The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume X Part 62

[FN#83] Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz, son of Al-Mu'tazz bi 'llah, the 13th Abbaside, and great-great-grandson of Harun al-Ras.h.i.+d. He was one of the most renowned poets of the third century (A.H.) and died A.D. 908, strangled by the partisans of his nephew Al-Muktadir bi 'llah, 18th Abbaside.

[FN#84] Jazirat ibn Omar, an island and town on the Tigris north of Mosul. "Some versions of the poem, from which these verses are quoted, subst.i.tute El-Mutireh, a village near Samara (a town on the Tigris, 60 miles north of Baghdad), for El-Jezireh, i.e.

Jeziret ibn Omar." (Payne.)

[FN#85] The Convent of Abdun on the east bank of the Tigris opposite the Jezirah was so called from a statesman who caused it to be built. For a variant of these lines see Ibn Khallikan, vol.

ii. 42; here we miss "the shady groves of Al-Matirah."

[FN#86] Arab. "Ghurrah" the white blaze on a horse's brow. In Ibn Khallikan the bird is the lark.

[FN#87] Arab. "Tay'i"=thirsty used with Jay'i=hungry.

[FN#88] Lit. "Kohl'd with Ghunj" for which we have no better word than "coquetry." But see vol. v. 80. It corresponds with the Latin crissare for women and cevere for men.

[FN#89] i.e. gold-coloured wine, as the Vino d'Oro.

[FN#90] Compare the charming song of Abu Mijan translated from the German of Dr. Weil in Bohn's Edit. of Ockley (p. 149),

When the Death-angel cometh mine eyes to close, Dig my grave 'mid the vines on the hill's fair side; For though deep in earth may my bones repose, The juice of the grape shall their food provide.

Ah, bury me not in a barren land, Or Death will appear to me dread and drear!

While fearless I'll wait what he hath in hand I An the scent of the vineyard my spirit cheer.

The glorious old drinker!

[FN#91] Arab. "Rub'a al-Kharab" in Ibn al-Wardi Central Africa south of the Nile-sources, one of the richest regions in the world. Here it prob. alludes to the Rub'a al-Khali or Great Arabian Desert: for which see Night dclxxvi. In rhetoric it is opposed to the "Rub'a Maskun," or populated fourth of the world, the rest being held to be ocean.

[FN#92] This is the n.o.ble resignation of the Moslem. What a dialogue there would have been in a European book between man and devil!

[FN#93] Arab. "Al-'iddah" the period of four months and ten days which must elapse before she could legally marry again. But this was a palpable wile: she was not sure of her husband's death and he had not divorced her; so that although a "gra.s.s widow," a "Strohwitwe" as the Germans say, she could not wed again either with or without interval.

[FN#94] Here the silence is of cowardice and the pa.s.sage is a fling at the "timeserving" of the Olema, a favourite theme, like "banging the bishops" amongst certain Westerns.

[FN#95] Arab. "Umm al-raas," the poll, crown of the head, here the place where a calamity coming down from heaven would first alight.

[FN#96] From Al-Hariri (Lane): the lines are excellent.

[FN#97] When the charming Princess is so ready at the voie de faits, the reader will understand how common is such energetic action among women of lower degree. The "fair s.e.x" in Egypt has a horrible way of murdering men, especially husbands, by tying them down and tearing out the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es. See Lane M. E. chapt. xiii.

[FN#98] Arab. "Sijn al-Ghazab," the dungeons appropriated to the worst of criminals where they suffer penalties far worse than hanging or guillotining.

[FN#99] According to some modern Moslems Munkar and Nakir visit the graves of Infidels (non-Moslems) and Bashs.h.i.+r and Mubashs.h.i.+r ("Givers of glad tidings") those of Mohammedans. Petis de la Croix (Les Mille et un Jours vol. iii. 258) speaks of the "Zoubanya," black angels who torture the d.a.m.ned under their chief Dabilah.

