Part 42

[FN#99] Europeans usually write "Beni" for "Banu;" the oblique for the nominative. I prefer "Odhrah" or "Ozrah" to Udhrah; because the Ayn before the Zαl takes in pronunciation the more open sound.

[FN#100] Possibly meaning that they were shrouded together; this would be opposed to Moslem sense of decorum in modern days, but the ancient were not so squeamish. See Night cccxi.

[FN#101] This phase of passion in the "varium et mutabile" is often treated of by Oriental storytellers, and not unoften seen in real Eastern life.

[FN#102] As has been said, "Sαhib" (preceding the name not following it as in India) is a Wazirial title in mediζval Islam.

[FN#103] This parapet was rendered obligatory by Moses (Deut. xxii. 8) on account of the danger of leaving a flat roof without garde-fou. Eastern Christians neglect the precaution and often lose their children by the neglect.

[FN#104] Arab. "Lauh." A bit of thin board washed white used for lessons as slates are amongst us, and as easily cleaned because the inks contain no minerals. It is a long parallelogram with triangular ears at the short sides; and the shape must date from ages immemorial as it is found, throughout Syria and its adjoinings, in the oldest rock inscriptions to which the form serves as a frame. Hence the "abacus" or counting table derived from the Gr. , a slab (or in Phenician "sand"), dust or sand in old days having been strewed on a table or tablet for school- boys' writings and mathematical diagrams.

[FN#105] A pre-Islamic bard and friend to Tarafah the poet of the Suspended or "Prize Poem." The tale is familiar to all the Moslem East. Tarafah's Laura was one Khaulα.

[FN#106] King of Hirah in Chaldζa, a drunken and bloodthirsty tyrant. When offended by the lampoons of the two poets he sent them with litterζ Bellerophontiζ to the Governor of Al-Bahrayn. Al-Mutalammis "smelt a rat" and destroyed his charged, but Tarafah was mutilated and buried alive, the victim of a trick which is old as (and older than) good King David and Uriah. Of course neither poet could read.

[FN#107] On this occasion, and in presence of the women only, the groom first sees or is supposed to see the face of his wife. It is, I have said, the fashion for both to be greatly overcome and to appear as if about to faint: the groom looks especially ridiculous when so attitudinising.

[FN#108] This leisurely operation of the "deed of kind" was sure to be noticed; but we do not find in The Nights any allusion to that systematic prolongatio veneris which is so much cultivated by Moslems under the name Imsαk = retention, withholding i.e. the semen. Yet Eastern books on domestic medicine consist mostly of two parts; the first of general prescriptions and the second of aphrodisiacs especially those qui prolongent le plaisir as did the Gaul by thinking of sa pauvre mθre. The Ananga-Ranga, by the Reverend Koka Pandit before quoted, gives a host of recipes which are used, either externally or internally, to hasten the paroxysm of the woman and delay the orgasm of the man (p. 27). Some of these are curious in the extreme. I heard of a Hindi who made a candle of frogs' fat and fibre warranted to retain the seed till it burned out; it failed notably because, relying upon it, he worked too vigorously. The essence of the "retaining art" is to avoid over-tension of the muscles and to pre-occupy the brain: hence in coition Hindus will drink sherbet, chew betel-nut and even smoke. Europeans ignoring the science and practice, are contemptuously compared with village-cocks by Hindu women who cannot be satisfied, such is their natural coldness, increased doubtless by vegetable diet and unuse of stimulants, with less than twenty minutes. Hence too while thousands of Europeans have cohabited for years with and have had families by "native women," they are never loved by them:—at least I never heard of a case.

[FN#109] Abu 'l Abbas al-Rakαshi, a poet of the time. The saying became proverbial (Burckhardt's A. Proverbs No. 561) and there are variants, e.g. The night's promise is spread with butter that melteth when day ariseth.

[FN#110] Koran xxvi. 5,6 or "And those who err (Arab. Al- ghαwϊn) follow the footsteps of the poets," etc.

