The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 15 - Sir Richard Francis Burton (world best books to read txt) 📗

but by way of Foreword we read, “This is volume the second of the Thousand Nights and a Night from the xciiid. Night, full and complete.” And the Colophon declares, “And this is what hath been finished for us of the fourth (probably a clerical error for “second”) tome of the Thousand Nights and a Night to the clxxviith. Night, written on the twentieth day of the month Sha’b�n A.H., one thousand one hundred and seventy-seven” (=A.D.

1764). This date shows that the MS. was finished during the year after incept.

 

The text from which our MS. was copied must have been valuable, and we have reason to regret that so many passages both of poetry and prose are almost hopelessly corrupt. Its tone and tenor are distinctly Nilotic; and, as Mr. E. Wortley Montague lived for some time in Egypt, he may have bought it at the Capital of the Nile-land. The story of the Syrian (v. 468) and that of the Two Lack facts (vi. 262), notably exalt Misr and Cairo at the expense of Sh�m and Damascus; and there are many other instances of preferring Kemi the Black Soil to the so called “Holy Land.” The general tone, as well as the special incidents of the book, argues that the stories may have been ancient, but they certainly have been modernised. Coffee is commonly used (passim) although tobacco is still unknown; a youth learns archery and gunnery (Zarb al-Ris�s, vol. vii. 440); casting of cannon occurs (vol. v.

186), and in one place (vol. vi. 134) we read of “Taban-jatayn,”

a pair of pistols; the word, which is still popular, being a corruption of the Persian “Tab�ncheh” = a slap or blow, even as the French call a derringer coup de poing. The characteristic of this Recueil is its want of finish. The stories are told after perfunctory fashion as though the writer had not taken the trouble to work out the details. There are no names or titles to the tales, so that every translator must give his own; and the endings are equally unsatisfactory, they usually content themselves, after “native” fashion, with “Intih�” = finis, and the connection with the thread of the work must be supplied by the storyteller or the translator. Headlines were not in use for the MSS. of that day, and the catchwords are often irregular, a new word taking the place of the initial in the following page.

 

The handwriting, save and except in the first volume, has the merit of regularity, and appears the same throughout the succeeding six, except in the rare places (e.g. vi. 92-93), where the lazy copyist did not care to change a worn-out pen, and continued to write with a double nib. On the other hand, it is the character of a village-schoolmaster whose literary culture is at its lowest. Hardly a sheet appears without some blunder which only in rare places is erased or corrected, and a few lacun� are supplied by several hands, Oriental and European, the latter presumably Scott’s. Not unfrequently the terminal word of a line is divided, a sign of great incuria or ignorance, as “Sh�hr |

baz” (i. 4), “Shahr | z�d” (v. 309, vi. 106), and “Fawa |

jadtu-h” = so I found him (V. 104). Koranic quotations almost always lack vowel points, and are introduced without the usual ceremony. Poetry also, that crux of a skilful scribe, is carelessly treated, and often enough two sets of verse are thrown into one, the first rhyming in ur, and the second in �r (e.g.

vol. v. 256). The rhyme-words also are repeated within unlawful limits (passim and vol. v. 308, 11. 6 and II). Verse is thrust into the body of the page (vii. 112) without signs of citation in red ink or other (iii. 406); and rarely we find it, as it should be, in distichs divided by the normal conventional marks, asterisks and similar separations. Sometimes it appears in a column of hemistichs after the fashion of Europe (iv. III; iv..

232, etc.): here (v. 226) a quotation is huddled into a single line; there (v. 242) four lines, written as monostichs, are followed by two distichs in as many lines.

 

As regards the metrical part Dr. Steingass writes to me, “The verses in Al-Hayf� and Y�suf, where not mere doggerel, are spoiled by the spelling. I was rarely able to make out even the metre and I think you have accomplished a feat by translating them as you have done.”

 

The language of the MS. is generally that of the Fellah and notably so in sundry of the tales, such as, “The Goodwife of Cairo and her four Gallants” (v. 444). Of this a few verbal and phrasal instances will suffice. Ad�n� = here am I (v. 198); Ahn�

(passim, for nahnu) nakh�f = we fear; ‘Alayk� (for ‘alayki) = on thee; and generally the long vowel (-k ) for the short (-k�) in the pronoun of the second person feminine; Antah (for ante) =

thou (vi. 96) and Ant� (for antum) = you (iii. 351); Ar�ha and even ar�ha, r�hat and r�ha (for r�ha) = he went (Vii. 74 and iv.

75) and Ar�h� (for r�h�) = go ye (iv. 179); Bakarah * allazi (for allat�) = a cow (he) who, etc.; (see in this vol., p. 253) and generally a fine and utter contempt for genders, e.g. Hum (for hunna) masc. for fem. (iii. 91; iii. 146; and v. 233); T�

‘�li (for ta’�l) fem. for masc. (vi. 96 et passim); B�h�m (for bi-him) = with them (v. 367); Bi-k�m (for bi-kum) = with you (iii. 142) are fair specimens of long broad vowels supplanting the short, a peculiarity known in classical Arab., e.g. Mift�h (for Miftah) = a key. Here, however, it is exaggerated, e.g.

