The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4

R >> Richard F. Burton >> The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4

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[FN#38] Arab. "Asidah" flour made consistent by boiling in water
with the addition of "Same" clarified butter) and honey: more
like pap than custard.

[FN#39] Arab. "Ghabah" = I have explained as a low-lying place
where the growth is thickest and consequently animals haunt it
during the noon-heats

[FN#40] Arab. "Akkam," one who loads camels and has charge of
the luggage. He also corresponds with the modern Mukharrij or
camel-hirer (Pilgrimage i. 339), and hence the word Moucre
(Moucres) which, first used by La Brocquiere (A.D. 1432), is
still the only term known to the French.

[FN#41] i.e. I am old and can no longer travel.

[FN#42] Taken from Al-Asma'i, the "Romance of Antar," and the
episode of the Asafir Camels.

[FN#43] A Mystic of the twelfth century A.D. who founded the
Kadiri order (the oldest and chiefest of the four universally
recognised), to which I have the honour to belong, teste my
diploma (Pilgrimage, Appendix i.). Visitation is still made to
his tomb at Baghdad. The Arabs (who have no hard g-letter) alter
to "Jilan" the name of his birth-place "Gilan," a tract between
the Caspian and the Black Seas.

[FN#44] The well-known Anglo-Indian "Mucuddum;" lit. "one placed
before (or over) others"

[FN#45] Koran xiii. 14.

[FN#46] i.e.. his chastity: this fashion of objecting to
infamous proposals is very characteristic: ruder races would use
their fists.

[FN#47] Arab. "Rafizi"=the Shi'ah (tribe, sect) or Persian
schismatics who curse the first three Caliphs: the name is taken
from their own saying "Inna rafizna-hum"=verily we have rejected
them. The feeling between Sunni (the so-called orthodox) and
Shi'ah is much like the Christian love between a Catholic of Cork
and a Protestant from the Black North. As Al-Siyuti or any
historian will show, this sect became exceedingly powerful under
the later Abbaside Caliphs, many of whom conformed to it and
adopted its tractices and innovations (as in the Azan or
prayer-call), greatly to the scandal-of their co-religionists.
Even in the present day the hatred between these representatives
of Arab monotheism and Persian Guebrism continues unabated. I
have given sundry instances m my Pilgrimage, e.g. how the
Persians attempt to pollute the tombs of the Caliphs they abhor.

[FN#48] Arab. "Sakka," the Indian "Bihishti" (man from Heaven):
Each party in a caravan has one or more.

[FN#49] These "Kiramat" or Saints' miracles, which Spiritualists
will readily accept, are recorded in vast numbers. Most men have
half a dozen to tell, each of his "Pir" or patron, including the
Istidraj or prodigy of chastisement. (Dabistan, iii. 274.)

[FN#50] Great granddaughter of the Imam Hasan buried in Cairo
and famed for "Kiramat." Her father, governor of Al-Medinah, was
imprisoned by Al-Mansur and restored to power by Al-Mahdi. She
was married to a son of the Imam Ja'afar al-Sadik and lived a
life of devotion in Cairo, dying in A.H. 218=824. The corpse of
the Imam al-Shafi'i was carried to her house, now her mosque and
mausoleum: it stood in the Darb al-Sabua which formerly divided
Old from New Cairo and is now one of the latter's suburbs. Lane
(M. E. chaps. x.) gives her name but little more. The mention of
her shows that the writer of the tale or the copyist was a
Cairene : Abd al-Kadir is world-known : not so the "Sitt."

[FN#51] Arab. "Farkh akrab" for Ukayrib, a vulgarism.

[FN#52] The usual Egyptian irreverence: he relates his
abomination as if it were a Hadis or Tradition of the Prophet
with due ascription.

[FN#53] A popular name, dim. of Zubdah cream, fresh butter,
"creamkin."

[FN#54] Arab. "Mustahall," "Mustahill' and vulg. "Muhallil"
(=one who renders lawful). It means a man hired for the purpose
who marries pro forma and after wedding, and bedding with
actual-consummation, at once divorces the woman. He is held the
reverse of respectable and no wonder. Hence, probably,
Mandeville's story of the Islanders who, on the marriage-night,
"make another man to lie by their wives, to have their
maidenhead, for which they give great hire and much thanks. And
there are certain men in every town that serve for no other
thing; and they call them cadeberiz, that is to say, the fools of
despair, because they believe their occupation is a dangerous
one." Burckhardt gives the proverb (No. 79), "A thousand lovers
rather than one Mustahall," the latter being generally some ugly
fellow picked up in the streets and disgusting to the wife who
must permit his embraces.

