KHUDADAD AND HIS BROTHERS.
Quoth Dunyazad, “O sister mine, how rare is thy tale and delectable!” and quoth Shahrazad, “And what is this compared with that I could relate to you after the coming night, an this my lord the King deign leave me on life?” So Shahryar said to himself, “Indeed I will not slay her until she tell me the whole tale.”
And when it was the Five Hundred and Ninety-second Night,[[234]]
Shahrazad began to relate the adventures of
KHUDADAD[[235]] AND HIS BROTHERS.
Said she, O auspicious King, this my tale relateth to the Kingdom of Diyár Bakr[[236]] in whose capital-city of Harrán[[237]] dwelt a Sultan of illustrious lineage, a protector of the people, a lover of his lieges, a friend of mankind and renowned for being gifted with every good quality. Now Allah Almighty had bestowed upon him all that his heart could desire, save boon of child, for though he had lovely wives within his Harem-door and fair concubines galore, he had not been blessed with a son; wherefor he offered up incessant worship to the Creator. One night there appeared to him in a dream a man of comely visage and holy of semblance like unto a prophet, who addressed him, saying, “O puissant King, thy vows are at length heard. Arise to-morrow at day-dawn, pray a two-bow prayer and offer up thy petitions; then haste thee to the Chief Gardener of thy palace and require of him a pomegranate whereof do thou eat as many seeds as seemeth best to thee; after which perform another two-bow prayer, and Allah will shower favours and graces upon thy head.” The King, awaking at peep of day, called to mind the vision of the night, and returning thanks to the Almighty, made his orisons and kneeling invoked a benedicite. Then he rose and repaired to the garth, and receiving a pomegranate from the Head-Gardener, counted out and ate fifty grains thereof; to wit, one for each of his wives. After this he lay the night in turn with them all and by the omnipotence of the Creator all gave in due time signs of pregnancy, save one Firúzah[[238]] hight. So the King conceived a grudge against her, saying in his soul, “Allah holdeth this woman vile and accursed and He willeth not that she become the mother of a Prince, and on this wise hath the curse of barrenness become her lot.” He would have had her done to death but the Grand Wazir made intercession for her and suggested to the Sultan that perchance Firuzah might prove with child and withal not show outward signal thereof, as is the manner of certain women; wherefore to slay her might be to destroy a Prince with the mother. Quoth the King, “So be it! slay her not, but take heed that she abide no longer or at court or in the city, for I cannot support the sight of her.” Replied the Minister, “It shall be done even as thy Highness biddeth: let her be conveyed to the care of thy brother’s son, Prince Samír.” The King did according to the counsel of his Wazir and despatched his loathed Queen to Samaria[[239]] accompanied by a writ with the following purport, to his nephew, “We forward this lady to thy care: entreat her honourably and, shouldest thou remark tokens of pregnancy in her, see that thou acquaint us therewith without stay or delay.” So Firuzah journeyed to Samaria, and when her time was fulfilled she gave birth to a boy babe, and became the mother of a Prince who in favour was resplendent as the sheeny day. Hereat the lord of Samaria sent message by letter to the Sultan of Harran saying, “A Prince hath been borne by the womb of Firuzah: Allah Almighty give thee permanence of prosperity!” By these tidings the King was filled with joy; and presently he replied to his cousin, Prince Samir, “Each one of my forty-and-nine spouses hath been blessed with issue and it delighteth me beyond bounds that Firuzah hath also given me a son. Let him be named Khudadad—God’s gift—do thou have due care of him and whatsoever thou mayest need for his birth-ceremonies shall be counted out to thee without regard to cost.” Accordingly Prince Samir took in hand with all pleasure and delight the charge of Prince Khudadad; and, as soon as the child reached the age for receiving instruction, he caused him to be taught cavalarice and archery and all such arts and sciences which it behoveth the sons of the Kings to learn, so that he became perfect in all manner knowledge. At eighteen years of age he waxed seemly of semblance and such were his strength and valiance that none in the whole world could compare with him. Presently, feeling himself gifted with unusual vigour and virile character he addressed one day of the days Firuzah his parent, saying, “O mother mine, grant me thy leave to quit Samaria and fare in quest of fortune, especially of some battle-field where I may prove the force and prowess of me. My sire, the Sultan of Harran, hath many foes, some of whom are lusting to wage war with him; and I marvel that at such time he doth not summon me and make me his aid in this mightiest of matters. But seeing that I possess such courage and Allah-given strength it behoveth me not to remain thus idly at home. My father knoweth naught of my lustihood, nor forsooth doth he think of me at all; nevertheless ’tis suitable that at such a time I present myself before him, and tender my services until my brothers be fit to fight and to front his foes.” Hereto his mother made answer, “O my dear son, thine absence pleaseth me not, but in truth it becometh thee to help thy father against the enemies who are attacking him on all sides, provided that he send for thine aidance.”——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till
The end of the Five Hundred and Ninety-third Night.
Then said she:——I have heard, O auspicious King, that Khudadad replied to his mother Firuzah, “Indeed I am unable to brook delay; moreover such longing have I in heart to look upon the Sultan, my sire, that an I go not and visit him and kiss his feet I shall assuredly die. I will enter his employ as a stranger and all unknown to him, nor will I inform him that I am his son; but I shall be to him as a foreigner or as one of his hired knaves, and with such devotion will I do him suit and service that, when he learneth that I am indeed his child, he may grant me his favour and affection.” Prince Samir also would not suffer him to depart and forbade him therefrom; but one day of the days the Prince suddenly set out from Samaria under pretext that he was about to hunt and chase. He mounted a milk-white steed, whose reins and stirrups were of gold and the saddle and housings were of azure satin dubbed with jewels and fringed with pendants of fresh pearls. His scymitar was hilted with a single diamond, the scabbard of chaunders-wood was crusted with rubies and emeralds and it depended from a gemmed waist-belt; while his bow and richly wrought quiver hung by his side. Thus equipped and escorted by his friends and familiars he presently arrived at Harran-city after the fairest fashion; and, when occasion offered itself, he made act of presence before the King and did his obeisance at Darbár. The Sultan, remarking his beauty and comeliness, or haply by reason of an outburst of natural affection, was pleased to return his salam; and, graciously calling him to his side, asked of him his name and pedigree, whereto Khudadad answered, “O my liege, I am the son of an Emir of Cairo. A longing for travel hath made me quit my native place and wander from clime to clime till at length I have come hither; and, hearing that thou hast matters of importance in hand, I am desirous of approving to thee my valiancy.” The King joyed with exceeding joy to hear this stout and doughty speech, and forthwith gave him a post of command in his army; and Khudadad by careful supervision of the troops soon won the esteem of his officers by his desire to satisfy them and the hearts of his soldiers by reason of his strength and courage, his goodly nature and his kindly disposition. He also brought the host and all its equipments and munitions of warfare into such excellent order and method that the King on inspecting them was delighted and created the stranger Chief Commandant of the forces and made him an especial favourite; while the Wazirs and Emirs, also the Nabobs and the Notables, perceiving that he was highly reputed and regarded, showed him abundant good will and affection. Presently, the other Princes, who became of no account in the eyes of the King and the lieges, waxed envious of his high degree and dignity. But Khudadad ceased not to please the Sultan his sire, at all times when they conversed together, by his prudence and discretion, his wit and wisdom, and gained his regard ever more and more; and when the invaders, who had planned a raid on the realm, heard of the discipline of the army and of Khudadad’s provisions for materials of war, they abstained from all hostile intent. After a while the King committed to Khudadad the custody and education of the forty-nine Princes, wholly relying on his sagesse and skill; and thus, albeit Khudadad was of age like his brothers, he became their master by reason of his sapience and good sense. Whereupon they hated him but the more; and, when taking counsel one day, quoth one to other, “What be this thing our sire hath done that he should make a stranger-wight his cup-companion and set him to lord it over us? We can do naught save by leave of this our governor, and our condition is past bearing; so contrive we to rid ourselves of this foreigner and at least render him vile and contemptible in the eyes of our sire the Sultan.” Said one, “Let us gather together and slay him in some lonely spot;” and said another, “Not so! to kill him would benefit us naught, for how could we keep the matter hidden from the King? He would become our enemy and Allah only wotteth what evil might befal us. Nay, rather let us crave permission of him and fare a-hunting and then tarry we in some far-off town; and after a while the King will marvel at our absence, then grief will be sore upon him and at length, waxing displeased and suspicious, he will have this fellow expelled the palace or haply done to death. This is the only sure and safe way of bringing about his destruction.”——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till
The end of the Five Hundred and Ninety-fourth Night.
Then said she:——I have heard, O auspicious King, that the forty-and-nine brothers agreed to hold this plan the wisest and, presently going together to Khudadad, asked leave of him to ride about the country awhile or fare to the chase, promising they would return by set of sun. He fell into the snare and allowed them to go; whereupon they sallied forth a-hunting but did not come back that day or the next. On the third morning the King who missed them asked Khudadad wherefore it was that none of his sons were to be seen; and he answered that three days before they had gotten leave from him to go a-hunting and had not returned. Hereat the father was perplexed with sore perplexity; and, when sundry days more had passed by and still the Princes appeared not, the old Sultan was much troubled in mind and hardly restraining his rage summoned Khudadad and in hot wrath exclaimed, “O thou neglectful stranger, what courage and over-daring is this of thine that thou didst suffer my sons fare to the chace and didst not ride with them. And now ’tis but right that thou set out and search for them and bring them back; otherwise thou shalt surely die.” Khudadad, hearing these harsh words, was startled and alarmed; however he got him ready and mounted his horse forthwith and left the city in quest of the Princes his brethren, wandering about from country to country, like unto a herd seeking a straying flock of goats. Presently, not finding any trace of them in homestead or on desert-ground, he became sad and sorrowful exceedingly, saying in his soul, “O my brothers, what hath befallen you and where can ye be dwelling? Perchance some mighty foeman hath made you prisoners so that ye cannot escape; and I may never return unto Harran till I find you; for this will be a matter of bitter regret and repine to the King.” So he repented more and more having suffered them to go without his escort and guidance. At length whilst searching for them from plain to plain and forest to forest he chanced come upon a large and spacious prairie in the middlemost whereof rose a castle of black marble; so he rode on at a foot pace and when close under the walls he espied a lady of passing beauty and loveliness who was seated at a window in melancholy plight and with no other ornament than her own charms. Her lovely hair hung down in dishevelled locks; her raiment was tattered and her favour was pale and showed sadness and sorrow. Withal she was speaking under her breath and Khudadad, giving attentive ear, heard her say these words, “O youth, fly this fatal site, else thou wilt fall into the hands of the monster who dwelleth here; a man-devouring Ethiopian[[240]] is lord of this palace; and he seizeth all whom Fate sendeth to this prairie and locketh them up in darksome and narrow cells that he may preserve them for food.” Khudadad exclaimed, “O my lady, tell me I pray thee who thou art and whereabouts was thy home;” and she answered, “I am a daughter of Cairo and of the noblest thereof. But lately, as I wended my way to Baghdad, I alighted upon this plain and met that Habashi, who slew all my servants and carrying me off by force placed me in this palace. I no longer care to live, and a thousand times better were it for me to die; for that this Abyssinian lusteth to enjoy me and albeit to the present time I have escaped the caresses of the impure wretch, to-morrow an I still refuse to gratify his desire he will surely ravish me and do me dead. So I have given up all hope of safety; but thou, why hast thou come hither to perish? Escape without stay or delay, for he hath gone forth in quest of wayfarers and right soon will he return. Moreover he can see far and wide and can descry all who traverse this wold.” Now hardly had the lady spoken these words when the Abyssinian drew in sight; and he was as a Ghúl of the Wild, big of bulk, and fearsome of favour and figure, and he mounted a sturdy Tartar steed, brandishing, as he rode, a weighty blade which none save he could wield. Prince Khudadad seeing this monstrous semblance was sore amazed and prayed Heaven that he might be victorious over that devil: then unsheathing his sword he stood awaiting the Abyssinian’s approach with courage and steadfastness; but the blackamoor when he drew near deemed the Prince too slight and puny to fight and was minded to seize him alive. Khudadad, seeing how his foe had no intent to combat, struck him with his sword on the knee a stroke so dour that the negro foamed with rage and yelled a yell so loud that the whole prairie resounded with the plaint. Thereupon the brigand, fiery with fury, rose straight in his shovel-stirrups and struck fiercely at Khudadad with his huge sword and, but for the Prince’s cunning of fence and the cleverness of his courser, he would have been sliced in twain like unto a cucumber. Though the scymitar whistled through the air, the blow was harmless, and in an eye-twinkling Khudadad dealt him a second cut and struck off his right hand which fell to the ground with the sword hilt it gripped, when the blackamoor losing his balance rolled from the saddle and made earth resound with the fall. Thereupon the Prince sprang from his steed and deftly severing the enemy’s head from his body threw it aside. Now the lady had been looking down at the lattice rigid in prayer for the gallant youth; and, seeing the Abyssinian slain and the Prince victorious, she was overcome with exceeding joy and cried but to her deliverer, “Praise be to Almighty Allah, O my lord, who by thy hand hath defeated and destroyed this fiend. Come now to me within the castle, whose keys are with the Abyssinian; so take them and open the door and deliver me.” Khudadad found a large bunch of keys under the dead man’s girdle wherewith he opened the portals of the fort and entered a large saloon in which was the lady; and, no sooner did she behold him than running to meet him she was about to cast herself at his feet and kiss them when Khudadad prevented her. She praised him with highest praise and extolled him for valiancy above all the champions of the world, and he returned the salam to her who, when seen near hand seemed endued with more grace and charms than had appeared from afar. So the Prince joyed with extreme joy and the twain sat down in pleasant converse. Presently, Khudadad heard shrieks and cries and weeping and wailing with groans and moans and ever loudening lamentations; so he asked the lady, saying, “Whence are these clamours and from whom come these pitiful complaints?” And, she pointing to a wicket in a hidden corner of the court below, answered, saying, “O my lord, these sounds come therefrom. Many wretches driven by Destiny have fallen into the clutches of the Abyssinian Ghúl and are securely locked up in cells, and each day he was wont to roast and eat one of the captives.” “’Twill please me vastly,” quoth Khudadad, “to be the means of their deliverance: come, O my lady, and show me where they are imprisoned.” Thereupon the twain drew near to the place and the Prince forthright tried a key upon the lock of the dungeon but it did not fit; then he made essay of another wherewith they opened the wicket. As they were so doing the report of the captives’ moaning and groaning increased yet more and more until Khudadad, touched and troubled at their impatience, asked the cause of it. The lady replied, “O my lord, hearing our footsteps and the rattling of the key in the lock they deem that the cannibal, according to his custom, hath come to supply them with food and to secure one of them for his evening meal. Each feareth lest his turn for roasting be come, so all are affrighted with sore affright and redouble their shouts and cries.”——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till
The end of the Five Hundred and Ninety-fifth Night.
