The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 04 by Richard F. BurtonA Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments (page 6)

engaged in abominable wickedness.’ So I disguised myself, I and my body-servant, and ceased not trudging till I came to the house and knocked at the door, whereupon a slave-girl came out and opened to me, saying, ‘Who art thou?’ I entered without answering her and saw the two legal-witnesses and the house-master sitting, and lewd women by their side and before them great plenty of wine. When they saw me, they rose to receive me, and made much of me, seating me in the place of honour and saying to me, ‘Welcome for an illustrious guest and well come for a pleasant cup- companion!’ And on this wise they met me without showing a sign of alarm or trouble. Presently, the master of the house arose from amongst us and went out and returned after a while with three hundred dinars, when the men said to me, without the least fear, ‘Know, O our lord the Wali, it is in thy power to do even more than disgrace and punish us; but this will bring thee in return nothing but weariness: so we reck thou wouldest do better to take this much money and protect us; for Almighty Allah is named the Protector and loveth those of His servants who protect their Moslem neighbours; and thou shalt have thy reward in this world and due recompense in the world to come.’ So I said to myself, ‘I will take the money and protect them this once, but, if ever again I have them in my power, I will take my wreak of them;’ for, you see, the money had tempted me. Thereupon I took it and went away thinking that no one would know it; but, next day, on a sudden one of the Kazi’s messengers came to me and said to me, ‘O Wali, be good enough to answer the summons of the Kazi who wanteth thee.’ So I arose and accompanied him, knowing not the meaning of all this; and when I came into the judge’s presence, I saw the two witnesses and the master of the house, who had given me the money, sitting by his side. Thereupon this man rose and sued me for three hundred dinars, nor was it in my power to deny the debt; for he produced a written obligation and his two companions, the legal witnesses, testified against me that I owed the amount. Their evidence satisfied the Kazi and he ordered me to pay the sum, nor did I leave the Court till they had of me the three hundred gold pieces. So I went away, in the utmost wrath and shame, vowing mischief and vengeance against them and repenting that I had not punished them. Such, then is the most remarkable event which befel me during my term of office.” Thereupon rose the Chief of the Bulak Police and said, “As for me, O our lord the Sultan, the most marvellous thing that happened to me, since I became Wali, was as follows:” and he began

The Story of the Chief of the Bulak Police.

“I was once in debt to the full amount of three hundred thousand gold pieces;[FN#402] and, being distressed thereby, I sold all that was behind me and what was before me and all I hent in hand, but I could collect no more than an hundred thousand dinars”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali of Bulak continued: “So I sold all that was behind and before me, but could collect no more than an hundred thousand dinars and remained in great perplexity. Now one night, as I sat at home in this state, behold, there came a knocking; so I said to one of my servants, ‘See who is at the door.’ He went out and returned, wan of face, changed in countenance and with his side-muscles a- quivering; so I asked him, ‘What aileth thee?’; and he answered, ‘There is a man at the door; he is half naked, clad in skins, with sword in hand and knife in girdle, and with him are a company of the same fashion and he asketh for thee.’ So I took my sword and going out to see who these were, behold, I found them as the boy had reported and said to them, ‘What is your business?’ They replied, ‘Of a truth we be thieves and have done fine work this night; so we appointed the swag to thy use, that thou mayst pay therewith the debts which sadden thee and deliver thee from thy distress.’ Quoth I, ‘Where is the plunder?’; and they brought me a great chest, full of vessels of gold and silver; which when I saw, I rejoiced and said to myself, ‘Herewith I will settle all claims upon me and there will remain as much again.’ So I took the money and going inside said in my mind, ‘It were ignoble to let them fare away empty-handed.’ Whereupon I brought out the hundred thousand dinars I had by me and gave it to them, thanking them for their kindness; and they pouched the monies and went their way, under cover of the night so that none might know of them. But when morning dawned I examined the contents of the chest, and found them copper and tin[FN#403] washed with gold worth five hundred dirhams at the most; and this was grievous to me, for I had lost what monies I had and trouble was added to my trouble. Such, then, is the most remarkable event which befel me during my term of office.” Then rose the Chief of the Police of Old Cairo and said, “O our lord the Sultan, the most marvellous thing that happened to me, since I became Wali, was on this wise;” and he began

The Story of the Chief of the Old Cairo Police.

“I once hanged ten thieves each on his own gibbet, and especially charged the guards to watch them and hinder the folk from taking any one of them down. Next morning when I came to look at them, I found two bodies hanging from one gallows and said to the guards, ‘Who did this, and where is the tenth gibbet?’ But they denied all knowledge of it, and I was about to beat them till they owned the truth, when they said, ‘Know, O Emir, that we fell asleep last night, and when we awoke, we found that some one had stolen one of the bodies, gibbet and all; so we were alarmed and feared thy wrath. But, behold, up came a peasant-fellow driving his ass; whereupon we laid hands on him and killed him and hanged his body upon this gallows, in the stead of the thief who had been stolen.'[FN#404] Now when I heard this, I marvelled and asked them, ‘What had he with him?’; and they answered, ‘He had a pair of saddle-bags on the ass.’ Quoth I, ‘What was in them?’; quoth they, ‘We know not.’ So I said, ‘Bring them hither;’ and when they brought them to me I bade open them, behold, therein was the body of a murdered man, cut in pieces. Now as soon as I saw this, I marvelled at the case and said in myself, ‘Glory to God! The cause of the hanging of this peasant was none other but his crime against this murdered man; and thy Lord is not unjust towards His servants.'”[FN#405] And men also tell the tale of

THE THIEF AND THE SHROFF.

A certain Shroff, bearing a bag of gold pieces, once passed by a company of thieves, and one of these sharpers said to the others, “I, and I only, have the power to steal yonder purse.” So they asked, “How wilt thou do it?”; and he answered, “Look ye all!”; and followed the money-changer, till he entered his house, when he threw the bag on a shelf[FN#406] and, being affected with diabetes, went into the chapel of ease to do his want, calling to the slave-girl, “Bring me an ewer of water.” She took the ewer and followed him to the privy, leaving the door open, whereupon the thief entered and, seizing the money-bag, made off with it to his companions, to whom he told what had passed.–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the thief took the money-bag and made off with it to his companions to whom he told what had passed. Said they, “By Allah, thou hast played a clever trick! ”tis not every one could do it; but, presently the money-changer will come out of the privy; and missing the bag of money, he will beat the slave-girl and torture her with grievous torture. ‘Tis as though thou hast at present done nothing worthy of praise; so, if thou be indeed a sharper, return and save the girl from being beaten and questioned.” Quoth he, ‘ Inshallah! I will save both girl and purse.” Then the prig went back to the Shroff’s house and found him punishing the girl because of the purse; so he knocked at the door and the man said, “Who is there?” Cried the thief, “I am the servant of thy neighbour in the Exchange;” whereupon he came out to him and said, “What is thy business?” The thief replied, “My master saluteth thee and saith to thee: ‘Surely thou art deranged and thoroughly so, to cast the like of this bag of money down at the door of thy shop and go away and leave it.’ Had a stranger hit upon it he had made off with it and, except my master had seen it and taken care of it, it had assuredly been lost to thee.” So saying, he pulled out the purse and showed it to the Shroff who on seeing it said, “That is my very purse,” and put out his hand to take it; but the thief said, “By Allah, I will not give thee this same, till thou write me a receipt declaring that thou hast received it! for indeed I fear my master will not believe that thou hast recovered the purse, unless I bring him thy writing to that effect, and sealed with thy signet-seal.” The money changer went in to write the paper required; and in the meantime the thief made off with the bag of money and thus was the slave-girl saved her beating. And men also tell a tale of

THE CHIEF OF THE KUS POLICE AND THE SHARPER.

It is related that Ala al-Din, Chief of Police at Kus,[FN#407] was sitting one night in his house, when behold, a personage of handsome appearance and dignified aspect came to the door, accompanied by a servant bearing a chest upon his head and, standing there said to one of the Wali’s young men, “Go in and tell the Emir that I would have audience of him on some privy business.” So the servant went in and told his master, who bade admit the visitor. When he entered, the Emir saw him to be a man of handsome semblance and portly presence; so he received him with honour and high distinction, seating him beside himself, and said to him, “What is thy wish?” Replied the stranger, “I am a highwayman and am minded to repent at thy hands and turn to Almighty Allah; but I would have thee help me to this, for that I am in thy district and under thine inspection. Now I have here a chest, wherein are matters worth some forty thousand dinars; and none hath so good a right to it as thou; so do thou take it and give me in exchange a thousand dinars, of thine own monies lawfully gotten, that I may have a little capital, to aid me in my repentance,[FN#408] and save me from resorting to sin for my subsistence; and with Allah Almighty be thy reward!” Speaking thus he opened the chest and showed the Wali that it was full of trinkets and jewels and bullion and ring-gems and pearls, whereat he was amazed and rejoiced with great joy. So he cried out to his treasurer, saying, “Bring hither a certain purse containing a thousand dinars,”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-sixth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali cried out to his treasurer, saying “Bring hither a certain purse containing a thousand dinars; and gave it to the highwayman, who took it and thanking him, went his way under cover of the night. Now when it was the morrow, the Emir sent for the chief of the goldsmiths and showed him the chest and what was therein; but the goldsmith found it nothing but tin and brass, and the jewels and bezel stones and pearls all of glass; whereat the Wali was sore chagrined and sent in quest of the highwayman; but none could come at him. And men also tell the tale of

IBRAHIM BIN AL-MAHDI AND THE MERCHANT’S SISTER.

The Caliph Al-Maamun once said to his uncle Ibrahim bin Al-Mahdi, “Tell us the most remarkable thing that thou hast ever seen.” Answered he: “I hear and obey, O Commander of the Faithful. Know that I rode out one day, a-pleasuring, and my ride brought me to a place where I smelt the reek of food. So my soul longed for it and I halted, O Prince of True Believers, perplexed and unable either to go on or to go in. Presently, I raised my eyes and lo! I espied a lattice-window and behind it a wrist, than which I never beheld aught lovelier. The sight turned my brain and I forgot the smell of the food and began to plan and plot how I should get access to the house. After awhile, I observed a tailor hard by and going up to him, saluted him. He returned my salam and I asked him, ‘Whose house is that?’ And he answered, ‘It belongeth to a merchant called such an one, son of such an one, who consorteth with none save merchants.’ As we were talking, behold, up came two men, of comely aspect with intelligent countenances, riding on horseback; and the tailor told me that they were the merchant’s most intimate friends and acquainted me with their names. So I urged my beast towards them and said to them, ‘Be I your ransom! Abu Fulan[FN#409] awaiteth you!’; and I rode with them both to the gate, where I entered and they also. Now when the master of the house saw me with them he doubted not but I was their friend; so he welcomed me and seated me in the highest stead. Then they brought the table of food and I said in myself, ‘Allah hath granted me my desire of the food; and now there remain the hand and the wrist.’ After awhile, we removed for carousel to another room, which I found tricked out with all manner of rarities; and the host paid me particular attention, addressing his talk to me, for that he took me to be a guest of his guests; whilst in like manner these two made much of me, taking me for a friend of their friend the house-master. Thus I was the object of politest attentions till we had drunk several cups of wine and there came into us a damsel as she were a willow wand of the utmost beauty and elegance, who took a lute and playing a lively measure, sang these couplets,

‘Is it not strange one house us two contain * And still thou draw’st not near, or talk we twain?
Only our eyes tell secrets of our souls, * And broken hearts by lovers’ fiery pain;
Winks with the eyelids, signs the eyebrow knows; * Languishing looks and hand saluting fain.’

