The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1

R >> Richard F. Burton >> The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1

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[FN#384] Such an address to a royalty (Eastern) even in the
present day, would be a passport to future favours.

[FN#385] In England the man marries and the woman is married:
there is no such distinction in Arabia.

[FN#386] "Sultan" (and its corruption "Soldan") etymologically
means lord, victorious, ruler, ruling over. In Arabia it is a not
uncommon proper name; and as a title it is taken by a host of
petty kinglets. The Abbaside Caliphs (as Al-Wasik who has been
noticed) formally created these Sultans as their regents. Al-Ta'i
bi'llah (regn. A.H. 363 = 974), invested the famous Sabuktagin
with the office; and as Alexander-Sikander was wont to do,
fashioned for him two flags, one of silver, after the fashion of
nobles, and the other of gold, as Viceroy-designate. Sabuktagin's
son, the famous Mahmud of the Ghaznavite dynasty in A.H. 393 =
1002, was the first to adopt "Sultan" as an independent title
some two hundred years after the death of Harun al-Rashid. In old
writers we have the Soldan of Egypt, the Soudan of Persia, and
the Sowdan of Babylon; three modifications of one word.

[FN#387] i.e. he was a "Hafiz," one who commits to memory the
whole of the Koran. It is a serious task and must be begun early.
I learnt by rote the last "Juzw" (or thirtieth part) and found
that quite enough. This is the vulgar use of "Hafiz": technically
and theologically it means the third order of Traditionists (the
total being five) who know by heart 300,000 traditions of the
Prophet with their ascriptions. A curious "spiritualist" book
calls itself "Hafed, Prince of Persia," proving by the very title
that the Spirits are equally ignorant of Arabic and Persian.

[FN#388] Here again the Cairo Edit. repeats the six couplets
already given in Night xvii. I take them from Torrens (p. 163).

[FN#389] This naive admiration of beauty in either sex
characterised our chivalrous times. Now it is mostly confined to
"professional beauties" or what is conventionally called the
"fair sex"; as if there could be any comparison between the
beauty of man and the beauty of woman, the Apollo Belvidere with
the Venus de Medici.

[FN#390] Arab. "Shash" (in Pers. urine) a light turband generally
of muslin.

[FN#391] This is a lieu commun of Eastern worldly wisdom. Quite
true! Very unadvisable to dive below the surface of one's
acquaintances, but such intimacy is like marriage of which
Johnson said, "Without it there is no pleasure in life."

[FN#392] The lines are attributed to the famous Al-Mutanabbi =
the claimant to "Prophecy," of whom I have given a few details in
my Pilgrimage iii. 60, 62. He led the life of a true poet,
somewhat Chauvinistic withal; and, rather than run away, was
killed in A.H. 354 = 965.

[FN#393] Arab. "Nabiz" = wine of raisins or dates; any fermented
liquor; from a root to "press out" in Syriac, like the word
"Talmiz" (or Tilmiz says the Kashf al-Ghurrah) a pupil, student.
Date-wine (ferment from the fruit, not the Tadi, or juice of the
stem, our "toddy") is called Fazikh. Hence the Masjid al-Fazikh
at Al-Medinah where the Ansar or Auxiliaries of that city were
sitting cup in hand when they heard of the revelation forbidding
inebriants and poured the liquor upon the ground (Pilgrimage ii.
322).

[FN#394] Arab. "Huda" = direction (to the right way), salvation,
a word occurring in the Opening Chapter of the Koran. Hence to a
Kafir who offers the Salam-salutation many Moslems reply "Allah-
yahdik" = Allah direct thee! (i.e. make thee a Moslem), instead
of Allah yusallimak = Allah lead thee to salvation. It is the
root word of the Mahdi and Mohdi.

[FN#395] These lines have already occurred in The First
Kalandar's Story (Night xi.) I quote by way of change and with
permission Mr. Payne's version (i. 93).

[FN#396] Arab. "Farajiyah," a long-sleeved robe worn by the
learned (Lane, M.E., chapt. i.).

[FN#397] Arab. "Sarraf" (vulg. Sayrafi), whence the Anglo-Indian
"Shroff," a familiar corruption.

[FN#398] Arab. "Yahudi" which is less polite than "Banu Israil" =
Children of Israel. So in Christendom "Israelite" when in favour
and "Jew" (with an adjective or a participle) when nothing is
wanted of him.

