One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  309 Arab. “Fí al-Kamar,” which Lane renders “in the moonlight.” It seems to me that the allusion is to the Comorin Islands; but the sequel speaks simply of an island.

  310 The Mac. Edit. misprints Julnár as Julnáz (so the Bul. Edit. ii. 233), and Lane’s Jullanár is an Egyptian vulgarism. He is right in suspecting the “White City” to be imaginary; but its sea has no apparent connection with the Caspian. The mermen and mermaids appear to him to be of an inferior order of the Jinn, termed Al-Ghawwásah, the Divers, who fly through air and are made of fire which at times issues from their mouths.

  311 Arab. “ lá Kulli hál,” a popular phrase, like the

  Anglo-American “ anyhow.”

  312 In the text the name does not appear till near the end of the tale.

  313 i.e. Full moon smiling.

  314 These lines have occurred in vol. iii. 264. so I quote

  Lane ii. 499.

  315 ‘These lines occurred in vol. ii. 301. I quote Mr.

  Payne.

  316 Arab. “Khadd” = cheek from the eye-orbit to the place where the beard grows; also applied to the side of a rough highland, the side-planks of a litter, etc. etc.

  317 The black hair of youth.

  318 This manner of listening is not held dishonourable amongst Arabs or Easterns generally; who, however, hear as little good of themselves as Westerns declare in proverb.

  319 Arab. “Hasab wa nasab,” before explained as inherited degree and acquired dignity. See vol. iv. 171.

  320 Arab. “Mujájat”=spittle running from the mouth: hence Lane, “is like running saliva,” which, in poetry is not pretty.

  321 Arab. and Heb. “Salmandra” from Pers. Samandal ( — dar — duk — dun, etc.), a Salamander, a mouse which lives in fire, some say a bird in India and China and others confuse with the chameleon (Bochart Hiero. Part ii. chapt. vi).

  322 Arab. “Mahá” one of the four kinds of wild cows or bovine antelopes, bubalus, Antelope defassa, A. Ieucoryx, etc.

  323 These lines have occurred in vol. iii. 279; so I quote Lane (iii. 274) by way of variety; although I do not like his “ bowels.”

  324 The last verse (286) of chapt. ii. The Cow: “compelleth” in the sense of “burdeneth.”

  325 Salih’s speeches are euphuistic.

  326 From the Fátihah.

  327 A truly Eastern saying, which ignores the “old maids” of the West.

  328 i.e naming her before the lieges as if the speaker were her and his superior. It would have been more polite not to have gone beyond “ the unique pearl and the hoarded jewel :” the offensive part of the speech was using the girl’s name.

  329 Meaning emphatically that one and all were nobodies.

  330 Arab Badr, the usual pun.

  331 Arab. “Kirát” {kerátion} the bean of the Abrus precatorius, used as a weight in Arabia and India and as a bead for decoration in Africa. It is equal to four Kamhahs or wheat grains and about 3 grs. avoir.; and being the twenty fourth of a miskal, it is applied to that proportion of everything. Thus the Arabs say of a perfect man, “ He is of four-and-twenty Kirát” i.e. pure gold. See vol. iii. 239.

  332 The (she) myrtle: Kazimirski (A. de Biberstein)

  Dictionnaire Arabe-Francais (Pairs Maisonneuve 1867) gives

  Marsín=Rose de Jericho: myrte.

  333 Needless to note that the fowler had a right to expect a return present worth double or treble the price of his gift. Such is the universal practice of the East: in the West the extortioner says, “I leave it to you, sir!”

  334 And she does tell him all that the reader well knows.

  335 This was for sprinkling him, but the texts omit that operation. Arabic has distinct terms for various forms of metamorphosis. “ Naskh “ is change from a lower to a higher, as beast to man; “ Maskh “ (the common expression) is the reverse, “ Raskh “ is from animate to inanimate (man to stone) and “Faskh” is absolute wasting away to corruption.

  336 I render this improbable detail literally: it can only mean that the ship was dashed against a rock.

  337 Who was probably squatting on his shop counter. The “Bakkál” (who must not be confounded with the épicier), lit. “vender of herbs” =greengrocer, and according to Richardson used incorrectly for Baddál ( ?) vendor of provisions. Popularly it is applied to a seller of oil, honey, butter and fruit, like the Ital. “Pizzicagnolo”=Salsamentarius, and in North-West Africa to an inn-keeper.

