One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  324 This shifting theatre is evidently borrowed by Galland from Pliny (N. H. xxxvi., 24) who tells that in B. C. 50, C. Curio built two large wooden theatres which could be wheeled round and formed into an amphitheatre. The simple device seems to stir the bile of the unmechanical old Roman, so unlike the Greek in powers of invention.

  325 This trick is now common in the circuses and hippodromes of Europe, horses and bulls being easily taught to perform it: but India has as yet not produced anything equal to the “Cyclist elephant” of Paris.

  326 This Arab.-Pers. compound, which we have corrupted to “Bezestein” or “Bezettein” and “Bezesten,” properly means a market-place for Baz or Bazz = cloth, fine linen; but is used by many writers as = Bazar, see “Kaysariah,” vol. i. 266.

  327 The origin of the lens and its applied use to the telescope and the microscope are “lost” (as the Castle-guides of Edinburgh say) “in the glooms of antiquity.” Well ground glasses have been discovered amongst the finds of Egypt and Assyria: indeed much of the finer work of the primeval artists could not have been done without such aid. In Europe the “spy-glass” appears first in the Opus Majus of the learned Roger Bacon (circa A. D. 1270); and his “optic tube” (whence his saying “all things are known by perspective”), chiefly contributed to make his wide-spread fame as a wizard. The telescope was popularised by Galileo who (as mostly happens) carried off and still keeps, amongst the vulgar, all the honours of invention. Some “Illustrators” of The Nights confound this “Nazzßrah,” the Pers. “D·r-bÝn,” or far-seer, with the “Magic Mirror,” a speculum which according to Gower was set up in Rome by Virgilius the Magician hence the Mirror of Glass in the Squire’s tale; Merlin’s glassie Mirror of Spenser (F. Q. ii. 24); the mirror in the head of the monstrous fowl which forecast the Spanish invasion to the Mexicans; the glass which in the hands of Cornelius Agrippa (A. D. 1520) showed to the Earl of Surrey fair Geraldine “sick in her bed;” to the globe of glass in The Lusiads; Dr. Dee’s show-stone, a bit of cannel-coal; and lastly the zinc and copper disk of the absurdly called “electro-biologist.” I have noticed this matter at some length in various places.

  328 D’Herbelot renders Soghd Samarkand = plain of Samarkand. Hence the old “Sogdiana,” the famed and classical capital of Mßwarßnnahr, our modern Transoxiana, now known as Samarkand. The Hindi translator has turned “Soghd” into “Sadß” and gravely notes that “the village appertained to Arabia.” He possibly had a dim remembrance of the popular legend which derives “Samarkand” from Shamir or Samar bin Afrik·s, the Tobba King of Al-Yaman, who lay waste Soghd-city (“Shamir kand” = Shamir destroyed); and when rebuilt the place was called by the Arab. corruption Samarkand. See Ibn Khallikan ii. 480. Ibn Haukal (Kitßb al Mamßlik wa al-Masßlik = Book of Realms and Routes), whose Oriental Geography (xth century) was translated by Sir W. Ouseley (London, Oriental Press, 1800), followed by Ab· ‘l-Fidß, mentions the Himyaritic inscription upon an iron plate over the Kash portal of Samarkand (Appendix No. iii.).

  329 The wish might have been highly indiscreet and have exposed the wisher to the resentment of the two other brothers. In parts of Europe it is still the belief of the vulgar that men who use telescopes can see even with the naked eye objects which are better kept hidden; and I have heard of troubles in the South of France because the villagers would not suffer the secret charms of their women to become as it were the public property of the lighthouse employÚs.

  330 “Jßm-i-JamshÝd” is a well worn commonplace in Moslem folk-lore; but commentators cannnot agree whether “Jßm” be = a mirror or a cup. In the latter sense it would represent the Cyathomantic cup of the Patriarch Joseph and the symbolic bowl of Nestor. JamshÝd may be translated either Jam the Bright or the Cup of the Sun: this ancient King is Solomon of the grand old Guebres.

