One Thousand and One Nights

by Richard Burton

  110 i.e. Destiny so willed it. For the Pen and the Preserved

  Tablet see vol. v. 322.

  111 This was the custom not only with Harun as Mr. Heron thinks, but at the Courts of the Caliphs generally.

  112 In text “Ghiyár,” Arab. = any piece of dress or uniform which distinguishes a class, as the soldiery: in Pers. = a strip of yellow cloth worn by the Jews subject to the Shah.

  113 Arab. “Zarbúl tákí,” the latter meaning “high-heeled.” Perhaps it may signify also “fenestrated, or open-worked like a window.” So “poules” or windows cut in the upper leathers of his shoes. Chaucer, The Miller’s Tale.

  114 “Mayzar,” in Pers. = a turband: in Arab. “Miizar” = a girdle; a waistcloth.

  115 Arab. “Kaus al-Bundúk” (or Banduk) a pellet-bow, the Italian arcobugio, the English arquebuse; for which see vol. i. 10. Usually the “Kís” is the Giberne or pellet-bag; but here it is the bow-cover. Gauttier notes (vii. 131): — Bondouk signifie en Arabe harquebuse, Albondoukani signifie l’arquebusier; c’était comme on le voit, le mot d’ordre dit Khalyfe. He supposes, then, that firelocks were known in the days of Harun al-Rashid (A.D. 786-809). Al-Bundukáni = the cross-bow man, or rather the man of the pellet-bow was, according to the Ráwí, the name by which the Caliph was known in this disguise. Al-Zahir Baybars al- Bundukdárí, the fourth Baharite Soldan (A.D. 1260-77), was so entitled because he had been a slave to a Bundukdár, an officer who may be called the Grand Master of Artillery. In Chavis and Cazotte the Caliph arms himself with a spear, takes a bow and arrow (instead of the pellet-bow that named him), disguises his complexion, dyes beard and eyebrows, dons a large coarse turband, a buff waistcoat with a broad leathern belt, a short robe of common stuff and half-boots of strong coarse leather, and thus “assumes the garb of an Arab from the desert.” (!)

  116 See vol. i. 266.

  117 i.e. by the Archangel Gabriel.

  118 Arab. “Habbah” = a grain (of barley, etc.), an obolus, a mite: it is also used for a gold bead in the shape of a cube forming part of the Egyptian woman’s headdress (Lane M.E., Appendix A). As a weight it is the 48th of a dirham, the third of a kírát (carat) or 127/128 of an English grain, avoir.

  119 In text “Mahmá” = as often as = kullu-má. This is the eleventh question of the twelve in Al-Hariri, Ass. xxiv., and the sixth of Ass. xxxvi. The former runs, “What is the noun (kullu- má) which gives no sense except by the addition thereto of two words, or the shortening thereof to two letters (i.e. má); and in the first case there is adhesion and in the second compulsion?” (Chenery, p-253).

  120 In Chavis and Cazotte he looks through the key-hole which an Eastern key does not permit, the holes being in the bolt. See Index, Suppl. vol. v.

  121 In text “Kábal-ki,” which I suspect to be a clerical error for “Kátal-ki” = Allah strike thee dead. See vol. iv. 264, 265. [One of the meanings of “Mukábalah,” the third form of “kabila,” is “requital,” “retaliation.” The words in the text could therefore be translated: “may God requite thee.” — ST.]

  122 In Chavis and Cazotte she swears “by the name of God which is written on our Great Prophet’s forehead.”

  123 Arab. “Yá Luss”; for this word = the Gr. {Greek}; see

  Suppl. vol. v. index.

  124 “Al-Nátúr,” the keeper, esp. of a vineyard, a word naturalized in Persian. The Caliph asks, Is this a bon> fide affair and hast thou the power to settle the matter definitely? M. Houdas translates as Les raisins sont-ils à toi, ou bien es-tu seulement la gardienne de la vigne? [The verb záraba, 3rd form, followed by the accusative, means “to join one in partnership.” The sense of the passage seems therefore to be: Dost thou own grapes thyself, or art thou (“tuzáribí,” 2 fem. sing.) in partnership with the vineyard-keeper. The word may be chosen because it admits of another interpretation, the double entendre of which might be kept up in English by using the expression “sleeping” partnership. Perhaps, however, “tuzáribí” means here simply: “Dost thou play the part of.” — ST.]

  125 The innuendo is intelligible and I may draw attention to the humorous skill with which the mother-in-law’s character is drawn.

  126 In text “Aská-hu ‘alakah” = gave him a good sound drubbing (‘alakah), as a robber would apply to a Judge had he the power.

