517] This shows (and we are presently told) that the intruder
was Al-Khizr, the "Green Prophet," for whom see vol. iv. 175.

[FN#518] i.e. of salvation supposed to radiate from all Prophets,
esp. from Mohammed.

[FN#519] This formula which has occurred from the beginning
(vol.i.1) is essentially Koranic: See Chapt. li. 18-19 and
passim.

[FN#520] This trick of the priest hidden within the image may
date from the days of the vocal Memnon, and was a favourite in
India, especially at the shrine of Somnauth (Soma-nath), the
Moon-god, Atergatis Aphrodite, etc.

[FN#521] Arab. "Almas"=Gr. Adamas. In opposition to the learned
ex-Professor Maskelyne I hold that the cutting of the diamond is
of very ancient date. Mr. W. M. Flinders Patrie (The Pyramids and
Temples of Gizah, London: Field and Tuer, 1884) whose studies
have thoroughly demolished the freaks and unfacts, the fads and
fancies of the "Pyramidists," and who may be said to have raised
measurement to the rank of a fine art, believes that the Euritic
statues of old Egypt such as that of Khufu (Cheops) in the Bulak
Museum were drilled by means of diamonds. AthenFus tells us (lib.
v.) that the Indians brought pearls and diamonds to the
procession of Ptolemy Philadelphus; and this suggests cutting, as
nothing can be less ornamental than the uncut stone.

[FN#522] i.e. as if they were holding a "Durbar"; the King's idol
in the Sadr or place of honour and the others ranged about it in
their several ranks.

[FN#523] These words are probably borrowed from the taunts of
Elijah to the priests of Baal (1 Kings xviii. 27). Both Jews and
Moslems wilfully ignored the proper use of the image or idol
which was to serve as a Keblah or direction of prayer and an
object upon which to concentrate thought and looked only to the
abuse of the ignoble vulgus who believe in its intrinsic powers.
Christendom has perpetuated the dispute: Romanism affects statues
and pictures: Greek orthodoxy pictures and not statues and the
so-called Protestantism ousts both.

[FN#524] Arab. "Sa'adah"=worldly prosperity and future happiness.

[FN#525] Arab. "Al-Ahd wa al-Misak" the troth pledged between the
Murid or apprentice-Darwaysh and the Shaykh or Master-Darwaysh
binding the former to implicit obedience etc.

[FN#526] Arab. "Taakhir" lit. postponement and meaning acting
with deliberation as opposed to "Ajal" (haste), precipitate
action condemned in the Koran lxv. 38.

[FN#527] i.e. I have been lucky enough to get this and we will
share it amongst us.

[FN#528] i.e. of saving me from being ravished.

[FN#529] Sa'idah=the auspicious (fem.): Mubarakah,=the blessed;
both names showing that the bearers were Moslemahs.

[FN#530] i.e. the base-born from whom base deeds may be expected.

[FN#531] Arab. "Badlat Kunuziyah=such a dress as would be found
in enchanted hoards (Kunuz): .g. Prince Esterhazy's diamond
jacket.

[FN#532] The lieu d'aisance in Eastern crafts is usually a wooden
cage or framework fastened outside the gunwale very cleanly but
in foul weather very uncomfortable and even dangerous.

[FN#533] Arab. "Ghull," a collar of iron or other metal,
sometimes made to resemble the Chinese Kza or Cangue, a kind of
ambulant pillory, serving like the old stocks which still show in
England the veteris vestigia ruris. See Davis, "The Chinese," i.
241. According to Al-Siyuti (p. 362) the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil
ordered the Christians to wear these Ghulls round the neck,
yellow head-gear and girdles, to use wooden stirrups and to place
figures of devils before their houses. The writer of The Nights
presently changes Ghull to "chains" and "fetters of iron."

[FN#534] Arab. "Ya fulan," O certain person! See vol. iii. 191.

