241 In text “Irham turham:” this is one of the few passive verbs still used in popular parlance.
242 This formula will be in future suppressed.
243 I spare my readers the full formula:— “Yúsuf took it and brake the seal (fazza-hu) and read it and comprehended its contents and purport and significance: and, after perusing it,” etc. These forms, decies repetitć, may go down with an Eastern audience, but would be intolerable in a Western volume. The absence of padding, however, reduces the story almost to a patchwork of doggerel rhymes, for neither I nor any man can “make a silk purse from a suille ear.”
244 Here again in full we have:— “He mounted the she-camel and fared and ceased not faring until he drew near to the Palace of Al-Hayfá, where he dismounted and concealed his dromedary within the same cave. Then he swam the stream until he had reached the Castle and here he landed and appeared before Al-Hayfá,” etc.
245 “’Tis dogged as does it” was the equivalent expression of our British Aristotle; the late Charles Darwin.
246 Arab. “Jannat al-Khuld” = the Eternal Garden: vol. ix. 214.
247 [I read: Wa inní la-ar’ákum wa ar’ŕ widáda-kum, wa-hakki-kumú antum a’azzu ‘l-Warŕ ‘andí = And I make much of you and of your love; by your rights (upon me, formula of swearing), you are to me the dearest of mankind. — ST.]
248 In text: “He swam the stream and bestrode his she-camel.”
249 In text “Then she folded the letter and after sealing it,” etc.
250 Not “her hands” after Christian fashion.
251 In text, “Ahyaf,” alluding to Al-Hayfá.
252 Arab. “Al-Kawá’ib,” also P. N. of the river.
253 This is moralising with a witness, and all it means is “handsome is that handsome does.”
254 In text “‘Arsh” = the Ninth Heaven; vol. v.167.
255 The Shi’ah doctrine is here somewhat exaggerated.
256 “Them” for “her,” as has often occurred.
257 In the original “entrusted to her the missive:” whereas the letter is delivered afterwards.
258 The cloud (which contains rain) is always typical of liberality and generous dealing.
259 The Koranic chapt. No. xx., revealed at Meccah and recounting the (apocryphal) history of Moses.
260 The “broken” (wall) to the North of the Ka’abah:
Pilgrimage iii. 165.
261 i.e. “Delight of the Age:” see vol. ii. 81.
262 In the text written “Imriyyu ‘l-Kays”: for this pre-Islamitic poet see Term. Essay, . “The Man of Al-Kays” or worshipper of the Priapus-idol was a marking figure in Arabian History. The word occurs, with those of Aera, Dusares (Theos Ares), Martabu, Allat and Manát in the Nabathćan (Arabian) epigraphs brought by Mr. Doughty from Arabia Deserta (vol. i. p-184).
263 In text “Zakka,” which means primarily a bird feeding her young.
264 In the text “months and years,” the latter seeming de trop.
265 Or “Yathrib” = Al-Madinah; vol. iv. 114.
266 Scott (vi. 358 et seqq.) who makes Ali bin Ibrahim, “a faithful eunuch,” renders the passage, “by some accident the eunuch’s turban unfortunately falling off, the precious stones (N.B. the lovers’ gift) which, with a summary of the adventures (!) of Eusuff and Aleefa, and his own embassy to Sind, were wrapped in the folds, tumbled upon the floor.”
267 i.e. “Drawer-out of Descriptions.”
268 i.e. a Refuser, a Forbidder.
269 i.e. both could not be seen at the same time.
270 [The MS. has T Kh D H, which the translator reads “takhuz-hu.” I suspect that either the second or eighth form of “ahad” is meant, in the sense that thou comest to an agreement (Ittihád) with him. — ST.]
271 In the MS. v. 327, we find four hemistichs which evidently belong to Al-Mihrján; these are: —
Hadst come to court her in fairer guise * I had given Al-Hayfá in
bestest style;
But in mode like this hast thou wrought me wrong * And made Envy
gibe me with jeering smile.”
Also I have been compelled to change the next sentence, which in the original is, “And hardly had King Al-Mihrján ended his words,” etc.
272 In this doggerel, “Kurúd” (apes) occurs as a rhyme twice in three couplets.
273 “Upon the poll of his head” (‘alŕ hámati-hi) says the
Arabian author, and instantly stultifies the words.