[FN#55] This is a woman's oath. not used by men.

[FN#56] Pronounced "Ya Sin" (chaps. xxxvi.) the "heart of the
Koran" much used for edifying recitation. Some pious Moslems in
Egypt repeat it as a Wazifah, or religious task, or as masses for
the dead, and all educated men know its 83 versets by rote.

[FN#57] Arab. "Al-Daud"=the family of David, i.e. David himself,
a popular idiom. The prophet's recitation of the "Mazamir"
(Psalter) worked miracles.

[FN#58] There is a peculiar thickening of the voice in leprosy
which at once betrays the hideous disease.

[FN#59] These lines have occurred in Night clxxxiii. I quote
Mr. Payne (in loco) by way of variety.

[FN#60] Where the "Juzam" (leprosy, elephantiasis, morbus
sacrum, etc. etc.) is supposed first to show: the swelling would
alter the shape. Lane (ii. 267) translates "her wrist which was
bipartite."

[FN#61] Arab. "Zakariya" (Zacharias): a play upon the term
"Zakar"=the sign of "masculinity." Zacharias, mentioned in the
Koran as the educator of the Virgin Mary (chaps. iii.) and
repeatedly referred to (chaps. xix. etc.), is a well-known
personage amongst Moslems and his church is now the great
Cathedral-Mosque of Aleppo.

[FN#62] Arab. " Ark al-Halawat " = vein of sweetness.

[FN#63] Arab. "Futuh," which may also mean openings, has before
occurred.

[FN#64] i.e. four times without withdrawing.

[FN#65] i.e. a correspondence of size, concerning which many
rules are given in the Ananga-Rangha Shastra which justly
declares that discrepancy breeds matrimonial-troubles.

[FN#66] Arab. "Ghurab al-Bayn"= raven of the waste or the
parting: hence the bird of Odin symbolises separation (which is
also called Al-bayn). The Raven (Ghurab = Heb. Oreb and Lat.
Corvus, one of the prehistoric words) is supposed to be seen
abroad earlier than any other bird; and it is entitled "Abu
Zajir," father of omens, because lucky when flying towards the
right and v.v. It is opposed in poetry to the (white) pigeon, the
emblem of union, peace and happiness. The vulgar declare that
when Mohammed hid in the cave the crow kept calling to his
pursuers, "Ghar! Ghar!" (cavern, cavern): hence the Prophet
condemned him to wear eternal-mourning and ever to repeat the
traitorous words. This is the old tale of Coronis and Apollo
(Ovid, lib. ii.).

----------" who blacked the raven o'er
And bid him prate in his white plumes no more."

[FN#67] This use of a Turkish title "Efendi" being=our esquire,
and inferior to a Bey, is a rank anachronism, probably of the
copyist.

[FN#68] Arab. "Samn"=Hind. "Ghi" butter melted, skimmed and
allowed to cool.

[FN#69] Arab. "Ya Wadud," a title of the Almighty: the Mac.
Edit. has "O David!"

[FN#70] Arab. "Muwashshahah;" a complicated stanza of which
specimens have occurred. Mr. Payne calls it a "ballad," which
would be a "Kunyat al-Zidd."

[FN#71] Arab. "Bahaim" (plur. of Bahimah=Heb. Behemoth), applied
in Egypt especially to cattle. A friend of the "Oppenheim" house,
a name the Arabs cannot pronounce was known throughout Cairo as
"Jack al-bahaim" (of the cows).

[FN#72] Lit. "The father of side-locks," a nickname of one of
the Tobba Kings. This "Hasan of: the ringlets" who wore two long
pig-tails hanging to his shoulders was the Rochester or Piron of
his age: his name is still famous for brilliant wit, extempore
verse and the wildest debauchery. D'Herbelot's sketch of his life
is very meagre. His poetry has survived to the present day and
(unhappily) we shall] hear more of "Abu Nowas." On the subject of
these patronymics Lane (Mod. Egypt, chaps. iv.) has a strange
remark that "Abu Daud i' not the Father of Daud or Abu Ali the
Father of Ali, but whose Father is (or was) Daud or Ali." Here,
however, he simply confounds Abu = father of (followed by a
genitive), with Abu-h (for Abu-hu) = he, whose father.

