The Thousand and One Nights Volume III Part 22

[FN#26] Syn. eye (n.a.z.ir).

[FN#27] Syn. eyebrow (hajib).

[FN#28] A play upon words turning upon the literal meaning ("auspicious full moons") of the two names of women Budour and Suad.

[FN#29] Ring-mail.

[FN#30] i.e. Orvietan or Venice treacle, the well-known universal remedy of the middle ages, alluded to by Chaucer in the words, "And Christ that is unto all ills triacle."

[FN#31] Names of women.

[FN#32] Women's name.

[FN#33] Women's name.

[FN#34] i.e. a woman.

[FN#35] Women's names.

[FN#36] Wine.

[FN#37] i.e. by way of ornament.

[FN#38] The well-known semi-legendary sage and fabulist.

[FN#39] Playing upon his own name, Kemerezzeman, which means, "Moon of the time or of fortune." Budour means "Full moons."

[FN#40] Siwaka, a toothstick, (acc.) means also "other than thee."

[FN#41] Araka, a capparis-tree, (acc.) means also, "I see thee."

Toothsticks are made of the wood of this tree.

[FN#42] A treasury of money is a thousand purses or about 5,000.

[FN#43] This expression is of course metaphorical. Cf. Solomon's Song pa.s.sim.

[FN#44] i.e. gum tragacanth.

[FN#45] See post p. 317. {see Vol. 3. Maan Ben Zaideh and the Three Girls, FN#121.}

[FN#46] The mansuetude of the Khalif Muawiyeh, the founder of the Ommiade dynasty, is a proverb among the Arabs, though hardly to be reconciled with the accredited records of his life and actions.

[FN#47] Alluding, for the sake of metaphor, to the months of purification which, according to the Muslim ceremonial law, must be accomplished by a divorced woman, before she can marry again.

[FN#48] A divorce three times p.r.o.nounced cannot be revoked.

[FN#49] Fabulous peoples mentioned in the Koran.

[FN#50] Said to be so called, because they attract sparrows (asafir), but it seems to me more probable that the name denotes the colour of the fruit and is derived from usfur, safflower.

[FN#51] Koran, x.x.xiii. 38.

[FN#52] Met. a.n.u.s.

[FN#53] Met. cunnus.

[FN#54] Kibleh, the point of the compa.s.s to which one turns in prayer. Mecca is the Kibleh of the Muslims, even as Jerusalem that of the Jews and Christians. The meaning of the text is obvious.

[FN#55] i.e. of G.o.d.--Koran, li. 9.

[FN#56] The word (futouh) translated "openings" may also be rendered "victories" or "benefits."

[FN#57] Cf. Aristophanes, Lysistrata and Ecclesiazusae pa.s.sim.

[FN#58] An audacious parody of the Koran, applied ironically, "And the pious work G.o.d shall raise up."--Koran, x.x.xv. 11.

[FN#59] Lit. The chapter of clearing (oneself from belief in any but G.o.d), or Unity, Koran, cxii. It ends with the words, "There is none like unto Him."

[FN#60] i.e. but for the soul that animated them.

[FN#61] The word "nights" (more commonly "days," sometimes also "days and nights," as in the verses immediately following) is constantly used in the sense of "fortune" or "fate" by the poets of the East.

[FN#62] Abdallah ibn ez Zubeir revolted (A.D. 680) against Yezid (second Khalif of the Ommiade dynasty) and was proclaimed Khalif at Mecca, where he maintained himself till A.D. 692, when he was killed in the siege of that town by the famous Hejjaj, general of Abdulmelik, the fifth Ommiade Khalif.

[FN#63] The allusion here appears to be to the burning of part of Mecca, including the Temple and Kaabeh, during the (unsuccessful) siege by Hussein, A.D. 683.

[FN#64] Three Muslim sectaries (Kharejites), considering the Khalif Ali (Mohammed's son-in-law), Muawiyeh (founder of the Ommiade dynasty) and Amr (or Amrou), the conqueror of Egypt, as the chief authors of the intestine discords which then (A.D. 661 ) ravaged Islam, conspired to a.s.sa.s.sinate them; but only succeeded in killing Ali, Muawiyeh escaping with a wound and the fanatic charged with the murder of Amr slaying Kharijeh, the chief of the police at Cairo, by mistake, in his stead. The above verses are part of a famous but very obscure elegy on the downfall of one of the Muslim dynasties in Spain, composed in the twelfth century by Ibn Abdoun el Andalousi, one of the most celebrated of the Spanish Arabic poets.

[FN#65] i.e. fortune. The word dunya (world) is constantly used in poetry to signify "fortune" or "the fortune of this world."

[FN#66] This line is a characteristic example of the ant.i.thetical conceits so common in Oriental poetry. The meaning is, "My grief makes all I behold seem black to me, whilst my tears have washed out all the colour from my eyes."

[FN#67] i.e. the tomb.

[FN#68] The wood of which makes a peculiarly fierce and lasting fire.

[FN#69] Koran iv. 38.

[FN#70] Most happy.

[FN#71] Wretched.

[FN#72] Most happy.

[FN#73] The gift of G.o.d. The h in Nimeh becomes t before a vowel.

[FN#74] i.e. happiness.