The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 9 by Sir Richard Francis Burton (ebook reader library .TXT) 📕

[FN#421] This was a saying of Mohammed about overfrequency of visits, “Zur ghibban, tazid hubban”=call rarely that friendship last fairly. So the verse of Al-Mutanabbi, “How oft familiarity breeds dislike.”

Preston quotes Jesus ben Sirach, {Greek}. Also Al-Hariri (Ass.

xv. of “The Legal”; De Sacy p. 478 1. 2.) “Visit not your friend more than one day in a month, nor stop longer than that with him!” Also Ass. xvi. 487, 8. “Multiply not visits to thy friend.”

“None so disliked as one visiting too often.” (Preston p. 352).

In the Cent nouvelles (52) Nouvelles (No. lii.) the dying father says to his son:—“Jamais ne vous hantez tent en l’ostel de votre voisin que lion vous y serve de pain bis.” In these matters Moslems follow the preaching and practice of the Apostle, who was about as hearty and genial as the “Great Washington.” But the Arab had a fund of dry humour which the Anglo-American lacked altogether.

[FN#422] Arab. “‘Amal”—action, operation. In Hindostani it is used (often with an Alif for an Ayn) as intoxication e.g. Amal p�n� strong waters and applied to Shar�b (wine), Bozah (Beer), T�d� (toddy or the fermented juice of the T�d, Borassus flabelliformis), Nary�li (juice of the cocoa-nut tree) Saynddi (of the wild date, Elate Sylvestris), Afy�n (opium an its preparations as post=poppy seeds) and various forms of Cannabis Sativa, as Ganja, Charas, Madad, Sahzi etc. for which see Herklots’ Glossary.

[FN#423] Arab “Sard�b,” mostly an underground room (vol. i. 340) but here a tunnel.

[FN#424] Arab. “Al-L�wandiyah”: this and the frequent mention of coffee and presently of a watch (sa’ah) show that the tale in its present state, cannot be older than the end of the sixteenth century.

[FN#425] Arab. “Su’b�n,” vol. i. 172.

[FN#426] The lines have occurred in vol. i. 238, where I have noted the punning “Sabr”= patience or aloes. I quote Torrens: the Templar, however, utterly abolishes the pun in the last couplet:-

-

“The case is not at my command, but in fair Patience hand I’m set by Him who order’th all and cloth such case command.”

“Amr” here=case (circumstance) or command (order) with a suspicion of reference to Murr=myrrh, bitterness. The reader will note the resignation to Fate’s decrees which here and in host of places elevates the tone of the book.

[FN#427] i.e. as one loathes that which is prohibited, and with a loathing which makes it unlawful for me to cohabit with thee.

[FN#428] This is quite natural to the sensitive Eastern.

[FN#429] Hence, according to Moslem and Eastern theory generally her lewd and treasonable conduct. But in Egypt not a few freeborn women and those too of the noblest, would beat her hollow at her own little game. See for instance the booklet attributed to Jal�l al-Siy�t� and entitled Kit�h al-�z�h (Book of Explanation) f�

�Ilm al-Nik�h (in the Science of Carnal Copulation). There is a copy of it in the British Museum; and a friend kindly suppl~ed me with a lithograph from Cairo; warning me that there are doubts about the authorship.

[FN#430] These lines have occurred in vol. iii. 214: I quote Mr.

Payne.

[FN#431] This ejaculation, as the waw shows, is parenthetic; spoken either by Halimah, by Shahrazad or by the writer.

[FN#432] Arab. “Kasr” here meaning an upper room.

[FN#433] To avoid saying, I pardon thee.

[FN#434] A proverbial saying which here means I could only dream of such good luck.

[FN#435] A good old custom amongst Moslems who have had business transactions with each other: such acquittance of all possible claims will be quoted on “Judgment-Day,” when debts will be severely enquired into.

