The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 14 - Sir Richard Francis Burton (recommended books to read .TXT) 📗

with an ending of red at either extremity. Men wrap it round the body or throw it over the shoulder like our plaid, whose colours I believe are a survival of the old body-paintings, Pictish and others. The woman’s “Mil�yah” worn only out of doors may be of silk or cotton: it is made of two pieces which are sewed together lengthwise and these cover head and body like a hooded cloak.

Lane figures it in M.E. chapt. i. When a woman is too poor to own a “Mil�yah” or a “Habarah” (a similar article) she will use a bed-sheet for out-of-doors work.

 

[FN#263] The pun here is “Khal�y�t” = bee-hive and empty: See vols. vi. 246 ix. 291. It will occur again in Supplementary vol.

v. Night DCXLVI.

 

[FN#264] i.e. Caravan, the common Eastern term. In India it was used for a fleet of merchantmen under convoy: see Col. Yule, Glossary, s. v.

 

[FN#265] Again “Bartam�n” for “Martab�n.”

 

[FN#266] The “S�hib” = owner, and the “Dall�l” = broker, are evidently the same person.

 

[FN#267] “Al� k�m” for “kam” (how much?)—peasants’ speech.

 

[FN#268] She has appeared already twice in The Nights, esp. in The Tale of Gh�nim bin ‘Ayy�b (vol. ii. 45) and in Khalifah the Fisherman of Baghdad (vol. viii. 145). I must again warn my readers nto to confound “K�t” = food with “Kuwwat” = force, as in Scott’s “Koout al Koolloob” (vi. 146). See Terminal Essay p. 101.

 

[FN#269] In text “Mu’ammarjiyah” (master-masons), a vulgar Egyptianism for “Mu’ammarin.” See “J�washiyah,” vols. ii. 49; viii. 330. In the third line below we find “Muhandiz�n” =

gemoetricians, architects, for “Muhand�sm.” [Perhaps a reminiscence of the Persian origin of the word “Handasah” =

geometry, which is derived from “And�zah” = measurement, etc.-St.]

 

[FN#270] The text ends this line in Arabic.

 

[FN#271] Alluding to the curious phenomenon pithily expressed in the Latin proverb, “Suus cuique crepitus ben� olet,” I know of no exception to the rule, except amongst travellers in Tibet, where the wild onion, the only procurable green-stuff, produces an odour so rank and fetid that men run away from their own crepitations. The subject is not savoury, yet it has been copiously illustrated: I once dined at a London house whose nameless owner, a noted bibliophile, especially of “faceti�,” had placed upon the drawing-room table a dozen books treating of the “Crepitus ventris.” When the guests came up and drew near the table, and opened the volumes, their faces were a study. For the Arab. “Faswah” = a silent break wind, see vol. ix. 11 and 291. It is opposed to “Zirt” = a loud fart and the vulgar term, see vol.

ii. 88.

 

[FN#272] Arab. “Y� H�z�,” see vol. i. 290.

 

[FN#273] In text “Yumkinshayy,” written in a single word, a favourite expression, Fellah-like withal, throughout this MS.

 

[FN#274] In text “Tafazzal�;” see vol. ii. 103.

 

[FN#275] The word (Sar�y) is Pers. But naturalised throughout Egypt and Syria; in places like Damascus where there is no king it is applied to the official head-quarters of the Wal�

(provincial governor), and contains the prison like the Maroccan “Kasbah.” It must not be confounded with “Serraglio” = the Harem, Gynecium or women’s rooms, which appears to be a bastard neo-Latin word “Serrare,” through the French Serrer. I therefore always write it with the double “canine letter.”

 

[FN#276] I have noted (vol. i. 95) that the “Khil’ah” = robe of honour, consists of many articles, such as a horse, a gold-hilted sword, a fine turban, etc., etc.

 

[FN#277] This again shows the “Nakk�l” or coffee-house tale-teller. See vol. x. 144.

 

[FN#278] This is the Moslem version of “Solomon’s Judgment” (1

Kings iii. 16-20). The Hebrew legend is more detailed but I prefer its rival for sundry reasons. Here the women are not “harlots” but the co-wives of one man and therefore hostile; moreover poetical justice is done to the constructive murderess.