Then said she:——I have heard, O auspicious King, that the sounds from that secret place seemed to issue from under ground or from the depths of a draw-well. But when the Prince opened the dungeon door, he espied a steep staircase and descending thereby found himself in a deep pit, narrow and darksome, wherein were penned more than an hundred persons with elbows pinioned and members chained; nor saw he aught of light save through one bull’s-eye. So he cried to them, “O ye unfortunates, fear ye no more! I have slain the Abyssinian; and render ye praise to Allah Almighty who hath rid you of your wrong-doer: also I come to strike off your fetters and return you to freedom.” Hearing these glad tidings the prisoners were in raptures of delight and raised a general cry of joy and jubilee. Hereupon Khudadad and the lady began to loose their hands and feet; and each, as he was released from his durance, helped to unchain his fellows: brief, after a moment of time all were delivered from their bonds and bondage. Then each and every kissed Khudadad’s feet and gave thanks and prayed for his welfare; and when those whilom prisoners entered the court-yard whereupon the sun was shining sheen, Khudadad recognised amongst them his brothers, in quest of whom he had so long wandered. He was amazed with exceeding amazement and exclaimed, “Laud be to the Lord, that I have found you one and all safe and sound: your father is sorely sad and sorrowful at your absence; and Heaven forfend that this devil hath devoured any from amongst you.” He then counted their number, forty-and-nine, and set them apart from the rest; and all in excess of joy fell upon one another’s necks and ceased not to embrace their saviour. After this the Prince spread a feast for the captives, each and every, whom he had delivered; and, when they had eaten and drunken their full, he restored to them the gold and silver, the Turkey carpets and pieces of Chinese silk and brocade and other valuables innumerable which the Abyssinian had plundered from the caravans, as also their own personal goods and chattels, directing each man to claim his own; and what remained he divided equally amongst them. “But,” quoth he, “by what means can ye convey these bales to your own countries, and where can ye find beasts of burden in this wild wold?” Quoth they, “O our Lord, the Abyssinian robbed us of our camels with their loads and doubtless they are in the stables of the castle.” Hereupon Khudadad fared forth with them to the stables and there found tethered and tied not only the camels but also the forty-nine horses of his brothers the princes, and accordingly he gave to each one his own animal. There were moreover in the stables hundreds of Abyssinian slave-boys who, seeing the prisoners released, were certified that their lord the cannibal was slain and fled in dismay to the forest and none thought of giving chase to them. So the merchants loaded their merchandise upon the camels’ backs and farewelling the Prince set out for their own countries. Then quoth Khudadad to the lady, “O thou rare in beauty and chastity, whence earnest thou when the Abyssinian seized thee and whither now wouldst thou wend? Inform me thereof that I may restore thee to thy home; haply these Princes, my brethren, sons of the Sultan of Harran, know thine abode; and doubtless they will escort thee thither.” The lady turning to Khudadad presently made answer, “I live far from here and my country, the land of Egypt, is over distant for travel. But thou, O valorous Prince, hast delivered mine honour and my life from the hands of the Abyssinian and hast shown me such favour that ’twould ill become me to conceal from thee my history. I am the daughter of a mighty king; reigning over the Sa’íd or upper Nile-land; and when a tyrant foeman seized him and, reaving him of life as well as of his realm, usurped his throne and seized his kingdom, I fled away to preserve my existence and mine honour.” Thereupon Khudadad and his brothers prayed the lady to recount all that had befallen her and reassured her, saying, “Henceforth thou shalt live in solace and luxury: neither toil nor trouble shall betide thee.” When she saw that there was no help for her but to tell all her tale, she began in the following words to recount the
HISTORY OF THE PRINCESS OF DARYABAR.[[241]]
In an island of the islands standeth a great city called Daryábár, wherein dwelt a king of exalted degree. But despite his virtue and his valour he was ever sad and sorrowful having naught of offspring, and he offered up without surcease prayers on that behalf. After long years and longsome supplications a half boon was granted to him; to wit, a daughter (myself) was born. My father who grieved sore at first presently rejoiced with joy exceeding at the unfortunate ill-fated birth of me; and, when I came of age to learn, he bade me be taught to read and write; and caused me to be instructed in court-ceremonial and royal duties and the chronicles of the past, to the intent that I might succeed him as heiress to his throne and his kingship. Now it happened one day that my sire rode out a-hunting and gave chase to a wild ass[[242]] with such hot pursuit that he found himself at eventide separated from his suite; so, wearied with the chase, he dismounted from his steed and seating himself by the side of a forest-path, he said to himself, “The onager will doubtless seek cover in this copse.” Suddenly he espied a light shining bright amidst the trees and, thinking that a hamlet might be hard by, he was minded to night there and at day-dawn to determine his further course. Hereupon he arose and walking towards the light he found that it issued from a lonely hut in the forest; then peering into the inside he espied an Abyssinian burly of bulk and in semblance like unto a Satan, seated upon a divan. Before him were ranged many capacious jars full of wine and over a fire of charcoal he was roasting a bullock whole and eating the flesh and ever and anon drinking deep draughts from one of the pitchers. Furthermore the King sighted in that hut a lady of exquisite beauty and comeliness sitting in a corner direly distressed: her hands were fast bound with cords, and at her feet a child of two or three years of age lay beweeping his mother’s sorry plight.——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till
The end of the Five Hundred and Ninety-sixth Night.
Then said she:——I have heard, O auspicious King, that seeing the doleful state of these twain, my sire was filled with ruth and longed to fall upon the ogre sword in hand; however, not being able to cope with him he restrained his wrath and remained on stealthy watch. The giant having drained all the pitchers of wine and devoured half of the barbacued bullock presently addressed himself to the lady and said, “O loveliest of Princesses how long, wilt thou prove thee coy and keep aloof from me? Dost thou not see how desirous I am of winning thy heart and how I am dying for the love of thee? ’Tis therefore only right that thou also shouldst return my affection and know me as thine own, when I will become to thee the kindest of mankind.” “O thou Ghul of the waste,” cried the lady, “what be this whereof thou pratest? Never; no, never shalt thou win thy wish of me, however much thou mayest lust therefor. Torment me or, an thou wilt, destroy me downright, but for my part I will on no wise yield me to thy lusts.” At these words the infuriated savage roared aloud, “’Tis enough and more than enough: thy hate breedeth hatred in me and now I desire less to have and hold thee than to do thee die.” Then he seized her with one hand, and drawing his sabre with the other, would have struck off her head from her body when my father shot at him a shaft so deftly that it pierced his heart and came out gleaming at his back and he fell to the ground and found instant admission into Jahannam. Hereupon my sire entered the hut and unbinding the lady’s bonds enquired of her who she was and by what means that ogre had brought her thither. Answered she, “Not far from this site there liveth on the sea-shore a race of Saracens, like unto the demons of the desert. Sorely against my will I was wedded to their Prince and the fulsome villain thou hast now slain was one of my husband’s chief officers. He fell madly in love to me and he longed with excessive longing to get me into his power and to carry me off from my home. Accordingly, one day of the days when my husband was out of the way and I was in privacy, he carried me off with this my babe from the palace to this wild wood wherein is none save He[[243]] and where well he wot that all search and labour would be baffled; then, hour after hour he designed guilty designs against me, but by the mercy of Almighty Allah I have ever escaped all carnal soil of that foul monster. This evening, in despair of my safety, I was rejecting his brutal advances when he attempted to take my life and in the attempt he was slain by thy valorous hand. This is then my story which I have told thee.” My father reassured the Princess, saying, “O my lady, let thy heart be at ease; at daybreak I will take thee away from this wilderness and escort thee to Daryabar, of which city I am the Sultan; and, shouldst thou become fain of that place, then dwell therein until thy husband shall come in quest of thee.” Quoth the lady, “O my lord, this plan doth not displease me.” So with the earliest light next morning my father took mother and child away from that forest and set forth homewards when suddenly he fell in with his Sirdars and officers who had been wandering hither and thither during the livelong night in search of him. They rejoiced with great joy on seeing the King and marvelled with exceeding marvel at the sight of a veiled one with him, admiring much that so lovesome a lady should be found dwelling in a wold so wild. Thereupon the King related to them the tale of the ogre and of the Princess and how he had slain the blackamoor. Presently they set forth on their homeward way; one of the Emirs seating the dame behind him on his horse’s crupper while another took charge of the child. They reached the royal city, where the King ordered a large and splendid mansion to be built for his guest, the babe also received a suitable education; and thus the mother passed her days in perfect comfort and happiness. After the lapse of some months, when no tidings, however fondly expected, came of her husband, she resigned herself to marrying my father whom she had captivated by her beauty and loveliness and amorous liveliness,[[244]] whereupon he wedded her, and when the marriage-contract was drawn up (as was customary in those days), they sojourned together in one stead. As time went on the lad grew up to be a lusty youth of handsome mien; moreover he became perfect in courtly ceremonial and in every art and science that befit Princes. The King and all the Ministers and Emirs highly approved of him, and determined that I should be married to him, and that he should succeed the sovereign as heir to throne and kingship. The youth also was well pleased with such tokens of favour from my father, but chiefly he rejoiced with exceeding joy to hear talk of his union with his protector’s only daughter. One day my sire desired to place my hand in his to the intent that the marriage ceremony should at once take place, but first he would impose upon my suitor certain conditions, whereof one was that he should wed none other but his wife’s daughter, that is, myself. This pledge displeased the haughty youth, who forthwith refused his consent thereto, deeming himself by the demand of such condition a despised and contemptible suitor of villain birth.——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till
The end of the Five Hundred and Ninety-seventh Night.
