One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  262 Meaning a cap, but of what shape we ignore. Ibn Khallikan afterwards calls it a “Kalansъa,” a word still applied to a mitre worn by Christian priests.

  263 Arab. “Lб baas,” equivalent in conversation to our “No matter,” and “All right.”

  264 As a member of the reigning family, he wore black clothes, that being the especial colour of the Abbasides, adopted by them in opposition to the rival dynasty of the Ommiades, whose family colour was white, that of the Fatimites being green. The Moslems borrowed their sacred green, “the hue of the Pure,” from the old Nabatheans and the other primitive colours from the tents of the captains who were thus distinguished. Hence also amongst the Turks and Tartars, the White Horde and the Black Horde.

  265 The word has often occurred, meaning date-wine or grape-wine. Ibn Khaldъn contends that in Ibn Khallikan it here means the former.

  266 ¬£25,000. Ibn Khallikan (i. 304) makes the debt four millions of dirhams or ¬£90,000-¬£100,000.

  267 In the Biographer occurs the equivalent phrase, “That a standard be borne over his head.”

  268 Here again we have a suggestion that Ja’afar presumed upon his favour with the Caliph; such presumption would soon be reported (perhaps by the austиre intrigant himself) to the royal ears, and lay the foundation of ill-will likely to end in utter destruction.

  269 Bresl. Edit., vol. vii. p-60, Night dlxvii.

  270 Fourth Abbaside, A.D. 785-786, vol. v. 93. He was a fantastic tyrant who was bent upon promoting to the Caliphate his own son, Ja’afar; he cast Harun into prison and would probably have slain him but for the intervention of the mother of the two brothers, Khayzarбn widow of Al-Mahdi, and Yahya the Barmecide.

  271 Third Abbaside, A.D. 775-785, vol. vii. 136; ix. 334.

  272 This reminds us of the Bir Al-Khбtim (Well of the Signet) at Al-Medinah; in which Caliph Osman during his sixth year dropped from his finger the silver ring belonging to the founder of Al-Islam, engraved in three lines with “Mohammed / Apostle (of) / Allah /.” It had served to sign the letters sent to neighboring kings and had descended to the first three successors (Pilgrimage ii. 219). Mohammed owned three seal- rings, the golden one he destroyed himself; and the third, which was of carnelian, was buried with other objects by his heirs. The late Subhi Pasha used to declare that the latter had been brought to him with early Moslem coins by an Arab, and when he died he left it to the Sultan.

  273 Mr. Payne quotes Al-Tabari’s version of this anecdote. “El-Mehdi had presented his son Haroun with a ruby ring, worth a hundred thousand dinars, and the latter being one day with his brother (the then reigning Khalif), El Hadi saw the ring on his finger and desired it. So, when Haroun went out from him, he sent after him, to seek the ring of him. The Khalif’s messenger overtook Er Reshid on the bridge over the Tigris and acquainted him with his errand; whereupon the prince, enraged at the demand, pulled off the ring and threw it into the river. When El Hadi died and Er Rashid succeeded to the throne, he went with his suite to the bridge in question and bade his Vizier Yehya ben Khalid send for divers and cause them make search for the ring. It had then been five months in the water and no one believed it would be found. However, the divers plunged into the river and found the ring in the very place where he had thrown it in, whereat Haroun rejoiced with an exceeding joy, regarding it as a presage of fair fortune.”

  274 Not historically correct. Al-Rashid made Yбhyа, father of Ja’afar, his Wazir; and the minister’s two sons, Fazl and Ja’afar, acted as his lieutenants for seventeen years from A.D. 786 till the destruction of the Barmecides in A.D. 803. The tale-teller quotes Ja’afar because he was the most famous of the house.

  275 Perhaps after marrying Ja’afar to his sister. But the endearing name was usually addressed to Ja’afar’s elder brother Fazl, who was the Caliph’s foster-brother.

  276 Read seventeen: all these minor inaccuracies tend to invalidate the main statement.

  277 Arab. “Yar’ad” which may mean “thundereth.” The dark saying apparently means, Do good whilst thou art in power and thereby strengthen thyself.

  278 The lady seems to have made the first advances and Bin Abъ Hбjilah quotes a sixaine in which she amorously addresses her spouse. See D’Herbelot, s.v. Abbassa.

  279 The tale-teller passes with a very light hand over the horrors of a massacre which terrified and scandalised the then civilised world, and which still haunt Moslem history. The Caliph, like the eking, can do no wrong; and, as Viceregent of Allah upon Earth, what would be deadly crime and mortal sin in others becomes in his case an ordinance from above. These actions are superhuman events and fatal which man must not judge nor feel any sentiment concerning them save one of mysterious respect. For the slaughter of the Barmecides, see my Terminal Essay, vol. x.

