Chapter XIII: Part 13

When she had made an end of her verses, she considered her affair and said within herself, "By Allah, all these things have betided by the predestination of Almighty Allah and His decree and this upon the forehead was written in lines." Then she landed and walked on till she came to a spacious place, and an open, where she asked of the folk and hired a house. Thither she transported forthright all that was in the ship of goods and sending after brokers, sold all that was with her. Presently she took part of the price and began enquiring of the folk, so haply she might scent out tidings of the lost one; and she addressed herself to lavishing alms and preparing medicines for the sick, clothing the naked and watering the dry ground[FN#543] of the forlorn. She ceased not so doing a whole year, and little by little she sold off her goods and gave charitable gifts to the sick and sorry; whereby her report was bruited abroad in the city and the folk abounded in her praise. All this while Salim lay in fetters and strait prison, and melancholy gat hold of him by reason of that whereinto he had fallen of this affliction. At last, when care waxed on him and calamity grew longsome, he fell sick of a sore sickness. Then the Kitchener, seeing his plight (and verily he was like to sink for much suffering), loosed him from the fetters and bringing him forth of the prison, committed him to an old woman, who had a nose the bigness of a gugglet,[FN#544] and bade her nurse him and medicine him and serve him and entreat him kindly, so haply he might be made whole of that his sickness. Accordingly the old woman took him and carrying him to her lodging, began nursing him and giving him to eat and drink; and when he was delivered of that torment, he recovered from the malady which had afflicted him. Now the old woman had heard from the folk of the lady who gave alms to the sick, and indeed the news of her bounties reached both poor and rich; so she arose and bringing out Salim to the door of her house, laid him upon a mat and wrapped him in an Abá-gown and sat over against him. Presently, it befel that the lady passed by them, and the old woman seeing her rose to her and blessed her, saying, "O my daughter, O thou to whom belong goodness and beneficence and charity and almsdoing,[FN#545] know that this young man is a foreigner, and indeed lack and lice and hunger and nakedness and cold slay him." When the lady heard this, she gave her alms and presented her with a part of that which was with her; and indeed her charitable heart inclined to Salim, but she knew him not for her spouse. The old woman received the alms from her and carrying it to Salim, took part for herself and with the rest bought him an old shirt,[FN#546] in which she clad him, after she had stripped him of that he had on. Then she threw away the frock she had taken from off him and arising forthwith, washed his body of that which was thereon of grime and scented him with somewhat of scent. She also bought chickens and made him broth; so he ate and his life returned to him and he abode with her in all comfort of condition till the morrow. Next morning the old woman said to Salim, "When the lady cometh to thee, arise and buss her hand and say to her, 'I am a homeless man and indeed cold and hunger kill me;' so haply she may give thee somewhat that thou mayest expend upon thy case." And he answered, "To hear is to obey." Then she took him by the hand and carrying him without her house, seated him at the door; and as he sat, behold, the lady came up to him, whereupon the old woman rose to her and Salim kissed her hand and, looking at her the while, blessed her. But when he saw her, he knew her for his wife; so he shrieked and shed tears and groaned and plained, at which she came up to him and threw herself upon him; for indeed she knew him with all knowledge, even as he knew her. So she hung to him and embraced him and called to her serving-men and attendants and those who were about her; and they took him up and carried him forth of that stead. When the old woman saw this, she cried out to the Cook within the house, and he said to her, "Fare thou before me." So she forewent him and he ran after her and ceased not running till he overtook the party and seizing Salim, exclaimed "What aileth you to take my slave-lad?" Whereupon the Queen cried out at him, saying, "Know that this is my husband, whom I had lost;" and Salim also cried out, saying, "Mercy! Mercy! I appeal to Allah and to the Sultan against this Satan!" Therewith a world of folk straightway gathered together and loud rose the cries and the clamours between them; but the most part of them said, "Carry their case up to the Sultan." So they referred the matter to the king, who was none other than Salim's sister Salma. Then they repaired to the palace and the dragoman went in to Salma and said to her, "O king of the age, here is a Hindi woman, who cometh from the land of Hind, and she hath laid hands on a servant, a young man, claiming him as her husband, who hath been lost to her these two years, and she journeyed not hither save for his sake, and in very sooth these many days she hath done almsdeeds in thy city. And here is a fellow, a Kitchener, who declareth that the young man is his slave."[FN#547] When the Queen heard these words, her vitals quivered and she groaned from a grieving heart and called to mind her brother and that which had betided him. Then she bade those around her bring them between her hands, and when she saw them, she knew her brother and was about to cry aloud; but her reason restrained her; yet she could not prevent herself rising up and sitting down.[FN#548] At last, however, she enforced her soul to patience and said to them, "Let each and every of you acquaint me with his case." So Salim came forward and kissing ground before the king, lauded him and related to him his story from first to last, until the time of their coming to that city, he and his sister, telling him how he had entered the place and had fallen into the hands of the Cook and that which had betided him and whatso he had suffered from him of beating and collars, of fetters and pinioning, till the man had made him his brother's Mameluke, a boughten slave, and how the brother had sold him in Hind and he had become king by marrying the Princess: and how life was not lovesome to him till he should foregather with his sister and now the same Cook had fallen in with him a second time and had pinioned and fettered him. Brief, he acquainted her with that which had betided him of sickness and sorrow for the space of a whole year. When he had made an end of his speech, his wife straightways came forward and told her story, from incept to termination, how her mother bought him[FN#549] from the Cook's partner and the people of the kingdom came under his rule; nor did she cease telling till she came, in her history, to that city and acquainted the king with the manner of her meeting her husband. When she had made an end of her adventure, the Kitchener exclaimed, "Alack, what befals us from lying rascals. By Allah, O king, this woman lieth against me, for this youth is my rearling[FN#550] and he was born of one of my slave-girls. He fled from me and I found him again." When the Queen heard the last of the talk, she said to the Cook, "The decree between you shall not be save in accordance with justice." Then she dismissed all those who were present and turning to her brother, said to him, "Indeed thy truth is stablished with me and the sooth of thy speech, and praised be Allah who hath brought about reunion between thee and thy wife! So now begone with her to thy country and cease to seek thy sister Salma and depart in peace." But, hearing this, Salim replied, "By Allah, by the might of the All-knowing King, I will not turn back from seeking my sister till I die or I find her, Inshallah!" Then he called his sister to mind and improvised from a heart disappointed, troubled, afflicted these couplets,

