The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 16, Sir Richard Francis Burton [novels to read for beginners TXT] 📗

see my Pligrimage i. 12-13.

 

[FN#331] In text, “‘Ayyik,” or “‘Ayyuk” = a hinderer (of disease) from ‘Ayk or ‘Auk, whence also ‘Ayy�k = Capella, a bright star proverbial for its altitude, as in the Turk, saw “to give praise to the ‘Ayy�k” = skies.

 

[FN#332] Auspicious formul�. The Cotheal MS. calls the physician “Dubdihk�n.”

 

[FN#333] In text “Kullu Shayyin l� mu’as’as”; the latter from “‘As’as” = to complicate a matter.

 

[FN#334] A sign that he diagnosed a moral not a bodily disorder.

We often find in The Nights, the doctor or the old woman distinguishing a love-fit by the pulse or similar obscure symptoms, as in the case of Seleucus, Stratonice and her step-son Antiochus—which seems to be the arch-type of these anecdotes.

 

[FN#335] Arab. “Kirsh,” before explained; in Harun’s day = 3

francs.

 

[FN#336] In the Cotheal MS. the recipe occupies a whole page of ludicrous items, e.g. Let him take three Miskals of pure “Union-with-the-lover,” etc.

 

[FN#337] In the Cotheal MS. Attaf seeks his paternal uncle and father-in-law with the information that he is going to the Pilgrimage and Visitation.

 

[FN#338] Called in the old translation or rather adaptation “Scheffander-Hassan” or simply “Scheffander” = Shahbandar Hasan, for which see vol. iv. 29. In the Cotheal MS. (p. 33) he becomes the “Emir Omar, and the B�sh� of Damascus” (p. 39).

 

[FN#339] The passage is exceedingly misspelt. “Amm� min Mayl�

Binti-ka sh�sh� An� Aswadu (for Sh�shi M. Houdas reads “J�sh�” =

my heart) Wa Tan� (read “Than�,” reputation) Binti-ka abyazu min Sh�sh�.”

 

[FN#340] One of the formul� of divorce.

 

[FN#341] In text “Mu�bal�r min Shaani-ka.” M. Houdas reads the first word “Muz�bal” = zubl�n, wearied, flaccid, weak.

 

[FN#342] For “Al-‘iddah,” in the case of a divorc�e three lunar months, for a widow four months and ten days and for a pregnant woman, the interval until her delivery, see vols. iii. 292; vi.

256; and x. 43: also Lane (M.E.) chap. iii.

 

[FN#343] In text “Alfi (4th form of ‘Lafw’) H�jatan,” the reading is that of M. Houdas; and the meaning would be “what dost thou want (in the way of amusement)? I am at thy disposal.”

 

[FN#344] Heron has here interpolated an adventure with a Bazar-cook and another with a Confectioner: both discover Ja’afar also by a copy of the “Giaffer” (Al-Jafr). These again are followed by an episode with a fisherman who draws in a miraculous draught by pronouncing the letters “Gim. Bi. Ouaow” (w�w = J. B.

W.), i.e. Ja’afar, Barmecide, Wazir; and discovers the Minister by a geomantic table. Then three Darvishes meet and discourse anent the virtues of “Chebib” (i.e. Attaf); and lastly come two blind men, the elder named Benphises, whose wife having studied occultism and the Dom-Daniel of Tunis, discovers Ja’afar. All this is to marshal the series of marvels and wonders upon wonders predicted to Ja’afar by his father when commanding him to visit Damascus; and I have neither space nor inclination to notice their enormous absurdities.

 

[FN#345] This Governor must not be confounded with the virtuous and parsimonious Caliph of the same name the tenth of the series (reign A.D. 692-705) who before ruling studied theology at Al-Medinah and won the sobriquet of “Mosque-pigeon.” After his accession he closed the Koran saying, “Here you and I part,” and busied himself wholly with mundane matters. The Cotheal MS.

mentions only the “Nabob” (N�ib = lieutenant) of Syria.

 

[FN#346] “Kap�” (written and pronounced Kapi in Turk.) is a door, a house or a government office and Kap�j� = a porter; Kap�j�-b�sh� = head porter; also a chamberlain in Arab. “H�j�b”; and Kap� Katkh�d�si (pron. Kapi-Ky�yas�) = the agent which every Governor is obliged to keep at Constantinople.

