Supplemental Nights to The Book of the Thousand and One Nights - Sir Richard Francis Burton (little readers TXT) 📗

him and he came nigh unto ruin. On this wise he was assured of the loyalty of his whilome, sagacious Wazir and the excellence of his ordinance and the rectitude of his rede. So he sent after him and brought him and the wicked man before him and summoning to his presence the Lords of his land and the Chiefs of his chieftainship, gave them leave to talk and dispute and forbade the wicked man from his perverted belief. [FN#560] Then arose that wise Minister and skilful and praised Allah Almighty and lauded Him and glorified Him and hallowed Him and attested His unity and disputed with the miscreant and overcame him and silenced him; nor did he cease from him till he compelled him to make confession of repentance from that which he had misbelieved. Therewith King Shah Bakht rejoiced with exceeding great joy and cried, “Praise be to the Lord who hath saved me from this man and hath preserved me from the loss of my kingship and my prosperity!” So the affair of the Wazir returned to order and stablishment and the king restored him to his place and raised him to higher rank. Lastly, he assembled the folk who had striven against him and destroyed them all, to the last man. “And how like” (continued the Wazir), “is this story to that of myself and King Shah Bakht, with regard to that which befel me of the changing of the King and his crediting others against me; but now is the fairness of my fashion fulfilled in thine eyes, for that Allah Almighty hath inspired thee with wisdom and endowed thee with longanimity and patience to hear from me whatso He allotted to those who forewent us, till He hath shown forth my innocence and made manifest unto thee the truth. For lo and behold! the days are now past, wherein it was declared to the king that I should labour for the loss of my soul,[FN#561] that is within the month; and lookye, the probation-time is gone by, and past is the season of evil and it hath ceased by the protection of the King and his good fortune.”

Then he bowed his head and was silent. When King Shah Bakht heard his Wazir’s speech, he was abashed before him and confounded, and he marvelled at the gravity of his intellect and his longsuffering. So he sprang up to him and embraced him and the Minister kissed his feet. Then the King called for a costly robe of honour and cast it over AlRahwan and honoured him with the highmost honour and showed him especial favour and restored him to his degree and Wazirate. Furthermore he imprisoned those who had devised his destruction with lies and leasing and gave him full leave and license to pass judgment upon the Interpreter who had expounded to him the dream. So the Wazir abode in the ordering of the realm until Death came to them; “And this” (added Shahrazad) “is all, O king of the age, that hath come down to us of King Shah Bakht and his Wazir.”

 

SHAHRAZAD AND SHAHRYAR.

 

As for King Shahryar, he wondered at Shahrazad with the utmost wonder and drew her near to his heart of his abounding affection for her; and she was magnified in his eyes and he said within himself, “By Allah, the like of this is not deserving of slaughter, for indeed the time favoureth us not with her equal.

By the Almighty, I have been reckless of mine affair, and had not the Lord overcome me with His ruth and put his one at my service so she might recount to me instances manifest and cases truthful and admonitions goodly and traits edifying, such as should restore me to the right road, I had come to ruin! Wherefore to Allah be the praise here for and I beseech the Most High to make my end with her like that of the Wazir and Shah Bakht.” Then sleep overcame the king and glory be unto Him who sleepeth not![FN#562] When it was the Nine hundred and thirtieth Night, Shahrazad said, “O king, there is present in my thought a tale which treateth of women’s trickery and wherein is a warning to whoso will be warned and an admonishment to whoso will be admonished and whoso hath sight and insight; but I fear lest the hearing of this belittle me with the liege-lord and lower my degree in his esteem; yet I hope that this will not be, because �tis a rare tale. Women are indeed mischief-makers; their craft and their cunning may not be told nor may their wiles be known; while men enjoy their company and are not instant to uphold them in the right way, neither are they vigilant over them with all vigilance, but relish their society and take whatso is winsome and regard not that which is other than this. Indeed, they are like unto the crooked rib, which an thou go about to straighten, thou distortest it, and which an thou persist in straightening, thou breakest it,[FN#563] so it behoveth the wise man to be silent concerning them.” Thereupon quoth Dinarzad, “O sister mine, bring forth that which is with thee and that which is present to thy mind of the story concerning the guile of women and their wiles, and have no fear lest this lessen thee with the king; for that women are, like jewels, of all kinds and colours.

When a gem falleth into the hand of an expert, he keepeth it for himself and leaveth all beside it. Eke he preferreth some of them over others, and in this he is like the potter,[FN#564] who filleth his liln with all the vessels he hath moulded and under them kindleth his fire. When the making is done and he taketh out that which is in the kiln, he findeth no help for it but that he must break some of them, whilst others are what the folk need and whereof they make use, while yet others there are which return to be as they were. So fear thou not nor deem it a grave matter to adduce that which thou knowest of the craft of women, for that in this is profit for all folk.” Then said Shahrazad, “Then relate, O king (but Allah alone knoweth the secret things) the Tale of�

 

End of Volume 11

 

Arabian Nights, Volume 11

Footnotes [FN#1] Arab. “Al-N�im wa al-Yakz�n.” This excellent story is not in the Mac. Or Bresl. Edits.; but is given in the Breslau Text, iv. 134-189 (Nights cclxxii.-ccxci.). It is familiar to readers of the old “Arabian Nights Entertainments” as “Abou-Hassan or the Sleeper Awakened;” and as yet it is the only one of the eleven added by Galland whose original has been discovered in Arabic: the learned Frenchman, however, supplied it with embellishments more suo, and seems to have taken it from an original fuller than our text as is shown by sundry poetical and other passages which he apparently did not invent. Lane (vol. ii. chap. 12), noting that its chief and best portion is an historical anecdote related as a fact, is inclined to think that it is not a genuine tale of The Nights. He finds it in Al-Ish�k� who finished his history about the close of Sultan Mustaf� the Osmanli’s reign, circa A.H.