When I heard these words my vitals were stirred, O Commander of the Faithful, and I was moved to delight, for her excessive loveliness and the beauty of the verses she sang; and I envied her her skill and said, ‘There lacketh somewhat to thee, O damsel!’ Whereupon she threw the lute from her hand in anger, and cried, ‘Since when are ye wont to bring ill-mannered louts into your assemblies?’ Then I repented of what I had done, seeing the company vexed with me, and I said in my mind, ‘My hopes are lost by me’; and I weeted no way of escaping blame but to call for a lute, saying, ‘I will show you what escaped her in the air she played.’ Quoth the folk, ‘We hear and obey’; so they brought me a lute and I tuned the strings and sang these verses,

‘This is thy friend perplexed for pain and pine, * Th’ enamoured, down whose breast course drops of brine: He hath this hand to the Compassionate raised * For winning wish, and that on hearts is lien:
O thou who seest one love-perishing, * His death is caused by those hands and eyne!'[FN#410]

Whereupon the damsel sprang up and throwing herself at my feet, kissed them and said, ‘It is thine to excuse, O my Master! By Allah, I knew not thy quality nor heard I ever the like of this performance!’ And all began extolling me and making much of me, being beyond measure delighted’ and at last they besought me to sing again. So I sang a merry air, whereupon they all became drunken with music and wine, their wits left them and they were carried off to their homes, while I abode alone with the host and the girl. He drank some cups with me and then said, ‘O my lord, my life hath been lived in vain for that I have not known the like of thee till the present. Now, by Allah, tell me who thou art, that I may ken who is the cup-companion whom Allah hath bestowed on me this night.’ At first I returned him evasive answers and would not tell him my name; but he conjured me till I told him who I was, whereupon he sprang to his feet”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-seventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ibrahim son of Al-Mahdi continued: “Now when the housemaster heard my name he sprang to his feet and said, ‘Indeed I wondered that such gifts should belong to any but the like of thee; and Fortune hath done me a good turn for which I cannot thank her too much. But, haply, this is a dream; for how could I hope that one of the Caliphate house should visit my humble home and carouse with me this night?’ I conjured him to be seated; so he sat down and began to question me as to the cause of my visit in the most courteous terms. So I told him the whole affair, first and last, hiding naught, and said to him, ‘Now as to the food I have had my will, but of the hand and wrist I have still to win my wish.’ Quoth he, ‘Thou shalt have thy desire of the hand and wrist also, Inshallah!’ Then said he to the slave-girl, ‘Ho, such an one, bid such an one come down.’ And he called his slave-girls down, one by one and showed them to me; but I saw not my mistress among them, and he said, ‘O my lord, there is none left save my mother and sister; but, by Allah, I must needs have them also down and show them to thee.’ So I marvelled at his courtesy and large heartedness and said, ‘May I be thy sacrifice! Begin with the sister;’ and he answered, ‘With joy and goodwill.’ So she came down and he showed me her hand and behold, she was the owner of the hand and wrist. Quoth I, ‘Allah make me thy ransom! this is the damsel whose hand and wrist I saw at the lattice.’ Then he sent his servants without stay or delay for witnesses and bringing out two myriads[FN#411] of gold pieces, said to the witnesses, ‘This our lord and master, Ibrahim son of Al-Mahdi, paternal-uncle of the Commander of the Faithful, seeketh in marriage my sister such an one; and I call you to witness that I give her in wedlock to him and that he hath settled upon her ten thousand dinars.’ And he said to me, ‘I give thee my sister in marriage, at the portion aforesaid.’ ‘I consent,’ answered I, ‘and am herewith content.’ Whereupon he gave one of the bags to her and the other to the witnesses, and said to me, ‘O our lord, I desire to adorn a chamber for thee, where thou mayst sleep with thy wife.’ But I was abashed at his generosity and was ashamed to lie with her in his house; so I said, ‘Equip her and send her to my place.’ And by thy being, O Commander of the Faithful, he sent me with her such an equipage that my house, for all its greatness, was too strait to hold it! And I begot on her this boy that standeth in thy presence.” Then Al-Maamun marvelled at the man’s generosity and said, “Gifted of Allah is he! Never heard I of his like.” And he bade Ibrahim bin al-Mahdi bring him to court, that he might see him. He brought him and the Caliph conversed with him; and his wit and good breeding so pleased him that he made him one of his chief officers. And Allah is the Giver, the Bestower! Men also relate the tale of

THE WOMAN WHOSE HANDS WERE CUT OFF FOR GIVING ALMS TO THE POOR.

A certain King once made proclamation to the people of his realm saying, “If any of you give alms of aught, I will verily and assuredly cut off his hand;” wherefore all the people abstained from alms-deed, and none could give anything to any one. Now it chanced that one day a beggar accosted a certain woman (and indeed hunger was sore upon him), and said to her, “Give me an alms”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was Three Hundred and Forty-eighth Night

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that, quoth the beggar to the woman, “Give me an alms however small.” But she answered him, “How can I give thee aught, when the King cutteth off the hands of all who give alms?” Then he said, “I conjure thee by Allah Almighty, give me an alms;” so when he adjured her by the Holy Name of Allah, she had ruth on him and gave him two scones. The King heard of this; whereupon he called her before him and cut off her hands, after which she returned to her house. Now it chanced after a while that the King said to his mother, “I have a mind to take a wife; so do thou marry me to a fair woman.” Quoth she, “There is among our female slaves one who is unsurpassed in beauty; but she hath a grievous blemish.” The King asked, “What is that?” and his mother answered, “She hath had both her hands cut off.” Said he, “Let me see her.” So she brought her to him, and he was ravished by her and married her and went in unto her; and begat upon her a son. Now this was the woman who had given two scones as an alms to the asker, and whose hands had been cut off therefor; and when the King married her, her fellow-wives envied her and wrote to the common husband that she was an unchaste, having just given birth to the boy; so he wrote to his mother, bidding her carry the woman into the desert and leave her there. The old Queen obeyed his commandment and abandoned the woman and her son in the desert; whereupon she fell to weeping for that which had befallen her and wailing with exceeding sore wail. As she went along, she came to a river and knelt down to drink, being overcome with excess of thirst, for fatigue of walking and for grief; but, as she bent her head, the child which was at her neck fell into the water. Then she sat weeping bitter tears for her child, and as she wept, behold came up two men, who said to her, “What maketh thee weep?” Quoth she, “I had a child at my neck, and he hath fallen into the water.” They asked, “Wilt thou that we bring him out to thee?” and she answered, “Yes.” So they prayed to Almighty Allah, and the child came forth of the water to her, safe and sound. Then said they, “Wilt thou that Allah restore thee thy hands as they were?” “Yes,” replied she: whereupon they prayed to Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) and her hands were restored to her, goodlier than before. Then said they, “Knowest thou who we are?”; and she replied, “Allah is all knowing;”[FN#412] and they said, “We are thy two Scones of Bread, which thou gayest in alms to the asker and which were the cause of the cutting off of thy hands.[FN#413] So praise thou Allah Almighty for that He hath restored to thee thy hands and thy child.” Then she praised Almighty Allah and glorified Him. And men relate a tale of

THE DEVOUT ISRAELITE.

There was once a devout man of the Children of Israel,[FN#414] whose family span cotton-thread; and he used every day to sell the yarn and buy fresh cotton, and with the profit he laid in daily bread for his household. One morning he went out and sold the day’s yarn as wont, when there met him one of his brethren, who complained to him of need; so he gave him the price of the thread and returned, empty-handed, to his family, who said to him, “Where is the cotton and the food?” Quoth he, “Such an one met me and complained to me of want; whereupon I gave him the price of the yarn.” And they said, “How shall we do? We have nothing to sell.” Now they had a cracked trencher[FN#415] and a jar; so he took them to the bazar but none would buy them of him. However presently, as he stood in the market, there passed by a man with a fish,–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-ninth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the man took the trencher and jar to the bazar, but none would buy them of him. However there presently passed by a man with a fish which was so stinking and so swollen that no one would buy it of him, and he said to the Jew, “Wilt thou sell me thine unsaleable ware for mine?” “Yes,” answered the Jew; and, giving him the wooden trencher and jar, took the fish and carried it home to his family, who said, “What shall we do with this fish?” Quoth he, “We will broil it and eat it, till it please Allah to provide bread for us.” So they took it and ripping open its belly, found therein a great pearl and told the head of the household who said, “See ye if it be pierced: if so, it belongeth to some one of the folk; if not, ’tis a provision of Allah for us.” So they examined it and found it unpierced. Now when it was the morrow, the Jew carried it to one of his brethren which was an expert in jewels, and the man asked, “O such an one! whence haddest thou this pearl?”; whereto the Jew answered, “It was a gift of Almighty Allah to us,” and the other said, “It is worth a thousand dirhams and I will give thee that; but take it to such an one, for he hath more money and skill than I.” So the Jew took it to the jeweller, who said, “It is worth seventy thousand dirhams and no more.” Then he paid him that sum and the Jew hired two porters to carry the money to his house. As he came to his door, a beggar accosted him, saying, “Give me of that which Allah hath given thee.” Quoth the Jew to the asker, “But yesterday we were even as thou; take thee half this money:” so he made two parts of it, and each took his half. Then said the beggar, “Take back thy money and Allah bless and prosper thee in it; I am a Messenger,[FN#416] whom thy Lord hath sent to try thee.” Quoth the Jew, “To Allah be the praise and the thanks!” and abode in all delight of life he and his household till death. And men recount this story of

ABU HASSAN AL-ZIYADI AND THE KHORASAN.

