One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

“The season has become pleasant! The time of the rose is come! Take your morning potations, as long as the rose has blossoms and flowers!”

  When he resumed his work, he made it known by singing aloud —

  “If my Lord prolong my life until the rose-season, I will take again my morning potations: but if I die before it, alas! for the loss of the rose and wine!

  “I implore the God of the supreme throne, whose glory be extolled, that my heart may continually enjoy the evening potations to the day of resurrection.”

  The Khaleefeh was so amused with the humour of this man that he granted him an annual pension of ten thousand dirhems to enable him to enjoy himself amply on these occasions. Another anecdote may be added to show the estimation of the rose in the mind of an Arab. It is said that Rowḥ Ibn-Ḥátim, the governor of the province of Northern Africa, was sitting one day, with a female slave, in an apartment of his palace, when a eunuch brought him a jar full of red and white roses which a man had offered as a present. He ordered the eunuch to fill the jar with silver in return; but his slave said, “O my lord, thou hast not acted equitably towards the man; for his present to thee is of two colours, red and white.” The Emeer replied, “Thou hast said truly;” and gave orders to fill the jar for him with silver and gold (dirhems and deenárs) intermixed. Some persons preserve roses during the whole of the year in the following manner. They take a number of rose-buds and fill with them a new earthen jar, and, after closing its mouth with mud so as to render it impervious to the air, bury it in the earth. Whenever they want a few roses, they take out some of these buds, which they find unaltered, sprinkle a little water upon them and leave them for a short time in the air, when they open and appear as if just gathered.[]

  The rose is even a subject of miracles. It is related by Ibn-Ḳuteybeh that there grows in India a kind of rose, upon the leaves of which is inscribed, “There is no deity but God:”[] But I find a more particular account of this miraculous rose. A person, who professed to have seen it, said, “I went into India, and I saw at one of its towns a large rose, sweet-scented, upon which was inscribed, in white characters, ‘There is no deity but God; Moḥammad is God’s apostle: Aboo-Bekr is the very veracious: ´Omar is the discriminator:’ and I doubted of this, whether it had been done by art; so I took one of the blossoms not yet opened, and in it was the same inscription; and there were many of the same kind there. The people of that place worshipped stones, and knew not God, to whom be ascribed might and glory.”[] Roses are announced for sale in the streets of Cairo by the cry of “The rose was a thorn: from the sweat of the Prophet it blossomed!” in allusion to a miracle recorded of Moḥammad. “When I was taken up into heaven,” said the Prophet, “some of my sweat fell upon the earth, and from it sprang the rose; and whoever would smell my scent, let him smell the rose.” In another tradition it is said, “The white rose was created from my sweat on the night of the Meạráj;[] and the red rose, from the sweat of Jebraeel;[] and the yellow rose, from the sweat of El-Buráḳ.”[] The Persians take especial delight in roses; sometimes spreading them as carpets or beds on which to sit or recline in their revellings.

  But there is a flower pronounced more excellent than the rose, that of the Egyptian privet, or Lawsonia inermis.[] Moḥammad said, “The chief of the sweet-scented flowers of this world and of the next is the fághiyeh;” and this was his favourite flower.[] I approve of his taste; for this flower, which grows in clusters somewhat like those of the lilac, has a most delicious fragrance. But, on account of discrepancies in different traditions, a Muslim may with a clear conscience prefer either of the two flowers next mentioned.

  The Prophet said of the violet (benefsej), “The excellence of the extract of violets, above all other extracts, is as the excellence of me above all the rest of the creation: it is cold in summer, and hot in winter:” and, in another tradition, “The excellence of the violet is as the excellence of el-Islám above all other religions.”[] A delicious sherbet is made of a conserve of sugar and violet-flowers.

  The myrtle (ás or narseen) is the rival of the violet. “Adam,” said the Prophet, “fell down from Paradise with three things; the myrtle, which is the chief of sweet-scented flowers in this world; an ear of wheat, which is the chief of all kinds of food in this world; and pressed dates, which are the chief of the fruits of this world.”[]

  The anemone[] was monopolized for his own enjoyment by Noạmán Ibn-El-Mundhir (King of El-Ḥeereh, and contemporary of Moḥammad), as the rose was afterwards by El-Mutawekkil.[]

  Another flower much admired and celebrated in the East is the gilliflower (menthoor or kheeree). There are three principal kinds; the most esteemed is the yellow, or gold-coloured, which has a delicious scent both by night and day; the next, the purple, and other dark kinds, which have a scent only in the night; the least esteemed, the white, which has no scent. The yellow gilliflower is an emblem of a neglected lover.[]