274 Arab. “Haudaj” = a camel-litter: the word, often corrupted to Hadáj, is now applied to a rude pack-saddle, a wooden frame of mimosa-timber set upon a “witr” or pad of old tent-cloth, stuffed with grass and girt with a single cord. Vol. viii. 235, Burckhardt gives “Maksar,” and Doughty (i. 437) “Muksir” as the modern Badawi term for the crates or litters in which are carried the Shaykhly housewives.
275 In text “Sunnah” = the practice, etc., of the Prophet: vol. v. 36, 167.
276 This, as the sequel shows, is the far-famed Musician,
Ibrahim of Mosul: vol. vii. 113.
277 In the text King of Al-Sín = China, and in of MS. Yusuf is made “King of China and Sind,” which would be much like “King of Germany and Brentford.”
278 This is the full formula repeated in the case of all the ten blessed damsels. I have spared the patience of my readers.
279 This formula of the cup and lute is decies repetita, justifying abbreviation.
280 i.e. The Beginner, the Originator.
281 The Zephyr, or rather the cool north breeze of upper
Arabia, vol. viii. 62.
282 The “Full Moon”; plur. Budúr: vols. iii., 228, iv., 249.
283 “Dann” = amphora, Gr. ?ľf??e?? short for ?ľf?f??e?? = having two handles.
284 “The large-hipped,” a form of Rádih.
285 In text “Minba’ada-hu” making Jesus of later date than
Imr al-Kays.
286 i.e. “The Delight”: also a P.N. of one of the Heavens: vols. iii. 19; iv. 143.
287 i.e. Joy, Contentment.
288 In text “Lá khuzibat Ayday al-Firák,” meaning, “may separation never ornament herself in sign of gladness at the prospect of our parting.” For the Khazíb-dye see vol. iii. 105.
289 i.e. “Bloom of the Tribe.” “Zahrat” = a blossom especially yellow and commonly applied to orange-flower. In line 10 of the same page the careless scribe calls the girl “Jauharat (Gem) of the Tribe.”
290 For this Hell, see vol. viii. 111.
291 “Core” or “Life-blood of Hearts.”
292 Presently explained.
293 In text “Afrákh al-Jinn,” lit. = Chicks of the Jinns, a mere vulgarism: see “Farkh ‘Akrab,” vol. iv. 46.
294 “Ibráa” = deliverance from captivity, etc. Yá = í, and Mím = m, composing the word “Ibrahím.” The guttural is concealed in the Hamzah of Ibráa, a good illustration of Dr. Steingass’s valuable remarks in Terminal Essay, p, 236.
295 “Kalím” = one who speaks with another, a familiar. Moses’ title is Kalímu’llah on account of the Oral Law and certain conversations at Mount Sinai.
296 In text “Istífá” = choice, selection: hence Mustafŕ = the Chosen Prophet, Mohammed; vols i. 7; ii. 40.
297 In text “Jazr” = cutting, strengthening, flow (of tide).
298 In the text “Náfishah” = Pers. “Náfah,” derived, I presume, from the {root} “Náf” = belly or testicle, the part which in the musk-deer was supposed to store up the perfume.
299 For ‘Nahávand,” the celebrated site in Al-Irak where the Persians sustained their final defeat at the hands of the Arabs A.H. 21. It is also one of the many musical measures, like the Ispaháni, the Rásti, the Rayháni, the Búsalik, the Navá, etc., borrowed from the conquered ‘Ajamí.
300 This second half of the story is laid upon the lines of
“The Man of Al-Yaman and his six Slave-girls”: vol. iv. 245.
301 This history again belongs to the class termed “Ab
tar = tailless. In the text we find for all termination, “After this he (Yúsuf) invited Mohammed ibn Ibrahim to lie that night in the palace.” Scott (vi. 364) ends after his own fashion:— “They (the ten girls) recited extempore verses before the caliph, but the subject of each was so expressive of their wish to return to their beloved sovereign, and delivered in so affecting a manner, that Mamoon, though delighted with their wit and beauty, sacrificed his own pleasure to their feelings, and sent them back to Eusuff by the officer who carried the edict, confirming him in his dominions, where the prince of Sind and the fair Aleefa continued long, amid a numerous progeny, to live the protectors of their happy subjects.”
302 This tale is headless as the last is tailless. We must suppose that soon after Mohammed ibn Ibrahim had quitted the Caliph, taking away the ten charmers, Al-Maamun felt his “breast straitened” and called for a story upon one of his Ráwís named Ibn Ahyam. This name is repeated in the text and cannot be a clerical error for Ibn Ibrahim.
