One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  272 i.e. Master Hasan the Rope-maker. Galland writes, after

  European fashion, “Hassan,” for which see vol. i. 251; and for

  “Khwßjah” vol. vi. 146. “Al-Habbßl” was the cognomen of a learned

  “Hßfiz” (= traditionist and Koran reader), Ab· Ishßk Ibrahim, in

  Ibn Khall. ii. 262; for another see iv. 410.

  273 “Sa’d” = prosperity and “Sa’dÝ’ ‘= prosperous, the

  surname of the “Persian moralist,” for whom see my friend F. F.

  Arbuthnot’s pleasant booklet, “Persian Portraits” (London

  Quaritch, 1887).

  274 This is true to nature as may be seen any day at Bombay The crows are equally audacious, and are dangerous to men Iying wounded in solitary places.

  275 The Pers. “Gil-i-sar-sh·Ý” (=head-washing clay), the Sindi “Met,” and the Arab “Tafl,” a kind of clay much used in Persian, Afghanistan, Sind, etc. Galland turns it into terre Ó decrasser and his English translators into “scouring sand which women use in baths.” This argillaceous earth mixed with mustard oil is locally used for clay and when rose-leaves and perfumes are used, it makes a tolerable wash-ball. See “Scinde or The Unhappy Valley,” i. 31.

  276 For the “Cowrie” (Cypr£a moneta) see vol. iv. 77. The Bßdßm or BÝdßm (almond) used by way of small change in India, I have noted elsewhere.

  277 Galland has “un morceau de plomb,” which in the HindÝ text becomes “ShÝshahkßpaysß” = a (pice) small coin of glass: the translator also terms it a “Faddah,” for which see Nusf (alias “Nuss”), vols. ii. 37, vi. 214 and ix. 139, 167. Glass tokens, by way of coins, were until late years made at Hebron, in Southern Syria.

  278 For the “Tßk” or “Tßkah” = the little wall-niche, see vol. vii. 361.

  279 In the French and English versions the coin is a bit of lead for weighting the net. For the “Paysß” (pice) = two farthings, and in weight = half an ounce, see Herklot’s Glossary, p. xcviii.

  280 In the text “bilisht” = the long span between thumb-tip and minimus-tip. Galland says long plus d’une coudÚe et gros Ó proportion.

  281 For the diamond (Arab. “Almßs” from {Greek}, and in Hind. “HÝra” and “Pannß”) see vols. vi. 15, i. ix. 325, and in latter correct, “Euritic,” a misprint for “dioritic.” I still cannot believe diamond-cutting to be an Indian art, and I must hold that it was known to the ancients. It could not have been an unpolished stone, that “Adamas notissimus” which according to Juvenal (vi. 156) Agrippa gave to his sister. Maundeville (A.D. 1322) has a long account of the mineral, “so hard that no man can polish it,” and called Hamese (“Almßs?”). For Mr. Petrie and his theory, see vol. ix. 325. In most places where the diamond has been discovered of late years it had been used as a magic stone, e.g., by the PagÚs or medicine-men of the Brazil, or for children’s playthings, which was the case with the South-African “Caffres.”

  282 These stones, especially the carbuncle, which give out dight in darkness are a commonplace of Eastern folk-lore. For luminous jewels in folk-lore, see Mr. Clouston (i. 412): the belief is not wholly extinct in England, and I have often heard of it in the Brazil and upon the African Gaboon. It appears to me that there may be a basis of fact to tints fancy, the abnormal effect of precious stones upon mesmeric “sensitives.”

  283 The chimney and chimney-piece of Galland are not

  Eastern: the H. V. uses “BukhßrÝ” = a place for steaming.

  284 i.e. “Rachel.”

  285 In the text “lakh,” the Anglicised “lac” = 100,000.

  286 This use of camphor is noted by Gibbon (D. and F. iii. 195).

  287 “ b o hawß” = climate: see vol. ii. 4.

  288 Galland makes this article a linen cloth wrapped about the skull-cap or core of the turban.

  289 Mr. Coote ( loc. cit. ) is unable to produce a puramythe containing all of “Ali Bßba;” but, for the two leading incidents he quotes from Prof. Sakellarios two tales collected in Cyprus One is Morgiana marking the village doors (), which has occurred doubtless a hundred times. The other, in the “Story of Drakos,” is an ogre, hight “Three Eyes,” who attempts the rescue of his wife with a party of blackamoors packed in bales and these are all discovered and slain.

