The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 13, Sir Richard Francis Burton [ebook offline txt] 📗

The brothers set out to fetch them leaving their shirts which become black when the mishap befalls them. The sister, directed by a monk, catches the bird and revives the stones by the River of Life and the denouement is brought about by a sausage stuffed with diamonds. In Miss Stokes’ Collection of Hindu Stories (No. xx.) “The Boy who had a moon on his brow and a star on his chin” also suggests the “Envious Sisters.”

 

[FN#350] Pop. “Ghaut” = The steps (or path) which lead down to a watering-place. Hence the Hind� saying concerning the “rolling stone”—Dhobi-ka kutt�; na Ghark� na Gh�t-k�, = a washerwoman’s tyke, nor of the house nor of the Gh�t-dyke.

 

[FN#351] Text “Khat�bah” more usually “Khutbah” = the Friday sermon preached by the Khat�b: in this the reigning sovereign is prayed for by name and his mention together with the change of coinage is the proof of his lawful rule. See Lane, M. F., chap.

iii.

 

[FN#352] This form of eaves-dropping, in which also the listener rarely hears any good of himself is, I need hardly now say, a favourite incident of Eastern Storiology and even of history, e.g. Three men met together; one of them expressed the wish to obtain a thousand pieces of gold, so that he might trade with them; the other wished for an appointment under the Emir of the Moslems; the third wished to possess Yusuf’s wife, who was the handsomest of women and had reat political influence. Yusuf, being informed of what they said, sent for the men, bestowed one thousand dinars on him who wished for that sum, gave an appointment to the other and said to him who wished to possess the lady: “Foolish man! What induced you to wish for that which you can never obtain?” He then sent him to her and she placed him in a tent where he remained three days, receiving, each day, one and the same kind of food. She had him brought to her and said, “What did you eat these days past?” He replied: “Always the same thing!”—“Well,” said she, “all women are the same thing.” She then ordered some money and a dress to be given him, after which, she dismissed him. (Ibn Khallikan iii. 463-64.) [FN#353] This ruthless attempt at infanticide was in accordance with the manners of the age nor has it yet disappeared from Rajput-land, China and sundry over-populous countries. Indeed it is a question if civilisation may not be compelled to revive the law of Lycurgus which forbade a child, male or female, to be brought up without the approbation of public officers appointed ad hoc. One of the curses of the XIXth century is the increased skill of the midwife and physician, who are now able to preserve worthless lives and to bring up semi-abortions whose only effect upon the breed is increased degeneracy. Amongst the Greeks and ancient Arabs the Malthusian practice was carried to excess.

Poseidippus declares that in his day—

 

A man, although poor, will not expose his son; But however rich, will not preserve his daughter.

 

See the commentators’ descriptions of the Wa’d al-Ban�t or burial of Mau�d�t (living daughters), the barbarous custom of the pagan Arabs (Koran, chaps. Xvi. And lxxxi.) one of the many abominations, like the murderous vow of Jephtha, to which Al-Islam put a summary stop. (Ibn Khallikan, iii. 609-606) For such outcast children reported to be monsters, see pp. 402-412 of Mr.

Clouston’s “Asiatic and European versions of four of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales,” printed by the Chaucer Society.

 

[FN#354] Hind. Chhuchhundar (Sorex c�rulescens) which occurs repeatedly in verse; e.g., when speaking of low men advanced to high degree, the people say:—

 

Chhuchh�ndar-ke sir-par Chambel�-ka tel.

The Jasmine-oil on the musk-rat’s head.

 

In Galland the Sult�nah is brought to bed of un morceau de bois; and his Indian translator is more consequent, Hahn, as has been seen, also has the mouse but Hahn could hardly have reached Hindostan.

 

[FN#355] This title of Sh�hinshah was first assumed by Ardash�r, the great Persian conqueror, after slaying the King of Ispah�n, Ardaw�n. (Tabari ii. 73.)

 

[FN#356] This imprisonment of the good Queen reminds home readers of the “Cage of Clapham” wherein a woman with child was imprisoned in A.D. 1700, and which was noted by Sir George Grove as still in existence about 1830.

 

[FN#357] Arab. Ayy�m al-Nif�s = the period of forty days after labour during which, according to Moslem law, a woman may not cohabit with her husband.

 

[FN#358] A clarum et venerabile nomen in Persia; meaning one of the Spirits that preside over beasts of burden; also a king in general, the P.N. of an ancient sovereign, etc.

 

[FN#359] This is the older pronunciation of the mod. (Khusrau) “Parv�z”; and I owe an apology to Mr. C.J. Lyall (Ancient Arabian Poetry) for terming his “Khusrau Parv�z” an “ugly Indianism” (The Academy, No. 100). As he says (Ibid. vol. x. 85), “the Indians did not invent for Persian words the sounds � and �, called majh�l (i.e. �not known in Arabic’) by the Arabs, but received them at a time when these wounds were universally used in Persia.

The substitution by Persians of � and � for � and � is quite modern.”

 

[FN#360] i.e. Fairy-born, the {Greek} (Parysatis) of the Greeks which some miswrite {Greek}.

 

[FN#361] In Arab. Usually shortened to “Haz�r” (bird of a thousand tales = the Thousand), generally called “‘Andal�b:”

Galland has Bulbulhezer and some of his translators debase it to Bulbulkezer. See vol. v. 148, and the Haz�r-dast�n of Kazw�n� (De Sacy, Chrest. iii. 413). These rarities represent the Rukh’s egg in “Alaeddin.”