Quoth Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi[FN#417]: “I was once in straitened case and so needy that the grocer, the baker and other tradesmen dunned and importuned me; and my misery became extreme, for I knew of no resource nor what to do. Things being on this wise there came to me one day certain of my servants and said to me, ‘At the door is a pilgrim wight, who seeketh admission to thee.’ Quoth I, ‘Admit him.’ So he came in and behold, he was a Khorasani. We exchanged salutations and he said to me, ‘Tell me, art thou Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi?’; and I replied, ‘Yes, what is thy wish?’ Quoth he, ‘I am a stranger and am minded to make the pilgrimage; but I have with me a great sum of money, which is burdensome to bear: so I wish to deposit these ten thousand dirhams with thee whilst I make my pilgrimage and return. If the caravan march back and thou see me not, then know that I am dead, in which case the money is a gift from me to thee; but if I come back, it shall be mine.’ I answered, ‘Be it as thou wilt, an thus please Allah Almighty.’ So he brought out a leather bag and I said to the servant, ‘Fetch the scales;’ and when he brought them the man weighed out the money and handed it to me, after which he went his way. Then I called the purveyors and paid them my liabilities”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Fiftieth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi: “I called the purveyors and paid them my liabilities and spent freely and amply, saying to myself, ‘By the time he returns, Allah will have relieved me with one or other of the bounties He hath by Him.’ However, on the very next day, the servant came in to me and said, ‘Thy friend the Khorasan man is at the door.’ ‘Admit him,’ answered I. So he came in and said to me, ‘I had purposed to make the pilgrimage; but news hath reached me of the decease of my father, and I have resolved to return; so give me the monies I deposited with thee yesterday.’ When I heard this, I was troubled and perplexed beyond measure of perplexity known to man and wotted not what reply to make him; for, if I denied it, he would put me on my oath, and I should be disgraced in the world to come; whilst, if I told him that I had spent the money, he would make an outcry and dishonour me before men. So I said to him, ‘Allah give thee health! This my house is no stronghold nor site of safe custody for this money. When I received thy leather bag, I sent it to one with whom it now is; so do thou return to us to-morrow and take thy money, Inshallah!'[FN#418] So he went away and I passed the night in great concern, because of his return to me; sleep visited me not nor could I close my eyes; so I rose and bade the boy saddle me the she-mule. Answered he, ‘O my lord, it is yet but the first third of the night and indeed we have hardly had time to rest.’ I returned to my bed, but sleep was forbidden to me and I ceased not to awaken the boy, and he to put me off, till break of day, when he saddled me the mule, and I mounted and rode out, not knowing whither to go. I threw the reins on the mule’s shoulders and gave myself up to regrets and melancholy thoughts, whilst she fared on with me to the eastward of Baghdad. Presently, as I went along, behold, I saw a number of people approaching me and turned aside into another path to avoid them; but seeing that I wore a turband in preacher-fashion,[FN#419] they followed me and hastening up to me, said, ‘Knowest thou the lodging of Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi?’ ‘I am he,’ answered I; and they rejoined, ‘Obey the summons of the Commander of the Faithful.’ Then they carried me before Al-Maamun, who said to me, ‘Who art thou?’ Quoth I, ‘An associate of the Kazi Abu Yusuf and a doctor of the law and traditions.’ Asked the Caliph, ‘By what surname art thou known?'[FN#420] and I answered, ‘Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi;’ whereupon quoth he, ‘Expound to me thy case.’ So I recounted to him my case and he wept sore and said to me, ‘Out on thee! The Apostle of Allah (whom Allah bless and assain!) would not let me sleep this night, because of thee; for in early darkness[FN#421] he appeared to me and said, ‘Succour Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi.’ Whereupon I awoke and, knowing thee not, went to sleep again; but he came to me a second time and said to me, ‘Woe to thee! Succour Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi.’ I awoke a second time, but knowing thee not I went to sleep again; and he came to me a third time and still I knew thee not and went to sleep again. Then he came to me once more and said, ‘Out on thee! Succour Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi!’ After that I dared not sleep any more, but watched the rest of the night and aroused my people and sent them on all sides in quest of thee.’ Then he gave me one myriad of dirhams, saying, ‘This is for the Khorasani,’ and other ten thousand, saying, ‘Spend freely of this and amend thy case therewith, and set thine affairs in order.’ Moreover, he presented me with thirty thousand dirhams, saying, ‘Furnish thyself with this, and when the Procession-day[FN#422] is being kept, come thou to me, that I may invest thee with some office.’ So I went forth from him with the money and returned home, where I prayed the dawn-prayer; and behold, presently came the Khorasani, so I carried him into the house and brought out to him one myriad of dirhams, saying, ‘Here is thy money.’ Quoth he, ‘It is not my very money; how cometh this?’ So I told him the whole story, and he wept and said, ‘By Allah, haddest thou told me the fact at first, I had not pressed thee!; and now, by Allah, I will not accept aught of this money'”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-first Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the Khorasani to Al-Ziyadi, “‘By Allah, haddest thou told me the fact at first, I had not pressed thee!; and now, by Allah, I will not accept aught of this money and thou art lawfully quit of it.’ So saying, he went away and I set my affairs in order and repaired on the Procession-day to Al-Maamun’s Gate, where I found him seated. When he saw me present myself he called me to him and, bringing forth to me a paper from under his prayer-carpet, said to me, ‘This is a patent, conferring on thee the office of Kazi of the western division of Al-Medinah, the Holy City, from the Bab al-Salam[FN#423] to the furthest limit of the township; and I appoint thee such and such monthly allowances. So fear Allah (to whom be honour and glory!) end be mindful of the solicitude of His Apostle (whom may He bless and keep!) on thine account.’ Then the folk marvelled at the Caliph’s words and asked me their meaning; whereupon I told them the story from beginning to end and it spread abroad amongst the people.” “And” (quoth he who telleth the tale) “Abu Hassan al-Ziyadi ceased not to be Kazi of Al-Medinah, the Holy City, till he died in the days of Al-Maamun the mercy of Allah be on him!” And among the tales men tell is one of

THE POOR MAN AND HIS FRIEND IN NEED.

There was once a rich man who lost all he had and became destitute, whereupon his wife advised him to ask aid and assistance of one of his intimates. So he betook himself to a certain friend of his and acquainted him with his necessities; and he lent him five hundred dinars to trade withal. Now in early life he had been a jeweller; so he took the gold and went to the jewel-bazar, where he opened a shop to buy and sell. Presently, as he sat in his shop three men accosted him and asked for his father, and when he told them that he was deceased, they said, “Say, did he leave issue?” Quoth the jeweller, “He left the slave who is before you.” They asked, “And who knoweth thee for his son?”; and he answered, “The people of the bazar whereupon they said, “Call them together, that they may testify to us that thou art his very son.” So he called them and they bore witness of this; whereupon the three men delivered to him a pair of saddle- bags, containing thirty thousand dinars, besides jewels and bullion of high value, saying, “This was deposited with us in trust by thy father.” Then they went away; and presently there came to him a woman, who sought of him certain of the jewels, worth five hundred dinars which she bought and paid him three thousand for them. Upon this he arose and took five hundred dinars and carrying them to his friend who had lent him the money, said to him, “Take the five hundred dinars I borrowed of thee; for Allah hath opened to me the gate of prosperity.” Quoth the other, “Nay; I gave them to thee outright, for the love of Allah; so do thou keep them. And take this paper, but read it not till thou be at home, and do according to that which is therein.” So he took the money and the paper and returned home, where he opened the scroll and found therein inscribed these couplets,

“Kinsmen of mine were those three men who came to thee; * My sire and uncles twain and Salih bin Ali.
So what for cash thou coldest, to my mother ’twas * Thou soldest it, and coin and gems were sent by me. Thus doing I desired not any harm to thee * But in my presence spare thee and thy modesty.”

And they also recount the story of

THE RUINED MAN WHO BECAME RICH AGAIN THROUGH A DREAM.[FN#424]

There lived once in Baghdad a wealthy man and made of money, who lost all his substance and became so destitute that he could earn his living only by hard labour. One night, he lay down to sleep, dejected and heavy hearted, and saw in a dream a Speaker[FN#425] who said to him, “Verily thy fortune is in Cairo; go thither and seek it.” So he set out for Cairo; but when he arrived there evening overtook him and he lay down to sleep in a mosque Presently, by decree of Allah Almighty, a band of bandits entered the mosque and made their way thence into an adjoining house; but the owners, being aroused by the noise of the thieves, awoke and cried out; whereupon the Chief of Police came to their aid with his officers. The robbers made off; but the Wali entered the mosque and, finding the man from Baghdad asleep there, laid hold of him and beat him with palm-rods so grievous a beating that he was well-nigh dead. Then they cast him into jail, where he abode three days; after which the Chief of Police sent for him and asked him, “Whence art thou?”; and he answered, “From Baghdad.” Quoth the Wali, “And what brought thee to Cairo?”; and quoth the Baghdadi, “I saw in a dream One who said to me, Thy fortune is in Cairo; go thither to it. But when I came to Cairo the fortune which he promised me proved to be the palm-rods thou so generously gavest to me.” The Wali laughed till he showed his wisdom-teeth and said, “O man of little wit, thrice have I seen in a dream one who said to me: ‘There is in Baghdad a house in such a district and of such a fashion and its courtyard is laid out garden-wise, at the lower end whereof is a jetting-fountain and under the same a great sum of money lieth buried. Go thither and take it.’ Yet I went not; but thou, of the briefness of thy wit, hast journeyed from place to place, on the faith of a dream, which was but an idle galimatias of sleep.” Then he gave him money saying, “Help thee back herewith to thine own country;”– And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When It was the Three Hundred and Fifty-second Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali gave the Baghdad man some silver, saying, “Help thee back herewith to thine own country;” and he took the money and set out upon his homewards march. Now the house the Wali had described was the man’s own house in Baghdad; so the wayfarer returned thither and, digging underneath the fountain in his garden, discovered a great treasure. And thus Allah gave him abundant fortune; and a marvellous coincidence occurred. And a story is also current of

CALIPH AL-MUTAWAKKIL AND HIS CONCUBINE MAHBUBAH.

There were in the palace of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil ala’llah[FN#426] four thousand concubines, whereof two thousand were Greeks and other two thousand slave born Arabians[FN#427] and Abyssinians; and ‘Obayd ibn Tahir[FN#428] had given him two hundred white girls and a like number of Abyssinian and native girls. Among these slave-borns was a girl of Bassorah, hight Mahbubah, the Beloved, who was of surpassing beauty and loveliness, elegance and voluptuous grace. Moreover, she played upon the lute and was skilled in singing and making verses and wrote a beautiful hand; so that Al-Mutawakkil fell passionately in love with her and could not endure from her a single hour. But when she saw this affection, she presumed upon his favour to use him arrogantly, wherefore he waxed exceeding wroth with her and forsook her, forbidding the people of the palace to speak with her. She abode on this wise some days, but the Caliph still inclined to her; and he arose one morning and said to his courtiers, “I dreamt, last night, that I was reconciled to Mahhubah.” They answered, “Would Allah this might be on wake!”; and as they were talking, behold, in came one of the Caliph’s maidservants and whispered him; so he rose from his throne and entered the Serraglio; for the whisper had said, “Of a truth we heard singing and lute-playing in Mahbubah’s chamber and we knew not what this meant.” So he went straight to her apartment, where he heard her playing upon the lute and singing the following verses,

“I wander through the palace, but I sight there not a soul * To whom I may complain or will ‘change a word with me. It is as though I’d done so grievous rebel-deed * Wherefrom can no contrition e’er avail to set me free. Have we no intercessor here to plead with King, who came * In sleep to me and took me back to grace and amity; But when the break of day arose and showed itself again, * Then he departing sent me back to dree my privacy?”

Now when the Caliph heard her voice, he marvelled at the verse and yet more at the strange coincidence of their dreams and entered the chamber. As soon as she perceived him, she hastened to rise and throw herself at his feet, and kissing them, said, “By Allah, O my lord, this hap is what I dreamt last night; and, when I awoke, I made the couplets thou hast heard.” Replied Al- Mutawakkil, “By Allah, I also dreamt the like!” Then they embraced and made friends and he abode with her seven days with their nights. Now Mahbubah had written upon her cheek, in musk, the Caliph’s name, which was Ja’afar: and when he saw this, he improvised the following,

“One wrote upon her cheek with musk, his name was Ja’afar highs; * My soul for hers who wrote upon her cheek the name I sight!
If an her fingers have inscribed one line upon her cheek, * Full many a line in heart of mine those fingers did indite: O thou, whom Ja’afar sole of men possesseth for himself, * Allah fill Ja’afar[FN#429] stream full draught, the wine of thy delight!”