  331 This passage may have suggested to Walter Scott one of his descriptions in “The Monastery.”

  332 In the text “LßjawardÝ,” for which see vols. iii. 33, and ix. 190.

  333 In Galland and the H. V. “Prince Husayn’s.”

  334 This is the “Gandharba-lagana” (fairy wedding) of the Hindus; a marriage which lacked only the normal ceremonies. For the Gandharbas = heavenly choristers see Moor’s “Hind· Pantheon,” , etc.

  335 “Perfumed with amber” (-gris?) says Galland.

  336 The Hind term for the royal levÚe, as “Selßm” is the

  Persian.

  337 Arab. “‘Ilm al-Ghayb” = the Science of Hidden Things which, says the Hadis, belongeth only to the Lord. Yet amongst Moslems, as with other faiths, the instinctive longing to pry into the Future has produced a host of pseudo-sciences, Geomancy, Astrology, Prophecy and others which serve only to prove that such knowledge, in the present condition of human nature, is absolutely unattainable.

  338 In folk-lore and fairy tales the youngest son of mostly three brothers is generally Fortune’s favourite: at times also he is the fool or the unlucky one of the family, Cinderella being his counterpart (Mr. Clouston, i. 321).

  339 The parasang (Gr. {Greek}), which Ibn Khall. (iii. 315) reduces to three miles, has been derived wildly enough from Fars or Pars (Persia proper) sang = (mile) stone. Chardin supports the etymology, “because leagues are marked out with great tall stones in the East as well as the West, e.g., ad primam (vel secundam) lapidem.”

  340 A huge marquee or pavilion-tent in India.

  341 The Jinn feminine; see vol. i. 10. The word hardly corresponds with the Pers. “Peri” and Engl. “Fairy,” a creation, like the “DÝv,” of the so-called “Aryan,” not “Semitic,” race.

  342 Galland makes the Fairy most unjustifiably fear that her husband is meditating the murder of his father; and the HindÝ in this point has much the advantage of the Frenchman.

  343 Pers. = “Light of the World”; familiar to Europe as the name of the Grand Moghul JehßngÝr’s principal wife.

  344 The Arab stirrup, like that of the Argentine Gaucho, was originally made of wood, liable to break, and forming a frail support for lancer and sworder. A famous chief and warrior, Ab· Sa’Ýd al-Muhallab (ob. A. H. 83 = 702) first gave orders to forge foot-rests of iron.

  345 For this Egyptian and Syrian weapon see vol. i. 234.

  346 See vol. vii. 93, where an error of punctuation confounds it with Kerbela, — a desert with a place of pilgrimage. “Samßwah” in Ibn Khall. (vol. i. 108) is also the name of a town on the Euphrates.

  347 Nazarßnah prop. = the gift (or gifts) offered at visits by a Moslem noble or feoffee in India to his feudal superior; and the Kalichah of Hind·, Malabar, Goa and the Blue Mountains (). Hence the periodical tributes and especially the presents which represent our “legacy-duty” and the “succession-duty” for Rajahs and Nabobs, the latter so highly lauded by “The Times,” as the logical converse of the Corn-laws which ruined our corn. The Nazarßnah can always be made a permanent and a considerable source of revenue, far more important than such unpopular and un-Oriental device as an income-tax. But our financiers have yet to learn the A. B. C. of political economy in matters of assessment, which is to work upon familiar lines; and they especially who, like Mr. Wilson “mad as a hatter,” hold and hold forth that “what is good for England is good for the world.” These myopics decide on theoretical and sentimental grounds that a poll-tax is bad in principle, which it may be, still public opinion sanctions it and it can be increased without exciting discontent. The same with the “Nazarßnah;” it has been the custom of ages immemorial, and a little more or a little less does not affect its popularity.