  280 Bresl. Edit., vol. vii. p-1, Night dlxviii.

  281 Ibn al-Sammбk (Son of the fisherman or fishmonger), whose name was Abъ al-Abbбs Mohammed bin Sabнh, surnamed Al- Mazkъr (Ibn al-Athir says Al-Muzakkar), was a native of Kufah (where he died in A.H. 183 = 799-80), a preacher and professional tale-teller famed as a stylist and a man of piety. Al-Siyuti () relates of him that when honoured by the Caliph with courteous reception he said to him, “Thy humility in thy greatness is nobler than thy greatness.” He is known to have been the only theologician who, ex cathedr√Ґ, promised Al-Rashid a place in Paradise.

  282 Bresl. Edit., vol. vii. p-2, Night dlxviii.

  283 Seventh Abbaside, A.H. 198-227 = 813-842. See vol. iv. 109. He was a favourite with his father, who personally taught him tradition; but he offended the Faithful by asserting the creation of the Koran, by his leaning to Shi’ah doctrine, and by changing the black garments of the Banu Abbas into green. He died of a chill at Budandun, a day’s march from Tarsus, where he was buried: for this Podendon = = stretch out thy feet, see Al-Siyuti, p-27.

  284 Sixth Abbaside, A.D. 809-13. See vol. v. 93: 152. He was of pure Abbaside blood on the father’s side and his mother Zubaydah’s. But he was unhappy in his Wazir Al-Fazl bin Rabн, the intriguer against the Barmecides, who estranged him from his brothers Al-Kбsim and Al-Maamъn. At last he was slain by a party of Persians, “who struck him with their swords and cut him through the nape of his neck and went with his head to Tahir bin al-Husayn, general to Al-Maamъn, who set it upon a garden-wall and made proclamation, This is the head of the deposed Mohammed (Al-Amнn).” Al-Siyuti, p-311. It was remarked by Moslem annalists that every sixth Abbaside met with a violent death: the first was this Mohammed al-Amin surnamed Al-Makhlъ’ = The Deposed; the second sixth was Al-Musta’нn; and the last was Al- Muktadн bi’llбh.

  285 Lit. “Order and acceptance.” See the Tale of the

  Sandal-wood Merchant and the Sharpers: vol. vi. 202.

  286 This is not noticed by Al-Siyuti () who says that his mother was a slave-concubine named Marбjil who died in giving him birth. The tale in the text appears to be a bit of Court scandal, probably suggested by the darkness of the Caliph’s complexion.

  287 Bresl. Edit., vol. viii. p-9, Nights dclx-i.

  288 King of the Arab kingdom of Hirah, for whom see vol. v. 74. This ancient villain rarely appears in such favourable form when tales are told of him.

  289 The tribe of the chieftain and poet, Hбtim Tбн, for whom see vol. iv. 94.

  290 i.e. I will make a covenant with him before the Lord.

  Here the word “Allah” is introduced among the Arabs of The

  Ignorance.

  291 i.e. the man of the Tribe of Tay.

  292 A similar story of generous dealing is told of the

  Caliph Omar in The Nights. See vol. v. 99 et seq.

  293 Bresl. Edit., vol. viii. p-8, Nights dclxxv-vi. In Syria and Egypt Firъz (the Persian “Pнroz”) = victorious, triumphant, is usually pronounced Fayrъz. The tale is a rechauffй of the King and the Wazir’s Wife in The Nights. See vol. vi. 129.

  294 i.e. I seek refuge with Allah = God forfend.

  295 Bresl. Edit., vol. xi. pЧ318, Nights dcc
clxxvЧdccccxxx. Here again the names are Persian, showing the provenance of the tale; Shah Bakht is=King Luck and Rahwбn is a corruption of Rahbбn=one who keeps the (right) way; or it may be Ruhbбn=the Pious. Mr. W. A. Clouston draws my attention to the fact that this tale is of the Sindibad (Seven Wise Masters) cycle and that he finds remotely allied to it a Siamese collection, entitled Nonthuk Pakaranam in which Princess Kankras, to save the life of her father, relates eighty or ninety tales to the king of Pataliput (Palibothra). He purposes to discuss this and similar subjects in extenso in his coming volumes, “Popular Tales and Fictions: their Migrations and Transformations,” to which I look forward with pleasant anticipations.

  296 So far this work resembles the Bakhtiyбr-nбmeh, in which the ten Wazirs are eager for the death of the hero who relates tales and instances to the king, warning him against the evils of precipitation.