When Al-Mutawakkil died, his host of women forgot him, all save Mahhubah,–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-third Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Al-Mutawakkil died, his host of women forgot him all save Mahbubah who ceased not to mourn for him, till she deceased and was buried by his side, the mercy of Allah be on them both! And men also tell the tale of

WARDAN[FN#430] THE BUTCHER; HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE LADY AND THE BEAR.

There lived once in Cairo, in the days of the Caliph Al-Hakim bi’ Amri’llah, a butcher named Wardan, who dealt in sheep’s flesh; and there came to him every day a lady and gave him a dinar, whose weight was nigh two and a half Egyptian dinars, saying, “Give me a lamb.” So he took the money and gave her the lamb, which she delivered to a porter she had with her; and he put it in his crate and she went away with him to her own place. Next day she came in the forenoon and this went on for a long time, the butcher gaining a dinar by her every day, till at last he began to be curious about her case and said to himself, “This woman buyeth of me a ducat-worth of meat every morning, paying ready money, and never misseth a single day. Verily, this is a strange thing!” So he took an occasion of questioning the porter, in her absence, and asked him, “Whither goest thou every day with yonder woman?”; and he answered, “I know not what to make of her for surprise; inasmuch as every day, after she hath taken the lamb of thee, she buyeth necessaries of the table, fresh and dried fruits and wax-candles a dinar’s worth, and taketh of a certain person, which is a Nazarene, two flagons of wine, worth another dinar; and then she leadeth me with the whole and I go with her to the Wazir’s Gardens, where she blindfoldeth me, so that I cannot see on what part of earth I set my feet; and, taking me by the hand, she leadeth me I know not whither. Presently, she sayeth, ‘Set down here;’ and when I have done so, she giveth me an empty crate she hath ready and, taking my hand, leadeth me back to the Wazir’s Gardens, the place where she bound my eyes, and there removeth the bandage and giveth me ten silver bits.” “Allah be her helper!” quoth Wardan; but he redoubled in curiosity about her case; disquietude increased upon him and he passed the night in exceeding restlessness. And quoth the butcher, “Next morning she came to me as of custom and taking the lamb, for which she paid the dinar, delivered it to the porter and went away. So I gave my shop in charge to a lad and followed her without her seeing me;”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-fourth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Wardan the butcher continued: “So I gave my shop in charge to a lad and followed her without her seeing me; nor did I cease to keep her in sight, hiding behind her, till she left Cairo and came to the Wazir’s Gardens. Then I hid myself whilst she bandaged the porter’s eyes and followed her again from place to place till she came to the mountain[FN#431] and stopped at a spot where there was a great stone. Here she made the porter set down his crate, and I waited whilst she conducted him back to the Wazir’s Gardens, after which she returned and, taking out the contents of the basket, instantly disappeared. Then I went up to that stone and wrenching it up entered the hole and found behind the stone an open trap-door of brass and a flight of steps leading downwards. So I descended, little by little, till I came to a long corridor, brilliantly lighted and followed it, till I made a closed door, as it were the door of a saloon. I looked about the wall sides near the doorway till I discovered a recess, with steps therein; then climbed up and found a little niche with a bulls-eye giving upon a saloon. Thence I looked inside and saw the lady cut off the choicest parts of the lamb and laying them in a saucepan, throw the rest to a great big bear, who ate it all to the last bite. Now when she had made an end of cooking, she ate her fill, after which she set on the fruits and confections and brought out the wine and fell to drinking a cup herself and giving the bear to drink in a basin of gold. And as soon as she was heated with wine, she put off her petticoat-trousers and lay down on her back; whereupon the bear arose and came up to her and stroked her, whilst she gave him the best of what belongeth to the sons of Adam till he had made an end, when he sat down and rested. Presently, he sprang upon her and rogered her again; and when he ended he again sat down to rest, and he ceased not so doing till he had futtered her ten times and they both fell to the ground in a fainting-fit and lay without motion. Then quoth I to myself, ‘Now is my opportunity,’ and taking a knife I had with me, that would cut bones before flesh,[FN#432] went down to them and found them motionless, not a muscle of them moving for their hard swinking and swiving. So I put my knife to the bear’s gullet and pressed upon it, till I finished him by severing his head from his body, and he gave a great snort like thunder, whereat the lady started up in alarm; and, seeing the bear slain and me standing whittle in hand, she shrieked so loud a shriek that I thought the soul had left her body. Then she asked, ‘O Wardan, is this how thou requites me my favours?’ And I answered, ‘O enemy of thine own soul, is there a famine of men[FN#433] that thou must do this damnable thing?’ She made no answer but bent down over the bear, and looked fondly upon him; then finding his head divided from his body, said to me, ‘O Wardan, which of the two courses wouldst thou take; either obey me in what I shall say and be the means of thine own safety'”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that quoth the lady, ” ‘O Wardan, which of the two courses wouldst thou take; either obey me in what I shall say and be the means of thine own safety and competency to the end of thy days, or gainsay me and so cause thine own destruction?'[FN#434] Answered I, ‘I choose rather to hearken unto thee: say what thou wilt.’ Quoth she, ‘Then slay me, as thou hast slain this bear, and take thy need of this hoard and wend thy ways.’ Quoth I, ‘I am better than this bear: so return thou to Allah Almighty and repent, and I will marry thee, and we will live on this treasure the rest of our lives.’ She rejoined, ‘O Wardan, far be it from me! How shall I live after him? By Allah, an thou slay me not I will assuredly do away thy life! So leave bandying words with me, or thou art a lost man: this is all I have to say to thee and peace be with thee!’ Then said I, ‘I will kill thee, and thou shalt go to the curse of Allah.’ So saying, I caught her by the hair and cut her throat; and she went to the curse of Allah and of the angels and of all mankind. And after so doing I examined the place and found there gold and bezel-stones and pearls, such as no one king could bring together. So I filled the porter’s crate with as much as I could carry and covered it with the clothes I had on me. Then I shouldered it and, going up out of the underground treasure- chamber, fared homewards and ceased not faring on, till I came to the gate of Cairo, where behold, I fell in with ten of the bodyguard of Al-Hakim bi’ Amri’llah[FN#435] followed by the Prince himself who said to me, ‘Ho, Wardan!’ ‘At thy service, O King,’ replied I; when he asked, ‘Hast thou killed the bear and the lady?’ and I answered, ‘Yes.’ Quoth he, ‘Set down the basket from thy head and fear naught, for all the treasure thou hast with thee is thine, and none shall dispute it with thee.’ So I set down the crate before him, and he uncovered it and looked at it; then said to me, ‘Tell me their case, albe I know it, as if I had been present with you.’ So I told him all that had passed and he said, ‘Thou hast spoken the truth,’ adding, ‘O Wardan, come now with me to the treasure.’ So I returned with him to the cavern, where he found the trap-door closed and said to me, ‘O Wardan, lift it; none but thou can open the treasure, for it is enchanted in thy name and nature.'[FN#436] Said I, ‘By Allah, I cannot open it,’ but he said, ‘Go up to it, trusting in the blessing of Allah.’ So I called upon the name of Almighty Allah and, advancing to the trap-door, put my hand to it; whereupon it came up as it had been of the lightest. Then said the Caliph, ‘Go down and bring hither what is there; for none but one of thy name and semblance and nature hath gone down thither since the place was made, and the slaying of the bear and the woman was appointed to be at thy hand. This was chronicled with me and I was awaiting its fulfilment.'[FN#437] Accordingly (quoth Wardan) I went down and brought up all the treasure, whereupon the Caliph sent for beasts of burden and carried it away, after giving me my crate, with what was therein. So I bore it home and opened me a shop in the market.” And (saith he who telleth the tale) “this market is still extant and is known as Wardan’s Market.” And I have heard recount another story of

THE KING’S DAUGHTER AND THE APE.

There was once a Sultan’s daughter, whose heart was taken with love of a black slave: he abated her maidenhead and she became passionately addicted to futtering, so that she could not do without it a single hour and complained of her case to one of her body women, who told her that no thing poketh and stroketh more abundantly than the baboon.[FN$438] Now it so chanced one day, that an ape-leader passed under her lattice, with a great ape; so she unveiled her face and looking upon the ape, signed to him with her eyes, whereupon he broke his bonds and chain and climbed up to the Princess, who hid him in a place with her, and night and day he abode there, eating and drinking and copulating. Her father heard of this and would have killed her;–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Sultan heard of this work he would have slain his daughter; but she smoked his design; and, disguising herself in Mameluke’s dress, mounted horse after loading a mule with gold and bullion, and precious stuffs past all account; then carrying with her the ape, she fled to Cairo, where she took up her abode in one of the houses without the city and upon the verge of the Suez-desert. Now, every day, she used to buy meat of a young man, a butcher, but she came not to him till after noonday; and then she was so yellow and disordered in face that he said in his mind, “There must indeed hang some mystery by this slave.” “Accordingly (quoth the butcher) one day when she came to me as usual, I went out after her secretly, and ceased not to follow her from place to place, so as she saw me not, till she came to her lodging on the edge of her waste and entered; and I looked in upon her through a cranny, and saw her as soon as she was at home, kindle a fire and cook the meat, of which she ate enough and served up the rest to a baboon she had by her and he did the same. Then she put off the slave’s habit and donned the richest of women’s apparel; and so I knew that she was a lady. After this she set on wine and drank and gave the ape to drink; and he stroked her nigh half a score times without drawing till she swooned away, when he spread over her a silken coverlet and returned to his place. Then I went down in the midst of the place and the ape, becoming aware of me, would have torn me in pieces; but I made haste to pull out my knife and slit his paunch and his bowels fell out. The noise aroused the young lady, who awoke terrified and trembling; and, when she saw the ape in this case, she shrieked such a shriek that her soul well nigh fled her body. Then she fell down in a fainting-fit and when she came to herself, she said to me, ‘What moved thee to do thus? Now Allah upon thee, send me after him!’ But I spoke her fair for a while and pledged myself to stand in the ape’s stead in the matter of much poking, till her trouble subsided and I took her to wife. But when I came to perform my promise I proved a failure and I fell short in this matter and could not endure such hard labour: so I complained of my case and mentioned her exorbitant requirements to a certain old woman who engaged to manage the affair and said to me, ‘Needs must thou bring me a cooking-pot full of virgin vinegar and a pound of the herb pellitory called wound-wort.'[FN#439] So I brought her what she sought, and she laid the pellitory in the pot with the vinegar and set it on the fire, till it was thoroughly boiled. Then she bade me futter the girl, and I futtered her till she fainted away, when the old woman took her up (and she unconscious), and set her parts to the mouth of the cooking-pot. The steam of the pot entered her slit and there fell from it somewhat which I examined; and behold, it was two small worms, one black and the other yellow. Quoth the old, woman, ”The black was bred of the strokings of the negro and the yellow of stroking with the baboon.’ Now when she recovered from her swoon she abode with me, in all delight and solace of life, and sought not swiving as before, for Allah had done away from her this appetite; whereat I marvelled”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Fifty-seventh Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the young man continued: “In truth Allah had done away from her this appetite; whereat I marvelled and acquainted her with the case. Thereupon I lived with her and she took the old woman to be to her in the stead of her mother.” “And” (said he who told me the tale) “the old woman and the young man and his wife abode in joy and cheer till there came to them the Destroyer of delights and the Sunderer of societies; and glory be to the Ever-living One, who dieth not and in whose hand is Dominion of the world visible and invisible!”[FN#440] And another tale they tell is that of

End of Arabian Nights Volume 4.

