One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  5 I have hitherto translated “wa adraka (masc.) Shahrázáda al-Sabáh,” as = And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day; but it is more correct as well as more picturesque to render the phrase “was surprised (or overtaken) by the dawn.”

  6 Arab. “‘Adrán,” the root being ‘Adr = much and heavy rain.

  7 For “Halwá” see vol. ii. p-212. Scott (vol. vi. 413) explains “Hámiz” as “a species of small grain,” probably confounding it with Hummus (or Himmis) = vetches. It is the pop. term for pickles, “sour meat” as opposed to “sweetmeats.” The Arabs divide the camel’s pasture into “Khullah” which means sweet food called bread and into “Hámiz” termed fruit: the latter is composed mainly of salsolaceć, and as camels feed upon it during the hot season it makes them drink. Hence in Al-Hariri (Preface) “I change the pasture,” i.e., I pass from grave to gay, from light to dignified style. (Chenery, ).

  8 This is the modern version of the tale which the author of “Zadig” has made familiar to Europe. The hero is brought before the King and Queen of Babylon for stealing a horse and a dog; and, when held by the chief “Destour” (priest) to be a thief, justifies himself. I have given in full the older history from Tabari, the historian (vixit A.D. 839-923). For the tracker (“Paggí”) and the art of tracking see Sind Revisited, i. 180-183. I must again express my wonder that the rural police of Europe still disdain the services of trained dogs when these are about to be introduced into the army.

  9 Arab. “Bitá’i”=my own. I have already noticed that this is the Egypt. form and the Nilotes often turn the ‘Ayn into an H, e.g. Bitáht for Bitá’at, e.g. Ash Shabakah bitáht as-Sayd, thy net for fishing. (Spitta Bey, Contes Arabes Modernes, .)

  10 Arab. “Mukabbab;” prop. vaulted, arched, domed in Kubbah (or cupola)-shape.

  11 Arab. “Firásah.” “Sciences are of three kinds: one the science of Faith, another the science of Physiognomy (Firásah), and another the science of the Body; but unless there be the science of Physiognomy, other science availeth not.” So says “The Forty Vizirs:” Lady’s vith story and Vizir’s xxxist story. For a note on “Firásah” see vol. viii. 326.

  12 Arab. “In lam tazidd Kayní” = lit. unless thou oppose my forming or composition.

  13 Arab. “Faráfish,” a word which I cannot find in the

  dictionary, and so translate according to the context. Dr.

  Steingass remarks that the nearest approach to it would be

  “Faráfík” (plur. of Furfák)=fine, thin or soft bread.

  14 See, in the “Turkish Tales” by Petis de la Croix (Weber, Tales of the East, vol. iii. 196), the History of the Sophi of Baghdad, where everything returns to (or resembles) its origin. Thus the Wazir who proposed to cut up a criminal and hang him in the shambles was the self-convicted son of a butcher; he who advised boiling him down and giving his flesh to the dogs was the issue of a cook, and the third who proposed to pardon him was nobly born. See Night cccxli.

  15 Arab. “Al-Mafyaat,” lit. = a shady place; a locality whereupon the sun does not rise.

  16 Arab. “Ja’ídiyah,” a favourite word in this MS. “Ja’ad” = a curl, a liberal man: Ja’ad al-yad = miserly, and Abú ja’dah = father of curls, = a wolf. Scott (passim) translates the word “Sharper;” Gore Ouseley “Labourer;” and De Sacy (Chrestomathie ii. 369, who derives it from Ju’d = avoir les cheveux crépus): in Egypt, homme de la populace, canaille. He finds it in the Fabrica Linguć Arab. of Germanus of Silesia () = ignavis, hebes, stupidus, esp. a coward. Ibrahim Salamah of Alexandria makes the term signify in Syria, impudent, thieving, wicked. Spitta Bey translates this word musicien ambulant in his Gloss. to Contes Arabes, . According to Dr. Steingass, who, with the Muhít al-Muhít, reads “Ju’aydíyah,” Ju’ayd is said to be the P. N. of an Egyptian clown, who, with bell-hung cap and tambourine in hand, wandered about the streets singing laudatory doggrel and pestering the folk for money. Many vagabonds who adopted this calling were named after him and the word was generalised in that sense.

  17 MS. vol. iii. p-121. Scott, “Story of the Three Sharpers and the Sultan,” p-17; Gauttier, Histoire des trois filous et d’un Sulthan, vi. 165-176.

  18 Arab. Yasrahú = roaming, especially at early dawn; hence the wolf is called “Sirhán,” and Yaklishu (if I read it aright) is from {root} Kulsh, and equivalent to “kicking” (their heels).

  19 Nusf = half a dirham, drachma or franc, see ii. 37; vi. 214, etc.

  20 Bast, a preparation of Bhang (Cannabis Sativa), known in Egypt but not elsewhere: see Lane, M. E., chapt. xv. Here it is made synonymous with “Hashísh” = Bhang in general.