[FN#111] Half-brother of Abdullah bin al-Zubayr, the celebrated pretender.

[FN#112] Grand-daughter of the Caliph Abu Bakr and the most beautiful woman of her day.

[FN#113] The Calc. Edit. by mistake reads "Izzah." Torrens (notes i.-xi.) remarks "The word Ghoonj is applied to this sort of blandishment (i.e. an affected gait), and says Burckhardt (Prov. No. 685), "The women of Cairo flatter themselves that their Ghoonj is superior to that of all other females in the Levant." But Torrens did not understand and Burckhardt would not explain "Ghunj" except by "assumed airs" (see No. 714). It here means the art of moving in coition, which is especially affected, even by modest women, throughout the East and they have many books teaching the genial art. In China there are professors, mostly old women, who instruct young girls in this branch of the gymnastic.

[FN#114] When reciting the Fαtihah (opening Koranic chapter), the hands are held in this position as if to receive a blessing falling from Heaven; after which both palms are passed down the face to distribute it over the eyes and other organs of sense.

[FN#115] The word used is "bizα'at" = capital or a share in a mercantile business.

[FN#116] This and the following names are those of noted traditionists of the eighth century, who derive back to Abdallah bin Mas'ϊd, a "Companion of the Apostle." The text shows the recognised formula of ascription for quoting a "Hadνs" = saying of Mohammed; and sometimes it has to pass through half a dozen mouths.

[FN#117] Traditionists of the seventh and eighth centuries who refer back to the "Father of the Kitten" (Abu Horayrah), an uncle of the Apostle.

[FN#118] Eastern story-books abound in these instances. Pilpay says in "Kalilah was Dimnah," "I am the slave of what I have spoken and the lord of what I keep hidden." Sa'adi follows suit, "When thou speakest not a word, thou hast thy hand upon it; when it is once spoken it hath laid its hand on thee." Caxton, in the "Dyctes, or Sayings of Philosophers" (printed in 1477) uses almost the same words.

[FN#119] i.e. for her husband's and her sin in using a man like a beast.

[FN#120] See the Second Lady's story (tantτt Kadi, tantτt bandit), pp. 20-26 by my friend Yacoub Artin Pasha in the Bulletin before quoted, series ii. No. 4 of 1883. The sharpers' trick is common in Eastern folk-lore, and the idea that underlies is always metempsychosis or metamorphosis. So, in the Kalilah wa Dimnah (new Syriac), the three rogues persuade the ascetic that he is leading a dog not a sheep.

[FN#121] This is the popular prejudice and it has doubtless saved many a reputation. The bat is known to Moslems as the Bird of Jesus, a legend derived by the Koran from the Gospel of Infancy (1 chapt. xv. Hone's Apocryphal New Testament), in which the boy Jesus amuses herself with making birds of clay and commanding them to fly when (according to the Moslems) they became bats. These Apocryphal Gospels must be carefully read, if the student would understand a number of Moslem allusions to the Injνl which no Evangel contains.

[FN#122] Because it quibbled away out of every question, a truly diplomatic art.

[FN#123] This Caliph, the orthodox Abbaside of Egypt (A.D. 1261) must not be confounded with the Druze-god, the heretical Fatimite (A.D. 996-1021). D'Herbelot (Hakem") gives details. Mr. S.L. Poole (The Academy, April 26, '79) is very severe on the slip of Mr. Payne.

[FN#124] The beautiful name is Persian "Anϊshνn-rawαn" = Sweet of Soul; and the glorious title of this contemporary of Mohammed is "Al-Malik al-Adil" = the Just King. Kisra, the Chosroλ per excellentiam, is also applied to the godly Guebre of whom every Eastern dictionary gives details.

[FN#125] "Sultan" is here an anachronism: I have noted that the title was first assumed independently by Mohammed of Ghazni after it had been conferred by the Caliph upon his father the Amir Al- Umarα (Mayor of the Palace), Sabuktagin A.D. 974.