Arabian Nights, Volume 4
Footnotes

[FN#1] The name is indifferently derived from the red sand about the town or the reeds and mud with which it was originally built. It was founded by the Caliph Omar, when the old Capital-Madain (Ctesiphon) opposite was held unwholesome, on the West bank of the Euphrates, four days’ march from Baghdad and has now disappeared. Al-Saffah, the first Abbaside, made it his Capital–and it became a famous seat of Moslem learning; the Kufi school of Arab Grammarians being as renowned as their opponents, the Basri (of Bassorah). It gave a name to the “Cufic” characters which are, however, of much older date.

[FN#2] “Ni’amat” = a blessing, and the word is perpetually occurring in Moslem conversation, “Ni’amatu’llah” (as pronounced) is also a favourite P.N. and few Anglo-Indians of the Mutiny date will forget the scandalous disclosures of Munshi Ni’amatu ‘llah, who had been sent to England by Nana Sahib. Nu’m = prosperity, good fortune, and a P. N. like the Heb. “Naomi.”

[FN#3] i.e. “causing to be prosperous”, the name, corrupted by the Turks to “Tevfik,” is given to either sex, e.g. Taufik Pasha of Egypt, to whose unprosperous rule and miserable career the signification certainly does not apply.

[FN#4] Lane (ii. 187) alters the two to four years.

[FN#5] i.e. “to Tom, Dick or Harry:” the names like John Doe and Richard Roe are used indefinitely in Arab. Grammar and Syntax. I have noted that Amru is written and pronounced Amr: hence Amru, the Conqueror of Egypt, when told by an astrologer that Jerusalem would be taken only by a trium literarum homo, with three letters in his name sent for the Caliph Omar (Omr), to whom the so-called Holy City at once capitulated. Hence also most probably, the tale of Bhurtpore and the Lord Alligator (Kumbhir), who however did not change from Cotton to Combermore for some time after the successful siege.

[FN#6] BinYusuf al-Sakafi, a statesman and soldier of the seventh and eighth centuries (A.D.). He was Governor of Al-Hij az and Al-Irak under the fifth and sixth Ommiades, and I have noticed his vigorous rule of the Moslems’ Holy Land in my Pilgrimage (iii. 194, etc.). He pulled down the Ka’abah and restored it to the condition in which it now is. Al-Siyuti (p. 219) accuses him of having suborned a man to murder Ibn Omar with a poisoned javelin, and of humiliating the Prophet’s companions by “sealing them in the necks and hands,” that is he tied a thong upon the neck of each and sealed the knot with lead. In Irak he showed himself equally masterful, but an iron hand was required by the revolutionists of Kufah and Basrah. He behaved like a good Knight in rescuing the Moslem women who called upon his name when taken prisoners by Dahir of Debal (Tatha in Sind). Al-Hajjaj was not the kind of man the Caliph would have chosen for a pander; but the Shi’ahs hates him and have given him a lasting bad name. In the East men respect manly measures, not the hysterical, philanthropic pseudo-humanitarianism of our modern government which is really the cruellest of all. When Ziyad bin Abihi was sent by Caliph Mu’awiyah to reform Bassorah, a den of thieves, he informed the lieges that he intended to rule by the sword and advised all evil-doers to quit the city. The people were forbidden, under pain of teeth, to walk the streets after prayers, on the first night two hundred suffered; on the second five and none afterwards. Compare this with our civilised rule in Egypt where even bands of brigands, a phenomenon perfectly new and unknown to this century, have started up, where crime has doubled in quantity and quality, and where “Christian rule” has thoroughly scandalised a Moslem land.

[FN#7] The old bawd’s portrait is admirably drawn: all we dwellers in the East have known her well: she is so and so. Her dress and manners are the same amongst the Hindus (see the hypocritical-female ascetic in the Katha, p. 287) as amongst the Moslems; men of the world at once recognise her and the prudent keep out of her way. She is found in the cities of Southern Europe, ever pious, ever prayerful; and she seems to do her work not so much for profit as for pure or impure enjoyment. In the text her task was easy, as she had to do with a pair of innocents.

[FN#8] Koran, xxv. 70. I give Sale’s version.

[FN#9] Easterns, I have observed, have no way of saying “Thank you;” they express it by a blessing or a short prayer. They have a right to your surplus: daily bread is divided, they say and, eating yours, they consider it their own. I have discussed this matter in Pilgrimage i. 75-77, in opposition to those who declare that “gratitude” is unknown to Moslems.

[FN#10] Cufa (Kufah) being a modern place never had a “King,” but as the Hindu says, ” Delhi is far” it is a far cry to Loch Awe. Here we can hardly understand “Malik” as Governor or Viceroy: can it be syn. with Zu-mal-(moneyed)?

[FN#11] Abd al-Malik has been before mentioned as the “Sweat of a Stone,” etc. He died recommending Al-Hajjaj to his son, Al-Walid, and one of his sayings is still remembered. “He who desireth to take a female slave for carnal-enjoyment, let him take a native of Barbary; if he need one for the sake of children, let him have a Persian; and whoso desireth one for service, let him take a Greek.” Moderns say, “If you want a brother (in arms) try a Nubian; one to get you wealth an Abyssinian and if you want an ass (for labour) a Sawahili, or Zanzibar negroid.”

[FN#12] Probably suggested by the history of Antiochus and Stratonice, with an addition of Eastern mystery such as geomancy.

[FN#13] Arab, “Karurah”: the “water-doctor” has always been an institution in the east and he has lately revived in Europe especially at the German baths and in London.

[FN#14] Lane makes this phrase “O brother of the Persians!” synonymous with “O Persian!” I think it means more, a Persian being generally considered “too clever by half.”

[FN#15] The verses deal in untranslatable word-plays upon women’s names, Naomi (the blessing) Su’ada or Su’ad (the happy, which Mr. Redhouse, in Ka’ab’s Mantle-poem, happily renders Beatrice); and Juml (a sum or total) the two latter, moreover, being here fictitious.

[FN#16] “And he (Jacob) turned from them, and said, ‘O how I am grieved for Joseph’ And his eyes became white with mourning. … (Quoth Joseph to his brethren), ‘Take this my inner garment and throw it on my father’s face and he shall recover his sight.’ . . . So, when the messenger of good tidings came (to Jacob) he threw it (the shirt) over his face and he recovered his eye-sight.” Koran, xii. 84, 93, 96. The commentators, by way of improvement, assure us that the shirt was that worn by Abraham when thrown into the fire (Koran, chaps. xvi.) by Nimrod (!). We know little concerning “Jacob’s daughters” who named the only bridge spanning the upper Jordan, and who have a curious shrine tomb near Jewish “Safe” (North of Tiberias), one of the four “Holy Cities.” The Jews ignore these “daughters of Jacob” and travellers neglect them.

[FN#17] Easterns, I have remarked, mostly recognise the artistic truth that the animal-man is handsomer than woman and that “fair sex” is truly only of skin-colour. The same is the general-rule throughout creation, for instance the stallion compared with the mare, the cock with the hen; while there are sundry exceptions such as the Falconidae.

[FN#18] The Badawi (who is nothing if not horsey) compares the gait of a woman who walks well (in Europe rarely seen out of Spain) with the slightly swinging walk of a thoroughbred mare, bending her graceful neck and looking from side to side at objects as she passes.

[FN#19] Li’llahi (darr’) al-kail, a characteristic idiom. “Darr”=giving (rich) milk copiously and the phrase expresses admiration, “To Allah be ascribed (or Allah be praised for) his rich eloquence who said etc. Some Hebraists would render it, “Divinely (well) did he speak who said,” etc., holding “Allah” to express a superlative like “Yah” Jah) in Gen. iv. 1; x. 9. Nimrod was a hunter to the person (or presence) of Yah, i.e. mighty hunter.

[FN#20] Hamzah and Abbas were the famous uncles of Mohammed often noticed: Ukayl is not known; possibly it may be Akil, a son of the fourth Caliph, Ali.

[FN#21] The Eastern ring is rarely plain; and, its use being that of a signet, it is always in intaglio: the Egyptians invented engraving hieroglyphics on wooden stamps for marking bricks and applied the process to the ring. Moses B. C. 1491 (Exod. xxviii. 9) took two onyx-stones, and graved on them the names of the children of Israel. From this the signet ring was but a step. Herodotus mentions an emerald seal-set in gold, that of Polycrates, the work of Theodorus, son of Telecles the Samian (iii. 141). The Egyptians also were perfectly acquainted with working in cameo (anaglyph) and rilievo, as may be seen in the cavo rilievo of the finest of their hieroglyphs. The Greeks borrowed from them the cameo and applied it to gems (e.g. Tryphon’s in the Marlborough collection), and they bequeathed the art to the Romans. We read in a modern book “Cameo means an onyx, and the most famous cameo in the world is the onyx containing the Apotheosis of Augustus.” The ring is given in marriage because it was a seal–by which orders were signed (Gen. xxxviii. 18 and Esther iii. 10-12). I may note that the seal-ring of Cheops (Khufu), found in the Greatest Pyramid, was in the possession of my old friend, Doctor Abbott, of Auburn (U.S.), and was sold with his collection. It is the oldest ring in the world, and settles the Cheops-question.

[FN#22] This habit of weeping when friends meet after long parting is customary, I have noted, amongst the American “Indians,” the Badawin of the New World; they shed tears thinking of the friends they have lost. Like most primitive people they are ever ready to weep as was AEneas or Shakespeare’s saline personage,

“This would make a man, a man of salt To use his eyes for garden waterpots.” (King Lear, iv. 6.)

[FN#23] Here poetical-justice is not done; in most Arab tales the two adulterous Queens would have been put to death.

[FN#24] Pronounce Aladdin Abush-Shamat.

[FN#25] Arab. “Misr,” vulg. Masr: a close connection of Misraim the “two Misrs,” Egypt, upper and lower.

[FN#26] The Persians still call their Consuls “Shah-bander,” lit. king of the Bandar or port.

[FN#27] Arab. “Dukhul,” the night of going in, of seeing the bride unveiled for the first time, etcaetera.

