The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 8 - Sir Richard Francis Burton (best e reader for epub .TXT) 📗

charms must be otherwise ordered; and the student will compare Mr.

Payne’s version of this passage with mine.

 

[FN#134] A fair specimen of the Arab logogriph derived from the Abjad Alphabet which contains only the Hebrew and Syriac letters not the six Arabic. Thus 4 X 5=20 which represents the Kaf (K) and 6 X 10=60, or Sin (S). The whole word is thus “Kos”, the Greek or , and the lowest word, in Persian as in Arabic, for the female pudenda, extensively used in vulgar abuse.

In my youth we had at the University something of the kind, To five and five and fifty-five

The first of letters add

To make a thing to please a King

And drive a wise man mad.

 

Answer VVLVA. Very interesting to the anthropological student is this excursus of Hasan, who after all manner of hardships and horrors and risking his life to recover his wife and children, breaks out into song on the subject of her privities. And it can hardly be tale-teller’s gag as both verse and prose show considerable art in composition. (See p. 348.) Supplementary Note To Hasan of Bassorah.

 

Note(p.93)—There is something wondrous na�ve in a lover who, when asked by his mistress to sing a song in her honour, breaks out into versical praises of her parts. But even the classical Arab authors did not disdain such themes. See in Al-Har�r� (Ass.

of Mayy�farik�n) where Ab� Zayd laments the impotency of old age in form of a Rasy or funeral oration (Preston p. 484, and Chenery p. 221). It completely deceived Sir William Jones, who inserted it into the chapter “De Poesi Funebri,” p. 527 (Poeseos Asiatic�

Commentarii), gravely noting, “H�c Elegia non admodum dissimilis esse videtur pulcherrimi illius carminis de Sauli et Jonathani obitu; at que ade� versus iste �ubi provocant adversarios nunquam rediit a pugn� contentione sine spiculo sanguine imbuto, �ex Hebr�oreddi videtur,

 

A sanguine occisorum, a fortium virorum adipe, Arcus Jonathani non rediit irritus.”

 

I need hardly say with Captain Lockett (226) that this “Sabb warrior,” this Arabian Achilles, is the celebrated Bonus Deus or Hellespontiacus of the Ancients. The oration runs thus:—

 

O folk I have a wondrous tale, so rare Much shall it profit hearers wise and ware!

I saw in salad-years a potent Brave And sharp of edge and point his warrior glaive; Who entered joust and list with hardiment Fearless of risk, of victory confident, His vigorous onset straitest places oped And easy passage through all narrows groped: He ne’er encountered foe in single fight But came from tilt with spear in blood stained bright; Nor stormed a fortress howso strong and stark—

With fenc�d gates defended deep and dark—

When shown his flag without th’ auspicious cry “Aidance from Allah and fair victory nigh!”�

Thus wise full many a night his part he played In strength and youthtide’s stately garb arrayed, Dealing to fair young girl delicious joy And no less welcome to the blooming boy.

But Time ne’er ceased to stint his wondrous strength (Steadfast and upright as the gallow’s length) Until the Nights o’erthrew him by their might And friends contemned him for a feckless wight; Nor was a wizard but who wasted skill Over his case, nor leach could heal his ill.

Then he abandoned arms abandoned him Who gave and took salutes so fierce and grim; And now lies prostrate drooping haughty crest; For who lives longest him most ills molest.

Then see him, here he lies on bier for bet;—

Who will a shroud bestow on stranger dead?

 

A fair measure of the difference between Eastern and Western manners is afforded by such a theme being treated by their gravest writers and the verses being read and heard by the gravest and most worshipful men, whilst amongst us Preston and Chenery do not dare even to translate them. The latter, indeed, had all that immodest modesty for which English professional society is notable in this xixth century. He spoiled by needlessly excluding from a scientific publication (Mem. R.A.S.) all of my Proverbia Communia Syriaca (see Unexplored Sryia, i.

