The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume IX Part 24

[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 "G.o.d bizness," as the Comoro men call it. For the t.i.tle 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'rabiyyun" pl. A'rab is one who dwells in the Desert whether Arab or not. Hence the verse:--

"They name us Al-A'rab but Al-'Urb is our name."

[FN#460] I would remind the reader that the Dinar is the golden denarius (or solidus) of Eastern Rome while the Dirham is the silver denarius, whence denier, danaro, dinheiro, 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 ilah 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 "'Ilam-en-Nas" (warnings for Folk) a pleasant little volume by Mr. G.o.dfrey 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 pa.s.sions.

[FN#465] Arab. "Dayyus" 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. "Nakisatu'aklin wa din": 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 Maitre Jehan de Meung went farther,

"Toutes etez, serez ou fuses De faict ou de volonte, putes."

[FN#468] Arab. "Habibi wa tabibi," the common jingle.

[FN#469] Iblis and his connection with Diabolos has been noticed in vol. i. 13. The word is foreign as well as a P.N. and therefore is imperfectly declined, although some authorities deduce it from "ablasa"=he despaired (of Allah's mercy). Others call him Al-Haris (the Lion) hence Eve's first-born was named in his honour Abd al-Harts. His angelic name was Azazil before he sinned by refusing to prostrate himself to Adam, as Allah had commanded the heavenly host for a trial of faith, not to wors.h.i.+p the first man, but to make him a Keblah or direction of prayer addressed to the Almighty. Hence he was ejected from Heaven and became the arch enemy of mankind (Koran xviii. 48). He was an angel but related to the Jinn: Al-Bayzawi, however (on Koran ii.

82), opines that angelic by nature he became a Jinn by act. Ibn Abbas held that he belonged to an order of angels who are called Jinn and begot issue as do the nasnas, the Ghul and the Kutrub which, however are male and female, like the pre-Adamite manwoman of Genesis, the "bi-une" of our modern days. For this subject see Terminal Essay.

[FN#470] As usual in the East and in the West the husband was the last to hear of his wife's ill conduct. But even Oth.e.l.lo did not kill Emilia.

[FN#471] i.e. Star of the Morning: the first word occurs in Bar c.o.kba Barchocheba=Son of the Star, i.e., which was to come out of Jacob (Numbers xxiv. 17). The root, which does not occur in Heb., is Kaukab to thine. This Rabbi Akilah was also called Bar Cozla= Son of the Lie.

[FN#472] Here some excision has been judged advisable as the names of the bridegrooms and the brides recur with d.a.m.nable iteration.

[FN#473] See the note by Lane's Shaykh at the beginning of the tale. The contrast between the vicious wife of servile origin and the virtuous wife of n.o.ble birth is fondly dwelt upon but not exaggerated.

[FN#474] i.e. those of his water skins for the journey, which as usual required patching and supplying with fresh handles after long lying dry.

[FN#475] A popular saying also applied to men. It is usually accompanied with showing the open hand and a reference to the size of the fingers. I find this story most interesting from an anthropological point of view; suggesting how differently various races regard the subject of adultery. In Northern Europe the burden is thrown most unjustly upon the man, the woman who tempts him being a secondary consideration; and in England he is absurdly termed "a seducer." In former times he was "paraded" or "called out," now he is called up for damages, a truly ign.o.ble and shopkeeper-like mode of treating a high offence against private property and public morality. In Anglo-America, where English feeling is exaggerated, the lover is revolver'd and the woman is left unpunished. On the other hand, amongst Eastern and especially Moslem peoples, the woman is cut down and scant reckoning is taken from the man. This more sensible procedure has struck firm root amongst the nations of Southern Europe where the husband kills the lover only when he still loves his wife and lover like is furious at her affection being alienated.

Practically throughout the civilised world there are only two ways of treating women, Moslems keep them close, defend them from all kinds of temptations and if they go wrong kill them.

Christians place them upon a pedestal, the observed of all observers, expose them to every danger and if they fall, accuse and abuse them instead of themselves. And England is so grandly logical that her law, under certain circ.u.mstances, holds that Mrs. A. has committed adultery with Mr. B. but Mr. B. has not committed adultery with Mrs. A. Can any absurdity be more absurd?

Only "summum jus, summa injuria." See my Terminal Essay. I shall have more to say upon this curious subject, the treatment of women who can be thoroughly guarded only by two things, firstly their hearts and secondly by the "Spanish Padlock."

[FN#476] Lane owns that this is "one of the most entertaining tales in the work," but he omits it "because its chief and best portion is essentially the same as the story of the First of the Three Ladies of Baghdad." The truth is he was straitened for s.p.a.ce by his publisher and thus compelled to cut out some of the best stories in The Nights.

[FN#477] i.e. Ibrahim of Mosul, the musician poet often mentioned in The Nights. I must again warn the reader that the name is p.r.o.nounced Is-hak (like Isaac with a central aspirate) not Ishak.

This is not unnecessary when we hear Tait-s.h.i.+ll for Tait's hill and "Frederick-shall" for Friedrich, shall.

[FN#478] i.e. He was a proficient, an adept.

[FN#479] Arab. from Pers. Dulab=a waterwheel, a b.u.t.tery, a cupboard.

[FN#480] Arab. "Futur," the chhoti haziri of Anglo-India or breakfast proper, eaten by Moslems immediately after the dawn- prayer except in Ramazan. Amongst sensible people it is a substantial meal of bread and boiled beans, eggs, cheese, curded milk and the pastry called fatirah, followed by coffee and a pipe. See Lane M. E. chapt. v. and my Pilgrimage ii. 48.

[FN#481] This "off-with-his-head" style must not be understood literally. As I have noted, it is intended by the writer to show the Kings.h.i.+p and the majesty of the "Vicar of Allah."

[FN#482] Lit. "the calamity of man (insan) is from the tongue"

(lisan).

[FN#483] For Khatt Sharif, lit.=a n.o.ble letter, see vol. ii. 39.

[FN#484] Arab. "Allah yastura-k"=protect thee by hiding what had better be hidden.

[FN#485] Arab. "Jan.a.z.ir"=chains, an Arabised plural of the Pers.

Zanjir with the metathesis or transposition of letters peculiar to the vulgar; "Jan.a.z.ir" for "Zanajir."

[FN#486] Arab. "Safinah"=(Noah's) Ark, a myth derived from the Baris of Egypt with subsequent embellishments from the Babylonian deluge-legends: the latter may have been survivals of the days when the waters of the Persian Gulf extended to the mountains of Eastern Syria. Hence I would explain the existence of extinct volcanoes within sight of Damascus (see Unexplored Syria i. p.

159) visited, I believe, for the first time by my late friend Charles F. Tyrwhitt-Drake and myself in May, 1871.

[FN#487] Mansur and Nasir are pa.s.sive and active participles from the same root, Nasr=victory; the former means triumphant and the latter triumphing.

[FN#488] The normal term of Moslem mourning, which Mohammed greatly reduced disliking the abuse of it by the Jews who even in the present day are the strictest in its observance.

[FN#489] An euphuistic and euphemistic style of saying, "No, we don't know."

[FN#490] Arab. "Rahan," an article placed with him in p.a.w.n.