Chapter XIV: Part 14

There lived once in Cairo, in the days of the Caliph Al-Hбkim bi' Amri'llah, a butcher named Wardбn, who dealt in sheep's flesh; and there came to him every day a lady and gave him a dinar, whose weight was nigh two and a half Egyptian dinars, saying, "Give me a lamb." So he took the money and gave her the lamb, which she delivered to a porter she had with her; and he put it in his crate and she went away with him to her own place. Next day she came in the forenoon and this went on for a long time, the butcher gaining a dinar by her every day, till at last he began to be curious about her case and said to himself, "This woman buyeth of me a ducat-worth of meat every morning, paying ready money, and never misseth a single day. Verily, this is a strange thing!" So he took an occasion of questioning the porter, in her absence, and asked him, "Whither goest thou every day with yonder woman?"; and he answered, "I know not what to make of her for surprise; inasmuch as every day, after she hath taken the lamb of thee, she buyeth necessaries of the table, fresh and dried fruits and wax-candles a dinar's worth, and taketh of a certain person, which is a Nazarene, two flagons of wine, worth another dinar; and then she leadeth me with the whole and I go with her to the Wazir's Gardens, where she blindfoldeth me, so that I cannot see on what part of earth I set my feet; and, taking me by the hand, she leadeth me I know not whither. Presently, she sayeth, 'Set down here;' and when I have done so, she giveth me an empty crate she hath ready and, taking my hand, leadeth me back to the Wazir's Gardens, the place where she bound my eyes, and there removeth the bandage and giveth me ten silver bits." "Allah be her helper!" quoth Wardan; but he redoubled in curiosity about her case; disquietude increased upon him and he passed the night in exceeding restlessness. And quoth the butcher, "Next morning she came to me as of custom and taking the lamb, for which she paid the dinar, delivered it to the porter and went away. So I gave my shop in charge to a lad and followed her without her seeing me;"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Wardan the butcher continued: "So I gave my shop in charge to a lad and followed her without her seeing me; nor did I cease to keep her in sight, hiding behind her, till she left Cairo and came to the Wazir's Gardens. Then I hid myself whilst she bandaged the porter's eyes and followed her again from place to place till she came to the mountain[FN#431] and stopped at a spot where there was a great stone. Here she made the porter set down his crate, and I waited whilst she conducted him back to the Wazir's Gardens, after which she returned and, taking out the contents of the basket, instantly disappeared. Then I went up to that stone and wrenching it up entered the hole and found behind the stone an open trap-door of brass and a flight of steps leading downwards. So I descended, little by little, till I came to a long corridor, brilliantly lighted and followed it, till I made a closed door, as it were the door of a saloon. I looked about the wall sides near the doorway till I discovered a recess, with steps therein; then climbed up and found a little niche with a bulls-eye giving upon a saloon. Thence I looked inside and saw the lady cut off the choicest parts of the lamb and laying them in a saucepan, throw the rest to a great big bear, who ate it all to the last bite. Now when she had made an end of cooking, she ate her fill, after which she set on the fruits and confections and brought out the wine and fell to drinking a cup herself and giving the bear to drink in a basin of gold. And as soon as she was heated with wine, she put off her petticoat-trousers and lay down on her back; whereupon the bear arose and came up to her and stroked her, whilst she gave him the best of what belongeth to the sons of Adam till he had made an end, when he sat down and rested. Presently, he sprang upon her and rogered her again; and when he ended he again sat down to rest, and he ceased not so doing till he had futtered her ten times and they both fell to the ground in a fainting-fit and lay without motion. Then quoth I to myself, 'Now is my opportunity,' and taking a knife I had with me, that would cut bones before flesh,[FN#432] went down to them and found them motionless, not a muscle of them moving for their hard swinking and swiving. So I put my knife to the bear's gullet and pressed upon it, till I finished him by severing his head from his body, and he gave a great snort like thunder, whereat the lady started up in alarm; and, seeing the bear slain and me standing whittle in hand, she shrieked so loud a shriek that I thought the soul had left her body. Then she asked, 'O Wardan, is this how thou requites me my favours?' And I answered, 'O enemy of thine own soul, is there a famine of men[FN#433] that thou must do this damnable thing?' She made no answer but bent down over the bear, and looked fondly upon him; then finding his head divided from his body, said to me, 'O Wardan, which of the two courses wouldst thou take; either obey me in what I shall say and be the means of thine own safety'"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the lady, " 'O Wardan, which of the two courses wouldst thou take; either obey me in what I shall say and be the means of thine own safety and competency to the end of thy days, or gainsay me and so cause thine own destruction?'[FN#434] Answered I, 'I choose rather to hearken unto thee: say what thou wilt.' Quoth she, 'Then slay me, as thou hast slain this bear, and take thy need of this hoard and wend thy ways.' Quoth I, 'I am better than this bear: so return thou to Allah Almighty and repent, and I will marry thee, and we will live on this treasure the rest of our lives.' She rejoined, 'O Wardan, far be it from me! How shall I live after him? By Allah, an thou slay me not I will assuredly do away thy life! So leave bandying words with me, or thou art a lost man: this is all I have to say to thee and peace be with thee!' Then said I, 'I will kill thee, and thou shalt go to the curse of Allah.' So saying, I caught her by the hair and cut her throat; and she went to the curse of Allah and of the angels and of all mankind. And after so doing I examined the place and found there gold and bezel-stones and pearls, such as no one king could bring together. So I filled the porter's crate with as much as I could carry and covered it with the clothes I had on me. Then I shouldered it and, going up out of the underground treasure- chamber, fared homewards and ceased not faring on, till I came to the gate of Cairo, where behold, I fell in with ten of the bodyguard of Al-Hakim bi' Amri'llah[FN#435] followed by the Prince himself who said to me, 'Ho, Wardan!' 'At thy service, O King,' replied I; when he asked, 'Hast thou killed the bear and the lady?' and I answered, 'Yes.' Quoth he, 'Set down the basket from thy head and fear naught, for all the treasure thou hast with thee is thine, and none shall dispute it with thee.' So I set down the crate before him, and he uncovered it and looked at it; then said to me, 'Tell me their case, albe I know it, as if I had been present with you.' So I told him all that had passed and he said, 'Thou hast spoken the truth,' adding, 'O Wardan, come now with me to the treasure.' So I returned with him to the cavern, where he found the trap-door closed and said to me, 'O Wardan, lift it; none but thou can open the treasure, for it is enchanted in thy name and nature.'[FN#436] Said I, 'By Allah, I cannot open it,' but he said, 'Go up to it, trusting in the blessing of Allah.' So I called upon the name of Almighty Allah and, advancing to the trap-door, put my hand to it; whereupon it came up as it had been of the lightest. Then said the Caliph, 'Go down and bring hither what is there; for none but one of thy name and semblance and nature hath gone down thither since the place was made, and the slaying of the bear and the woman was appointed to be at thy hand. This was chronicled with me and I was awaiting its fulfilment.'[FN#437] Accordingly (quoth Wardan) I went down and brought up all the treasure, whereupon the Caliph sent for beasts of burden and carried it away, after giving me my crate, with what was therein. So I bore it home and opened me a shop in the market." And (saith he who telleth the tale) "this market is still extant and is known as Wardan's Market." And I have heard recount another story of