  290 Dans la forÛt, says Galland.

  291 Or “Samsam,” The grain = Sesamum Orientale: hence the French, Sesame, ouvre-toi! The term is cabalistical, like S·lem, S·lam or Sh·lam in the Directorium Vit Human of Johannes di CapuÔ: Inquit vir: Ibam in nocte plenilunii et ascendebam super domum ubi furari intendebam, et accedens ad fenestram ubi radii lune ingrediebantur, et dicebam hanc coniurationem, scilicet sulem sulem, septies, deinde amplectebar lumen lune et sine lesione descendebam ad domum, etc. (p-25) par Joseph Derenbourg, Membre de l’Institut 1re Fascicule, Paris, F. Vieweg, 67, Rue de Richelieu, 1887.

  292 In the text “Jathßni” = the wife of an elder brother. Hindostani, like other Eastern languages, is rich in terms for kinship whereof English is so exceptionally poor. Mr. Francis Galtson, in his well-known work, “Hereditary Genius,” a misnomer by the by for “HeredTalent,” felt this want severely and was at pains to supply it.

  293In the text “Thag,” our English “Thug,” often pronounced moreover by the Briton with the sibilant “th.” It means simply a cheat: you say to your servant “T· barß Thag hai” = thou art a precious rascal; but it has also the secondary meaning of robber, assassin, and the tertiary of Bhawßni-worshippers who offer indiscriminate human sacrifices to the DeÙss of Destruction. The word and the thing have been made popular in England through the “Confessions of a Thug” by my late friend Meadows Taylor; and I may record my conviction that were the English driven out of India, “Thuggee,” like piracy in Cutch and in the Persian Gulf, would revive at the shortest possible time.

  294 i.e. the Civil Governor, who would want nothing better.

  295This is in Galland and it is followed by the H. V.; but it would be more natural to suppose that of the quarters two were hung up outside the door and the others within. VOL. XIII

  296 I am unwilling to alter the time honoured corruption: properly it is written Marjßnah = the “Coralline,” from Marjßn = red coral, for which see vols. ii. 100; vii. 373.

  297 i.e. the “ æIddah.” during which she could not marry.

  See vol. iii. 292.

  298 In Galland he is a savetier * * * naturellement gai, et qui avait toujours le mot pour rire: the H. V. naturally changed him to a tailor as the Chßmßr or leather-worker would be inadmissible to polite conversation.

  299 i.e. a leader of prayer; the Pers. “PÝsh-namßz” = fore-prayer, see vols. ii. 203; iv. 111 and 227. Galland has “Ýmßn,” which can mean only faith, belief, and in this blunder he is conscientiously followed by his translators — servum pecus

  300 Galland nails down the corpse in the bier — a Christian practice — and he certainly knew better. Moreover, prayers for the dead are mostly recited over the bier when placed upon the brink of the grave; nor is it usual for a woman to play so prominent a part in the ceremony.

  301 See vols. v. 111; ix. 163 and x. 47.

  302 Galland is less merciful, “Aussit¶t le conducteur fut dÚclarÚ digne de mort tout d’une voix, et il s’y condamna lui-mÛme,” etc. The criminal, indeed, condemns himself and firmly offers his neck to be stricken.

  303 In the text “Lauh,” for which see vol. v. 73.

  304 In Arab. “Kama” = he rose, which, in vulgar speech especially in Egypt, = he began. So in Spitta-Bey’s “Contes Arabes Modernes” () “Kßmat al-Sibhah dhßkat fi yad akhÝ-h” = the chaplet began (lit. arose) to wax tight in his brother’s hand. This sense is shadowed forth in classical Arabic.

  305 So in old Arabian history “KasÝr” (the Little One), the Arab Zopyrus, stows away in huge camel-bags the 2,000 warriors intended to surprise masterful Queen Zebba. Chronique de TabarÝ, vol. ii., 26. Also the armed men in boxes by which Shamar, King of Al-Yaman, took Shamar-kand = Shamar’s-town, now Sama
rkand. (Ibid. ii. 158.)

  306 i.e. for a walk, a “constitutional”: the phrase is very common in Egypt, and has occurred before.

  307 These visions are frequent in Al-Islam; see Pilgrimage

  iii. 254-55. Of course Christians are not subject to them, as

  Moslems also are never favoured with glimpses of the Blessed

  Virgin and the Saints; the best proof of their “Subjectivity.”

  308 For this word see De Sacy, Chrest. ii. 421. It has already occurred in The Nights, vol. iii. 295.

  309 Not a few pilgrims settle for a time or for life in the two Holy Places, which are thus kept supplied with fresh blood. See Pilgrimage ii. 260.

  310 i.e. Bayt al-Mukaddas, for which see vol. ii. 132.