Then said she:——I have heard, O auspicious King, that, the lady continued:—On this wise the wedding was deferred, and this delay became a matter of sore displeasure to the young man, who thought in his heart that my father was his foe. Therefore he ever strove to lure him into his power till one day in a frenzy of rage he slew him and proclaimed himself King of Daryabar. Moreover the murtherer would have entered my chamber to kill me also had not the Wazir, a true and faithful servant of the crown, at the tidings of his liege lord’s death speedily taken me away, and hidden me in the house of a friend where he bade me remain concealed. Two days afterwards, having fitted out a ship, he embarked me therein with a Kahramánah—an old duenna—and set sail for a country whose King was of my father’s friends, to the intent that he might consign me to his charge, and obtain from him the aid of an army wherewith he might avenge himself upon the ungrateful and ungracious youth who had proved himself a traitor to the salt.[[245]] But a few days after our weighing anchor a furious storm began to blow making the captain and crew sore confounded and presently the waves beat upon the vessel with such exceeding violence that she brake up, and the Wazir and the duenna and all who were therein (save myself) were drowned in the billows. But I, albeit well nigh a-swoon, clung to a plank and was shortly after washed ashore by the send of the sea, for Allah of His mighty power had preserved me safe and sound from death-doom by the raging of the ocean, to the end that further troubles might befal me. When I returned to sense and consciousness, I found myself alive on the strand and offered up grateful thanks to Almighty Allah; but not seeing the Wazir or any one of the company I knew that they had perished in the waters.——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till
The end of the Five Hundred and Ninety-eighth Night.
Then said she:——I have heard, O auspicious King, that the Princess of Daryabar continued:—Presently, calling to remembrance the murther of my father I cried aloud with an exceeding bitter cry and was sore afraid at my lonesome plight, insomuch that I would fain have cast myself again into the sea, when suddenly the voice of man and tramp of horse-hooves fell upon my ears. Then looking about I descried a band of cavaliers in the midst of whom was a handsome prince: he was mounted upon a steed of purest Rabite[[246]] blood and was habited in a gold-embroidered surcoat; a girdle studded with diamonds girt his loins and on his head was a crown of gold; in fine it was evident from his garb as from his aspect that he was a born ruler of mankind. Thereupon, seeing me all alone on the sea-shore, the knights marvelled with exceeding marvel; then the Prince detached one of his captains to ascertain my history and acquaint him therewith; but albeit the officer plied me with questions I answered him not a word and shed a flood of tears in the deepest silence. So noting the waifage on the sand they thought to themselves, “Perchance some vessel hath been wrecked upon this shore and its planks and timber have been cast up on the land, and doubtless this lady was in that ship and hath been floated ashore on some plank.” Whereupon the cavaliers crowded around me and implored me to relate unto them what had befallen me; nevertheless I still answered them not a word. Presently the Prince himself drew near to me and, much amazed, sent away his suite from about me and addressed me in these words, “O my lady, fear naught of ill from me nor distress thyself by needless affright. I would convey thee to my home and under my mother’s care; wherefore I am curious to know of thee who thou art. The Queen will assuredly befriend thee and keep thee in comfort and happiness.” And now understanding that his heart was drawn towards me, I told him all that had betided me, and he on hearing the story of my sad destiny became moved with the deepest emotion and his eyes brimmed with tears. Then he comforted me and carried me with him and committed me to the Queen his mother, who also lent kindly ear to my tale of the past, first and last, and hearing it she also was greatly grieved, and wearied not day or night in tending me and (as far as in her lay) striving to make me happy. Seeing, moreover, that her son was deeply enamoured of me and love-distraught she agreed to my becoming his wife, while I also consented when I looked upon his handsome and noble face and figure and to his proved affection for me and his goodness of heart. Accordingly, in due time the marriage was celebrated with royal pomp and circumstance. But what escape is there from Fate? On that very night, the night of the wedding, a King of Zanzibar who dwelt hard by that island, and had erewhile practised against the kingdom, seizing his opportunity, attacked us with a mighty army, and having put many to death, bethought him to take me and my husband alive. But we escaped from his hands and fleeing under the murks of night to the sea-shore found there a fisherman’s boat, which we entered thanking our stars and launched it and floated far away on the current, unknowing whither Destiny was directing us. On the third day we espied a vessel making us, whereat we rejoiced with joy excessive, deeming her to be some merchantman coming to our aidance. No sooner had it lain alongside, however, than up there sprang five or six pirates,[[247]] each brandishing a naked brand in hand, and boarding us tied our arms behind us and carried us to their craft. They then tare the veil from my face and forthwith desired to possess me, each saying to other, “I will enjoy this wench.” On this wise wrangling and jangling ensued till right soon it turned to battle and bloodshed, when moment by moment and one by one the ravishers fell dead until all were slain save a single pirate, the bravest of the band. Quoth he to me, “Thou shalt fare with me to Cairo where dwelleth a friend of mine and to him will I give thee, for erewhile I promised him that on this voyage I would secure for him a fair woman for handmaid.” Then seeing my husband, whom the pirates had left in bonds he exclaimed, “Who may be this hound? Is he to thee a lover or a friend?” and I made answer “He is my wedded husband.” “’Tis well,” cried he: “in very sooth it behoveth me to release him from the bitter pangs of jealousy and the sight of thee enfolded in another’s fond embrace.” Whereat the ruffian raised aloft the ill-fated Prince, bound foot and hand, and cast him into the sea, while I shrieked aloud and implored his mercy, but all in vain. Seeing the Prince struggling and drowning in the waves I cried out and screamed and buffetted my face and tare my hair and would fain have cast myself into the waters but I could not, for he held me fast and lashed me to the mainmast. Then, pursuing our course with favouring winds we soon arrived at a small port-village where he bought camels and boy-slaves and journeyed on towards Cairo; but when several stages of the road were left behind us, the Abyssinian who dwelt in this castle suddenly overtook us. From afar we deemed him to be a lofty tower, and when near us could hardly believe him to be a human being.——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till
The end of the Five Hundred and Ninety-ninth Night.
Then said she:——I have heard, O auspicious King, that the Princess of Daryabar continued:—At once unsheathing his huge sword the Habashi made for the pirate and ordered him to surrender himself prisoner, with me and all his slaves, and with pinioned elbows to accompany him. Hereat the robber with hot courage and heading his followers rushed fiercely on the Abyssinian, and for a long time the fight raged thick and fast, till he and his lay dead upon the field; whereupon the Abyssinian led off the camels and carried me and the pirate’s corpse to this castle, and devoured the flesh of his foe at his evening meal. Then turning to me as I wept with bitter weeping he said, “Banish from thy breast this woe and this angry mood; and abide in this castle at perfect ease and in comfort, and solace thyself with my embraces. However, since thou appearest at this present to be in dire distress, I will excuse thee for to-night, but without fail I shall require thee of thyself on the morrow.” He then led me into a separate chamber and locking fast the gates and doors, fell asleep alone in another place. Arising early on the next morning he searched the castle round about unlocked the wicket which he closed again and sallied forth, according to his custom, in quest of wayfarers. But the caravan escaped him and anon he returned empty-handed when thou didst set upon him and slay him. On this wise the Princess of Daryabar related her history to Prince Khudadad who was moved with ruth for her: then comforting her he said, “Henceforth fear naught nor be on any wise dismayed. These princes are the sons of the King of Harran; and if it please thee, let them lead thee to his court and stablish thee in comfort and luxury: the King also will guard thee from all evil. Or, shouldest thou be loath to fare with them, wilt thou not consent to take for spouse him who hath rescued thee from so great calamity?” The Princess of Daryabar consented to wed with him and forthwith the marriage was celebrated with grand display in the castle and here they found meats and drinks of sundry sorts, and delicious fruits and fine wines wherewith the cannibal would regale himself when a-weary of man’s flesh. So Khudadad made ready dishes of every colour and feasted his brothers. Next day taking with them such provaunt as was at hand, all set forth for Harran, and at the close of each stage they chose a suitable stead for nighting; and, when but one day’s journey lay before them, the Princes supped that night off what was left to them of their viaticum and drained all the wine that remained. But when the drink had mastered their wits, Khudadad thus addressed his brothers, saying, “Hitherto have I withheld from you the secret of my birth, which now I must disclose. Know ye then that I am your brother, for I also am a son of the King of Harran, whom the Lord of Samaria-land brought up and bade educate; and lastly, my mother is the Princess Firuzah.” Then to the Princess of Daryabar, “Thou didst not recognise my rank and pedigree and, had I discovered myself erewhile, haply thou hadst been spared the mortification of being wooed by a man of vulgar blood. But now ease thy mind for that thy husband is a Prince.” Quoth she, “Albeit thou discoveredst to me naught until this time, still my heart felt assured that thou wast of noble birth and the son of some potent sovereign.” The Princes one and all appeared outwardly well pleased and offered each and every warm congratulations whilst the wedding was celebrating; but inwardly they were filled with envy and sore annoy at such unwelcome issue of events, so much so that when Khudadad retired with the Princess of Daryabar to his tent and slept, those ingrates, forgetful of the service rendered to them by their brother in that he had rescued them when prisoners in the hands of the man-devouring Abyssinian, remained deep in thought and seeking a safe place took counsel one with other to kill him. Quoth the foremost of them, “O my brethren, our father showed him the liveliest affection when he was to us naught save a vagrant and unknown, and indeed made him our ruler and our governor; and now, hearing of his victory won from the ogre and learning that the stranger is his son, will not our sire forthwith appoint this bastard his only heir and give him dominion over us so that we must all be forced to fall at his feet and bear his yoke? My rede is this that we make an end of him in this very spot.” Accordingly they stole softly into his tent and dealt him from every side strokes with their swords, so that they slashed him in every limb and fondly thought that they had left him dead on the bed without their awaking the Princess. Next morning they entered the city of Harran and made their salams to the King, who despaired of sighting them again, so he rejoiced with exceeding joy on seeing them restored to him safe and sound and sane, and asked why they had tarried from him so long. In reply they carefully concealed from him their being thrown into the dungeon by the Ghul of Abyssinia and how Khudadad had rescued them: on the contrary all declared that they had been delayed whilst a-hunting and a-visiting the adjacent cities and countries. So the Sultan gave full credence to their account and held his peace. Such was their case; but as regards Khudadad, when the Princess of Daryabar awoke in the morning she found her bridegroom lying drowned in blood gashed and pierced with a score of wounds.——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till
The end of the full Six Hundredth Night.