[FN#126] The "Sakkα" or water-carrier race is peculiar in Egypt and famed for trickery and intrigue. Opportunity here as elsewhere makes the thief.

[FN#127] A famous saying of Mohammed is recorded when an indiscretion of his young wife Ayishah was reported to him, "There be no adultress without an adulterer (of a husband)." Fatimah the Apostle's daughter is supposed to have remained a virgin after bearing many children: this coarse symbolism of purity was known to the classics (Pausanias), who made Juno recover her virginity by bathing in a certain river every year. In the last phrase, "Al-Salaf" (ancestry) refers to Mohammed and his family.

[FN#128] Khusrau Parwiz, grandson of Anushirwan, the Guebre King who tore his kingdom by tearing Mohammed's letter married the beautiful Maria or Irene (in Persian "Shνrνn = the sweet) daughter of the Greek Emperor Maurice: their loves were sung by a host of poets; and likewise the passion of the sculptor Farhαd for the same Shirin. Mr. Lyall writes "Parwκz" and holds "Parwνz" a modern form.

[FN#129] he could afford it according to historians. His throne was supported by 40,000 silver pillars; and 1,000 globes, hung in the dome, formed an orrery, showing the motion of the heavenly bodies; 30,000 pieces of embroidered tapestry overhung the walls below were vaults full of silver, gold and gems.

[FN#130] Arab. "Khunsα," meaning also a catamite as I have explained. Lane (ii. 586) has it; "This fish is of a mixed kind." (!).

[FN#131] So the model lovers became the ordinary married couple.

[FN#132] Arab. "Jamm." Heb. "Yamm." Al-Harνri (Ass. Of Sinjar and Sαwah) uses the rare form Yam for sea or ocean.

[FN#133] Al-Hadi, immediate predecessor of Harun al-Rashid, called "Al-Atbik": his upper lip was contracted and his father placed a slave over him when in childhood, with orders to say, "Musa! atbik!" (draw thy lips together) when he opened his mouth.

[FN#134] Immediate successor of Harun al-Rashid. Al-Amin is an imposing physical figure, fair, tall, handsome and of immense strength; according to Al-Mas'ϊdi, he killed a lion with his own hands; but his mind and judgement were weak. He was fond of fishing; and his reply to the courtier bringing important news, "Confound thee! leave me! for Kausar (an eunuch whom he loved) hath caught two fish and I none," reminds one of royal frivolity in France.

[FN#135] Afterwards governor in Khorasan under Al-Maamun.

[FN#136] Intendant of the palace under Harun al-Rashid.

[FN#137] Moslem women have this advantage over their Western sisterhood: they can always leave the house of father or husband and, without asking permission, pay a week or ten days' visit to their friends. But they are not expected to meet their lovers.

[FN#138] The tale of "Susannah and the Elders" in Moslem form.

Dαniyαl is the Arab Daniel, supposed to have been buried at

Alexandria. (Pilgrimage, i. 16.)

[FN#139] According to Moslem law, laid down by Mohammed on a delicate occasion and evidently for a purpose, four credible witnesses are required to prove fornication, adultery, sodomy and so forth; and they must swear that actually saw rem in re, the "Kohl-needle in the Kohl-ιtui," as the Arabs have it. This practically prevents conviction and the sabre cuts the Gordian knot.

[FN#140] Who, in such case, would represent our equerry.

[FN#141] The Badawi not only always tells the truth, a perfect contrast with the townsfolk; he is blunt in speech addressing his Sultan "O Sa'νd!" and he has a hard rough humour which we may fairly describe as "wut." When you chaff him look out for falls.

[FN#142] The answer is as old as the hills, teste the tale of what happened when Amasis (who on horseback) raised his leg, "broke wind and bad the messenger carry it back to Apries." Herod. Ii. 162. But for the full significance of the Badawi's most insulting reply see the Tale of Abu Hasan in Night ccccxi.

[FN#143] Arab. "Yα sαki" al-Dakan" meaning long bearded (foolish) as well as frosty bearded.

