One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  Love is a boy by poets styled,

  Then spare the rod and spoil the child. (ii. 1, 843.)

  It is to the eternal credit of John Locke, the philosopher, that in an age of general brutality he had the moral courage to declare, “Beating is the worst and therefore the last means to be used in the correction of children.”

  27 Arab. “Dahn” (oil, ointment) which may also mean “soft sawder.”

  28 Aucun roi ne peut gouverner sans armée et on ne peut avoir une armée sans argent. For a treatise on this subject see the “Chronique de Tabari,” ii. 340.

  29 M. Agoub, in Gauttier (vi. 321) remarks of these prosings, “Ces maximes qui ne seraient pas indignes, pour la plupart, des beaux temps de la philosophie grecque, appartiennent toutes au texte arabe; je n’ai fait que les disposer dans un ordre plus méthodique. J’ai dû aussi supprimer quelques unes, soit parce qu’elles n’offraient que des préceptes d’une morale banale, soit que traduites en frangais, elles eussent pû paraître bizarres à des lecteurs européens. Ce que je dis ici, s’applique également à celles qui terminent le conte et qui pourraient fournir le sujet de plusieurs fables.” One would say that the translator is the author’s natural enemy.

  30 Arab. “Ammál,” now vulgarly written with initial Hamzah, a favourite expression in Egypt and meaning “Verily,” “I believe you, my boy,” and so forth. But “‘Ammál” with the Ayn may also mean “he intended,” or “he was about to.”

  31 In Gauttier the name is Ebnazadan, but the Arab. text has “Naudán,” which I take to be the Persian “New of knowledge” as opp. to Nádán, the “unknowing.”

  32 In Chavis (Weber ii. 58) and Gauttier () Akis, roi de Perse. The second name may be “Shah of the Ebna” or Persian incolæ of Al-Yaman; aristocratie Persane naturalisée Arabe (Al-Mas’udi, iv. 188, etc.).

  33 i.e. the Lowland of the Eglantine or Narcissus; Nisrín is also in dictionaries an island where amber abounds. There is a shade of difference between Buk’ah and Bak’ah. The former which is the corrector form=a patch of ground, a plain (hence the Buká’a= Coelesyria), while Bak’ah=a hollow where water collects. In Chavis we find “the plain of Harrim” and in Gauttier la plaine de Baschrin; and the appointment was “for the first of the month Niram” (Naysán).

  34 “Pharaoh,” which Hebrew Holy Writ left so vague and unsatisfactory, has become with the Arabs “Fir’aun”, the dynastic name of Egyptian kings, as Kisrà (Chosroës) of the Persians, Tobba of the Himyarites, Kaysar (Cæsar) of the Romans, Jalut (Goliath) of the Phoenicians, Faghfur of the Chinese, Khákán of the Tartars, Adfonsh (Alfonso) of the Spanish, and Aguetíd of the Berbers. Ibn Khaldún iv. 572.

  35 “Mizr” in Assyrian=“Musur,” in Heb. “Misraim” (the dual Misrs, whose duality permeated all their polity), and in Arab. “Misr,” the O. Egypt. “Há káhi Ptáh” (the Land of the great God, Ptah), and the Coptic “Tá-mera”=the Land of the Nile flood, ignoring, I may add, all tradition of a Noachian or general deluge.

  36 The simplicity of old Assyrian correspondence is here well preserved, as we may see by comparing those letters with the cuneiform inscriptions, etc., by S. Abden Smith (Pfeiffer, Leipsic, 1887). One of them begins thus, “The will of the King to Sintabni-Uzur. Salutation from me to thee. May it be well with thee. Regarding Sinsarra-utzur whom thou hast sent to me, how is thy report?” etc. We find such expressions as “May the great Gods, lovers of thy reign, preserve thee an hundred years;” also “Peace to the King, my lord,” etc.

  37 Arab. “Yaum al-Khamís.” For the week-days see vol. vi. 190, and for a longer notice, Al-Mas’udi, iii. 422-23.

  38 In the text “Kál” (al-Ráwí), “the Reciter saith” — which formula I omit here and elsewhere.

  39 i.e. “The Father of the little Fish,” in Gauttier (vii. 329) “Abou Soméika.”

  40 By way of insult; as I have before noticed.

  41 He had now learned that Nadan had ruined him.

  42 The wife (in ; “Ashghaftíní”) is called “Thou hast enamoured me” from the root “Shaghaf”=violent love, joy, grief. Chavis has Zefagnie: Gauttier suppresses the name, which is not pretty. In the old version she is made aunt (father’s sister) to Sankharib.