"O thou who blam'st me for my heart, in anger twitting me, *
Hadst tasted what my heart did taste, thou wouldst be
pitying me!
By Allah, O my chider for my sister leave, ah! leave * My heart
to moan its grief and feel the woes befitting me.
Indeed I grew to hold her dear privily, publicly; * And in my
bosom bides a pang at no time quitting me;
And in my vitals burns a flame that ne'er was equalled by * The
fire of hell and blazeth high to Death committing me."

Now when his sister Salma heard what he said, she could no longer restrain her soul, but threw herself upon him and discovered to him her case. When he knew her, he threw himself upon her swooning awhile; after which he came to himself and cried, "Lauded be the Lord, the Bountiful, the Beneficent!" Then they plained each to other of that they had suffered from the pangs of parting, whilst Salim's wife wondered at this and Salma's patience and endurance pleased her. So she saluted her with the Salam, and thanked her for her fair boons, saying, "By Allah, O my lady, all that we are in of gladness never befel us save by thy blessing; so praised be Allah who deigned vouchsafe us thy sight!" Then they tarried all three, Salma, Salim and his wife, in joy and happiness and delight three days, veiled from the folk; and it was bruited abroad in the city that the king had found his brother, who was lost for many a year, and had saved him from the Cook's house. On the fourth day, all the troops and the lieges assembled together to see the King and standing at his gate, craved leave to enter. Salma bade admit them; so they entered and paid her royal suit and service and gave her joy of her brother's safe return. She bade them do homage to Salim, and they consented and sware fealty to him; after which they kept silence awhile, so they might hear what the king should command. Then quoth Salma, "Ho, ye gathering of soldiers and subjects, ye wot that ye forced me willy-nilly to accept the kingship and besought me thereof and I consented to your desires anent my being raised to rule over you; and I did this against my will; for I would have you know that I am a woman and that I disguised myself and donned man's dress, so peradventure my case might be concealed when I lost my brother. But now Allah hath deigned reunite me with my brother, and it is no longer lawful to me that I be king and Sultan over the people, and I a woman; because there is no Sultanate for women, whenas men are present.[FN#551] For this reason, an it suit you, set my brother on the throne of the kingdom, for this is he; and I will busy myself with the worship of Allah the Most High and thanksgiving to Him for my reunion with my brother. Or, an ye prefer it, take your kingship and make whom ye will ruler and liege lord thereof." Upon this the folk all cried out, saying, "We accept him to king over us;" and they did him suit and service and gave him joy of the kingship. So the preachers preached the sermon[FN#552] in his name and the court-poets praised him; and he lavished largesse upon the soldiery and the suite and overwhelmed them with favours and bounties and was prodigal to the Ryots of justice and equity, with goodly policy and polity. When he had effected this much of his affect, he caused bring forth the Cook and his household to the divan, but spared the old woman who had nursed him, because she had been the cause of his deliverance. Then all assembled without the town and he tormented the Cook and those who were with him with all manner torments, after which he did him to die by the foulest of deaths[FN#553] and burning him with fire, scattered his ashes far and wide in the air. After this Salim abode in the governance, invested with the Sultanate, and ruled the people a whole year, when he returned to Al-Mansúrah and sojourned there another year. And he and his wife ceased not to go from city to city and tarry in this a year and that a year, till he was vouchsafed children and they grew up, whereupon he appointed him of his sons, who was found fitting, to be his deputy in one kingdom and he ruled in the other; and he lived, he and his wife and children, what while Almighty Allah willed.[FN#554] "Nor" (continued the Wazir), "O King of the age, is this story rarer or stranger than the King of Hind and his wronged and envied Minister." When the King heard this, his mind was occupied,[FN#555] and he bade the Wazir hie to his own house.

The Twenty-eighth and Last Night of the Month.

When the evening evened, the King summoned the Minister and bade him tell the story of the King of Hind and his Wazir. So he said, "Hearkening and obedience. Give ear, O auspicious King, to

The Tale of the King of Hind and his Wazir.

