The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume IX Part 20

[FN#280] Arab. "Lazuward": see vol. iii. 33.

[FN#281] Arab. "Sidillah." The Bresl. Edit. (v. 99), has, "a couch of ivory and ebony, whereon was that which befitted it of mattresses and cus.h.i.+ons * * * * and on it five damsels."

[FN#282] i.e. As she untunes the lute by "pinching" the strings over-excitedly with her right, her other hand retunes it by turning the pegs.

[FN#283] i.e. The slim cupbearer (Zephyr) and fair-faced girl (Moon) handed round the bubbling bowl (star).

[FN#284] Arab. "Al-Sath" whence the Span. Azotea. The lines that follow are from the Bresl. Edit. v. 110.

[FN#285] This "'Ar'ar" is probably the Callitris quadrivalvis whose resin ("Sandarac") is imported as varnish from African Mogador to England. Also called the Thuja, it is of cypress shape, slow growing and finely veined in the lower part of the base. Most travellers are agreed that it is the Citrus-tree of Roman Mauritania, concerning which Pliny (xiii. 29) gives curious details, a single table costing from a million sesterces (900) to 1,400,000. For other details see p. 95, "Morocco and the Moors," by my late friend Dr. Leared (London: Sampson Low, 1876).

[FN#286] i.e. Kings might sigh for her in vain.

[FN#287] These lines are in vol. viii. 279. I quote Mr. Payne.

[FN#288] A most unsavoury comparison to a Persian who always connects camphor with the idea of a corpse.

[FN#289] Arab. "Ila ma shaa' llah" i.e. as long as you like.

[FN#290] i.e. of gramarye.

[FN#291] Arab. "Ta'wiz"=the Arab Tilasm, our Talisman, a charm, an amulet; and in India mostly a magic square. The subject is complicated and occupies in Herklots some sixty pages, 222-284.

[FN#292] The Bul. and Mac. Edits. give the Princess's malady, in error, as Daa al-Suda' (megrims), instead of Daa al-Sar'

(epilepsy) as in the Bresl. Edit. The latter would mean that she is possessed by a demon, again the old Scriptural fancy (see vol.

v. 28). The subject is highly fitted for romance but not for a "serious" book which ought to know better.

[FN#293] Arab. "Al-'ariz"=the demon who possessed her.

[FN#294] i.e. He hath renounced his infamous traffic.

[FN#295] Alluding to the favourite Eastern saying, "The poor man hath no life."

[FN#296] In this and the following lines some change is necessary for the Bresl. and Mac. texts are very defective. The Arabic word here translated "recess" is "Aywan," prop. a hall, an open saloon.

[FN#297] i.e. by selling it for thirty thousand gold pieces, when he might have got a million for it.

[FN#298] The tale is not in the Bresl. Edit.

[FN#299] Al-Khasib (= the fruitful) was the son of 'Abd al-Hamid and intendant of the tribute of Egypt under Harun al-Ras.h.i.+d, but neither Lord nor Sultan. Lane (iii. 669) quotes three couplets in his honour by Abu Nowas from p. 119 of "Elmacini (Al-Makin) Historia Saracenica."

If our camel visit not the land of Al-Khasib, what man after Al-Khasib shall they visit?

For generosity is not his neighbour; nor hath it sojourned near him; but generosity goeth wherever he goeth: He is a man who purchaseth praise with his wealth, and who knoweth that the periods of Fortune revolve.

[FN#300] The old story "Ala judi-k"= upon thy generosity, which means at least ten times the price.

[FN#301]i.e. The distance is enormous.

[FN#302] A gazelle but here the slave-girl's name.

[FN#303] See vol. ii. 104. Herklots (Pl. vii. fig. 2) ill.u.s.trates the cloth used in playing the Indian game, Pachisi. The "board"

is rather European than Oriental, but it has of late Years spread far and wide, especially the backgammon board.

[FN#304] i.e. "Father of the Lion."