[FN#73] Arab. "Samur," applied in slang language to cats and dogs,
hence the witty Egyptians converted Admiral-Seymour (Lord Alcester)
into "Samur."

[FN#74] The home-student of Arabic may take this letter as a model
even in the present day; somewhat stiff and old-fashioned, but
gentlemanly and courteous.

[FN#75] Arab. "Salim" (not Se-lim) meaning the "Safe and sound."

[FN#76] Arab. "Halawah"=sweetmeat, meaning an entertainment such
as men give to their friends after sickness or a journey. it is
technically called as above, "The Sweetmeat of Safety."

[FN#77] Arab. "Salat" which from Allah means mercy, from the
Angels intercession and pardon; and from mankind blessing.
Concerning the specific effects of blessing the Prophet, see
Pilgrimage (ii. 70). The formula is often slurred over when a man
is in a hurry to speak: an interrupting friend will say " Bless the
Prophet!" and he does so by ejaculating "Sa'am."

[FN#78] Persian, meaning originally a command: it is now applied
to a Wazirial-order as opposed to the " Iradah," the Sultan's
order.

[FN#79] Arab. " Masha'ili" lit. the cresses-bearer who has before
appeared as hangman.

[FN#80] Another polite formula for announcing a death.

[FN#81] As he died heirless the property lapsed to the Treasury.

[FN#82]This shaking the kerchief is a signal to disperse and the
action suggests its meaning. Thus it is used in an opposite sense
to "throwing the kerchief," a pseudo-Oriental practice whose
significance is generally understood in Europe.

[FN#83] The body-guard being of two divisions.

[FN#84] Arab. "Hadba," lit. "hump-backed;" alluding to the Badawi
bier; a pole to which the corpse is slung (Lane). It seems to
denote the protuberance of the corpse when placed upon the bier
which before was flat. The quotation is from Ka'ab's Mantle-Poem
(Burdah v . 37), "Every son of a female, long though his safety may
be, is a day borne upon a ridged implement," says Mr. Redhouse,
explaining the latter as a "bier with a ridged lid." Here we
differ: the Janazah with a lid is not a Badawi article: the
wildlings use the simplest stretcher; and I would translate the
lines,

"The son of woman, whatso his career
One day is borne upon the gibbous bier."

[FN#85] This is a high honour to any courtier.

[FN#86] "Khatun" in Turk. means any lady: mistress, etc., and
follows the name, e.g. Fatimah Khatun. Habzalam Bazazah is supposed
to be a fanciful compound, uncouth as the named; the first word
consisting of "Habb" seed, grain; and "Zalam" of Zulm=seed of
tyranny. Can it be a travesty of "Absalom" (Ab Salam, father of
peace)? Lane (ii. 284) and Payne (iii. 286) prefer Habazlam and
Hebezlem.

[FN#87] Or night. A metaphor for rushing into peril.

[FN#88] Plur. of kumkum, cucurbite, gourd-shaped vessel, jar.

[FN#89] A popular exaggeration for a very expert thief.

[FN#90] Arab. "Buka'at Ad-bum": lit. the "low place of blood"
(where it stagnates): so Al-Buka'ah = Coelesyria.

[FN#91] That common and very unpleasant phrase, full of egotism
and self-esteem, "I told you so," is even more common in the naive
East than in the West. In this case the son's answer is far
superior to the mother's question.

[FN#92] In order to keep his oath to the letter.

[FN#93] "Tabannuj; " literally "hemping" (drugging with hemp or
henbane) is the equivalent in Arab medicine of our "anaesthetics."
These have been used in surgery throughout the East for centuries
before ether and chloroform became the fashion in the civilised
West.

[FN#94] Arab. "Durka'ah," the lower part of the floor, opposed to
the "liwan" or dais. Liwan =Al-Aywan (Arab. and Pers.) the hall
(including the dais and the sunken parts)

[FN#95] i.e. he would toast it as he would a mistress.

[FN#96] This till very late years was the custom in Persia, and
Fath Ali Shah never appeared in scarlet without ordering some
horrible cruelties. In Dar-For wearing a red cashmere turban was a
sign of wrath and sending a blood red dress to a subject meant that
he would be slain.

