Various - "Scientific American Supplement, No. 385, May 19, 1883"

John Fiske - "The War of Independence"

William Elmer Bachman - "The Delta of the Triple Elevens"

St. John G. Ervine - "The Foolish Lovers"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 2

R >> Richard F. Burton >> The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 2




"In love they bore me further than my force would go, * And for
them made me suffer resurrection throe:
Oh, have compassion, cruel! on this soul of mine * Which, since
ye fared, is pitied by each envious foe;
Nor grudge the tender mercy of one passing glance * My case to
lighten, easing this excess of woe:
Quoth I 'Heart, bear this loss in patience!' Patience cried *
'Take heed! no patience in such plight I'm wont to show.' "

Then he redoubled his weeping, and the Fireman said to him, "Weep
not, but rather praise Allah for safety and recovery." Asked Zau
al-Makan, "How far is it hence to Damascus?" Answered the other,
"Six days' journey." Then quoth Zau al-Makan, "Wilt thou send me
thither?" "O my lord," quoth the Stoker, "how can I allow thee to
go alone, and thou a youth and a stranger to boot? If thou would
journey to Damascus, I am one who will go with thee; and if my
wife will listen to and obey me and accompany me, I will take up
my abode there; for it is no light matter to part with thee."
Then said he to his wife, "Wilt thou travel with me to Damascus
of Syria or wilt thou abide here, whilst I lead this my lord
thither and return to thee? For he is bent upon going to
Damascus of Syria and, by Allah, it is hard to me to part with
him, and I fear for him from highway men." Replied she, "I will
go with you both;" and he rejoined, "Praised be Allah for accord,
and we have said the last word!" Then he rose and selling all his
own goods and his wife's gear,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased saying her permitted say,

When it was the Fifty-fifth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Fire
man and his wife agreed with Zau al-Makan to travel with him
Damascus wards. Then the Stoker sold his goods and his wife's
gear and bought a camel and hired an ass for Zau al-Makan; and
they set out, and ceased not wayfaring for six days till they
reached Damascus. And they arrived there towards eventide; when
the Fireman went forth and, as was his wont, bought some meat and
drink. They had dwelt but five days in Damascus, when his wife
sickened and, after a short illness, was translated to the mercy
of Almighty Allah. Her death was a heavy matter to Zau al-Makan,
for he was grown used to her as she had tended him assiduously;
and the Fireman grieved for her with excessive grief. Presently
the Prince turned to the Stoker and finding him mourning, said to
him, "Grieve not, for at this gate we must all go in." Replied
he, "Allah make weal thy lot, O my son! Surely He will
compensate us with His favours and cause our mourning to cease.
What sayst thou, O my son, about our walking abroad to view
Damascus and cheer thy spirits?" Replied Zau al-Makan, "Thy will
is mine." So the Fireman arose and placed his hand in that of Zau
al- Makan and the two walked on till they came to the stables of
the Viceroy of Damascus, where they found camels laden with
chests and carpets and brocaded stuffs, and horses ready saddled
and Bactrian dromedaries, while Mamelukes and negro slaves and
folk in a hubbub were running to and fro. Quoth Zau al-Makan, "I
wonder to whom belong all these chattels and camels and stuffs!"
So he asked one of the eunuchs, "Whither this dispatching?'' and
he answered, "These are presents sent by the Emir of Damascus to
King Omar bin al-Nu'uman, with the tribute of Syria." Now when
Zau al-Makan heard his father's name his eyes brimmed over with
tears, and he began repeating,

"Oh ye gone from the gaze of these ridded eyne, * Ye whose sight
in my spirit shall ever dwell!
Your charms are gone, but this heart of me * Hath no sweet, and
no pleasures its sour dispel;
If Allah's grace make us meet again, * In long drawn love-tale my
love I'll tell."

And when he had ended his verse, he wept and the Fireman said to
him, "O my son, we hardly believed that thy health had
returned;[FN#238] so take heart and do not weep, for I fear a
relapse for thee." And he ceased not comforting and cheering him,
whilst Zau al-Makan sighed and moaned over his strangerhood and
separation from his sister and his family; and tears streamed
from his eyes and he recited these couplets,

"Get thee provaunt in this world ere thou wend upon thy way, *
And know how surely Death descends thy life lot to waylay:
All thy worldly goods are pride and the painfullest repine; * All
thy worldly life is vexing, of thy soul in vain display:
Say is not worldly wone like a wanderer's place of rest, * Where
at night he 'nakhs'[FN#239] his camels and moves off at dawn
of day?"

