One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  Richard Francis Burton’s translation: detailed table of contents

  FOOTNOTES SUPPLEMENTAL VOLUME I.

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

  2 i.e., The Wag. See vol. i. 311: the old version calls him “the Debauchee.”

  3 Arab. “Al-Fбrs”; a people famed for cleverness and debauchery. I cannot see why Lane omitted the Persian, unless he had Persian friends at Cairo.

  4 i.e., the half he intended for spending-money.

  5 i.e., “men,” a characteristic Arab idiom: here it applies to the sons of all time.

  6 i.e., make much of thee.

  7 In Lane the Caliph is accompanied by “certain of his domestics.”

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

  9 In other parts of The Nights Harun al-Rashid declines wine-drinking.

  10 The ‘Allбmah (doctissimus) Sayce (, Comparative Philology, London, Trьbner, 1885) goes far back for Khalнfah = a deputy, a successor. He begins with the Semitic (Hebrew?) root “Khaliph” = to change, exchange: hence “Khaleph” = agio. From this the Greeks got their {kуllybos} and Cicero his “Collybus,” a money-lender.

  11 Arab. “Harfъsh” (in Bresl. Edit. iv. 138, “Kharfъsh”), in popular parlance a “blackguard.” I have to thank Mr. Alexander J. Cotheal, of New York, for sending me a MS. Copy of this tale.

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

  13 Arab. “Bi al-Salбm” (pron. “Bissalбm”) = in the Peace (of Allah).

  14 And would bring him bad luck if allowed to go without paying.

  15 i.e., of the first half, as has been shown.

  16 Arab. “Kumбjah” from the Persian Kumбsh = bread unleavened and baked in ashes. Egyptians use the word for bannocks of fine flour.

  17 Arab. “Kalн,” our “alcali” ; for this and other abstergents see vol. i. 279.

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

  19 Arab. “Yб ‘llah, yб ‘llбh;” vulg. used for “Look sharp!” e.g., “Yб ‘llah jбri, yб walad” = Be off at once, boy.”

  20 Arab. “Banj akrнtashн,” a term which has occurred before.

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

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

  23 Arab. “Kursi,” Assyrian “Kussъ” = throne; and “Korsбi” in Aramaic (or Nabathean as Al-Mas’udi calls it), the second growth-period of the “Semitic” family, which supplanted Assyrian and Babylonian, and became, as Arabic now is, the common speech of the “Semitic” world.

  24 Arab. “Makбn mahjъb,” which Lane renders by “a private closet,” and Payne by a “privy place,” suggesting that the Caliph slept in a numйro cent. So, when starting for the “Trakki Campaign,” Sir Charles Napier (of Sind), in his zeal for lightening officers’ baggage, inadvertently chose a water-closet tent for his head-quartersЧmagno cum risu not of the staff, who had a strange fear of him, but of the multitude who had not.

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

  26 Branch of Pearl, see vol. ii. 57.

  27 Arab. “Kahbah,” the lowest word (vol. i. 70), effectively used in contrast with the speaker’s surroundings.

  28 Arab. “Yб kabнrн,” = mon brave, my good man.

  29 This exaggeration has now become familiar to English poets.

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

  31 I have explained why an Eastern does not wash in the basin as Europeans do in vol. i. .

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

  33 The dawn-prayer consists of only four inclinations (raka’at); two “Farz” (divinely appointed), and two Sunnah (the custom of the Apostle). For the Raka’бh see Lane, M.E. chapt. iii.; it cannot be explained without illustrations.

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

  35 i.e., Ibrahim of Mosul the musician. See vol. iv. 108.

  36 Arab. “Lнyъth” plur. of “layth,” a lion: here warriors are meant.

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

  38 Arab. “Nнmshah” = “half-sword.” See vol. ii. .

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

  40 In the Bresl. Edit. four hundred. I prefer the exaggerated total.

  41 i.e., the raised recess at the upper end of an Oriental saloon, and the place of honour, which Lane calls by its Egyptian name “Lнwбn.” See his vol. i. 312 and his M.E. chapt. i.: also my vol. iv. .

  42 “Bit o’Musk.”

  43 “A gin,” a snare.

  44 “A gift,” a present. It is instructive to compare Abu al-Hasan with Sancho Panza, sprightly Arab wit with grave Spanish humour.

  45 i.e., he fell down senseless. The old version has “his head knocked against his knees.”

  46 Arab. “Waddi” vulg. Egyptian and Syrian for the classical “Addн” (ii. of Adъ = preparing to do). No wonder that Lane complains (iii. 376) of the vulgar style, abounding in errors.”

  47 O Apple, O Repose o’ Hearts, O Musk, O Choice Gift.

  48 Arab. “Doghrн,” a pure Turkish word, in Egypt meaning “truly, with truth,” straightforwardly; in Syria = straight (going), directly.