 

[FN#347] In text “Al-buy�rdi,” clerical error for “Buy�ruldi”

(pron. Buy�ruldu) = the written order of a Governor.

 

[FN#348] “Al-Yamaklak” = vivers, provaunt; from the T. “Yamak” =

food, a meal.

 

[FN#349] Meaning that he waived his right to it.

 

[FN#350] In text “Zaw�dah” (gen. “Azw�d” or “Azwi’dah”) =

provisions, viaticum.

 

[FN#351] In text “Takhtraw�n”; see vols. ii. 180; v. 175. In the Cotheal MS. it is a “Haudaj” = camel-litter (vol. viii. 235).

 

[FN#352] “Kubbat al-‘As�f�r,” now represented by the “Khan al-As�f�r,” on the road from Damascus to Palmyra, about four hours’ ride from and to the N. East of the B�b T�m� or N. Eastern gate. The name is found in Baedeker (p. 541). IN the C. MS. it becomes the “Than�yyat al-‘Uk�b” = the Vulture’s Pass.

 

[FN#353] Meaning that Attaf had not the heart to see his cousin-wife leave her home.

 

[FN#354] Written in Turkish fashion with the J�m (j) and three dots instead of one. This Persian letter is still preserved in the Arabic alphabets of Marocco, Algiers, etc.

 

[FN#355] In Arab. “Jinn” = spirit or energy of a man, which here corresponds with the Heb. “Aub”; so in the Hamasah the poet says, “My Jinn have not fled; my life is not blunted; my birds never drooped for fear,” where, say commentators, the Arabs compare an energetic man with a Jinn� or Shayt�n. So the Prophet declared of Omar, “I never saw such an ‘Abkar� amongst men,”

‘Abkar, in Yam�mah, like Yabr�n and Wab�r near Al-Yaman, being a desolate region, the home of wicked races destroyed by Allah and now haunted by gruesome hosts of non-human nature. Chenery, pp.

478-9.

 

[FN#356] In the C. MS. it is an Emir of the Emirs.

 

[FN#357] Arab. “T�bah.”

 

[FN#358] This excellent episode is omitted in the C. MS. where Attaf simply breaks gaol and reaching Aleppo joins a caravan to Baghdad.

 

[FN#359] In text “Katal�-n�”: see vols. v. 5; vi. 171.

 

[FN#360] In the C. MS. he enters a mosque and finds a Ja’�d�

(vagabond) who opens his bag and draws out a loaf, a roast food, lemons, olives, cucumbers and date-cake, which suggest to Attaf, who had not eaten such things for a month, “the table of Is� bin Maryam.” For the rest see Mr. Cotheal’s version.

 

[FN#361] The C. MS. gives the short note in full.

 

[FN#362] In text “al-Tow�b,” Arab. plur. of the Persian and Turk. “Top.” We hardly expected to find ordinance in the age of Harun al-Rashid, although according to Milton they date before the days of Adam.

 

[FN#363] M. Houdas would read for “Alhy Tys” in the text “Tuh�

Tays” a general feast; “Tuh�” = cooked meat and “Tays” = myriads of.

 

[FN#364] M. Houdas translates les injures devanc�rent les compliments, an idiom = he did not succeed in his design.

 

[FN#365] “Cousin” being more polite than “wife”: see vols. vi.

145; ix. 225.

 

[FN#366] Les vert�bres ont fait bourrelet, says M. Houdas who adds that “Shakb�n” is the end of a cloth, gown, or cloak, which is thrown over the shoulders and serves, like the “Jayb” in front, to carry small parcels, herbs, etc.

 

[FN#367] In the local Min jargon, the language of Fellahs, “Add�ki” = I will give thee.

 

[FN#368] In text “Min al-‘�n wa s�‘idan;” lit. = from this moment upwards.

 

[FN#369] “Tarajjum” taking refuge from Satan the Stone (Raj�m).

See vol. iv. 242.

 

[FN#370] i.e. a descenant of Al-H�shim, great-grandfather of the Prophet. See ix. 24.

 

[FN#371] In text “Shob�si,” for “Sob�sh�” which M. Houdas translates pr�v�t du Palais.

 

[FN#372] In the C. MS. Attaf’s head was to be cut off.

 

[FN#373] In the C. MS. the anagnorisis is much more detailed.