[FN#399] Also called "Ghilman" = the beautiful youths appointed
to serve the True Believers in Paradise. The Koran says (chapt.
lvi. 9 etc.) "Youths, which shall continue in their bloom for
ever, shall go round about to attend them, with goblets, and
beakers, and a cup of flowing wine," etc. Mohammed was an Arab
(not a Persian, a born pederast) and he was too fond of women to
be charged with love of boys: even Tristam Shandy (vol. vii.
chapt. 7; "No, quoth a third; the gentleman has been committing--
--") knew that the two tastes are incompatibles. But this and
other passages in the Koran have given the Chevaliers de la
Pallie a hint that the use of boys, like that of wine, here
forbidden, will be permitted in Paradise.

[FN#400] Which, by the by, is the age of an oldish old maid in
Egypt. I much doubt puberty being there earlier than in England
where our grandmothers married at fourteen. But Orientals are
aware that the period of especial feminine devilry is between the
first menstruation and twenty when, according to some, every girl
is a "possible murderess." So they wisely marry her and get rid
of what is called the "lump of grief," the "domestic calamity"--a
daughter. Amongst them we never hear of the abominable egotism
and cruelty of the English mother, who disappoints her daughter's
womanly cravings in order to keep her at home for her own
comfort; and an "old maid" in the house, especially a stout,
plump old maid, is considered not "respectable." The ancient
virgin is known by being lean and scraggy; and perhaps this
diagnosis is correct.

[FN#401] This prognostication of destiny by the stars and a host
of follies that end in -mancy is an intricate and extensive
subject. Those who would study it are referred to chapt. xiv. of
the "Qanoon-e-Islam, or the Customs of the Mussulmans of India;
etc., etc., by Jaffur Shurreeff and translated by G. A. Herklots,
M. D. of Madras." This excellent work first appeared in 1832
(Allen and Co., London) and thus it showed the way to Lane's
"Modern Egyptians" (1833-35). The name was unfortunate as
"Kuzzilbash" (which rhymed to guzzle and hash), and kept the book
back till a second edition appeared in 1863 (Madras: J.
Higginbotham).

[FN#402] Arab. "Barid," lit. cold: metaph. vain, foolish,
insipid.

[FN#403] Not to "spite thee" but "in spite of thee." The phrase
is still used by high and low.

[FN#404] Arab. "Ahdab," the common hunchback; in classical
language the Gobbo in the text would be termed "Ak'as" from
"Ka'as," one with protruding back and breast; sometimes used for
hollow back and protruding breast.

[FN#405] This is the custom with such gentry, who, when they see
a likely man sitting, are allowed by custom to ride astraddle
upon his knees with most suggestive movements, till he buys them
off. These Ghawazi are mostly Gypsies who pretend to be Moslems;
and they have been confused with the Almahs or Moslem dancing-
girls proper (Awalim, plur. of Alimah, a learned feminine) by a
host of travellers. They call themselves Baramikah or Barmecides
only to affect Persian origin. Under native rule they were
perpetually being banished from and returning to Cairo
(Pilgrimage i., 202). Lane (M.E., chapts. xviii. and xix.)
discusses the subject, and would derive Al'mah, often so
pronounced, from Heb. Almah, girl, virgin, singing-girl, hence he
would translate Al-Alamoth shir (Psalm xlvi.) and Nebalim al-
alamoth (I. Chron., xv.20) by a "song for singing-girls" and
"harps for singing-girls." He quotes also St. Jerome as authority
that Alma in Punic (Phoenician) signified a virgin, not a common
article, I may observe, amongst singing-girls. I shall notice in
a future page Burckhardt's description of the Ghawazi, p.173,
"Arabic Proverbs;" etc., etc. Second Edition. London: Quaritch,
1875.

[FN#406] I need hardly describe the tarbush, a corruption of the
Per. "Sar-push" (headcover) also called "Fez" from its old home;
and "tarbrush" by the travelling Briton. In old days it was a
calotte worn under the turban; and it was protected by scalp-
perspiration by an "Arakiyah" (Pers. Arak-chin) a white skull-
cap. Now it is worn without either and as a head-dress nothing
can be worse (Pilgrimage ii. 275).

