The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume VIII Part 29

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 wors.h.i.+pful 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 Mawaliyah or Mawaliyah, a short poem on subjects either cla.s.sical or vulgar.

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

The scheme is distinctly anapaestic and Mr. Lyall (Translations of Ancient Arabic Poetry) compares with a cognate metre, the Tawil, 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-Huda (Light of Salvation) by Light of Day which would be Nur al-Hada.

[FN#138] In the Bresl. Edit. "Ya Salam"=O safety!--a vulgar e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n.

[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 superst.i.tious 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. "Hima," 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. "Fajirah" and elsewhere "Ahirah," =wh.o.r.e 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 h.e.l.ls (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 h.e.l.ls after the fas.h.i.+on of Arabian system-mania.

(1) Dar al-Jalal (House of Glory) made of pearls; (2) Dar al-Salam (of Rest), rubies and jacinths; (3) Jannat al-Maawa (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'im (of Delights), white diamond; (6) Jannat al-Firdaus (of Paradise), red gold; and (7) Jannat al-'Adn (of Eden, or Al-Karar= of everlasting abode, which some make No. 8), of red pearls or pure musk. The seven h.e.l.ls are given in vol. v. 241; they are intended for Moslems (Jahannam); Christians (Laza); Jews (Hutamah); Sabians (Sa'ir); Guebles (Sakar); Pagans or idolaters (Jahim); and Hypocrites (Hawiyah).

[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 b.a.s.t.a.r.dy 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) Haram (b.a.s.t.a.r.d as opposed to the Ibn Halal) the proverb says, "This child is not thine, so the madder he be the more is thy glee!" Yet strange to say public prost.i.tution has never been wholly abolished in Al-Islam. Al-Mas'udi tells us that in Arabia were public prost.i.tutes'(Baghaya), even before the days of the Apostle, who affected certain quarters as in our day the Tartushah of Alexandria and the Hosh Bardak of Cairo. Here says Herr Carlo Landberg (p. 57, Syrian Proverbs) "Elles parlent une langue toute a 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'guid 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, "Bad-i-Saba chu bugzari" etc.

[FN#162] Arab. "Takiyah." See vol. i. 224 and for the Tarn-Kappe vol. iv. p. 176. In the Sinthasana Dwatrinsati (vulgo. Singhasan Battisi), 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 day.

[FN#163] Arab. "Judad," plur. of Jadid, lit.= new coin, ergo applied to those old and obsolete; 10 Judad were= one nusf or half dirham.

[FN#164] Arab. "Raff," a shelf proper, running round the room about 7-7 feet from the ground. During my day it was the fas.h.i.+on in Damascus to range in line along the Raff splendid porcelain bowls brought by the Caravans in olden days from China, whilst on the table were placed French and English specimens of white and gold "china" worth perhaps a franc each.

[FN#165] Lane supposes that the gla.s.s and china-ware had fallen upon the divan running round the walls under the Raff and were not broken.

[FN#166] These lines have occurred in Night dclx.x.xix. vol. vii.

p. 119. I quote Lane.

[FN#167] The lines have occurred before. I quote Mr. Payne.

[FN#168] This formula, I repeat, especially distinguishes the Tale of Hasan of Ba.s.sorah.

[FN#169] These lines have occurred in vol. 1. 249. I quote Lane.

[FN#170] She speaks to the "Gallery," who would enjoy a loud laugh against Mistress Gadabout. The end of the sentence must speak to the heart of many a widow.

[FN#171] These lines occur in vol. i. 25: so I quote Mr. Payne.

[FN#172] Arab. "Musahikah;" the more usual term for a Tribade is "Sahikah" from "Sahk" in the sense of rubbing: both also are applied to onanists and masturbators of the gender feminine.

[FN#173] i.e. by way of halter. This jar is like the cask in Auerbach's Keller; and has already been used by witches; Night dlx.x.xvii. vol. vi. 158.

[FN#174] Here they are ten but afterwards they are reduced to seven: I see no reason for changing the text with Lane and Payne.