[FN#535] Father of Harun al-Rashid A.H. 158-169 (=775-785) third
Abbaside who both in the Mac. and the Bul. Edits. is called "the
fifth of the sons of Al-Abbas." He was a good poet and a man of
letters, also a fierce persecutor of the "Zindiks" (Al-Siyuti
278), a term especially applied to those who read the Zend books
and adhered to Zoroastrianism, although afterwards applied to any
heretic or atheist. He made many changes at Meccah and was the
first who had a train of camels laden with snow for his
refreshment along a measured road of 700 miles (Gibbon, chapt.
lii.). He died of an accident when hunting: others say he was
poisoned after leaving his throne to his sons Musa al-Hadi and
Harun al-Rashid. The name means "Heaven-directed" and must not be
confounded with the title of the twelfth Shi'ah Imam Mohammed Abu
al-Kasim born at Sarramanrai A.H. 255 whom Sale (sect. iv.) calls
"Mahdi or Director" and whose expected return has caused and will
cause so much trouble in Al-Islam.

[FN#536] This speciosum miraculum must not be held a proof that
the tale was written many years after the days of Al-Rashid.
Miracles grow apace in the East and a few years suffice to mature
them. The invasion of Abraha the Abyssinia took place during the
year of Mohammed's birth; and yet in an early chapter of the
Koran (No. cv.) written perhaps forty-five years afterwards, the
small-pox is turned into a puerile and extravagant miracle. I
myself became the subject of a miracle in Sind which is duly
chronicled in the family-annals of a certain Pir or religious
teacher. See History of Sindh (p. 23O) and Sind Revisited (i.
156).

[FN#537] In the texts, "Sixth."

[FN#538] Arab. "Najis"=ceremonially impure especially the dog's
month like the cow's month amongst the Hindus; and requiring
after contact the Wuzu-ablution before the Moslem can pray.

[FN#539] Arab. "Akl al-hashamah" (hashamah=retinue;
hishmah=reverence, bashfulness) which may also mean "decorously
and respectfully," according to the vowel-points.

[FN#540] i.e. as the Vice-regent of Allah and Vicar of the
Prophet.

[FN#541] For the superiority of mankind to the Jinn see vol.
viii. 5;44.

[FN#542] According to Al-Siyuti, Harun al-Rashid prayed every day
a hundred bows.

[FN#543] As the sad end of his betrothed was still to be
accounted for.

[FN#544] For the martyrdom of the drowned see vol. i, 171, to
quote no other places.

[FN#545] i.e. if he have the power to revenge himself. The
sentiment is Christian rather than Moslem.

[FN#546] i.e. the power acquired (as we afterwards learn) by the
regular praying of the dawn-prayer. It is not often that The
Nights condescend to point a moral or inculcate a lesson as here;
and we are truly thankful for the immunity.

[FN#547] Arab. "Musafahah" which, I have said, serves for our
shaking hands: and extends over wide regions. They apply the
palms of the right hands flat to each other without squeezing the
fingers and then raise the latter to the forehead. Pilgrimage ii.
332, has also been quoted.

[FN#548] Equivalent to our saying about an ill wind, etc.

[FN#549] A proof of his extreme simplicity and bonhomie.

[FN#550] Arab. "Darfil"=the Gr. {Greek} later {Greek}, suggesting
that the writer had read of Arion in Herodotus i. 23.

[FN#551] 'Auj; I can only suggest, with due diffidence, that this
is intended for Kuch the well-known Baloch city in Persian
Carmania (Kirman) and meant by Richardson's "Koch u buloch." But
as the writer borrows so much from Al-Mas'udi it may possibly be
Auk in Sistan where stood the heretical city "Shadrak," chapt.
cxxii.

[FN#552] i.e. The excellent (or surpassing) Religious. Shaykhah,
the fem. of Shaykh, is a she-chief, even the head of the dancing-
girls will be entitled "Shaykhah."

[FN#553] The curtain would screen her from the sight of men-
invalids and probably hung across the single room of the
"Zawiyah" or hermit's cell. The curtain is noticed in the tales
of two other reverend women; vols. iv. 155 and v. 257.

[FN#554] Abdullah met his wife on Thursday, the night of which
would amongst Moslems be Friday night.

[FN#555] i.e. with Sa'idah.

Copyright (c) 2007. famouswriterz.com. All rights reserved.