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

This story belongs to the large category known to students of folk-lore as the Sage and his Pupil; and of this again there are three main groups:

1. Those in which (as in the present instance) the two remain on friendly terms.

2. Those in which the sage is outwitted and destroyed by his pupil (e.g., Cazotte's story of the Maugraby; or Spitta Bey's tales, No. 1).

3. Those in which the pupil attempts to outwit or to destroy the sage, and is himself outwitted or destroyed (e.g., The Lady's Fifth Story, in Gibb's Forty Vezirs, pp. 76-80; and his App. B. note v., p. 413).

The Loves of Al-hayfa and Yusuf (pp. 93-166).

P. 114, note 4.--I believe that a sudden attack of this kind is always speedily fatal.

The Goodwife of Cairo and Her Four Gallants (pp.

193-217).

P. 194, note 2.--It may be worth while to note that Swedenborg a.s.serts that it is unlawful in Heaven for any person to look at the back of the head of another, as by so doing he interrupts the divine influx. The foundation of this idea is perhaps the desire to avoid mesmeric action upon the cerebellum.

Tale of Mohsin and Muss (pp. 232-241).

The notes on the story of Abu Niyyat and Abu Niyyateen (supra, pp. 356) will apply still better to the present story.

The Merchant's Daughter, and the Prince of Al-irak (pp.

264-317).

Pp. 305-312.--The case of Tobias and Sara (Tobit, chaps. iii.-viii.) was very similar: but in this instance the demon Asmodeus was driven away by fumigating with the liver and heart of a fish.

Arabian Nights, Volume 15 Footnotes

[FN#1] In the same volume (ii. 161) we also find an "Introductory Chapter of the Arabian Tales," translated from an original ma.n.u.script by Jonathan Scott, Esq. neither MS nor translation having any meet. In pp. 34, 35 (ibid.) are noticed the 'Contents of a Fragment of the Arabian Nights procured in India by James Anderson, Esq., a copy of which" (made by his friend Scott) "is now in the possession of Jonathan Scott, Esq." (See Scott, vol.

vi. p. 451.) For a short but sufficient notice of this fragment cf. the Appendix (vol. x. p. 439) to my Thousand Nights and a Night, the able and conscientious work of Mr. W. F. Kirby. "The Labourer and the Flying Chain" (No. x.) and "The King's Son who escaped death by the ingenuity of his Father's seven Viziers"

(No. xi.) have been translated or rather abridged by Scott in his "Tales, Anecdotes and Letters" before alluded to, a vol. of pp.

446 containing sc.r.a.ps from the Persian "Tohfat al-Majalis" and "Hazliyat' Abbid Zahkani" (Facetiae of ?Abbid the Jester), with letters from Aurangzeb and other such padding much affected by the home public in the Early XIXth Century.

[FN#2] So called from Herr Uri, a Hungarian scholar who first catalogued "The Contents."

[FN#3] W. M. MS. iv. 165?189: Scott (vi. 238?245), "Story of the Prince of Sind, and Fatima, daughter of Amir Bin Naomaun": Gauttier (vi. 342?348) Histoire du Prince de Sind et de Fatime.

Sind is so called from Sindhu, the Indus (in Pers. Sindab), is the general name of the riverine valley: in early days it was a great station of the so-called Aryan race, as they were migrating eastwards into India Proper, and it contains many Holy Places dating from the era of the Puranas. The Moslems soon made acquaintance with it, and the country was conquered and annexed by Mohammed bin Kasim, sent to attack it by the famous or infamous Hajjaj bin Yusuf the Thakafite, lieutenant of Al-'Irak under the Ommiade Abd al-Malik bin Marwan. For details, see my "Sind Re-visited": vol. i. chapt. viii.

[FN#4] [In MS. "shakhat," a modern word which occurs in Spitta Bey's "Contes Arabes Modernes," spelt with the palatal instead of the dental, and is translated there by "injurier."--ST.]

[FN#5] In the text "Sahrij"; hence the "Chafariz" (fountain) of Portugal, which I derived (Highlands of the Brazil, i. 46) from "Sakarij." It is a "Moghrabin" word=fonte, a fountain, preserved in the Brazil and derided in the mother country, where a New World village is described as

--Chafariz, Joam Antam e a Matriz:

which may be roughly rendered

--Parish church, on the Green and Johnny Birch.

[FN#6] [Here I suppose the scribe dropped a word, as "yahtaj," or the like, and the sentence should read: it requires, etc.--ST.]

[FN#7] In text "Sarayah," for "Sarayah," Serai, Government House: vol. ix. 52.

[FN#8] A manner of metonymy, meaning that he rested his cheek upon his right hand.

[FN#9] For the sig. of this phrase=words suggested by the circ.u.mstances, see vol. i. 121.

[FN#10] Mr. Charles M. Doughty ("Arabia Deserta," i. 223) speaks of the Badawin who sit beating the time away, and for pastime limning with their driving-sticks (the Bakur) in the idle land."

[FN#11] In text "Lam yanub al-Wahidu min-hum nisf haffan." [I cannot explain this sentence satisfactory to myself, but by inserting "illa" after "min-hum." Further I would read "na.s.saf"=libavit, delibavit degustavit (Dozy, Suppl. s. v.) and "Hifan," pl. of "Hafna"=handful, mouthful, small quant.i.ty, translating accordingly: "and none took his turn without sipping a few laps."--ST.]

[FN#12] "Tarajjama": Suppl. vol. iv. 188. I shall always translate it by "he deprecated" scil. evil to the person addressed.

[FN#13] [The text, as I read it, has: "In wahadtu (read wajadtu) fi hazih al-Sa'ah shayyan naakul-hu wa namut bi-hi nartah min haza al-Taab wa'l-mashakkah la-akultu-hu"=if I could find at this hour a something (i.e. in the way of poison) which I might eat and die thereby and rest from this toil and trouble, I would certainly eat it, etc.--ST.]

[FN#14] See vol. i. 311 for this "tom-tom" as Anglo-Indians call it.

[FN#15] i.e. Whereinto the happy man was able to go, which he could not whilst the spell was upon the h.o.a.rd.

[FN#16] Here ends this tale, a most lame and impotent conclusion, in the W. M. MS. iv. 189. Scott (p. 244?5) copied by Gauttier (vi. 348) has, "His father received him with rapture, and the prince having made an apology to the sultana (!) for his former rude behaviour, she received his excuses, and having no child of her own readily adopted him as her son; so that the royal family lived henceforth in the utmost harmony, till the death of the sultan and sultana, when the prince succeeded to the empire."

[FN#17] W.M MS. iv. 189. Scott (vi. 246-258) "Story of the Lovers of Syria, or, the Heroine:" Gauttier (iv. 348-354) Histoire des Amans de Syrie.

[FN#18] Scott (vi. 246) comments upon the text:--"The master of the s.h.i.+p having weighed anchor, hoisted sail and departed: the lady in vain entreating him to wait the return of her beloved, or send her on sh.o.r.e, for he was captivated with her beauty. Finding herself thus ensnared, as she was a woman of strong mind . . .