And he continued to weep and wail over his separation; whilst the
Fireman also bewept the loss of his wife, yet ceased not to
comfort Zau al-Makan till morning dawned. When the sun rose, he
said to him, "Meseemeth thou yearnest for thy native land?"
"Yes," replied Zau al-Makan, "and I can no longer tarry here; so
I will commend thee to Allah's care and set out with these folk
and journey with them, little by little, till I come to my mother
land." Said the Stoker, "And I with thee; for of a truth I cannot
bear to part with thee. I have done thee kindly service and I
mean to complete it by tending thee on thy travel." At this, Zau
al-Makan rejoiced and said, "Allah abundantly requite thee for
me!" and was pleased with the idea of their travelling together.
The Fireman at once went forth and bought another ass, selling
the camel; and laid in his provaunt and said to Zau al-Makan,
"This is for thee to ride by the way; and, when thou art weary of
riding, thou canst dismount and walk." Said Zau al-Makan, "May
Allah bless thee and aid me to requite thee! for verily thou
hast dealt with me more lovingly than one with his brother." Then
he waited till it was dark night, when he laid the provisions and
baggage on that ass and set forth upon their journey. This much
befel Zau al-Makan and the Fireman; but as regards what happened
to his sister Nuzhat al-Zaman, when she left her brother in the
Khan where they abode and, wrapped in the old camlet, went out to
seek service with some one, that she might earn wherewithal to
buy him the roast meat he longed for, she fared on, weeping and
knowing not whither to go, whilst her mind was occupied with
thoughts of her brother and of her family and her native land.
So she implored Allah Almighty to do away with these calamities
from them and began versifying,

"Dark falls the night and Passion comes sore pains to gar me
dree, * And pine upstirs those ceaseless pangs which work my
tormentry,
And cease not separation flames my vitals to consume, * And
drives me on destruction way this sorrow's ecstacy
And longing breeds me restlessness; desire for ever fires, * And
tears to all proclaim what I would keep in secrecy
No cunning shift is known to me a meeting to secure, * That I may
quit this sickly state, may cure my malady:
The love which blazeth in my heart is fed with fancy fuel, * The
lover from its hell of fire must bear Hell's agony![FN#240]
O thou who blamest me for all befel me, 'tis enough, * Patient I
bear what ever wrote the Reed of Doom for me:
By Love I swear I'll never be consoled, no, never more; * I swear
the oath of Love's own slaves who know no perjury:
O Night, to chroniclers of Love the news of me declare; * That
sleep hath fed mine eyelids of thy knowledge witness bear!"