[FN#28] Arab. “Barsh” or “Bars,” the commonest kind. In India it is called Ma’jun (=electuary, generally): it is made of Ganja or young leaves, buds, capsules and florets of hemp (C. saliva), poppy-seed and flowers of the thorn-apple (daiura) with milk and auger-candy, nutmegs, cloves, mace and saffron, all boiled to the consistency of treacle which hardens when cold. Several-recipes are given by Herklots (Glossary s.v. Majoon). These electuaries are usually prepared with “Charas,” or gum of hemp, collected by hand or by passing a blanket over the plant in early morning, and it is highly intoxicating. Another intoxicant is “Sabzi,” dried hemp-leaves, poppy-seed, cucumber heed, black pepper and cardamoms rubbed down in a mortar with a wooden pestle, and made drinkable by adding milk, ice-cream, etc. The Hashish of Arabia is the Hindustani Bhang, usually drunk and made as follows. Take of hemp-leaves, well washed, 3 drams black pepper 45 grains and of cloves, nutmeg and mace (which add to the intoxication) each 12 grains. Triturate in 8 ounces of water or the juice of watermelon or cucumber, strain and drink. The Egyptian Zabibah is a preparation of hemp florets, opium and honey, much affected by the lower orders, whence the proverb: “Temper thy sorrow with Zabibah. In Al-Hijaz it is mixed with raisins (Zabib) and smoked in the water-pipe. (Burck hardt No. 73.) Besides these there is (1) “Post” poppy-seed prepared in various ways but especially in sugared sherbets; (2) Datura (stramonium) seed, the produce of the thorn-apple breached and put into sweetmeats by dishonest confectioners; it is a dangerous intoxicant, producing spectral-visions, delirium tremens, etc., and (3) various preparations of opium especially the “Madad,” pills made up with toasted betel-leaf and smoked. Opium, however, is usually drunk in the shape of “Kusumba,” a pill placed in wet cotton and squeezed in order to strain and clean it of the cowdung and other filth with which it is adulterated.

[FN#29] Arab. “Sikankur” (Gr. {Greek letters}, Lat. Scincus) a lizard (S. officinalis) which, held in the hand, still acts as an aphrodisiac in the East, and which in the Middle Ages was considered a universal-medicine. In the “Adja’ib al-Hind” (Les Merveilles de l’Inde) we find a notice of a bald-headed old man who was compelled to know his wife twice a day and twice a night in consequence of having eaten a certain fish. (Chaps. Ixxviii. of the translation by M. L. Marcel Devic, from a manuscript of the tenth century, Paris Lemaire, 1878.) Europeans deride these prescriptions, but Easterns know better: they affect the fancy, that is the brain, and often succeed in temporarily relieving impotence. The recipes for this evil, which is incurable only when it comes from heart-affections, are innumerable in the East; and about half of every medical-work is devoted to them. Many a quack has made his fortune with a few bottles of tincture of cantharides, and a man who could discover a specific would become a millionaire in India only. The curious reader will consult for specimens the Ananga-Ranga Shastra by Koka Pandit; or the “Ruju ‘al-Shaykh ila ‘l-Sabah fi Kuwwati ‘l-Bah” (the Return of the Old Man to Youth in power of Procreation) by Ahmad bin Sulayman known as Ibn Kamal-Basha, in 139 chapters lithographed at Cairo. Of these aphrodisiacs I shall have more to say.

[FN#30] Ala al-Din (our old friend Aladdin) = Glory of the Faith, a name of which Mohammed who preferred the simplest, like his own, would have highly disapproved. The most grateful names to Allah are Abdallah (Allah’s Slave) and Abd al-Rahman (Slave of the Compassionate); the truest are Al-Harith (the gainer, “bread winner”) and Al-Hammam (the griever); and the hatefullest are Al-Harb (witch) and Al-Murrah (bitterness, Abu Murrah being a kunyat or by-name of the Devil). Abu al-Shamat (pronounced Abushshamat)=Father of Moles, concerning which I have already given details. These names ending in -Din (faith) began with the Caliph Al-Muktadi bi-Amri ‘llah (regn. A.H. 467= 1075), who entitled his Wazir “Zahir al-Din (Backer or Defender of the Faith) and this gave rise to the practice. It may be observed that the superstition of naming by omens is in no way obsolete.

[FN#31] Meaning that he appeared intoxicated by the pride of his beauty as though it had been strong wine.

[FN#32] i.e. against the evil eye.

[FN#33] Meaning that he had been delicately reared.

[FN#34] A traditional-saying of Mohammed.

[FN#35] So Boccaccio’s “Capo bianco” and “Coda verde.” (Day iv., Introduct.)

[FN#36] The opening chapter is known as the “Mother of the Book” (as opposed to Ya Sin, the “heart of the Koran”), the “Surat (chapter) of Praise,” and the “Surat of repetition” (because twice revealed?) or thanksgiving, or laudation (Ai-Masani) and by a host of other names for which see Mr. Rodwell who, however, should not write “Fatthah” (p. xxv.) nor “Fathah” (xxvii.). The Fatihah, which is to Al-Islam much what the “Paternoster” is to Christendom, consists of seven verses, in the usual-Saj’a or rhymed prose, and I have rendered it as follows:

In the name of the Compassionating, the Compassionate! * Praise be to Allah who all the Worlds made * The Compassionating, the Compassionate * King of the Day of Faith! * Thee only do we adore and of Thee only do we crave aid * Guide us to the path which is straight * The path of those for whom Thy love is great, not those on whom is hate, nor they that deviate * Amen! O Lord of the World’s trine.

My Pilgrimage (i. 285; ii. 78 and passim) will supply instances of its application; how it is recited with open hands to catch the blessing from Heaven and the palms are drawn down the face (Ibid. i. 286), and other details,

[FN#37] i.e. when the evil eye has less effect than upon children. Strangers in Cairo often wonder to see a woman richly dressed leading by the hand a filthy little boy (rarely a girl) in rags, which at home will be changed to cloth of gold.

[FN#38] Arab. “Asidah” flour made consistent by boiling in water with the addition of “Same” clarified butter) and honey: more like pap than custard.

[FN#39] Arab. “Ghabah” = I have explained as a low-lying place where the growth is thickest and consequently animals haunt it during the noon-heats

[FN#40] Arab. “Akkam,” one who loads camels and has charge of the luggage. He also corresponds with the modern Mukharrij or camel-hirer (Pilgrimage i. 339), and hence the word Moucre (Moucres) which, first used by La Brocquiere (A.D. 1432), is still the only term known to the French.

[FN#41] i.e. I am old and can no longer travel.

[FN#42] Taken from Al-Asma’i, the “Romance of Antar,” and the episode of the Asafir Camels.

[FN#43] A Mystic of the twelfth century A.D. who founded the Kadiri order (the oldest and chiefest of the four universally recognised), to which I have the honour to belong, teste my diploma (Pilgrimage, Appendix i.). Visitation is still made to his tomb at Baghdad. The Arabs (who have no hard g-letter) alter to “Jilan” the name of his birth-place “Gilan,” a tract between the Caspian and the Black Seas.

[FN#44] The well-known Anglo-Indian “Mucuddum;” lit. “one placed before (or over) others”

[FN#45] Koran xiii. 14.

[FN#46] i.e.. his chastity: this fashion of objecting to infamous proposals is very characteristic: ruder races would use their fists.

[FN#47] Arab. “Rafizi”=the Shi’ah (tribe, sect) or Persian schismatics who curse the first three Caliphs: the name is taken from their own saying “Inna rafizna-hum”=verily we have rejected them. The feeling between Sunni (the so-called orthodox) and Shi’ah is much like the Christian love between a Catholic of Cork and a Protestant from the Black North. As Al-Siyuti or any historian will show, this sect became exceedingly powerful under the later Abbaside Caliphs, many of whom conformed to it and adopted its tractices and innovations (as in the Azan or prayer-call), greatly to the scandal-of their co-religionists. Even in the present day the hatred between these representatives of Arab monotheism and Persian Guebrism continues unabated. I have given sundry instances m my Pilgrimage, e.g. how the Persians attempt to pollute the tombs of the Caliphs they abhor.

[FN#48] Arab. “Sakka,” the Indian “Bihishti” (man from Heaven): Each party in a caravan has one or more.

[FN#49] These “Kiramat” or Saints’ miracles, which Spiritualists will readily accept, are recorded in vast numbers. Most men have half a dozen to tell, each of his “Pir” or patron, including the Istidraj or prodigy of chastisement. (Dabistan, iii. 274.)

[FN#50] Great granddaughter of the Imam Hasan buried in Cairo and famed for “Kiramat.” Her father, governor of Al-Medinah, was imprisoned by Al-Mansur and restored to power by Al-Mahdi. She was married to a son of the Imam Ja’afar al-Sadik and lived a life of devotion in Cairo, dying in A.H. 218=824. The corpse of the Imam al-Shafi’i was carried to her house, now her mosque and mausoleum: it stood in the Darb al-Sabua which formerly divided Old from New Cairo and is now one of the latter’s suburbs. Lane (M. E. chaps. x.) gives her name but little more. The mention of her shows that the writer of the tale or the copyist was a Cairene : Abd al-Kadir is world-known : not so the “Sitt.”

[FN#51] Arab. “Farkh akrab” for Ukayrib, a vulgarism.

[FN#52] The usual Egyptian irreverence: he relates his abomination as if it were a Hadis or Tradition of the Prophet with due ascription.

[FN#53] A popular name, dim. of Zubdah cream, fresh butter, “creamkin.”

[FN#54] Arab. “Mustahall,” “Mustahill’ and vulg. “Muhallil” (=one who renders lawful). It means a man hired for the purpose who marries pro forma and after wedding, and bedding with actual-consummation, at once divorces the woman. He is held the reverse of respectable and no wonder. Hence, probably, Mandeville’s story of the Islanders who, on the marriage-night, “make another man to lie by their wives, to have their maidenhead, for which they give great hire and much thanks. And there are certain men in every town that serve for no other thing; and they call them cadeberiz, that is to say, the fools of despair, because they believe their occupation is a dangerous one.” Burckhardt gives the proverb (No. 79), “A thousand lovers rather than one Mustahall,” the latter being generally some ugly fellow picked up in the streets and disgusting to the wife who must permit his embraces.

[FN#55] This is a woman’s oath. not used by men.

[FN#56] Pronounced “Ya Sin” (chaps. xxxvi.) the “heart of the Koran” much used for edifying recitation. Some pious Moslems in Egypt repeat it as a Wazifah, or religious task, or as masses for the dead, and all educated men know its 83 versets by rote.

[FN#57] Arab. “Al-Daud”=the family of David, i.e. David himself, a popular idiom. The prophet’s recitation of the “Mazamir” (Psalter) worked miracles.

[FN#58] There is a peculiar thickening of the voice in leprosy which at once betrays the hideous disease.

[FN#59] These lines have occurred in Night clxxxiii. I quote Mr. Payne (in loco) by way of variety.

[FN#60] Where the “Juzam” (leprosy, elephantiasis, morbus sacrum, etc. etc.) is supposed first to show: the swelling would alter the shape. Lane (ii. 267) translates “her wrist which was bipartite.”

[FN#61] Arab. “Zakariya” (Zacharias): a play upon the term “Zakar”=the sign of “masculinity.” Zacharias, mentioned in the Koran as the educator of the Virgin Mary (chaps. iii.) and repeatedly referred to (chaps. xix. etc.), is a well-known personage amongst Moslems and his church is now the great Cathedral-Mosque of Aleppo.

[FN#62] Arab. ” Ark al-Halawat ” = vein of sweetness.

[FN#63] Arab. “Futuh,” which may also mean openings, has before occurred.

[FN#64] i.e. four times without withdrawing.

[FN#65] i.e. a correspondence of size, concerning which many rules are given in the Ananga-Rangha Shastra which justly declares that discrepancy breeds matrimonial-troubles.

