One Thousand and One Nights, page 1266
235 For the Dajlah (Tigris) and Furát (Euphrates) see vols.
viii. 150- ix. 17. The topothesia is worse than Shakespearean. In
Weber’s Edit. of the “New Arabian Nights” (Adventures of
Simoustapha, etc.), the rivers are called “Ilfara” and “Aggiala.”
236 In text “Alwán,” for which see vol. vii. 135.
237 [The word which is here translated with: “and one had said that he had laboured hard thereat (walawá’yh?) seems scarcely to bear out this meaning. I would read it “wa’l-Aw’iyah” (plur. of wi’á), rendering accordingly: “and the vessels (in which the aforesaid meats were set out) shimmered like unto silver for their cleanliness.” — ST.]
238 In text “Al-Wahwah.”
239 In text, “Mutasa’lik” for “Moutasa’lik” = like a “sa’lúk.”
240 For this “high-spirited Prince and noble-minded lord” see vol. ix. 229.
241 In text “Bisáta-hum” = their carpets.
242 In text “Hawánít,” plur. of “Hanút” = the shop or vault of a vintner, pop. derived from the Persian Kháneh. In Jer. xxvii. 16, where the A. V. has “When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon and into the cabins,” read “underground vaults,” cells or cellars where wine was sold. “Hanút” also means either the vintner or the vintner’s shop. The derivation because it ruins man’s property and wounds his honour is the jeu d’esprit of a moralising grammarian. Chenery’s Al-Hariri, .
243 In the Arab. “Jawákín,” plur. of Arab. Jaukán for Pers. Chaugán, a crooked stick a club, a bat used for the Persian form of golf played on horseback — Polo.
244 [The text reads “Liyah,” and lower down twice with the article “Al-Liyah” (double Lam). I therefore suspect that “Liyyah,” equivalent with “Luwwah,” is intended which both mean Aloes-wood as used for fumigation (yutabakhkharu bi-hi). For the next ingredient I would read “Kit’ah humrah,” a small quantity of red brickdust, a commodity to which, I do not know with what foundation, wonderful medicinal powers are or were ascribed. This interpretation seems to me the more preferable, as it presently appears that the last-named articles had to go into the phial, the mention of which would otherwise be to no purpose and which I take to have been finally sealed up with the sealing clay. The whole description is exceedingly loose, and evidently sorely corrupted, so I think every attempt at elucidation may be acceptable. — ST.]
245 “Wa Kíta’h hamrah,” which M. Houdas renders un morceau de viande cuite.
246 This is a specimen of the Islamised Mantra called in Sanskrit Stambhana and intended to procure illicit intercourse. Herklots has printed a variety of formulæ which are popular throughout southern India: even in the Maldive Islands we find such “Fandita” (i.e. Panditya, the learned Science) and Mr. Bell (Journ., Ceylon Br. R. A. S. vii. 109) gives the following specimen, “Write the name of the beloved; pluck a bud of the screw-pine (here a palette de mouton), sharpen a new knife, on one side of the bud write the Surat al-Badr (chapter of Power, No. xxi., thus using the word of Allah for Satan’s purpose); on the other side write Vajahata; make an image out of the bud; indite particulars of the horoscope copy from beginning to end the Surat al-Rahmán (the Compassionating, No. xlviii.);, tie the image in five places with coir left-hand-twisted (i.e. widdershins or ‘against the sun’); cut the throat of a blood-sucker (lizard); smear its blood on the image; place it in a loft, dry it for three days, then take it and enter the sea. If you go in knee deep the woman will send you a message; if you go in to the waist she will visit you.” (The Voyage of Francois Pyrard, etc., .) I hold all these charms to be mere instruments for concentrating and intensifying the brain action called Will, which is and which presently will be recognised as the chief motor-power. See Suppl. vol. iii.
247 Probably the name of some Prince of the Jinns.
248 In text “Kamá zukira fí Dayli-h” = arrange-toi de facon à l’atteindre (Houdas).
249 Proverbial for its depth: Káshán is the name of sundry cities; here one in the Jibál or Irák ‘Ajami — Persian Mesopotamia.
250 Doubtless meaning Christians.
251 The Sage had summoned her by the preceding spell which the Princess obeyed involuntarily.
252 i.e., last night, see vol. iii. 249.
253 In text “Wuldán” = “Ghilmán”: the boys of Paradise; for whom and their feminine counterparts the Húr (Al-Ayn) see vols. i. 90, 211; iii. 233.