[FN#436] Arab. “Kutr (tract or quarter) Misr,” vulgarly pronounced “Masr.” I may remind the reader that the Assyrians called the Nile-valley “Musur” whence probably the Heb. Misraim a dual form denoting Upper and Lower Egypt which are still distinguished by the Arabs into Sa’id and Misr. The hieroglyphic term is Ta-mera=Land of the Flood; and the Greek Aigyptos is probably derived from Kahi-Ptah (region of the great God Ptah) or Ma Ka Ptah (House of the soul of Ptah). The word “Cops” or “Kopt,” in Egyptian “Kubti” and pronounced “Gubti,” contains the same consonants

[FN#437] Now an unimportant frontier fort and village dividing Syria-Palestine from Egypt and famed for the French battle with the Mamelukes (Feb. 19, 1799) and the convention for evacuating Egypt. In the old times it was an important site built upon the “River of Egypt” now a dried up Wady; and it was the chief port of the then populous Najab or South Country. According to Abulfeda it derived its name (the “boothy,” the nest) from a hut built there by the brothers of Joseph when stopped at the frontier by the guards of Pharaoh. But this is usual Jewish infection of history.

[FN#438] Arab. “B�b.” which may also=“Chapter” or category. See vol. i., 136 and elsewhere (index). In Egypt “B�b” sometimes means a sepulchral cave hewn in a rock (plur. B�b�n) from the Coptic “B�b.”

[FN#439] i.e. “The Holy,” a town some three marches (60 miles) N. East of Cairo; thus showing the honour done to our unheroic hero. There is also a S�lihlyah quarter or suburb of Damascus famous for its cemetery of holy men, but the facetious Cits change the name to Z�lliniyah=causing to stray; in allusion to its Kurdish population. Baron von Hammer reads “le faubourg Adelieh” built by Al-Malik Al-Adil and founded a chronological argument on a clerical error.

[FN#440] Kamar al-Zaman; the normal pun on the name; a practice as popular in the East as in the West, and worthy only of a pickpocket in either place.

[FN#441] Arab. “Azr�r” plur. of “Zirr” and lit. = ‘buttons,”

i.e. of his robe collar from which his white neck and face appear shining as the sun.

[FN#442] Arab. “D�irah” the usual inclosure of Kan�ts or tent-flaps pitched for privacy during the halt.

[FN#443] i.e. it was so richly ornamented that it resembled an enchanted hoard whose spells, hiding it from sight, had been broken by some happy treasure seeker.

[FN#444] The merchant who is a “stern parent” and exceedingly ticklish on the Pundonor saw at first sight her servile origin which had escaped the mother. Usually it is the other way.

[FN#445] Not the head of the Church, or Chief Pontiff, but the Chief of the Olema and Fukah� (F�kihs or D.D.‘s.) men learned in the Law (divinity). The order is peculiarly Moslem, in fact the succedaneum for the Christian “hierarchy ” an institution never contemplated by the Founder of Christianity. This title shows the modern date of the tale.

[FN#446] Arab. “Maulid,” prop. applied to the Birth-feast of Mohammed which begins on the 3rd day of Rab� al-Awwal (third Moslem month) and lasts a week or ten days (according to local custom), usually ending on the 12th and celebrated with salutes of cannon, circumcision feasts. marriage banquets. Zikr-litanies, perfections of the Koran and all manner of solemn festivities including the “powder-play” (L�b al-B�r�t) in the wilder corners of Al-Islam. It is also applied to the birth-festivals of great Santons (as Ahmad al-Badawi) for which see Lane M. E. chaps.

xxiv. In the text it is used like the Span. “Funcion” or the Hind “Tam�sh�,” any great occasion of merrymaking.

[FN#447] Arab. “San�jik” Plur. of Sanjak (Turk.) = a banner, also applied to the bearer (ensign or cornet) and to a military rank mostly corresponding with Bey or Colonel.

[FN#448] I have followed Mr. Payne’s ordering of the text which, both in the Mac. and Bull. Edits., is wholly inconsequent and has not the excuse of rhyme.