[FN#407] Arab. "Tar.": the custom still prevails. Lane (M.E.,
chapt. xviii.) describes and figures this hoop-drum.

[FN#408] The couch on which she sits while being displayed. It is
her throne, for she is the Queen of the occasion, with all the
Majesty of Virginity.

[FN#409] This is a solemn "chaff;" such liberties being permitted
at weddings and festive occasions.

[FN#410] The pre-Islamitic dynasty of Al-Yaman in Arabia Felix, a
region formerly famed for wealth and luxury. Hence the mention of
Yamani work. The caravans from Sana'a, the capital, used to carry
patterns of vases to be made in China and bring back the
porcelains at the end of the third year: these are the Arabic
inscriptions which have puzzled so many collectors. The Tobba, or
Successors, were the old Himyarite Kings, a dynastic name like
Pharaoh, Kisra (Persia), Negush (Abyssinia), Khakan or Khan
(Tartary), etc., who claimed to have extended their conquests to
Samarcand and made war on China. Any history of Arabia (as
Crichton I., chapt. iv.) may be consulted for their names and
annals. I have been told by Arabs that "Tobba" (or Tubba) is
still used in the old Himvarland = the Great or the Chief.

[FN#411] Lane and Payne (as well as the Bres. Edit.) both render
the word "to kiss her," but this would be clean contrary to
Moslem usage.

[FN#412] i.e. he was full of rage which he concealed.

[FN#413] The Hindus (as the Katha shows) compare this swimming
gait with an elephant's roll.

[FN#414] Arab. "Fitnah," a word almost as troublesome as "Adab."
Primarily, revolt, seduction, mischief: then a beautiful girl (or
boy), and lastly a certain aphrodisiac perfume extracted from
mimosa-flowers (Pilgrimage i., 118).

[FN#415] Lit. burst the "gall-bladder:" In this and in the
"liver" allusions I dare not be baldly literal.

[FN#416] Arab. "Usfur" the seeds of Carthamus tinctorius =
Safflower (Forskal, Flora, etc. lv.). The seeds are crushed for
oil and the flowers, which must be gathered by virgins or the
colour will fail, are extensively used for dying in Southern
Arabia and Eastern Africa.

[FN#417] On such occasions Miss Modesty shuts her eye and looks
as if about to faint.

[FN#418] After either evacuation the Moslem is bound to wash or
sand the part; first however he should apply three pebbles, or
potsherds or clods of earth. Hence the allusion in the Koran
(chapt. ix), "men who love to be purified." When the Prophet was
questioning the men of Kuba, where he founded a mosque
(Pilgrimage ii., 215), he asked them about their legal ablutions,
especially after evacuation; and they told him that they used
three stones before washing. Moslems and Hindus (who prefer water
mixed with earth) abhor the unclean and unhealthy use of paper
without ablution; and the people of India call European draught-
houses, by way of opprobrium, "Kaghaz-khanah" = paper closets.
Most old Anglo-Indians, however, learn to use water.

[FN#419] "Miao" or "Mau" is the generic name of the cat in the
Egyptian of the hieroglyphs.

[FN#420] Arab. "Ya Mah'um" addressed to an evil spirit.

[FN#421] "Heehaw!" as we should say. The Bresl. Edit. makes the
cat cry "Nauh! Nauh!" and the ass-colt "Manu! Manu!" I leave
these onomatopoeics as they are in Arabic; they are curious,
showing the unity in variety of hearing inarticulate sounds. The
bird which is called "Whip poor Will" in the U.S. is known to the
Brazilians as "Joam corta pao" (John cut wood); so differently do
they hear the same notes.

[FN#422] It is usually a slab of marble with a long slit in front
and a round hole behind. The text speaks of a Kursi (= stool);
but this is now unknown to native houses which have not adopted
European fashions.

[FN#423] This again is chaff as she addresses the Hunchback. The
Bul. Edit. has "O Abu Shihab" (Father of the shooting-star = evil
spirit); the Bresl. Edit. "O son of a heap! O son of a
Something!" (al-afsh, a vulgarism).

[FN#424] As the reader will see, Arab ideas of "fun" and
practical jokes are of the largest, putting the Hibernian to
utter rout, and comparing favourably with those recorded in Don
Quixote.