  348 Pers. = City-queen.

  349 Compare with this tale its modern and popular version Histoire du Rossignol Chanteur (Spitta-Bey, No. x, ): it contains the rosary (and the ring) that shrinks, the ball that rolls and the water that heals; etc. etc. Mr. Clouston somewhere asserts that the History of the Envious Sisters, like that of Prince Ahmad and the PerÝ-Banu, are taken from a MS. still preserved in the “King’s Library,” Paris; but he cannot quote his authority, De Sacy
or LanglÞs. Mr. H. C. Coote (loc. Cit. P. 189) declares it to be, and to have been, “an enormous favourite in Italy and Sicily: no folk-tale exists in those countries at all comparable to it in the number of its versions and in the extent of its distribution.” He begins two centuries before Galland, sith Straparola (Notti Piacevoli), proceeds to Imbriani (Novajella Fiorentina), Nerucci (Novelle Montalesi), Comparetti (Nivelline Italiane) and Pitre (Fiabe Novelle e Racconti popolari Italiani, vol. I.); and informs us that “the adventures of the young girl, independently of the joint history of herself and her brother, are also told in a separate “Fiaba” in Italy. A tale called La Favenilla Coraggiosa is given by Visentini in his Fiabe Mantovane and it is as far as it is a counterpart of the second portion of Galland’s tale.” Mr. Coote also finds this story in Hahn’s “Griechische Mõrchen” entitled “Sun, Moon and Morning Star” — the names of the royal children. The King overhears the talk of three girls and marries the youngest despite his stepmother, who substitutes for her issue a puppy, a kitten and a mouse. The castaways are adopted by a herdsman whilst the mother is confined in a henhouse; and the King sees his offspring and exclaims, “These children are like those my wife promised me.” His stepmother, hearing this, threatens the nurse, who goes next morning disguised as a beggar-woman to the girl and induces her to long for the Bough that makes music, the Magic Mirror, and the bird Dickierette. The brothers set out to fetch them leaving their shirts which become black when the mishap befalls them. The sister, directed by a monk, catches the bird and revives the stones by the River of Life and the denouement is brought about by a sausage stuffed with diamonds. In Miss Stokes’ Collection of Hindu Stories (No. xx.) “The Boy who had a moon on his brow and a star on his chin” also suggests the “Envious Sisters.”

  350 Pop. “Ghaut” = The steps (or path) which lead down to a watering-place. Hence the HindÝ saying concerning the “rolling stone” — Dhobi-ka kuttß; na Gharkß na Ghßt-kß, = a washerwoman’s tyke, nor of the house nor of the Ghßt-dyke.

  351 Text “KhatÝbah” more usually “Khutbah” = the Friday sermon preached by the KhatÝb: in this the reigning sovereign is prayed for by name and his mention together with the change of coinage is the proof of his lawful rule. See Lane, M. F., chap. iii.

  352 This form of eaves-dropping, in which also the listener rarely hears any good of himself is, I need hardly now say, a favourite incident of Eastern Storiology and even of history, e.g. Three men met together; one of them expressed the wish to obtain a thousand pieces of gold, so that he might trade with them; the other wished for an appointment under the Emir of the Moslems; the third wished to possess Yusuf’s wife, who was the handsomest of women and had reat political influence. Yusuf, being informed of what they said, sent for the men, bestowed one thousand dinars on him who wished for that sum, gave an appointment to the other and said to him who wished to possess the lady: “Foolish man! What induced you to wish for that which you can never obtain?” He then sent him to her and she placed him in a tent where he remained three days, receiving, each day, one and the same kind of food. She had him brought to her and said, “What did you eat these days past?” He replied: “Always the same thing!”— “Well,” said she, “all women are the same thing.” She then ordered some money and a dress to be given him, after which, she dismissed him. (Ibn Khallikan iii. 463-64.)