  The narcissus (narjis) is very highly esteemed. Galen says, “He who has two cakes of bread, let him dispose of one of them for some flowers of the narcissus; for bread is the food of the body, and the narcissus is the food of the soul.” Hippocrates gave a similar opinion.[]

  The following flowers complete the list of those celebrated as most appropriate to add to the delights of wine: — the jasmine, eglantine, Seville-orange-flower, lily, sweet-basil, wild thyme, buphthalmum, chamomile, nenuphar, lotus, pomegranate-flower, poppy, ketmia, crocus or saffron, safflower, flax, the blossoms of different kinds of bean, and those of the almond.[]

  A sprig of Oriental willow[] adds much to the charms of a bunch of flowers, being the favourite symbol of a graceful woman.

  But I have not yet mentioned all that contributes to the pleasures of an Eastern carousal. For what is the juice of the grape without melodious sounds? “Wine is as the body; music, as the soul; and joy is their offspring.”[] All the five senses should be gratified. For this reason an Arab toper, who had nothing, it appears, but wine to enjoy, exclaimed, —

  “Ho! give me wine to drink; and tell me ‘This is wine;’”

  for in drinking his sight and smell and taste and touch would all be affected; but it was desirable that his hearing should also be pleased.[]

  Music was condemned by the Prophet almost as severely as wine. “Singing and hearing songs,” said he, “cause hypocrisy to grow in the heart, like as water promoteth the growth of corn:”[] — and musical instruments he declared to be among the most powerful means by which the Devil seduces man. An instrument of music is the Devil’s muëddin, serving to call men to his worship. Of the hypocrisy of those attached to music, the following anecdote presents an instance: — A drunken young man with a lute in his hand was brought one night before the Khaleefeh ´Abd-El-Melik the son of Marwán, who, pointing to the instrument, asked what it was, and what was its use. The youth made no answer; so he asked those around him; but they also remained silent, till one, more bold than the rest, said, “O Prince of the Faithful, this is a lute: it is made by taking some wood of the pistachio-tree, and cutting it into thin pieces, and gluing these together, and then attaching over them these chords, which, when a beautiful girl touches them, send forth sounds more pleasant than those of rain falling upon a desert land; and my wife be separated from me by a triple divorce, if every one in this council is not acquainted with it, and doth not know it as well as I do, and thou the first of them, O Prince of the Faithful.” The Khaleefeh laughed, and ordered that the young man should be discharged.[]

  The latter saying of the Prophet, respecting the Devil, suggests another anecdote related of himself by Ibraheem El-Móṣilee, the father of Isḥáḳ; both of whom were very celebrated musicians. I give a translation of it somewhat abridged.— “I asked Er-Rasheed,” says Ibraheem, “to grant me permission to spend a day at home with my women and brothers; and he gave me two thousand deenárs, and appointed the next Saturday for this purpose. I caused the meats and wine and other necessaries to be prepared, and ordered the chamberlain to close
the door, and admit no one: but while I was sitting, with my attendants standing in the form of a curved line before me, there entered and approached me a sheykh, reverend and dignified and comely in appearance, wearing short khuffs,[] and two soft gowns, with a ḳalensuweh [sugarloaf hat] upon his head, and in his hand a silver-headed staff; and sweet odours were diffused from his clothes. I was enraged with the chamberlain for admitting him; but on his saluting me in a very courteous manner, I returned his salutation, and desired him to sit down. He then began to repeat to me stories, tales of war, and poetry; so that my anger was appeased, and it appeared to me that my servants had not presumed to admit him until acquainted with his politeness and courteousness. I therefore said to him, ‘Hast thou any inclination for meat?’ He answered, ‘I have no want of it.’— ‘And the wine?’ said I. He replied, ‘Yes.’ So I drank a large cupful, and he did the same, and then said to me, ‘O Ibraheem, wilt thou let us hear some specimen of thy art in which thou hast excelled the people of thy profession?’ I was angry at his words; but I made light of the matter, and, having taken the lute and tuned it, I played and sang; whereupon he said, ‘Thou hast performed well, O Ibraheem.’ I became more enraged, and said within myself, ‘He is not content with coming hither without permission, and asking me to sing, but he calls me by my name, and proves himself unworthy of my conversation.’ He then said, ‘Wilt thou let us hear more? If so we will requite thee.’ And I took the lute and sang, using my utmost care on account of his saying, ‘we will requite thee.’ He was moved with delight, and said, ‘Thou hast performed well, O my master Ibraheem:’ — adding, ‘Wilt thou permit thy slave to sing?’ I answered, ‘As thou pleasest:’ — but thinking lightly of his sense to sing after me. He took the lute, and tuned it; and, by Allah! I imagined that the lute spoke in his bands with an eloquent Arab tongue. He proceeded to sing some verses commencing, —

  ‘My heart is wounded! Who will give me for it a heart without a wound?’”

