The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 14 by Sir Richard Francis Burton (the best books to read TXT) 📕

[FN#304] Here ends vol. iii. of the W. M. MS. and begins Night cdxxvi.

[FN#305] In the next “R�sah,” copyist’s error for “R�shah” = a thread, a line: it afterwards proves to be an ornament for a falcon’s neck. [I cannot bring myself to adopt her the explanation of “R�shah” as a string instead of its usual meaning of “feather,” “plume.” My reasons are the following: 1. The youth sets it upon his head; that is, I suppose, his cap, or whatever his head-gear may be, which seems a more appropriate place for a feather than for a necklace. 2. Further on, Night cdxxx., it is said that the Prince left the residence of his second spouse in search (tal�b) of the city of the bird. If the word “R�shah,”

which, in the signification of thread, is Persian, had been sufficiently familiar to an Arab to suggest, as a matter of course, a bird’s necklace, and hence the bird itself, we would probably find a trace of this particular meaning, if not in other Arabic books, at least in Persian writers or dictionaries; but here the word “R�shah,” by some pronounced “Reshah” with the Y�

majh�l, never occurs in connection with jewels; it means fringe, filament, fibre. On the other hand, the suggestion of the bird presents itself quite naturally at the sight of the feather. 3.

Ib. p. 210 the youth requests the old man to tell him concerning the “Tayrah allaz� R�sh-h� (not Rishat-h�) min Ma’�din,” which, I believe, can only be rendered by: the bird whose plumage is of precious stones. The “R�shah” itself was said to be “min Zumurrud wa L�l�,” of emeralds and pearls; and the cage will be “min Ma’�din wa L�l�,” of precious stones and pearls, in all which cases the use of the preposition “min” points more particularly to the material of which the objects are wrought than the mere Iz�fah. The wonderfulness of the bird seems therefore rather to consist in his jewelled plumage than the gift of speech or other enchanting qualities, and I would take it for one of those costly toys, in imitation of trees and animals, in which Eastern princes rejoice, and of which we read so many descriptions, not only in books of fiction, but even in historical works. If it were a live-bird of the other kind, he would probably have put in his word to expose the false brothers of the Prince.—St.]

[FN#306] This is conjectural: the text has a correction which is hardly legible. [I read: “Wa l�kin h� ajmalu min-hum bi-jam�lin mufritin, lakinnahu matr�dun h� wa ummu-hu” = “and yet he was more beautiful than they with surpassing beauty, but he was an outcast, he and his mother,” as an explanation, by way of parenthesis, for their daring to treat him so shamefully.—St.]

[FN#307] The venerable myth of Andromeda and Perseus (who is Horus in disguise) brought down to Saint George (his latest descendant), the Dragon (Typhon) and the fair Saba in the “Seven Champions of Christendom.” See my friend M. Clermont Ganneau’s Horus et Saint-Georges; Mr. J. R. Anderson’s “Saint Mark’s Rest; the Place of Dragons;” and my “Book of the Sword,” chapt. ix.

[FN#308] i.e. there was a great movement and confusion.

[FN#309] [In the text ‘Af�r, a word frequently joined with “Ghub�r,” dust, for the sake of emphasis; hence we will find in Night ccccxxix. the verb “yu’affiru,” he was raising a dust-cloud.—St.]

[FN#310] Upon the subject of “throwing the kerchief” see vol. vi.

285. Here it is done simply as a previously concerted signal of recognition.

[FN#311] In text “‘Al� Yad�n;” for which vulgarism see vol. iii.

51.

[FN#312] Elephants are usually, as Cuvier said of the (Christian) “Devil” after a look at his horns and hoofs, vegetarians.

[FN#313] [The MS. has “yughaffiru wa yuzaghdimu.” The former stands probably for “yu’-aff�ru,” for which see supra p. 205, note 2. The writing is, however, so indistinct that possibly “yufaghghiru” is intended, which means he opened his mouth wide.

“Yuzaghdimu” is one of those quadriliterals which are formed by blending two triliterals in one verb, in order to intensify the idea. “Zaghada” and “Zaghama” mean both “he roared,” more especially applied to a camel, and by joining the “d” of the one with the “m” of the other, we obtain “Zaghdama,” he roared fiercely.—St.]

[FN#314] [S�ra’a-hu wa l�wa’a-hu = he rushed upon him and worried him. The root law’ means to enfeeble, render sick, especially applied to love-sickness (Lau’ah). The present 3rd form is rarely used, but here and in a later passage, Night cdxlv., the context bears out the sense of harassing.—St.]

[FN#315] In text “Zagh�rit” plur. of Zaghr�tah: see vol. ii. p.

80.

[FN#316] [Y� walad al-Hal�l. I would translate: “O! son of a lawful wedlock,” simply meaning that he takes him to be a decent fellow, not a scamp or Walad al-Har�m.—St.]

[FN#317] The repetitium is a sign of kindness and friendliness; see vol. vi. 370.

[FN#318] This Arabian “Satt�r” corresponds passing well with “Jupiter Servator.”

[FN#319] “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise.” Matt. Xxi. 16. The idea is not less Moslem than Christian.

[FN#320] [I read “Sarkhah adwat la-h� al-Sar�yah” = a cry to which the palace-women raised an echo, a cry re-echoed by the palace-women. “Adw�” is the fourth form of “Dawiya,” to hum or buzz, to produce an indistinct noise, and it is vulgarly used in the above sense, like the substantive “Dawi,” an echo. Al-Sar�yah is perhaps only an Arabised form of the Persian Sar�y, and the sentence might be, to which the palace resounded.—St.]

[FN#321] The Princess is not logical: on the other hand she may plead that she is right.

[FN#322] Arab. “Ma’l�mah,” which may also mean the “made known,”

or “aforemention.”