303 Scott (vi. 366) “Adventures of the Three Princes, sons of the Sultan of China.”
304 In the text “‘Ajam,” for which see vol. i. 2, 120. Al-Irak, I may observe, was the head-quarters of the extensive and dangerous Khárijite heresy; and like Syria has ever a bad name amongst orthodox Moslems.
305 In the Arab. “Salkh,” meaning also a peculiar form of circumcision, for which see Pilgrimage iii. 80-81. The Jew’s condition was of course a trick, presenting an impossibility and intended as a mere pretext for murdering an enemy to his faith. Throughout the Eastern world this idea prevails, and both Sir Moses Montefiore and M. Cremieux were utterly at fault and certainly knew it when they declared that Europe was teaching it to Asia. Every Israelite community is bound in self-defence, when the murder of a Christian child or adult is charged upon any of its members, to court the most searching enquiry and to abate the scandal with all its might.
306 The text has “Fí Kíb,” which Scott (vol. vi. 367) renders “a mat.” [According to the Muhít “Kíb” is a small thick mat used to produce shade, pl. “Kiyáb” and “Akyáb.” The same authority says the word is of Persian origin, but this seems an error, unless it be related to “Keb” with the Yá majhúl, which in the Appendix to the Burháni Káti’ is given as synonymous with “Pech,” twist, fold. Under “Bardí” = papyrus the Muhít mentions that this is the material from which the mats known by the name of “Akyáb” are made. — ST.]
307 The text has here “Wasayah,” probably a clerical error for “wa Miah” (spelt “Máyah”), and a hundred pair of pigeons. — ST.]
308 Showing utter ignorance of the Jewish rite which must always be performed by the Mohel, an official of the Synagogue duly appointed by the Sheliach = legatus; and within eight days after birth. The rite consists of three operations. Milah = the cut; Priah = tearing the foreskin and Mezzízah = applying styptics to the wound. The latter process has become a matter of controversy and the Israelite community of Paris, headed by the Chief Rabbi, M. Zadoc Kahin, has lately assembled to discuss the question. For the difference between Jewish and Moslem circumcision see vol. v. 209.
309 The Jewish quarter (Hárah), which the Israelites themselves call “Hazer,” = a court-yard, an inclosure. In Mayer’s valuable “Conversations-Lexicon” the Italian word is derived from the Talmudic “Ghet” = divorce, separation (as parting the Hebrews from the rest of the population) and the Rev. S. R. Melli, Chief Rabbi of Trieste, has kindly informed me that the word is Chaldaic.
310 [Ar. “Sarmújah,” from Persian “Sar-múzah,” a kind of hose or gaiter worn over a boot. — ST.]
311 [Arab. “Yastanít,” aor. to the preter. “istanat,” which has been explained, . — ST.]
312 The bed would be made of a carpet or thin mattress strewn upon the stucco flooring of the terrace-roof. But the ignorant scribe overlooks the fact that by Mosaic law every Jewish house must have a parapet for the “Sakf” (flat roof), a precaution neglected by Al-Islam.
313 Good old classical English. In the “Breeches Bible” (A.D. 1586) we read, “But a certaine woman cast a piece of millstone upon Abimelech’s head and broke his brain-panne” (Judges ix. 33).
314 [The words “‘Irz,” protection, in the preceding sentence, “Hurmah” and “Shatáráh” explain each other mutually. The formula “fí ‘irzak” (vulg. “arzak”), I place myself under thy protection, implies an appeal to one’s honour (“‘Irz”). Therefore the youth says: “Inna házih Hurmah lam ‘alay-há Shatárah,” i.e. “Truly this one is a woman” (in the emphatic sense of a sacred or forbidden object; “this woman” would be “házih al-Hurmah”), “I must not act vilely or rashly towards her,” both vileness and rashness belonging to the many significations of “Shatárah,” which is most usually “cleverness.” — ST.]
315 In the text “Sind,” still confounding this tale with the preceding.
316 In text “Intihába ‘l furas,” lit. = the snatching of opportunities, a jingle with “Kanas.”
317 [Compare with this episode the viith of Spitta Bey’s
Tales: Histoire du Prince qui apprit un métier. — ST.]
318 i.e. enables a man to conceal the pressure of impecuniosity.
319 In text “Al-Sádah wa al-Khatáyát.”
320 Subaudi, “that hath not been pierced.” “The first night,” which is often so portentous a matter in England and upon the Continent (not of North America), is rarely treated as important by Orientals. A long theoretical familiarity with the worship of Venus
Leaves not much mystery for the nuptial night.