364) and every item which had a shade of double entendre. But Nemesis frequently found him out: during his short and obscure rule in Printing House Square, The Thunderer was distinguished by two of the foulest indecencies that ever appeared in an English paper.

 

� The well-known Koranic verse, whereby Allah is introduced into an indecent tale and “Holy Writ” is punned upon. I have noticed (iii. 206) that victory Fat’h lit.=opening everything (as e.g. a maidenhead).

 

[FN#135] Egyptian and Syrian vulgar term for Maw�l�yah or Maw�liyah, a short poem on subjects either classical or vulgar.

It generally consists of five lines all rhyming except the penultimate. The metre is a species of the Bas�t which, however, admits of considerable poetical license; this being according to Lane the usual “Weight,”

 

/ .

 

The scheme is distinctly anap�stic and Mr. Lyall (Translations of Ancient Arabic Poetry) compares with a cognate metre, the Taw�l, certain lines in Abt Vogler, e.g.

 

“Ye know why the forms are fair, ye hear how the tale is told.”

 

[FN#136] i.e. repeat the chapter of the Koran termed The Opening, and beginning with these words, “Have we not opened thy breast for thee and eased thee of thy burden which galled thy back? *** Verily with the difficulty cometh ease!”—Koran xciv.

vol. 1, 5.

 

[FN#137] Lane renders Nur al-Hud� (Light of Salvation) by Light of Day which would be Nur al-Had�.

 

[FN#138] In the Bresl. Edit. “Y� Sal�m”=O safety!—a vulgar ejaculation.

 

[FN#139] A favourite idiom meaning from the mischief which may (or will) come from the Queen.

 

[FN#140] He is not strong-minded but his feminine persistency of purpose, likest to that of a sitting hen, is confirmed by the “Consolations of religion.” The character is delicately drawn.

 

[FN#141] In token that she intended to act like a man.

 

[FN#142] This is not rare even in real life: Moslem women often hide and change their names for superstitious reasons, from the husband and his family.

 

[FN#143] Arab. “Sabab” which also means cause. Vol. ii. 14.

There is the same metaphorical use of “Habl”= cord and cause.

 

[FN#144] Arab. “Him�,” a word often occurring in Arab poetry, domain, a pasture or watered land forcibly kept as far as a dog’s bark would sound by some masterful chief like “King Kulayb.” (See vol. ii. 77.) This tenure was forbidden by Mohammed except for Allah and the Apostle (i.e. himself). Lane translates it “asylum.”

 

[FN#145] She was a maid and had long been of marriageable age.

 

[FN#146] The young man had evidently “kissed the Blarney stone”; but the flattery is the more telling as he speaks from the heart.

 

[FN#147] “Inshallah ” here being= D. V.

 

[FN#148] i.e. The “Place of Light” (Pharos), or of Splendour.

Here we find that Hasan’s wife is the youngest sister, but with an extraordinary resemblance to the eldest, a very masterful young person. The anagnorisis is admirably well managed.

 

[FN#149] i.e. the sweetmeats of the feast provided for the returning traveller. The old woman (like others) cannot resist the temptation of a young man’s lips. Happily for him she goes so far and no farther.

 

[FN#150] The first, fourth, fifth and last names have already occurred: the others are in order, Star o’ Morn, Sun of Undtirn and Honour of Maidenhood. They are not merely fanciful, but are still used in Egypt and Syria.

 

[FN#151] Arab. “F�jirah” and elsewhere “Ahirah,” =whore and strumpet used often in loose talk as mere abuse without special meaning.

 

[FN#152] This to Westerns would seem a most improbable detail, but Easterns have their own ideas concerning “Al-Muhabbat al-ghariziyah” =natural affection, blood speaking to blood, etc.

 

[FN#153] One of the Hells (see vol. iv. 143). Here it may be advisable to give the names of the Seven Heavens (which are evidently based upon Ptolemaic astronomy) and which correspond with the Seven Hells after the fashion of Arabian system-mania.