There was once in the Hind-land a king illustrious of worth, endowed with understanding and policy, and his name was Shah Bakht. He had a Minister, a godly man and a sagacious, right prudent in rede, conformable to him in governance and just in judgment; for which cause his enviers were many and many were the hypocrites who sought faults in him and set snares for him, so that they insinuated into King Shah Bakht's eyes hatred against him and sowed in his heart despite towards him; and plot followed plot, and their rancour waxed until the king was brought to arrest him and lay him in jail and to confiscate his wealth and degrade him from his degree. When they knew that there was left him no possession for which the king might lust, they feared lest the sovran release him, by the influence of the Wazir's good counsel upon the king's heart, and he return to his former case, so should their machinations be marred and their degrees degraded, for that they knew that the king would need whatso he had known from that man nor would forget aught wherewith he was familiar in him. Now it came to pass that a certain person of perverted belief[FN#556] found a way to the adorning of falsehood with a semblance of fair-seeming and there proceeded from him that whereby the hearts of the folk were occupied, and their minds were corrupted by his lying tales; for that he made use of Indian quiddities[FN#557] and forged them into proof for the denial of the Maker, the Creator, extolled be His might and exalted be He and glorified and magnified above the speech of the deniers. He avouched that it is the planets which order all worldly affairs and he set down twelve mansions[FN#558] to twelve Zodiacal signs and made each sign thirty degrees,[FN#559] after the number of the days of the month, so that in twelve mansions there are three hundred and sixty, after the number of the days of the year; and he wrought a work, wherein he lied and was an infidel and denied the Deity, be He for ever blessed! Then he laid hold of the king's heart and the enviers and haters aided him against the Minister and won the royal favour and corrupted his intent against the Wazir, so that he got of him that which he got and at last his lord banished him and thrust him away. By such means the wicked man obtained that which he sought of the Minister and the case was prolonged till the affairs of the kingdom became disordered, by dint of ill government, and the most part of the king's reign fell off from him and he came nigh unto ruin. On this wise he was assured of the loyalty of his whilome sagacious Wazir and the excellence of his ordinance and the rectitude of his rede. So he sent after him and brought him and the wicked man before him and summoning to his presence the Lords of his land and the Chiefs of his chieftainship, gave them leave to talk and dispute and forbade the wicked man from his perverted belief. [FN#560] Then arose that wise Minister and skilful and praised Allah Almighty and lauded Him and glorified Him and hallowed Him and attested His unity and disputed with the miscreant and overcame him and silenced him; nor did he cease from him till he compelled him to make confession of repentance from that which he had misbelieved. Therewith King Shah Bakht rejoiced with exceeding great joy and cried, "Praise be to the Lord who hath saved me from this man and hath preserved me from the loss of my kingship and my prosperity!" So the affair of the Wazir returned to order and stablishment and the king restored him to his place and raised him to higher rank. Lastly, he assembled the folk who had striven against him and destroyed them all, to the last man. "And how like" (continued the Wazir), "is this story to that of myself and King Shah Bakht, with regard to that which befel me of the changing of the King and his crediting others against me; but now is the fairness of my fashion fulfilled in thine eyes, for that Allah Almighty hath inspired thee with wisdom and endowed thee with longanimity and patience to hear from me whatso He allotted to those who forewent us, till He hath shown forth my innocence and made manifest unto thee the truth. For lo and behold! the days are now past, wherein it was declared to the king that I should labour for the loss of my soul,[FN#561] that is within the month; and lookye, the probation-time is gone by, and past is the season of evil and it hath ceased by the protection of the King and his good fortune." Then he bowed his head and was silent. When King Shah Bakht heard his Wazir's speech, he was abashed before him and confounded, and he marvelled at the gravity of his intellect and his long-suffering. So he sprang up to him and embraced him and the Minister kissed his feet. Then the King called for a costly robe of honour and cast it over Al-Rahwan and honoured him with the highmost honour and showed him especial favour and restored him to his degree and Wazirate. Furthermore he imprisoned those who had devised his destruction with lies and leasing and gave him full leave and license to pass judgment upon the Interpreter who had expounded to him the dream. So the Wazir abode in the ordering of the realm until Death came to them; "And this" (added Shahrazad) "is all, O king of the age, that hath come down to us of King Shah Bakht and his Wazir."

SHAHRAZAD AND SHAHRYAR.

As for King Shahryar, he wondered at Shahrazad with the utmost wonder and drew her near to his heart of his abounding affection for her; and she was magnified in his eyes and he said within himself, "By Allah, the like of this is not deserving of slaughter, for indeed the time favoureth us not with her equal. By the Almighty, I have been reckless of mine affair, and had not the Lord overcome me with His ruth and put this one at my service so she might recount to me instances manifest and cases truthful and admonitions goodly and traits edifying, such as should restore me to the right road, I had come to ruin! Wherefore to Allah be the praise herefor and I beseech the Most High to make my end with her like that of the Wazir and Shah Bakht." Then sleep overcame the king and glory be unto Him who sleepeth not![FN#562] When it was the Nine hundred and thirtieth Night, Shahrazad said, "O king, there is present in my thought a tale which treateth of women's trickery and wherein is a warning to whoso will be warned and an admonishment to whoso will be admonished and whoso hath sight and insight; but I fear lest the hearing of this belittle me with the liege-lord and lower my degree in his esteem; yet I hope that this will not be, because 'tis a rare tale. Women are indeed mischief-makers; their craft and their cunning may not be told nor may their wiles be known; while men enjoy their company and are not instant to uphold them in the right way, neither are they vigilant over them with all vigilance, but relish their society and take whatso is winsome and regard not that which is other than this. Indeed, they are like unto the crooked rib, which an thou go about to straighten, thou distortest it, and which an thou persist in straightening, thou breakest it,[FN#563] so it behoveth the wise man to be silent concerning them." Thereupon quoth Dinarzad, "O sister mine, bring forth that which is with thee and that which is present to thy mind of the story concerning the guile of women and their wiles, and have no fear lest this lessen thee with the king; for that women are, like jewels, of all kinds and colours. When a gem falleth into the hand of an expert, he keepeth it for himself and leaveth all beside it. Eke he preferreth some of them over others, and in this he is like the potter,[FN#564] who filleth his kiln with all the vessels he hath moulded and under them kindleth his fire. When the baking is done and he taketh out that which is in the kiln, he findeth no help for it but that he must break some of them, whilst others are what the folk need and whereof they make use, while yet others there are which return to be as they were. So fear thou not nor deem it a grave matter to adduce that which thou knowest of the craft of women, for that in this is profit for all folk." Then said Shahrazad, "Then relate, O king (but Allah alone knoweth the secret things) the Tale of—

End of Volume 11

Arabian Nights, Volume 11
Footnotes

[FN#1] Arab. "Al-Náim wa al-Yakzán." This excellent story is not in the Mac. or Bresl. Edits.; but is given in the Breslau Text, iv. 134-189 (Nights cclxxii.-ccxci.). It is familiar to readers of the old "Arabian Nights Entertainments" as "Abou-Hassan or the Sleeper Awakened;" and as yet it is the only one of the eleven added by Galland whose original has been discovered in Arabic: the learned Frenchman, however, supplied it with embellishments more suo, and seems to have taken it from an original fuller than our text as is shown by sundry poetical and other passages which he apparently did not invent. Lane (vol. ii. chap. 12), noting that its chief and best portion is an historical anecdote related as a fact, is inclined to think that it is not a genuine tale of The Nights. He finds it in Al-Ishákí who finished his history about the close of Sultan Mustafá the Osmanli's reign, circa A.H. 1032 (= 1623), and he avails himself of this version as it is "narrated in a simple and agreeable manner." Mr. Payne remarks, "The above title (Asleep and Awake) is of course intended to mark the contrast between the everyday (or waking) hours of Aboulhusn and his fantastic life in the Khalif's palace, supposed by him to have passed in a dream;" I may add that amongst frolicsome Eastern despots the adventure might often have happened and that it might have given a hint to Cervantes.