Then she walked on, weeping and turning right and left as she
went, when behold, there espied her an old Badawi[FN#241] who had
come into the town from the desert with wild Arabs other five.
The old man took note of her and saw that she was lovely, but she
had nothing on her head save a piece of camlet, and, marvelling
at her beauty, he said to himself, "This charmer dazzleth men's
wits but she is in squalid condition, and whether she be of the
people of this city or she be a stranger, I needs must have her."
So he followed her, little by little, till he met her face to
face and stopped the way before her in a narrow lane, and called
out to her, asking her case, and said, "Tell me, O my little
daughter! art thou a free woman or a slave?" When she heard
this, she said to him, "By thy life, do not add to my sorrows!"
Quoth he, "Allah hath blessed me with six daughters, of whom five
died and only one is left me, the youngest of all; and I came to
ask thee if thou be of the folk of this city or a stranger; that
I might take thee and carry thee to her, to bear her company so
as to divert her from pining for her sisters. If thou have no
kith and kin, I will make thee as one of them and thou and she
shall be as my two children." Nuzhat al-Zaman bowed her head in
bashfulness when she heard what he said and communed with
herself, "Haply I may trust myself to this old man." Then she
said to him, "O nuncle, I am a maiden of the Arabs and a stranger
and I have a sick brother; but I will go with thee to thy
daughter on one condition, which is, that I may spend only the
day with her and at night may return to my brother. If thou
strike this bargain I will fare with thee, for I am a stranger
and I was high in honour among my tribe, and I awoke one morning
to find myself vile and abject. I came with my brother from the
land of Al-Hijaz and I fearless he know not where I am." When the
Badawi heard this, he said to himself, "By Allah, I have got my
desire!" Then he turned to her and replied, "There shall none be
dearer to me than thou; I wish thee only to bear my daughter
company by day and thou shalt go to thy brother at earliest
nightfall. Or, if thou wilt, bring him over to dwell with us."
And the Badawi ceased not to console her heart and coax her, till
she trusted in him and agreed to serve him. Then he walked on
before her and, when she followed him, he winked to his men to go
in advance and harness the dromedaries and load them with their
packs and place upon them water and provisions, ready for setting
out as soon as he should come up with the camels. Now this
Badawi was a base born churl, a highway thief and a traitor to
the friend he held most fief, a rogue in grain, past master of
plots and chicane. He had no daughter and no son and was only
passing through the town when, by the decree of the Decreer, he
fell in with this unhappy one. And he ceased not to hold her in
converse on the highway till they came without the city of
Jerusalem and, when outside, he joined his companions and found
they had made ready the dromedaries. So the Badawi mounted a
camel, having seated Nuzhat al-Zaman behind him and they rode on
all night. Then she knew that the Badawi's proposal was a snare
and that he had tricked her; and she continued weeping and crying
out the whole night long, while they journeyed on making for the
mountains, in fear any should see them. Now when it was near
dawn, they dismounted from their dromedaries and the Badawi came
up to Nuzhat al-Zaman and said to her, "O city strumpet, what is
this weeping? By Allah, an thou hold not thy peace, I will beat
thee to death, O thou town filth!" When she heard this she
loathed life and longed for death; so she turned to him and said,
"O accursed old man, O gray beard of hell, how have I trusted
thee and thou hast played me false, and now thou wouldst torture
me?" When he heard her reply he cried out, "O lazy baggage, dost
thou dare to bandy words with me?" And he stood up to her and
beat her with a whip, saying, "An thou hold not thy peace, I will
kill thee!" So she was silent awhile, then she called to mind her
brother and the happy estate she had been in and she shed tears
secretly. Next day, she turned to the Badawi and said to him,
"How couldst thou play me this trick and lure me into these bald
and stony mountains, and what is thy design with me?" When he
heard her words he hardened his heart and said to her, "O lazy
baggage of ill omen and insolent! wilt thou bandy words with
me?" and he took the whip and came down with it on her back till
she felt faint. Then she bowed down over his feet and
kissed[FN#242] them; and he left beating her and began reviling
her and said, "By the rights of my bonnet,[FN#243] if I see or
hear thee weeping, I will cut out thy tongue and stuff it up thy
coynte, O thou city filth!" So she was silent and made him no
reply, for the beating pained her; but sat down with her arms
round her knees and, bowing her head upon her collar, began to
look into her case and her abasement after her lot of high
honour; and the beating she had endured; and she called to mind
her brother and his sickness and forlorn condition, and how they
were both strangers in a far country, which crave her tears down
her cheeks and she wept silently and began repeating,

"Time hath for his wont to upraise and debase, * Nor is lasting
condition for human race:
In this world each thing hath appointed turn; * Nor may man
transgress his determined place:
How long these perils and woes? Ah woe * For a life, all woeful
in parlous case!
Allah bless not the days which have laid me low * I' the world,
with disgrace after so much grace!
My wish is baffled, my hopes cast down, * And distance forbids me
to greet his face:
O thou who passeth that dear one's door, * Say for me, these
tears shall flow evermore!"