  297 One pilgrimage (Hajjat al-Islam) is commanded to all

  Moslems. For its conditions see The Nights, vol. v. 202, et seq.

  298 Arab. “Hajj al-Shбrif.” For the expenses of the process see my Pilgrimage iii. 12. As in all “Holy Places,” from Rome to Benares, the sinner in search of salvation is hopelessly taken in and fleeced by the “sons of the sacred cities.”

  299 Here a stranger invites a guest who at once accepts the invitation; such is the freedom between Moslems at Meccah and Al-Medinah, especially during pilgrimagetime.

  300 i.e. the master could no longer use her carnally.

  301 i.e. wantoned it away.

  302 Here “Al-Hajj”=the company of pilgrims, a common use of the term.

  303 The text says, “He went on with the caravan to the Pilgrimage,” probably a clerical error. “Hajj” is never applied to the Visitation (Ziyбrah) at Al-Medinah.

  304 Arab. “Jбwar,” that is, he became a mujбwir, one who lives in or near a collegiate mosque. The Egyptian proverb says, “He pilgrimaged: quoth one, Yes, and for his villainy lives (yujawir) at Meccah,” meaning that he found no other place bad enough for him.

  305 I have often heard of this mysterious art in the East, also of similarly making rubies and branch-coral of the largest size; but, despite all my endeavours, I never was allowed to witness the operation. It was the same with alchemy, which, however, I found very useful to the “smasher.” See my History of Sindh, chapt. vii.

  306 Elsewhere in The Nights specified as white woollen robes.

  307 Whilst she was praying the girl could not address her; but the use of the rosary is a kind of “parergon.”

  308 Arab. “Yб Hбjjah” (in Egypt pronounced “Hбggeh”), a polite address to an elderly woman, who is thus supposed to have “finished her faith.”

  309 Arab. “Kanнsah” (from Kans=sweeping) a pagan temple, a

  Jewish synagogue, and especially a Christian church.

  310 i.e. standeth in prayer or supplication.

  311 i.e. fell into hysterics, a very common complaint amongst the highly nervous and excitable races of the East.

  312 Arab. “Kahramбnah,” a word which has often occurred in divers senses, nurse, duenna, chamberwoman, stewardess, armed woman defending the Harem, etc.

  313 Which is supposed to contain the Harem.

  314 Especially mentioned because the guide very often follows his charges, especially when he intends to play them an ugly trick. I had an unpleasant adventure of the kind in Somaliland; but having the fear of the “Aborigines Protection Society” before my eyes, refrained from doing more than hinting at it.

  315 i.e. otherwise than according to ordinance of Allah.

  316 A well-known city of lrбk ‘Ajamн (or Persian).

  317 i.e. spare pegs and strings, plectra, thumb-guards, etc.

  318 Arab. “Hasнr,” the fine matting used for sleeping on during the hot season in Egypt and Syria.

  319 i.e. The bed where the “rough and tumble” had taken place.

  320 This word, which undoubtedly derives from cuculus, cogul, cocu, a cuckoo, has taken a queer twist, nor can I explain how its present meaning arose from a shebird which lays her egg in a strange nest. Wittol, on the other hand, from Witan, to know, is rightly applied to one whom La Fontaine calls “cocu et content,” the Arab Dayyъs.

  321 Arab. “Shabakah,” here a net like a fisherman’s, which is hung over the hole in the wall called a shop, during the temporary absence of the shopkeeper. See my Pilgrimage, i. 100.

  322 i.e. of which the singer speaks.

  323 i.e., she found him good at the to-and-fro movement; our corresponding phrase is “basket-making.”

  324 Arab. “Mu’arris”: in vol. i. 338, I derived the word from ‘Ars marriage, like the Germ. Kupplerin. This was a mere mistake; the root is ‘Ars (with a Sбd not a Sнn) and means a pimp who shows off or displays his wares.

  325 Arab. “Akhmitu Ghazla-hб” lit.=thicken her yarn or thread.

  326 I must again warn the reader that the negative, which to us appears unnecessary, is emphatic in Arabic.

  327 i.e. By removing the goods from the “but” to the “ben.”

  Pilgrimage i. 99.

  328 Arab. “Tannъr,” here the large earthern jar with a cover of the same material, round which the fire is built.

  329 Being a musician the hero of the tale was also a pederast.

  330 Here Mr. Payne supplies “Then they returned and sat down” (apparently changing places). He is quite correct in characterising the Bresl. Edit. as corrupt and “fearfully incoherent.” All we can make certain of in this passage is that the singer mistook the Persian for his white slave (Mameluke).