[FN#449] Arab. “Jilb�b,” a long coarse veil or gown which in Barbary becomes a “Jall�biyah,” in a striped and hooded cloak of woollen stuff.

[FN#450] i.e. a broken down pilgrim left to die on the road.

[FN#451] These lines have occurred in vol. i. 272. I quote Mr.

Payne.

[FN#452] Note the difference between “Zirt,” the loud crepitus and “Faswah” the susurrus which Captain Grose in his quaint “Lexicum Balatronicum,” calls a “fice” or a “foyse” (from the Arabic Fas, faswah ?).

[FN#453] These lines have occurred in Night dcxix, vol. vi. 246; where the pun on Khaliyah is explained. I quote Lane.

[FN#454] The usual pretext of “God bizness,” as the Comoro men call it. For the title of the Ka’abah see my Pilgrimage vol. iii.

149.

[FN#455] This was in order to travel as a respectable man, he could also send the girl as a spy into the different Harims to learn news of the lady who had eloped.

[FN#456] A polite form of alluding to their cursing him.

[FN#457] i.e. on account of the King taking offence at his unceremonious departure.

[FN#458] i.e. It will be the worse for him.

[FN#459] I would here remind the reader that “‘Arabiyyun” pl.

‘Urb is a man of pure Arab race, whether of the Ahl al-Madar (=people of mortar, i.e. citizens) or Ahl al-Wabar (=tents of goat or camel’s hair); whereas “A’r�biyyun” pl. A’r�b is one who dwells in the Desert whether Arab or not. Hence the verse:—

“They name us Al-A’r�b but Al-‘Urb is our name.”

[FN#460] I would remind the reader that the Din�r is the golden denarius (or solidus) of Eastern Rome while the Dirham is the silver denarius, whence denier, danaro, d�nheiro, etc., etc. The oldest diners date from A.H. 91-92 (=714-15) and we find the following description of one struck in A.H. 96 by Al-Walid the VI. Ommiade:—

Obverse:

Area. “There is no il�h but Allah: He is one: He hath no partner.”

Circle. “Mohammed is the Messenger of Allah who hath sent him with the true Guidance and Religion that he manifest it above all other Creeds.”

Reverse:

Area. “Allah is one: Allah is Eternal: He begetteth not, nor is He begot.”

Circle. “Bismillah: This Dinar was struck anno 96.”

See “‘Il�m-en-Nas” (warnings for Folk) a pleasant little volume by Mr. Godfrey Clarke (London, King and Co., 1873), mostly consisting of the minor tales from The Nights especially this group between Nights ccxlvii. and cdlxi.; but rendered valuable by the annotations of my old friend, the late Frederick Ayrton.

[FN#461] The reader will note the persistency with which the duty of universal benevolence is preached.

[FN#462] Arab. from Pers. “Shah-bander”: see vol. iv. 29.

[FN#463] i.e. of thy coming, a popular compliment.

[FN#464] This is the doctrine of the universal East; and it is true concerning wives and widows, not girls when innocent or rather ignorant. According to Western ideas Kamar al-Zaman was a young scoundrel of the darkest dye whose only excuses were his age, his inexperience and his passions.

[FN#465] Arab. “Dayy�s” prop. = a man who pimps for his own wife and in this sense constantly occurring in conversation.

[FN#466] This is taking the law into one’s own hands with a witness, yet amongst races who preserve the Pundonor in full and pristine force, e.g. the Afghans and the Persian Iliyat, the killing so far from being considered murder or even justifiable homicide would be highly commended by public opinion.

[FN#467] Arab. “N�kis�tu’aklin wa d�n”: the words are attributed to the Prophet whom we find saying, “Verily in your wives and children ye have an enemy, wherefore beware of them” (Koran lxiv.

14): compare 1 Cor. vii. 28, 32. But Ma�tre Jehan de Meung went farther,

“Toutes �tez, serez ou f�ses

De faict ou de volont�, putes.”