The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume X Part 16

What place can ever charm me so again ?

In Arabic it scans:

U - U | U - - - | U - U | U - U - | A-arhalu'en Misrin wa tibi na'imihil[FN#455]

U - U | U - - - | U - U | U - U - | Fa-ayyu makanin ba'daha li-ya shaiku.

In referring to iii. A. I. p. 242, it will be seen that in the Hashw Fa'ulun (U - -) has become Fa'ulu (U - U) by a Zuhaf called Kabz (suppression of the fifth letter of a foot if it is quiescent) and that in the 'Aruz and Zarb Mafa'ilun (U - - -) has changed into Mafa'ilun (U - U -) by the same Zuhaf acting as 'Illah. The latter alteration shows the couplet to be of the second Zarb of the first 'Aruz of the Tawil. If the second line did terminate in Mafa'ilun, as in the original scheme, it would be the first Zarb of the same 'Aruz; if it did end in Fa'ulun (U - -) or Mafa'il (U - -) it would represent the third or fourth subdivision of this first cla.s.s respectively. The Tawil has one other 'Aruz, Fa'ulun, with a twofold Zarb, either Fa'ulun also, or Mafa'ilun.

The first instance of the Basit occurring in The Nights are the lines translated vol. i. p. 25:

Containeth Time a twain of days, this of blessing, that of bane *

And holdeth Life a twain of halves, this of pleasure, that of pain.

In Arabic (Mac. N. i. II):

- - U - | - U - | - - U - | U U - | Al-Dahru yaumani za amnun wa za hazaru

- - U - | - U - | - - U - | U U - | Wa'l-'Ayshu shatrani za safwun wa za kadaru.

Turning back to p. 243, where the A'ariz and Azrub of the Basit are shown, the student will have no difficulty to recognise the Bayt as one belonging to the first Zarb of the first 'Aruz.

As an example of the Madid we quote the original of the lines (vol. v. 131):--

I had a heart, and with it lived my life * 'Twas seared with fire and burnt with loving-lowe.

They read in Arabic:--

- U - - | - U - | U U - | Kana li kalbun a'ishu bihi

- U - - | - U - | U - | Fa'ktawa bi'l-nari wa'htarak.

If we compare this with the formula (iii. A. 2. p. 242), we find that either line of the couplet is shortened by a foot; it is, therefore, majzu. The first 'Aruz of this abbreviated metre is Fa'ilatun (- U - -), and is called sahihah (perfect) because it consists of the normal third foot. In the second 'Aruz, Fa'ilatun loses its end syllable tun by the 'Illah Hafz (suppression of a final Sabab khafif), and becomes Fa'ila (- U -), for which Fa'ilun is subst.i.tuted. Shortening the first syllable of Fa'ilun, i.e. eliminating the Alif by Khabn, we obtain the third 'Aruz Fa'ilun (U U -) as that of the present lines, which has two Azrub: Fa'ilun, like the 'Aruz, and Fa'lun (- -), here, again by Khabn, further reduced to Fa'al (U -).

Ishak of Mosul, who improvises the piece, calls it "so difficult and so rare, that it went nigh to deaden the quick and to quicken the dead"; indeed, the native poets consider the metre Madid as the most difficult of all, and it is scarcely ever attempted by later writers. This accounts for its rare occurrence in The Nights, where only two more instances are to be found, Mac. N.

ii. 244 and iii.

404.

The second and third circle will best be spoken of together, as the Wafir and Kamil have a natural affinity to the Hazaj and Rajaz. Let us revert to the line:--

U - - - | U - - - | U - - | Akamu 'l-wajda fi kalbi wa saru.

Translated, as it were, into the language of the Prosodists it will be:--

Mafa'ilun[FN#456] 'Mafa'ilun Fa'ulun,

and this, standing by itself, might prima facie be taken for a line of the Hazaj (iii. C. I), with the third Mafa'ilun shortened by Hafz (see above) into Mafa'i for which Fa'ulun would be subst.i.tuted. We have seen (p. 247) that and how the foot Mufa'alatun can change into Mafa'ilun, and if in any poem which otherwise would belong to the metre Hazaj, the former measure appears even in one foot only along with the latter, it is considered to be the original measure, and the poem counts no longer as Hazaj but as Wafir. In the piece now under consideration, it is the second Bayt where the characteristic foot of the Wafir first appears:--

U - - - | U - U U | U - - | Naat 'anni'l-rubu'u wa sakiniha

U - U U - | U - U U - | U - - | Wa kad ba'uda 'l-mazaru fa-la mazaru.