  43 The old version attributes all this device to “Zefagnie;” thus injuring the unity and the interest of the tale.

  44 Arab. “Jund” plur. “Junúd,” a term mostly applied to regular troops under the Government, as opposed to soldiers who took service with the Amirs or great barons — a state of things still enduring in non-British India.

  45 Who thus makes a “Ma’adabah”=wake or funeral feast before his death. See vol. viii. 231.

  46 i.e. “Father of the Fishlet”, in the old version

  “Yapousmek” (Yá Abú Sumayk).

  47 In Chavis he becomes “an old slave, a magician, stained with the greatest crimes, who has the air and figure of Hicar.”

  48 A formula which announces the death of his supposed enemy.

  49 Arab. “ Matmúrah”=Sardábah (i. 340), a silo for storing grain, an underground cell (ii. 39).

  50 See text “Náhú” from “Nauh”=ceremonious keening for the dead. The general term for the wail is “Walwalah” or “Wilwál” (an onomatopoy) and for the public wailing-woman “Naddábah.”

  51 Here we find the Doric form “Rahúm” for “Rahím,” or it may simply be the intensive and emphatic form, as “Nazúr”=one who looks intently for “Názir,” a looker.

  52 In the old version “a tenth part of the revenues.” The “Kasím” of the text is an unusual word which M. Houdas would render revenues en nature, as opposed to Khiráj, revenues en argent. I translate it by “tax tribute.”

  53 In text “‘Azzámín, “i.e. men who recite “‘Azm,” mostly

  Koranic versets which avert evil.

  54 This may either be figurative or literal — upon the ashes where the fire had been; even as the father of Sayf al-Mulúk sat upon the floor of his audience-hall (vol. vii. 314).

  55 In text “Ya’tadir” — from ‘Adr=heavy rain, boldness. But in this MS. the dots are often omitted and the word may be Ya’tazir=find excuse.

  56 In the old version the wife is made to disclose the secret of her husband being alive — again a change for the worse.

  57 Here “Wayha-v.” and before “Wayla-k”: see vols. v. 258; vii. 127 and iii. 82.

  58 The King, after the fashion of Eastern despots, never blames his own culpable folly and hastiness: this was decreed to him and to his victim by Destiny.

  59 The older version reads “Roc” and informs us that “it is a prodigious bird, found in the deserts of Africa: it will bear two hundred pounds weight; and many are of opinion that the idea of this bird is visionary.” In Weber ii. 63, this is the device of “Zafagnie,” who accompanies her husband to Egypt.

  60 This name appears to be a corruption. The sound, however, bears a suspicious resemblance to “Dabshalim” (a name most proper for such a Prince, to wit, meaning in their tongue a mighty King), who appears in chapt. i. of the “Fables of Pilpay” (Bidpai=Bidyapati=Lord of Lore?). “Dabshalímat”=the Dabshalíms, was the dynastic title of the Kings of Somanáth (Somnauth) in Western India.

  61 Arab. “Tín”=clay, mud, which would be used with the Tob (adobe, sun-dried brick) forming the walls of Egypt and Assyria. M.G. Maspero, in his excellent booklet “L’Archéologie Egyptienne” (. Paris, Quantin, 1887), illustrates this ancient industry which endures with all its gear to the present day. The average measured 22 X 11 X 14 cm.; the larger was 38 X 18 X 14 cm., with intermediate sizes. These formed the cores of temple walls, and, being revetted with granite, syenite, alabaster and other stones, made a grand show; but when the outer coat was removed they were presently weathered to the external semblance of mud-piles. Such was mostly the condition of the ruins of grand Bubastis (“Pi-Pasht”) hod. Zagázig, where excavations are still being pushed on.

  62 The old version has “Masser, Grand Cairo (in the days of the Pharaohs!); so called from
having been built by Misraim, the son of Cham.”

  63 In Chavís, “Abicam, a Chaldæan astrologer;” in Gauttier

  “Abimacam.”

  64 In Al-Harírí () we read, “Hospitality is three days;” and a Hadís of the Prophet confirms the liberal practice of The Ignorance:— “The entertainment of a guest is three days, and the viaticum (“Jáizah”) is a day and a night, and whatso exceedeth is an alms-gift.” On the first day is shown largesse and courtesy; on the second and third the stranger is treated after the usual custom of the household, and then he is provided with rations for a day and a night. See Lane: A. Nights, i. 486; also The Nights, vol. i. 3.

  65 i.e. Not standing astraddle, or in other such indecorous attitude.

  66 Chavis, “Bilelsanam, the oracle of Bel, the chief God of the Assyrian: “Gauttier, Une idole Bíl. Bel (or Ba’al or Belus, the Phoenician and Canaanite head-god) may here represent Hobal the biggest idol in the Meccan Pantheon, which used to be borne on raids and expeditions to give plunder a religious significance. Tabari iii. 17. Evidently the author holds it to be an idol.