THE KING'S DAUGHTER AND THE APE.

There was once a Sultan's daughter, whose heart was taken with love of a black slave: he abated her maidenhead and she became passionately addicted to futtering, so that she could not do without it a single hour and complained of her case to one of her body women, who told her that no thing poketh and stroketh more abundantly than the baboon.[FN$438] Now it so chanced one day, that an ape-leader passed under her lattice, with a great ape; so she unveiled her face and looking upon the ape, signed to him with her eyes, whereupon he broke his bonds and chain and climbed up to the Princess, who hid him in a place with her, and night and day he abode there, eating and drinking and copulating. Her father heard of this and would have killed her;—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Sultan heard of this work he would have slain his daughter; but she smoked his design; and, disguising herself in Mameluke's dress, mounted horse after loading a mule with gold and bullion, and precious stuffs past all account; then carrying with her the ape, she fled to Cairo, where she took up her abode in one of the houses without the city and upon the verge of the Suez-desert. Now, every day, she used to buy meat of a young man, a butcher, but she came not to him till after noonday; and then she was so yellow and disordered in face that he said in his mind, "There must indeed hang some mystery by this slave." "Accordingly (quoth the butcher) one day when she came to me as usual, I went out after her secretly, and ceased not to follow her from place to place, so as she saw me not, till she came to her lodging on the edge of her waste and entered; and I looked in upon her through a cranny, and saw her as soon as she was at home, kindle a fire and cook the meat, of which she ate enough and served up the rest to a baboon she had by her and he did the same. Then she put off the slave's habit and donned the richest of women's apparel; and so I knew that she was a lady. After this she set on wine and drank and gave the ape to drink; and he stroked her nigh half a score times without drawing till she swooned away, when he spread over her a silken coverlet and returned to his place. Then I went down in the midst of the place and the ape, becoming aware of me, would have torn me in pieces; but I made haste to pull out my knife and slit his paunch and his bowels fell out. The noise aroused the young lady, who awoke terrified and trembling; and, when she saw the ape in this case, she shrieked such a shriek that her soul well nigh fled her body. Then she fell down in a fainting-fit and when she came to herself, she said to me, 'What moved thee to do thus? Now Allah upon thee, send me after him!' But I spoke her fair for a while and pledged myself to stand in the ape's stead in the matter of much poking, till her trouble subsided and I took her to wife. But when I came to perform my promise I proved a failure and I fell short in this matter and could not endure such hard labour: so I complained of my case and mentioned her exorbitant requirements to a certain old woman who engaged to manage the affair and said to me, 'Needs must thou bring me a cooking-pot full of virgin vinegar and a pound of the herb pellitory called wound-wort.'[FN#439] So I brought her what she sought, and she laid the pellitory in the pot with the vinegar and set it on the fire, till it was thoroughly boiled. Then she bade me futter the girl, and I futtered her till she fainted away, when the old woman took her up (and she unconscious), and set her parts to the mouth of the cooking-pot. The steam of the pot entered her slit and there fell from it somewhat which I examined; and behold, it was two small worms, one black and the other yellow. Quoth the old, woman, ''The black was bred of the strokings of the negro and the yellow of stroking with the baboon.' Now when she recovered from her swoon she abode with me, in all delight and solace of life, and sought not swiving as before, for Allah had done away from her this appetite; whereat I marvelled"—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young man continued: "In truth Allah had done away from her this appetite; whereat I marvelled and acquainted her with the case. Thereupon I lived with her and she took the old woman to be to her in the stead of her mother." "And" (said he who told me the tale) "the old woman and the young man and his wife abode in joy and cheer till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies; and glory be to the Ever-living One, who dieth not and in whose hand is Dominion of the world visible and invisible!''[FN#440] And another tale they tell is that of

End of Arabian Nights Volume 4.

Arabian Nights, Volume 4

Footnotes

[FN#1] The name is indifferently derived from the red sand about the town or the reeds and mud with which it was originally built. It was founded by the Caliph Omar, when the old Capital-Madбin (Ctesiphon) opposite was held unwholesome, on the West bank of the Euphrates, four days' march from Baghdad and has now disappeared. Al-Saffбh, the first Abbaside, made it his Capital—and it became a famous seat of Moslem learning; the Kufi school of Arab Grammarians being as renowned as their opponents, the Basri (of Bassorah). It gave a name to the "Cufic" characters which are, however, of much older date.

[FN#2] "Ni'amat" = a blessing, and the word is perpetually occurring in Moslem conversation, "Ni'amatu'llбh" (as pronounced) is also a favourite P.N. and few Anglo-Indians of the Mutiny date will forget the scandalous disclosures of Munshi Ni'amatu 'llah, who had been sent to England by Nana Sahib. Nu'm = prosperity, good fortune, and a P. N. like the Heb. "Naomi."