Anglice (vol. iii. 296):--

Far lies the camp and those who camp therein; * Far is her tent shrine where I ne'er shall tent.

It must, however, be remarked that the Hazaj is not in use as a hexameter, but only with an 'Aruz majzuah or shortened by one foot. Hence it is only in the second 'Aruz of the Wafir, which is likewise majzuah, that the ambiguity as to the real nature of the metre can arise;[FN#457] and the isolated couplet:--

U - - - | U - - - | U - - | Yaridu 'l-mar-u an yu'ta munahu

U - - - | U - - - | U - - | Wa yaba 'llahu illa ma yuridu

Man wills his wish to him accorded be, * But Allah naught accords save what he wills (vol. iv. 157),

being hexametrical, forms undoubtedly part of a poem in Wafir although it does not contain the foot Mufa'alatun at all. Thus the solitary instance of Hazaj in The Nights is Abu Nuwas'

abomination, beginning with:--

U - - - | U - - - |

Fa-la tas'au ila ghayri

U - - - | U - - - | Fa-'indi ma'dinu 'l-khayri (Mac. N. ii. 377).

Steer ye your steps to none but me * Who have a mine of luxury (vol. v. 65).

If in the second 'Aruz of the Wafir, Maf'ailun (U - - -) is further shortened to Mafa'ilun (U - U -), the metre resembles the second 'Aruz of Rajaz, where, as we have seen, the latter foot can, by licence, take the place of the normal Mustaf'ilun (- - U -).

The Kamil bears a similar relation to the Rajaz, as the Wafir bears to the Hazaj. By way of ill.u.s.tration we quote from Mac. N.

ii. 8 the first two Bayts of a little poem taken from the 23rd a.s.sembly of Al Hariri:--

- - U - | - - U - | U U - U - | Ya khatiba 'l-dunya 'l-daniyyati innaha

U U - U - | U U - U - | - - - | Sharaku 'l-rada wa kararatu 'l-akdari

- - U - | - - U - | - - U - | Darun mata ma azhakat fi yaumiha

- - U - | - - U - | - - - | Abkat ghadan bu'dan laha min dari.

In Sir Richard Burton's translation (vol. iii. 319):--

O thou who woo'st a World unworthy, learn * 'Tis house of evils, 'tis Perdition's net: A house where whoso laughs this day shall weep * The next; then perish house of fume and fret.

The 'Aruz of the first couplet is Mutafa'ilun, a.s.signing the piece to the first or perfect (sahihah) cla.s.s of the Kamil. In the Hashw of the opening line and in that of the whole second Bayt this normal Mutafa'ilun has, by licence, become Mustaf'ilun, and the same change has taken place in the 'Aruz of the second couplet; for it is a peculiarity which this metre shares with a few others, to allow certain alterations of the kind Zuhaf in the 'Aruz and Zarb as well as in the Hashw. This cla.s.s has three subdivisions: the Zarb of the first is Mutafa'ilun, like the 'Aruz the Zarb of the second is Fa'alatun (U U - -), a subst.i.tution for Mutafa'il which latter is obtained from Mutafa'ilun by suppressing the final n and rendering the l quiescent; the Zarb of the third is Fa'lun (- - -) for Mutfa, derived from Mutafa'ilun by cutting off the Watad 'ilun and dropping the medial a of the remaining Mutafa.

If we make the 'Ayn of the second Zarb Fa'alatun also quiescent by the permitted Zuhaf Izmar, it changes into Fa'latun, by subst.i.tution Maf 'ulun (- - -) which terminates the rhyming lines of the foregoing quotation. Consequently the two couplets taken together, belong to the second Zarb of the first 'Aruz of the Kamil, and the metre of the poem with its licences may be represensed by the scheme:

- | - | - | U U - U - | U U - U - | U U - U - |