The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume XIV Part 22

[FN#319] "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise." Matt. Xxi. 16. The idea is not less Moslem than Christian.

[FN#320] [I read "Sarkhah adwat la-ha al-Sarayah" = a cry to which the palace-women raised an echo, a cry re-echoed by the palace-women. "Adwa" is the fourth form of "Dawiya," to hum or buzz, to produce an indistinct noise, and it is vulgarly used in the above sense, like the substantive "Dawi," an echo. Al-Sarayah is perhaps only an Arabised form of the Persian Saray, and the sentence might be, to which the palace resounded.--St.]

[FN#321] The Princess is not logical: on the other hand she may plead that she is right.

[FN#322] Arab. "Ma'lumah," which may also mean the "made known,"

or "aforemention."

[FN#323] A sensible remark which shows that the King did not belong to the order called by Mr. Matthew Arnold "Barbarians."

[FN#324] In text: "Rajul Ja'idi," for which see supra p. 9.

[FN#325] Arab. "Fidawiyah," sing. "Fidawi" = lit. one who gives his life to a n.o.ble cause, a forlorn hope, esp. applied to the Ismai'liyah race, disciples of the "a.s.sa.s.sin" Hasan-i-Sabah. See De Sacy, "Memoire sur les a.s.sa.s.sins Mem. de l'Inst.i.tut," etc. iv.

7 et seqq. Hence perhaps a castaway, a "perdido," one careless of his life. I suspect, however, that is is an Egyptianised form of the Pers. "Fida'i" = a robber, a murderer. The Lat. Catalogue prefers "Sicarius" which here cannot be the meaning.

[FN#326] Arab. "Kirsh," pop. "Girsh."

[FN#327] I have noticed that there is a Shaykh or head of the Guild, even for thieves, in most Moslem capitals. See vol. vi.

204.

[FN#328] Here is the normal enallage of persons, "luh" = to him for "li" = to me.

[FN#329] In text "Na'mil ma'allazi, etc....makidah." I have attempted to preserve the idiom.

[FN#330] [In the MS. "al-'Ashrah Miah," which, I think, can scarcely be translated by "ten times one hundred." If Miah were dependent on al-'Ashrah, the latter could not have the article. I propose therefore to render "one hundred for the (i.e. every) ten" = tenfold.--St.]

[FN#331] For this "nosebag," see vols. Ii. 52, and vi. 151, 192.

[FN#332] [Until here the change fromt eh first person into the third, as pointed out in note 2, has been kept up in the MS.--"He reached the barracks," "he found," etc. Now suddenly the gender changes as well, and the tale continues: "And lo, the girl went to them and said," etc. etc. This looseness of style may, in the mouth of an Eastern Rawi, have an additional dramatic charm for his more eager than critical audience; but it would be intolerable to European readers. Sir Richard has, therefore, very properly subst.i.tuted the first person all through.--St.]

[FN#333] "Riyal" is from the Span. "Real" = royal (coin): in Egypt it was so named by order of Ali Bey, the Mameluke, in A.H.

1183 (A.D. 1771-72) and it was worth ninety Faddahs = 5 2/5d. The word, however, is still applied to the dollar proper (Maria Theresa), to the Riyal Fransa or five-france piece and to the Span. pillar dollar: the latter is also nicknamed 'Abu Madfa'"

Father of a Cannon (the columns being mistaken for cannons); also the Abu Takah (Father of a Window), whence we obtaint he Europeanised "Patacco" (see Lane, Appendix ii.) and "Pataca,"

which Littre confounds with the "Patard" and of which he ignores the origin.

[FN#334] See The Nights, vol. x. 12.

[FN#335] i.e. "pleasant," "enjoyable"; see "White as milk"

opposed to "black as mud," etc., vol. iv. 140. Here it is after a fas.h.i.+on synonymous with the French nuit blanche.

[FN#336] [The MS. seems here to read "wa jasad-hu yuhazdimu,"

(thus at least the word, would have to be vocalised if it were a quadrilateral verbal form), and of this I cannot make out any sense. I suspect the final syllable is meant for "Dam," blood, of which a few lines lower down the plural "Dima" occurs. Reamins to account for the characters immediately preceding it. I think that either the upper dot of the Arabic belongs to the first radical instead of the second, reading "yukhirru," as the fourth or causative form of "kharra yakhurru," to flow, to ripple, to purl; or that the two dots beneath are to be divided between the first two characters, reading "bajaza." The latter, it is true, is no dictionary word, but we have found supra p. 176, "muhandiz" for "muhandis," so here "bajaza" may stand for "bajasa" = gushed forth, used intransitively and transitively. In either case the translation would be "his body was emitting blood freely."-St.]

[FN#337] The MS. here is hardly intelligible but the sense shows the word to be "Misallah" (plur. "Misall") = a large needle for sewing canvas, &c. In Egypt the usual p.r.o.nunciation is "Musallah," hence the vulgar name of Cleopatra's needle "Musallat Far'aun" (of Pharaoh) the two terms contending for which shall be the more absurd. I may note that Commander Gorridge, the distinguished officer of the U.S. Navy who safely and easily carried the "Needle" to New York after the English had made a prodigious mess with their obelisk, showed me upon the freshly uncovered base of the pillar the most distinct intaglio representations of masonic implements, the plumb-line, the square, the compa.s.s, and so forth. These, however, I attributed to masonry as the craft, to the guild; he to Freemasonry, which in my belief was unknown to the Greeks and Romans, and is never mentioned in history before the eight Crusades (A.D. 1096-1270).