[FN#3] i.e. "causing to be prosperous", the name, corrupted by the Turks to "Tevfik," is given to either sex, e.g. Taufik Pasha of Egypt, to whose unprosperous rule and miserable career the signification certainly does not apply.

[FN#4] Lane (ii. 187) alters the two to four years.

[FN#5] i.e. "to Tom, Dick or Harry:" the names like John Doe and Richard Roe are used indefinitely in Arab. Grammar and Syntax. I have noted that Amru is written and pronounced Amr: hence Amru, the Conqueror of Egypt, when told by an astrologer that Jerusalem would be taken only by a trium literarum homo, with three letters in his name sent for the Caliph Omar (Omr), to whom the so-called Holy City at once capitulated. Hence also most probably, the tale of Bhurtpore and the Lord Alligator (Kumbhir), who however did not change from Cotton to Combermore for some time after the successful siege.

[FN#6] BinYъsuf al-Sakafi, a statesman and soldier of the seventh and eighth centuries (A.D.). He was Governor of Al-Hij az and Al-Irak under the fifth and sixth Ommiades, and I have noticed his vigorous rule of the Moslems' Holy Land in my Pilgrimage (iii. 194, etc.). He pulled down the Ka'abah and restored it to the condition in which it now is. Al-Siyuti (p. 219) accuses him of having suborned a man to murder Ibn Omar with a poisoned javelin, and of humiliating the Prophet's companions by "sealing them in the necks and hands," that is he tied a thong upon the neck of each and sealed the knot with lead. In Irak he showed himself equally masterful, but an iron hand was required by the revolutionists of Kufah and Basrah. He behaved like a good Knight in rescuing the Moslem women who called upon his name when taken prisoners by Dahir of Debal (Tathб in Sind). Al-Hajjaj was not the kind of man the Caliph would have chosen for a pander; but the Shi'ahs hates him and have given him a lasting bad name. In the East men respect manly measures, not the hysterical, philanthropic pseudo-humanitarianism of our modern government which is really the cruellest of all. When Ziyбd bin Abihi was sent by Caliph Mu'awiyah to reform Bassorah, a den of thieves, he informed the lieges that he intended to rule by the sword and advised all evil-doers to quit the city. The people were forbidden, under pain of teeth, to walk the streets after prayers, on the first night two hundred suffered; on the second five and none afterwards. Compare this with our civilised rule in Egypt where even bands of brigands, a phenomenon perfectly new and unknown to this century, have started up, where crime has doubled in quantity and quality, and where "Christian rule" has thoroughly scandalised a Moslem land.

[FN#7] The old bawd's portrait is admirably drawn: all we dwellers in the East have known her well: she is so and so. Her dress and manners are the same amongst the Hindus (see the hypocritical-female ascetic in the Katha, p. 287) as amongst the Moslems; men of the world at once recognise her and the prudent keep out of her way. She is found in the cities of Southern Europe, ever pious, ever prayerful; and she seems to do her work not so much for profit as for pure or impure enjoyment. In the text her task was easy, as she had to do with a pair of innocents.

[FN#8] Koran, xxv. 70. I give Sale's version.

[FN#9] Easterns, I have observed, have no way of saying "Thank you;" they express it by a blessing or a short prayer. They have a right to your surplus: daily bread is divided, they say and, eating yours, they consider it their own. I have discussed this matter in Pilgrimage i. 75-77, in opposition to those who declare that "gratitude" is unknown to Moslems.

[FN#10] Cufa (Kufah) being a modern place never had a "King,"

but as the Hindu says, " Delhi is far" it is a far cry to Loch

Awe. Here we can hardly understand "Malik" as Governor or

Viceroy: can it be syn. with Zъ-mбl-(moneyed)?

[FN#11] Abd al-Malik has been before mentioned as the "Sweat of a Stone," etc. He died recommending Al-Hajjaj to his son, Al-Walid, and one of his sayings is still remembered. "He who desireth to take a female slave for carnal-enjoyment, let him take a native of Barbary; if he need one for the sake of children, let him have a Persian; and whoso desireth one for service, let him take a Greek." Moderns say, "If you want a brother (in arms) try a Nubian; one to get you wealth an Abyssinian and if you want an ass (for labour) a Sбwahнli, or Zanzibar negroid."

[FN#12] Probably suggested by the history of Antiochus and

Stratonice, with an addition of Eastern mystery such as geomancy.

[FN#13] Arab, "Kбrъrah": the "water-doctor" has always been an institution in the east and he has lately revived in Europe especially at the German baths and in London.

[FN#14] Lane makes this phrase "O brother of the Persians!" synonymous with "O Persian!" I think it means more, a Persian being generally considered "too clever by half."

[FN#15] The verses deal in untranslatable word-plays upon women's names, Naomi (the blessing) Su'adб or Su'бd (the happy, which Mr. Redhouse, in Ka'ab's Mantle-poem, happily renders Beatrice); and Juml (a sum or total) the two latter, moreover, being here fictitious.

[FN#16] "And he (Jacob) turned from them, and said, 'O how I am grieved for Joseph' And his eyes became white with mourning. … (Quoth Joseph to his brethren), 'Take this my inner garment and throw it on my father's face and he shall recover his sight.' . . . So, when the messenger of good tidings came (to Jacob) he threw it (the shirt) over his face and he recovered his eye-sight." Koran, xii. 84, 93, 96. The commentators, by way of improvement, assure us that the shirt was that worn by Abraham when thrown into the fire (Koran, chaps. xvi.) by Nimrod (!). We know little concerning "Jacob's daughters" who named the only bridge spanning the upper Jordan, and who have a curious shrine tomb near Jewish "Safe" (North of Tiberias), one of the four "Holy Cities." The Jews ignore these "daughters of Jacob" and travellers neglect them.

[FN#17] Easterns, I have remarked, mostly recognise the artistic truth that the animal-man is handsomer than woman and that "fair sex" is truly only of skin-colour. The same is the general-rule throughout creation, for instance the stallion compared with the mare, the cock with the hen; while there are sundry exceptions such as the Falconidae.