  331 Arab. “Bazaka,” normally used in the sense of spitting; here the saliva might be applied for facilitating insertion.

  332 In Persian “Ѕward o burd,”=brought and bore away, gen. applied to the movement of the man as in the couplet,

  Chenнn burd o бward o бward o burd,

  Kih dбyeh pas-i-pardeh zi ghussah murd.

  He so came and went, went and came again,

  That Nurse who lay curtained to faint was fain.

  333 Alluding to the fighting rams which are described by every Anglo-Indian traveller. They strike with great force, amply sufficient to crush the clumsy hand which happens to be caught between the two foreheads. The animals are sometimes used for Fбl or consulting futurity: the name of a friend is given to one and that of a foe to the other; and the result of the fight suggests victory or defeat for the men.

  334 Arab. “Jauhar”=the jewel, the essential nature of a substance. Compare M. Alcofribas’ “Abstraction of the Quintessence.”

  335 In parts of the Moslem world Al-Jabr=the tyranny, is the equivalent of what we call “civil law,” as opposed to Al-Sharн’ah, or Holy Law, the religious code; Diwan al-Jabr (Civil Court) being the contrary of the Mahkamah or Kazi’s tribunal. See “First Footsteps in East Africa,” .

  336 i.e. in offering thee the kingship.

  337 i.e. “a man of fourscore.”

  338 i.e. outside the city.

  339 See the conclusion of the story.

  340 i.e. I have said my say.

  341 Arab. “Al-Mutabattil,” usually=one who forsakes the world. The Katarбt alNaysбn or rain-drops in the month Naysбn (April) produce pearls when falling into the oyster-shells and poison in the serpent’s mouth. The allusions to them are innumerable in Persian poetry, and the idea gives rise to a host of moralities more or less insipid.

  342 This is the general idea concerning the diamond in all countries where the gem is dug, but I never heard it of the pearl.

  343 Arab. “Faras,” properly a mare; but the writer begins by using the feminine, and then employs the masculine. It is an abominable text.

  344 Arab. “Rutab wa manбzil,” may also mean “stations and mansions (of the moon and planets).” The double entendre was probably intended.

  345 Arab. “Za’нf,” still a popular word, meaning feeble, sick, ailing, but especially, weak in venery.

  346 See the original of this tale in King
Al-Af’б:

  Al-Mas’udi, chap. xlvi.

  347 He says this without any sense of shame, coolly as

  Horace or Catullus wrote.

  348 i.e. of the caravan with which he came.

  349 Arab. “Al-’Adl.” In the form of Zъ ‘adl it = a legal witness, a man of good repute; in Marocco and other parts of the Moslem world ‘Adul (plur. ‘Udъl) signifies an assessor of the Kazi, a notary. Padre Lerchundy (loc. cit. ) renders it notario.

  350 i.e. I would marry thy daughter, not only for her own sake, but for alliance with thy family.

  351 i.e. the bride’s face.

  352 The Ghusl or complete ablution after car. cop.

  353 Thus the girl was made lawful to him as a concubine by the “loathly ladye,” whose good heart redeemed her ill-looks.

  354 Meaning the poor man and his own daughter.

  355 Mr. Payne changes the Arab title to the far more appropriate heading, “Story of the Rich Man and his Wasteful Son.” The tale begins with ∆sop’s fable of the faggot; and concludes with the “Heir of Linne,” in the famous Scotch ballad. Mr. Clouston refers also to the Persian Tale of Murchlis (The Sorrowful Wazir); to the Forty Vezirs (23rd Story) to Cinthio and to sundry old English chap-books.

  356 Arab. “Tafrнk wa’l-jam’a.”

  357 Arab. “Wafбt” pop. used as death, decease, departure; but containing the idea of departing to the mercy of Allah and “paying the debt of nature.” It is not so ill-omened a word as Maut = death.

  358 i.e. gifts and presents. See vol. iv. 185.

  359 i.e. Turcomans; presently called Sнstбn, for which see vol. ii. 218.

  360 In my Pilgrimage (i. 38), I took from Mr. Galton’s Art of Travel, the idea of opening with a lancet the shoulder or other fleshy part of the body and inserting into it a precious stone. This was immensely derided by not a few including one who, then a young man from the country, presently became a Cabinet Minister. Despite their omniscience, however, the “dodge” is frequently practised. See how this device was practised by Jeshua Nazarenus, vol. v. 238.

  361 Arab. “‘Alam,” a pile of stones, a flag or some such landmark. The reader will find them described in “The Sword of Midian,” i. 98, and passim.