254 Arab. “Dukhn” = Holcus dochna, a well-known grain, a congener of the Zurrah or Durrah = Holcus Sativus, Forsk. cxxiii. The incident is not new. In “Des blaue Licht,” a Mecklenburg tale given by Grimm, the King’s daughter who is borne through the air to the soldier’s room is told by her father to fill her pocket with peas and make a hole therein; but the sole result was that the pigeons had a rare feast. See Suppl. vol. iii. 375.
255 i.e., a martyr of love. See vols. iii. 211; i-iv. 205.
256 In the text “Ka’ka’”; hence the higher parts of Meccah, inhabited by the Jurham tribe, was called “Jabal Ka’ka’án,” from their clashing arms (Pilgrimage iii. 191).
257 This was the work of the form of magic popularly known as Símiyá = fascination, for which see vol. i. 305, 332. It is supposed to pass away after a period of three days, and mesmerists will find no difficulty in recognising a common effect upon “Odylic sensitives.”
258 Here supply the MS. with “illá.”
259 In text “tatadakhkhal’alay-h:” see “Dakhíl-ak,” vol. i. 61.
260 Or “he”: the verb may also refer to the Sage.
261 Arab. “Kazafa” = threw up, etc.
262 This, in the case of the Wazir, was a transformation for the worse: see vol. vii. 294, for the different kinds of metamorphosis.
263 i.e. my high fortune ending in the lowest.
264 In text “Bakar” = black cattle, whether bull, ox or cow.
For ploughing with bulls.
265 In text “Mukrif” = lit. born of a slave father and free mother.
266 In text “Antum fí kháshin wa básh,” an error for “khásh-másh” = a miserable condition.
267 In text “yatbashsh” for “yanbashsha.” [Or it may stand for yabtashsh, with transpositions of the “t” of the eighth form, as usual in Egypt. See Spitta-Bey’s Grammar, . — ST.]
268 “Janánan,” which, says M. Houdas, is the vulgar form of “Jannatan” = the garden (of Paradise). The Wazir thus played a trick upon his hearers. [The word in the text may read “Jinánan,” accusative of “Jinán,” which is the broken plural of “Jannah,” along with the regular plural “Jannát,” and, like the latter, used for the gardens of Paradise. — ST.]
269 For this name of the capital of Eastern Arabia see vols. i. 33, vii. 24.
270 “To be” is the Anglo-Oriental form of “Thaub” = in
Arabia a loose robe like a nightgown. See ii. 206.
271 The good old Mosaic theory of retribution confined to this life, and the belief that Fate is the fruit of man’s action.
272 Arab. “Sandarúsah” = red juniper gum (Thuja articulata of Barbary), red arsenic realgar, from the Pers. Sandar = amber.
273 MSS. p-724. This fable, whose moral is that the biter is often bit, seems unknown to Æsop and the compilation which bore his name during the so-called Dark Ages. It first occurs in the old French metrical Roman de Renart entitled, Si comme Renart prist Chanticler le Coq (ea. Meon, tom. i. 49). It is then found in the collection of fables by Marie, a French poetess whose Lais are still extant; and she declares to have rendered it de l’Anglois en Roman; the original being an Anglo- Saxon version of Æsop by a King whose name is variously written Li reis Alured (Alfred ?), or Aunert (Albert ?), or Henris, or Mires. Although Alfred left no version of Æsop there is in MS. a Latin Æsop containing the same story of an English version by Rex Angliae Affrus. Marie’s fable is printed in extenso in the Chaucer of Dr. Morris (i. 247); London, Bell and Sons, 1880; and sundry lines remind us of the Arabic, e.g.: —
Li gupil volt parler en haut,
Et li cocs de sa buche saut,
Sur un haut fust s’est muntez.
And it ends with the excellent moral: —
Ceo funt li fol tut le plusur,
Parolent quant deivent taiser,
Teisent quant il deivent parler.
Lastly the Gentil Cok hight Chanticlere and the Fox, Dan Russel, a more accidented tale, appears in “The Nonne Preestes Tale,” by the Grand Traducteur.
274 “Durà” in MS. () for “Zurà,” the classical term, or for “Zurrah,” pop. pronounced “Durrah”=the Holcus Sativus before noticed, an African as well as Asiatic growth, now being supplanted by maize and rice.
275 “Sa’alab” or “Tha’lab”: vol. iii. 132.
276 In text “Kikán,” plur. of “Kíik” =des corneilles
(Houdas).
277 “Samman” or “Summán,” classically “Salwà.”