[FN#18] The Badawi (who is nothing if not horsey) compares the gait of a woman who walks well (in Europe rarely seen out of Spain) with the slightly swinging walk of a thoroughbred mare, bending her graceful neck and looking from side to side at objects as she passes.

[FN#19] Li'llбhi (darr') al-kбil, a characteristic idiom. "Darr"=giving (rich) milk copiously and the phrase expresses admiration, "To Allah be ascribed (or Allah be praised for) his rich eloquence who said etc. Some Hebraists would render it, "Divinely (well) did he speak who said," etc., holding "Allah" to express a superlative like "Yah" Jah) in Gen. iv. 1; x. 9. Nimrod was a hunter to the person (or presence) of Yah, i.e. mighty hunter.

[FN#20] Hamzah and Abbбs were the famous uncles of Mohammed often noticed: Ukayl is not known; possibly it may be Akнl, a son of the fourth Caliph, Ali.

[FN#21] The Eastern ring is rarely plain; and, its use being that of a signet, it is always in intaglio: the Egyptians invented engraving hieroglyphics on wooden stamps for marking bricks and applied the process to the ring. Moses B. C. 1491 (Exod. xxviii. 9) took two onyx-stones, and graved on them the names of the children of Israel. From this the signet ring was but a step. Herodotus mentions an emerald seal-set in gold, that of Polycrates, the work of Theodorus, son of Telecles the Samian (iii. 141). The Egyptians also were perfectly acquainted with working in cameo (anaglyph) and rilievo, as may be seen in the cavo rilievo of the finest of their hieroglyphs. The Greeks borrowed from them the cameo and applied it to gems (e.g. Tryphon's in the Marlborough collection), and they bequeathed the art to the Romans. We read in a modern book "Cameo means an onyx, and the most famous cameo in the world is the onyx containing the Apotheosis of Augustus." The ring is given in marriage because it was a seal—by which orders were signed (Gen. xxxviii. 18 and Esther iii. 10-12). I may note that the seal-ring of Cheops (Khufu), found in the Greatest Pyramid, was in the possession of my old friend, Doctor Abbott, of Auburn (U.S.), and was sold with his collection. It is the oldest ring in the world, and settles the Cheops-question.

[FN#22] This habit of weeping when friends meet after long parting is customary, I have noted, amongst the American "Indians," the Badawin of the New World; they shed tears thinking of the friends they have lost. Like most primitive people they are ever ready to weep as was Жneas or Shakespeare's saline personage,

"This would make a man, a man of salt

To use his eyes for garden waterpots."

(King Lear, iv. 6.)

[FN#23] Here poetical-justice is not done; in most Arab tales the two adulterous Queens would have been put to death.

[FN#24] Pronounce Aladdin Abush-Shбmбt.

[FN#25] Arab. "Misr," vulg. Masr: a close connection of Misraim the "two Misrs," Egypt, upper and lower.

[FN#26] The Persians still call their Consuls "Shah-bander," lit. king of the Bandar or port.

[FN#27] Arab. "Dukhъl," the night of going in, of seeing the bride unveiled for the first time, etcaetera.

[FN#28] Arab. "Barsh" or "Bars," the commonest kind. In India it is called Ma'jъn (=electuary, generally): it is made of Ganja or young leaves, buds, capsules and florets of hemp (C. saliva), poppy-seed and flowers of the thorn-apple (daiura) with milk and auger-candy, nutmegs, cloves, mace and saffron, all boiled to the consistency of treacle which hardens when cold. Several-recipes are given by Herklots (Glossary s.v. Majoon). These electuaries are usually prepared with "Charas," or gum of hemp, collected by hand or by passing a blanket over the plant in early morning, and it is highly intoxicating. Another intoxicant is "Sabzi," dried hemp-leaves, poppy-seed, cucumber heed, black pepper and cardamoms rubbed down in a mortar with a wooden pestle, and made drinkable by adding milk, ice-cream, etc. The Hashish of Arabia is the Hindustani Bhang, usually drunk and made as follows. Take of hemp-leaves, well washed, 3 drams black pepper 45 grains and of cloves, nutmeg and mace (which add to the intoxication) each 12 grains. Triturate in 8 ounces of water or the juice of watermelon or cucumber, strain and drink. The Egyptian Zabнbah is a preparation of hemp florets, opium and honey, much affected by the lower orders, whence the proverb: "Temper thy sorrow with Zabibah. In Al-Hijaz it is mixed with raisins (Zabнb) and smoked in the water-pipe. (Burck hardt No. 73.) Besides these there is (1) "Post" poppy-seed prepared in various ways but especially in sugared sherbets; (2) Datura (stramonium) seed, the produce of the thorn-apple breached and put into sweetmeats by dishonest confectioners; it is a dangerous intoxicant, producing spectral-visions, delirium tremens, etc., and (3) various preparations of opium especially the "Madad," pills made up with toasted betel-leaf and smoked. Opium, however, is usually drunk in the shape of "Kusumba," a pill placed in wet cotton and squeezed in order to strain and clean it of the cowdung and other filth with which it is adulterated.

[FN#29] Arab. "Sikankъr" (Gr. {Greek letters}, Lat. Scincus) a lizard (S. officinalis) which, held in the hand, still acts as an aphrodisiac in the East, and which in the Middle Ages was considered a universal-medicine. In the "Adja'ib al-Hind" (Les Merveilles de l'Inde) we find a notice of a bald-headed old man who was compelled to know his wife twice a day and twice a night in consequence of having eaten a certain fish. (Chaps. Ixxviii. of the translation by M. L. Marcel Devic, from a manuscript of the tenth century, Paris Lemaire, 1878.) Europeans deride these prescriptions, but Easterns know better: they affect the fancy, that is the brain, and often succeed in temporarily relieving impotence. The recipes for this evil, which is incurable only when it comes from heart-affections, are innumerable in the East; and about half of every medical-work is devoted to them. Many a quack has made his fortune with a few bottles of tincture of cantharides, and a man who could discover a specific would become a millionaire in India only. The curious reader will consult for specimens the Ananga-Ranga Shastra by Koka Pandit; or the "Rujъ 'al-Shaykh ila 'l-Sabбh fi Kuwwati 'l-Bбh" (the Return of the Old Man to Youth in power of Procreation) by Ahmad bin Sulaymбn known as Ibn Kamбl-Bбshб, in 139 chapters lithographed at Cairo. Of these aphrodisiacs I shall have more to say.

