Tales from the Arabic Part 18

[FN#78] Syn. levelleth.

[FN#79] i.e. that of wood used by the Oriental weaver to govern the warp and weft.

[FN#80] Syn. behave aright.

[FN#81] The loop of thread so called in which the weaver's foot rests.

[FN#82] Syn. eloquence.

[FN#83] Adeb, one of the terribly comprehensive words which abound in Arabic literature for the confusion of translators. It signifies generally all kinds of education and means of mental and moral discipline and seems here to mean more particularly readiness of wit and speech or presence of mind.

[FN#84] Breslau Text, vol. vi. pp. 189-191, Night ccccx.x.xiv.

[FN#85] Syn. (Koranic) "Thou hast swerved from justice" or "been unjust" (adeita).

[FN#86] Syn. (Koranic) "Thou hast transgressed" (caset-ta).

[FN#87] Or falling-away.

[FN#88] Koran vi. 44.

[FN#89] Or do injustice, tadilou (syn. do justice).

[FN#90] Koran iv. 134.

[FN#91] El casitouna (syn. those who act righteously or equitably).

[FN#92] Koran lxxii. 15.

[FN#93] Name of the Persian ancestor of the Barmecide (properly Bermeki) family.

[FN#94] Breslau Text, vol. vi. pp. 191-343, Nights ccccxxv-cccclx.x.xvii. This is the Arab version of the well-known story called, in Persian, the Bekhtyar Nameh, i.e. the Book of Bekhtyar, by which name the prince, whose attempted ruin by the envious viziers is the central incident of the tale, is distinguished in that language. The Arab redaction of the story is, to my mind, far superior to the Persian, both in general simplicity and directness of style and in the absence of the irritating conceits and moral digressions with which Persian (as well as Indian) fiction is so often overloaded. The Persian origin of the story is apparent, not only in the turn of the incidents and style and the names of the personages, but in the fact that not a single line of verse occurs in it.

[FN#95] Rawi; this is probably a copyist's mistake for raai, a beholder, one who seeth.

[FN#96] Lit. what was his affair? It may be here observed that the word keif (how?) is constantly used in the Breslau Text in the sense of ma (what?).

[FN#97] A district of Persia, here probably Persia itself.

[FN#98] Probably a corruption of Kisra (Chosroes).

[FN#99] i.e. waylaying travellers, robbing on the high road.

[FN#100] Or skill.

[FN#101] Lit. the descended fate.

[FN#102] The Arabs attribute to a man's parentage absolute power in the determination of his good and evil qualities; eg. the son of a slave, according to them, can possess none of the virtues of the free-born, whilst good qualities are in like manner considered congenitally inherent in the latter.

[FN#103] Or "business."

[FN#104] i.e. whither he should travel.

[FN#105] About half-a-crown.

[FN#106] It is a common practice with Eastern nations to keep a child (especially a son and one of unusual beauty) concealed until a certain age, for fear of the evil eye. See my "Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night," Vol. III. p. 234; Vol. IX. p.

67, etc., etc.

[FN#107] i.e. killing a man.

[FN#108] i.e., it will always be in our power to slay him, when we will.

[FN#109] i.e. the grave.

[FN#110] i.e. the wedding-day.

[FN#111] i.e. thy women

[FN#112] i.e. hath been unduly prolonged.

[FN#113] i.e. Let thy secret thoughts and purposes be righteous, even as thine outward profession.

[FN#114] See my "Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night," Vol.

V. p. 264.

[FN#115] Afterwards called his "chamberlain," i.e. the keeper of the door of the harem or chief eunuch. See post, p. III.

[FN#116] i.e. the eunuch who had dissuaded Dadbin from putting her to death.

[FN#117] Apparently referring to Aboulkhair (see ante p. 107), whom Dabdin would seem to have put to death upon the vizier's false accusation, although no previous mention of this occurs.

[FN#118] The Arabs believe that each man's destiny is charactered, could we decipher it, in the sutures of his skull.

[FN#119] ie. the lex talionis, which is the essence of Muslim jurisprudence.

[FN#120] i.e. a soldier of fortune, going about from court to court, in quest of service.

[FN#121] This phrase refers to the Arab idiom, "His hand (or arm) is long or short," i.e. he is a man of great or little puissance.

[FN#122] The Arabs consider it a want of respect to allow the hands or feet to remain exposed in the presence of a superior.

[FN#123] Adeb. See ante, p. 54, note 9.

[FN#124] i.e. that he become my son-in-law.

[FN#125] It is a common Eastern practice to have the feet kneaded and pressed (shampooed) for the purpose of inducing sleep, and thus the king would habitually fall asleep with his feet on the knees of his pages.

[FN#126] Syn. whoso respecteth not his lord's women.