[FN#144] P. N. of the tribe, often mentioned in The Nights.

[FN#145] Adnan, which whom Arab genealogy begins, is generally supposed to be the eighth (Al-Tabari says the fortieth) descendant from Ishmael and nine generations are placed between him and Fahr (Fihr) Kuraysh. The Prophet cut all disputes short by saying, "Beyond Adnan none save Allah wotteth and the genealogists lie." (Pilgrimage ii. 344) M.C. de Perceval dates Adnan about B.C. 130.

[FN#146] Koran xxxiii., 38.

[FN#147] Arab. "Arab al-Arabα," as before noticed (vol. i. 12) the pure and genuine blood as opposed to the "Musta'aribah," the "Muta'arribah," the "Mosarabians" and other Araboids; the first springing from Khatan (Yaktan?) and the others from Adnan. And note that "Arabi" = a man of pure Arab race, either of the Desert or of the city, while A'arαbi applies only to the Desert man, the Badawi.

[FN#148] Koran xxxviii. 2, speaking of the Unbelievers (i.e. non-Moslems) who are full of pride and contention.

[FN#149] One of the Ashαb, or Companions of the Apostle, that is them who knew him personally. (Pilgrimage ii. 80, etc.) The Ashαb al-Suffah (Companions of the bench or sofa) were certain houseless Believers lodged by the Prophet. (Pilgrimage ii. 143).

[FN#150] Hence Omar is entitled "Al-Adil = the Just." Readers will remember that by Moslem law and usage murder and homicide are offences to be punished by the family, not by society or its delegates. This system reappears in civilisation under the denomination of "Lynch Law," a process infinitely distasteful to lawyers (whom it abolishes) and most valuable when administered with due discretion.

[FN#151] Lane translates (ii. 592) "from a desire of seeing the face of God;" but the general belief of Al-Islam is that the essence of Allah's corporeal form is different from man's. The orthodox expect to "see their Lord on Doom-day as they see the full moon" (a tradition). But the Mu'atazilites deny with the existence of matter the corporiety of Alah and hold that he will be seen only with the spiritual eyes, i.e. of reason.

[FN#152] See Gesta Romanorum, Tale cviii., "of Constancy in adhering to Promises," founded on Damon and Pythias or, perhaps, upon the Arabic.

[FN#153] Arab. "Al-Ahrαm," a word of unknown provenance. It has been suggested that the singular form (Haram), preceded by the Coptic article "pi" (= the) suggested to the Greeks "Pyramis." But this word is still sub judice and every Egyptologist seems to propose his own derivation. Brugsch (Egypt i. 72) makes it Greek, the Egyptian being "Abumir," while "pir- am-us" = the edge of the pyramid, the corners running from base to apex. The Egyptologist proves also what the Ancients either ignored or forgot to mention, that each pyramid had its own name.

[FN#154] Arab. "Ahkαm," in this matter supporting the

"Pyramidologists."

[FN#155] All imaginative.

[FN#156] It has always been my opinion founded upon considerations too long to detail, that the larger Pyramids contain many unopened chambers. Dr. Grant Bey of Cairo proposed boring through the blocks as Artesian wells are driven. I cannot divine why Lane (ii, 592) chose to omit this tale, which is founded on historic facts and interests us by suggesting a comparison between Mediζval Moslem superstitions and those of our xixth Century, which to our descendants will appear as wild, if not as picturesque, as those of The Nights. The "inspired British inch" and the building by Melchisedek (the Shaykh of some petty Syrian village) will compare not unaptly with the enchanted swords, flexible glass and guardian spirits. But the Pyramidennarren is a race which will not speedily die out: it is based on Nature, the Pyramids themselves.

[FN#157] Arab. "Rizm"; hence, through the Italian Risma our ream (= 20 quires of paper, etc.), which our dictionaries derive from (!). See "frail" in Night dcccxxxviii.