  21 Ghaushah, a Persianism for which “Ghaughá” is a more common form. “Ghaush” is a tree of hard wood whereof musical instruments were made; hence the mod. words “Ghásha” and “Ghawwasha” = he produced a sound, and “Ghaushah” = tumult, quarrel. According to Dr. Steingass, the synon. in the native dicts. are “Khisám,” “Laghat,” “Jalabah,” etc.

  22 Said ironicč, the jeweller being held to be one of the dishonest classes, like the washerman, the water-carrier, the gardener, etc. In England we may find his representative in the “silversmith,” who will ask a pound sterling for a bit of metal which cost him perhaps five shillings or even less, and who hates to be bought by weight. The Arab. has “Jauhar-ji,” a Turkish form for Jauhari; and here “jauhar” apparently means a pearl, the stone once peculiar to royalty in Persia, but the kind of gem is left undetermined.

  23 Arab. “Sáza, yasízu,” not a dictionary word. Perhaps it is a clerical error for “Sasa,” he groomed or broke in a horse, hence understood all about horses.

  24 In the orig. “Shorbah,” Pers. = a mess of pottage: I have altered it for reasons which will presently appear.

  25 Arab. “Ghabasah,” from Ghabas=obscure, dust-coloured.

  26 Arab. “Súsah” = a weevil, a moth, a worm. It does not mean simply a flaw, but a live animal (like our toads in the rock); and in the popular version of the tale the lapidary discovers its presence by the stone warming in his hand.

  27 Arab. “Mashá’íli” the cresset-bearer who acted hangman: see vol. i. 259, etc.

  28 Arab. “Ta’kíl,” tying up a camel’s foreleg above the knee; the primary meaning of ‘Akl, which has so many secondary significations.

  29 Arab. “Suwán,” lit. = rock, syenite, hard stone, flint; here a marteau de guerre.

  30 Arab. “Hálik” = intensely black, so as to look blue under a certain angle of light.

  31 Arab. “Rikáb” (= stirrup) + “dár” Pers. (= holder).

  32 I have ransacked dictionaries and vocabularies but the word is a mere blank.

  33 Arab. “Jámúsah.” These mules are believed in by the

  Arabs. Shaw and other travellers mention the Mauritanian

  “Jumart,” the breed between a bull and a mare (or jennyass) or an ass and a cow. Buffon disbelieved in the mongrel, holding it to be a mere bardeau, got by a stallion horse out of an ass.

  Voltaire writes “Jumarre” after German fashion and Littré derives it from jument + art (finale péjorative), or the Languedoc “Gimere” which according to Diez suggests “Chimćra.” Even in London not many years ago a mule was exhibited as the issue of a horse and a stag. No Indian ever allows his colt to drink buffalo’s milk, the idea being that a horse so fed will lie down in instead of fording or swimming a stream.

  34 See Sindbad the Seaman, vol. vi. 9.

  35 Arab. “Mubattat” from batt = a duck: in Persia the Batt-i-May is a wine-glass shaped like the duck. Scott (vi. 12) translates “thick and longish.”

  36 Arab. “his Harím”; see vol. i. 165; iv. 126. VOL. XIV.

  37 Again “he” for she. See vol. ii. 179.

  38 Arab. “Gháziyah”: for the plur. “Ghawázi” see vol. i. 214; also Lane (M.E.) index under “Ghazeeyehs.”

  39 The figure prothesis without apodosis. Understand “will slay thee”: see vol. vi. 203.

  40 Because the girl had not been a professional dan
cer, i.e a public prostitute.

  41 Arab. “Amán” = quarter, mercy: see vol. i. 342.

  42 For the “Mandíl” of mercy see vol. i. 343; for that of dismissal x. 47 and Ibn Khall. iv. 211. In Spitta Bey’s “Contes Arabes” (), I find throwing the kerchief (tarammá al mahramah) used in the old form of choosing a mate. In the Tale of the Sultan of Al-Yaman and his three Sons (Supplem. Nights, vol. iv.) the Princesses drop their kerchiefs upon the head of the Prince who had saved them, by way of pointing him out.

  43 Arab. “Sattár:” see vols. i. 258 and iii. 41.

  44 In the text “Arghá” for “Arkhá” = he “brayed” (like an ostrich, etc.) for “his limbs relaxed.” It reminds one of the German missionary’s fond address to his flock, “My prethren, let us bray!”

  45 Arab. “Azbad,” from {root} Zbd (Zabd) = foaming, frothing, etc., whence “Zubaydah,” etc.

  46 Arab. {root} “Zabh” (Zbh) = the ceremonial killing of animals for food: see vols. v. 391; viii. 44. I may note, as a proof of how modern is the civilisation of Europe that the domestic fowl was unknown to Europe till about the time of Pericles (ob. B.C. 429).