[FN#2] i.e., The Wag. See vol. i. 311: the old version calls him "the Debauchee."

[FN#3] Arab. "Al-Fárs"; a people famed for cleverness and debauchery. I cannot see why Lane omitted the Persian, unless he had Persian friends at Cairo.

[FN#4] i.e., the half he intended for spending-money.

[FN#5] i.e., "men," a characteristic Arab idiom: here it applies to the sons of all time.

[FN#6] i.e., make much of thee.

[FN#7] In Lane the Caliph is accompanied by "certain of his domestics."

[FN#8] Arab. "Khubz Mutabbak," = bread baked in a platter, instead of an oven, an earthen jar previously heated, to the sides of which the scones or bannocks of dough are applied: "it is lighter than oven-bread, especially if it be made thin and leavened." See Al-Shakúrí, a medical writer quoted by Dozy.

[FN#9] In other parts of The Nights Harun al-Rashid declines wine-drinking.

[FN#10] The 'Allámah (doctissimus) Sayce (p. 212, Comparative Philology, London, Trübner, 1885) goes far back for Khalífah = a deputy, a successor. He begins with the Semitic (Hebrew?) root "Khaliph" = to change, exchange: hence "Khaleph" = agio. From this the Greeks got their {kóllybos} and Cicero his "Collybus," a money-lender.

[FN#11] Arab. "Harfúsh" (in Bresl. Edit. iv. 138, "Kharfúsh"), in popular parlance a "blackguard." I have to thank Mr. Alexander J. Cotheal, of New York, for sending me a MS. Copy of this tale.

[FN#12] Arab. "Ta'ám," in Egypt and Somaliland = millet seed (Holcus Sorghum) cooked in various ways. In Barbary it is applied to the local staff of life, Kuskusú, wheaten or other flour damped and granulated by hand to the size of peppercorns, and lastly steamed (as we steam potatoes), the cullender-pot being placed over a long-necked jar full of boiling water. It is served with clarified butter, shredded onions and meat; and it represents the Risotto of Northern Italy. Europeans generally find it too greasy for digestion. This Barbary staff of life is of old date and is thus mentioned by Leo Africanus in early sixth century. "It is made of a lump of Dow, first set upon the fire, in a vessel full of holes and afterwards tempered with Butter and Pottage." So says good Master John Pory, "A Geographical Historie of Africa, by John Leo, a Moor," London, 1600, impensis George Bishop.

[FN#13] Arab. "Bi al-Salám" (pron. "Bissalám") = in the Peace (of Allah).

[FN#14] And would bring him bad luck if allowed to go without paying.

[FN#15] i.e., of the first half, as has been shown.

[FN#16] Arab. "Kumájah" from the Persian Kumásh = bread unleavened and baked in ashes. Egyptians use the word for bannocks of fine flour.

[FN#17] Arab. "Kalí," our "alcali" ; for this and other abstergents see vol. i. 279.

[FN#18] These lines have occurred twice in vol. i. 117 (Night xii.); I quote Mr. Payne.

[FN#19] Arab. "Yá 'llah, yá 'lláh;" vulg. used for "Look sharp!" e.g., "Yá 'llah jári, yá walad" = Be off at once, boy."

[FN#20] Arab. "Banj akrítashí," a term which has occurred before.

[FN#21] A natural clock, called by West Africans Cokkerapeek = Cock-speak. All the world over it is the subject of superstition: see Giles's "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" (i. 177), where Miss Li, who is a devil, hears the cock crow and vanishes.

[FN#22] In Lane Al-Rashid "found at the door his young men waiting for him and ordered them to convey Abu-l-Hasan upon a mule and returned to the palace; Abu-l-Hasan being intoxicated and insensible. And when the Khaleefah had rested himself in the palace, he called for," etc.

[FN#23] Arab. "Kursi," Assyrian "Kussú" = throne; and "Korsái" in Aramaic (or Nabathean as Al-Mas'udi calls it), the second growth-period of the "Semitic" family, which supplanted Assyrian and Babylonian, and became, as Arabic now is, the common speech of the "Semitic" world.

[FN#24] Arab. "Makán mahjúb," which Lane renders by "a private closet," and Payne by a "privy place," suggesting that the Caliph slept in a numéro cent. So, when starting for the "Trakki Campaign," Sir Charles Napier (of Sind), in his zeal for lightening officers' baggage, inadvertently chose a water-closet tent for his head-quarters—magno cum risu not of the staff, who had a strange fear of him, but of the multitude who had not.

[FN#25] Arab. "Dar al-Salam," one of the seven "Gardens" into which the Mohammedan Paradise is divided. Man's fabled happiness began in a Garden (Eden) and the suggestion came naturally that it would continue there. For the seven Heavens, see vol. viii., 111.

[FN#26] Branch of Pearl, see vol. ii. 57.

[FN#27] Arab. "Kahbah," the lowest word (vol. i. 70), effectively used in contrast with the speaker's surroundings.

[FN#28] Arab. "Yá kabírí," = mon brave, my good man.

[FN#29] This exaggeration has now become familiar to English poets.

[FN#30] Like an Eastern he goes to the water-closet the first thing in the morning, or rather dawn, and then washes ceremonially before saying the first prayer. In Europe he would probably wait until after breakfast. See vol. iii. 242.