[FN#158] Arab. "Tarνkah" = the path trodden by ascetics and mystics in order to attain true knowledge (Ma'rifat in Pers. Dαnish). These are extensive subjects: for the present I must refer readers to the Dabistan, iii. 35 and iii. 29, 36-7.

[FN#159] Alluding to the Fishαr or "Squeeze of the tomb." This is the Jewish Hibbut hakkeber which all must endure, save those who lived in the Holy Land or died on the Sabbath-eve (Friday night). Then comes the questioning by the Angels Munkar and Nakir (vulgarly called Nαkir and Nakνr) for which see Lane (M.E. chapt. xviii.). In Egypt a "Mulakkin" (intelligencer) is hired to prompt and instruct the dead. Moslems are beginning to question these facts of their faith: a Persian acquaintance of mine filled his dead father's mouth with flour and finding it in loco on opening the grave, publicly derided the belief. But the Mullahs had him on the hip, after the fashion of reverends, declaring that the answers were made through the whole body, not only by the mouth. At last the Voltairean had to quit Shiraz.

[FN#160] Arab. "Walν" = a saint, Santon (Ital. Form) also a slave. See in Richardson (Dissert. iii.), an illustration of the difference between Wali and Wαli as exemplified by the Caliph al- Kαdir and Mahmϊd of Ghazni.

[FN#161] Arab. "Tνn" = the tenacious clay puddled with chaff which serves as mortar for walls built of Adobe or sun dried brick. I made a mistake in my Pilgrimage (i.10) translating Ras al-Tνn the old Pharos of Alexandria, by "Headland of Figs." It is Headland of Clay, so called from the argile there found and which supported an old pottery.

[FN#162] The danik (Pers. Dang) is the sixth of a dirham. Mr. S. L. Poole (The Acad. April 26, '79) prefers his uncle's translation "a sixth" (what of?) to Mr. Payne's "farthing." The latter at any rate is intelligible.

[FN#163] The devotee was "Sαim al-dahr" i.e. he never ate nor drank from daylight to dark throughout the year.

[FN#164] The ablution of a common man differs from that of an

educated Moslem as much as the eating of a clown and a gentleman.

Moreover there are important technical differences between the

Wuzu of the Sunni and the Shi'ah.

[FN#165] i.e., by honouring his father.

[FN#166] This young saint was as selfish and unnatural a sinner as Saint Alexius of the Gesta Romanorum (Tale xv.), to whom my friend, the late Thomas Wright, administered just and due punishment.

[FN#167] The verses are affecting enough, though by no means high poetry.

[FN#168] The good young man cut his father for two reasons: secular power (an abomination to good Moslems) and defective title to the Caliphate. The latter is a trouble to Turkey in the present day and with time will prove worse.

[FN#169] Umm Amrν (written Amrϊ and pronounced Amr') a matronymic, "mother of Amru." This story and its terminal verse is a regular Joe Miller.

[FN#170] Abuse and derision of schoolmaster are staple subjects in the East as in the West, (Quem Dii oderunt pζdagogum fecerunt). Anglo-Indians will remember:

"Miyαn-ji ti-ti!

Bachche-kν gαnd men anguli kν thi!"

("Schoolmaster hum!

Who fumbled and fingered the little boy's bum?")

[FN#171] Arab. "Mujawirin" = the lower servants, sweepers, etc. See Pilgrimage ii. 161, where it is also applied to certain "settlers" at Al-Medinah. Burckhardt (No. 480) notices another meaning "foreigners who attend mosque-lectures" and quotes the saying, "A. pilgrimaged:" quoth B. "yes! and for his villanies resideth (Mujαwir) at Meccah."

[FN#172] The custom (growing obsolete in Egypt) is preserved in Afghanistan where the learned wear turbans equal to the canoe- hats of the Spanish cardinals.

[FN#173] Arab. "Makmarah," a metal cover for the usual brasier or pan of charcoal which acts as a fire-place. Lane (ii. 600) does not translate the word and seems to think it means a belt or girdle, thus blunting the point of the dominie's excuse.