[FN#97] That is, this robbery was committed in the palace by some
one belonging to it. References to vinegar are frequent; that of
Egypt being famous in those days. "Optimum et laudatissimum acetum
a Romanis habebatur AEgyptum" (Facciolati); and possibly it was
sweetened: the Gesta (Tale xvii.) mentions "must and vinegar." In
Arab Proverbs, One mind by vinegar and another by wine"=each mind
goes its own way, (Arab. Prov. . 628); or, "with good and bad,"
vinegar being spoilt wine.

[FN#98] We have not heard the last of this old "dowsing rod": the
latest form of rhabdomancy is an electrical-rod invented in the
United States.

[FN#99] This is the proces verbal always drawn up on such
occasions.

[FN#100] The sight of running water makes a Persian long for
strong drink as the sight of a fine view makes the Turk feel
hungry.

[FN#101] Arab. "Min wahid aduww " a peculiarly Egyptian or rather
Cairene phrase.

[FN#102] Al-Danaf=the Distressing Sickness: the title would be
Ahmad the Calamity. Al-Zaybak (the Quicksilver)=Mercury Ali Hasan
"Shuuman"=a pestilent fellow. We shall meet all these worthies
again and again: see the Adventures of Mercury Ali of Cairo, Night
dccviii., a sequel to The Rogueries of Dalilah, Night dcxcviii.

[FN#103] For the "Sacrifice-place of Ishmael" (not Isaac) see my
Pilgrimage (iii. 306). According to all Arab ideas Ishmael, being
the eldest son, was the chief of the family after his father. I
have noted that this is the old old quarrel between the Arabs and
their cousins the Hebrews.

[FN#104] This black-mail was still paid to the Badawin of Ramlah
(Alexandria) till the bombardment in 1881.

[FN#105] The famous Issus of Cilicia, now a port-village on the
Gulf of Scanderoon.

[FN#106] Arab. " Wada'a" = the concha veneris, then used as small
change.

[FN#107] Arab. "Sakati"=a dealer in "castaway" articles, such es
old metal,damaged goods, the pluck and feet of animals, etc.

[FN#108] The popular tale of Burckhardt's death in Cairo was that
the names of the three first Caliphs were found written upon his
slipper-soles and that he was put to death by decree of the Olema.
It is the merest nonsense, as the great traveller died of dysentery
in the house of my old friend John Thurburn and was buried outside
the Bab al-Nasr of Cairo where his tomb was restored by the late
Rogers Bey (Pilgrimage i. 123).

[FN#109] Prob. a mis-spelling for Arslan, in Turk. a lion, and in
slang a piastre.

[FN#110] Arab. "Maka'ad;" lit. = sitting-room.

[FN#111] Arab. "Khammarah"; still the popular term throughout
Egypt for a European Hotel. It is not always intended to be
insulting but it is, meaning the place where Franks meet to drink
forbidden drinks.

[FN#112] A reminiscence of Mohammed who cleansed the Ka'abah of
its 360 idols (of which 73 names are given by Freytag, Einleitung,
etc. pp. 270, 342-57) by touching them with his staff, whereupon
all fell to the ground; and the Prophet cried (Koran xvii. 84),
"Truth is come, and falsehood is vanished: verily, falsehood is a
thing that vanisheth" (magna est veritas, etc.). Amongst the
"idols" are said to have been a statue of Abraham and the horns of
the ram sacrificed in lieu of Ishmael, which (if true) would prove
conclusively that the Abrahamic legend at Meccah is of ancient date
and not a fiction of Al-Islam. Hence, possibly, the respect of the
Judaising Tobbas of Hiwyarland for the Ka'abah. (Pilgrimage, iii.
295.)

[FN#113] This was evidently written by a Sunni as the Shi'ahs
claim to be the only true Moslems. Lane tells an opposite story
(ii. 329). It suggests the common question in the South of Europe,
"Are you a Christian or a Protestant?"

[FN#114] Arab. "Ana fi jirat-ak!" a phrase to be remembered as
useful in time of danger.

[FN#115] i.e. No Jinni, or Slave of the Jewel, was there to
answer.

[FN#116] Arab. "Kunsul" (pron. "Gunsul") which here means a
well-to-do Frank, and shows the modern date of the tale as it
stands.

[FN#117] From the Ital. "Capitano." The mention of cannon and
other terms in this tale shows that either it was written during
the last century or it has been mishandled by copyists.

[FN#118] Arab. "Mininah"; a biscuit of flour and clarified butter.

[FN#119] Arab. "Waybah"; the sixth part of the Ardabb=6 to 7
English gallons.