[FN#31] I have explained why an Eastern does not wash in the basin as Europeans do in vol. i. p. 241.

[FN#32] i.e., He was confused that he forgot. All Moslems know how to pray, whether they pray or not.

[FN#33] The dawn-prayer consists of only four inclinations (raka'at); two "Farz" (divinely appointed), and two Sunnah (the custom of the Apostle). For the Raka'áh see Lane, M.E. chapt. iii.; it cannot be explained without illustrations.

[FN#34] After both sets of prayers, Farz and Sunnah, the Moslem looks over his right shoulder and says, "The Peace (of Allah) be upon you and the ruth of Allah," and repeats the words over the left shoulder. The salutation is addressed to the Guardian Angels or to the bystanders (Moslems), who, however, do not return it.

[FN#35] i.e., Ibrahim of Mosul the musician. See vol. iv. 108.

[FN#36] Arab. "Líyúth" plur. of "layth," a lion: here warriors are meant.

[FN#37] The Abbasides traced their descent from Al-Abbas, Mohammed's uncle, and justly held themselves as belonging to the family of the Prophet. See vol. ii. 61.

[FN#38] Arab. "Nímshah" = "half-sword." See vol. ii. p. 193.

[FN#39] i.e., May thy dwelling-place never fall into ruin. The prayer has, strange to say, been granted. "The present city on the eastern bank of the Tigris was built by Haroun al-Rashid, and his house still stands there and is an object of reverent curiosity." So says my friend Mr. Grattan Geary (vol. i. p. 212, "Through Asiatic Turkey," London: Low, 1878). He also gives a sketch of Zubaydah's tomb on the western bank of the Tigris near the suburb which represents old Baghdad; it is a pineapple dome springing from an octagon, both of brick once revetted with white stucco.

[FN#40] In the Bresl. Edit. four hundred. I prefer the exaggerated total.

[FN#41] i.e., the raised recess at the upper end of an Oriental saloon, and the place of honour, which Lane calls by its Egyptian name "Líwán." See his vol. i. 312 and his M.E. chapt. i.: also my vol. iv. p. 71.

[FN#42] "Bit o'Musk."

[FN#43] "A gin," a snare.

[FN#44] "A gift," a present. It is instructive to compare Abu al-Hasan with Sancho Panza, sprightly Arab wit with grave Spanish humour.

[FN#45] i.e., he fell down senseless. The old version has "his head knocked against his knees."

[FN#46] Arab. "Waddi" vulg. Egyptian and Syrian for the classical "Addí" (ii. of Adú = preparing to do). No wonder that Lane complains (iii. 376) of the vulgar style, abounding in errors."

[FN#47] O Apple, O Repose o' Hearts, O Musk, O Choice Gift.

[FN#48] Arab. "Doghrí," a pure Turkish word, in Egypt meaning "truly, with truth," straightforwardly; in Syria = straight (going), directly.

[FN#49] Arab. "Máristán," see vol. i. 288.

[FN#50] The scene is a rechauffé of Badr al-Din Hasan and his wife, i. 247.

[FN#51] Arab. "Janzír," another atrocious vulgarism for "Zanjír," which however, has occurred before.

[FN#52] Arab. "Arafshah."

[FN#53] In the "Mishkát al-Masábih" (ii. 341), quoted by Lane, occurs the Hadis, "Shut your doors anights and when so doing repeat the Basmalah; for the Devil may not open a door shut in Allah's name." A pious Moslem in Egypt always ejaculates, "In the name of Allah, the Compassionating," etc., when he locks a door, covers up bread, doffs his clothes, etc., to keep off devils and dæmons.

[FN#54] An Arab idiom meaning, "I have not found thy good fortune (Ka'b = heel, glory, prosperity) do me any good."

[FN#55] Arab. "Yá Nakbah" = a calamity to those who have to do with thee!

[FN#56] Koran cxii., the "Chapter of Unity." See vol. iii. 307

[FN#57] See vol. iii. 222.

[FN#58] Here the author indubitably speaks for himself, forgetting that he ended Night cclxxxi. (Bresl. iv. 168), and began that following with Shahrazad's usual formula.

[FN#59] i.e., "Delight of the vitals" (or heart).

[FN#60] The trick is a rechauffé of the trick played on Al- Rashid and Zubaydah.

[FN#61] "Kalb" here is not heart, but stomach. The big toes of the Moslem corpse are still tied in most countries, and in some a sword is placed upon the body; but I am not aware that a knife and salt (both believed to repel evil spirits) are so used in Cairo.

[FN#62] The Moslem, who may not wear unmixed silk during his lifetime, may be shrouded in it. I have noted that the "Shukkah," or piece, averages six feet in length.

[FN#63] A vulgar ejaculation; the "hour" referring either to birth or to his being made one of the Caliph's equerries.

[FN#64] Here the story-teller omits to say that Masrúr bore witness to the Caliph's statement.

[FN#65] Arab. "Wa kuntu ráihah ursil warák," the regular Fellah language.

[FN#66] Arab. "'Irk al-Háshimí." See vol. ii. 19. Lane remarks, "Whether it was so in Hashim himself (or only in his descendants), I do not find; but it is mentioned amongst the characteristics of his great-grandson, the Prophet."

[FN#67] Arab. "Bostán al-Nuzhah," whose name made the stake appropriate. See vol. ii. 81.

[FN#68] Arab. "Tamásíl" = generally carved images, which, amongst Moslem, always suggest idols and idolatry.

[FN#69] The "Shubbák" here would be the "Mashrabiyah," or latticed balcony, projecting from the saloon-wall, and containing room for three or more sitters. It is Lane's "Meshrebeeyeh," sketched in M.E. (Introduction) and now has become familiar to Englishmen.

[FN#70] This is to show the cleverness of Abu al-Hasan, who had calculated upon the difference between Al-Rashid and Zubaydah. Such marvels of perspicacity are frequent enough in the folk-lore of the Arabs.