  The narrator continues by saying that he was struck dumb and motionless with ecstasy; and that the strange sheykh, after having played and sung again, and taught him an enchanting air (with which he afterwards enraptured his patron, the Khaleefeh), vanished. Ibraheem, in alarm, seized his sword; and was the more amazed when he found that the porter had not seen the stranger enter or leave the house; but he heard his voice again, outside, telling him that he was Aboo-Murrah (the Devil).[]

  Ibraheem El-Móṣilee, his son Isḥák, and Mukkáriḳ[] (a pupil of the former), were especially celebrated among Arab musicians and among the distinguished men of the reign of Hároon Er-Rasheed. Isḥáḳ El-Móṣilee relates of his father Ibraheem that when Er-Rasheed took him into his service he gave him a hundred and fifty thousand dirhems and allotted him a monthly pension of ten thousand dirhems, besides occasional presents [one of which is mentioned as amounting to a hundred thousand dirhems for a single song], and the produce of his (Ibraheem’s) farms: he had food constantly prepared for him; three sheep every day for his kitchen, besides birds; three thousand dirhems were allowed him for fruits, perfumes, etc., every month, and a thousand dirhems for his clothing; “and with all this,” says his son, “he died without leaving more than three thousand deenárs, a sum not equal to his debts, which I paid after his death.”[] Ibraheem was of Persian origin, and of a high family. He was commonly called the Nedeem (or cup-companion), being Er-Rasheed’s favourite companion at the wine-table; and his son, who enjoyed the like distinction with El-Ma-moon, received the same appellation, as well as that of “Son of the Nedeem.” Ibraheem was the most famous musician of his time, at least till his son attained celebrity.[]

  Isḥáḳ El-Mósilee was especially famous as a musician; but he was also a good poet, accomplished in general literature, and endowed with great wit. He was honoured above all other persons in the pay of El-Ma-moon, and enjoyed a long life; but for many years before his death he was blind.[]

  Mukháriḳ appears to have rivalled his master Ibraheem. The latter, he relates, took him to perform before Er-Rasheed, who used to have a curtain suspended between him and the musicians. “Others,” he says, “sang, and he was unmoved; but when I sang, he came forth from behind the curtain, and exclaimed, ‘Young man, hither!’ and he seated me upon the couch (sereer) and gave me thirty thousand dirhems.”[] The following anecdote (which I abridge a little in translation) shows his excellence in the art which he professed, and the effect of melody on an Arab:— “After drinking with the Khaleefeh [El-Ma-moon, I think,] a whole night, I asked his permission,” says he, “to take the air in the Ruṣáfeh [quarter of Baghdád], which he granted; and while I was walking there, I saw a damsel who appeared as if the rising sun beamed from her face. She had a basket, and I followed her. She stopped at a fruiterer’s, and bought some fruit; and observing that I was following her, she looked back and abused me several times; but still I followed her until she arrived at a great door, after having filled her basket with fruits and flowers and similar things. When she had entered and the door was closed behind her, I sat down opposite to it, deprived of my reason by her beauty; and knew that there must be in the house a wine party.

  “The sun went down upon me while I sat there; and at length there came two handsome young men on asses, and they knocked at the door, and when they were admitted, I entered with them; the master of the house thinking that I was their companion, and they imagining that I was one of his friends. A repast was brought up, and we ate, and washed our hands, and were perfumed. The master of the house then said to the two young men, ‘Have ye any desire that I should call such a one?’ (mentioning a woman’s name). They answered, ‘If thou wilt grant us the favour, well:’ — so he called for her, and she came, and lo, she was the maiden whom I had seen before, and who had abused me. A servant-maid preceded her, bearing her lute, which she placed in her lap. Wine was then brought, and she sang, while we drank, and shook with delight. ‘Whose air is that?’ they asked. She answered, ‘My master Mukháriḳ’s.’ She then sang another air, which she said was also mine; while they drank by pints; she looking aside and doubtfully at me until I lost my patience, and called out to her to do her best: but in attempting to do so, singing a third air, she overstrained her voice, and I said, ‘Thou hast made a mistake:’ — upon which she threw the lute from her lap in anger, so that she nearly broke it, saying, ‘Take it thyself, and let us hear thee.’ I answered, ‘Well;’ and, having taken it and tuned it perfectly, sang the first of the airs which she had sung before me; whereupon all of them sprang upon their feet and kissed my head. I then sang the second air, and the third; and their reason almost fled with ecstasy.