[FN#66] Arab. “Ghurab al-Bayn”= raven of the waste or the parting: hence the bird of Odin symbolises separation (which is also called Al-bayn). The Raven (Ghurab = Heb. Oreb and Lat. Corvus, one of the prehistoric words) is supposed to be seen abroad earlier than any other bird; and it is entitled “Abu Zajir,” father of omens, because lucky when flying towards the right and v.v. It is opposed in poetry to the (white) pigeon, the emblem of union, peace and happiness. The vulgar declare that when Mohammed hid in the cave the crow kept calling to his pursuers, “Ghar! Ghar!” (cavern, cavern): hence the Prophet condemned him to wear eternal-mourning and ever to repeat the traitorous words. This is the old tale of Coronis and Apollo (Ovid, lib. ii.).

———-” who blacked the raven o’er And bid him prate in his white plumes no more.”

[FN#67] This use of a Turkish title “Efendi” being=our esquire, and inferior to a Bey, is a rank anachronism, probably of the copyist.

[FN#68] Arab. “Samn”=Hind. “Ghi” butter melted, skimmed and allowed to cool.

[FN#69] Arab. “Ya Wadud,” a title of the Almighty: the Mac. Edit. has “O David!”

[FN#70] Arab. “Muwashshahah;” a complicated stanza of which specimens have occurred. Mr. Payne calls it a “ballad,” which would be a “Kunyat al-Zidd.”

[FN#71] Arab. “Bahaim” (plur. of Bahimah=Heb. Behemoth), applied in Egypt especially to cattle. A friend of the “Oppenheim” house, a name the Arabs cannot pronounce was known throughout Cairo as “Jack al-bahaim” (of the cows).

[FN#72] Lit. “The father of side-locks,” a nickname of one of the Tobba Kings. This “Hasan of: the ringlets” who wore two long pig-tails hanging to his shoulders was the Rochester or Piron of his age: his name is still famous for brilliant wit, extempore verse and the wildest debauchery. D’Herbelot’s sketch of his life is very meagre. His poetry has survived to the present day and (unhappily) we shall] hear more of “Abu Nowas.” On the subject of these patronymics Lane (Mod. Egypt, chaps. iv.) has a strange remark that “Abu Daud i’ not the Father of Daud or Abu Ali the Father of Ali, but whose Father is (or was) Daud or Ali.” Here, however, he simply confounds Abu = father of (followed by a genitive), with Abu-h (for Abu-hu) = he, whose father.

[FN#73] Arab. “Samur,” applied in slang language to cats and dogs, hence the witty Egyptians converted Admiral-Seymour (Lord Alcester) into “Samur.”

[FN#74] The home-student of Arabic may take this letter as a model even in the present day; somewhat stiff and old-fashioned, but gentlemanly and courteous.

[FN#75] Arab. “Salim” (not Se-lim) meaning the “Safe and sound.”

[FN#76] Arab. “Halawah”=sweetmeat, meaning an entertainment such as men give to their friends after sickness or a journey. it is technically called as above, “The Sweetmeat of Safety.”

[FN#77] Arab. “Salat” which from Allah means mercy, from the Angels intercession and pardon; and from mankind blessing. Concerning the specific effects of blessing the Prophet, see Pilgrimage (ii. 70). The formula is often slurred over when a man is in a hurry to speak: an interrupting friend will say ” Bless the Prophet!” and he does so by ejaculating “Sa’am.”

[FN#78] Persian, meaning originally a command: it is now applied to a Wazirial-order as opposed to the ” Iradah,” the Sultan’s order.

[FN#79] Arab. ” Masha’ili” lit. the cresses-bearer who has before appeared as hangman.

[FN#80] Another polite formula for announcing a death.

[FN#81] As he died heirless the property lapsed to the Treasury.

[FN#82]This shaking the kerchief is a signal to disperse and the action suggests its meaning. Thus it is used in an opposite sense to “throwing the kerchief,” a pseudo-Oriental practice whose significance is generally understood in Europe.

[FN#83] The body-guard being of two divisions.

[FN#84] Arab. “Hadba,” lit. “hump-backed;” alluding to the Badawi bier; a pole to which the corpse is slung (Lane). It seems to denote the protuberance of the corpse when placed upon the bier which before was flat. The quotation is from Ka’ab’s Mantle-Poem (Burdah v . 37), “Every son of a female, long though his safety may be, is a day borne upon a ridged implement,” says Mr. Redhouse, explaining the latter as a “bier with a ridged lid.” Here we differ: the Janazah with a lid is not a Badawi article: the wildlings use the simplest stretcher; and I would translate the lines,

“The son of woman, whatso his career One day is borne upon the gibbous bier.”

[FN#85] This is a high honour to any courtier.

[FN#86] “Khatun” in Turk. means any lady: mistress, etc., and follows the name, e.g. Fatimah Khatun. Habzalam Bazazah is supposed to be a fanciful compound, uncouth as the named; the first word consisting of “Habb” seed, grain; and “Zalam” of Zulm=seed of tyranny. Can it be a travesty of “Absalom” (Ab Salam, father of peace)? Lane (ii. 284) and Payne (iii. 286) prefer Habazlam and Hebezlem.

[FN#87] Or night. A metaphor for rushing into peril.

[FN#88] Plur. of kumkum, cucurbite, gourd-shaped vessel, jar.

[FN#89] A popular exaggeration for a very expert thief.

[FN#90] Arab. “Buka’at Ad-bum”: lit. the “low place of blood” (where it stagnates): so Al-Buka’ah = Coelesyria.

[FN#91] That common and very unpleasant phrase, full of egotism and self-esteem, “I told you so,” is even more common in the naive East than in the West. In this case the son’s answer is far superior to the mother’s question.

[FN#92] In order to keep his oath to the letter.

[FN#93] “Tabannuj; ” literally “hemping” (drugging with hemp or henbane) is the equivalent in Arab medicine of our “anaesthetics.” These have been used in surgery throughout the East for centuries before ether and chloroform became the fashion in the civilised West.

[FN#94] Arab. “Durka’ah,” the lower part of the floor, opposed to the “liwan” or dais. Liwan =Al-Aywan (Arab. and Pers.) the hall (including the dais and the sunken parts)

[FN#95] i.e. he would toast it as he would a mistress.

[FN#96] This till very late years was the custom in Persia, and Fath Ali Shah never appeared in scarlet without ordering some horrible cruelties. In Dar-For wearing a red cashmere turban was a sign of wrath and sending a blood red dress to a subject meant that he would be slain.

[FN#97] That is, this robbery was committed in the palace by some one belonging to it. References to vinegar are frequent; that of Egypt being famous in those days. “Optimum et laudatissimum acetum a Romanis habebatur AEgyptum” (Facciolati); and possibly it was sweetened: the Gesta (Tale xvii.) mentions “must and vinegar.” In Arab Proverbs, One mind by vinegar and another by wine”=each mind goes its own way, (Arab. Prov. . 628); or, “with good and bad,” vinegar being spoilt wine.

[FN#98] We have not heard the last of this old “dowsing rod”: the latest form of rhabdomancy is an electrical-rod invented in the United States.

[FN#99] This is the proces verbal always drawn up on such occasions.

[FN#100] The sight of running water makes a Persian long for strong drink as the sight of a fine view makes the Turk feel hungry.

[FN#101] Arab. “Min wahid aduww ” a peculiarly Egyptian or rather Cairene phrase.

[FN#102] Al-Danaf=the Distressing Sickness: the title would be Ahmad the Calamity. Al-Zaybak (the Quicksilver)=Mercury Ali Hasan “Shuuman”=a pestilent fellow. We shall meet all these worthies again and again: see the Adventures of Mercury Ali of Cairo, Night dccviii., a sequel to The Rogueries of Dalilah, Night dcxcviii.

[FN#103] For the “Sacrifice-place of Ishmael” (not Isaac) see my Pilgrimage (iii. 306). According to all Arab ideas Ishmael, being the eldest son, was the chief of the family after his father. I have noted that this is the old old quarrel between the Arabs and their cousins the Hebrews.

[FN#104] This black-mail was still paid to the Badawin of Ramlah (Alexandria) till the bombardment in 1881.

[FN#105] The famous Issus of Cilicia, now a port-village on the Gulf of Scanderoon.

[FN#106] Arab. ” Wada’a” = the concha veneris, then used as small change.

[FN#107] Arab. “Sakati”=a dealer in “castaway” articles, such es old metal,damaged goods, the pluck and feet of animals, etc.

[FN#108] The popular tale of Burckhardt’s death in Cairo was that the names of the three first Caliphs were found written upon his slipper-soles and that he was put to death by decree of the Olema. It is the merest nonsense, as the great traveller died of dysentery in the house of my old friend John Thurburn and was buried outside the Bab al-Nasr of Cairo where his tomb was restored by the late Rogers Bey (Pilgrimage i. 123).

[FN#109] Prob. a mis-spelling for Arslan, in Turk. a lion, and in slang a piastre.

[FN#110] Arab. “Maka’ad;” lit. = sitting-room.

[FN#111] Arab. “Khammarah”; still the popular term throughout Egypt for a European Hotel. It is not always intended to be insulting but it is, meaning the place where Franks meet to drink forbidden drinks.

[FN#112] A reminiscence of Mohammed who cleansed the Ka’abah of its 360 idols (of which 73 names are given by Freytag, Einleitung, etc. pp. 270, 342-57) by touching them with his staff, whereupon all fell to the ground; and the Prophet cried (Koran xvii. 84), “Truth is come, and falsehood is vanished: verily, falsehood is a thing that vanisheth” (magna est veritas, etc.). Amongst the “idols” are said to have been a statue of Abraham and the horns of the ram sacrificed in lieu of Ishmael, which (if true) would prove conclusively that the Abrahamic legend at Meccah is of ancient date and not a fiction of Al-Islam. Hence, possibly, the respect of the Judaising Tobbas of Hiwyarland for the Ka’abah. (Pilgrimage, iii. 295.)

[FN#113] This was evidently written by a Sunni as the Shi’ahs claim to be the only true Moslems. Lane tells an opposite story (ii. 329). It suggests the common question in the South of Europe, “Are you a Christian or a Protestant?”

[FN#114] Arab. “Ana fi jirat-ak!” a phrase to be remembered as useful in time of danger.

[FN#115] i.e. No Jinni, or Slave of the Jewel, was there to answer.

[FN#116] Arab. “Kunsul” (pron. “Gunsul”) which here means a well-to-do Frank, and shows the modern date of the tale as it stands.

[FN#117] From the Ital. “Capitano.” The mention of cannon and other terms in this tale shows that either it was written during the last century or it has been mishandled by copyists.

[FN#118] Arab. “Mininah”; a biscuit of flour and clarified butter.

[FN#119] Arab. “Waybah”; the sixth part of the Ardabb=6 to 7 English gallons.

[FN#120] He speaks in half-jest a la fellah; and reminds us of “Hangman, drive on the cart!”

[FN#121] Yochanan (whom Jehovah has blessed) Jewish for John, is probably a copy of the Chaldean Euahanes, the Oannes of Berosus=Ea Khan, Hea the fish. The Greeks made it Joannes; the Arabs “Yohanna” (contracted to “Hanna,” Christian) and “Yabya” (Moslem). Prester (Priest) John is probably Ung Khan, the historian prince conquered and slain by Janghiz Khan in A.D. 1202. The modern history of “John” is very extensive: there may be a full hundred varieties and derivation’ of the name. “Husn Maryam” the beauty (spiritual. etc.) of the B.V.