  47 See in “The Forty Vizirs” (Lady’s ivth Tale) how Khizr tells the King the origin of his Ministers from the several punishments which they propose for the poor man. I have noticed this before in Night cccxxxiii. Boethius, translated by Chaucer, explains the underlying idea, “All thynges seken ayen to hir propre course and all thynges rejoysen in hir returninge agayne to hir nature.”

  48 For the Taylasán hood see vol. iv. 286.

  49 The “Kalansuwah”-cap is noted by Lane (A. N. chapt. iii. 22) as “Kalensuweh.” In M. E. (Supplement i. “The Copts”) he alters the word to Kalás’weh and describes it as a strip of woollen stuff, of a deep blue or black colour, about four inches wide, attached beneath the turban and hanging down the back to the length of about a foot. It is the distinguishing mark of the Coptic regular clergy.

  50 W. M. MS. vol. iii. p-141. Scott, “The Adventures of the abdicated Sultan,” p-19; including the “History of Mahummud, Sultan of Cairo,” p-30.

  51 “Káhirah.” I repeat my belief (Pilgrimage i. 171) that “Káhirah,” whence our “Cairo” through the Italian corruption, means not la victorieuse (Medinat al-Káhirah) as D’Herbelot has it; but City of Káhir or Mars the planet. It was so called because as Richardson informed the world (sub voce) it was founded in A.H. 358 (= A.D. 968) when the warlike planet was in the ascendant by the famous General Jauhar a Dalmatian renegade (not a “Greek slave”) for the first of the Fatimite dynasty Al-Mu’izz li ‘l-dini ‘lláh.

  52 According to Caussin de Perceval (pčre) in his translation of the “Contes Arabes,” there are four wonders in the Moslem world: (1) the Pharos of Alexandria; (2) the Bridge of Sanjia in Northern Syria; (3) The Church of Rohab (Edessa); and (4) the Amawi Mosque of Damascus.

  53 Arab. “Faddah,” lit. = silver, because made of copper alloyed with nobler metal; the smallest Egyptian coin = Nuss (i.e. Nusf, or half a dirham) and the Turk. paráh. It is the fortieth of the piastre and may be assumed at the value of a quarter-farthing.

  54 This word, in Egypt. “Harág,” is the cry with which the

  Dallál (broker) announces each sum bidden at an auction.

  55 The Portuguese Xerafim: Supplemental Nights, vol. iii. 166.

  56 A Khan or caravanserai: see vol. i. 266 and Pilgrimage i. 60.

  57 Arab. “Hilm” (vision) “au ‘Ilm” (knowledge) a phrase peculiar to this MS.

  58 The careless scribe forgets that the Sultan is speaking and here drops into the third person. This “Enallage of persons” is, however, Koranic and therefore classical: Arab critics aver that in such cases the “Hikáyah” (= literal reproduction of a discourse, etc.) passes into an “Ikhbár” = mere account of the same discourse). See Al Mas’údi iii. 216. I dare not reproduce this figure in English.

  59 Arab. “Auzah,” the Pers. Oták and the Turk. Otah (vulg.

  “Oda” whence “Odalisque”), a popular word in Egypt and Syria.

  60 Arab. “Al-Afandiyah” showing the late date or reduction of the tale. The Turkish word derives from the Romaic Afentis (?f??t??) the corrupted O.G. a????t?? = an absolute commander, and “authentie.” The word should not be written as usual “Effendi,” but “Efendi,” as Prof. Galland has been careful to do.

  61 Arab. “Al-dakhlah”; repeatedly referred to in The Nights. The adventure is a replica of that in “Abu Mohammed hight Lazybones,” vol. iv., p-174.

  62 Usual in the East, not in England, where some mothers are idiots enough not to tell their daughters what to expect on the wedding night. Hence too often unpleasant surprises, disgust and dislike. The most modern form is that of the chloroform’d bride upon whose pillow the bridegroom found a paper pinned and containing the words, “Mamma says you’re to do what you like.”

  63 Arab. “Akhaztu dam wajhhi-há.”

  64 Arab. “Dilk” more commonly “Khirkah,” the tattered and pieced robe of a religious mendicant.

  65 Arab. “Darbálah.” Scott () must have read “Gharbálah” when he translated “A turban full of holes as a sieve.” In classical Arabic the word is written “Darbalah,” and seems to correspond with the Egyptian “Darábukkah,” a tabor of wood or earthenware figured by Lane (M.E. chapt. xviii.). It is, like the bowl, part of the regular Darwaysh’s begging gear.

  66 Vulg. Maghribi. For this word see the story of Alaeddin,

  Supplem., vol. iii. 51. According to Heron, “History of

  Maugraby,” the people of Provence, Languedoc and Gascony use

  Maugraby as a term of cursing: Maugrebleu being used in other

  parts of France.