[FN#323] A sensible remark which shows that the King did not belong to the order called by Mr. Matthew Arnold “Barbarians.”

[FN#324] In text: “Rajul Ja’�d�,” for which see supra p. 9.

[FN#325] Arab. “Fidawiyah,” sing. “Fid�wi” = lit. one who gives his life to a noble cause, a forlorn hope, esp. applied to the Ismai’liyah race, disciples of the “Assassin” Hasan-i-Sab�h. See De Sacy, “M�moire sur les Assassins M�m. de l’Institut,” etc. iv.

7 et seqq. Hence perhaps a castaway, a “perdido,” one careless of his life. I suspect, however, that is is an Egyptianised form of the Pers. “Fid�‘i” = a robber, a murderer. The Lat. Catalogue prefers “Sicarius” which here cannot be the meaning.

[FN#326] Arab. “Kirsh,” pop. “Girsh.”

[FN#327] I have noticed that there is a Shaykh or head of the Guild, even for thieves, in most Moslem capitals. See vol. vi.

204.

[FN#328] Here is the normal enallage of persons, “luh” = to him for “l�” = to me.

[FN#329] In text “Na’mil ma’allaz�, etc….mak�dah.” I have attempted to preserve the idiom.

[FN#330] [In the MS. “al-‘Ashrah Miah,” which, I think, can scarcely be translated by “ten times one hundred.” If Miah were dependent on al-‘Ashrah, the latter could not have the article. I propose therefore to render “one hundred for the (i.e. every) ten” = tenfold.—St.]

[FN#331] For this “nosebag,” see vols. Ii. 52, and vi. 151, 192.

[FN#332] [Until here the change fromt eh first person into the third, as pointed out in note 2, has been kept up in the MS.—“He reached the barracks,” “he found,” etc. Now suddenly the gender changes as well, and the tale continues: “And lo, the girl went to them and said,” etc. etc. This looseness of style may, in the mouth of an Eastern R�w�, have an additional dramatic charm for his more eager than critical audience; but it would be intolerable to European readers. Sir Richard has, therefore, very properly substituted the first person all through.—St.]

[FN#333] “Riy�l” is from the Span. “Real” = royal (coin): in Egypt it was so named by order of Ali Bey, the Mameluke, in A.H.

1183 (A.D. 1771-72) and it was worth ninety Faddahs = 5 2/5d. The word, however, is still applied to the dollar proper (Maria Theresa), to the Riy�l Frans� or five-france piece and to the Span. pillar dollar: the latter is also nicknamed ‘Abu Madfa’”

Father of a Cannon (the columns being mistaken for cannons); also the Ab� T�kah (Father of a Window), whence we obtaint he Europeanised “Patacco” (see Lane, Appendix ii.) and “Pataca,”

which Littr� confounds with the “Patard” and of which he ignores the origin.

[FN#334] See The Nights, vol. x. 12.

[FN#335] i.e. “pleasant,” “enjoyable”; see “White as milk”

opposed to “black as mud,” etc., vol. iv. 140. Here it is after a fashion synonymous with the French nuit blanche.

[FN#336] [The MS. seems here to read “wa jasad-hu yuhazdimu,”

(thus at least the word, would have to be vocalised if it were a quadrilateral verbal form), and of this I cannot make out any sense. I suspect the final syllable is meant for “Dam,” blood, of which a few lines lower down the plural “Dim�” occurs. Reamins to account for the characters immediately preceding it. I think that either the upper dot of the Arabic belongs to the first radical instead of the second, reading “yukhirru,” as the fourth or causative form of “kharra yakhurru,” to flow, to ripple, to purl; or that the two dots beneath are to be divided between the first two characters, reading “bajaza.” The latter, it is true, is no dictionary word, but we have found supra p. 176, “muhandiz” for “muhandis,” so here “bajaza” may stand for “bajasa” = gushed forth, used intransitively and transitively. In either case the translation would be “his body was emitting blood freely.”-St.]

[FN#337] The MS. here is hardly intelligible but the sense shows the word to be “Misallah” (plur. “Mis�ll”) = a large needle for sewing canvas, &c. In Egypt the usual pronunciation is “Musallah,” hence the vulgar name of Cleopatra’s needle “Musallat Far’aun” (of Pharaoh) the two terms contending for which shall be the more absurd. I may note that Commander Gorridge, the distinguished officer of the U.S. Navy who safely and easily carried the “Needle” to New York after the English had made a prodigious mess with their obelisk, showed me upon the freshly uncovered base of the pillar the most distinct intaglio representations of masonic implements, the plumb-line, the square, the compass, and so forth. These, however, I attributed to masonry as the craft, to the guild; he to Freemasonry, which in my belief was unknown to the Greeks and Romans, and is never mentioned in history before the eight Crusades (A.D. 1096-1270).

The practices and procedure were evidently borrowed from the various Vehms and secret societies which then influenced the Moslem world, and our modern lodges have strictly preserved in the “Architect of the Universe,” Arian and Moslem Unitarianism as opposed to Athanasian and Christian Tritheism; they admit the Jew and the Mussulman as apprentices, but they refuse the Hindu and the Pagan. It seems now the fashion to run down the mystic charities of the brethren are still active, and the society still takes an active part in politics throughout the East. As the late Pope Pius IX. (fitly nicknamed “Pio no-no”), a free mason himself, forbade Freemasonry to his church because a secret society is incompatible with oral confession (and priestcraft tolerates only its own mysteries), and made excommunication the penalty, the French lodges have dwindled away and the English have thriven upon their decay, thus enlisting a host of neophytes who, when the struggle shall come on, may lend excellent aid.

[FN#338] The “Jan�zah” or bier, is often made of planks loosely nailed or pegged together into a stretcher or platform, and it