278 In text “Al-Kawání”=the spears, plur. of “Kanát.” [“Al- Kawání” as plural of a singular “Kanát”=spear would be, I think, without analogy amongst the plural formations, and its translation by “punishment” appears somewhat strained. I propose to read “al-Ghawání” and to translate “and whoever lags behind of the singing birds will not be safe” (“lá yaslimu,” it will not go well with him). In the mouth of the fox this implies a delicate compliment for the cock, who might feel flattered to be numbered amongst the same tribe with the nightingale and the thrush. — ST.]
279 In text “yá zayn” =Oh, the beautiful beast!
280 In text “Abú Sahíh”=(flight to) a sure and safe place.
281 MS. p-739.
282 Arab. “Zábit,” from “Zabt”=keeping in subjection, holding tight, tying. Hence “Zabtiyah” = a constable and “Zábit” = a Prefect of Police. See vol. i. 259. The rhyming words are “Rábit” and “Hábit.”
283 In text “Ráhib” = monk or lion.
284 The lines are wholly corrupt.
285 The “Bahalul” of D’Herbelot. This worthy was a half-witted Sage (like the Iourodivi of Russia and the Irish Omadhaun), who occupies his own place in contemporary histories flourished under Harun al-Rashid and still is famous in Persian Story. When the Caliph married him perforce and all the ceremonies were duly performed and he was bedded with the bride, he applied his ear to her privities and forthwith ran away with the utmost speed and alarm. They brought him back and questioned him concerning his conduct when he made answer, “ If you had only heard what it said to me you would have done likewise.” In the text his conduct is selfish and ignoble as that of Honorius
“Who strove to merit heaven by making earth a hell.”
And he shows himself heartless and unhuman as the wretched St.
Alexius of the Gesta Romanorum (Tale xv.), a warning of the
intense selfishness solemnly and logically inculcated by
Christianity. See vol. v. 150.
286 Koran, ch. li. v. 17.
287 Koran xx. 57: it is the famous “Tá-Há” whose first 14-16 verses are said to have converted the hard-headed Omar. In the text the citation is garbled and imperfect.
288 In text “Mas’h.”
289 “Hisában tawíl” = a long punishment.
290 The rod of Moses (see p-77) is the great prototype in Al-Islam of the staff or walking stick, hence it became a common symbol of dignity and it also served to administer ready chastisement, e.g. in the hands of austere Caliph Omar.
291 An onomatopy like “Coüic, Coüic.” For “Maksah,” read
“Fa-sáha” = and cried out.
292 “Zindík” = Atheist, Agnostic: see vols. v. 230; viii. 27.
293 “Harísah” = meat-pudding. In Al-Hariri (Ass. xix.) where he enumerates the several kinds of dishes with their metonomies it is called the “Mother of Strengthening” (or Restoration) because it contains wheat— “the Strengthener” (as opposed to barley and holcus). So the “Mother of Hospitality” is the Sikbáj, the Persian Sikbá, so entitled because it is the principal dish set before guests and was held to be royal food. (Chenery p, 457.) For the latter see infra.
294 This passage in the MS. () is apparently corrupt.
I have done my best to make sense of it.
295 In text “ Kamburisiyah.”
296 In the Dicts. a plant with acid flavour, dried, pounded and peppered over meat.
297 In text “Najas” = a pear.
298 “Tutmajíyah” for “Tutmáj.”
299 “Sikbáj,” a marinated stew like “Zirbájah” (vol. iii. 278): Khusrau Parwez, according to the historians, was the first for whom it was cooked and none ate of it without his permission. See retro.