[FN#30] Alб al-Din (our old friend Aladdin) = Glory of the Faith, a name of which Mohammed who preferred the simplest, like his own, would have highly disapproved. The most grateful names to Allah are Abdallah (Allah's Slave) and Abd al-Rahman (Slave of the Compassionate); the truest are Al-Hбrith (the gainer, "bread winner") and Al-Hammбm (the griever); and the hatefullest are Al-Harb (witch) and Al-Murrah (bitterness, Abu Murrah being a kunyat or by-name of the Devil). Abu al-Shбmбt (pronounced Abushshбmбt)=Father of Moles, concerning which I have already given details. These names ending in -Din (faith) began with the Caliph Al-Muktadi bi-Amri 'llah (regn. A.H. 467= 1075), who entitled his Wazir "Zahнr al-Din (Backer or Defender of the Faith) and this gave rise to the practice. It may be observed that the superstition of naming by omens is in no way obsolete.

[FN#31] Meaning that he appeared intoxicated by the pride of his beauty as though it had been strong wine.

[FN#32] i.e. against the evil eye.

[FN#33] Meaning that he had been delicately reared.

[FN#34] A traditional-saying of Mohammed.

[FN#35] So Boccaccio's "Capo bianco" and "Coda verde." (Day iv.,

Introduct.)

[FN#36] The opening chapter is known as the "Mother of the Book" (as opposed to Yб Sнn, the "heart of the Koran"), the "Surat (chapter) of Praise," and the "Surat of repetition" (because twice revealed?) or thanksgiving, or laudation (Ai-Masбni) and by a host of other names for which see Mr. Rodwell who, however, should not write "Fatthah" (p. xxv.) nor "Fathah" (xxvii.). The Fбtihah, which is to Al-Islam much what the "Paternoster" is to Christendom, consists of seven verses, in the usual-Saj'a or rhymed prose, and I have rendered it as follows:

In the name of the Compassionating, the Compassionate! * Praise be to Allah who all the Worlds made * The Compassionating, the Compassionate * King of the Day of Faith! * Thee only do we adore and of Thee only do we crave aid * Guide us to the path which is straight * The path of those for whom Thy love is great, not those on whom is hate, nor they that deviate * Amen! O Lord of the World's trine.

My Pilgrimage (i. 285; ii. 78 and passim) will supply instances of its application; how it is recited with open hands to catch the blessing from Heaven and the palms are drawn down the face (Ibid. i. 286), and other details,

[FN#37] i.e. when the evil eye has less effect than upon children. Strangers in Cairo often wonder to see a woman richly dressed leading by the hand a filthy little boy (rarely a girl) in rags, which at home will be changed to cloth of gold.

[FN#38] Arab. "Asнdah" flour made consistent by boiling in water with the addition of "Same" clarified butter) and honey: more like pap than custard.

[FN#39] Arab. "Ghбbah" = I have explained as a low-lying place where the growth is thickest and consequently animals haunt it during the noon-heats

[FN#40] Arab. "Akkбm," one who loads camels and has charge of the luggage. He also corresponds with the modern Mukharrij or camel-hirer (Pilgrimage i. 339), and hence the word Moucre (Moucres) which, first used by La Brocquiиre (A.D. 1432), is still the only term known to the French.

[FN#41] i.e. I am old and can no longer travel.

[FN#42] Taken from Al-Asma'i, the "Romance of Antar," and the episode of the Asafir Camels.

[FN#43] A Mystic of the twelfth century A.D. who founded the Kбdirн order (the oldest and chiefest of the four universally recognised), to which I have the honour to belong, teste my diploma (Pilgrimage, Appendix i.). Visitation is still made to his tomb at Baghdad. The Arabs (who have no hard g-letter) alter to "Jнlбn" the name of his birth-place "Gilan," a tract between the Caspian and the Black Seas.

[FN#44] The well-known Anglo-Indian "Mucuddum;" lit. "one placed before (or over) others"

[FN#45] Koran xiii. 14.

[FN#46] i.e.. his chastity: this fashion of objecting to infamous proposals is very characteristic: ruder races would use their fists.

[FN#47] Arab. "Rбfizн"=the Shi'ah (tribe, sect) or Persian schismatics who curse the first three Caliphs: the name is taken from their own saying "Innб rafiznб-hum"=verily we have rejected them. The feeling between Sunni (the so-called orthodox) and Shi'ah is much like the Christian love between a Catholic of Cork and a Protestant from the Black North. As Al-Siyuti or any historian will show, this sect became exceedingly powerful under the later Abbaside Caliphs, many of whom conformed to it and adopted its tractices and innovations (as in the Azan or prayer-call), greatly to the scandal-of their co-religionists. Even in the present day the hatred between these representatives of Arab monotheism and Persian Guebrism continues unabated. I have given sundry instances m my Pilgrimage, e.g. how the Persians attempt to pollute the tombs of the Caliphs they abhor.

[FN#48] Arab. "Sakkб," the Indian "Bihishtн" (man from Heaven):

Each party in a caravan has one or more.

[FN#49] These "Kirбmбt" or Saints' miracles, which Spiritualists will readily accept, are recorded in vast numbers. Most men have half a dozen to tell, each of his "Pнr" or patron, including the Istidrбj or prodigy of chastisement. (Dabistan, iii. 274.)

[FN#50] Great granddaughter of the Imam Hasan buried in Cairo and famed for "Kirбmбt." Her father, governor of Al-Medinah, was imprisoned by Al-Mansur and restored to power by Al-Mahdi. She was married to a son of the Imam Ja'afar al-Sadik and lived a life of devotion in Cairo, dying in A.H. 218=824. The corpse of the Imam al-Shafi'i was carried to her house, now her mosque and mausoleum: it stood in the Darb al-Sabъa which formerly divided Old from New Cairo and is now one of the latter's suburbs. Lane (M. E. chaps. x.) gives her name but little more. The mention of her shows that the writer of the tale or the copyist was a Cairene : Abd al-Kadir is world-known : not so the "Sitt."