Such lore has been carefully cultivated by the “young person” with the able assistance of the ancient dames of the household, of her juvenile companions and co-evals and especially of the slave-girls. Moreover not a few Moslems, even Egyptians, the most lecherous and salacious of men, in all ranks of life from prince to peasant take a pride in respecting the maiden for a few nights after the wedding-feast extending, perhaps to a whole week and sometimes more. A brutal haste is looked upon as “low”; and, as sensible men, they provoke by fondling and toying Nature to speak ere proceeding to the final and critical act. In England it is very different. I have heard of brides over thirty years old who had not the slightest suspicion concerning what complaisance was expected of them: out of mauvaise honte, the besetting sin of the respectable classes, neither mother nor father would venture to enlighten the elderly innocents. For a delicate girl to find a man introducing himself into her bedroom and her bed, the shock must be severe and the contact of hirsute breast and hairy limbs with a satiny skin is a strangeness which must often breed loathing and disgust. Too frequently also, instead of showing the utmost regard for virginal modesty and innocence (alias ignorance), the bridegroom will not put a check upon his passions and precipitates matters with the rage of the bull, ruentis in venerem. Even after he hears “the cry” which, as the Arabs say, “must be cried,” he has no mercy: the newly made woman lies quivering with mental agitation and physical pain, which not a few describe as resembling the tearing out of a back-tooth, and yet he insists upon repeating the operation, never supposing in his stupidity, that time must pass before the patient can have any sensation of pleasure and before the glories and delights of the sensual orgasm bathe her soul in bliss. Hence complaints, dissatisfaction, disgust, mainly caused by the man’s fault, and hence not unfrequently a permanent distaste for the act of carnal congress. All women are by no means equally capable of such enjoyment, and not a few have become mothers of many children without ever being or becoming thoroughly reconciled to it. Especially in the case of highly nervous temperaments — and these seem to be increasing in the United States and notably in New England — the fear of nine months’ pains and penalties makes the sex averse to the “deed of kind.” The first child is perhaps welcomed, the second is an unpleasant prospect and there is a firm resolve not to conceive a third. But such conjugal chastity is incompatible, except in the case of “married saints,” with a bon ménage. The husband, scand
alised and offended by the rejection and refusal of the wife, will seek a substitute more complaisant; and the spouse also may “by the decree of Destiny” happen to meet the right man, the man for whom and for whom only every woman will sweep the floor. And then adieu to prudence and virtue, honour and fair fame. For, I repeat, it is the universal custom of civilised and Christian Europeans to plant their womankind upon a pedestal exposed as butts to every possible temptation: and, if they fall, as must often be expected, to assail them with obloquy and contempt for succumbing to trials imposed upon them by the stronger and less sensitive sex. Far more sensible and practical, by the side of these high idealists, shows the Moslem who guards his jewel with jealous care and who, if his “honour,” despite every precaution, insist upon disgracing him, draws the sabre and cuts her down with the general approbation and applause of society.
321 [Arab. “‘Alŕ ghayri tarík,” which I would translate “out of the way,” like the Persian “bí-Ráh.” — ST.]
322 In text “Kababjí” (for Kabábji) seller of Kabábs, mutton or kid grilled in small squares and skewered: see vol. vi. 225.
323 In text “Sujjádah;” vol. vi. 193.
324 In text “Faddah” all through.
325 In text “Kirsh” ( = piastre) a word before explained. See Lane (M.E.) Appendix B.
326 In Arab. “Samár;” from the Pers. “Sumar” = a reed, a rush.
327 In Arab. “Díwán:” vols. vii. 340; ix. 108.
328 Scott has (vol. vi. 373), “The desired articles were furnished, and the Sultan setting to work, in a few days finished a mat, in which he ingeniously contrived to plait in flowery characters, known only to himself and his vizier, the account of his situation.”
329 In Arab. “Ghirárah” (plur. “Gharáír”) = a sack. In Ibn Khall. (iv. p, 104) it is a large sack for grain and the especial name of a tax on corn.
330 In the text “Mohammed ibn Ibrahim,” another confusion with the last tale. This story is followed in the MS. by (1) “The History of the First Brave,” (2) “The History of the Second Brave,” and “The Tale of the Noodle and his Asses,” which I have omitted because too feeble for insertion.
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