[FN#122] Primarily being middle-aged; then aid, a patron, servant, etc. Also a tribe of the Jinn usually made synonymous with “Marid,” evil controuls, hostile to men: modern spiritualists would regard them as polluted souls not yet purged of their malignity. The text insinuates that they were at home amongst Christians and in Genoa.

[FN#123] Arab. “Sar’a” = epilepsy, falling sickness, of old always confounded with “possession” (by evil spirits) or “obsession.”

[FN#124] Again the true old charge of falsifying the so-called “Sacred books.” Here the Koran is called “Furkan.” Sale (sect. iii.) would assimilate this to the Hebr. “Perek” or “Pirka,” denoting a section or portion of Scripture; but Moslems understand it to be the “Book which distinguisheth (faraka, divided) the true from the false.” Thus Caliph Omar was entitled “Faruk” = the Distinguisher (between right and wrong). Lastly, “Furkan,” meanings as in Syr. and Ethiop. deliverance, revelation, is applied alike to the Pentateuch and Koran.

[FN#125] Euphemistic for “thou shalt die.”

[FN#126] Lit. “From (jugular) vein to vein” (Arab. “Warid”). Our old friend Lucretius again: “Tantane relligio,” etc.

[FN#127] As opposed to the “but” or outer room.

[FN#128] Arab. “Darb al-Asfar” in the old Jamaliyah or Northern part of Cairo.

[FN#129] A noble tribe of Badawin that migrated from Al-Yaman and settled in Al-Najd Their Chief, who died a few years before Mohammed’s birth, was Al-Hatim (the “black crow”), a model of Arab manliness and munificence; and although born in the Ignorance he will enter Heaven with the Moslems. Hatim was buried on the hill called Owarid: I have already noted this favourite practice of the wilder Arabs and the affecting idea that the Dead may still look upon his kith and kin. There is not an Arab book nor, indeed, a book upon Arabia which does not contain the name of Hatim: he is mentioned as unpleasantly often as Aristides.

[FN#130] Lord of “Cattle-feet,” this King’s name is unknown; but the Kamus mentions two Kings called Zu ‘l Kala’a, the Greater and the Less. Lane’s Shaykh (ii. 333) opined that the man who demanded Hatim’s hospitality was one Abu’l-Khaybari.

[FN#131] The camel’s throat, I repeat, is not cut as in the case of other animals, the muscles being too strong: it is slaughtered by the “nahr,” i.e. thrusting a knife into the hollow at the commissure of the chest. (Pilgrimage iii. 303.)

[FN#132] Adi became a Moslem and was one of the companions of the Prophet.

[FN#133] A rival-in generosity to Hatim: a Persian poet praising his patron’s generosity says that it buried that of Hatim and dimmed that of Ma’an (D’Herbelot). He was a high official-under the last Ommiade, Marwan al-Himar (the “Ass,” or the “Century,” the duration of Ommiade rule) who was routed and slain in A.H. 132=750. Ma’an continued to serve under the Abbasides and was a favourite with Al-Mansur. “More generous or bountiful than Ka’ab” is another saying (A. P., i. 325); Ka’ab ibn Mamah was a man who, somewhat like Sir Philip Sidney at Zutphen, gave his own portion of drink while he was dying of thirst to a man who looked wistfully at him, whence the saying “Give drink to thy brother the Namiri” (A. P., i. 608). Ka’ab could not mount, so they put garments over him to scare away the wild beasts and left him in the desert to die. “Scatterer of blessings” (Nashir al-Ni’am) was a title of King Malik of Al-Yaman, son of Sharhabil, eminent for his liberality. He set up the statue in the Western Desert, inscribed “Nothing behind me,” as a warner to others.

[FN#134] Lane (ii. 352) here introduces, between Nights cclxxi. and ccxc., a tale entitled in the Bresl. Edit. (iv. 134) “The Sleeper and the Waker,” i.e. the sleeper awakened; and he calls it: The Story of Abu-l-Hasan the Wag. It is interesting and founded upon historical-fact; but it can hardly be introduced here without breaking the sequence of The Nights. I regret this the more as Mr. Alexander J. Cotheal-of New York has most obligingly sent me an addition to the Breslau text (iv. 137) from his MS. But I hope eventually to make use of it.

[FN#135] The first girl calls gold “Titer” (pure, unalloyed metal); the second “Asjad” (gold generally) and the third “Ibriz” (virgin ore, the Greek {Greek letters}. This is a law of Arab rhetoric never to repeat the word except for a purpose and, as the language can produce 1,200,000 (to 100,000 in English) the copiousness is somewhat painful to readers.

[FN#136] Arab. “Shakes” before noticed.

[FN#137] Arab. “Kussa’a”=the curling cucumber: the vegetable is of the cheapest and the poorer classes eat it as “kitchen” with bread.

[FN#138] Arab. “Haram-hu,” a double entendre. Here the Barlawi means his Harem the inviolate part of the house; but afterwards he makes it mean the presence of His Honour.

[FN#139] Toledo? this tale was probably known to Washington Irving. The “Land of Roum ” here means simply Frank-land as we are afterwards told that its name was Andalusia the old Vandal-land, a term still applied by Arabs to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula.

[FN#140] Arab. “Amaim” (plur. of Imamah) the common word for turband which I prefer to write in the old unclipt fashion. We got it through the Port. Turbante and the old French Tolliban from the (now obsolete) Persian term Dolband=a turband or a sash.

[FN#141] Sixth Ommiade Caliph, A.D. 705-716, from “Tarik” we have “Gibraltar”=Jabal-al-Tarik.

[FN#142] Arab. “Yunan” = Ionia, applied to ancient Greece as “Roum” is to the Graeco-Roman Empire.

[FN#143] Arab. “Bahramani ;” prob. alluding to the well-known legend of the capture of Somanath (Somnauth) from the Hindus by Mahmud of Ghazni. In the Aja’ib al-Hind (before quoted) the Brahmins are called Abrahamah.

[FN#144] i.e. “Peace be with thee!”

[FN#145] i.e. in the palace when the hunt was over. The bluntness and plain-speaking of the Badawi, which caused the revelation of the Koranic chapter “Inner Apartments” (No. xlix.) have always been favourite themes with Arab tale-tellers as a contrast with citizen suavity and servility. Moreover the Badawi, besides saying what he thinks, always tells the truth (unless corrupted by commerce with foreigners); and this is a startling contrast with the townsfolk. To ride out of Damascus and have a chat with the Ruwala is much like being suddenly transferred from amongst the trickiest of Mediterranean people to the bluff society of the Scandinavian North. And the reason why the Turk will never govern the Arab in peace is that the former is always trying to finesse and to succeed by falsehood, when the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is wanted.

[FN#146] Koran. xvi. 112.

[FN#147] A common and expressive way of rewarding the tongue which “spoke poetry.” The Jewels are often pearls.

[FN#148] Ibrahim Abu Ishak bin al-Mahdi, a pretender to the Caliphate of well known wit and a famed musician surnamed from his corpulence “Al-Tannin”=the Dragon or, according to others (Lane ii. 336), “Al-Tin”= the fig. His adventurous history will be found in Ibn Khallikan D’Herbelot and Al-Siyuti.

[FN#149] The Ragha of the Zendavesta, and Rages of the Apocrypha (Tobit, Judith, etc.), the old capital-of Media Proper, and seat of government of Daylam, now a ruin some miles south of Teheran which was built out of its remains. Rayy was founded by Hoshang the primeval-king who first sawed wood, made doors and dug metal. It is called Rayy al-Mahdiyyah because Al-Mahdi held his court there. Harun al-Rashid was also born in it (A.H. 145). It is mentioned by a host of authors and names one of the Makamat of Al-Hariri.

[FN#150] Human blood being especially impure.

[FN#151] Jones, Brown and Robinson.

[FN#152] Arab. “Kumm ,” the Moslem sleeve is mostly (like his trousers) of ample dimensions and easily converted into a kind of carpet-bag by depositing small articles in the middle and gathering up the edge in the hand. In this way carried the weight would be less irksome than hanging to the waist. The English of Queen Anne’s day had regular sleeve-pockets for memoranda, etc., hence the saying, to have in one’s sleeve.

[FN#153] Arab. “Khuff” worn under the “Babug” (a corruption of the Persian pa-push=feet-covers, papooshes, slippers). [Lane M. E. chaps. i.]

[FN#154] Done in hot weather throughout the city, a dry line for camels being left in mid-street to prevent the awkward beasts slipping. The watering of the Cairo streets of late years has been excessive; they are now lines of mud in summer as well as in winter and the effluvia from the droppings of animals have, combined with other causes, seriously deteriorated the once charming climate. The only place in Lower Egypt, which has preserved the atmosphere of 1850, is Suez.

[FN#155] Arab. “Hurak:” burnt rag, serving as tinder for flint and steel, is a common styptic.

[FN#156] Of this worthy, something has been said and there will be more in a future page.

[FN#157] i.e. the person entitled to exact the blood-wite.

[FN#158] Al-Maamum was a man of sense with all his fanaticism One of his sayings is preserved “Odious is contentiousness in Kings, more odious vexation in judges uncomprehending a case; yet more odious is shallowness of doctors in religions and most odious are avarice in the rich, idleness in youth, jesting in age and cowardice in the soldier.”

[FN#159] The second couplet is not in the Mac. Edit. but Lane’s Shaykh has supplied it (ii. 339)

[FN#160] Adam’s loins, the “Day of Alast,” and the Imam (who stands before the people in prayer) have been explained. The “Seventh Imam” here is Al-Maamun, the seventh Abbaside the Ommiades being, as usual, ignored.

[FN#161] He sinned only for the pleasure of being pardoned, which is poetical-and hardly practical-or probable.

[FN#162] The Kata (sand-grouse) always enters into Arab poetry because it is essentially a desert bird, and here the comparison is good because it lays its eggs in the waste far from water which it must drink morning and evening. Its cry is interpreted “man sakat, salam” (silent and safe), but it does not practice that precept, for it is usually betrayed by its piping ” Kata! Kata!” Hence the proverb, “More veracious than the sand-grouse,” and “speak not falsely, for the Kata sayeth sooth,” is Komayt’s saying. It is an emblem of swiftness: when the brigand poet Shanfara boasts, “The ash-coloured Katas can drink only my leavings, after hastening all night to slake their thirst in the morning,” it is a hyperbole boasting of his speed. In Sind it is called the “rock pigeon” and it is not unlike a grey partridge when on the wing.

[FN#163] Joseph to his brethren, Koran, xii. 92, when he gives them his “inner garment” to throw over his father’s face.

[FN#164] Arab. “Hajjam”=a cupper who scarifies forehead and legs, a bleeder, a (blood-) sucker. The slang use of the term is to thrash, lick, wallop. (Burckhardt. Prov. 34.)

[FN#165] The Bresl. Edit. (vii. 171-174) entitles this tale, “Story of Shaddad bin Ad and the City of Iram the Columned ;” but it relates chiefly to the building by the King of the First Adites who, being promised a future Paradise by Prophet Hud, impiously said that he would lay out one in this world. It also quotes Ka’ab al-Ahbar as an authority for declaring that the tale is in the “Pentateuch of Moses.” Iram was in al-Yaman near Adan (our Aden) a square of ten parasangs (or leagues each= 18,000 feet) every way, the walls were of red (baked) brick 500 cubits high and 20 broad,