  353 This ruthless attempt at infanticide was in accordance with the manners of the age nor has it yet disappeared from Rajput-land, China and sundry over-populous countries. Indeed it is a question if civilisation may not be compelled to revive the law of Lycurgus which forbade a child, male or female, to be brought up without the approbation of public officers appointed ad hoc. One of the curses of the XIXth century is the increased skill of the midwife and physician, who are now able to preserve worthless lives and to bring up semi-abortions whose only effect upon the breed is increased degeneracy. Amongst the Greeks and ancient Arabs the Malthusian practice was carried to excess. Poseidippus declares that in his day —

  A man, although poor, will not expose his son;

  But however rich, will not preserve his daughter.

  See the commentators’ descriptions of the Wa’d al-Banßt or burial of Mau·dßt (living daughters), the barbarous custom of the pagan Arabs (Koran, chaps. Xvi. And lxxxi.) one of the many abominations, like the murderous vow of Jephtha, to which Al- Islam put a summary stop. (Ibn Khallikan, iii. 609-606) For such outcast children reported to be monsters, see p-412 of Mr. Clouston’s “Asiatic and European versions of four of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales,” printed by the Chaucer Society.

  354 Hind. Chhuchhundar (Sorex c£rulescens) which occurs repeatedly in verse; e.g., when speaking of low men advanced to high degree, the people say: —

  Chhuchh·ndar-ke sir-par ChambelÝ-ka tel.

  The Jasmine-oil on the musk-rat’s head.

  In Galland the Sultßnah is brought to bed of un morceau de bois; and his Indian translator is more consequent, Hahn, as has been seen, also has the mouse but Hahn could hardly have reached Hindostan.

  355 This title of Shßhinshah was first assumed by ArdashÝr, the great Persian conqueror, after slaying the King of Ispahßn, Ardawßn. (Tabari ii. 73.)

  356 This imprisonment of the good Queen reminds home readers of the “Cage of Clapham” wherein a woman with child was imprisoned in A.D. 1700, and which was noted by Sir George Grove as still in existence about 1830.

  357 Arab. Ayyßm al-Nifßs = the period of forty days after labour during which, according to Moslem law, a woman may not cohabit with her husband.

  358 A clarum et venerabile nomen in Persia; meaning one of the Spirits that preside over beasts of burden; also a king in general, the P.N. of an ancient sovereign, etc.

  359 This is the older pronunciation of the mod. (Khusrau) “ParvÝz”; and I owe an apology to Mr. C.J. Lyall (Ancient Arabian Poetry) for terming his “Khusrau ParvÛz” an “ugly Indianism” (The Academy, No. 100). As he says (Ibid. vol. x. 85), “the Indians did not invent for Persian words the sounds Û and ¶, called majh·l (i.e. ænot known in Arabic’) by the Arabs, but received them at a time when these wounds were universally used in Persia. The substitution by Persians of ¯ and ¹ for Û and ¶ is quite modern.”

  360 i.e. Fairy-born, the {Greek} (Parysatis) of the Greeks which some miswrite {Greek}.

  361 In Arab. Usually shortened to “Hazßr” (bird of a thousand tales = the Thousand), generally called “‘AndalÝb:” Galland has Bulbulhezer and some of his translators debase it to Bulbulkezer. See vol. v. 148, and the Hazßr-dastßn of KazwÝnÝ (De Sacy, Chrest. iii. 413). These rarities represent the Rukh’s egg in “Alaeddin.”

  362 These disembodied “voices” speaking either naturally or through instruments are a recognized phenomenon of the so-called “Spiritualism,” See of “Supra-mundane Facts,” &c., edited by T.J. Nichols, M.D., &c., London, Pitman, 1865. I venture to remark that the medical treatment by Mesmerism, Braidism and hypnotics, which was violently denounced and derided in 1850, is in 1887 becoming a part of the regular professional practice and forms another item in the long list of the Fallacies of the Faculty and the Myopism of the “Scientist.”