 

[FN#279] I am not aware that the specific gravity of the milks has ever been determined by modern science; and perhaps the experiment is worthy a trial.

 

[FN#280] Arab. “D�na-k.” See vol. iv. p. 20.

 

[FN#281] “Al-Waz�ru’l-Arif bi-ll�hi Ta’�l�,” a title intended to mimic those of the Abbaside Caliphs; such as “Mu’tasim bi’llah”

(servant of Allah), the first of the long line whose names begin with an epithet (the Truster, the Implorer, etc.), and ed with “bi’llah.”

 

[FN#282] [Tarajjama, which is too frequently used in this MS. to be merely considered as a clerical error, I suppose to mean: he pronounced for him the formula: “A’uzzu bi ll�hi mina ‘l-Shayt�ni ‘l-Rajimi” = I take refuge with Allah against Satan the Stoned.

See Koran xvi. 100. It would be thus equivalent with the usual ta�wwaza.-St.]

 

[FN#283] The MS. here ends Night cdxii. and begins the next. Up to this point I have followed the numeration but from this forwards as the Nights become unconscionably short compared with the intervening dialogues, I have thrown two and sometimes three into one. The Arabic numbers are, however, preserved for easier reference.

 

[FN#284] This is a poor and scamped version of “Ali the Persian and the Kurd Sharper,” in vol. v. 149. It is therefore omitted.

 

[FN#285] The dish-cover, usually made of neatly plaited straw variously coloured, is always used, not only for cleanliness but to prevent the Evil Eye falling upon and infecting the food.

 

[FN#286] The “B�miyah,” which = the Gumbo, Occra (Okr�) or Bhendi of Brit. India which names the celebrated bazar of Bombay, is the esculent hibiscus, the polygonal pod (some three inches long and thick as a man’s finger) full of seeds and mucilage making it an excellent material for soups and stews. It is a favourite dish in Egypt and usually eaten with a squeeze of lime-juice. See Lane, Mod. Egypt. chapt. v., and Herklots (App. p. xlii.) who notices the curry of “Bandak�” or Hibiscus esculentus.

 

[FN#287] Written “Baksh�sh,” after Fellah-fashion.

 

[FN#288] [In the MS.: Wa’l-Sult�nu karaa Wirduh (Wirda-hu) wa jalasa li Mun�damah = And the Sovran recited his appointed portion of the Koran, and then sat down to convivial converse.

This reminds of the various passages of the present Shah of Persia’s Diary, in which he mentions the performance of his evening devotions, before setting out for some social gathering, say a supper in the Guildhall, which he neatly explains as a dinner after midnight (Sh�m ba’d az nisf-i-shab).—St.]

 

[FN#289] This is Scott’s “Story of the Three Princes and Enchanting Bird,” vol. vi. 160. On the margin of the W. M. MS. he has written, “Story of the King and his Three Sons and the Enchanting Bird” (vol. i. Night cdxvii.). Gauttier, vi. 292, names it Histoire des Trois Princes et de l’Oiseau Magicien.

Galland may have used parts of it in the “Two Sisters who envied their Cadette”: see Supp. vol. iii. pp. 313-361.

 

[FN#290] In text “Al-Bulaybul” (the little Nightingale, Philomelet) “Al Sayy�h” (the Shrieker). The latter epithet suggests to me the German novel which begins, “We are in Italy where roses bestink the day and Nightingales howl through the livelong night,” &c.

 

[FN#291] “Sanjak,” Turk. = flag, banner, and here used (as in vulg. Arab.) for Sanj�k-d�r, the banner-bearer, ensign. In mod.

parlance, Sanj�k = minor province, of which sundry are included in an “Iy�lah” = government-general, under the rule of a W�li (Wil�yah).

 

[FN#292] In the MS. “Zifr” = nail, claw, talon.