  338 Here the Shaykh is mistaken: he should have said, “The Sun in old Persian.” “Almanac” simply makes nonsense of the Arabian Circe’s name. In Arab. it is “Takwím,” whence the Span. and Port. “Tacuino:” in Heb. Hakamathá-Takunah=sapientia dispositionis astrorum (Asiat. Research. iii.120).

  339 i.e. for thy daily expenses.

  340 Un adolescent aime toutes les femmes. Man is by nature polygamic whereas woman as a rule is monogamic and polyandrous only when tired of her lover. For the man, as has been truly said, loves the woman, but the love of the woman is for the love of the man.

  341 I have already noted that the heroes and heroines of Eastern love-tales are always bonnes fourchettes: they eat and drink hard enough to scandalise the sentimental amourist of the West; but it is understood that this abundant diet is necessary to qualify them for the Herculean labours of the love night.

  342 Here again a little excision is necessary; the reader already knows all about it.

  343 Arab. “Hiss,” prop. speaking a perception (as of sound or motion) as opposed to “Hadas,” a surmise or opinion without proof.

  344 Arab. “Sawík,” the old and modern name for native frumenty, green grain (mostly barley) toasted, pounded, mixed with dates or sugar and eaten on journeys when cooking is impracticable. M. C. de Perceval (iii. 54), gives it a different and now unknown name; and Mr. Lane also applies it to “ptisane.” It named the “ Day of Sawaykah “ (for which see Pilgrimage ii. 19), called by our popular authors the “ War of the Meal-sacks.”

  345 Mr. Keightley (H. 122-24 Tales and Popular Fictions, a book now somewhat obsolete) remarks, “There is nothing said about the bridle in the account of the sale (infra), but I am sure that in the original tale, Badr’s misfortunes must have been owing to his having parted with it. In Chaucer’s Squier’s Tale the bridle would also appear to have been of some importance. “He quotes a story from the Notti Piacevoli of Straparola, the Milanese, published at Venice in 1550. And there is a popular story of the kind in Germany.

  346 Here, for the first time we find the name of the mother who has often been mentioned in the story. Faráshah is the fem. or singular form of “Farásh,” a butterfly, a moth. Lane notes that his Shaykh gives it the very unusual sense of “a locust.”

  347 Punning upon Jauharah= “a jewel” a name which has an

  Hibernian smack.

  348 In the old version “All the lovers of the Magic Queen resumed their pristine forms as soon as she ceased to live;” moreover, they were all sons of kings, princes, or persons of high degree.

  349 Arab. “Munádamah,” = conversation over the cup (Lane), used somewhat in the sense of “Musámarah” = talks by moonlight.

  350 Arab. “Kursi,” a word of many meanings; here it would allure to the square crate-like seat of palm-fronds used by the Ráwi or public reciter of tales when he is not pacing about the coffee-house.

  351 Von Hammer remarks that this is precisely the sum paid in Egypt for a MS. copy of The Nights.

  352 Arab. “Samar,” the origin of Musámarah, which see, vol. iv. 237.

  353 The pomp and circumstance, with which the tale is introduced to the reader showing the importance attached to it. Lane, most injudiciously I think, transfers the Proemium to a note in chapt. xxiv., thus converting an Arabian Night into an Arabian Note.

  354 ‘Asim = defending (honour) or defended, son of Safwán = clear, cold (dry). Trébutien ii. 126, has Safran.

  355 Fáris = the rider, the Knight, son of Sálih = the righteous, the pious, the just.

 
356 In sign of the deepest dejection, when a man would signify that he can fall no lower.

  357 Arab. Yá Khawand (in Bresl. Edit. vol. iv. 191) and fem. form Khawandah () from Pers. Kháwand or Kháwandagár = superior, lord, master; Khudáwand is still used in popular as in classical Persian, and is universally understood in Hindostan.

  358 The Biblical Sheba, whence came the Queen of many

  Hebrew fables.

  359 These would be the interjections of the writer or story-teller. The Mac. Edit. is here a sketch which must be filled up by the Bresl. Edit. vol. iv. 189-318: “Tale of King Asim and his son Sayf al-Mulúk with Badí‘a al-Jamál.”

  360 The oath by the Seal-ring of Solomon was the Stygian “swear” in Fairy-land. The signet consisted of four jewels, presented by as many angels, representing the Winds, the Birds, Earth (including sea) and Spirits, and the gems were inscribed with as many sentences: (1) To Allah belong Majesty and Might; (2) All created things praise the Lord; (3) Heaven and Earth are Allah’s slaves and (4) There is no god but the God and Mohammed is His messenger. For Sakhr and his theft of the signet see Dr. Weil’s, “The Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud.”

