The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume XII Part 21

[FN#54] i.e. the "Basil(issa)," mostly a servile name, see vol.

i. 19.

[FN#55] Arab. "La'alla," used to express the hope or expectation of some event of possible occurrence; thus distinguished from "Layta"--Would heaven! utinam! O si! etc.-- expressing desire or volition.

[FN#56] Arab. "Balat," in Cairo the flat slabs of limestone and sandstone brought from the Turah quarries, which supplied stone for the Jizah Pyramids.

[FN#57] Arab. "Ya Mu'arras!" here=O fool and disreputable; see vol. i. 338.

[FN#58] These unfortunates in hot climates enjoy nothing so much as throwing off the clothes which burn their feverish skins: see Pilgrimage iii. 385. Hence the boys of Eastern cities, who are perfect imps and flibbertigibbets, always raise the cry "Majnun"

when they see a man naked whose sanct.i.ty does not account for his nudity.

[FN#59] Arab. "Daur al-Ka'ah"=the round opening made in the ceiling for light and ventilation.

[FN#60] Arab. "La-nakhsifanna" with the emphatic termination called by grammarians "Nun al-taakid"--the N of injunction. Here it is the reduplicated form, the Nun al-Sakilah or heavy N. The addition of La (not) e.g. "La yazrabanna"=let him certainly not strike answers to the intensive or corroborative negative of the Greek effected by two negations or even more. In Arabic as in Latin and English two negatives make an affirmative.

[FN#61] Parturition and death in warm climates, especially the damp-hot like Egypt are easy compared with both processes in the temperates of Europe. This is noticed by every traveller. Hence probably Easterns have never studied the artificial Euthanasia which is now appearing in literature. See p. 143 "My Path to Atheism," by Annie Besant, London: Freethought Publis.h.i.+ng Company, 28, Stonecutter Street, E. C., 1877, based upon the Utopia of the highly religious Thomas Moore. Also "Essay on Euthanasia," by P. D. Williams, Jun., and Mr. Tollemache in the "Nineteenth Century."

[FN#62] i.e. he whose turn it is to sit on the bench outside the police office in readiness for emergencies.

[FN#63] Arab. "'Udul" (plur. of 'adil), gen. men of good repute, qualified as witnesses in the law court, see vol. iv. 271. It is also used (as below) for the Kazi's a.s.sessors.

[FN#64] About 80.

[FN#65] Arab. "Kitab"=book, written bond. This officiousness of the neighbours is thoroughly justified by Moslem custom; and the same scene would take place in this our day. Like the Hindu's, but in a minor degree, the Moslem's neighbours form a volunteer police which oversees his every action. In the case of the Hindu this is required by the exigencies of caste, an admirable inst.i.tution much bedevilled by ignorant Mlenchbas, and if "dynamiting" become the fas.h.i.+on in England, as it threatens to become, we shall be obliged to establish "Vigilance Committees"

which will be as inquisitorial as caste

[FN#66] e.g. writing The contract of A. with B., daughter of Such-an-one, etc.

[FN#67] Arab. "Hujjat," which may also mean an excuse.

[FN#68] The last clause is supplied by Mr. Payne to stop a gap in the broken text.

[FN#69] The text idiotically says "To the King."

[FN#70] In the text "Nahnu"=we, for I, a common vulgarism in Egypt and Syria.

[FN#71] This clause has required extensive tr.i.m.m.i.n.g; the text making the Notary write out the contract (which was already written) in the woman's house.

[FN#72] Arab. "Husn tadbir"=lit. "beauty of his contrivance."

Husn, like pulcher, beau and bello, is applied to moral intellectual qualities as well as to physical and material. Hence the {Greek} or old gentleman which in Romaic becomes Calogero, a monk.

[FN#73] i.e. that some one told me the following tale.

[FN#74] Arab. "Mutawalli": see vol. i. 259.

[FN#75] i.e. his Moslem neighbours.

[FN#76] In the text is a fearful confusion of genders.

[FN#77] Her object was to sue him for the loss of the pledge and to demand fabulous damages.

[FN#78] Arab. "Ya'tamiduna huda-hum"=purpose the right direction, a skit at the devotees of her age and s.e.x; and an impudent comment upon the Prefect's address "O she-devil!"

[FN#79] The trick has often been played in modern times at fairs, shows, etc. Witness the old joe Miller of the "Moving Mult.i.tude."

[FN#80] Apparently meaning the forbidden pleasures of wine and wa.s.sail, loose talk and tales of women's wiles, a favourite subject with the lewder sort of Moslem.

[FN#81] i.e. women's tricks.

[FN#82] The "Turkoman" in the text first comes in afterwards.

[FN#83] Arab. "Kasid," the old Anglo-lndian "Cossid"; see vol.

vii. 340.

[FN#84] Being a merchant he wore dagger and sword, a safe practice as it deters attack and far better than carrying hidden weapons, derringers and revolvers which, originating in the United States, have now been adopted by the most civilised nations in Europe.

[FN#85] I have noted (vol. ii. 186, iv. 175) the easy expiation of perjury amongst Moslems, an ugly blot in their moral code.

[FN#86] i.e. Enter in the name of Allah.

[FN#87] i.e. d.a.m.n your soul for leading me into this danger!

[FN#88] Arab. "Saff Kamariyat min al-Zujaj." The Kamariyah is derived by Lane (Introd. M.E.) from Kamar=moon; by Baron Von Hammer from Khumarawayh, second of the Banu-Tulun dynasty, at the end of the ixth century A.D., when stained gla.s.s was introduced into Egypt. N.B.--It must date from many centuries before. The Kamariyah are coloured gla.s.s windows about 2 feet high by 18 inches wide, placed in a row along the upper part of the Mashrabiyah or projecting lattice-window, and are formed of small panes of brightly-stained gla.s.s set in rims of gypsum-plaster, the whole framed in wood. Here the allusion is to the "Mamrak" or dome-shaped skylight crowning the room. See vol. viii. 156.

[FN#89] i.e. easily arrested them.

[FN#90] The reader will not forget the half-penitent Captain of Bandits in Gil Blas.

[FN#91] Arab. "Abtal"=champions, athletes, etc., plur. of Batal, a brave: so Batalat=a virago. As the root Batala=it was vain, the form "Battal" may mean either a hero or a bad lot: see vol. viii.

335; x. 72,73.

[FN#92] Arab. "Fityan;" plur. of Fata; see vol. i, 67.

[FN#93] This was in popular parlance "adding insult to injury:"

the blackening their faces was a promise of h.e.l.l-fire.

[FN#94] Arab. "Shayyan li 'llah!" lit.=(Give me some) Thing for (the love of) Allah. The answer in Egypt. is "Allah ya'tik:"=Allah will give it thee (not I), or, "Yaftah 'Allah,"= Allah open (to thee the door of subsistence): in Marocco "Sir fi halik" (p.r.o.n. Sirf hak)= Go about thy business. In all cities there is a formula which suffices the asker; but the Ghas.h.i.+m (Johny Raw) who ignores it, is pestered only the more by his protestations that "he left his purse at home," etc.

[FN#95] i.e. engaged her for a revel and paid her in advance.

[FN#96] Arab. "Rasilah"=a (she) partner, to accompany her on the lute.

[FN#97] Suggesting that they are all thieves who had undergone legal mutilation.

[FN#98] Arab. "Nuzhat-i:" see vol. ii. 81.

[FN#99] Arab. "Muhattakat;" usually "with torn veils" (fem.

plur.) here "without veils," metaphor. meaning in disgrace, in dishonour.