[FN#120] He speaks in half-jest a la fellah; and reminds us of
"Hangman, drive on the cart!"

[FN#121] Yochanan (whom Jehovah has blessed) Jewish for John, is
probably a copy of the Chaldean Euahanes, the Oannes of Berosus=Ea
Khan, Hea the fish. The Greeks made it Joannes; the Arabs "Yohanna"
(contracted to "Hanna," Christian) and "Yabya" (Moslem). Prester
(Priest) John is probably Ung Khan, the historian prince conquered
and slain by Janghiz Khan in A.D. 1202. The modern history of
"John" is very extensive: there may be a full hundred varieties and
derivation' of the name. "Husn Maryam" the beauty (spiritual. etc.)
of the B.V.

[FN#122] Primarily being middle-aged; then aid, a patron, servant,
etc. Also a tribe of the Jinn usually made synonymous with "Marid,"
evil controuls, hostile to men: modern spiritualists would regard
them as polluted souls not yet purged of their malignity. The text
insinuates that they were at home amongst Christians and in Genoa.

[FN#123] Arab. "Sar'a" = epilepsy, falling sickness, of old always
confounded with "possession" (by evil spirits) or "obsession."

[FN#124] Again the true old charge of falsifying the so-called
"Sacred books." Here the Koran is called "Furkan." Sale (sect.
iii.) would assimilate this to the Hebr. "Perek" or "Pirka,"
denoting a section or portion of Scripture; but Moslems understand
it to be the "Book which distinguisheth (faraka, divided) the true
from the false." Thus Caliph Omar was entitled "Faruk" = the
Distinguisher (between right and wrong). Lastly, "Furkan," meanings
as in Syr. and Ethiop. deliverance, revelation, is applied alike to
the Pentateuch and Koran.

[FN#125] Euphemistic for "thou shalt die."

[FN#126] Lit. "From (jugular) vein to vein" (Arab. "Warid"). Our
old friend Lucretius again: "Tantane relligio," etc.

[FN#127] As opposed to the "but" or outer room.

[FN#128] Arab. "Darb al-Asfar" in the old Jamaliyah or Northern
part of Cairo.

[FN#129] A noble tribe of Badawin that migrated from Al-Yaman and
settled in Al-Najd Their Chief, who died a few years before
Mohammed's birth, was Al-Hatim (the "black crow"), a model of Arab
manliness and munificence; and although born in the Ignorance he
will enter Heaven with the Moslems. Hatim was buried on the hill
called Owarid: I have already noted this favourite practice of the
wilder Arabs and the affecting idea that the Dead may still look
upon his kith and kin. There is not an Arab book nor, indeed, a
book upon Arabia which does not contain the name of Hatim: he is
mentioned as unpleasantly often as Aristides.

[FN#130] Lord of "Cattle-feet," this King's name is unknown; but
the Kamus mentions two Kings called Zu 'l Kala'a, the Greater and
the Less. Lane's Shaykh (ii. 333) opined that the man who demanded
Hatim's hospitality was one Abu'l-Khaybari.

[FN#131] The camel's throat, I repeat, is not cut as in the case
of other animals, the muscles being too strong: it is slaughtered
by the "nahr," i.e. thrusting a knife into the hollow at the
commissure of the chest. (Pilgrimage iii. 303.)

[FN#132] Adi became a Moslem and was one of the companions of the
Prophet.

[FN#133] A rival-in generosity to Hatim: a Persian poet praising
his patron's generosity says that it buried that of Hatim and
dimmed that of Ma'an (D'Herbelot). He was a high official-under the
last Ommiade, Marwan al-Himar (the "Ass," or the "Century," the
duration of Ommiade rule) who was routed and slain in A.H. 132=750.
Ma'an continued to serve under the Abbasides and was a favourite
with Al-Mansur. "More generous or bountiful than Ka'ab" is another
saying (A. P., i. 325); Ka'ab ibn Mamah was a man who, somewhat
like Sir Philip Sidney at Zutphen, gave his own portion of drink
while he was dying of thirst to a man who looked wistfully at him,
whence the saying "Give drink to thy brother the Namiri" (A. P., i.
608). Ka'ab could not mount, so they put garments over him to scare
away the wild beasts and left him in the desert to die. "Scatterer
of blessings" (Nashir al-Ni'am) was a title of King Malik of
Al-Yaman, son of Sharhabil, eminent for his liberality. He set up
the statue in the Western Desert, inscribed "Nothing behind me," as
a warner to others.