B�’�d (for ba’�d) = far (iv. 167); K�m (for kam) = how many? K�m (for kum) = you (v. 118); K�l-h� (for kul-ha) = tell it (iv 58); M�n (for man) = who? (iii. 89); Mirw�d (for Mirwad)= a branding iron; Natan�shshad (for natanashshad) = we seek tidings (v. 211); R�jal (pron. R�gil, for Rajul) = a man (iv. 118 and passim); S�hal (for sahal) = easy, facile (iv. 7I); S�r (for sir) = go, be off! (v. 199); Sh�l (for shil) =carry away (i. 111); and Z�hab (for zahab) = gold (v. 186). This broad Doric or Caledonian articulation is not musical to unaccustomed organs. As in popular parlance the D�l supplants the Z�l; e.g. Dahaba (for zahaba) = he went (v. 277 and passim); also T takes the place of Th, as Tult for thulth = one third (iii. 348) and Tamrat (for thamrat) =

fruit (v. 260), thus generally ignoring the sibilant Th after the fashion of the modern Egyptians who say Tumm (for thumma) =

again; “Kattir (for kaththir) Khayrak” = God increase thy weal, and Lattama (for laththama) = he veiled. Also a general ignoring of the dual, e.g. H�z� ‘usfurayn (for ‘Usfur�ni) = these be birds (vi. 121); Nazal� al-Wazirayn (do) = the two Wazirs went down (vii. 123); and lastly Al-Wuzar� al-itnayn (for Al-Waz�r�ni) =

the two Wazirs (vii. 121). Again a fine contempt for numbers, as Nanzur ana (for Anzur) = I (we) see (v. 198) and Inn� (for inn�) nar�hu = indeed I (we) go (iii. 190). Also an equally conscientious disregard for cases, as Min m�l ab�-h� (for ab�-h�) = out of the moneys of her sire (iv. 190); and this is apparently the rule of the writer.

 

Of Egyptianisms and vulgarisms we have Ant, m� ghibtshayy = thou, hast thou not been absent at all? with the shayy (a thing) subjoined to the verb in this and similar other phrases; Baks�sh for Bakhshish (iv. 356); Al-Jaw�z (for al-z�w�j) = marriage (i.

14); Fak� or Fak� (for fakih) = a divine (vi. 207 and passim); Finj�l (for finj�n) = a coffee-cup (v. 424, also a Najd� or Central Arabian corruption); Kuwayyis = nice, pretty (iv. 179); L�y�l� (for liall�) = lest that (v. 285); Luh�m�t (for luk�m) =

meats, a mere barbarism (v. 247); Matah (for Mat�) =when? (v.

464); Ma’�yah (for ma’�) =with me (vi. 13 et passim); Shuwayy (or shuwayyah) Mayah, a double diminutive (for Muwayy or Muwayh) = a small little water, intensely Nilotic (iv. 44); Mbarih or Emb�rah (for Al-b�rihah) = yesterday (v. 449); Takkat (for Dakkat) = she rapped (iv. 190); �zb�sh� and Uzb�sh� (for Y�zb�sh�) = a centurion, a captain (v.430 et passim); Z��djah for Z�ijah (vi.

329); Zar�gh�t (for Zagh�r�t) = lullilooing (iv. 12); Z�nah (for Zin�) = adultery, and lastly Z�da (for Z�da) = increased (iv.

87). Here the reader will cry jam satis; while the student will compare the list with that given in my Terminal Essay (vol. x.

149).

 

The two Appendices require no explanation. No. I. is a Catalogue of the Tales in the Wortley Montague MS., and No. II. contains Notes upon the Storiology of the Supplemental Volumes IV. and V.

by the practiced pen of Mr. W. P. Kirby. The sheets during my absence from England have been passed through the press and sundry additions and corrections have been made by Dr. Steingass.

 

In conclusion I would state that my hope was to see this Volume (No. xv.) terminate my long task; but circumstance is stronger than my will and I must ask leave to bring out one more—The New Arabian Nights.

 

RICHARD F. BURTON.

 

ATHEN�UM CLUB, September 1st, 1888.

 

Supplemental Nights To The Book Of The Thousand Nights And A Night

 

THE HISTORY OF THE KING’S SON OF SIND AND THE

LADY FATIMAH.[FN#3]

 

It is related that whilome there was a King of the many Kings of Sind who had a son by other than his wife. Now the youth, whenever he entered the palace, would revile[FN#4] and abuse and curse and use harsh words to his stepmother, his father’s Queen, who was beautiful exceedingly; and presently her charms were changed and her face waxed wan and for the excess of what she heard from him she hated life and fell to longing for death.

Withal she could not say a word concerning the Prince to his parent. One day of the days, behold an aged woman (which had been her nurse) came in to her and saw her in excessive sorrow and perplext as to her affair for that she knew not what she could do with her stepson. So the ancient dame said to her, “O my lady, no harm shall befal thee; yet is thy case changed into other case and thy colour hath turned to yellow.” Hereupon the Queen told her all that had befallen her from her stepson of harsh language and revilement and abuse, and the other rejoined, “O my lady, let not thy breast be straitened, and when the youth shall come to thee and revile thee and abuse thee, do thou say him, �Pull thy wits somewhat together till such time as thou shalt have brought back the Lady Fatimah, daughter of ‘Amir ibn al-Nu’um�n.’” The old woman taught her these words by heart, and anon went forth from her, when the Prince entered by the door and spoke harsh words and abused and reviled her; so his father’s wife said to him, “Lower thy tone and pull thy wits somewhat together, for thou be a small matter until thou shalt bring back the daughter of the Sultan, hight Fatimah, the child of ‘Amir ibn al-Nu’uman.”

Now when he heard these words he cried, “By Allah, ‘tis not possible but that I go and return with the said Lady Fatimah;”

after which he repaired to his sire and said, “‘Tis my desire to travel; so do thou prepare for me provision of all manner wherewith I may wend my way to a far land, nor