The practices and procedure were evidently borrowed from the various Vehms and secret societies which then influenced the Moslem world, and our modern lodges have strictly preserved in the "Architect of the Universe," Arian and Moslem Unitarianism as opposed to Athanasian and Christian Tritheism; they admit the Jew and the Mussulman as apprentices, but they refuse the Hindu and the Pagan. It seems now the fas.h.i.+on to run down the mystic charities of the brethren are still active, and the society still takes an active part in politics throughout the East. As the late Pope Pius IX. (fitly nicknamed "Pio no-no"), a free mason himself, forbade Freemasonry to his church because a secret society is incompatible with oral confession (and priestcraft tolerates only its own mysteries), and made excommunication the penalty, the French lodges have dwindled away and the English have thriven upon their decay, thus enlisting a host of neophytes who, when the struggle shall come on, may lend excellent aid.

[FN#338] The "Janazah" or bier, is often made of planks loosely nailed or pegged together into a stretcher or platform, and it would be easy to thrust a skewer between the joints. I may remind the reader that "Janazah" = a bier with a corpse thereon (vol.

ii. 46), whereas the "Sarir" is the same when unburdened, and the "Na'ash" is a box like our coffin, but open at the tip.

[FN#339] [In the Arab. Text "They will recognise me," which I would rather refer to the Vagabonds than to the crowd, as the latter merely cries wonder at the resuscitation, without apparently troubling much about the wonder-worker.--St.]

[FN#340] [Ar. "na'tazu," viii. form of 'aza = it escaped, was missing, lacked, hence the meaning of this form, "we are in want of," "we need."--St.]

[FN#341] For the "Ardabb" (prop. "Irdabb") = five bushels: see vol. i. 263.

[FN#342] [In the MS. "'Ayyinah," probably a mis-reading for "'Ayniyyah" = a sample, pattern.--St.]

[FN#343] In text "Kubbah" = vault, cupola, the dome of unbaked brick upon peasants' houses in parts of Egypt and Syria, where wood for the "Sat'h" or flat roof is scarce. The household granary is in the garret, from which the base of the dome springs, and the "expense-magazines" consist of huge standing coffers of wattle and dab propped against the outside walls of the house.

[FN#344] Gen. "Baysar" or "Faysar," = beans cooked in honey and milk. See retro, Night ccclx.x.xviii., for its laxative properties.

[FN#345] [In the MS. "barbastu," with the dental instead of the palatal sibilant (Sin instead of Sad). Spelled in the former way the verb "barbasa" means, he sought, looked for, and is therefore out of place here. Spelled in the second manner, it signifies literally, he watered the ground abundantly. Presently we shall find the pa.s.sive participle "mubarbasah" in the feminine, because referring to the noun "Tiz" = a.n.u.s, which, like its synonym, "1st," professes the female gender. --St.]

[FN#346] [In Ar. "Mubarbasah," for which see the preceding note.--St.]

[FN#347] The Moslem's tomb is an arched vault of plastered brick, large enough for a man to sit up at ease and answer the Questioning Angels; and the earth must not touch the corpse as it is supposed to cause torture. In the graves of the poorer cla.s.ses a niche (lahad) offsets from the fosse and is rudely roofed with palm-fronds and thatch. The trick played in the text is therefore easy; see Lane's ill.u.s.tration M.E. chapt. xviii. The reader will not forget that all Moslems make water squatting upon their hunkers ina position hardly possible to an untrained European: see vol. i. 259.

[FN#348] The bull being used in the East to turn the mill and the water-wheel; vol. i. 16.

[FN#349] In text "Ratl." See vol. iv. 124.

[FN#350] About 1s. 2d.

[FN#351] The man was therefore in hiding for some crime. [The MS.

has "la tafzah-ni" = Do not rend my reputation, etc. I would, therefore, translate "Sahib-ha" by "her lover," and suggest that the crime in question is simply what the French call "conversation criminelle."--St.]

[FN#352] The "'Isha"-prayer (called in Egypt "'Eshe") consists of ten "Ruka'at" = bows or inclinations of the body (not "of the head" as Lane has it, M.E. chapt. iii.): of these four are "Sunnah" = traditional or customary (of the Prophet), four are Farz (divinely appointed i.e. by the Koran) and two again Sunnah.

The hour is nightfall when the evening has closed in with some minor distinctions, e.g. the Hanafi waits till the whiteness and the red gleam in the west ("Al-Shafak al-ahmar") have wholly disappeared, and the other three orthodox only till the ruddy light has waned. The object of avoiding sundowntide (and sunrise equally) was to distinguish these hours of orisons from those of the Guebres and other faiths which venerate, or are supposed to venerate, the sun.

[FN#353] Scott. "History of the Sultan of Hind," vol. vi.

194-209.

[FN#354] Red robes being a sign of displeasure: see vol. iv. 72; Scott (p. 294) wrongly makes them "robes of mourning."

[FN#355] A Moslem negroid from Central and Western North Africa.

See vol. ii. 15. They share in popular opinion the reputation of the Maghrabi or Maroccan for magical powers.

[FN#356] This is introduced by the translator; as usual with such unedited tales, the name does not occur till much after the proper place for specifying it.

[FN#357] In text "Iz lam naakhaz-ha, wa-illa," &c. A fair specimen of Arab. ellipsis.--If I catch her not ('twill go hard with me), and unless (I catch her) I will, &c.

[FN#358] i.e. "How far is the fowl from thee!"

[FN#359] [In the MS. "turayyih," a modern form for "turawwih."--ST.]

[FN#360] [The above translation pre-supposes the reading "Farkhah la atammat," and would require, I believe, the conjunction "hatta" or "ila an" to express "till." I read with the MS. "la tammat," and would translate: "a chick not yet full grown, when the crow seized it and flew away with it," as a complaint of the father for the antic.i.p.ated untimely end of his son.--ST.]

[FN#361] For "'Aun," a high degree amongst the "Genies," see vol.