  49 Arab. “Mбristбn,” see vol. i. 288.

  50 The scene is a rechauffй of Badr al-Din Hasan and his wife, i. 247.

  51 Arab. “Janzнr,” another atrocious vulgarism for

  “Zanjнr,” which however, has occurred before.

  52 Arab. “Arafshah.”

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

  54 An Arab idiom meaning, “I have not found thy good fortune (Ka’b = heel, glory, prosperity) do me any good.”

  55 Arab. “Yб Nakbah” = a calamity to those who have to do with thee!

  56 Koran cxii., the “Chapter of Unity.” See vol. iii. 307

  57 See vol. iii. 222.

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

  59 i.e., “Delight of the vitals” (or heart).

  60 The trick is a rechauffй of the trick played on Al-

  Rashid and Zubaydah.

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

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

  63 A vulgar ejaculation; the “hour” referring either to birth or to his being made one of the Caliph’s equerries.

  64 Here the story-teller omits to say that Masrъr bore witness to the Caliph’s statement.

  65 Arab. “Wa kuntu rбihah ursil warбk,” the regular Fellah language.

  66 Arab. “‘Irk al-Hбshimн.” See vol. ii. 19. Lane remarks, “Whether it was so in Hashim himself (or only in his descendants), I do not find; but it is mentioned amongst the characteristics of his great-grandson, the Prophet.”

  67 Arab. “Bostбn al-Nuzhah,” whose name made the stake appropriate. See vol. ii. 81.

  68 Arab. “Tamбsнl” = generally carved images, which, amongst Moslem, always suggest idols and idolatry.

  69 The “Shubbбk” here would be the “Mashrabiyah,” or latticed balcony, projecting from the saloon-wall, and containing room for three or more sitters. It is Lane’s “Meshrebeeyeh,” sketched in M.E. (Introduction) and now has become familiar to Englishmen.

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

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

  72 A Hadis attributed to the Prophet, and very useful to

  Moslem husbands when wives differ overmuch with them in opinion.

  73 Arab. “Masarat fн-hб,” which Lane renders, “And she threw money to her.”

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

  75 Arab. “Yб Khбlati” = O my mother’s sister; addressed by a woman to an elderly dame.

  76 i.e., That I may put her to shame.

  77 Arab. “Zalбbiyah.”

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

  79 Many places in this text are so faulty that translation is mere guess-work; e.g. “Bashбrah” can hardly be applied to ill- news.

  80 i.e. of grief for his loss.

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

  82 i.e. of grief for her loss.

  83 Arab. “Ihtirбk” often used in the metaphorical sense of consuming, torturing.

  84 Arab. “Halбwat,” lit.=a sweetmeat, a gratuity, a thank- offering.

  85 Bresl. Edit., vol. vi. p-188, Nights ccccxxxii.- ccccxxxiv.

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

  87 Omar ‘Adi bin Artah; governor of Kufah and Basrah under “the good Caliph.”

  88 Jarнr al-Khatafah, one of the most famous of the “Islбmн” poets, i.e. those who wrote in the first century (A.H.) before the corruption of language began. (See Terminal Essay, ). Ibn Khallikan notices him at full length i. 294.

  89 Arab. “Bбkiyah,” which may also mean eternal as opposed to “Fбniyah” = temporal. Omar’s answer shows all the narrow- minded fanaticism which distinguished the early Moslems: they were puritanical as any Praise-God-Barebones, and they hated “boetry and bainting” as hotly as any Hanoverian.

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

  91 He might have said “by more than one, including the great Labнd.”

  92 Fн-hi either “in him” (Mohammed) or “in it” (his action).

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

  94 Arab. “Yб Bilбl”: Bilal ibn Rabah was the Prophet’s freedman and crier: see vol. iii. 106. But bilal also signifies “moisture” or “beneficence,” “benefits”: it may be intended for a double entendre but I prefer the metonymy.

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

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

  97 Arab. “Bayn farsi-k wa ‘l-damн” = lit. between fжces and menses, i.e., the foulest part of his mistress’s person. It is not often that The Nights are “nasty”; but here is a case. See vol. v. 162.

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

  99 Arab. “Safнh” = the slab over the grave.

  100 A contemporary and friend of Jamнl and the famous lover of Azzah. See vol. ii. 102, and Al-Mas’udi, vi. 426. The word “Kuthayyir” means “the dwarf.” Term. Essay, 231.

  101 i.e. in the attitude of prayer.

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

  103 Another famous poet Abъ Firбs Hammбm or Humaym (dimin. form), as debauched as Jarir, who died forty days before him in A.H. 110 (= 728-29), as Basrah. Cf. Term. Essay, 269.

  104 A famous Christian poet. See C. de Perceval, Journ.

  Asiat. April, 1834, Ibn Khallikan iii. 136, and Term. Essay, 231.

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

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