[FN#134] Lane (ii. 352) here introduces, between Nights cclxxi.
and ccxc., a tale entitled in the Bresl. Edit. (iv. 134) "The
Sleeper and the Waker," i.e. the sleeper awakened; and he calls it:
The Story of Abu-l-Hasan the Wag. It is interesting and founded
upon historical-fact; but it can hardly be introduced here without
breaking the sequence of The Nights. I regret this the more as Mr.
Alexander J. Cotheal-of New York has most obligingly sent me an
addition to the Breslau text (iv. 137) from his MS. But I hope
eventually to make use of it.

[FN#135] The first girl calls gold "Titer" (pure, unalloyed
metal); the second "Asjad" (gold generally) and the third "Ibriz"
(virgin ore, the Greek {Greek letters}. This is a law of Arab
rhetoric never to repeat the word except for a purpose and, as the
language can produce 1,200,000 (to 100,000 in English) the
copiousness is somewhat painful to readers.

[FN#136] Arab. "Shakes" before noticed.

[FN#137] Arab. "Kussa'a"=the curling cucumber: the vegetable is of
the cheapest and the poorer classes eat it as "kitchen" with bread.

[FN#138] Arab. "Haram-hu," a double entendre. Here the Barlawi
means his Harem the inviolate part of the house; but afterwards he
makes it mean the presence of His Honour.

[FN#139] Toledo? this tale was probably known to Washington
Irving. The "Land of Roum " here means simply Frank-land as we are
afterwards told that its name was Andalusia the old Vandal-land, a
term still applied by Arabs to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula.

[FN#140] Arab. "Amaim" (plur. of Imamah) the common word for
turband which I prefer to write in the old unclipt fashion. We got
it through the Port. Turbante and the old French Tolliban from the
(now obsolete) Persian term Dolband=a turband or a sash.

[FN#141] Sixth Ommiade Caliph, A.D. 705-716, from "Tarik" we have
"Gibraltar"=Jabal-al-Tarik.

[FN#142] Arab. "Yunan" = Ionia, applied to ancient Greece as
"Roum" is to the Graeco-Roman Empire.

[FN#143] Arab. "Bahramani ;" prob. alluding to the well-known
legend of the capture of Somanath (Somnauth) from the Hindus by
Mahmud of Ghazni. In the Aja'ib al-Hind (before quoted) the
Brahmins are called Abrahamah.

[FN#144] i.e. "Peace be with thee!"

[FN#145] i.e. in the palace when the hunt was over. The bluntness
and plain-speaking of the Badawi, which caused the revelation of
the Koranic chapter "Inner Apartments" (No. xlix.) have always been
favourite themes with Arab tale-tellers as a contrast with citizen
suavity and servility. Moreover the Badawi, besides saying what he
thinks, always tells the truth (unless corrupted by commerce with
foreigners); and this is a startling contrast with the townsfolk.
To ride out of Damascus and have a chat with the Ruwala is much
like being suddenly transferred from amongst the trickiest of
Mediterranean people to the bluff society of the Scandinavian
North. And the reason why the Turk will never govern the Arab in
peace is that the former is always trying to finesse and to succeed
by falsehood, when the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth is wanted.

[FN#146] Koran. xvi. 112.

[FN#147] A common and expressive way of rewarding the tongue which
"spoke poetry." The Jewels are often pearls.

[FN#148] Ibrahim Abu Ishak bin al-Mahdi, a pretender to the
Caliphate of well known wit and a famed musician surnamed from his
corpulence "Al-Tannin"=the Dragon or, according to others (Lane ii.
336), "Al-Tin"= the fig. His adventurous history will be found in
Ibn Khallikan D'Herbelot and Al-Siyuti.

[FN#149] The Ragha of the Zendavesta, and Rages of the Apocrypha
(Tobit, Judith, etc.), the old capital-of Media Proper, and seat of
government of Daylam, now a ruin some miles south of Teheran which
was built out of its remains. Rayy was founded by Hoshang the
primeval-king who first sawed wood, made doors and dug metal. It is
called Rayy al-Mahdiyyah because Al-Mahdi held his court there.
Harun al-Rashid was also born in it (A.H. 145). It is mentioned by
a host of authors and names one of the Makamat of Al-Hariri.

[FN#150] Human blood being especially impure.

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