The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume XV Part 37

[FN#600] In the text "Shashmah," from Pers. "Chashmah" a fountain; applied in Egypt to the small privies with slab and hole; vol. i. 221.

[FN#601] [In Ar. "Unsak," an expression princ.i.p.ally used when drinking to one's health, in which sense it occurs, for instance, in the Bresl. ed. of The Nights, i. 395, 7.-ST.]

[FN#602] Arab. "Mutati bi zahri-h": our ancestors' expression was not polite, but expressive and picturesque.

[FN#603] The normal pun: "Fatihah," fem. of "fatih" = an opener, a conqueror, is the first Koranic chapter, for which see iv. 36.

[FN#604] This appears to be a kind of padding introduced to fill up the Night. The loan of an a.s.s is usually granted gratis in Fellah villages and Badawi camps. See Matth. xxi. 2, 3; Mark xi.

2-6, and Luke xix. 30-34.

[FN#605] i.e. O Moslem, opposed to Enemy of Allah = a non-Moslem.

In text Ya 'Ibad, plur. for sing.

[FN#606] Arab. "Kashshara" = grinned a ghastly smile; it also means laughing so as to show the teeth.

[FN#607] This tale follows "The Kazi of Baghdd, his Treacheous Brother and his Virtuous Wife," which is nothing but a replica o "The Jewish Kazi and his Pious Wife" (vol. v. 256). Scott has translated it, after his fas.h.i.+on, in vol. vi. p. 396-408, and follows it up with "The sultan's Story of Himself," which ends his volume as it shall be the conclusion of mine.

[FN#608] In text, "Wa yaakhazu 'l thalatha arba' min mali-hi wa salbi hali-hi."

[FN#609] In text, "La-hu Diraah (for "Dirayah" = prudence) fi tadbiri 'l-Muluk."

[FN#610] In text, "Al-Sirru 'l-ilahi," i.e. the soul, which is "divinae particula aurae."

[FN#611] In text, "Nuwajiru 'l-wukufat." [I read "nuwajiru (for nuajiru") 'l-wukufat," taking the first word to be a verb corresponding to the preceding, "nabi'u," and the second a clerical error for "al-Maukufat." In this case the meaning would be: "and letting for hire such parts of my property as were inalienable."--ST.]

[FN#612] Here the text has the normal enallage of persons, the third for the first, "the youth" for "I." I leave it unaltered by way of specimen.

[FN#613] In text "'Arus muhalliyah."

[FN#614] He fainted thinking of the responsibilities of whoso should sit thereupon.

[FN#615] Here is a third enallage, the King returning to the first person, the oratio directa.

[FN#616] i.e. "by Allah;" for "Bi" (the particle proper of swearing) see viii. 310.

[FN#617] Here again is a fourth enallage; the scribe continuing the narrative.

[FN#618] i.e. well fed, st.u.r.dy and bonny.

[FN#619] "Sara la-hu Shanan." [The work in the text, which is exceedingly badly written, looks to me as if it were meant for "Thaniyan" = and he (the youth) became second to him (the Sultan), i.e. his alter ego.--ST.]

[FN#620] In text "Yatama'ash min-hu." [A denominative of the 5th form from "Ma'ash," livelihood. It usually has the meaning of "earning one's living," but occurs in Makkari's Life of Ibn al-Khatib also in the sense of "feeding or glutting upon,"

although applied there not to victuals but to books.--ST.]

[FN#621] In text "Sara yuras.h.i.+-h." ["Yuras.h.i.+" and "yurashu,"

which had occured p. 304, are the 6th form of "rasha, yarshu" = he bestowed a gift (princ.i.p.ally for the sake of bribery, hence "Rashwah" or "Rishwah" = a bribe), he treated kindly.--ST.]

[FN#622] "Markab Mausukah," from "Wask" = conceiving, being pregnant, etc.

[FN#623] "Mutawa.s.si * * * al-Wisayat al-Tammah." ["Mutawa.s.si" has been met with before (see p. 303) and "Wisayah" is the corresponding noun = he charged himself with (took upon himself) her complete charge, i.e. maintnance.--ST.]

[FN#624] [In Ar. "khalli-na nak'ud," a thoroughly modern expression. It reads like a pa.s.sage from Spitta Bey's Contes Arabes Modernes, where such phrases as: "khalli-na niktib al-Kitab," let us write the marriage contract, "ma-ttkhallihsh (for "ma takhalli-hu shay") yishufak," let him not see thee and the like are very frequent.--ST.]

[FN#625] "Fi Kashs.h.i.+ 'l-Markab;" According to custome in the East all the s.h.i.+p's crew had run on sh.o.r.e about their own business as soon as she cast anchor. This has happened to me on board an Egyptian man-of-war where, on arriving at Suez, I found myself the sum total of the crew.

[FN#626] In text, "Jilan ba'da Jil:" the latter word = revolutions, change of days, tribe, people.

[FN#627] The denoument is a replica of "The Tale of the King who lost kingdom and wife and wealth and Allah restored them to him"

(Suppl. Nights, vol. i. 221). That a Sultan should send his Ministers to keep watch over a s.h.i.+p's cargo sounds pa.s.sably ridiculous to a European reader, but a coffee-house audience in the East would have found it perfectly natural. Also, that three men, the Sultan and his sons, should live together for years without knowing anything of one another's lives seems to us an absurdity; in the case of an Oriental such detail would never strike him even as impossible or even improbable.

[FN#628] Between Nights lxviii. and xci. (p. 401) the Nights are not numbered.

[FN#629] Here the numeration begins again.

[FN#630] In Ouseley he becomes a "King of Greece."

[FN#631] The Arab. is "Ja'idi": Scott has "Artizans or Sharpers": Ouseley, "labourers."

[FN#632] Ouseley has "Story of the first foolish Man."

[FN#633] In the Latin Catalogue he is called Agricola, and by Scott the Husbandman.

[FN#634] In Ouseley he now becomes a King of Greece.

[FN#635] In Ouseley, "Bint-Ameen."

[FN#636] In Arab. "Rujub al-Mutarmakh," in the Lat. list "insipicus."

[FN#637] In Ouseley "The Tailor, a story told by the Cauzee."

[FN#638] In Scott "The Deformed Jester," reading "Al-Ahdab" for "Al-Maskharat al-Azib."

[FN#639] In text "Al-Jalabi," whence Ouseley and Scott's "Mahummud Julbee."

[FN#640] Further notes ill.u.s.trative of this and the succeeding volumes will be found in the Bibliography in Volume xvi. I frequently refer to tales by their numbers in the Table (Nights, vol. x., pp. 455-472).

[FN#641] Veckenstedt, Mythen, Sagen und Legenden der Zamaiten, ii. pp. 160,162.

[FN#642] Compare, too, Mr. Clouston's "Book of Noodles," chap.

v., "The Silly Son."

[FN#643] Cf. "An Apology for the Character and Conduct of Shylock," in a volume of Essays published by a Society of Gentlemen in Exeter (1796), pp. 552-573.

[FN#644] This incident shews that the story belongs to the Grateful Beasts' cla.s.s, though it is not said that Tiomberombi had conferred any benefit on the rats; it is only implied that he understood their language.

[FN#645] Veckenstedt, Mythen, Sagen und Legenden der Zamaiten, i.

pp. 163-166.