When she had finished her verses, the Badawi came up to her and,
taking compassion on her, bespoke her kindly and wiped away her
tears. Then he gave her a barley scone and said, "I love not one
who answereth at times when I am in wrath: so henceforth give me
no more of these impertinent words and I will sell thee to a good
man like myself, who will do well with thee, even as I have
done." "Yes; whatso thou doest is right," answered she; and when
the night was longsome upon her and hunger burnt her, she ate
very little of that barley bread. In the middle of the night the
Badawi gave orders for departure,--And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Fifty-sixth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
Badawi gave the barley scone to Nuzhat al-Zaman and promised he
would sell her to a good man like himself, she replied, "Whatso
thou doest is right!" and, about midnight when hunger burned
her,[FN#244] she ate a very little of that barley bread and the
Badawi ordered his party to set out; so they loaded their loads
and he mounted a camel setting Nuzhat al-Zaman behind him. Then
they journeyed and ceased not journeying for three days, till
they entered the city of Damascus and alighted at the Sultan's
Khan, hard by the Viceroy's Gate. Now she had lost her colour by
grief and the fatigue of such travelling, and she ceased not to
weep over her misfortunes. So the Badawi came up to her and
said, "O thou city filth, by the right of my bonnet, if thou
leave not this weeping, I will sell thee to none but a Jew!" Then
he arose and took her by the hand and carried her to a chamber,
and walked off to the bazar, and he went round to, the merchants
who dealt in slave girls, and began to parley with them, saying,
"I have brought a slave girl whose brother fell ill, and I sent
him to my people about Jerusalem, that they might tend him till
he is cured. As for her I want to sell her, but after the dog
her brother fell sick, the separation from him was grievous to
her, and since then she doth nothing but weep, and now I wish
that whoso is minded to buy her of me speak softly to her and
say, 'Thy brother is with me in Jerusalem ill'; and I will be
easy with him about her price." Then one of the merchants came up
to him and asked, "How old is she?" He answered "She is a virgin,
just come to marriageable age, and she is endowed with sense and
breeding and wit and beauty and loveliness. But from the day I
sent her brother to Jerusalem, her heart hath been yearning for
him, so that her beauty is fallen away and her value lessened."
Now when the merchant heard this, he set forth with the Badawi
and said, "O Shaykh[FN#245] of the Arabs, I will go with thee and
buy of thee this girl whom thou praisest so highly for wit and
manners and beauty and loveliness; and I will pay thee her price
but it must be upon conditions which if thou accept, I will give
thee ready money, and if thou accept not I will return her to
thee." Quoth the Badawi, "An thou wilt, take her up to the Sultan
Sharrkan, son of Omar bin al-Nu'uman lord of Baghdad and of the
land of Khorasan, and condition me any conditions thou likest,
for when thou hast brought her before King Sharrkan, haply she
will please him, and he will pay thee her price and a good profit
for thyself to boot." Rejoined the merchant, "It happens that I
have just now something to ask from him, and it is this that he
write me an order upon the office, exempting me from custom dues
and also that he write me a letter of recommendation to his
father, King Omar bin al-Nu'uman. So if he take the girl, I will
weigh[FN#246] thee out her price at once." "I agree with thee to
this condition," answered the Badawi. So they returned together
to the place where Nuzhat al-Zaman was and the wild Arab stood at
the chamber door and called out, saying, "O Najiyah[FN#247]!"
which was the name wherewith he had named her. When she heard
him, she wept and made no answer. Then he turned to the merchant
and said to him, "There she sitteth; go to her and look at her
and speak to her kindly as I enjoined thee." So the trader went
up to her in courteous wise and saw that she was wondrous
beautiful and loveable, especially as she knew the Arabic tongue;
and he said to the Badawi, "If she be even as thou saddest, I
shall get of the Sultan what I will for her." Then he bespake
her, "Peace be on thee, my little maid! How art thou?" She
turned to him and replied, "This also was registered in the Book
of Destiny." Then she looked at him and, seeing him to be a man
of respectable semblance with a handsome face, she said to
herself, "I believe this one cometh to buy me;" and she
continued, "If I hold aloof from him, I shall abide with my
tyrant and he will do me to death with beating. In any case,
this person is handsome of face and maketh me hope for better
treatment from him than from my brute of a Badawi. May be he
cometh only to hear me talk; so I will give him a fair answer."
All this while her eyes were fixed on the ground; then she raised
them to him and said in a sweet voice, "And upon thee be peace, O
my lord, and Allah's mercy and His benediction![FN#248] This is
what is commanded of the Prophet, whom Allah bless and preserve!
As for thine enquiry how I am, if thou wouldst know my case, it
is such as thou wouldst not wish but to thy foe." And she held
her peace. When the merchant heard what she said, his fancy took
wings for delight in her and, turning to the Badawi, he asked
him, "What is her price, for indeed she is noble?" Thereupon the
Badawi waxed angry and answered, "Thou wilt turn me the girl's
head with this talk! Why dost thou say that she is
noble,[FN#249] while she is of the scum of slave girls and of the
refuse of folk? I will not sell her to thee!" When the merchant
heard this, he knew the man to be weak of wits and said to him,
"Calm thyself, for I will buy her of thee with these blemishes
thou mentionest." "And how much wilt thou give me for her?"
enquired the Badawi. Replied the merchant, "Name thy price for
her: none should name the son save his sire." Rejoined the
Badawi, "None shall name it but thou thyself." Quoth the merchant
to himself, "This wildling is a rudesby and a maggotty head. By
Allah, I cannot tell her price, for she hath won my heart with
her fair speech and good looks; and, if she can read and write,
it will be complete fair luck to her and to her purchaser. But
this Badawi does not know her worth." Then he turned and said to
him, "O Shaykh of the Arabs, I will give thee in ready money,
clear of the tax and the Sultan's dues, two hundred gold pieces."
Now when the Badawi heard this, he flew into a violent rage and
cried at the merchant, saying, "Get up and go thy ways! By
Allah, wert thou to offer me two hundred diners for the bit of
camlet she weareth, I would not sell it to thee. And now I will
not sell her, but will keep her by me, to pasture the camels and
grind my grist." And he cried out to her, saying, "Come here,
thou stinkard! I will not sell thee." Then he turned to the
merchant and said to him, "I used to think thee a man of
judgment; but, by the right of my bonnet, if thou begone not from
me, I will let thee hear what shall not please thee!" Quoth the
merchant to himself, "Of a truth this Badawi is mad and knoweth
not her value, and I will say no more to him about her price at
the present time; for by Allah, were he a man of sense, he would
not say, 'By the rights of my bonnet!' By the Almighty, she is
worth the kingdom of the Chosroes and I have not her price by me,
but if he ask even more, I will give him what he will, though it
be all my goods." Then he turned and said to him, "O Shaykh of
the Arabs, take patience and calm thyself and tell me what
clothes she hath with thee?" Cried the Badawi, "And what hath the
baggage to do with clothes? By Allah, this camlet in which she
is wrapped is ample for her." "With thy leave," said the
merchant, "I will unveil her face and examine her even as folk
examine slave girls whom they think of buying."[FN#250] Replied
the other, "Up and do what thou wilt and Allah keep thy youth!
Examine her outside and inside and, if thou wilt, strip off her
clothes and look at her when she is naked." Quoth the trader,
"Allah forfend! I will look at naught save her face."[FN#251]
Then he went up to her and was put to shame by her beauty and
loveliness,--And Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day and ceased
to say her permitted say.