[FN#305] Or as we should say, "Thy blood will be on thine own head."

[FN#306] Called after the famous town in Persian Mesopotamia which however is spelt with the lesser aspirate. See p. 144. The Geographical works of Sadik-i-Ispahani, London Oriental Transl.

Fund, 1882. Hamdan (with the greater aspirate) and Hamdun mean only the member masculine, which may be a delicate piece of chaff for the gallery

[FN#307] Arab. "Hulwan al-miftah," for which see vol. vii. 212.

Mr. Payne compares it with the French denier a Dieu. given to the concierge on like occasions.

[FN#308] Arab. "'Udm," a relish, the Scotch "kitchen," Lat.

Opsonium, Ital. Companatico and our "by-meat." See vol. iv. 128.

[FN#309] Arab. "Kabasa" = he shampoo'd. See vol. ii. 17.

[FN#310] Arab. "Nukl." See supra p. 177.

[FN#311] Arab. "Jannat al-Khuld" and "Firdaus," two of the Heavens repeatedly noticed.

[FN#312] The naivete is purely Horatian, that is South European versus North European.

[FN#313] i.e. "Have some regard for thy life."

[FN#314] Arab. "Awak" plur. of ukiyyah a word known throughout the Moslem East. As an ounce it weighs differently in every country and in Barbary (Mauritania) which we call Morocco, it is a nominal coin containing twelve Flus (fulus) now about = a penny. It is a direct descendant from the "Uk" or "Wuk" (ounce) of the hieroglyphs (See Sharpe's Egypt or any other Manual) and first appeared in Europe as the Greek {Greek}.

[FN#315] Arab. "Karah" usually a large bag.

[FN#316] Arab. "Luluah," which may mean the Union-pearl; but here used in the sense of wild cow, the bubalus antelope, alluding to the farouche nature of Miss Jamilah. We are also told infra that the park was full of "Wuhush" = wild cattle

[FN#317] Arab. "Sakiyah," the venerable old Persian wheel, for whos music see Pilgrimage ii. 198. But Sakiyah" is also applied, as here, to the water-channel which turns the wheel.

[FN#318] Arab. "Kawadis," plur. of "Kadus," the pots round the rim of the Persian wheel: usually they are of coa.r.s.e pottery.

[FN#319] In the text "Sakiyah" a manifest error for "Kubbah."

[FN#320] Easterns greatly respect a belle fourchette, especially when the eater is a lover.

[FN#321] Arab. "'Arishah," a word of many meanings, tent, nest, vine- trellis, etc.

[FN#322] To spit or blow the nose in good society is "vulgar."

Sneezing (Al-'Atsah) is a complicated affair. For Talmudic traditions of death by sneezing see Lane (M. E. chaps. viii).

Amongst Hindus sneezing and yawning are caused by evil spirits whom they drive away by snapping thumb and forefinger as loudly as possible. The pagan Arabs held sneezing a bad omen, which often stopped their journeys. Moslems believe that when Allah placed the Soul (life ?) in Adam, the dry clay became flesh and bone and the First Man, waking to life, sneezed and e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed "Alhamdolillah;" whereto Gabriel replied, "Allah have mercy upon thee, O Adam!" Mohammed, who liked sneezing because accompanied by lightness of body and openness of pores, said of it, "If a man sneeze or eructate and say 'Alhamdolillah' he averts seventy diseases of which the least is leprosy" (Juzam); also "If one of you sneeze, let him exclaim, 'Alhamdolillah,' and let those around salute him in return with, 'Allah have mercy upon thee!'

and lastly let him say, 'Allah direct you and strengthen your condition."' Moderns prefer, "Allah avert what may joy thy foe !"= (our G.o.d bless you!) to which the answer is "Alhamdolillah!"

Mohammed disliked yawning (Suaba or Thuaba), because not beneficial as a sneeze and said, "If one of you gape and over not his mouth, a devil leaps into it. " This is still a popular superst.i.tion from Baghdad to Morocco.