  “The master of the house, after asking his guests and being told by them that they knew me not, came to me, and, kissing my hand, said, ‘By Allah, my master, who art thou?’ I answered, ‘By Allah, I am the singer Mukháriḳ.’— ‘And for what purpose,’ said he, kissing both my hands, ‘camest thou hither?’ I replied, ‘As a spunger;’ — and related what had happened with respect to the maiden: whereupon he looked towards his two companions and said to them, ‘Tell me, by Allah, do ye not know that I gave for that girl thirty thousand dirhems, and have refused to sell her?’ They answered, ‘It is so.’ Then said he, ‘I take you as witnesses that I have given her to him.’— ‘And we,’ said the two friends, ‘will pay thee two-thirds of her price.’ So he put me in possession of the girl, and in the evening when I departed, he presented me also with rich dresses and other gifts, with all of which I went away; and as I passed the places where the maiden had abused me, I said to her, ‘Repeat thy words to me;’ but she could not for shame. Holding the girl’s hand, I went with her immediately to the Khaleefeh, whom I found in anger at my long absence; but when I related my story to him he was surprised, and laughed, and ordered that the master of the house and his two friends should be brought before him, that he might requite them; to the former he gave forty thousand dirhems; to each of his two friends, thirty thousand; and to me a hundred thousand; and I kis
sed his feet and departed.”[]

  It is particularly necessary for the Arab musician that he have a retentive memory, well stocked with choice pieces of poetry and with facetious or pleasant anecdotes, interspersed with songs; and that he have a ready wit, aided by dramatic talent, to employ these materials with good effect. If to such qualifications he adds fair attainments in the difficult rules of grammar, a degree of eloquence, comic humour, and good temper, and is not surpassed by many in his art, he is sure to be a general favourite. Very few Muslims of the higher classes have condescended to study music, because they would have been despised by their inferiors for doing so; or because they themselves have despised or condemned the art. Ibraheem, the son of the Khaleefeh El-Mahdee, and competitor of El-Ma-moon, was a remarkable exception: he is said to have been an excellent musician and a good singer.

  In the houses of the wealthy, the vocal and instrumental performers were usually (as is the case in many houses in the present age) domestic female slaves, well instructed in their art by hired male or female professors. In the “Thousand and One Nights,” these slaves are commonly described as standing or sitting unveiled in the presence of male guests; but from several descriptions of musical entertainments that I have met with in Arabic works it appears that according to the more approved custom in respectable society they were concealed on such occasions behind a curtain which generally closed the front of an elevated recess. In all the houses of wealthy Arabs that I have entered, one or each of the larger saloons has an elevated closet, the front of which is closed by a screen of wooden lattice-work to serve as an orchestra for the domestic or hired female singers and instrumental performers.

  To a person acquainted with modern Arabian manners, it must appear inconsistent with truth to describe (as is often the case in the “Thousand and One Nights”) such female singers as exposing their faces before strange men, unless he can discover in sober histories some evidence of their having been less strict in this respect than the generality of Arab women at the present time. I find, however, a remarkable proof that such was the case in the latter part of the ninth century of the Flight, and the beginning of the tenth: that is, about the end of the fifteenth century of our era. The famous historian Es-Suyooṭee, who flourished at this period, in his preface to a curious work on wedlock, written to correct the corrupt manners of his age, says:— “Seeing that the women of this time deck themselves with the attire of wantons, and walk in the sooḳs (or market-streets) like female warriors against the religion, and uncover their faces and hands before men to incline (men’s) hearts to them by evil suggestions, and play at feasts with young men, thereby meriting the anger of the Compassionate [God], and go forth to the public baths and assemblies with various kinds of ornaments and perfumes and with conceited gait; (for the which they shall be congregated in Hell-fire, for opposing the good and on account of this their affected gait;) while to their husbands they are disobedient, behaving to them in the reverse manner, excepting when they fear to abridge their liberty of going abroad by such conduct; for they are like swine and apes in their interior nature, though like daughters of Adam in their exterior appearance; especially the women of this age; not advising their husbands in matters of religion, but the latter erring in permitting them to go out to every assembly; sisters of devils and demons, etc. etc.... I have undertaken the composition of this volume.”[] A more convincing testimony than this, I think, cannot be required.