  127 Lest he happen to meet an unveiled woman on the stairs; the usual precaution is to cry “Dastúr!” by your leave (Persian).

  128 Arab. “Khayr” — a word of good omen.

  129 In Chavis and Cazotte the mother gives her daughter’s name as Zutulbé (?) and her own Lelamain (?).

  130 In text “Waliyah” or “Waliyáh” = and why?

  131 The “Wronged” (Al-Mazlúm) refers to the Caliph who was being abused and to his coming career as a son-in-law. Gauttier, who translates the tale very perfunctorily, has Dieu protège les malheureux et les orphelins (vii. 133).

  132 This again is intended to show the masterful nature of the Caliph, and would be as much admired by the average coffee- house audience as it would stir the bile of the free and independent Briton.

  133 The “Street of the Copperas-maker”: the name, as usual, does not appear till further on in the tale.

  134 In text “Rukhám” = marble or alabaster, here used for building material: so “Murakhkhim” = a marble-cutter, means simply a stone-mason. I may here note the rediscovery of the porphyry quarries in Middle Egypt, and the gypsum a little inland of Ras Gharíb to the West of the Suez Gulf. Both were much used by the old Egyptians, and we may now fairly expect to rediscover the lost sites, about Tunis and elsewhere in Northern Africa, whence Rosso antico and other fine stones were quarried.

  135 Arab. “Al-Hásil” also meaning the taxes, the revenue.

  136 In text “Ká’ah” = a saloon: see vols. i. 85; i. 292; and vii. 167.

  137 In the sing. “Sikálah.”

  138 The Jinn here was Curiosity, said to be a familiar of the sex feminine, but certainly not less intimate with “the opposite.”

  139 In text “Kinnab” which M. Houdas translates étoupe que l’on fixe an bout d’un roseau pour blanchir les murs.

  140 Impossible here not to see a sly hit at the Caliph and the Caliphate.

  141 The writer has omitted this incident which occurs in

  Chavis and Cazotte.

  142 In the text, “Samd” = carpets and pots and pans.

  143 The Katá grouse (Tetrao alchata seu arenarius of Linn.) has often been noticed by me in Pilg. I. 226 (where my indexer called it “sand goose”) and in The Nights (vols. i. 131; iv. 111). De Sacy (Chrestom. Arab. iii p, 507-509) offers a good literary account of it: of course he cannot speak from personal experience. He begins with the Ajáib al-Makhlúkát by Al- Kazwini (ob. A.H. 674 = A.D. 1274) who tells us that the bird builds in the desert a very small nest (whence the Hadís, “Whoso shall build to Allah a mosque, be it only the bigness of a Katá’s nest, the Lord shall edify for him a palace in Paradise”); that it abandons its eggs which are sometimes buried in sand, and presently returns to them (hence the saying, “A better guide than the Katá”); that it watches at night (?) and that it frequents highways to reconnoitre travellers (? ?), an interpretation confirmed by the Persian translator. Its short and graceful steps gave rise to the saying, “She hath the gait of a Katá,” and makes De Sacy confound the bird with the Pers. Káhú or Kabk-i-dari (partridge of the valley), which is simply the francolin, the Ital. francolino, a perdrix. The latter in Arab. Is “Durráj” (Al- Mas’udi, vii. 347): see an affecting story connected with it in the Suppl. Nights (ii. 4O-43). In the xxiiid Ass. of Al-Hariri the sagacity of the Katá is alluded to, “I crossed rocky places, to which the Katá would not find its way.” See also Ass. viii. But Mr. Chenery repeats a mistake when he says () that the bird is “never found save where there is good pasturage and water:” it haunts the wildest parts of Sind and Arabia, although it seldom strays further than 60 miles from water which it must drink every evening. I have never shot the Katá
since he saved my party from a death by thirst on a return-ride from Harar (First Footsteps in E. Africa, ). The bird is very swift, with a skurrying flight like a frightened Pigeon; and it comes to water regularly about dusk when it is easily “potted.”

  144 In text “Samman” for “Sammán”: Dozy gives the form

  “Summun” (Hondas). The literary name is “Salwà.”

  145 For Wali (at one time a Civil Governor and in other ages a Master of Police) see vol. i. 259.

  146 Prob. a corruption of the Pers. “Názuk,” adj. delicate, nice.

  147 In text “Jaftáwát,” which is, I presume, the Arab. plur. of the Turk. “Chifút” a Jew, a mean fellow. M. Hondas refers to Dozy s.v. “Jaftáh.” [The Turkish word referred to by Dozy is “Chifte” from the Persian “Juft” = a pair, any two things coupled together. “Mashá’ilíyah jaftáwát wa fánúsín” in the text would therefore be “(cresset-) bearers of double torches and lanterns,” where the plural fánúsín is remarkable as a vulgarism, instead of the Dictionary form “Fawánís.” — ST.]