[FN#425] Arab. "Sarawil" a corruption of the Pers. "Sharwal";
popularly called "libas" which, however, may also mean clothing
in general and especially outer-clothing. I translate "bag-
trousers" and "petticoat-trousers," the latter being the divided
skirt of our future. In the East, where Common Sense, not
Fashion, rules dress, men, who have a protuberance to be
concealed, wear petticoats and women wear trousers. The feminine
article is mostly baggy but sometimes, as in India, collant-
tight. A quasi-sacred part of it is the inkle, tape or string,
often a most magnificent affair, with tassels of pearl and
precious stones; and "laxity in the trouser-string" is equivalent
to the loosest conduct. Upon the subject of "libas," "sarwal" and
its variants the curious reader will consult Dr. Dozy's
"Dictionnaire Detaille des Noms des Vetements chez les Arabes," a
most valuable work.

[FN#426] The turban out of respect is not put upon the ground
(Lane, M. E., chapt. i.).

[FN#427] Arab. "Madfa" showing the modern date or the
modernization of the tale. In Lebid "Madafi" (plur. of Madfa')
means water-courses or leats.

[FN#428] In Arab. the "he" is a "she;" and Habib ("friend") is
the Attic {Greek Letters}, a euphemism for lover. This will occur
throughout The Nights. So the Arabs use a phrase corresponding
with the Stoic {Greek Letters}, i.e. is wont, is fain.

[FN#429] Part of the Azan, or call to prayer.

[FN#430] Arab. "Shihab," these mentors being the flying shafts
shot at evil spirits who approach too near heaven. The idea
doubtless arose from the showers of August and November meteors
(The Perseides and Taurides) which suggest a battle raging in
upper air. Christendom also has its superstition concerning these
and called those of August the "fiery tears of Saint Lawrence,"
whose festival was on August 10.

[FN#431] Arab. "Takiyah" = Pers. Arak-chin; the calotte worn
under the Fez. It is, I have said, now obsolete and the red
woollen cap (mostly made in Europe) is worn over the hair; an
unclean practice.

[FN#432] Often the effect of cold air after a heated room.

[FN#433] i.e. He was not a Eunuch, as the people guessed.

[FN#434] In Arab. "this night" for the reason before given.

[FN#435] Meaning especially the drink prepared of the young
leaves and florets of Cannabis Sativa. The word literally means
"day grass" or "herbage." This intoxicant was much used by
magicians to produce ecstasy and thus to "deify themselves and
receive the homage of the genii and spirits of nature."

[FN#436] Torrens, being an Irishman, translates "and woke in the
morning sleeping at Damascus."

[FN#437] Arab. "Labbayka," the cry technically called "Talbiyah"
and used by those entering Meccah (Pilgrimage iii. 125-232). I
shall also translate it by "Adsum." The full cry is:--

Here am I, O Allah, here am I!
No partner hast Thou, here am I:
Verily the praise and the grace and the kingdom are thine:
No partner hast Thou: here am I!

A single Talbiyah is a "Shart" or positive condition: and its
repetition is a Sunnat or Custom of the Prophet. See Night xci.

[FN#438] The staple abuse of the vulgar is curing parents and
relatives, especially feminine, with specific allusions to their
"shame." And when dames of high degree are angry, Nature, in the
East as in the West, sometimes speaks out clearly enough, despite
Mistress Chapone and all artificial restrictions.

[FN#439] A great beauty in Arabia and the reverse in Denmark,
Germany and Slav-land, where it is a sign of being a were-wolf or
a vampire. In Greece also it denotes a "Brukolak" or vampire.

[FN#440] This is not physiologically true: a bride rarely
conceives the first night, and certainly would not know that she
had conceived. Moreover the number of courses furnished by the
bridegroom would be against conception. It is popularly said that
a young couple often undoes in the morning what it has done
during the night.

[FN#441] Torrens (Notes, xxiv.) quotes "Fleisher" upon the word
"Ghamghama" (Diss. Crit. De Glossis Habichtionis), which he
compares with "Dumbuma" and Humbuma," determining them to be
onomatopoeics, "an incomplete and an obscure murmur of a sentence
as it were lingering between the teeth and lips and therefore
difficult to be understood." Of this family is "Taghum"; not used
in modern days. In my Pilgrimage (i.313) I have noticed another,
"Khyas', Khyas'!" occurring in a Hizb al-Bahr (Spell of the Sea).
Herklots gives a host of them; and their sole characteristics are
harshness and strangeness of sound, uniting consonants which are
not joined in Arabic. The old Egyptians and Chaldeans had many
such words composed at will for theurgic operations.