Then said she:——I have heard, O auspicious King, that, the Princess, deeming her bridegroom dead, wept at this sight right sore; and, calling to mind his youth and beauty, his valour and his many virtues, she washed his face with her tears and exclaimed, “Well-away and woe is me, O my lover, O Khudadad, do these eyes look upon thee in sudden and violent death? Are these thy brothers (the devils!) whom thy courage hath saved, the destroyers of thee? Nay ’tis I am thy murtheress; I who suffered thee to ally thy Fate with my hapless destiny, a lot that doometh to destruction all who befriend me.” Then considering the body attentively she perceived that breath was slowly coming and going through his nostrils, and that his limbs were yet warm. So she made fast the tent-door and ran city-wards to seek a surgeon, and anon having found a skilful leech, she returned with him, but lo and behold! Khudadad was missing. She wist not what had become of him, but thought in her mind that some wild beast had carried him off; then she wept bitterly and bemoaned her mishap, so that the surgeon was moved to ruth and with words of comfort and consolation offered her house and service; and lastly he bore her to the town and assigned to her a separate dwelling. He also appointed two slave-girls to wait upon her, and albeit he knew naught of her condition he was ever in attendance on her with the honour and homage due to the kings. One day, she being somewhat less sad of heart, the surgeon, who had now informed himself of her condition, asked her, saying, “O my lady, be pleased to acquaint me with thine estate and thy misfortunes, and as far as in me lieth I will strive to aid and succour thee.” And she, observing the leech to be shrewd and trustworthy withal, made known to him her story. Quoth the surgeon, “An it be thy wish, I would gladly escort thee to thy father-in-law the King of Harran, who is indeed a wise sovereign and a just; and he will rejoice to see thee and will take vengeance on the unnatural Princes, his sons, for the blood of thy husband unjustly shed.” These words pleased well the Princess; so the surgeon hired two dromedaries which they mounted and the twain set forth for the city of Harran. Alighting that same evening at a caravanserai the leech asked what news had come from town; and the Keeper answered, “The King of Harran had a son passing valiant and accomplished who abode with him for some years as a stranger; but lately he was lost, nor doth any know of him whether he be dead or alive. The Princess Firuzah his mother hath sent all-wheres in search of him, yet hath she found nor trace nor tidings of him. His parents and indeed all the folk, rich and poor, weep and wail for him and albeit the Sultan hath other forty and nine sons, none of them can compare with him for doughty deeds and skilful craft, nor from any one of them deriveth he aught of comfort or consolation. Full quest and search have been made but hitherto all hath been in vain.” The surgeon thereupon made known these words to the Princess of Daryabar, who was minded to go straightway and acquaint the mother of Khudadad with everything that had befallen her husband; but the surgeon, after full reflection, said, “O Princess, shouldst thou fare with this intent, haply ere thou arrive thither the forty-nine Princes may hear of thy coming; and they, by some means or other, will assuredly do thee die, and thy life will be spent to no purpose. Nay, rather let me go first to Prince Khudadad’s mother: I will tell her all thy tale and she doubtless will send for thee. Until such time do thou remain secret in this Serai.” Accordingly the leech rode on leisurely for the city and on the road he met a lady mounted upon a she mule[[248]] whose housings were of the richest and finest, while behind her walked confidential servants, followed by a band of horsemen and foot-soldiers and Habashi slaves; and, as she rode along, the people formed espalier, standing on either side to salute her while she passed. The leech also joined the throng and made his obeisance, after which quoth he to a bystander, which was a Darwaysh, “Methinks this lady must be a queen?” “’Tis even so,” quoth the other, “she is the Consort of our Sultan and all the folk honour and esteem her above her sister-wives for that in truth she is the mother of Prince Khudadad and of him thou surely hast heard.” Hereupon the surgeon accompanied the cavalcade; and, when the lady dismounted at a cathedral-mosque and gave alms of Ashrafis[[249]] and gold coins to all around (for the King had enjoined her that until Khudadad’s return she should deal charity to the poor with her own hand, and pray for the youth’s being restored to his home in peace and safety), the mediciner also mingled with the throng which joined in supplications for their favourite and whispered to a slave saying, “O my brother, it behoveth me that I make known without stay or delay to Queen Firuzah a secret which is with me.” Replied he, “An it be aught concerning Prince Khudadad ’tis well: the King’s wife will surely give ear to thee; but an it be other, thou wilt hardly win a hearing, for that she is distraught by the absence of her son and careth not for aught beside.” The surgeon, still speaking low, made reply, “My secret concerneth that which is on her mind.” “If this be so,” returned the slave, “do thou follow her train privily till it arrive at the palace gate.” Accordingly, when the Lady Firuzah reached her royal apartments, the man made petition to her, saying, “A stranger would fain tell somewhat to thee in private;” and she deigned give permission and command, exclaiming, “’Tis well, let him be brought hither.” Hereupon the slave presented to her the surgeon whom the Queen with gracious mien bade approach; and he, kissing ground between her hands, made his petition in these words: “I have a long tale to tell thy Highness whereat thou shalt greatly marvel.” Then he described to her Khudadad’s condition, the villainy of his brothers and his death at their hands and of his corpse having been carried off by wild beasts. Queen Firuzah hearing of her son’s murther fell straightway a-swooning to the ground, and the attendants ran up and, raising her, besprinkled her face with rosewater until she recovered sense and consciousness. Then she gave orders to the surgeon, saying, “Hie thee straightway to the Princess of Daryabar and convey to her greetings and expressions of sympathy both from myself and from his sire;” and as the leech departed she called to mind her son and wept with sore weeping. By chance the Sultan, who was passing by that way, seeing Firuzah in tears and sobs and breaking out into sore and bitter lamentation, asked of her the reason thereof.——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till
The end of the Six Hundred and First Night.
Then said she:——I have heard, O auspicious King, that when her husband enquired of Queen Firuzah why and wherefore she wept and wailed, and moaned and groaned, she told him all she had heard from the leech, and her husband was filled with hot wrath against his sons. So he rose up and went straightway to the audience-chamber, where the townsfolk had gathered together to petition him and to pray for justice and redress; and they, seeing his features working with rage, were all sore afraid. Presently the Sultan seated himself on the throne of his kingship and gave an order to his Grand Wazir, saying, “O Wazir Hasan, take with thee a thousand men of the guard which keepeth watch and ward over the palace and do thou bring hither the forty-and-nine Princes, my unworthy sons, and cast them into the prison appointed unto man-slayers and murtherers; and have a heed that none of them escape.” The Wazir did as he was bidden, and seizing the Princes one and all cast them into gaol with the murtherers and other criminals, then reported his action to his liege lord. Hereat the Sultan dismissed sundry claimants and suppliants, saying, “For the space of one full-told month henceforth it besitteth me not to sit in the justice-hall. Depart hence, and, when the thirty days shall have passed away, do ye return hither again.” After this rising from the throne he took with him the Wazir Hasan, and entering the apartment of Queen Firuzah, gave command to the Minister that he bring in all haste and with royal state and dignity from the caravanserai, the Princess of Daryabar and the mediciner. The Wazir straightway took horse accompanied by the Emirs and soldiers; and, leading a fine white she-mule richly adorned with jewelled trappings from out of the royal stables, he rode to the caravanserai wherein abode the Princess of Daryabar. Having told her all that the King had done, he seated her upon the animal and, mounting the surgeon upon a steed of Turcoman[[250]] blood, all three proceeded with pomp and grandeur to the palace. The shop-keepers and townsfolk ran out to greet the lady as the calvacade wound its way through the streets; and, when they heard say that she was the wife of Prince Khudadad, they rejoiced with exceeding joy for that they should now receive tidings of his whereabouts. As soon as the procession reached the palace gates the Princess of Daryabar saw the Sultan, who had come forth to greet her, and she alighted from the mule and kissed his feet. The King then raised her by the hand and conducted her to the chamber wherein sat Queen Firuzah awaiting her visit, and all three fell on one another’s necks and wept sore and could on no wise control their grief. But whenas their sorrow was somewhat assuaged, the Princess of Daryabar said to the King, “O my lord the Sultan, I would proffer humble petition that full vengeance may fall upon those, one and all, by whom my husband hath been so foully and cruelly murthered.” Replied the King, “O my lady, rest assured that I will assuredly put to death all those villains in requital for the blood of Khudadad;” presently adding, “’Tis true that the dead body of my brave son hath not been found, still it seemeth but right to me that a tomb be built, a cenotaph whereby his greatness and goodness may be held in everlasting remembrance.” Thereupon he summoned the Grand Wazir and bade that a great Mausoleum of white marble be edified amiddlemost the city and the Minister straightway appointed workmen and made choice of a suitable spot in the very centre of the capital. So there they built a gorgeous cenotaph crowned with a noble dome under which was sculptured a figure of Khudadad; and, when the news of its completion reached the King, he appointed a day for ceremonious mourning and perlections of the Koran. At the appointed time and term the townsfolk gathered together to see the funeral procession and the obsequies for the departed; and the Sultan went in state to the Mausoleum together with all the Wazirs, the Emirs and Lords of the land, and took seat upon carpets of black satin purfled with flowers of gold which were dispread over the marble floor. After a while a bevy of Knights rode up, with downcast heads and half-closed eyes; and twice circuiting the dome[[251]] they halted the third time in front of the door, and cried out aloud, “O Prince, O son of our Sultan, could we by the sway of our good swords and the strength of our gallant arms restore thee to life, nor heart nor force would fail us in the endeavour; but before the fiat of Almighty Allah all must bow the neck.” Then the horsemen rode away to the place whence they came, followed by one hundred hermits hoar of head and dwellers of the caves who had passed their lives in solitude and abstinence nor ever held converse with man or womankind, neither did they appear in Harran at any time save for the obsequies of the reigning race. In front came one of these greybeards steadying with one hand a huge and ponderous tome which he bore upon his head. Presently all the holy men thrice compassed the Mausoleum, then standing on the highway the eldest cried with a loud voice, “O Prince, could we by dint of orisons and devotions bring thee back to life, these hearts and souls of ours would be devoted to quickening thee, and on seeing thee arise once again we would wipe thy feet with our own age-white beards.” And when they also retired came one hundred maidens of wondrous beauty and loveliness, mounted on white barbs whose saddles were richly embroidered and set with jewels: their faces were bare and on their heads they bore golden canisters filled with precious stones, rubies and diamonds. They also rode in circuit round the cenotaph and, halting at the door, the youngest and fairest of them, speaking in the name of her sisterhood, exclaimed, “O Prince, could our youth and our charms avail thee aught, we would present ourselves to thee and become thy handmaids; but alas! thou knowest full well that our beauties are here all in vain nor can our love now warm thy clay.” Then they also departed in the deepest grief. As soon as they had disappeared the Sultan and all with him rose up and walked thrice round the figure that had been set up under the dome; then standing at its feet the father said, “O my beloved son, enlighten these eyes which tears for the stress of separation have thus bedimmed.” He then wept bitterly and all his Ministers and Courtiers and Grandees joined in his mourning and lamentations; and, when they had made an end of the obsequies, the Sultan and his suite returned palace-wards and the door of the dome was locked.——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till
The end of the Six Hundred and Second Night.
Then said she:——I have heard, O auspicious King, that the Sultan commanded congregational prayers in all the mosques for a full told week and he ceased not to mourn and weep and wail before the cenotaph of his son for eight days. And as soon as this term was passed he commanded the Grand Wazir that vengeance be meted out for the murther of Prince Khudadad, and that the Princes be brought out from their dungeons and be done to death. The tidings were bruited about the city, and preparations were made for executing the assassins and crowds of folk collected to gaze upon the scaffold, when suddenly came a report that an enemy whom the King had routed in bygone times was marching upon the city with a conquering army. Hereat the Sultan was sore troubled and perplexed and the ministers of state said one to other, “Alas! had Prince Khudadad been on life he would forthwith have put to flight the forces of the foe however fierce and fell.” Natheless the Sovran set out from the city with his suite and host, and eke he made ready for flight to some other land by way of the river should the enemy’s force prove victorious. Then the two powers met in deadly combat; and the invader, surrounding the King of Harran’s many on every side, would have cut him to pieces with all his warriors, when behold, an armed force hitherto unseen rode athwart the plain at a pace so swift and so sure that the two hostile Kings gazed upon them in uttermost amazement, nor wist any one whence that host came. But when it drew near, the horsemen charged home on the enemies and in the twinkling of an eye put them to flight; then hotly pursuing felled them with the biting sword and the piercing spear. Seeing this onslaught the King of Harran marvelled greatly and rendering thanks to heaven said to those around him, “Learn ye the name of the Captain of yonder host, who he may be and whence came he.” But when all the foemen had fallen upon the field save only a few who escaped hither and thither and the hostile sultan who had been taken prisoner, the Captain of the friendly forces returned from pursuit well pleased to greet the King. And, lo and behold! as the twain drew near one to other the Sultan was certified that the Captain was none other than his beloved child, Khudadad, whilome lost and now found. Accordingly, he rejoiced with joy unspeakable that his enemy had thus been vanquished and that he had again looked upon his son, Khudadad, who stood before him alive and safe and sound. “O my sire,” presently exclaimed the Prince, “I am he whom thou deemest to have been slain; but Allah Almighty hath kept me on life that I might this day stand thee in good stead and destroy these thine enemies.” “O my beloved son,” replied the King, “surely I had despaired and never hoped again to see thee with these mine eyes.” So father and son dismounted and fell upon each other’s necks and quoth the Sultan, clasping the youth’s hand, “Long since have I known of thy valiant deeds, and how thou didst save thine ill-omened brothers from the hands of the man-devouring Abyssinian, and of the evil wherewith they requited thee. Go now to thy mother, of whom naught remaineth, through bitter tears for thee, save skin and bone: be thou the first to gladden her heart and give her the good tidings of this thy victory.” As they rode along, the Prince enquired of the Sultan, his sire, how he had heard tell of the Habashi and of the rescue of the Princes from the cannibal’s clutches. “Hath one of my brothers,” added he, “informed thee of this adventure?” “Not so, O my son,” replied the King, “not they, but the Princess of Daryabar told me the miserable tale thereof: she hath dwelt for many days with me and ’twas she who first and foremost demanded vengeance for thy blood.” When Khudadad heard that the Princess his spouse was his father’s guest, he rejoiced with exceeding joy and cried, “Suffer me first to see my mother;[[252]] then will I go to the Princess of Daryabar.” The King of Harran hereat struck off the head of his chief enemy and exposed it publicly throughout the streets of his capital, and all the people exulted mightily not only at the victory but also for the return of Khudadad safe and sound; and dancing and feasting were in every household. Presently Queen Firuzah and the Princess of Daryabar presented themselves before the Sultan and offered their congratulations to him, then they went to see Khudadad both hand in hand and the three falling on one another’s necks wept for very joy.——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till
The end of the Six Hundred and Third Night.