[FN#71] An artful touch, showing how a tale grows by repetition. In Abu al-Hasan's case (infra) the eyes are swollen by the swathes.

[FN#72] A Hadis attributed to the Prophet, and very useful to Moslem husbands when wives differ overmuch with them in opinion.

[FN#73] Arab. "Masarat fí-há," which Lane renders, "And she threw money to her."

[FN#74] A saying common throughout the world, especially when the afflicted widow intends to marry again at the first opportunity.

[FN#75] Arab. "Yá Khálati" = O my mother's sister; addressed by a woman to an elderly dame.

[FN#76] i.e., That I may put her to shame.

[FN#77] Arab. "Zalábiyah."

[FN#78] Arab. "'Alá al-Kaylah," which Mr. Payne renders by "Siesta-carpet." Land reads "Kiblah" ("in the direction of the Kiblah") and notes that some Moslems turn the corpse's head towards Meccah and others the right side, including the face. So the old version reads "feet towards Mecca." But the preposition "Alá" requires the former sig.

[FN#79] Many places in this text are so faulty that translation is mere guess-work; e.g. "Bashárah" can hardly be applied to ill- news.

[FN#80] i.e. of grief for his loss.

[FN#81] Arab. "Tobáni" which Lane renders "two clods." I have noted that the Tob (Span. Adobe = Al-Tob) is a sunbaked brick. Beating the bosom with such material is still common amongst Moslem mourners of the lower class, and the hardness of the blow gives the measure of the grief.

[FN#82] i.e. of grief for her loss.

[FN#83] Arab. "Ihtirák" often used in the metaphorical sense of consuming, torturing.

[FN#84] Arab. "Haláwat," lit.=a sweetmeat, a gratuity, a thank- offering.

[FN#85] Bresl. Edit., vol. vi. pp. 182-188, Nights ccccxxxii.- ccccxxxiv.

[FN#86] "The good Caliph" and the fifth of the Orthodox, the other four being Abu Bakr, Omar, Osman and Ali; and omitting the eight intervening, Hasan the grandson of the Prophet included. He was the 13th Caliph and 8th Ommiade A.H. 99-101 (=717-720) and after a reign of three years he was poisoned by his kinsmen of the Banu Umayyah who hated him for his piety, asceticism, and severity in making them disgorge their ill-gotten gains. Moslem historians are unanimous in his praise. Europeans find him an anachorète couronné, à froide et respectable figure, who lacked the diplomacy of Mu'awiyah and the energy of Al-Hajjáj. His principal imitator was Al-Muhtadi bi'lláh, who longed for a return to the rare old days of Al-Islam.

[FN#87] Omar 'Adi bin Artah; governor of Kufah and Basrah under "the good Caliph."

[FN#88] Jarír al-Khatafah, one of the most famous of the "Islámí" poets, i.e. those who wrote in the first century (A.H.) before the corruption of language began. (See Terminal Essay, p. 230). Ibn Khallikan notices him at full length i. 294.

[FN#89] Arab. "Bákiyah," which may also mean eternal as opposed to "Fániyah" = temporal. Omar's answer shows all the narrow- minded fanaticism which distinguished the early Moslems: they were puritanical as any Praise-God-Barebones, and they hated "boetry and bainting" as hotly as any Hanoverian.

[FN#90] The Saturday Review (Jan. 2, '86), which has honoured me by the normal reviling in the shape of a critique upon my two first vols., complains of the "Curious word Abhak" as "a perfectly arbitrary and unusual group of Latin letters." May I ask Aristarchus how he would render "Sal'am" (vol ii. 24), which apparently he would confine to "Arabic MSS."(!). Or would he prefer A(llah) b(less) h(im) a(nd) k(eep) "W.G.B." (whom God bless) as proposed by the editor of Ockley? But where would be the poor old "Saturnine" if obliged to do better than the authors it abuses?

[FN#91] He might have said "by more than one, including the great Labíd."

[FN#92] Fí-hi either "in him" (Mohammed) or "in it" (his action).

[FN#93] Chief of the Banu Sulaym. According to Tabari, Abbas bin Mirdas (a well-known poet), being dissatisfied with the booty allotted to him by the Prophet, refused it and lampooned Mohammed, who said to Ali, "Cut off this tongue which attacketh me," i.e. "Silence him by giving what will satisfy him." Thereupon Ali doubled the Satirist's share.

[FN#94] Arab. "Yá Bilál": Bilal ibn Rabah was the Prophet's freedman and crier: see vol. iii. 106. But bilal also signifies "moisture" or "beneficence," "benefits": it may be intended for a double entendre but I prefer the metonymy.

[FN#95] The verses of this Kasidah are too full of meaning to be easily translated: it is fine old poetry.

[FN#96] i.e. of the Koraysh tribe. For his disorderly life see Ibn Khallikan ii. 372: he died, however, a holy death, battling against the Infidels in A.H. 93 (= 711-12), some five years before Omar's reign.

[FN#97] Arab. "Bayn farsi-k wa 'l-damí" = lit. between fæces and menses, i.e., the foulest part of his mistress's person. It is not often that The Nights are "nasty"; but here is a case. See vol. v. 162.

[FN#98] "Jamil the Poet," and lover of Buthaynah: see vol. ii. 102, Ibn Khallikan (i.331), and Al-Mas'udi vi. 381, who quotes him copiously. He died A.H. 82 (= 701), or sixteen years before Omar's reign.

[FN#99] Arab. "Safíh" = the slab over the grave.

[FN#100] A contemporary and friend of Jamíl and the famous lover of Azzah. See vol. ii. 102, and Al-Mas'udi, vi. 426. The word "Kuthayyir" means "the dwarf." Term. Essay, 231.

[FN#101] i.e. in the attitude of prayer.