 

[FN#362] These disembodied “voices” speaking either naturally or through instruments are a recognized phenomenon of the so-called “Spiritualism,” See p. 115 of “Supra-mundane Facts,” &c., edited by T.J. Nichols, M.D., &c., London, Pitman, 1865. I venture to remark that the medical treatment by Mesmerism, Braidism and hypnotics, which was violently denounced and derided in 1850, is in 1887 becoming a part of the regular professional practice and forms another item in the long list of the Fallacies of the Faculty and the Myopism of the “Scientist.”

 

[FN#363] I may also note that the “H�tif,” or invisible Speaker, which must be subjective more often than objective, is a commonplace of Moslem thaumaturgy.

 

[FN#364] It may have been borrowed from Ulysses and the Sirens.

 

[FN#365] Two heroes of the Shahn�meh and both the types of reckless daring. The monomachy or duel between these braves lasted through two days.

 

[FN#366] The “B�gh” or royal tiger, is still found in the jungles of M�zender�n and other regions of Northern Persia.

 

[FN#367] In addressing the Shah every Persian begins with the formula “Kurb�n-at b�sham” = may I become thy Corban or sacrifice. For this word (Kurb�n) see vol. viii. 16.

 

[FN#368] The King in Persia always speaks of himself in the third person and swears by his own blood and head, soul, life and death. The form of oath is ancient: Joseph, the first (but not the last) Jew-financier of Egypt, emphasises his speech “by the life of Pharaoh.” (Gen. xiii. 15, 16.)

 

[FN#369] Another title of the Shah, making him quasi-divine, at any rate the nearest to the Almighty, like the Czar and the Emperor of China. Hence the subjects bow to him with the body at right angles as David did to Saul (I Sam. xxiv, 8) or fall upon the face like Joshua (v. 14).

 

[FN#370] A most improbable and absurd detail: its sole excuse is the popular superstition of “blood speaking to blood.” The youths being of the royal race felt that they could take unwarrantable liberties.

 

[FN#371] This is still a Persian custom because all the subjects, women as well as men, are virtually the King’s slaves.

 

[FN#372] i.e. King of kings, the {Greek}.

 

[FN#373] Majlis garm karna, i.e. to give some life to the company.

 

[FN#374] In Arabic “‘Ilm al-Muk�shafah” = the science by which Eastern adepts discover man’s secret thoughts. Of late years it has appeared in England but with the same quackery and imposture which have ruined “Spiritualism” as the Faith of the Future.

 

[FN#375] Nor are those which do occur all in the same order: The first in the Turkish book “Of ‘Eb�-‘l-K�sim of Basra, of the ‘Em�r of Basra, and of ‘Eb�-‘l-Faskh of W�sit,” is probably similar to the first of Petis, “History of Aboulcasem of Basra.”

The second “Of Fadzlu- ‘llah of Mawsil (Moser), of ‘Eb�-‘l-Hasan, and of M�hy�r of W�sit,” is evidently the seventh in Petis, “History of Fadlallah, Son of Bin Ortoc, King of Moussel.” The fourth, “Of Ridzw�n-Shah of China and the Shahrist�ni Lady,” is the second in Petis, “History of King Razvanschad and of the Princess Cheheristany.” The eleventh, “Of the Sovereign without a care and of the Vaz�r full of care,” is the eighth in Petis History of King Bedreddin Lolo and of his Vizier Altalmulc.” The third, “Of the Builder of Bemm with the two Vaz�rs of the king of Kaw�shar,” the seventh, “Of the Rogue Nasr and the son of the king of Khur�s�n,” and the tenth, “The Three Youths, the Old Man, and the Daughter of the King,” I cannot, from these titles, recognise in Petis; while the fifth, “Farrukh-Sh�d, Farrukh-R�z, and Farrukh-N�z,” may be the same as the frame story of the “Haz�r � Yek R�z,” where the king is called Togrul-bey, his son Farrukrouz, and his daughter Farruknaz, and if this be the case, the Turkish book must differ considerably from the Persian in its plan.—Although “The Thousand and One Nights” has not been found in Persian, there exists a work in that language of which the plan is somewhat similar—but adapted from an Indian source. It is thus described by Dr. Rieu, in his Catalogue of Persian MSS.

in the British Museum, vol. ii. p. 773: Tale of Sh�rz�d, son of Gurgahan, emperor of China, and Gulsh�d, daughter of the vaz�r Farrukhz�d (called the Story of the Nine Belvideres). Nine tales told by Gulshad to Sh�rz�d, each in one of the nine belvideres of the royal palace, in order to save the forfeited life of her father.

 

[FN#376] A translation of this version, omitting the moral reflections interspersed, is given by Professor E. B. Cowell in the “Journal of Philology,” 1876, vol. vi. p. 193. The great Persian mystic tells another story of a Dream of Riches, which, though only remotely allied to our tale, is very curious: The Fakir and the Hidden Treasure.

 

Notwithstanding the clear evidence of God’s bounty, engendering those spiritual tastes in men, philosophers and learned men, wise in their own conceit, obstinately shut their eyes to it, and look afar off for what is really close to them, so that they incur the penalty of being “branded on the nostrils” [Kur�n, lxviii. 16], adjudged against unbelievers. This is illustrated by the story of the poor Fak�r who prayed to God that he might be fed without being obliged to work for his food. A divine voice came to him in his sleep and directed him to go to the house of a certain scribe and take a certain writing he should find there. He did so, and on reading the writing found that it contained directions for discovering a hidden treasure. The directions were as follows: “Go outside the city to the dome which covers the tomb of the martyr, turn your back to the tomb and face towards Mecca, place an arrow in your bow, and where the arrow falls dig for the treasure.” But before the Fak�r had time to commence the search the rumour of the writing and its purport had reached the King, who at once sent and took it away from the Fak�r, and