  311 An affidavit amongst Moslems is “litis decisio,” as in the jurisprudence of medi val Europe.

  312 In Arab folk-lore there are many instances of such precocious boys — enfants terribles they must be in real life. In Ibn Khall. (iii. 104) we find notices of a book “Kitßb Nujabß al-Abnß” = Treatise on Distinguished Children, by Ibn Zakar al- Sakalli (the Sicilian), ob. A. D. 1169-70. And the boy-Kazi is a favourite role in the plays of peasant-lads who enjoy the irreverent “chaff” almost as much as when “making a Pasha.” This reminds us of the boys electing Cyrus as their King in sport (Herodotus, i. 114). For the cycle of “Precocious Children” and their adventures, see Mr. Clouston (Popular Tales, etc., ii. 1- 14), who enters into the pedigree and affiliation. I must, however, differ with that able writer when he remarks at the end, “And now we may regard the story of Valerius Maximus with suspicion, and that of Lloyd as absolutely untrue, so far as William Noy’s alleged share in the ‘case.’ “ The jest or the event happening again and again is no valid proof of its untruth; and it is often harder to believe in derivation than in spontaneous growth.

  313 In Galland Ali Cogia, Marchand de Bagdad, is directly followed by the Histoire du Cheval EnchantÚ. For this “Ebony Horse,” as I have called it, see vol. v. .

  314 “Bßn·” = a lady, a dame of high degree generally, e.g. the (Shah’s) Banu-i-Harem in James Morier (“The Mirza,” iii. 50), who rightly renders Pari Banu = Pari of the first quality. “Peri” (ParÝ) in its modern form has a superficial resemblance to “Fairy;” but this disappears in the “Pairika” of the Avesta and the “Pairik” of the modern Parsee. In one language only, the MultßnÝ, there is a masculine form for the word “Parß” = a he-fairy (Scinde, ii. 203). In Al-Islam these Peris are beautiful feminine spirits who, created after the “DÝvs” (Tabari, i. 7), mostly believe in Allah and the Koran and desire the good of mankind: they are often attacked by the said DÝvs, giants or demons, who imprison them in cages hung to the highest trees, and here the captives are visited by their friends who feed them with the sweetest of scents. I have already contrasted them with the green-coated pygmies to which the grotesque fancy of Northern Europe has reduced them. Bßn· in Pers. = a princess, a lady, and is still much used, e.g. Bßn·-Ý-Harim, the Dame of the Serraglio, whom foreigners call “Queen of Persia,” and rßm-Banu=“the calm Princess,” a nickname. A Greek story equivalent of Prince Ahmad is told by Pio in Contes Populaires Grecs (No. ii. ) and called {Greek}, the Golden box. Three youths ({Greek}) love the same girl and agree that whoever shall learn the best craft ({Greek}) shall marry her; one becomes an astrologer, the second can raise the dead, and the third can run faster than air. They find her at death’s door, and her soul, which was at her teeth ready to start, goes down ({Greek}).

  315 Light of the Day.

  316 Galland has “Bisnagar,” which the H. V. corrupts to Bishan-Garh = Vishnu’s Fort, an utter misnomer. Bisnagar, like Bijnagar, Beejanuggur, Vizianuggur, etc., is a Prakrit corruption of the Sanskrit Vijßyanagara = City of Victory, the far-famed Hindu city and capital of the Narasingha or Lord of Southern India, mentioned in The Nights, vols. vi. 18; ix. 84. Nicolo de’ Conti in the xvth century found it a magnificent seat of Empire some fifteen marches south of the pestilential mountains which contained the diamond mines. Accounts of its renown and condition in the last generation have been given by James Grant (“Remarks on the Dekkan”) and by Captain Moore (“Operations of Little’s Detachment against Tippoo Sultan”). The latest description of it is in “The Indian Empire,” by Sir William W. Hunter. Vijßyanagar, village in Bellary district, Madras, lat. 15 degrees 18’ N., long. 76 degrees 30’ E., pop. (1871), 437, inhabiting 172 houses. The proper name of this village is Hampi, but Vijßyanagar was the name of the dynasty (?) and of the kingdom which had its capital here and was the last great Hindu power of the South. Founded by two adventurers in the middle of the xivth century, it lasted for two centuries till its star went down at Tßlikot in A. D. 1565. For a description of the ruins of the old city of Vijßyanagar, which covers a total area of nine square miles, see “Murray’s Handbook for Madras,” by E. B. Eastwick (1879), vol. ix. . Authentic history in Southern India begins with the Hindu kingdom of Vijßyanagar, or Narsinha, from A. D. 1118 to 1565. The capital can still be traced within the Madras district of Bellary, on the right bank of the Tungabhadra river — vast ruins of temples, fortifications, tanks and bridges, haunted by hy nas and snakes. For at least three centuries Vijßyanagar ruled over the southern part of the Indian triangle. Its Rajas waged war and made peace on equal terms with the Mohamadan sultans of the Deccan. See vol. iv. , Sir W. W. Hunter’s “Imperial Gazetteer of India,” Edit. 1881.