  361 Trébutien (ii. 128) remarks, “Cet Assaf peut être celui auquel David adresse plusieurs de ses psaumes, et que nos interprètes disent avoir été son maître de chapelle (from Biblioth. Orient).

  362 Mermen, monsters, beasts, etc.

  363 This is in accordance with Eastern etiquette; the guest must be fed before his errand is asked. The Porte, in the days of its pride, managed in this way sorely to insult the Ambassadors of the most powerful European kingdoms and the first French Republic had the honour of abating the barbarians’ nuisance. So the old Scottish Highlanders never asked the name or clan of a chance guest, lest he prove a foe before he had eaten their food.

  364 In Bresl. Edit. (301) Kháfiyah: in Mac. Kháinah, the perfidy.

  365 So in the Mac. Edit., in the Bresl. only one “Kabá” or Kaftan; but from the sequel it seems to be a clerical error.

  366 Arab. “Su’ubán” (Thu’ubán) popularly translated “basilisk.” The Egyptians suppose that when this serpent forms ring round the Ibn ‘Irs (weasel or ichneumon) the latter emits a peculiar air which causes the reptile to burst.

  367 i.e. that prophesied by Solomon.

  368 Arab. “Takliyah” from kaly, a fry: Lane’s Shaykh explained it as “onions cooked in clarified butter, after which they are put upon other cooked food.” The mention of onions points to Egypt as the origin of this tale and certainly not to Arabia, where the strong-smelling root is hated.

  369 Von Hammer quotes the case of the Grand Vizier Yúsuf

  throwing his own pelisse over the shoulders of the Aleppine

  Merchant who brought him the news of the death of his enemy,

  Jazzár Pasha.

  370 This peculiar style of generosity was also the custom in contemporary Europe.

  371 Khátún, which follows the name (e.g. Hurmat Khatun), in India corresponds with the male title Khan, taken by the Pathan Moslems (e.g. Pír Khán). Khánum is the affix to the Moghul or Tartar nobility, the men assuming a double designation e.g. Mirza Abdallah Beg. See Oriental collections (Ouseley’s) vol. i. 97.

  372 Lit. “Whatso thou wouldest do that do!” a contrast with our European laconism.

  373 These are booths built against and outside the walls, made of palm-fronds and light materials.

  374 Von Hammer in Trébutien (ii. 135) says, “Such rejoicings are still customary at Constantinople, under the name of Donánmá, not only when the Sultanas are enceintes, but also when they are brought to bed. In 1803 the rumour of the pregnancy of a Sultana, being falsely spread, involved all the Ministers in useless expenses to prepare for a Donánmá which never took place.” Lane justly remarks upon this passage that the title Sultán precedes while the feminine Sultánah follows the name.

  375 These words (Bresl. Edit.) would be spoken in jest, a grim joke enough, but showing the elation of the King’s spirits.

  376 A signal like a gong: the Mac. Edit. reads “Tákah,” = in at the window.

  377 Sayf al-Mulúk = “Sword (Egyptian Sif, Arab. Sayf, Gr. {xíphos}) of the Kings”; and he must not be called tout bonnement Sayf. Sái’d = the forearm.

  378 Arab. “Fakíh” = a divine, from Fikh = theology, a man versed in law and divinity i.e. (1) the Koran and its interpretation comprehending the sacred ancient history of the creation and prophets (Chapters iii., iv., v. and vi.), (2) the traditions and legends connected with early Moslem History and (3) some auxiliary sciences as grammar, syntax and prosody; logic, rhetoric and philosophy. See of “El-Mas’údí‘s Historical Encyclopædia etc.,” by my friend Prof. Aloys Springer, London 1841. This fine fragment printed by the Oriental Translation Fund has been left unfinished when the Asiatic Society of Paris has printed in Eight Vols. 8vo the text and translation of MM. Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille. What a national disgrace! And the same with the mere abridgment of Ibn Batutah by Prof. Lee (Orient. Tr. Fund 1820) when the French have the fine Edition and translation by Defrémery and Sanguinetti with index etc. in 4 vols. 8vo 1858-59. But England is now content to rank in such matters as encouragement of learning, endowment of research etc., into the basest of kingdoms, and the contrast of status between the learned Societies of London and of Paris, Berlin, Vienna or Rome is mortifying to an Englishman — a national opprobrium.