Ja’afar asks Attaf if he knew a Damascus-man Attaf hight and so forth; and lastly an old man comes forward and confesses to have slain the Shar�f or H�shimi.

 

[FN#374] The drink before the meal, as is still the custom in Syria and Egypt. See vol. vii. 132.

 

[FN#375] Gauttier (vii. 256), illustrating the sudden rise of low-caste and uneducated men to high degree, quotes a contemporary celebrity, the famous Mirza Mohammed Husayn Khan who, originally a Bakk�l or greengrocer, was made premier of Fath Ali Shah’s brilliant court, the last bright flash of Iranian splendour and autocracy. But Ir�n is a land upon which Nature has inscribed “Resurgam”; and despite her present abnormal position between two vast overshadowing empires—British India and Russia in Asia—she has still a part to play in history. And I may again note that Al-Islam is based upon the fundamental idea of a Republic which is, all (free) men are equal, and the lowest may aspire to the highest dignity.

 

[FN#376] In text “‘Aramram�.”

 

[FN#377] “Wa’ll�ha ‘l-Muwaffiku ‘l-Mu’in” = God prospereth and directeth, a formula often prefixed or suffixed to a book.

 

[FN#378] MS. pp. 628-685. Gauttier, vii. 64-90; Histoire du Prince Habib et de la Princesse Dorrat-el-Gawas. The English translation dubs it “Story of Habib and Dorathil-goase, or the Arabian Knight” (vol. iii. 219-89); and thus degrades the high sounding name to a fair echo of Dorothy Goose. The name = Pearl of the Diver: it is also the P.N. of a treatise on desinental syntax by the grammarian-poet Al-Hariri (Chenery, p. 539).

 

[FN#379] The “Ban� Hil�l,” a famous tribe which formed part of a confederation against the Prophet on his expedition to Honayn.

See Tabari, vol. iii. chapt. 32, and Doughty, Arabia Deserta (Index, B. Helal). In the text we have the vulgarism “Ban�” for “Ban�”.

 

[FN#380] Gauttier (vii. 64) clean omits the former Emir because he has nothing to do with the tale. In Heron it is the same, and the second chief is named “Emir-Ben-Hilac-Salamis”; or for shortness tout bonnement “Salamis”; and his wife becoming Am�rala which, if it mean anything, is = Colonel, or Captain R. N.

 

[FN#381] ie. Moon of the Nobles.

 

[FN#382] = the Beloved, le bien-aim�.

 

[FN#383] As has been seen Gauttier reduces the title to “Prince.”

Amongst Arabs, however, it is not only a name proper but may denote any dignity from a Shaykh to a Sultan rightly so termed.

 

[FN#384] For the seven handwritings see vol. iv. 196. The old English version says, “He learned the art of writing with pens cut in seven different ways.” To give an idea of the style it renders the quatrain:—“Father,” said the youth, “you must apply to my master, to give you the information you desire. As for me, I must long be all eye and all ear. I must learn to use my hand, before I begin to exercise my tongue, and to write my letters as pure as pearls from the water.” And this is translation!

 

[FN#385] I need hardly note that “Voices from the other world”

are a lieu commun of so-called Spiritualism. See also vol. i. 142

and Suppl. Vol. iii.

 

[FN#386] This tale and most of those in the MS. affect the K�1a �l-R�w� (= quoth the reciter) showing the true use of them. See Terminal Essay, vol. x. 144.

 

[FN#387] The missing apodosis would be, “You would understand the cause of my weeping.”

 

[FN#388] In the text there are only five lines. I have borrowed the sixth from the prose.

 

[FN#389] “D��d” = David: see vols. ii. 286; vi. 113.

 

[FN#390] For “Samhar�” see vol. iv. 258.

 

[FN#391] From “Rudaynah,” either a woman or a place: see vols.

ii. 1; vii. 265; and for “Khatt Hajar” vol. ii. 1.

 

[FN#392] This is the idiomatic meaning of the Arab word “Niz�l” =

dismounting to fight on foot.

 

[FN#393] In the text “Aky�l,” plur. of “Kayl” = Kings of the Himyarite peoples. See vol. vii. 60; here it is = the hero, the heroes.

 

[FN#394] An intensive word, “on the weight,” as the Arabs say of ‘Abb�s (stern-faced) and meaning “Very stern-faced, austere, grim.” In the older translations it becomes “Il Haboul”—utterly meaningless.

 

[FN#395]