[FN#51] Arab. "Farkh akrab" for Ukayrib, a vulgarism.

[FN#52] The usual Egyptian irreverence: he relates his abomination as if it were a Hadis or Tradition of the Prophet with due ascription.

[FN#53] A popular name, dim. of Zubdah cream, fresh butter, "creamkin."

[FN#54] Arab. "Mustahall," "Mustahill' and vulg. "Muhallil" (=one who renders lawful). It means a man hired for the purpose who marries pro forma and after wedding, and bedding with actual-consummation, at once divorces the woman. He is held the reverse of respectable and no wonder. Hence, probably, Mandeville's story of the Islanders who, on the marriage-night, "make another man to lie by their wives, to have their maidenhead, for which they give great hire and much thanks. And there are certain men in every town that serve for no other thing; and they call them cadeberiz, that is to say, the fools of despair, because they believe their occupation is a dangerous one." Burckhardt gives the proverb (No. 79), "A thousand lovers rather than one Mustahall," the latter being generally some ugly fellow picked up in the streets and disgusting to the wife who must permit his embraces.

[FN#55] This is a woman's oath. not used by men.

[FN#56] Pronounced "Yб Sнn" (chaps. xxxvi.) the "heart of the

Koran" much used for edifying recitation. Some pious Moslems in

Egypt repeat it as a Wazifah, or religious task, or as masses for

the dead, and all educated men know its 83 versets by rote.

[FN#57] Arab. "Бl-Dбъd"=the family of David, i.e. David himself, a popular idiom. The prophet's recitation of the "Mazбmir" (Psalter) worked miracles.

[FN#58] There is a peculiar thickening of the voice in leprosy which at once betrays the hideous disease.

[FN#59] These lines have occurred in Night clxxxiii. I quote

Mr. Payne (in loco) by way of variety.

[FN#60] Where the "Juzбm" (leprosy, elephantiasis, morbus sacrum, etc. etc.) is supposed first to show: the swelling would alter the shape. Lane (ii. 267) translates "her wrist which was bipartite."

[FN#61] Arab. "Zakariyб" (Zacharias): a play upon the term "Zakar"=the sign of "masculinity." Zacharias, mentioned in the Koran as the educator of the Virgin Mary (chaps. iii.) and repeatedly referred to (chaps. xix. etc.), is a well-known personage amongst Moslems and his church is now the great Cathedral-Mosque of Aleppo.

[FN#62] Arab. " Ark al-Halбwat " = vein of sweetness.

[FN#63] Arab. "Futъh," which may also mean openings, has before occurred.

[FN#64] i.e. four times without withdrawing.

[FN#65] i.e. a correspondence of size, concerning which many rules are given in the Ananga-Rangha Shastra which justly declares that discrepancy breeds matrimonial-troubles.

[FN#66] Arab. "Ghurбb al-Bayn"= raven of the waste or the parting: hence the bird of Odin symbolises separation (which is also called Al-bayn). The Raven (Ghurab = Heb. Oreb and Lat. Corvus, one of the prehistoric words) is supposed to be seen abroad earlier than any other bird; and it is entitled "Abu Zajir," father of omens, because lucky when flying towards the right and v.v. It is opposed in poetry to the (white) pigeon, the emblem of union, peace and happiness. The vulgar declare that when Mohammed hid in the cave the crow kept calling to his pursuers, "Ghбr! Ghбr!" (cavern, cavern): hence the Prophet condemned him to wear eternal-mourning and ever to repeat the traitorous words. This is the old tale of Coronis and Apollo (Ovid, lib. ii.).

—————" who blacked the raven o'er And bid him prate in his white plumes no more."

[FN#67] This use of a Turkish title "Efendi" being=our esquire, and inferior to a Bey, is a rank anachronism, probably of the copyist.

[FN#68] Arab. "Samn"=Hind. "Ghi" butter melted, skimmed and allowed to cool.

[FN#69] Arab. "Ya Wadъd," a title of the Almighty: the Mac.

Edit. has "O David!"

[FN#70] Arab. "Muwashshahah;" a complicated stanza of which specimens have occurred. Mr. Payne calls it a "ballad," which would be a "Kunyat al-Zidd."

[FN#71] Arab. "Bahбim" (plur. of Bahнmah=Heb. Behemoth), applied in Egypt especially to cattle. A friend of the "Oppenheim" house, a name the Arabs cannot pronounce was known throughout Cairo as "Jack al-bahбim" (of the cows).

[FN#72] Lit. "The father of side-locks," a nickname of one of the Tobba Kings. This "Hasan of: the ringlets" who wore two long pig-tails hanging to his shoulders was the Rochester or Piron of his age: his name is still famous for brilliant wit, extempore verse and the wildest debauchery. D'Herbelot's sketch of his life is very meagre. His poetry has survived to the present day and (unhappily) we shall] hear more of "Abu Nowбs." On the subject of these patronymics Lane (Mod. Egypt, chaps. iv.) has a strange remark that "Abu Dбъd i' not the Father of Dбъd or Abu Ali the Father of Ali, but whose Father is (or was) Dбъd or Ali." Here, however, he simply confounds Abu = father of (followed by a genitive), with Abu-h (for Abu-hu) = he, whose father.

[FN#73] Arab. "Samъr," applied in slang language to cats and dogs, hence the witty Egyptians converted Admiral-Seymour (Lord Alcester) into "Samъr."

[FN#74] The home-student of Arabic may take this letter as a model even in the present day; somewhat stiff and old-fashioned, but gentlemanly and courteous.

[FN#75] Arab. "Salнm" (not Sй-lim) meaning the "Safe and sound."

[FN#76] Arab. "Halбwah"=sweetmeat, meaning an entertainment such as men give to their friends after sickness or a journey. it is technically called as above, "The Sweetmeat of Safety."

[FN#77] Arab. "Salбt" which from Allah means mercy, from the

Angels intercession and pardon; and from mankind blessing.