Then said she:——I have heard, O auspicious King, that after this the King and his Queen and daughter-in-law sat long conversing, and they marvelled much how Khudadad, albeit he was sorely gashed and pierced with the sword, had escaped alive from that wildest of wolds, whereupon the Prince at the bidding of his sire told his tale in these words: “A peasant mounted on a camel chanced to pass by my pavilion and seeing me sore wounded and weltering in my blood, set me upon his beast and conveyed me to his house; then, choosing some roots of desert-herbs he placed them on the hurts so that they kindly healed, and I speedily recovered strength. After returning thanks to my benefactor and giving him liberal largesse, I set out for the city of Harran and on the road I saw the forces of the foe in countless numbers marching upon thy city. Wherefore I made the matter known to the folk of the townships and villages round about and besought their aid; then collecting a large force I placed myself at the head thereof, and arriving in the nick of time destroyed the invading hosts.” Hereupon the Sultan gave thanks to Allah Almighty and said, “Let all the Princes who conspired against thy life be put to death;” and sent forthright for the Sworder of his vengeance; but Khudadad made request to his sire and said, “In good sooth, O my lord the King, they all deserve the doom thou hast ordained, yet be not these my brethren and eke thine own flesh and blood? I have freely forgiven them their offence against me and I humbly pray thy pardon also, that thou grant them their lives, for that blood ever calleth unto blood.” The Sultan at length consented and forgave their offence. Then, summoning all the Ministers, he declared Khudadad his heir and successor, in presence of the Princes whom he bade bring from the prison house. Khudadad caused their chains and fetters to be stricken off and embraced them one by one, showing them the same fondness and affection as he had shown to them in the castle of the cannibal Habashi. All the folk on hearing of this noble conduct of Prince Khudadad raised shouts of applause and loved him yet more than before. The surgeon who had done such good service to the Princess of Daryabar received a robe of honour and much wealth; and on this wise that which began with mishap had issue in all happiness. When Queen Shahrazad ended this story she said to Shahryar, “O my lord, thou art doubtless astonished to find that the Caliph Harún al-Rashid changed his wrath against Ghánim[[253]] and his mother and sister to feelings of favour and affection, but I am assured that thou wilt be the more surprised on hearing the story of the curious adventures of that same Caliph with the blind man, Bábá Abdullah.” Quoth Dunyazad, as was her way, to her sister Shahrazad, “O sister mine, what a rare and delectable tale hast thou told and now prithee favour us with another.” She replied, “It is well nigh dawn but, if my life be spared, I will tell thee as the morrow morrows a strange and wonderful history of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid.”[[254]]——And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till
The end of the Six Hundred and Fourth Night.
When she began to relate the History of
FOOTNOTES:
[1]. M. Zotenberg empowered me to offer his “Aladdin” to an “Oriental” publishing-house well-known in London; and the result was the “no-public” reply. The mortifying fact is that Oriental studies are now at their nadir in Great Britain, which is beginning to show so small in the Eastern World.
[2]. P.N. of a Jinni who rules the insect-kingdom and who is invoked by scribes to protect their labours from the worm.
[3]. Both name and number suggest the “Calc. Edit.” of 1814. See “Translator’s Foreword” vol. i., xix.-xx. There is another version of the first two hundred Nights, from the “Calc. Edit.” into Urdu by one Haydar Ali, 1 vol. roy. 8vo lithog. Calc. 1263 (1846).—R. F. B.
[4]. “Alf Leilah” in Hindostani, 4 vols. in 2, royal 8vo, lithographed, Lakhnau, 1263 (1846).—R. F. B.
[5]. This is the “Alif” (!) Leila, Tarjuma-i Alif (!) Laila ba-Zuban-i-Urdu (Do Jild, ba-harfát-i-Yurop), an Urdu translation of the Arabian Nights, printed entirely in the Roman character, etc., etc.—R. F. B.
[6]. i.e. The Thousand Tales.
[7]. From the MS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale (Supplement Arab. No. 2523) vol. ii., p. 82, verso to p. 94, verso. The Sisters are called Dínárzád and Shahrázád, a style which I have not adopted.
[8]. The old versions read “Ornament (Adornment?) of the Statues,” Zierde der Bildsäulen (Weil). I hold the name to be elliptical, Zayn (al-Din = Adornment of The Faith and owner of) al-Asnám = the Images. The omission of Al-Din in proper names is very common; e.g., Fakhr (Al-Din) Al-Iftakhári (Iftikhár-al-Din) and many others given by De Sacy (Chrest. i. 30, and in the Treatise on Coffee by Abd al-Kádir). So Al-Kamál, Al-Imád, Al-Baha are = Kamal al-Dín, etc. in Ibn Khallikan, iii. 493. Sanam properly = an idol is popularly applied to all artificial figures of man and beast. I may note that we must not call the hero, after Galland’s fashion, unhappily adopted by Weil, tout bonnement “Zayn.”
[9]. Galland persistently writes “Balsorah,” a European corruption common in his day, the childhood of Orientalism in Europe. The Hindostani versions have “Bansrá,” which is worse.
[10]. For notes on Geomancy (Zarb Raml) see vol. iii. 269.
[11]. The Hindostani Version enlarges upon this:—“Besides this, kings cannot escape perils and mishaps which serve as warnings and examples to them when dealing their decrees.”
[12]. In the XIXth century we should say “All the ——ologies.”
[13]. In the Hindostani Version he begins by “breaking the seal which had been set upon the royal treasury.”
[14]. “Three things” (says Sa’di in the Gulistan) “lack permanency, Wealth without trading, Learning without disputation, Government without justice.” (chap. viii. max. 8). The Bakhtiyár-námeh adds that “Government is a tree whose root is legal punishment (Siyásat); its root-end is justice; its bough, mercy; its flower, wisdom; its leaf, liberality; and its fruit, kindness and benevolence. The foliage of every tree whose root waxeth dry (lacketh sap) taketh a yellow tint and beareth no fruit.”
[15]. For this word, see vol. ix. 108. It is the origin of the Fr. “Douane” and the Italian “Dogana” through the Spanish Aduana (Ad-Díwán) and the Provençal “Doana.” Ménage derives it from the Gr. δοκάνη = a place where goods are received, and others from “Doge” (Dux) for whom a tax on merchandise was levied at Venice. Littré (s. v.) will not decide, but rightly inclines to the Oriental origin.
[16]. A Hadís says, “The dream is the inspiration of the True Believer;” but also here, as the sequel shows, the Prince believed the Shaykh to be the Prophet, concerning whom a second Hadis declares, “Whoso seeth me in his sleep seeth me truly, for Satan may not assume my semblance.” See vol. iv. 287. The dream as an inspiration shows early in literature, e.g.
—καὶ γάρ ὄναρ ἐκ Διός ἐστιν (Il. i. 63).
and
—Θεἶός μοι ἐνύπνιον ἠλθεν Ὄνειρος (Il. ii. 55).
in which the Dream is Διὸς ἄγγελος.
[17]. In the Hindostani Version he becomes a Pír = saint, spiritual guide.
[18]. A favourite sentiment. In Sir Charles Murray’s excellent novel, “Hassan: or, the Child of the Pyramid,” it takes the form, “what’s past is past and what is written is written and shall come to pass.”
[19]. In the H. V. the Prince digs a vat or cistern-shaped hole a yard deep. Under the ringed slab he also finds a door whose lock he breaks with his pickaxe and seeing a staircase of white marble lights a candle and reaches a room whose walls are of porcelain and its floor and ceiling are of crystal.
[20]. Arab. Khawábi (plur. of Khábiyah) large jars usually of pottery. In the H. V. four shelves of mother o’ pearl support ten jars of porphyry ranged in rows and the Prince supposes (with Galland) that the contents are good old wine.
[21]. Arab. “’Atík”: the superficial similarity of the words has produced a new noun in Arabic, e.g. Abú Antíká = father of antiquities, a vendor of such articles mostly modern, “brand-new and intensely old.”
[22]. In the text “Ashkhás” (plural of Shakhs) vulgarly used, throughout India, Persia and other Moslem realms, in the sense of persons or individuals. For its lit. sig. see vols. iii. 26; and viii. 159. The H. V. follows Galland in changing to pedestals the Arab. thrones, and makes the silken hanging a “piece of white satin” which covers the unoccupied base.
[23]. The blessed or well-omened: in these days it is mostly a servile name, e.g. Sidi Mubárak Bombay. See vol. ix. 58, 330.
[24]. In the text “Mín” for “Man,” a Syro-Egyptian form, common throughout this MS.
[25]. “Ay Ni’am,” an emphatic and now vulgar expression.
[26]. The MS. here has “’Imárah” = a building, probably a clerical error for Maghárah, a cave, a souterrain.
[27]. Arab. “Zahab-ramlí,” explained in “Alaeddin.” So Al-Mutanabbi sang:—
“I become not of them because homed in their ground: ✿ Sandy earth is the gangue wherein gold is found.”
[28]. Walímah prop. = marriage-feast. For the different kinds of entertainments see vols. vi. 74; viii. 231.
[29]. Arab. Mukattaf al-Yadayn, a servile posture: see vols. iii. 218; ix. 320.
[30]. Here the Arabic has the advantage of the English; “Shakhs” meaning either a person or an image. See supra, p. 12.
[31]. Arab. “Kawárijí” = one who uses the paddle, a paddler, a rower.
[32]. In the Third Kalandar’s Tale (vol. i. 143) Prince ’Ajíb is forbidden to call upon the name of Allah, under pain of upsetting the skiff paddled by the man of brass. Here the detail is omitted.
[33]. Arab. “Wahsh,” which Galland translates “Tiger,” and is followed by his Hind. translator.
[34]. Arab. “Laffa ’l-isnayn bi-zulúmati-h,” the latter word = Khurtúm, the trunk of an elephant, from Zalm = the dewlap of sheep or goat.
[35]. In the text “Yámin,” a copyist’s error, which can mean nothing else but “Yasimín.”
[36]. The H. V. rejects this detail for “a single piece of mother-o’-pearl twelve yards long,” etc. Galland has une seule écaille de poisson. In my friend M. Zotenberg’s admirable translation of Tabari (i. 52) we read of a bridge at Baghdad made of the ribs of Og bin ’Unk (= Og of the Neck), the fabled King of Bashan.
[37]. I have noted that this is the primitive attire of Eastern man in all hot climates, and that it still holds its ground in that grand survival of heathenry, the Meccan Pilgrimage. In Galland the four strips are of taffetas jaune, the Hind. “Taftí.”
[38]. The word is Hizám = girdle, sash, waist-belt, which Galland turns into nappes. The object of the cloths edged with gems and gums was to form a barrier excluding hostile Jinns: the European magician usually drew a magic circle.