  148 So in Chavis and Cazotte: Gauttier and Heron prefer (vol. i. 38) “Chamama.” They add, “That dæmon incarnate gave out himself that Satan was his father and the devil Camos (?) his brother.” The Arab word is connected with shamma = he smelt, and suggests the policeman smoking plots.

  149 i.e. concealing the secret sins of the people. This sketch of the cad policeman will find many an original in the London force, if the small householder speak the truth.

  150 Qui n’ait un point de contact aver l’une de ces catégories — (Houdas).

  151 In the old translations “The Hazen” (Kházin = treasurer?) which wholly abolishes the double entendre.

  152 In text “Darbisí al-báb” from the Persian, “Dar bastan” = to tie up, to shut.

  153 In text “Ghaush” for “Ghaushah” = noise, row.

  154 “Akkál bula’hu” i.e. commit all manner of abominations.

  “To eat skite” is to talk or act foolishly.

  155 In the old translations “Ilamir Youmis.”

  156 In text “Dabbús bazdaghání,” which I have translated as if from the Pers. “Bazdagh” = a file. But it may be a clerical error for “Bardawáni,” the well-known city in Hindostan whose iron was famous.

  157 “Nahs” means something more than ill-omened, something nasty, foul, uncanny: see vol. i. 301.

  158 In Chavis, Heron and Co. there are two ladders to scale the garden wall and descend upon the house-terrace which apparently they do not understand to be the roof.

  159 Arab. “Al-Káfi’ah” = garde-fou, rebord d’une terrasse —

  (Houdas).

  160 Our vulgar “Houri”: see vols. i. 90; iii. 233. There are many meanings of Hawar; one defines it as intense darkness of the black of the eye and corresponding whiteness; another that it is all which appears of the eye (as in the gazelle) meaning that the blackness is so large as to exclude the whiteness; whilst a third defines “Haurá” as a woman beautiful in the “Mahájir” (parts below and around the eyes which show when the face is veiled), and a fourth as one whose whiteness of eye appears in contrast with the black of the Kohl-Powder. See Chenery’s Al-Hariri, p-55.

  161 Arab. “Zalamah” = tyrants, oppressors (police and employés): see vols. i. 273, and vi. 214.

  162 In text “Kunná nu’tíhu li-ahad” = we should have given him to someone; which makes very poor sense. [The whole passage runs: “Házá allazí kasam alláh bi-hi fa-lau kána rajul jayyid ghayr luss kunná nu’tí-hu li-ahad,” which I would translate: This is he concerning whom Allah decreed (that he should be my portion, swearing:) “and if he were a good man and no thief we would have bestowed him on someone.” In “kasama” the three ideas of decreeing, giving as a share, and binding one’s self by oath are blended together. If it should appear out of place to introduce Divinity itself as speaking in this context, we must not forget that the person spoken of is no less illustrious individual than Harun al-Rashíd, and that a decidedly satirical and humorous vein runs through the whole tale. Moreover, I doubt that “li-ahad” could be used as equivalent for “li-ghayrí,” “to some other than myself,” while it frequently occurs in the emphatic sense of “one who is somebody, a person of consequence.” The damsel and her mother, on the other hand, allude repeatedly to the state of utter helplessness in which they find themselves in default of their natural protector, and which has reduced them from an exalted station to the condition of nobodies. I speak, of course, here as elsewhere, “under correction.” — ST.]

  163 In text “Hmsh.” The Dicts. give Himmas and Himmis, forms never heard, and Forsk. (Flora Ægypt.-Arab. p. lxxi.) “Homos,” also unknown. The vulg. pron. is, “Hummus” or as Lane (M.E. chapt. v.) has it “Hommus” (chick-peas). The word applies to the pea, while “Malán” is the plant in pod. It is the cicer arietinum concerning which a classical tale is told. “Cicero (pron. Kikero) was a poor scholar in the University of Athens, wherewith his enemies in Rome used to reproach him, and as he passed through the streets would call out ‘O Cicer, Cicer, O,’ a word still used in Cambridge, and answers to a Servitor in Oxford.” Quaint this approximation between “Cicer” the vetch and “Sizar” which comes from “size” = rations, the Oxford “battel.”

  164 Arab. “Yulakkimu,” from “Lukmah” = a mouthful: see vols. i. 266; vii. 367.

  165 Arab. “Jarazat Kuzbán” (plur. or “Kazíb,” see vol. ii. 66) = long and slender sticks.

  166 i.e. a witch; see vol. viii. 131.