[FN#100] Very simple and pathetic is this short sketch of the n.o.ble-minded Princess's death.

[FN#101] In sign of dismissal (vol. iv. 62) I have noted that "throwing the kerchief" is not an Eastern practice: the idea probably arose from the Oriental practice of sending presents in richly embroidered napkins and kerchiefs.

[FN#102] Curious to say both Lane and Payne omit this pa.s.sage which appears in both texts (Mac. and Bul.). The object is evidently to prepare the reader for the ending by reverting to the beginning of the tale; and its prolixity has its effect as in the old Romances of Chivalry from Amadis of Ghaul to the Seven Champions of Christendom. If it provoke impatience, it also heightens expectation; "it is like the long elm-avenues of our forefathers; we wish ourselves at the end; but we know that at the end there is something great."

[FN#103] Arab. "ala malakay bayti 'l-rahah;" on the two slabs at whose union are the round hole and longitudinal slit. See vol. i.

221.

[FN#104] Here the exclamation wards off the Evil Eye from the Sword and the wearer: Mr. Payne notes, "The old English exclamation ?c.o.c.k's 'ill!' (i.e., G.o.d's will, thus corrupted for the purpose of evading the statute of 3 Jac. i. against profane swearing) exactly corresponds to the Arabic"--with a difference, I add.

[FN#105] Arab. "Mustahakk"=deserving (Lane) or worth (Payne) the cutting.

[FN#106] Arab. "Mashhad" the same as "Shahid"=the upright stones at the head and foot of the grave. Lane mistranslates, "Made for her a funeral procession."

[FN#107] These lines have occurred before. I quote Lane.

[FN#108] There is nothing strange in such sudden elevations amongst Moslems and even in Europe we still see them occasionally. The family in the East, however humble, is a model and miniature of the state, and learning is not always necessary to wisdom.

[FN#109] Arab. "Farid" which may also mean "union-pearl."

[FN#110] Trebutien (iii. 497) cannot deny himself the pleasure of a French touch making the King reply, "C'est a.s.sez; qu'on lui coupe la tete, car ces dernieres histoires surtout m'ont cause un ennui mortel." This reading is found in some of the MSS.

[FN#111] After this I borrow from the Bresl. Edit. inserting pa.s.sages from the Mac. Edit.

[FN#112] i.e. whom he intended to marry with regal ceremony.

[FN#113] The use of coloured powders in sign of holiday-making is not obsolete in India. See Herklots for the use of "Huldee"

(Haldi) or turmeric-powder, pp. 64-65.

[FN#114] Many Moslem families insist upon this before giving their girls in marriage, and the practice is still popular amongst many Mediterranean peoples.

[FN#115] i.e. Sumatran.

[FN#116] i.e. Alexander, according to the Arabs; see vol. v. 252.

[FN#117] These lines are in vol. i. 217.

[FN#118] I repeat the lines from vol. i. 218.

[FN#119] All these coquetries require as much inventiveness as a cotillon; the text alludes to fastening the bride's tresses across her mouth giving her the semblance of beard and mustachios.

[FN#120] Repeated from vol. i. 218.

[FN#121] Repeated from vol. i. 218.

[FN#122] See vol. i. 219.

[FN#123] Arab. Sawad=the blackness of the hair.

[FN#124] Because Easterns build, but never repair.

[FN#125]i.e. G.o.d only knows if it be true or not.

[FN#126] Ouseley's Orient. Collect. I, vii.

[FN#127] This three-fold distribution occurred to me many years ago and when far beyond reach of literary authorities, I was, therefore, much pleased to find the subjoined three-fold cla.s.sification with minor details made by Baron von Hammer- Purgstall (Preface to Contes Inedits etc. of G. S. Trebutien, Paris, mdcccxxviii.) (1) The older stories which serve as a base to the collection, such as the Ten Wazirs ("Malice of Women") and Voyages of Sindbad (?) which may date from the days of Mahommed.