[39]. This is our corruption of the Malay Aigla = sandal wood. See vol. ix. 150.
[40]. Lit. = the Day of Assembly, “Yaum al-Mahshar.” These lines were translated at Cannes on Feb. 22nd, 1886, the day before the earthquake which brought desolation upon the Riviera. It was a second curious coincidence. On Thursday, July 10th, 1863—the morning when the great earthquake at Accra laid in ruins the town and the stout old fort built in the days of James II—I had been reading the Koranic chapter entitled “Earthquakes” (No. XCIX) to some Moslem friends who had visited my quarters. Upwards of a decade afterwards I described the accident in “Ocean Highways,” (New Series, No. II., Vol. I. pp. 448–461), owned by Trübner & Co., and edited by my friend Clements Markham, and I only regret that this able Magazine has been extinguished by that dullest of Journals, “Proceedings of the R. S. S. and monthly record of Geography.”
[41]. Galland has un tremblement pareil à celui qu’Israfyel (Isráfíl) doit causer le jour du jugement.
[42]. The idea is Lady M. W. Montague’s (“The Lady’s Resolve.”)
In part she is to blame that has been tried:
He comes too near that comes to be denied.
As an unknown correspondent warns me the sentiment was probably suggested by Sir Thomas Overbury (“A Wife.” St. xxxvi):—
—In part to blame is she
Which hath without consent bin only tride:
He comes too near that comes to be denide.
[43]. These highly compromising magical articles are of many kinds. The ballad of The Boy and the Mantle is familiar to all, how in the case of Sir Kay’s lady:—
When she had tane the mantle
With purpose for to wear;
It shrunk up to her shoulder
And left her backside bare.
Percy, Vol. I., 1 and Book III.
Percy derives the ballad from “Le Court Mantel,” an old French piece and Mr. Evans (Specimens of Welsh Poetry) from an ancient MS. of Tegan Earfron, one of Arthur’s mistresses, who possessed a mantle which would not fit immodest women. See also in Spenser, Queen Florimel’s Girdle (F. Q. iv. 5, 3), and the detective is a horn in the Morte d’Arthur, translated from the French, temp. Edward IV., and first printed in A.D. 1484. The Spectator (No. 579) tells us “There was a Temple upon Mount Etna which was guarded by dogs of so exquisite a smell, that they could discover whether the Persons who came thither were chaste or not;” and that they caused, as might be expected, immense trouble. The test-article becomes in the Tuti-námeh the Tank of Trial at Agra; also a nosegay which remains fresh or withers; in the Kathá Sarit Ságara, the red lotus of Shiva; a shirt in Story lxix. Gesta Romanorum; a cup in Ariosto; a rose-garland in “The Wright’s Chaste Wife,” edited by Mr. Furnival for the Early English Text Society; a magic picture in Bandello, Part I., No. 21; a ring in the Pentamerone, of Basile; and a distaff in “L’Adroite Princesse,” a French imitation of the latter.
[44]. Looking glasses in the East are mostly made, like our travelling mirrors, to open and shut.
[45]. In Eastern countries the oarsman stands to his work and lessens his labour by applying his weight which cannot be done so forcibly when sitting even upon the sliding-seat. In rowing as in swimming we have forsaken the old custom and have lost instead of gaining.
[46]. I have explained this word in vol. iii. 100; viii. 51, etc., and may add the interpretation of Mr. L. C. Casartelli (p. 17) “La Philosophie Religieuse du Mazdéisme, etc.,” Paris Maisonneuve, 1884. “A divine name, which has succeeded little (?) is the ancient title Bagh, the O. P. Baga of the Cuneiforms (Baga vazraka Auramazda, etc.) and the Bagha of the Avesta, whose memory is preserved in Baghdad—the city created by the Gods (?). The Pahlevi books show the word in the compound Baghôbakht, lit. = what is granted by the Gods, popularly, Providence.”
[47]. The H. V. makes the old woman a “finished procuress whose skill was unrivalled in that profession.”
[48]. In the text “Al-Sádí w’al-Ghádí:” the latter may mean those who came for the morning meal.
[49]. An antistes, a leader in prayer (vols. ii. 203, and iv. 227); a reverend, against whom the normal skit is directed. The H. V. makes him a Muezzin, also a Mosque-man; and changes his name to Murad. Imám is a word with a host of meanings, e.g., model (and master), a Sir-Oracle, the Caliph, etc., etc.
[50]. i.e. being neighbours they would become to a certain extent answerable for the crimes committed within the quarter.
[51]. Arab. “Nakshat” and “Sifrat.”
[52]. Arab. “Farajíyah,” for which see vol. i. 210, 321.
[53]. For this aphrodisiac see vol. vi. 60.
[54]. In the text “Ay ni’am,” still a popular expression.
[55]. Arab. “’Ilm al-Híah,” gen. translated Astrology, but here meaning scientific Physiognomy. All these branches of science, including Palmistry, are nearly connected: the features and the fingers, mounts, lines, etc. being referred to the sun, moon and planets.
[56]. Arab. “Mihaffah bi-takhtrawán”: see vols. ii. 180; v. 175.
[57]. The H. V. is more explicit: “do not so, or the King of the Jänn will slay thee even before thou canst enjoy her and will carry her away.”
[58]. Arab. “Shahwah” the rawest and most direct term. The Moslem religious has no absurd shame of this natural passion. I have heard of a Persian Imam, who, suddenly excited as he was sleeping in a friend’s house, awoke the master with, “Shahwah dáram” = “I am lustful” and was at once gratified by a “Mut’ah,” temporary and extempore marriage to one of the slave-girls. These morganatic marriages are not, I may note, allowed to the Sunnis.
[59]. Arab. “Min ba’di an” for “Min ba’di má” = after that, still popular in the latter broad form.
[60]. The word has been used in this tale with a threefold sense Egypt, old Cairo (Fostat) and new Cairo, in fact to the land and to its capital for the time being.
[61]. Arab. “Kabbaltu” = I have accepted, i.e. I accept emphatically. Arabs use this form in sundry social transactions, such as marriages, sales, contracts, bargains and so forth, to denote that the engagement is irrevocable and that no change can be made. De Sacy neglected to note this in his Grammar, but explains it in his Chrestomathy (i. 44, 53), and rightly adds that the use of this energetic form peut-être serait susceptible d’applications plus étendues.
[62]. La nuit de l’entrée, say the French: see Lane “Leylet ed-dukhlah” (M.E. chapt. vi.)
[63]. This MS. uses “Miláh” (pleasant) for “Mubáh” (permitted). I must remark, before parting with Zayn al-Asnam, that its object is to inculcate that the price of a good wife is “far above rubies” (Prov. xxxi. 10: see the rest of this fine chapter), a virtuous woman being “a crown to her husband” (ibid. xxii. 4); and “a prudent wife is from the Lord” (Prov. xix. 4). The whole tale is told with extreme delicacy and the want of roughness and energy suggests a European origin.
[64]. i.e. Sun of the Heart.
[65]. Shīve-Zād is his daughter whom he wants Prince Asīl to marry.
[66]. i.e. the “Height or Glory (’Alá) of the Faith (al-Dín)” pron. Aláaddeen; which is fairly represented by the old form “Aladdin;” and better by De Sacy’s “Ala-eddin.” The name has occurred in The Nights, vol. iv. 29–33; it is a household word in England and who has not heard of Thomas Hood’s “A-lad-in?” Easterns write it in five different ways and in the Paris MS. it is invariably “’Alí al-dín,” which is a palpable mistake. The others are (1) ’Alá al-Dín, (2) ’Alá yadín, (3) ’Alah Dín in the H. V., and (4) ’Aláa al-Din (with the Hamzah), the last only being grammatical. In Galland the Histoire de la Lampe merveilleuse is preceded by the Histoire du Dormeur Eveillé which, being “The Story of Abú al-Hasan the Wag, or the Sleeper awakened,” of the Bresl. Edit. (Nights cclxxi-ccxc), is here omitted. The Alaeddin Story exists in germ in Tale ii. of the “Dravidian Nights Entertainments,” (Madana Kamara-Sankádái), by Pandit S. M. Natisa Shastri (Madras, 1868, and London, Trübner.) We are told by Mr. Coote that it is well represented in Italy. The Messina version is by Pitrè, “La Lanterna Magica,” also the Palermitan “Lanterne;” it is “Il Matrimonio di Cajussi” of Rome (R. H. Busk’s Folk-lore); “Il Gallo e il Mago,” of Visentini’s “Fiabe Mantovane,” and the “Pesciolino,” and “Il Contadino che aveva tre Figli,” of Imbriana. In “La Fanciulla e il Mago,” of De Gubernatis (“Novelline di Santo Stefano de Calcenaja,” p. 47), occurs the popular incident of the original. “The Magician was not a magician for nothing. He feigned to be a hawker and fared through the streets, crying out, ‘Donne, donne, chi baratta anelli di ferro contra anelli di argento?’”
Alaeddin has ever been a favourite with the stage. Early in the present century it was introduced to the Parisian opera by M. Etienne, to the Feydeau by Théaulon’s La Clochette; to the Gymnase by La Petite-Lampe of MM. Scribe and Melesville, and to the Panorama Dramatique by MM. Merle, Cartouche and Saintine (Gauttier, vii. 380.)
[67]. This MS. always uses Dínárzád like Galland.
[68]. Arab. “’Abadan,” a term much used in this MS. and used correctly. It refers always and only to future time, past being denoted by “Kattu” from Katta = he cut (in breadth, as opposed to Kadda = he cut lengthwise). See De Sacy, Chrestom. ii. 443.
[69]. In the text “Ibn mín,” a vulgarism for “man.” Galland adds that the tailor’s name was Mustapha—il y avait un tailleur nommé Mustafa.
[70]. In classical Arabic the word is “Maghribi,” the local form of the root Gharaba = he went far away, (the sun) set, etc., whence “Maghribi” = a dweller in the Sunset-land. The vulgar, however, prefer “Maghrab” and “Maghrabi,” of which foreigners made “Mogrebin.” For other information see vols. vi. 220; ix. 50. The “Moormen” are famed as magicians; so we find a Maghrabi Sahhár = wizard, who by the by takes part in a transformation scene like that of the Second Kalandar (vol. i. p. 134, The Nights), in p. 10 of Spitta Bey’s “Contes Arabes Modernes,” etc. I may note that “Sihr,” according to Jauhari and Firozábádi = anything one can hold by a thin or subtle place, i.e., easy to handle. Hence it was applied to all sciences, “Sahhár” being = to ’Álim (or sage): and the older Arabs called poetry “Sihr al-halál”—lawful magic.
[71]. i.e. blood is thicker than water, as the Highlanders say.
[72]. A popular saying amongst Moslems which has repeatedly occurred in The Nights. The son is the “lamp of a dark house.” Vol. ii. 280.
[73]. Out of respect to his brother, who was probably the senior: the H.V. expressly says so.
[74]. Al-Marhúm = my late brother. See vol. ii. 129, 196.
[75]. This must refer to Cairo not to Al-Medinah whose title is “Al-Munawwarah” = the Illumined.
[76]. A picturesque term for birth-place.
[77]. In text “Yá Rájul” (for Rajul) = O man, an Egypto-Syrian form, broad as any Doric.
[78]. Arab. Shúf-hu, the colloquial form of Shuf-hu.
[79]. For the same sentiment see “Julnár the Sea-born,” Nights dccxliii.-xliv.
[80]. “I will hire thee a shop in the Chauk”—Carfax market street says the H.V.
[81]. The MS. writes the word Khwájá for Khwájah (see vol. vi. 46). Here we are at once interested in the scapegrace who looked Excelsior. In fact the tale begins with a strong inducement to boyish vagabondage and scampish indolence; but the Moslem would see in it the hand of Destiny bringing good out of evil. Amongst other meanings of “Khwájah” it is a honorific title given by Khorásánis to their notables. In Arab. the similarity of the word to “Khuwáj” = hunger, has given rise to a host of conceits, more or less frigid (Ibn Khallikán, iii. 45).
[82]. Arab. “Wáhid min al-Tujjár,” the very vulgar style.