[FN#102] In Bresl. Edit. "Al-Akhwass," clerical error, noticed in Ibn Khallikan i. 526. His satires banished him to Dahlak Island in the Red Sea, and he died A.H. 179 (= 795-96).

[FN#103] Another famous poet Abú Firás Hammám or Humaym (dimin. form), as debauched as Jarir, who died forty days before him in A.H. 110 (= 728-29), as Basrah. Cf. Term. Essay, 269.

[FN#104] A famous Christian poet. See C. de Perceval, Journ. Asiat. April, 1834, Ibn Khallikan iii. 136, and Term. Essay, 231.

[FN#105] The poet means that unlike other fasters he eats meat openly. See Pilgrimage (i. 110), for the popular hypocrisy.

[FN#106] Arab. "Bathá" the lowlands and plains outside the Meccan Valley. See al-Mas'udi, vi. 157. Mr. (now Sir) W. Muir in his Life of Mahomet, vol. i., p. ccv., remarks upon my Pilgrimage (iii.252) that in placing Arafat 12 miles from Meccah, I had given 3 miles to Muna, + 3 to Muzdalifah + 3 to Arafat = 9. But the total does not include the suburbs of Meccah and the breadth of the Arafat-Valley.

[FN#107] The words of the Azán, vol. i. 306.

[FN#108] Wine in Arabic is feminine, "Shamúl" = liquor hung in the wind to cool, a favourite Arab practice often noticed by the poets.

[FN#109] i.e. I will fall down dead drunk.

[FN#110] Arab. "Árám," plur. of Irm, a beautiful girl, a white deer. The word is connected with the Heb. Reem (Deut. xxxiii. 17), which has been explained unicorn, rhinoceros, and aurochs. It is the Ass. Rimu, the wild bull of the mountains, provided with a human face, and placed at the palace-entrance to frighten away foes, demon or human.

[FN#111] i.e. she who ensnares [all] eyes.

[FN#112] Imam, the spiritual title of the Caliph, as head of the Faith and leader (lit. "foreman," Antistes) of the people at prayer. See vol. iv. 111.

[FN#113] For Yamámah see vol. ii. 104. Omar bin Abd-al-Aziz was governor of the province before he came to the Caliphate. To the note on Zarká, the blue-eyed Yamamite, I may add that Marwan was called Ibn Zarká, son of "la femme au drapeau bleu," such being the sign of a public prostitute. Al-Mas'udi, v. 509.

[FN#114] Rain and bounty, I have said, are synonymous.

[FN#115] About £2 10s.

[FN#116] i.e. what is thy news.

[FN#117] Bresl. Edit., vol. vi. pp. 188-9, Night ccccxxxiv.

[FN#118] Of this masterful personage and his énergie indomptable I have spoken in vol. iv. 3, and other places. I may add that he built Wásit city A.H. 83 and rendered eminent services to literature and civilization amongst the Arabs. When the Ommiade Caliph Abd al-Malik was dying he said to his son Walid, "Look to Al-Hajjaj and honour him for, verily, he it is who hath covered for you the pulpits; and he is thy sword and thy right hand against all opponents; thou needest him more than he needeth thee, and when I die summon the folk to the covenant of allegiance; and he who saith with his head—thus, say thou with thy sword—thus" (Al-Siyuti, p 225) yet the historian simply observes, "the Lord curse him."

[FN#119] i.e. given through his lieutenant.

[FN#120] "Necks" per synecdochen for heads. The passage is a description of a barber-surgeon in a series of double-entendres the "nose-pierced" (Makhzúm) is the subject who is led by the nose like a camel with halter and ring and the "breaker" (háshim) may be a breaker of bread as the word originally meant, or breaker of bones. Lastly the "wealth" (mál) is a recondite allusion to the hair.

[FN#121] Arab. "Kadr" which a change of vowel makes "Kidr" = a cooking-pot. The description is that of an itinerant seller of boiled beans (Fúl mudammas) still common in Cairo. The "light of his fire" suggests à double-entendre some powerful Chief like masterful King Kulayb. See vol. ii. 77.

[FN#122] Arab. "Al-Sufúf," either ranks of fighting-men or the rows of thread on a loom. Here the allusion is to a weaver who levels and corrects his threads with the wooden spate and shuttle governing warp and weft and who makes them stand straight (behave aright). The "stirrup" (rikáb) is the loop of cord in which the weaver's foot rests.

[FN#123] "Adab." See vols. i. 132, and ix. 41.

[FN#124] Bresl. Edit., vol. vi. pp. 189-191, Night ccccxxxiv.

[FN#125] Arab. "Za'mú," a word little used in the Cal., Mac. or Bul. Edit.; or in the Wortley Montague MS.; but very common in the Bresl. text.

[FN#126] More double-entendres. "Thou hast done justice" ('adalta) also means "Thou hast swerved from right;" and "Thou hast wrought equitably" (Akasta iv. of Kast) = "Thou hast transgressed."

[FN#127] Koran vi. 44. Allah is threatening unbelievers, "And when they had forgotten their warnings We set open to them the gates of all things, until, when they were gladdened," etc.

[FN#128] Arab. "Ta'dilú," also meaning, "Ye do injustice": quoted from Koran iv. 134.

[FN#129] Arab. "Al-Kásitúna," before explained. Koran lxxii. 15.

[FN#130] Bresl. Edit. vol. vi. pp. 191-343, Nights ccccxxxv- cccclxxxvii. This is the old Persian Bakhtyár Námeh, i.e., the Book of Bakhtyar, so called from the prince and hero "Fortune's Friend." In the tale of Jili'ad and Shimas the number of Wazirs is seven, as usual in the Sindibad cycle. Here we have the full tale as advised by the Imám al-Jara'í: "it is meet for a man before entering upon important undertakings to consult ten intelligent friends; if he have only five to apply twice to each; if only one, ten times at different visits, and if none, let him repair to his wife and consult her; and whatever she advises him to do let him do the clear contrary" (quoting Omar), or as says Tommy Moore,

Whene'er you're in doubt, said a sage I once knew,
'Twixt two lines of conduct which course to pursue,
Ask a woman's advice, and whate'er she advise
Do the very reverse, and you're sure to be wise.