  379 Arab. “Maydán al-Fíl,” prob. for Birkat al-Fíl, the Tank of the Elephant before-mentioned. Lane quotes Al-Makrizi who in his Khitat informs us that the lakelet was made about the end of the seventh century (A.H.), and in the seventeenth year of the eighth century became the site of the stables. The Bresl. Edit. (iv. 214) reads “Maydan al-’Adl,” prob. for Al-’Ádil the name of the King who laid out the Maydán.

  380 Arab. “Asháb al-Ziyá’,” the latter word mostly signifies estates consisting, strictly speaking of land under artificial irrigation.

  381 The Bresl. Edit. (iv. 215) has “Chawáshiyah” = ‘Chiaush, the Turkish word, written with the Pers. “ch,” a letter which in Arabic is supplanted by “sh,” everywhere except in Morocco.

  382 Arab. “Záwiyah” lit. a corner, a cell. Lane (M. E., chapt. xxiv.) renders it “a small kiosque,” and translates the famous Zawiyat al-Umyán (Blind Men’s Angle) near the south-eastern corner of the Azhar or great Collegiate Mosque of Cairo, “Chapel of the Blind” (chapt. ix.). In popular parlance it suggests a hermitage.

  383 Arab. “Takht,” a Pers. word used as more emphatic than the Arab. Sarír.

  384 This girding the sovereign is found in the hieroglyphs as a peculiarity of the ancient Kings of Egypt, says Von Hammer referring readers to Denon.

  385 Arab. “Mohr,” which was not amongst the gifts of Solomon in Night dcclx. The Bresl. Edit. () adds “and the bow,” which is also de trop.

  386 Arab. “Batánah,” the ordinary lining opp. to Tazríb, or quilting with a layer of cotton between two folds of cloth. The idea in the text is that the unhappy wearer would have to carry his cross (the girl) on his back.

  387 This line has occurred in Night dccxliv. supra .

  388 Arab. “Mu’attik al-Rikáb” i.e. who frees those in bondage from the yoke.

  389 In the Mac. Edit. and in Trébutien (ii. 143) the King is here called Schimakh son of Scharoukh, but elsewhere, Schohiali = Shahyál, in the Bresl. Edit. Shahál. What the author means by “Son of ‘Ád the Greater,” I cannot divine.

  390 Lit. “For he is the man who can avail thereto,” with the meaning given in the text.

  391 Arab. “Jazírat,” insula or peninsula, vol. i. 2.

  392 Probably Canton with which the Arabs were familiar.

  393 i.e. “Who disappointeth not those who put their trust in Him.”

  394 Arab. “Al-Manjaníkát” plur. of manjanik, from Gr. {Mágganon}, Lat. Manganum (Engl. Mangonel from the dim. Mangonella). Ducange Glossarium, s.v. The Greek is applied originally to defensive weapons, then to the artille
ry of the day, Ballista, catapults, etc. The kindred Arab. form “Manjanín” is applied chiefly to the Noria or Persian waterwheel.

  395 Faghfúr is the common Moslem title for the Emperors of China; in the Kamus the first syllable is Zammated (Fugh); in Al-Mas’udi (chapt. xiv.) we find Baghfúr and in Al-Idrisi Baghbúgh, or Baghbún. In Al-Asma’i Bagh = god or idol (Pehlewi and Persian); hence according to some Baghdád (?) and Bághistán a pagoda (?). Sprenger (Al-Mas’údi, ) remarks that Baghfúr is a literal translation of Tien-tse and quotes Visdelou, “pour mieux faire comprendre de quel ciel ils veulent parler, ils poussent la généalogie (of the Emperor) plus loin. Ils lui donnent le ciel pour père, la terre pour mère, le soleil pour frère aîné et la lune pour sur aînée.”

  396 Arab. “Kayf hálak” = how de doo? the salutation of a

  Fellah.

  397 i.e. subject to the Maharajah of Hind.

  398 This is not a mistake: I have seen heavy hail in

  Africa, N. Lat. 4 degrees; within sight of the Equator.

  399 Arab. “Harrákat,” here used in the sense of smaller craft, and presently for a cock-boat.

  400 See vol. i. 138: here by way of variety I quote Mr.

  Payne.

  401 This explains the Arab idea of the “Old Man of the Sea” in Sindbad the Seaman (vol. vi. 50). He was not a monkey nor an unknown monster; but an evil Jinni of the most powerful class, yet subject to defeat and death.

  402 These Plinian monsters abound in Persian literature.

  For a specimen see Richardson Dissert. p. xlviii.