300 Kishk=ground wheat, oatmeal or barley-flour eaten with soured sheep’s milk and often with meat.
301 So in text: I suspect for “‘Ajínniyah” = a dish of dough.
302 The Golden Calf is alluded to in many Koranic passages, e.g. Súrah ii. (the Cow) 48; vii. (Al-Aaráf) 146; S. Iiv. (Woman) 152; but especially in S. xx. (Tá Há) 90, where Sámiri is expressly mentioned. Most Christian commentators translate this by “Samaritan” and unjustly note it as “ a grievous ignorance of history on the part of Mohammed.” But the word is mysterious and not explained. R. Jehuda (followed by Geiger) says upon the text (Exod. xxxii. 24), “The calf came forth lowing and the Israelites beheld it”; also that “Samael entered into it and lowed in order to mislead Israel” (Pirke R. Eliezer, 45). Many Moslems identify Samiri with Micha (Judges xvii.), who is said to have assisted in making the calf (Raschi, Sanhedr. cii. 2; Hottinger, Hist. Orient. ). Selden (de Diis Syr. Syn. 1. cap.4) supposes that Samiri is Aaron himself, the Shomeer or keeper of Israel during the absence of Moses. Mr. Rodwell (Koran, 2nd Edit. ) who cleaves to the “ Samaritan” theory, writes, “ It is probable (?) that the name and its application, in the present instance, is to be traced to the old national feud between the Jews and the Samaritans” — of which Mohammed, living amongst the Jews, would be at least as well informed as any modern European. He quotes De Sacy (Chrest. i. 189) who states that Abu Rayhan Mohammed Birúni represents the Samaritans as being nicknamed (not Al-limsahsit as Mr. Rodwell has it, but) “Lá Mesas” or “Lá Mesásiyah” = the people who say “no touch” (i.e. touch me not, from Súrah xx. 97), and Juynboll, Chron. Sam. (Leid. 1848). Josephus (Ant. xii. ca) also mentions a colony of Samaritans settled in Egypt by Ptolemy Lagus, some of whose descendants inhabited Cairo as late as temp. Scaliger (De Emend. Temp. vii. 622). Sale notices a similar survival on one of the islands of the Red Sea. In these days the Samaritans or, as their enemies call them the Cuthim (“men from Cutha,” Cushites), in physical semblance typical Jews, are found only at Náblús where the colony has been reduced by intermarriage of cousins and the consequent greater number of male births to about 120 souls. They are, like the Shi’ah Moslems, careful to guard against ceremonial pollution: hence the epithet “Noli me tangere.”
303 Alluding to the “Sayyád,” lit. = a fisherman.
304 In text “Al-Zahr.”
305 “Ajdár.”
306 In text “Al-Maláya.”
307 In text “Sinaubar,” which may also mean pistachio-tree.
308 i.e. 475 to 478 Eng. grains avoir., less than the
Ukiyyah or Wukiyyah=ounce = 571.5 to 576 grains. Vol. ix. 216.
309 Not more absurd than an operatic hero singing while he dies.
310 MS. p-627. In Gauttier’s edit. vii. (234-256), it appears as Histoire de l’Habitant de Damas. His advertisement in the beginning of vol. vii. tells us that it has been printed in previous edits., but greatly improved in his; however that may be, the performance is below contempt. In Heron it becomes The POWER OF DESTINY, or Story of the Journey of Giafar to Damascus, comprehending the adventures of Chebib and his Family (Vol. i. P-175).
311 Damascus-city (for which see the tale of Núr al-Din Ali and his Son, The Nights, vol. i. 239-240) derives its name from Dimishk who was son of Bátir, i. Málik, i. Arphaxed, i. Shám, i. Nuh (Noah); or son of Nimrod, son of Canaan. Shám = Syria (and its capital) the land on the left, as opposed to Al-Yaman the land on the right of one looking East, is noticed in vol. i. 55. In Mr. Cotheal’s MS. Damascus is entitled “Shám” because it is the “Shámat” cheek-mole (beauty-spot) of Allah upon earth. “Jalak” the older name of the “Smile of the Prophet,” is also noted: see vol. ii. 109.
312 Hátim of the Tayy-tribe, proverbial for liberality.
See vols. iv. 95, and vii. 350.
313 In Mr. Cotheal’s MS. the Caliph first laughs until he falls backwards, and then after reading further, weeps until his beard in bathed.
314 Heron inserts into his text, “It proved to be a Giaffer, famous throughout all Arabia,” and informs us (?) in a foot-note that it is “Ascribed to a prince of the Barmecide race, an ancestor of the Gran Vizier Giafar.” The word “Jafr” is supposed to mean a skin (camel’s or dog’s), prepared as parchment for writing; and Al-Jafr, the book here in question, is described as a cabalistic prognostication of all that will ever happen to the Moslems. The authorship is attributed to Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet. There are many legendary tales concerning its contents; however, all are mere inventions as the book is supposed to be kept in the Prophet’s family, nor will it be fully explained until the Mahdi or Forerunner of Doomsday shall interpret its difficulties. The vulgar Moslems of India are apt to confuse Al-Jafr with Ja’afar bin Tayyár, the Jinni who is often quoted in talismans (see Herklots, p-257). D’Herbelot gives the sum of what is generally known about the “Jafr” (wa Jámi’a) under the articles “Ali” and “Gefru Giame.”