When it was the Fifty-seventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
merchant went up to Nuzhat al-Zaman and was put to shame by her
beauty and loveliness, so he sat by her side and asked her, "O my
mistress, what is thy name?" She answered, "Doss thou ask what is
my name this day or what it was before this day?" Thereupon the
merchant enquired, "Hast thou then two names: to day's and
yesterday's?" "Yes," replied she, "my name in the past was Nuzhat
al-Zaman, the Delight of the Age; but my name at this present is
Ghussat[FN#252] al-Zaman, the Despight of the Age." When the
merchant heard this his eyes brimmed over with tears and quoth he
to her, "Hast thou not a sick brother?" "Ay by Allah, O my lord,
I have," quoth she, "but fortune hath parted me and him and he
lieth sick in Jerusalem." The merchant's head was confounded at
the sweetness of her speech and he said to himself, "Verily, the
Badawi spake the truth of her." Then she called to mind her
brother and his sickness and his strangerhood and her separation
from him in his hour of weakness and her not knowing what had
befallen him; and she thought of all that had happened to her
with the Badawi and of her severance from her mother and father
and native land; and the tears coursed down her cheeks and fast
as they started they dropped; and she began reciting,

"Allah, where'er thou be, His aid impart * To thee, who distant
dwellest in my heart!
Allah be near thee how so far thou fare; * Ward off all shifts of
Time, all dangers thwart!
Mine eyes are desolate for thy vanisht sight, * And start my
tears-ah me, how fast they start!
Would Heaven I kenned what quarter or what land * Homes thee, and
in what house and tribe thou art
An fount of life thou drain in greenth of rose, * While drink I
tear drops for my sole desert?
An thou 'joy slumber in those hours, when I * Peel 'twixt my side
and couch coals' burning smart?
All things were easy save to part from thee, * For my sad heart
this grief is hard to dree."

When the merchant heard her verses, he wept and put out his hand
to wipe away the tears from her cheeks; but she let down her veil
over her face, saying, "Heaven forbid, O my lord!''[FN#253] Then
the Badawi, who was sitting at a little distance watching them,
saw her cover her face from the merchant while about to wipe the
tears from her cheeks; and he concluded that she would have
hindered him from handling her: so he rose and running to her,
dealt her, with a camel's halter he had in his hand, such a blow
on the shoulders that she fell to the ground on her face. Her
eyebrow struck a stone which cut it open, and the blood streamed
down her cheeks; whereupon she screamed a loud scream and felt
faint and wept bitterly. The merchant was moved to tears for her
and said in himself, "There is no help for it but that I buy this
damsel, though at her weight in gold, and free her from this
tyrant." And he began to revile the Badawi whilst Nazhat al-
Zaman lay in sensible. When she came to herself, she wiped away
the tears and blood from her face; and she bound up her head:
then, raising her glance to heaven, she besought her Lord with a
sorrowful heart and began repeating,

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