  167 So in the phrase “Otbah hath the colic,” first said concerning Otbah b. Rabí’a by Abú Jahl when the former advised not marching upon Badr to attack Mohammed. Tabari, vol. ii. 491.

  168 Compare the French “Brr!”

  169 i.e. to whom thou owest a debt of apology or excuse,

  “Gharím” = debtor or creditor.

  170 Arab. “Juráb al-’uddah,” i.e. the manacles, fetters, etc.

  171 The following three sentences are taken from the margin of (MS.) , and evidently belong to this place.

  172 In text “Bghb” evidently for “Baght” or preferably

  “Baghtatan.”

  173 This is a twice-told tale whose telling I have lightened a little without omitting any important detail. Gauttier reduces the ending of the history to less than five pages.

  174 The normal idiom for “I accept.”

  175 In text Khila’t dakk al-Matrakah,” which I have rendered literally: it seems to signify an especial kind of brocade.

  176 The Court of Baghdad was, like the Urdú (Horde or Court) of the “Grand Mogul,” organised after the ordinance of an army in the field, with its centre, the Sovran, and two wings right and left, each with its own Wazir for Commander, and its vanguard and rearguard.

  177 Being the only son he had a voice in the disposal of his sister. The mother was the Kabírah = head of the household, in Marocco Al-Sídah = Madame mère; but she could not interfere single-handed in affairs concerning the family. See Pilgrimage, vol. iii. 198. Throughout Al-Islam in default of a father the eldest brother gives away the sisters, and if there be no brother this is done by the nearest male relation on the “sword” side. The mother has no authority in such matters nor indeed has anyone on the “spindle” side.

  178 Alluding to the Wali and his men.

  179 Arab. “Kunyah” (the pop. mispronunciation of “Kinyah”) is not used here with strict correctness. It is a fore-name or bye-name generally taken from the favourite son, Abú (father of) being prefixed. When names are written in full it begins the string, e.g., Abu Mohammed (fore-name), Kásim (true name), ibn Ali (father’s name), ibn Mohammed (grandfather’s), ibn Osman (great-grandfather), Al-Hariri (= the Silkman from the craft of the family), Al-Basri (of Bassorah). There is also the “Lakab” (sobriquet), e.g. Al-Bundukání or Badí’u’l-Zamán (Rarity of the Age), which may be placed either before or after the “Kunyah” when the latter is used alone. Chenery (Al-Hariri, p.315) confines the “Kunyah” to fo
re-names beginning with Abú; but it also applies to those formed with Umm (mother), Ibn (son), Bint (daughter), Akh (brother) and Ukht (sister). See vol. iv. 287. It is considered friendly and graceful to address a Moslem by this bye-name. -Gaudent prænomine molles Auriculæ.

  180 In text “Yá Kawákí,” which M. Houdas translates “O piailleur,” remarking that here it would be = poule mouillée.

  181 “‘Alakah khárijah” = an extraordinary drubbing.

  182 In text “Ij’alní fí kll,” the latter word being probably, as M. Houdas suggests, a clerical error for “Kal-a” or “Kiláa” = safety, protection.

  183 I am surprised that so learned and practical an Arabist as the Baron de Slane in his Fr. translation of Ibn Khaldún should render le surnom d’Er-Rechid (le prudent), for “The Rightly Directed,” the Orthodox (vol. ii. 237), when (ibid. ) he properly translates “Al-Khulafá al-rashidín” by Les Califes qui marchent dans la voie droite.

  184 MSS. p-504. This tale is laid down on the same lines as “Abú al-Husn and his Slave-girl Tawaddud,” vol. vi. 189. It is carefully avoided by Scott, C. de Perceval, Gauttier, etc.

  185 Lit. an interpreter woman; the word is the fem. of

  Tarjumán, a dragoman whom Mr. Curtis calls a Drag o’ men; see

  vol. i. 100. It has changed wonderfully on its way from its

  “Semitic” home to Europe which has naturalised it as Drogman,

  Truchman and Dolmetsch.

  186 For this word of many senses, see vols. i. 231; ix. 221. M. Caussin de Perceval (viii. 16), quoting d’Herbelot (s.v.), notes that the Abbasides thus entitled the chief guardian of the Harem.

  187 See vols. iv. 100; viii. 268. In his Introduction () to the Assemblies of Al-Hariri Chenery says, “This prosperity had now passed away, for God had brought the people of Rum (so the Arabs call the Byzantines, whom Abú Zayd here confounds with the Franks) on the land,” etc. The confusion is not Abu Zayd’s: “Rumí” in Marocco and other archaic parts of the Moslem world is still synonymous with our “European.”