  363 I may also note that the “Hßtif,” or invisible Speaker, which must be subjective more often than objective, is a common- place of Moslem thaumaturgy.

  364 It may have been borrowed from Ulysses and the Sirens.

  365 Two heroes of the Shahnßmeh and both the types of reckless daring. The monomachy or duel between these braves lasted through two days.

  366 The “Bßgh” or royal tiger, is still found in the jungles of Mßzenderßn and other regions of Northern Persia.

  367 In addressing the Shah every Persian begins with the formula “Kurbßn-at bßsham” = may I become thy Corban or sacrifice. For this word (Kurbßn) see vol. viii. 16.

  368 The King in Persia always speaks of himself in the third person and swears by his own blood and head, soul, life and death. The form of oath is ancient: Joseph, the first
(but not the last) Jew-financier of Egypt, emphasises his speech “by the life of Pharaoh.” (Gen. xiii. 15, 16.)

  369 Another title of the Shah, making him quasi-divine, at any rate the nearest to the Almighty, like the Czar and the Emperor of China. Hence the subjects bow to him with the body at right angles as David did to Saul (I Sam. xxiv, 8) or fall upon the face like Joshua (v. 14).

  370 A most improbable and absurd detail: its sole excuse is the popular superstition of “blood speaking to blood.” The youths being of the royal race felt that they could take unwarrantable liberties.

  371 This is still a Persian custom because all the subjects, women as well as men, are virtually the King’s slaves.

  372 i.e. King of kings, the {Greek}.

  373 Majlis garm karna, i.e. to give some life to the company.

  374 In Arabic “‘Ilm al-Mukßshafah” = the science by which Eastern adepts discover man’s secret thoughts. Of late years it has appeared in England but with the same quackery and imposture which have ruined “Spiritualism” as the Faith of the Future.

  375 Nor are those which do occur all in the same order: The first in the Turkish book “Of ‘Eb·-’l-Kßsim of Basra, of the ‘EmÝr of Basra, and of ‘Eb·-’l-Faskh of Wßsit,” is probably similar to the first of Petis, “History of Aboulcasem of Basra.” The second “Of Fadzlu- ‘llah of Mawsil (Moser), of ‘Eb·-’l-Hasan, and of Mßhyßr of Wßsit,” is evidently the seventh in Petis, “History of Fadlallah, Son of Bin Ortoc, King of Moussel.” The fourth, “Of Ridzwßn-Shah of China and the Shahristßni Lady,” is the second in Petis, “History of King Razvanschad and of the Princess Cheheristany.” The eleventh, “Of the Sovereign without a care and of the VazÝr full of care,” is the eighth in Petis History of King Bedreddin Lolo and of his Vizier Altalmulc.” The third, “Of the Builder of Bemm with the two VazÝrs of the king of Kawßshar,” the seventh, “Of the Rogue Nasr and the son of the king of Khurßsßn,” and the tenth, “The Three Youths, the Old Man, and the Daughter of the King,” I cannot, from these titles, recognise in Petis; while the fifth, “Farrukh-Shßd, Farrukh-R·z, and Farrukh-Nßz,” may be the same as the frame story of the “Hazßr · Yek R·z,” where the king is called Togrul-bey, his son Farrukrouz, and his daughter Farruknaz, and if this be the case, the Turkish book must differ considerably from the Persian in its plan. — Although “The Thousand and One Nights” has not been found in Persian, there exists a work in that language of which the plan is somewhat similar — but adapted from an Indian source. It is thus described by Dr. Rieu, in his Catalogue of Persian MSS. in the British Museum, vol. ii. : Tale of ShÝrzßd, son of Gurgahan, emperor of China, and Gulshßd, daughter of the vazÝr Farrukhzßd (called the Story of the Nine Belvideres). Nine tales told by Gulshad to ShÝrzßd, each in one of the nine belvideres of the royal palace, in order to save the forfeited life of her father.