1032 (= 1623), and he avails himself of this version as it is “narrated in a simple and agreeable manner.” Mr. Payne remarks, “The above title (Asleep and Awake) is of course intended to mark the contrast between the everyday (or waking) hours of Aboulhusn and his fantastic life in the Khalif’s palace, supposed by him to have passed in a dream;” I may add that amongst frolicsome Eastern despots the adventure might often have happened and that it might have given a hint to Cervantes.

 

[FN#2] i.e., The Wag. See vol. i. 311: the old version calls him “the Debauchee.”

 

[FN#3] Arab. “Al-F�rs”; a people famed for cleverness and debauchery. I cannot see why Lane omitted the Persian, unless he had Persian friends at Cairo.

 

[FN#4] i.e., the half he intended for spendingmoney.

 

[FN#5] i.e., “men,” a characteristic Arab idiom: here it applies to the sons of all time.

 

[FN#6] i.e., make much of thee.

 

[FN#7] In Lane the Caliph is accompanied by “certain of his domestics.”

 

[FN#8] Arab. “Khubz Mutabbak,” = bread baked in a platter, instead of an oven, an earthen jar previously heated, to the sides of which the scones or bannocks of dough are applied: “it is lighter than oven-bread, especially if it be made thin and leavened.” See Al-Shak�r�, a medical writer quoted by Dozy.

 

[FN#9] In other parts of The Nights Harun al-Rashid declines wine-drinking.

 

[FN#10] The ‘All�mah (doctissimus) Sayce (p. 212, Comparative Philology, London, Tr�bner, 1885) goes far back for Khal�fah = a deputy, a successor. He begins with the Semitic (Hebrew?) root “Khaliph” = to change, exchange: hence “Khaleph” = agio. From this the Greeks got their {Greek} and Cicero his “Collybus,” a money-lender.

 

[FN#11] Arab. “Harf�sh” (in Bresl. Edit. iv. 138, “Kharf�sh”), in popular parlance a “blackguard.” I have to thank Mr.

Alexander J. Cotheal, of New York, for sending me a MS. Copy of this tale.

 

[FN#12] Arab. “Ta’�m,” in Egypt and Somaliland = millet seed (Holcus Sorghum) cooked in various ways. In Barbary it is applied to the local staff of life, Kuskus�, wheaten or other flour damped and granulated by hand to the size of peppercorns, and lastly steamed (as we steam potatoes), the cullender-pot being placed over a long-necked jar full of boiling water. It is served with clarified butter, shredded onions and meat; and it represents the Risotto of Northern Italy. Europeans generally find it too greasy for digestion. This Barbary staff of life is of old date and is thus mentioned by Leo Africanus in early sixth century. “It is made of a lump of Dow, first set upon the fire, in a vessel full of holes and afterwards tempered with Butter and Pottage.” So says good Master John Pory, “A Geographical Historie of Africa, by John Leo, a Moor,” London, 1600, impensis George Bishop.

 

[FN#13] Arab. “Bi al-Sal�m” (pron. “Bissal�m”) = in the Peace (of Allah).

 

[FN#14] And would bring him bad luck if allowed to go without paying.

 

[FN#15] i.e., of the first half, as has been shown.

 

[FN#16] Arab. “Kum�jah” from the Persian Kum�sh = bread unleavened and baked in ashes. Egyptians use the word for bannocks of fine flour.

 

[FN#17] Arab. “Kal�,” our “alcali” ; for this and other abstergents see vol. i. 279.

 

[FN#18] These lines have occurred twice in vol. i. 117 (Night xii.); I quote Mr. Payne.

 

[FN#19] Arab. “Y� ‘llah, y� ‘ll�h;” vulg. Used for “Look sharp!” e.g., “Y� ‘llah j�ri, y� walad” = Be off at once, boy.”

 

[FN#20] Arab. “Banj akr�tash�,” a term which has occurred before.

 

[FN#21] A natural clock, called West Africans Cokkerapeek =

Cock-speak. All the world over it is the subject of superstition: see Giles’s “Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio”

(i. 177), where Miss Li, who is a devil, hears a cock crow and vanishes.

 

[FN#22] In Lane Al-Rashid “found at the door his young men waiting for him and ordered them to convey Abu-l-Hasan upon a mule and returned to the palace; Abu-l-Hasan being intoxicated and insensible. And when the Khaleefah had rested himself in the palace, he called for,” etc.

 

[FN#23] Arab. “Kursi,” Assyrian “Kuss�” = throne; and “Kors�i”

in Aramaic (or Nabathean as Al-Mas’udi calls it), the second growth-period of the “Semitic” family, which supplanted Assyrian and Babylonian, and became, as Arabic now is, the common speech of the “Semitic” world.

 

[FN#24] Arab. “Mak�n mahj�b,” which Lane renders by “a