(1) Dar al-Jal�l (House of Glory) made of pearls; (2) D�r al-Sal�m (of Rest), rubies and jacinths; (3) Jannat al-Maaw�

(Garden of Mansions, not “of mirrors,” as Herklots has it, p.

98), made of yellow copper; (4) Jannat al-Khuld (of Eternity), yellow coral; (5) Jannat al-Na’�m (of Delights), white diamond; (6) Jannat al-Firdaus (of Paradise), red gold; and (7) Jannat al-‘Adn (of Eden, or Al-Kar�r= of everlasting abode, which some make No. 8), of red pearls or pure musk. The seven Hells are given in vol. v. 241; they are intended for Moslems (Jahannam); Christians (Laz�); Jews (Hutamah); Sabians (Sa’ir); Guebles (Sakar); Pagans or idolaters (Jah�m); and Hypocrites (H�wiyah).

 

[FN#154] Arab. “‘Atb,” more literally= “blame,” “reproach.”

 

[FN#155] Bresl. Edit. In the Mac. “it returned to the place whence I had brought it”—an inferior reading.

 

[FN#156] The dreams play an important part in the Romances of Chivalry, e.g. the dream of King Perion in Amadis de Gaul, chapt.

ii. (London; Longmans, 1803).

 

[FN#157] Amongst Moslems bastardy is a sore offence and a love-child is exceedingly rare. The girl is not only carefully guarded but she also guards herself knowing that otherwise she will not find a husband. Hence seduction is all but unknown. The wife is equally well guarded and lacks opportunities hence adultery is found difficult except in books. Of the Ibn (or Walad) Har�m (bastard as opposed to the Ibn Hal�l) the proverb says, “This child is not thine, so the madder he be the more is thy glee!” Yet strange to say public prostitution has never been wholly abolished in Al-Islam. Al-Mas’�di tells us that in Arabia were public prostitutes’(Bagh�y�), even before the days of the Apostle, who affected certain quarters as in our day the Tart�shah of Alexandria and the Hosh Bardak of Cairo. Here says Herr Carlo Landberg (p. 57, Syrian Proverbs) “Elles parlent une langue toute � elle.” So pretentious and dogmatic a writer as the author of Proverbes et Dictons de la Province de Syrie, ought surely to have known that the Hosh Bardak is the head-quarters of the Cairene Gypsies. This author, who seems to write in order to learn, reminds me of an acute Oxonian undergraduate of my day who, when advised to take a “coach,” became a “coach” himself.

 

[FN#158] These lines occur in vol. vii. p. 340. I quote Mr.

Payne.

 

[FN#159] She shows all the semi-maniacal rancour of a good woman, or rather a woman who has not broken the eleventh commandment, “Thou shalt not be found out,” against an erring sister who has been discovered. In the East also these unco’g�id dames have had, and too often have, the power to carry into effect the cruelty and diabolical malignity which in London and Paris must vent itself in scan. mag. and anonymous letters.

 

[FN#160] These faintings and trances are as common in the Romances of Chivalry e.g. Amadis of Gaul, where they unlace the garments to give more liberty, pour cold water on the face and bathe the temples and pulses with diluted vinegar (for rose water) exactly as they do in The Nights.

 

[FN#161] So Hafiz, “B�d-i-Sab� chu bugzar�” etc.

 

[FN#162] Arab. “Takiyah.” See vol. i. 224 and for the Tarn-Kappe vol. iv. p. 176. In the Sinth�sana Dwatrinsati (vulgo. Singh�san Batt�s�), or Thirty-two Tales of a Throne, we find a bag always full of gold, a bottomless purse; earth which rubbed on the forehead overcomes all; a rod which during the first watch of the night furnishes jewelled ornaments; in the second a beautiful girl; in the third invisibility, and in the fourth a deadly foe or death; a flower-garland which renders the possessor invisible and an unfading lotus-flower which produces a diamond every