  317 The writer means the great Bazar, the Indian “Chauk,” which = our English Carfax or Carfex (Carrefour) and forms the core of ancient cities in the East. It is in some places, as Damascus, large as one of the quarters, and the narrow streets or lanes, vaulted over or thatched, are all closed at night by heavy doors well guarded by men and dogs. Trades are still localised, each owning its own street, after the fashion of older England, where we read of Drapers’ Lane and Butchers’ Row; Lombard Street, Cheapside and Old Jewry.

  318 The local name of the Patna ganzes. The term was originally applied to the produce of the Coan looms, which, however, was anticipated in ancient Egypt. See of “L’ArchÚologie gyptienne” (Paris, A. Quantin) of the learned Professor G. Maspero, a most able popular work by a savant who has left many regrets on the banks of Nilus.

  319 The great prototype of the Flying Carpet is that of Sulayman bin Dß·d, a fable which the Koran (chap. xxi. 81) borrowed from the Talmud, not from “Indian fictions.” It was of green sendal embroidered with gold and silver and studded with precious stones, and its length and breadth were such that all the Wise King’s host could stand upon it, the men to the left and the Jinns to the right of the throne; and when all were ordered, the Wind, at royal command, raised it and wafted it whither the Prophet would, while an army of birds flying overhead canopied the host from the sun. In the Middle Ages the legend assumed another form. “Duke Richard, surnamed ‘Richard sans peur,’ walking with his courtiers one evening in the forest of Moulineaux, near one of his castles on the banks of the Seine, hearing a prodigious noise coming towards him, sent one of his esquires to know what was the matter, who brought him word that it was a company of people under a leader or King. Richard, with five hundred of his bravest Normans, went out to see a sight which the peasants were so accustomed to that they viewed it two or three times a week without fear. The sight of the troop, preceded by two men, who spread a cloth on the ground, made all the Normans run away, and leave the Duke alone. He saw the strangers form themselves into a circle on the cloth, and on asking who they were, was told that they were the spirits of Charles V., King of France, and his servants, condemned to expiate their sins by fighting all night against the wicked and the damned. Richard desired to be of their party, and receiving a strict charge not to quit the cloth, was conveyed with them to Mount Sinai, where, leaving them without quitting the cloth, he said his prayers in the Church of St. Catherine’s Abbey there, while they were fighting, and returned with them. In proof of the truth of this story, he brought back half the wedding-ring of a knight i
n that convent, whose wife, after six years, concluded him dead, and was going to take a second husband.” (Note in the Lucknow Edition of The Nights.)

  320 Amongst Eastern peoples, and especially adepts, the will of man is not a mere term for a mental or cerebral operation, it takes the rank of a substance; it becomes a mighty motive power, like table-turning and other such phenomena which, now looked upon as child’s play, will perform a prime part in the Kinetics of the century to come. If a few pair of hands imposed upon a heavy dinner-table can raise it in the air, as I have often seen, what must we expect to result when the new motive force shall find its Franklin and be shown to the world as real “Vril”? The experiment of silently willing a subject to act in a manner not suggested by speech or sign has been repeatedly tried and succeeded in London drawing-rooms; and it has lately been suggested that atrocious crimes have resulted from overpowering volition. In cases of paralysis the Faculty is agreed upon the fact that local symptoms disappear when the will-power returns to the brain. And here I will boldly and baldly state my theory that, in sundry cases, spectral appearances (ghosts) and abnormal smells and sounds are simply the effect of a Will which has, so to speak, created them.

  321 The text has “But-Khanah” = idol-house (or room) syn. with “But-Kadah” = image-cuddy, which has been proposed as the derivation of the disputed “Pagoda.” The word “Khßnah” also appears in our balcony, origin. “balcony,” through the South-European tongues, the Persian being “Bßlß-khßnah” = high room. From “Kadah” also we derive “cuddy,” now confined to nautical language.

  322 Europe contains sundry pictures which have, or are supposed to have, this property; witness the famous Sundarium bearing the head of Jesus. The trick, for it is not Art, is highly admired by the credulous.

  323 i.e. the Hindu Scripture or Holy Writ, e.g.

  “Kßma-Shastra” = the Cupid-gospel.