[FN#174] This story, a very old Joe Miller, was told to Lane as something new and he introduced it into his Modern Egyptians, end of chapt. ii.

[FN#175] This tale is a mere abbreviation of "The King and his

Wazir's Wife," in the Book of Sindibad or the Malice of Women,

Night dcxxviii., {which see for annotations}.

[FN#176] The older "Roe" which may be written "Rukh" or "Rukhkh." Colonel Yule, the learned translator of Marco Polo, has shown that "Roc's" feathers were not uncommon curiosities in mediζval ages; and holds that they were mostly fronds of the palm Raphia vinifera, which has the largest leaf in the vegetable kingdom and which the Moslems of Zanzibar call "Satan's date-tree." I need hardly quote "Frate Cipolla and the Angel Gabriel's Feather." (Decameron vi. 10.)

[FN#177] The tale is told in a bald, disjointed style and will be repeated in Sindbad the Seaman where I shall again notice the "Roc." See Night dxxxvii., etc.

[FN#178] Hνrah in Mesopotamia was a Christian city and

principality subject to the Persian Monarchs; and a rival to the

Roman kingdom of Ghassαn. It has a long history, for which see

D'Herbelot.

[FN#179] A pre-Islamite poet.

[FN#180] Arab. "Bikα'a," alluding to the pilgrimages made to monasteries and here equivalent to, "Address ye to the road," etc.

[FN#181] Whose by name was Abu Ali, a poet under the Abbasides (eighth and ninth centuries).

[FN#182] A well-known quarter of Baghdad, often mentioned in The

Nights.

[FN#183] Another well-known poet of the time.

[FN#184] Arab. "Sardαb": noticed before.

[FN#185] A gigantic idol in the Ka'abah, destroyed by Mohammed: it gave name to a tribe.

[FN#186] Arab. "Ya Kawwαd:" hence the Port. and Span.

Alcoviteiro.

[FN#187] Arab "Tufayli," a term before noticed; the class was as well-known in Baghdad and Cairo as in ancient Rome.

[FN#188] Arab. "Jauzar"=a bubalus (Antilope defessa), also called "Aye" from the large black eyes. This bovine antelope is again termed Bakar al-Wahsh (wild cattle) or "Bos Sylvestris" (incerti generic, Forsk.). But Janzar also signifies hart, so I render it by "Ariel" (the well-known antelope).

[FN#189] Arab. "Tarαib" plur. of tarνbah. The allusion is to the heart, and "the little him's a her."

[FN#190] A well-known poet of the ninth century (A.D.).

[FN#191] These easy deaths for love are a lieu common: See sundry of them in the Decameron (iv. 7, etc.); and, in the Heptameron (Nouv. Ixx.), the widow who lay down and died of love and sorrow that her passion had become known. For the fainting of lovers see Nouvelle xix.

[FN#192] This is a favourite Badawi dish, but too expensive unless some accident happen to the animal. Old camel is much like bull-beef, but the young meat is excellent, although not relished by Europeans because, like strange fish, it has no recognised flavour. I have noticed it in my "First Footsteps" (p. 68, etc.). There is an old idea in Europe that the maniacal vengeance of the Arab is increased by eating this flesh, the beast is certainly vindictive enough; but a furious and frantic vengefulness characterises the North American Indian who never saw a camel. Mercy and pardon belong to the elect, not to the miserables who make up " humanity."

[FN#193] i.e. of the Province Hazramaut, the Biblical Hazarmaveth (Gen. x. 26). The people are the Swill of Arabia and noted for thrift and hard bargains; hence the saying, If you meet a serpent and a Hazrami, slay the Hazrami. To prove how ubiquitous they are it is related that a man, flying from their society, reached the uttermost parts of China where he thought himself safe. But, as he was about to pass the night in some ruin, he heard a voice bard by him exclaim, "O Imαd al-Din!" (the name of the patron-saint of Hazramaut). Thereupon he arose and fled and he is, they say, flying still.