  67 The Syro-solar month=April; much celebrated by poets and fictionists: rain falling at such time into shells becomes pearls and upon serpents poison.

  68 The text has “Baybúnah,” prop. Bábúnaj in Arab., and in Pers. “Bábúk,” or “Bábúnak”=the white camomile-flower. See vol. iii. 58.

  69 “Khabata”=“He (the camel) pawed the ground.” The prim. sig. is to beat, secondly, it is applied to a purblind camel which beats or strikes the ground and so stumbles, or to him who bashes a tree for its leaves; and lastly to him who gets alms by begging. See Chenery’s Al-Hariri, .

  70 Arab. “Karz”=moneys lent in interest and without fixed term of payment, as opp. to “Dayn.”

  71 In text “Kintár”=a quintal, 98 to 99 lbs. avoir.: in round numbers a cwt. a hundred weight: see vol. ii. 233. The old version explains it by “A golden coin, equivalent to three hundred livres French (?).” About the value of the Kintár of gold, doctors differ. Some value it at 40 ounces, others make it a leathern bag containing 1,080 to 1,100 dinars, and others 100 rotls (lbs.) of precious metal; while Al-Makrizi relates that Mohammed the Apostle declared, “The Kintár of gold is twelve hundred ounces.” Baron de Slane (Ibn Khaldun i. 210) computes 100 Kintárs=1 million of francs.

  72 In the text “wa lá ahad tafawwaha fina.”

  73 Arab. “Falsafah”=philosophy: see vols. v. 234 and vii. 145.

  74 In the text “Fa-yatrahúna,” masc. for fem.

  75 The writer probably remembered that the cat was a sacred animal amongst the Egyptians: see Herod., ii. 66, and Diod. Sic., who tells us (vol. i. ) of a Roman put to death under Ptolemy Auletes for accidentally killing one of these holy beasts. The artists of Bubastis, whose ruins are now for the first time being scientifically explored, modelled the animal in bronze with an admirable art akin to nature.

  76 M. Houdas explains this miswritten passage, Quand le soleil fut levé et qu’il pénétra par ces ouvertures (lis. abkhásh, trou de flûte), il répandit le sable dans ces cylindres formés par la lumière du soleil. It is not very intelligible. I understand that the Sage went behind the Palace and drove through a mound or heap of earth a narrow hole bearing east-west, which he partially filled up with sand; and so when the sun rose the beams fell upon it and made it resemble a newly made cord of white flax. M. Agoub (in Gauttier vol. vi. 344) shirks, as he is wont to do, the whole difficulty. [The idea seems to me to be, and I believe this is also the meaning of M. Houdas, that Haykar produced streaks of light in an otherwise dark room by boring holes in the back wall, and scattered the sand over them, so that, while passing through the rays of the sun, it assumed the appearance of ropes. Hence he says mockingly to Pharaoh, “Have these ropes taken up, and each time you please I will twist thee the like of them” — reading “Aftilu,” lst p. aor. instead of “Iftil”, 2nd imper. — ST.)

  77 Gauttier (vi. 347), Ces présens ne sont pas dignes de lui; mais peu de chose contents les rois.

  78 Haykar is a Sage who follows the religion of nature, “Love thy friends and hate thy foes.” Gauttier (vii. 349) embroiders all this with Christian and French sentiment — L’intention secrète de Heycar était de sauver la vie à l’ingrat qui avait conspiré contre la sienne. Il voulait pour toute vengeance, le mettre désormais dans l’impossibilité de nuire et l’abandonner ensuite à ses remords, persuadé que le remords n’est pas le moindre châtiment du coupable. True nonsense this when talking of a character born bad: its only remorse is not to have done worse than bad.

  79 Striking the nape being the Moslem equivalent for “boxing ears.”

  80 With this formula compare Chaucer, “The Manciple’s Tale.”

  81 In the text “Znnákt-ha,” which is unintelligible, although the sense be clear.

  82 A bird unknown to the dictionaries, apparently a species of hawk.

  83 In the text “Júrah Syán” for “Júrah Sayyál.”

  84 The tree having furnished the axe-helve.

  85 M. Houdas translates Tu as médit de moi et tu m’as accablé de tes méchancetés.

  86 In text “Alif, bá, tá, sá,” the latter written with a Sin instead of a Thá, showing the vulgar use which extends from Alexandria to Meccah.

  87 So in French, deriding the difference between written and spoken English, Ecrivez Salmonassar, prononcez crocodile.

  88 Because he owes thee more than a debt of life.

  89 i.e. “Tammat”=She (the tale) is finished.