[FN#442] This may mean either "it is of Mosul fashion" or, it is
of muslin.

[FN#443] To the English reader these lines would appear the
reverse of apposite; but Orientals have their own ways of
application, and all allusions to Badawi partings are effective
and affecting. The civilised poets of Arab cities throw the charm
of the Desert over their verse by images borrowed from its
scenery, the dromedary, the mirage and the well as naturally as
certain of our bards who hated the country, babbled of purling
rills, etc. thoroughly to feel Arabic poetry one must know the
Desert (Pilgrimage iii., 63).

[FN#444] In those days the Arabs and the Portuguese recorded
everything which struck them, as the Chinese and Japanese in our
times. And yet we complain of the amount of our modern writing!

[FN#445] This is mentioned because it is the act preliminary to
naming the babe.

[FN#446] Arab. "Kahramanat" from Kahraman, an old Persian hero
who conversed with the Simurgh-Griffon. Usually the word is
applied to women-at-arms who defend the Harem, like the Urdu-
begani of India, whose services were lately offered to England
(1885), or the "Amazons" of Dahome.

[FN#447] Meaning he grew as fast in one day as other children in
a month.

[FN#448] Arab. Al-Arif; the tutor, the assistant-master.

[FN#449] Arab. "Ibn haram," a common term of abuse; and not a
factual reflection on the parent. I have heard a mother apply the
term to her own son.

[FN#450] Arab. "Khanjar" from the Persian, a syn. with the Arab.
"Jambiyah." It is noted in my Pilgrimage iii., pp. 72,75. To
"silver the dagger" means to become a rich man. From "Khanjar,"
not from its fringed loop or strap, I derive our silly word
"hanger." Dr. Steingass would connect it with Germ. Faenger, e.g.
Hirschfaenger.

[FN#451] Again we have "Dastur" for Izn."

[FN#452] Arab. "Iklim"; the seven climates of Ptolemy.

[FN#453] Arab. "Al-Ghadir," lit. a place where water sinks, a
lowland: here the drainage-lakes east of Damascus into which the
Baradah (Abana?) discharges. The higher eastern plain is "Al-
Ghutah" before noticed.

[FN#454] The "Plain of Pebbles" still so termed at Damascus; an
open space west of the city.

[FN#455] Every Guide-book, even the Reverend Porter's "Murray,"
gives a long account of this Christian Church 'verted to a
Mosque.

[FN#456] Arab. "Nabut"; Pilgrimage i. 336.

[FN#457] The Bres. Edit. says, "would have knocked him into Al-
Yaman," (Southern Arabia), something like our slang phrase "into
the middle of next week."

[FN#458] Arab. "Khadim": lit. a servant, politely applied (like
Agha = master) to a castrato. These gentry wax furious if baldly
called "Tawashi" = Eunuch. A mauvais plaisant in Egypt used to
call me The Agha because a friend had placed his wife under my
charge.

[FN#459] This sounds absurd enough in English, but Easterns
always put themselves first for respect.

[FN#460] In Arabic the World is feminine.

[FN#461] Arab. "Sahib" = lit. a companion; also a friend and
especially applied to the Companions of Mohammed. Hence the
Sunnis claim for them the honour of "friendship" with the
Apostle; but the Shia'hs reply that the Arab says "Sahaba-hu'l-
himar" (the Ass was his Sahib or companion). In the text it is a
Wazirial title, in modern India it is = gentleman, e.g. "Sahib
log" (the Sahib people) means their white conquerors, who, by the
by, mostly mispronounce the word "Sab."

[FN#462] Arab. "Suwan," prop. Syenite, from Syene (Al-Suwan) but
applied to flint and any hard stone.

[FN#463] It was famous in the middle ages, and even now it is,
perhaps, the most interesting to travellers after that "Sentina
Gentium," the "Bhendi Bazar" of unromantic Bombay.