[83]. i.e. the Saturday (see vol. ii. 305) established as a God’s rest by the so-called “Mosaic” commandment No. iv. How it gradually passed out of observance, after so many centuries of most stringent application, I cannot discover: certainly the text in Cor. ii. 16–17 is insufficient to abolish or supersede an order given with such singular majesty and impressiveness by God and so strictly obeyed by man. The popular idea is that the Jewish Sabbath was done away with in Christ; and that sundry of the 1604 councils, e.g. Laodicea, anathematized those who kept it holy after such fashion. With the day the aim and object changed; and the early Fathers made it the “Feast of the Resurrection” which could not be kept too joyously. The “Sabbatismus” of our Sabbatarians, who return to the Israelitic practice and yet honour the wrong day, is heretical and vastly illogical; and the Sunday is better kept in France, Italy and other “Catholic” countries than in England and Scotland.
[84]. For “Mushayyadát” see vol. viii. 23.
[85]. All these words sárú, dakhalú, jalasú, &c. are in the plur. for the dual—popular and vulgar speech. It is so throughout the MS.
[86]. The Persians apply the Arab. word “Sahrá” = desert, to the waste grounds about a town.
[87]. Arab. Kashákísh from the quadril. √ kashkasha = he gathered fuel.
[88]. In text “Shayy bi-lásh” which would mean lit. a thing gratis or in vain.
[89]. In the text “Sabba raml” = cast in sand. It maybe a clerical error for “Zaraba raml” = he struck sand i.e. made geomantic figures.
[90]. Arab. Mauza’ = a place, an apartment, a saloon.
[91]. Galland makes each contain quatre vases de bronze, grands comme des cuves.
[92]. The Arab. is “Líwán,” for which see vols. iv. 71 and vii. 347. Galland translates it by a “terrace” and “niche.”
[93]. The idea is borrowed from the lume eterno of the Rosicrucians. It is still prevalent throughout Syria where the little sepulchral lamps buried by the Hebrews, Greeks and Romans are so called. Many tales are told of their being found burning after the lapse of centuries: but the traveller will never see the marvel.
[94]. The first notice of the signet-ring and its adventures is by Herodotus in the Legend of the Samian Polycrates; and here it may be observed that the accident is probably founded on fact; every fisherman knows that fish will seize and swallow spoon-bait and other objects that glitter. The text is the Talmudic version of Solomon’s seal-ring. The king of the demons, after becoming a “Bottle-imp,” prayed to be set free upon condition of teaching a priceless secret, and after cajoling the Wise One flung his signet into the sea and cast the owner into a land four hundred miles distant. Here David’s son begged his bread till he was made head cook to the King of Ammon at Mash Kernín. After a while, he eloped with Na’úzah, the daughter of his master, and presently when broiling a fish found therein his missing property. In the Moslem version, Solomon had taken prisoner Amínah, the daughter of a pagan prince, and had homed her in his Harem, where she taught him idolatry. One day before going to the Hammam he entrusted to her his signet-ring presented to him by the four angelic Guardians of sky, air, water and earth when the mighty Jinni Al-Sakhr (see vol. i. 41; v. 36), who was hovering about unseen, snatching away the ring, assumed the king’s shape, whereby Solomon’s form became so changed that his courtiers drove him from his own doors. Thereupon Al-Sakhr, taking seat upon the throne, began to work all manner of iniquity, till one of the Wazirs, suspecting the transformation, read aloud from a scroll of the law: this caused the demon to fly shrieking and to drop the signet into the sea. Presently Solomon, who had taken service with a fisherman, and received for wages two fishes a day, found his ring and made Al-Sakhr a “Bottle-imp.” The legend of St. Kentigern or Mungo of Glasgow, who recovered the Queen’s ring from the stomach of a salmon, is a palpable imitation of the Biblical incident which paid tribute to Cæsar.
[95]. The Magician evidently had mistaken the powers of the Ring. This is against all probability and possibility, but on such abnormal traits are tales and novels founded.
[96]. These are the Gardens of the Hesperides and of King Isope (Tale of Beryn Supplem. Canterbury Tales, Chaucer Soc. p. 84):—
In mydward of this gardyn stant a feirè tre
Of alle manner levis that under sky be,
I-forgit and i-fourmyd, echè in his degre
Of sylver, and of golde fyne, that lusty been to see.
So in the Kathá (S. S.) there are trees with trunks of gold, branches of pearls, and buds and flowers of clear white pearls.
[97]. The text causes some confusion by applying “Sullam” to staircase and ladder, hence probably the latter is not mentioned by Galland and Co., who speak only of an escalier de cinquante marches. “Sullam” (plur. “Salálim”) in modern Egyptian is popularly used for a flight of steps: see Spitta-Bey’s “Contes Arabes Modernes,” p. 70. The H. V. places under the slab a hollow space measuring four paces (kadam = 2·5 feet), and at one corner a wicket with a ladder. This leads to a vault of three rooms, one with the jars of gold; the second not to be swept by the skirts, and the third opening upon the garden of gems. “There thou shalt see a path, whereby do thou fare straight forwards to a lofty palace with a flight of fifty steps leading to a flat terrace; and here shalt thou find a niche wherein a lamp burneth.”
[98]. In the H. V. he had thrust the lamp into the bosom of his dress, which, together with his sleeves, he had filled full of fruit, and had wound his girdle tightly around him lest any fall out.
[99]. Africa (Arab. Afrikíyah) here is used in its old and classical sense for the limited tract about Carthage (Tunis) i.e., Africa Propria. But the scribe imagines it to be the P.N. of a city: so in Júdar (vol. vi. 222) we find Fás and Miknás (Fez and Mequinez) converted into one settlement. The Maghribi, Mauritanian or Maroccan is famed for sorcery throughout the Moslem world: see vol. vi. 220. The Moslem “Kingdom of Afrikiyah” was composed of four provinces, Tunis, Tripoli, Constantina, and Bugia; and a considerable part of it was held by the Berber tribe of Sanhája or Sinhága, also called the Zenag, whence our modern “Senegal.” Another noted tribe which held Bajaiyah (Bugia) in Afrikiyah proper was the “Zawáwah,” the European “Zouaves,” (Ibn Khall. iv. 84.)
[100]. Galland omits the name, which is outlandish enough.
[101]. Meaning that he had incurred no blood-guiltiness, as he had not killed the lad and only left him to die.
[102]. The H. V. explains away the improbability of the Magician forgetting his gift. “In this sore disquietude he bethought him not of the ring which, by the decree of Allah, was the means of Alaeddin’s escape; and indeed not only he but oft times those who practice the Black Art are baulked of their designs by Divine Providence.”
[103]. See vol. vii. 60. The word is mostly derived from “’afar” = dust, and denotes, according to some, a man coloured like the ground or one who “dusts” all his rivals. “’Ifr” (fem. ’Ifrah) is a wicked and dangerous man. Al-Jannabi, I may here notice, is the chief authority for Afrikus son of Abraha and xviiith Tobba being the eponymus of “Africa.”
[104]. Arab. “Ghayr an” = otherwise that, except that, a favourite form in this MS. The first word is the Syriac “Gheir” = for, a conjunction which is most unnecessarily derived by some from the Gr. γὰρ.
[105]. Galland and the H. V. make the mother deliver a little hygienic lecture about not feeding too fast after famine: exactly what an Eastern parent would not dream of doing.
[106]. The lad now turns the tables upon his mother and becomes her master, having “a crow to pick” with her.
[107]. Arab. “Munáfik” for whose true sense, “an infidel who pretendeth to believe in Al-Islam,” see vol. vi. p. 207. Here the epithet comes last being the climax of abuse, because the lowest of the seven hells (vol. viii. 111) was created for “hypocrites,” i.e. those who feign to be Moslems when they are Miscreants.
[108]. Here a little abbreviation has been found necessary to avoid the whole of a twice-told tale; but nothing material has been omitted.
[109]. Arab. “Taffaytu-hu.” This is the correct term = to extinguish. They relate of the great scholar Firozábádí, author of the “Kámús” (ob. A.H. 817 = A.D. 1414), that he married a Badawi wife in order to study the purest Arabic and once when going to bed said to her, “Uktuli’s-siráj,” the Persian “Chirágh-rá bi-kush” = Kill the lamp. “What,” she cried, “Thou an ’Álim and talk of killing the lamp instead of putting it out!”
[110]. In the H. V. the mother takes the “fruits” and places them upon the ground; “but when darkness set in, a light shone from them like the rays of a lamp or the sheen of the sun.”
[111]. For these fabled Giant rulers of Syria, Og King of Bashan, etc. see vols. vii. 84; ix. 109, 323. D’Herbelot (s.v. Giabbar = Giant) connects “Jabábirah” with the Heb. Ghibbor, Ghibborim and the Pers. Dív, Diván: of these were ’Ád and Shaddád, Kings of Syria: the Falastín (Philistines) ’Auj, Amálik and Banú Shayth or Seth’s descendants, the sons of God (Benu-Elohim) of the Book of Genesis (vi. 2) who inhabited Mount Hermon and lived in purity and chastity.
[112]. The H. V. explains that the Jinni had appeared to the mother in hideous aspect, with noise and clamour, because she had scoured the Lamp roughly; but was more gentle with Alaeddin because he had rubbed it lightly. This is from Galland.
[113]. Arab. Musawwadatayn = lit. two black things, rough copies, etc.
[114]. Arab. Banú Adam, as opposed to Banú Elohim (Sons of the Gods), B. al-Jánn etc. The Banú al-Asfar = sons of the yellow, are Esau’s posterity in Edom, also a term applied by Arab historians to the Greeks and Romans whom Jewish fable derived from Idumæa: in my vol. ii. 220, they are the people of the yellow or tawny faces. For the legend see Ibn Kkall. iii. 8, where the translator suggests that the by-name may be = the “sons of the Emperor” Flavius, confounded with “flavus,” a title left by Vespasian to his successors. The Banú al-Khashkhash = sons of the (black) poppy are the Ethiopians.
[115]. Arab. Há! há! so Háka (fem. Háki) = Here for thee!
[116]. So in Mediæval Europe Papal bulls and Kings’ letters were placed for respect on the head. See Duffield’s “Don Quixote.” Part i. xxxi.
[117]. Galland makes the Juif only rusé et adroit.
[118]. Arab. “Ghashím” = a “Johnny Raw” from the root “Ghashm” = iniquity: Builders apply the word to an unhewn stone; addressed to a person it is considered slighting, if not insulting. See vol. ii. 330.
[119]. The carat (Kírát) being most often, but not always, one twenty-fourth of the dinar. See vols. iii. 239; vii. 289.
[120]. Kanání, plur. of Kinnínah.
[121]. Here and below silver is specified, whenas the platters in Night dxxxv. were of gold. This is one of the many changes, contradictions and confusions which are inherent in Arab stories. See Spitta-Bey’s “Contes Arabes,” Preface.
[122]. i.e. the Slave of the Lamp.
[123]. This may be true, but my experience has taught me to prefer dealing with a Jew than with a Christian. The former will “jew” me perhaps, but his commercial cleverness will induce him to allow me some gain in order that I may not be quite disheartened: the latter will strip me of my skin and will grumble because he cannot gain more.
[124]. Arab. “Hálah mutawassitah,” a phrase which has a European touch.
[125]. In the text “Jauharjíyyah,” common enough in Egypt and Syria; an Arab. plur. of an Arabised Turkish sing,—ji for—chi = (crafts-) man.
[126]. We may suppose some years may have passed in this process and that Alaeddin from a lad of fifteen had reached the age of manhood. The H. V. declares that for many a twelvemonth the mother and son lived by cotton spinning and the sale of the plate.
[127]. i.e. Full moon of full moons: See vol. iii. 228. It is pronounced “Badroo’l-Budoor,” hence Galland’s “Badr-oul-boudour.”
[128]. In the H. V. Alaeddin “bethought him of a room adjacent to the Baths where he might sit and see the Princess through the door-chinks, when she raised her veil before the handmaids and eunuchs.”
[129]. This is the common conceit of the brow being white as day and the hair black as night.