  90 MSS. pp.217-265. See the “Arabian Tales,” translated by

  Robert Heron (Edinburgh M.DCC.XCII.), where it is “The Robber-

  Caliph; or Adventures of Haroun Alraschid, with the Princess of

  Persia, and the fair Zutulbé,” vol. i. p-69. Gauttier,

  Histoire du Khalyfe de Baghdad, vol. vii. pp.117-150.

  91 In text “Ahádís,” esp. referred to the sayings of

  Mohammed, and these are divided into two great sections, the

  “Ahádís al-Nabawí,” or the actual words pronounced by the

  Apostle; and the “Ahádís al-Kudus,” or the sentences attributed

  to the Archangel Gabriel.

  92 Heron has “the Festival of Haraphat,” adding a power of nonsense. This is the day of the sermon, when the pilgrims sleep at Muzdalifah (Pilgrimage iii. 265). Kusayy, an ancestor of the Apostle, was the first to prepare a public supper at this oratory, and the custom was kept up by Harun al-Rashid, Zubaydah and Sha’ab, mother of the Caliph al-Muktadir (Tabari ii. 368). Alms are obligatory on the two great ‘I’ds or festivals, al-Fitr which ends the Ramazán fast and al-Kurbán during the annual Pilgrimage. The dole must consist of at least a “Sa’” = 7 lbs. in grain, dates, &c.

  93 i.e. habited themselves in the garments of little people: so to “enlarge the turband” is to assume the rank of an ‘Álim or learned man. “Jayb,” the breast of a coat is afterwards used in the sense of a pocket.

  94 Either the Caliph was persuaded that the white wrist was a “promise of better things above and below,” or he proposed marriage as a mere freak, intelligible enough when divorce costs only two words.

  95 In text “Nakdí” = the actual as opposed to the contingent dowry: sec vols. vii. 126; ix. 32.

  96 This is said in irony.

  97 In text “Bashákhín” plur. of “Bashkhánah:” see Suppl. vols. ii. 119; iii. 87.

  98 In Heron he becomes “Kassera-Abocheroan.” Anushirwan (in full Anúshínrawán = sweet of soul) is popularly supposed to have begun his rule badly after the fashion of Eastern despots, and presently to have become the justest of monarchs. Nothing of this, however, is found in Tabari (ii. 159).

  99 He was indignant because twitted with having married a beggar-maid like good King Cophetua. In Heron he is “moved by so sensible a reply.”

  100 Plur. “Katáif,” a kind of pancake made of flour and sugar (or honey) and oil or butter.

  101 Arab. “Sakká” = a
water-carrier, generally a bad lot. Of the “Sakká Sharbah,” who supplies water to passengers in the streets, there is an illustration in Lane; M. E. chapt. xiv.

  102 In the text “Kahbah” an ugly word = our whore (i.e. hired woman): it is frightfully common in every-day speech. See vol. ii. 70.

  103 Arab. “Sibák” usually = a leash (for falconry, etc.).

  104 I have emphasised this detail which subsequently becomes a leading incident.

  105 Usual formulæ when a respectable person is seen drinking: the same politeness was also in use throughout the civilised parts of mediæval Europe. See the word “Hanian” (vol. ii. 5), which at Meccah and elsewhere is pronounced also “Haniyyan.”

  106 In text “Yá Ta’ís,” a favorite expression in this MS. Page 612 (MS.) has “Tá’ish,” a clerical error, and in page 97 we have “Yá Ta’ásat-ná” = O our misery!

  107 As might a “picker-up of unconsidered trifles.”

  108 In text “Akbá’ wa Zarábíl.” I had supposed the first to be the Pers. Kabá = a short coat or tunic, with the Arab. ‘Ayn (the second is the common corruption for “Zarábín” = slaves’ shoes, slippers: see vol. x. 1), but M. Hondas translates Ni calottes ni calecons, and for the former word here and in MS. p.227 he reads “‘Arakiyah” = skull-cap: see vol. i. 215. [“Akbá’” is the pi. of “Kub’,” which latter occurs infra, p.227 of the Ar. MS., and means, in popular language, any part of a garment covering the head, as the hood of a Burnus or the top-piece of a Kalansuwah; also a skull-cap, usually called “‘Araqíyah.” — ST.]

  109 Heron dubs him “Hazeb (Hájib) Yamaleddin.” In text “‘Alái al-Dín;” and in not a few places it is familiarly abbreviated to “‘Ali” (, etc.). For the various forms of writing the name see Suppl. vol. iii. 30. The author might have told us the young Chamberlain’s name Arabicè earlier in the tale; but it is the Ráwi’s practice to begin with the vague and to end in specification. I have not, however, followed his example here or elsewhere.