 

[FN#293] “Al-Rizk maks�m,” an old and sage byword pregnant with significance: compare “Al-Khauf (fear) maks�m” = cowardice is equally divided. Vol. iii. 173. [I read: “Yas’� ‘l-Kadamu li-‘Umrin dana au li-Rizkin qusima,” taking “Rizk” as an equivalent for “al-Rizku ‘l-hasanu” = any good thing which a man obtains without exerting himself in seeking for it, and the passive “qusima” in the sense of Kismah, vulgo “Kismet.” Hence I would translate: The foot speeds to a life that is mean, or to a boon that is pre-ordained.-St.]

 

[FN#294] In the text “B�t” (for Bit), in Fellah-speech “Pass the night here!” The Bird thus makes appeal to the honour and hospitality of his would-be captor, and punishes him if he consent. I have translated after Scott (v. 161). [I cannot persuade myself to take “b�t” for an imperative, which would rather be “b�t” for “bit,” as we shall find “k�m” for “kum,”

“r�h” for “ruh.” It seems to me that the preterite “b�t” means here “the night has passed,” and rendering “man” by the interrogative, I would translate: “O! who shall say to the sad, the separated, night is over?” Complaints of the length of night are frequent with the parted in Arab poetry. This accords also better with the following ‘At�s al-Shams, the sneezing of the sun, which to my knowledge, applies only to daybreak, as in Hariri’s 15th Assembly (al-Farziyah), where “the nose of the morning” sneezes.—St.]

 

[FN#295] i.e., they bound kerchiefs stained blue or almost black round their brows. In modern days Fellah women stain their veils (face and head), kerchiefs and shirts with indigo; and some colour their forearms to the elbow.

 

[FN#296] Here again and in the following adventure we have “Khudadad and his Brothers.” Suppl. vol. iii. 145-174.

 

[FN#297] In sign of despair. See vol. i. 298.

 

[FN#298] In text “Kalam�tu ‘llah” = the Koran: and the quotation is from chapt. cxiii. 5. For the “Two Refuge-takings”

(Al-Mu’awizzat�ni), see vol. iii. 222.

 

[FN#299] i.e., caused his brothers to recover life. [I read: Allaz� ‘amaltu f�-him nat�jah yuj�z�n� bi-Ziddi-h� = Those to whom I did a good turn, requite me with the contrary thereof.

Allaz�, originally the masc. Sing. is in this MS. vulgarly, like its still more vulgar later contraction, “ill�,” used for both genders and the three numbers.—St.]

 

[FN#300] Arab. “H�zir!” I have noted that this word, in Egypt and Syria, corresponds with the English waiter’s “Yes sir!”

 

[FN#301] Koran, Chapter of Joseph, xii. 19.

 

[FN#302] Arab. “Han�t:” this custom has become almost obsolete: the corpse is now sprinkled with a mixture of water, camphor diluted and the dried and pounded leaves of various trees, especially the “Nabk” (lote-tree or Zizyphus lotus).—Lane M.E.

chapt. xxviii.

 

[FN#303] These comical measures were taken by “Miss Lucy” in order to charm away the Evil Eye which had fascinated the article in question. Such temporary impotence in a vigorous man, which results from an exceptional action of the brain and the nervous system, was called in old French Nouement des aiguilettes (i.e.

point-tying, the points which fastened the haut-de-chausses or hose to the jerkin, and its modern equivalent would be to “button up the flap”). For its cure, the “Deliement des aiguilettes” see Davenport “Aphrodisiacs” p. 36, and the French translation of the Shaykh al-Nafz�wi (Jardin Parfum�, chapt. xvii. pp. 251-53). The Moslem heals such impotence by the usual simples, but the girl in the text adopts a moral course which buries the dead parts in order to resurrect them. A friend of mine, a young and vigorous officer, was healed by a similar process. He had carried off a sergeant’s wife, and the husband lurked about the bungalow to shot him, a copper cap being found under the window hence a state of nervousness which induced perfect impotence. He applied to the regimental surgeon, happily a practised hand, and was gravely supplied with pills and a draught; his diet was carefully regulated and he was ordered to sleep by the woman but by no means to touch her for ten days. On the fifth he came to his adviser with a sheepish face and told him that he had not wholly followed the course prescribed, as last night he had suddenly—by the blessing of the draught and the pills—recovered and had given palpable evidence of his pristine vigour. The surgeon deprecated such proceeding until the patient