Concerning the specific effects of blessing the Prophet, see

Pilgrimage (ii. 70). The formula is often slurred over when a man

is in a hurry to speak: an interrupting friend will say " Bless the

Prophet!" and he does so by ejaculating "Sa'am."

[FN#78] Persian, meaning originally a command: it is now applied to a Wazirial-order as opposed to the " Irбdah," the Sultan's order.

[FN#79] Arab. " Mashб'ilн" lit. the cresses-bearer who has before appeared as hangman.

[FN#80] Another polite formula for announcing a death.

[FN#81] As he died heirless the property lapsed to the Treasury.

[FN#82]This shaking the kerchief is a signal to disperse and the action suggests its meaning. Thus it is used in an opposite sense to "throwing the kerchief," a pseudo-Oriental practice whose significance is generally understood in Europe.

[FN#83] The body-guard being of two divisions.

[FN#84] Arab. "Hadbб," lit. "hump-backed;" alluding to the Badawi bier; a pole to which the corpse is slung (Lane). It seems to denote the protuberance of the corpse when placed upon the bier which before was flat. The quotation is from Ka'ab's Mantle-Poem (Burdah v . 37), "Every son of a female, long though his safety may be, is a day borne upon a ridged implement," says Mr. Redhouse, explaining the latter as a "bier with a ridged lid." Here we differ: the Janбzah with a lid is not a Badawi article: the wildlings use the simplest stretcher; and I would translate the lines,

"The son of woman, whatso his career

One day is borne upon the gibbous bier."

[FN#85] This is a high honour to any courtier.

[FN#86] "Khatun" in Turk. means any lady: mistress, etc., and follows the name, e.g. Fбtimah Khatun. Habzalam Bazazah is supposed to be a fanciful compound, uncouth as the named; the first word consisting of "Habb" seed, grain; and "Zalam" of Zulm=seed of tyranny. Can it be a travesty of "Absalom" (Ab Salбm, father of peace)? Lane (ii. 284) and Payne (iii. 286) prefer Habazlam and Hebezlem.

[FN#87] Or night. A metaphor for rushing into peril.

[FN#88] Plur. of kumkum, cucurbite, gourd-shaped vessel, jar.

[FN#89] A popular exaggeration for a very expert thief.

[FN#90] Arab. "Buka'at Ad-bum": lit. the "low place of blood" (where it stagnates): so Al-Bukб'ah = Cњlesyria.

[FN#91] That common and very unpleasant phrase, full of egotism and self-esteem, "I told you so," is even more common in the naпve East than in the West. In this case the son's answer is far superior to the mother's question.

[FN#92] In order to keep his oath to the letter.

[FN#93] "Tabannuj; " literally "hemping" (drugging with hemp or henbane) is the equivalent in Arab medicine of our "anжsthetics." These have been used in surgery throughout the East for centuries before ether and chloroform became the fashion in the civilised West.

[FN#94] Arab. "Durkб'ah," the lower part of the floor, opposed to the "liwбn" or daпs. Liwбn =Al-Aywбn (Arab. and Pers.) the hall (including the daпs and the sunken parts)

[FN#95] i.e. he would toast it as he would a mistress.

[FN#96] This till very late years was the custom in Persia, and Fath Ali Shah never appeared in scarlet without ordering some horrible cruelties. In Dar-For wearing a red cashmere turban was a sign of wrath and sending a blood red dress to a subject meant that he would be slain.

[FN#97] That is, this robbery was committed in the palace by some one belonging to it. References to vinegar are frequent; that of Egypt being famous in those days. "Optimum et laudatissimum acetum a Romanis habebatur Жgyptum" (Facciolati); and possibly it was sweetened: the Gesta (Tale xvii.) mentions "must and vinegar." In Arab Proverbs, One mind by vinegar and another by wine"=each mind goes its own way, (Arab. Prov. . 628); or, "with good and bad," vinegar being spoilt wine.

[FN#98] We have not heard the last of this old "dowsing rod": the latest form of rhabdomancy is an electrical-rod invented in the United States.

[FN#99] This is the procиs verbal always drawn up on such occasions.

[FN#100] The sight of running water makes a Persian long for strong drink as the sight of a fine view makes the Turk feel hungry.

[FN#101] Arab. "Min wahid aduww " a peculiarly Egyptian or rather

Cairene phrase.

[FN#102] Al-Danaf=the Distressing Sickness: the title would be Ahmad the Calamity. Al-Zaybak (the Quicksilver)=Mercury Ali Hasan "Shuuman"=a pestilent fellow. We shall meet all these worthies again and again: see the Adventures of Mercury Ali of Cairo, Night dccviii., a sequel to The Rogueries of Dalilah, Night dcxcviii.

[FN#103] For the "Sacrifice-place of Ishmael" (not Isaac) see my Pilgrimage (iii. 306). According to all Arab ideas Ishmael, being the eldest son, was the chief of the family after his father. I have noted that this is the old old quarrel between the Arabs and their cousins the Hebrews.

[FN#104] This black-mail was still paid to the Badawin of Ramlah

(Alexandria) till the bombardment in 1881.

[FN#105] The famous Issus of Cilicia, now a port-village on the

Gulf of Scanderoon.

[FN#106] Arab. " Wada'б" = the concha veneris, then used as small change.

[FN#107] Arab. "Sakati"=a dealer in "castaway" articles, such es old metal,damaged goods, the pluck and feet of animals, etc.

[FN#108] The popular tale of Burckhardt's death in Cairo was that the names of the three first Caliphs were found written upon his slipper-soles and that he was put to death by decree of the Olema. It is the merest nonsense, as the great traveller died of dysentery in the house of my old friend John Thurburn and was buried outside the Bab al-Nasr of Cairo where his tomb was restored by the late Rogers Bey (Pilgrimage i. 123).

[FN#109] Prob. a mis-spelling for Arslбn, in Turk. a lion, and in slang a piastre.

[FN#110] Arab. "Maka'ad;" lit. = sitting-room.

[FN#111] Arab. "Khammбrah"; still the popular term throughout Egypt for a European Hotel. It is not always intended to be insulting but it is, meaning the place where Franks meet to drink forbidden drinks.

