Tales from the Arabic Part 43

[FN#246] i.e. arm.

[FN#247] i.e. for length.

[FN#248] A fabulous mountain-range, believed by the Arabs to encompa.s.s the world and by which they are supposed to mean the Caucasus.

[FN#249] The Anca, phoenix or griffin, is a fabulous bird that figures largely in Persian romance. It is fabled to have dwelt in the Mountain Caf and to have once carried off a king's daughter on her wedding-day. It is to this legend that the story-teller appears to refer in the text; but I am not aware that the princess in question is represented to have been the daughter of Behram Gour, the well-known King of Persia, who reigned in the first half of the fifth century and was a contemporary of the Emperors Theodosius the Younger and Honorius.

[FN#250] One of the names of G.o.d.

[FN#251] i.e. thy return.

[FN#252] Gift of the Breast (heart).

[FN#253] Binat el hawa, lit. daughters of love. This is the ordinary meaning of the phrase; but the girl in question appears to have been of good repute and the expression, as applied to her, is probably, therefore, only intended to signify a sprightly, frolicsome damsel.

[FN#254] Lit. the forehead, quare the lintel.

[FN#255] Or "put to nought"

[FN#256] Comparing her body, now hidden in her flowing stresses and now showing through them, to a sword, as it flashes in and out of its sheath.

[FN#257] About 25.

[FN#258] About 75.

[FN#259] i.e. all defects for which a man is by law ent.i.tled to return a slave-girl to her seller.

[FN#260] Ed Dilem is the ancient Media. The allusion to its prison or prisons I do not understand.

[FN#261] i.e. the complete ablution prescribed by the Mohammedan law after s.e.xual intercourse.

[FN#262] It is customary for a newly-married man to entertain his male acquaintances with a collation on the morning after the wedding.

[FN#263] Lit. more striking and cutting.

[FN#264] Sherifi, a small gold coin, worth about 6s. 8d.

[FN#265] Or "false pretences."

[FN#266] Or, as we should say, "the apple."

[FN#267] Apparently the Cadi was our claimed to be a seyyid i.e.

descendant of Mohammed, through his daughter Fatmeh.

[FN#268] Lit. more ill-omened.

[FN#269] i.e. that the law would not allow him to compel the young merchant to divorce his wife.

[FN#270] i.e. veil in honour.

[FN#271] Lit the fire, i.e. h.e.l.l.

[FN#272] i.e. by an irrevocable divorcement (telacan bainan), to wit, such a divorcement as estops the husband from taking back his divorced wife, except with her consent and after the execution of a fresh contract of marriage.

Text scanned by JC Byers and proof read by the volunteers of the Distributed Proofreaders site: http://charlz.dns2go.com/gutenberg/

TALES FROM THE ARABIC

Of the Breslau and Calcutta (1814-18) editions of

The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night

not occurring in the other printed texts of the work,

Now first done into English

By John Payne

In Three Volumes:

VOLUME THE THIRD.

1901

Delhi Edition

Contents of The Third Volume.

Breslau Text.

16. Noureddin Ali of Damascus and the Damsel Sitt El Milah 17. El Abbas and the King's Daughter of Baghdad 18. The Two Kings and the Vizier's Daughters 19. The Favourite and Her Lover 20. The Merchant of Cairo and the Favourite of the Khalif El Mamoun El Hakim Bi Amrillah Conclusion

Calcutta (1814-18) Text.