A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4 (of 17)

– who blacked the raven o’er

And bid him prate in his white plumes no more.

67

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

68

Arab. “Samn” = Hind. “Ghi;” butter melted, skimmed and allowed to cool.

69

Arab. “Ya Wadúd;” a title of the Almighty: the Mac. Edit. has “O David!”

70

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

71

Arab. “Baháim” (plur. of Bahímah = 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-baháim” (of the cows.)

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 Nowás.” On the subject of these patronymics Lane (Mod. Egypt, chapt. iv.) has a strange remark that “Abu Dáúd is not the Father of Dáúd or Abu Ali the Father of Ali, but whose Father is (or was) Dáúd or Ali.” Here, however, he simply confounds Abu = father of (followed by a genitive), with Abu-h (for Abu-hu) = he, whose father.

73

Arab. “Samúr,” applied in slang language to cats and dogs, hence the witty Egyptians converted Admiral Seymour (Lord Alcester) into “Samúr.”

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.

75

Arab. “Salím” (not Sé-lim) meaning the “Safe and sound.”

76

Arab. “Haláwah” = 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.”

77

Arab. “Salát” 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 hurry to speak: an interrupting friend will say “Bless the Prophet!” and he does so by ejaculating “Sa’am.”

78

Persian, meaning originally a command: it is now applied to a Wazirial order as opposed to the “Irádah,” the Sultan’s order.

79

Arab. “Mashá’ilí”: lit. the cresset-bearer who has before appeared as hangman.

80

Another polite formula for announcing a death.

81

As he died heirless the property lapsed to the Treasury.

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.

83

The body-guard being of two divisions.

84

Arab. “Hadbá,” 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 Janázah 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.

85

This is a high honour to any courtier.

86

“Khatun” in Turk. means any lady: mistress, etc., and follows the name, e. g. Fátimah 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 Salám, father of peace)? Lane (ii. 284) and Payne (iii. 286) prefer Habazlam and Hebezlem.

87

Or night. A metaphor for rushing into peril.

88

Plur. of kumkum, cucurbite, gourd-shaped vessel, jar.

89

A popular exaggeration for a very expert thief.

90

Arab. “Buka’at al-dam”: lit. the “low place of blood” (where it stagnates): so Al-Buká’ah = Cœlesyria.

91

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

92

In order to keep his oath to the letter.

93

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

94

Arab. “Durká’ah,” the lower part of the floor, opposed to the “liwan” or daïs. Liwán = Al-Aywán (Arab. and Pers.) the hall (including the daïs and the sunken parts).

95

i. e. he would toast it as he would a mistress.

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.

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 Ægyptum” (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. ii. 628); or, “with good and bad,” vinegar being spoilt wine.

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.

99

This is the procès verbal always drawn up on such occasions.

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.

101

Arab. “Min wahid aduww” a peculiarly Egyptian or rather Cairene phrase.

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.

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.

104

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

105

The famous Issus of Cilicia, now a port-village on the Gulf of Scanderoon.

106

Arab. “Wada’á” = the concha veneris, then used as small change.

107

Arab. “Sakati” = a dealer in “castaway” articles, such as old metal, damaged goods, the pluck and feet of animals, etc.

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 Bay (Pilgrimage i. 123).

109

Prob. a mis-spelling for Arslán, in Turk, a lion, and in slang a piastre.

110

Arab. “Maka’ad”; lit. = sitting-room.

111

Arab. “Khammárah”; 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.

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 Himyarland for the Ka’abah (Pilgrimage, iii. 295).

113

This was evidently written by a Sunni as the Shí’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?”

114

Arab. “Ana fí jírat-ak!” a phrase to be remembered as useful in time of danger.