[FN#112] A reminiscence of Mohammed who cleansed the Ka'abah of its 360 idols (of which 73 names are given by Freytag, Einleitung, etc. pp. 270, 342-57) by touching them with his staff, whereupon all fell to the ground; and the Prophet cried (Koran xvii. 84), "Truth is come, and falsehood is vanished: verily, falsehood is a thing that vanisheth" (magna est veritas, etc.). Amongst the "idols" are said to have been a statue of Abraham and the horns of the ram sacrificed in lieu of Ishmael, which (if true) would prove conclusively that the Abrahamic legend at Meccah is of ancient date and not a fiction of Al-Islam. Hence, possibly, the respect of the Judaising Tobbas of Hiwyarland for the Ka'abah. (Pilgrimage, iii. 295.)

[FN#113] This was evidently written by a Sunni as the Shн'ahs claim to be the only true Moslems. Lane tells an opposite story (ii. 329). It suggests the common question in the South of Europe, "Are you a Christian or a Protestant?"

[FN#114] Arab. "Ana fн jнrat-ak!" a phrase to be remembered as useful in time of danger.

[FN#115] i.e. No Jinni, or Slave of the Jewel, was there to answer.

[FN#116] Arab. "Kunsъl" (pron. "Gunsul") which here means a well-to-do Frank, and shows the modern date of the tale as it stands.

[FN#117] From the Ital. "Capitano." The mention of cannon and other terms in this tale shows that either it was written during the last century or it has been mishandled by copyists.

[FN#118] Arab. "Minнnah"; a biscuit of flour and clarified butter.

[FN#119] Arab. "Waybah"; the sixth part of the Ardabb=6 to 7

English gallons.

[FN#120] He speaks in half-jest а la fellah; and reminds us of

"Hangman, drive on the cart!"

[FN#121] Yochanan (whom Jehovah has blessed) Jewish for John, is probably a copy of the Chaldean Euahanes, the Oannes of Berosus=Ea Khan, Hea the fish. The Greeks made it Joannes; the Arabs "Yohannб" (contracted to "Hannб," Christian) and "Yбbyб" (Moslem). Prester (Priest) John is probably Ung Khan, the historian prince conquered and slain by Janghiz Khan in A.D. 1202. The modern history of "John" is very extensive: there may be a full hundred varieties and derivation' of the name. "Husn Maryam" the beauty (spiritual. etc.) of the B.V.

[FN#122] Primarily being middle-aged; then aid, a patron, servant, etc. Also a tribe of the Jinn usually made synonymous with "Mбrid," evil controuls, hostile to men: modern spiritualists would regard them as polluted souls not yet purged of their malignity. The text insinuates that they were at home amongst Christians and in Genoa.

[FN#123] Arab. "Sar'a" = epilepsy, falling sickness, of old always confounded with "possession" (by evil spirits) or "obsession."

[FN#124] Again the true old charge of falsifying the so-called "Sacred books." Here the Koran is called "Furkбn." Sale (sect. iii.) would assimilate this to the Hebr. "Perek" or "Pirka," denoting a section or portion of Scripture; but Moslems understand it to be the "Book which distinguisheth (faraka, divided) the true from the false." Thus Caliph Omar was entitled "Fбrъk" = the Distinguisher (between right and wrong). Lastly, "Furkбn," meanings as in Syr. and Ethiop. deliverance, revelation, is applied alike to the Pentateuch and Koran.

[FN#125] Euphemistic for "thou shalt die."

[FN#126] Lit. "From (jugular) vein to vein" (Arab. "Warнd"). Our old friend Lucretius again: "Tantane relligio," etc.

[FN#127] As opposed to the "but" or outer room.

[FN#128] Arab. "Darb al-Asfar" in the old Jamalнyah or Northern part of Cairo.

[FN#129] A noble tribe of Badawin that migrated from Al-Yaman and settled in Al-Najd Their Chief, who died a few years before Mohammed's birth, was Al-Hatim (the "black crow"), a model of Arab manliness and munificence; and although born in the Ignorance he will enter Heaven with the Moslems. Hatim was buried on the hill called Owбrid: I have already noted this favourite practice of the wilder Arabs and the affecting idea that the Dead may still look upon his kith and kin. There is not an Arab book nor, indeed, a book upon Arabia which does not contain the name of Hatim: he is mentioned as unpleasantly often as Aristides.

[FN#130] Lord of "Cattle-feet," this King's name is unknown; but the Kбmъs mentions two Kings called Zu 'l Kalб'a, the Greater and the Less. Lane's Shaykh (ii. 333) opined that the man who demanded Hatim's hospitality was one Abu'l-Khaybari.

[FN#131] The camel's throat, I repeat, is not cut as in the case of other animals, the muscles being too strong: it is slaughtered by the "nahr," i.e. thrusting a knife into the hollow at the commissure of the chest. (Pilgrimage iii. 303.)

[FN#132] Adi became a Moslem and was one of the companions of the

Prophet.

[FN#133] A rival-in generosity to Hatim: a Persian poet praising his patron's generosity says that it buried that of Hatim and dimmed that of Ma'an (D'Herbelot). He was a high official-under the last Ommiade, Marwбn al-Himбr (the "Ass," or the "Century," the duration of Ommiade rule) who was routed and slain in A.H. 132=750. Ma'an continued to serve under the Abbasides and was a favourite with Al-Mansъr. "More generous or bountiful than Ka'ab" is another saying (A. P., i. 325); Ka'ab ibn Mбmah was a man who, somewhat like Sir Philip Sidney at Zutphen, gave his own portion of drink while he was dying of thirst to a man who looked wistfully at him, whence the saying "Give drink to thy brother the Nбmiri" (A. P., i. 608). Ka'ab could not mount, so they put garments over him to scare away the wild beasts and left him in the desert to die. "Scatterer of blessings" (Nбshir al-Ni'am) was a title of King Malik of Al-Yaman, son of Sharhabнl, eminent for his liberality. He set up the statue in the Western Desert, inscribed "Nothing behind me," as a warner to others.