  67 In text “Fanárát”; the Arab. plur. of the Pers. “Fanár” = a light-house, and here equiv. to the Mod. Gr. fa???, a lantern, the Egypt. “Fánús.”

  68 This Sultan of the Jann preceded by sweepers, flag-bearers and tent-pitchers always appears in the form of second-sight called by Egyptians “Darb al Mandal” = striking the magic circle in which the enchanter sits when he conjures up spirits. Lane (M. E. chapt. xii.) first made the “Cairo Magician” famous in Europe, but Herklots and others had described a cognate practice in India many years before him.

  69 Arab, “Jáwúsh” for Cháwush (vulg. Chiaush) Turk. = an army-serjeant, a herald or serjeant-at-arms; an apparitor or officer of the Court of Chancery (not a “Mace-bearer or Messenger,” Scott). See vol. vii. 327.

  70 Arab. from Persian “Bímáristán,” a “sick-house,” hospital, a mad-house: see vol. i. 288.

  71 The text says only that “he was reading:” sub. the Holy

  Volume.

  72 MS. vol. iii., p-168. Scott, “Story of the First Lunatic,” p 44. Gauttier, Histoire du Premier Fou, vol. vi. 187. It is identical with No. ii. of Chavis and Cazotte, translated by C. de Perceval, Le Bimaristan (i.e. the Hospital), ou Histoire du jeune Marchand de Bagdad et de la Dame inconnue (vol. viii. p-180). Heron terms it the “Story of Halechalbe (Ali Chelebi?) and the Unknown Lady,” and the narrative is provided with a host of insipid and incorrect details, such as “A gentleman enjoying his pipe.” The motif of this tale is common in Arab. folk-lore, and it first appears in the “Tale of Azíz and Azízah,” ii. 328. A third variant will occur further on.

  73 Spelt in vol. iii. 143 and elsewhere, “Khwájá” for

  “Khwájah.”

  74 Arab. “Hubban li-raasik,” = out of love for thy head, i.e. from affection for thee. Dr. Steingass finds it analogous with the Koranic “Hubban li ‘llahi” (ii. 160), where it is joined with “Ashaddu” = stronger, as regards love to or for Allah, more Allah loving. But it can stand adverbially by itself = out of love for Allah, for Allah’s sake.

  75 Arab. “Zahr,” lit. and generically a blossom; but often used in a specific sense throughout The Nights.

  76 Arab. “Kursi” here = a square wooden seat without back and used for sitting cross-legged. See Suppl. vol. i. 10.

  77 Arab. “Sujj�
�dah” = lit. a praying carpet, which Lane calls “Seggádeh.”

  78 Arab. “Wakíl,” lit. = agent: here the woman’s representative, corresponding roughly with the man who gives away the bride amongst ourselves.

  79 The mention of coffee and sherbet, here and in the next page, makes the tale synchronous with that of Ma’arúf or the xviith. century.

  80 The MS. writes “Zardakát” for “Zardakhán”: see below.

  81 Scott () has “mahazzim (for maházim), al Zerdukkaut (for al-Zardakhán)” and “munnaskif (for manáshif) al fillfillee.” Of the former he notes () “What this composition is I cannot define: it may be translated compound of saffron, yoke of egg or of yellowish drugs.” He evidently confounds it with the Pers. Zard-i-Kháyah = yoke of egg. Of the second he says “compound of peppers, red, white and black.” Lane (The Nights, vol. i. ) is somewhat scandalised at such misrepresentation, translating the first “apron-napkins of thick silk,” and the second “drying towels of Líf or palm-fibre,” further suggesting that the text may have dropped a conjunction = drying towels and fibre.

  82 Arab. “Líwán al-barrání,” lit. = the outer bench in the

  “Maslakh” or apodyterium.

  83 Arab. “Ma’jún,” pop. applied to an electuary of Bhang

  (Cannabis sativa): it is the “Maagoon” sold by the “Maagungee” of Lane (M.E. chapt. xv.). Here, however, the term may be used in the sense of “confections” generally, the sweetmeats eaten by way of restoratives in the Bath.

  84 He speaks of taking her maidenhead as if it were porter’s work and so defloration was regarded by many ancient peoples. The old Nilotes incised the hymen before congress; the Phnicians, according to Saint Athanasius, made a slave of the husband’s abate it. The American Chibchas and Caribs looked upon virginity as a reproach, proving that the maiden had never inspired love. For these and other examples see , chap. iii. “L’Amour dans l’Humanité,” by P. Mantegazza, a civilised and unprejudiced traveller.

  85 Arab. “Zill,” lit. “shadow me.”

  86 Arab. “Istinshák,” one of the items of the “Wuzú” or lesser ablution: see vol. v. 198.