The Romance of the Ten Wazirs occurs in dislocated shape in the "Nouveaux Contes Arabes, ou Supplément aux Mille et une Nuits," etc., par M. l'Abbé * * * Paris, 1788. It is the "Story of Bohetzad (Bakht-zád=Luck-born, v.p.), and his Ten Viziers," in vol. iii., pp. 2-30 of the "Arabian Tales," etc., published by Dom Chavis and M. Cazotte, in 1785; a copy of the English translation by Robert Heron, Edinburgh, 1792, I owe to the kindness of Mr. Leonard Smithers of Sheffield. It appears also in vol. viii. of M. C. de Perceval's Edition of The Nights; in Gauttier's Edition (vol. vi.), and as the "Historia Decem Vizirorum et filii Regis Azad-bacht," text and translation by Gustav Knös, of Goettingen (1807). For the Turkish, Malay and other versions see (p. xxxviii. etc.) "The Bakhtiy?r N?ma," etc. Edited (from the Sir William. Ouseley version of 1801) by Mr. W. A. Clouston and privately printed, London, 1883. The notes are valuable but their worth is sadly injured by the want of an index. I am pleased to see that Mr. E. J. W. Gibb is publishing the "History of the Forty Vezirs; or, the Story of the Forty Morns and Eves," written in Turkish by "Sheykh-Zadah," evidently a nom de plume (for Ahmad al-Misri?), and translated from an Arabic MS. which probably dated about the xvth century.

[FN#131] In Chavis and Cazotte, the "kingdom of Dineroux (comprehending all Syria and the isles of the Indian Ocean) whose capital was Issessara." An article in the Edinburgh Review (July, 1886), calls the "Supplement" a "bare-faced forgery"; but evidently the writer should have "read up" his subject before writing.

[FN#132] The Persian form; in Arab. Sijistán, the classical Drangiana or province East of Fars=Persia proper. It is famed in legend as the feof of hero Rustam.

[FN#133] Arab. Ráwi=a professional tale-teller, which Mr. Payne justly holds to be a clerical error for "Rái, a beholder, one who seeth."

[FN#134] In Persian the name would be Bahr-i-Jaur="luck" (or fortune, "bahr") of Jaur- (or Júr-) city.

[FN#135] Supply "and cared naught for his kingdom."

[FN#136] Arab. "Atráf," plur. of "Tarf," a great and liberal lord.

[FN#137] Lit. "How was," etc. Kayf is a favourite word not only in the Bresl. Edit., but throughout Egypt and Syria. Classically we should write "Má;" vulgarly "Aysh."

[FN#138] Karmania vulg. and fancifully derived from Kirmán Pers.=worms because the silkworm is supposed to have been bred there; but the name is of far older date as we find the Asiatic Aethiopians of Herodotus (iii. 93) lying between the Germanii (Karman) and the Indus. Also Karmanía appears in Strabo and Sinus Carmanicus in other classics.

[FN#139] Arab. "Ka'íd"; lit.=one who sits with, a colleague, hence the Span. Alcayde; in Marocco it is=colonel, and is prefixed e.g. Ka'íd Maclean.

[FN#140] A favourite food; Al-Hariri calls the dates and cream, which were sold together in bazars, the "Proud Rider on the desired Steed."

[FN#141] In Bresl. Edit. vi. 198 by misprint "Kutrú": Chavis and Cazotte have "Kassera." In the story of Bihkard we find a P.N. "Yatrú."

[FN#142] i.e. waylaying travellers, a term which has often occurred.

[FN#143] i.e. the royal favour.

[FN#144] i.e. When the fated hour came down (from Heaven).

[FN#145] As the Nights have proved in many places, the Asl (origin) of a man is popularly held to influence his conduct throughout life. So the Jeweller's wife (vol. ix.) was of servile birth, which accounted for her vile conduct; and reference is hardly necessary to a host of other instances. We can trace the same idea in the sayings and folk-lore of the West, e.g. Bon sang ne peut mentir, etc., etc.

[FN#146] i.e. "What deemest thou he hath done?"

[FN#147] The apodosis wanting "to make thee trust in him?"

[FN#148] In the Braj Bákhá dialect of Hindi, we find quoted in the Akhlák-i-Hindi, "Tale of the old Tiger and the Traveller":—

Jo jáko paryo subháo jáe ná jío-sun;
Ním na mitho hoe sichh gur ghio sun.

Ne'er shall his nature fail a man whate'er that nature be,
The Ním-tree bitter shall remain though drenched with Gur
and Ghí.

The Ním (Melia Azadirachta) is the "Persian lilac," whose leaves, intensely bitter, are used as a preventive to poison: Gur is the Anglo-Indian Jaggeri = raw sugar and Ghi = clarified butter. Roebuck gives the same proverb in Hindostani.

[FN#149] In Chavis and Cazotte "Story of Kaskas; or the Obstinate Man." For ill-luck, see Miss Frere's "Old Deccan Days" (p. 171), and Giles's "Strange Stories," &c. (p. 430), where the young lady says to Ma, "You often asked me for money; but on account of your weak luck I hitherto refrained from giving it."

[FN#150] True to life in the present day, as many a standing hay-rick has shown.

[FN#151] The "Munajjim" is a recognised authority in Egyptian townlets, and in the village-republics of Southern India the "Jyoshi" is one of the paid officials.

[FN#152] Arab. "Amín" sub. and adj. In India it means a Government employé who collects revenue; in Marocco a commissioner sent by His Sharifian Majesty.

[FN#153] Our older word for divers=Arab "Ghawwásún": a single pearl (in the text Jauhar=the Port. AIjofar) is called "habbah"=grain or seed.

[FN#154] The kindly and generous deed of one Moslem to another, and by no means rare in real life.