[FN#464] "The Gate of the Gardens," in the northern wall, a Roman
archway of the usual solid construction shaming not only our
modern shams, but our finest masonry.

[FN#465] Arab. "Al-Asr," which may mean either the hour or the
prayer. It is also the moment at which the Guardian Angels
relieve each other (Sale's Koran, chapt. v.).

[FN#466] Arab. "Ya haza" = O this (one)! a somewhat slighting
address equivalent to "Heus tu! O thou, whoever thou art."
Another form is "Ya hu" = O he! Can this have originated Swift's
"Yahoo"?

[FN#467] Alluding to the {Greek Letters} ("minor miracles which
cause surprise") performed by Saints' tombs, the mildest form of
thaumaturgy. One of them gravely recorded in the Dabistan (ii.
226) is that of the holy Jamen, who opened the Samran or bead-
bracelet from the arm of the beautiful Chistapa with member
erect, "thus evincing his manly strength and his command over
himself"(!)

[FN#468] The River of Paradise, a lieu commun of poets (Koran,
chapt. cviii.): the water is whiter than milk or silver, sweeter
than honey, smoother than cream, more odorous than musk; its
banks are of chrysolite and it is drunk out of silver cups set
around it thick as stars. Two pipes conduct it to the Prophet's
Pond which is an exact square, one month's journey in compass.
Kausar is spirituous like wine; Salsabil sweet like clarified
honey; the Fount of Mildness is like milk and the Fount of Mercy
like liquid crystal.

[FN#469] The Moslem does not use the European basin because water
which has touched an impure skin becomes impure. Hence it is
poured out from a ewer ("ibrik" Pers. Abriz) upon the hands and
falls into a basin ("tisht") with an open-worked cover.

[FN#470] Arab. "Wahsh," a word of many meanings; nasty, insipid,
savage, etc. The offside of a horse is called Wahshi opposed to
Insi, the near side. The Amir Taymur ("Lord Iron") whom Europeans
unwittingly call after his Persian enemies' nickname,
"Tamerlane," i.e. Taymur-I-lang, or limping Taymur, is still
known as "Al-Wahsh" (the wild beast) at Damascus, where his
Tartars used to bury men up to their necks and play at bowls with
their heads for ninepins.

[FN#471] For "grandson" as being more affectionate. Easterns have
not yet learned that clever Western saying:--The enemies of our
enemies are our friends.

[FN#472] This was a simple bastinado on the back, not the more
ceremonious affair of beating the feet-soles. But it is
surprising what the Egyptians can bear; some of the rods used in
the time of the Mameluke Beys are nearly as thick as a man's
wrist.

[FN#473] The woman-like spite of the eunuch intended to hurt the
grandmother's feelings.

[FN#474] The usual Cairene "chaff."

[FN#475] A necessary precaution against poison (Pilgrimage i. 84,
and iii. 43).

[FN#476] The Bresl. Edit. (ii. 108) describes the scene at
greater length.

[FN#477] The Bul. Edit. gives by mistake of diacritical points,
"Zabdaniyah:" Raydaniyah is or rather was a camping ground to the
North of Cairo.

[FN#478] Arab. "La'abat" = a plaything, a puppet, a lay figure.
Lane (i. 326) conjectures that the cross is so called because it
resembles a man with arms extended. But Moslems never heard of
the fanciful ideas of mediaeval Christian divines who saw the
cross everywhere and in everything. The former hold that Pharaoh
invented the painful and ignominious punishment. (Koran, chapt.
vii.).

[FN#479] Here good blood, driven to bay, speaks out boldly. But,
as a rule, the humblest and mildest Eastern when in despair turns
round upon his oppressors like a wild cat. Some of the criminals
whom Fath Ali Shah of Persia put to death by chopping down the
fork, beginning at the scrotum, abused his mother till the knife
reached their vitals and they could no longer speak.

[FN#480] These repeated "laughs" prove the trouble of his spirit.
Noble Arabs "show their back-teeth" so rarely that their laughter
is held worthy of being recorded by their biographers.

[FN#481] A popular phrase, derived from the Koranic "Truth is
come, and falsehood is vanished: for falsehood is of short
continuance" (chapt. xvii.). It is an equivalent of our
adaptation from 1 Esdras iv. 41, "Magna est veritas et
praevalebit." But the great question still remains, What is Truth?

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