[130]. Such a statement may read absurdly to the West but it is true in the East. “Selim” had seen no woman’s face unveiled, save that of his sable mother Rosebud in Morier’s Tale of Yeldoz, the wicked woman (“The Mirza,” vol. iii. 135). The H. V. adds that Alaeddin’s mother was old and verily had little beauty even in her youth. So at the sight of the Princess he learnt that Allah had created women exquisite in loveliness and heart-ensnaring; and at first glance the shaft of love pierced his heart and he fell to the ground afaint. He loved her with a thousand lives and, when his mother questioned him, “his lips formed no friendship with his speech.”
[131]. “There is not a present (Teshurah) to bring to the Man of God” (1 Sam. ix. 7), and Menachem explains Teshurah as a gift offered with the object of being admitted to the presence. See also the offering of oil to the King in Isaiah lvii. 9. Even in Maundriell’s Day Travels (p. 26) it was counted uncivil to visit a dignitary without an offering in hand.
[132]. As we shall see further on, the magical effect of the Ring and the Lamp extend far and wide over the physique and morale of the owner: they turn a “raw laddie” into a finished courtier, warrior, statesman, etc.
[133]. In Eastern states the mere suspicion of having such an article would expose the suspected at least to torture. Their practical system of treating “treasure trove,” as I saw when serving with my regiment in Gujarát (Guzerat), is at once to imprison and “molest” the finder, in order to make sure that he has not hidden any part of his find.
[134]. Here the MS. text is defective, the allusion is, I suppose, to the Slave of the Lamp.
[135]. In the H. V. the King retired into his private apartment; and, dismissing all save the Grand Wazir, “took cognisance of special matters” before withdrawing to the Harem.
[136]. The levée, Divan or Darbár being also a lit de justice and a Court of Cassation: see vol. i. 29.
[137]. All this is expressed by the Arabic in one word “Tamanná.” Galland adds pour marquer qu’il etait prêt à la perdre s’il y manquait; and thus he conveys a wrong idea.
[138]. This would be still the popular address, nor is it considered rude or slighting. In John (ii. 4) “Atto,” the Heb. Eshah, is similarly used, not complimentarily, but in popular speech.
[139]. This sounds ridiculous enough in English, but not in German; e.g. Deine Königliche Hoheit is the formula de rigueur when an Austrian officer, who always addresses brother-soldiers in the familiar second person, is speaking to a camarade who is also a royalty.
[140]. “Suráyyát” (lit. = the Pleiades) and “Sham’ádín” a would be Arabic plur. of the Persian “Sham’adán” = candlestick, chandelier, for which more correctly Sham’adánát is used.
[141]. i.e. betrothed to her—j’agrée la proposition, says Galland.
[142]. Here meaning Eunuch-officers and officials. In the cdlxxvith Night of this volume the word is incorrectly written Ãghát in the singular.
[143]. In the H. V. Alaeddin on hearing this became as if a thunderbolt had stricken him, and, losing consciousness, swooned away.
[144]. These calls for food at critical times, and oft-recurring allusions to eating are not yet wholly obsolete amongst the civilised of the xixth century. The ingenious M. Jules Verne often enlivens a tedious scene by Dejeunons! And French travellers, like English, are not unready to talk of food and drink, knowing that the subject is never displeasing to their readers.
[145]. The H. V. gives a sketch of the wedding. “And when the ceremonies ended at the palace with pomp and parade and pageant, and the night was far spent, the eunuchs led the Wazir’s son into the bridal chamber. He was the first to seek his couch; then the Queen, his mother-in-law, came into him leading the bride, and followed by her suite. She did with her virgin daughter as parents are wont to do, removed her wedding-raiment, and donning a night-dress, placed her in her bridegroom’s arms. Then, wishing her all joy, she with her ladies went away and shut the door. At that instant came the Jinni,” etc.
[146]. The happy idea of the wedding night in the water-closet is repeated from the tale of Nur al-Dín Ali Hasan (vol. i. 221), and the mishap of the Hunchback bridegroom.
[147]. For the old knightly practice of sleeping with a drawn sword separating man and maid, see vol. vii. 353 and Mr. Clouston’s “Popular Tales and Fictions,” vol. i. 316. In Poland the intermediary who married by procuration slept alongside the bride in all his armour. The H. V. explains, “He (Alaeddin) also lay a naked sword between him and the Princess, so she might perceive that he was ready to die by that blade should he attempt to do aught of villainy by the bride.”
[148]. Galland says: Ils ne s’aperçurent que de l’ébranlement du lit et que de leur transport d’un lieu à l’autre: c’était bien assez pour leur donner une frayeur qu’il est aisé d’imaginer.
[149]. Galland very unnecessarily makes the Wazir’s son pass into the wardrobe (garderobe) to dress himself.
[150]. Professional singing and dancing girls: properly the word is the fem. of ’Álim = a learned man; but it has been anglicised by Byron’s
“The long chibouque’s dissolving cloud supply,
Where dance the Almahs to wild minstrelsy.”—(The Corsair, ii. 2.)
They go about the streets with unveiled faces and are seldom admitted into respectable Harems, although on festal occasions they perform in the court or in front of the house; but even this is objected to by the Mrs. Grundy of Egypt. Lane (M. E. chap. xviii) derives with Saint Jerome the word from the Heb. or Phœnician Almah = a virgin, a girl, a singing-girl; and thus explains “Alámoth” in Psalms xlvi, and I Chron. xv. 20. Parkhurst (s.v. ’Alamah) = an undeflowered virgin, renders Job xxxix. 30, “the way of a man with a maid” (bi-álmah). “The way of a man in his virgin state, shunning youthful lust and keeping himself pure and unspotted.”
[151]. The text reads “Rafa’” (he raised) “al-Bashkhánah” which in Suppl. Nights (ii. 165) is a hanging, a curtain. Apparently it is a corruption of the Pers. “Pashkhánah,” a mosquito-curtain.
[152]. The father suspected that she had not gone to bed a clean maid.
[153]. Arab. Aysh = Ayyu Shayyin and Lalysh = li ayyi Shayyin. This vulgarism, or rather popular corruption, is of olden date and was used by such a purist as Al-Mutanabbi in such a phrase as “Aysh Khabara-k?” = how art thou? See Ibn Khallikan, iii. 79.
[154]. In the H. V. the Minister sends the Chob-dár = rod-bearer, mace-bearer, usher, etc.
[155]. In the text Sáhal for Sahal, again the broad “Doric” of Syria.
[156]. Arab. Dahab ramli = gold dust washed out of the sand, placer-gold. I must excuse myself for using this Americanism, properly a diluvium or deposit of sand, and improperly (Bartlett) a find of drift gold. The word, like many mining terms in the Far West, is borrowed from the Spaniards; it is not therefore one of the many American vulgarisms which threaten hopelessly to defile the pure well of English speech.
[157]. Arab. “Ratl,” by Europeans usually pronounced “Rotl” (Rotolo).
[158]. In the H. V. she returns from the bazar; and, “seeing the house filled with so many persons in goodliest attire, marvelled greatly. Then setting down the meat lately bought she would have taken off her veil, but Alaeddin prevented her and said,” etc.
[159]. The word is popularly derived from Serai in Persian = a palace; but it comes from the Span. and Port. Cerrar = to shut up, and should be written with the reduplicated liquid.
[160]. In the H. V. the dresses and ornaments of the slaves were priced at ten millions (Karúr = a crore) of gold coins. I have noticed that Messer Marco “Milione” did not learn his high numerals in Arabia, but that India might easily have taught them to him.
[161]. Arab. “Ráih yasír,” peasant’s language.
[162]. Arab. Ká’ah, the apodyterium or undressing room upon which the vestibule of the Hammam opens. See the plan in Lane’s M. E. chapt. xvi. The Kár’ah is now usually called “Maslakh” = stripping-room.
[163]. Arab. “Hammam-hu” = went through all the operations of the Hammam, scraping, kneading, soaping, wiping and so forth.
[164]. For this aphrodisiac see vol. vi. 60. The subject of aphrodisiacs in the East would fill a small library: almost every medical treatise ends in a long disquisition upon fortifiers, provocatives, etc. We may briefly divide them into three great classes. The first is the medicinal, which may be either external or internal. The second is the mechanical, such as scarification, flagellation, and the application of insects as practised by certain savage races. There is a venerable Joe Miller of an old Brahmin whose young wife always insisted, each time before he possessed her, upon his being stung by a bee in certain parts. The third is magical, superstitious and so forth.
[165]. This may sound exaggerated to English ears, but a petty Indian Prince, such as the Gáikwár, or Rajah of Baroda, would be preceded in state processions by several led horses all whose housings and saddles were gold studded with diamonds. The sight made one’s mouth water.
[166]. i.e. the ’Arab al-’Arbá; for which see vols. i. 112; v. 101.
[167]. Arab. “Al-Kandíl al-’ajíb:” here its magical virtues are specified and remove many apparent improbabilities from the tale.
[168]. This was the highest of honours. At Abyssinian Harar even the Grandees were compelled to dismount at the door of the royal “compound.” See my “First Footsteps in East Africa,” p. 296.
[169]. “The right hand” seems to me a European touch in Galland’s translation, leur chef mit Aladdin à sa droite. Amongst Moslems the great man sits in the sinistral corner of the Divan as seen from the door, so the place of honour is to his left.
[170]. Arab. “Músiká,” classically “Musikí” = Μουσικὴ: the Pers. form is “Músikár”; and the Arab. equivalent is Al-Lahn. In the H. V. the King “made a signal and straightway drums (dhol) and trumpets (trafír) and all manner wedding instruments struck up on every side.”
[171]. Arab. “Marmar Sumáki” = porphyry of which ancient Egypt supplied the finest specimens. I found a vein of it in the Anti-Libanus. Strange to say, the quarries which produced the far-famed giallo antico, verd’ antico (serpentine limestone) and rosso antico (mostly a porphyry) worked by the old Nilotes, are now unknown to us.
[172]. i.e. velvets with gold embroidery: see vol. viii. 201.
[173]. The Arabic says, “There was a kiosque with four-and-twenty alcoves (Líwán, for which see vols. iv. 71; vi. 347) all builded of emerald, etc., and one remained with the kiosque (kushk) unfinished.” I adopt Galland’s reading salon à vingt-quatre croisées which are mentioned in the Arab. text towards the end of the tale, and thus avoid the confusion between kiosque and window. In the H. V. there is a domed belvedere (bárah-dari-i-gumbaz-dár), four-sided, with six doors on each front (i.e. twenty-four), and all studded with diamonds, etc.
[174]. In Persia this is called “Pá-andáz,” and must be prepared for the Shah when he deigns to visit a subject. It is always of costly stuffs, and becomes the perquisite of the royal attendants.
[175]. Here the European hand again appears to me: the Sultan as a good Moslem should have made the Wuzú-ablution and prayed the dawn-prayers before doing anything worldly.
[176]. Arab. “Fí ghuzúni zálika,” a peculiar phrase; Ghazn = a crease, a wrinkle.
[177]. In the H. V. the King “marvelled to see Alaeddin’s mother without her veil and magnificently adorned with costly jewels and said in his mind, ‘Methought she was a grey-haired crone, but I find her still in the prime of life and comely to look upon, somewhat after the fashion of Badr al-Budúr.’” This also was one of the miracles of the Lamp.
[178]. For this word see vols. i. 46, vii. 326. A Joe Miller is told in Western India of an old General Officer boasting his knowledge of Hindostani. “How do you say, Tell a plain story, General?” asked one of the hearers, and the answer was, “Maydán-kí bát bolo!” = “speak a word about the plain” (or level space).
[179]. The prehistoric Arabs: see supra p. 134.
[180]. Popularly, Jeríd, the palm-frond used as javelin: see vol. vi. 263.
[181]. In order to keep off the evil eye, one of the functions of iron and steel: see vol. ii. 316.
[182]. The H. V. adds, “Little did the Princess know that the singers were fairies whom the Slave of the Lamp had brought together.”
[183]. Alexander the Great: see vols. v. 252, x. 57. The H. V. adds, “Then only one man and one woman danced together, one with other, till midnight, when Alaeddin and the Princess stood up; for it was the wont of China in those days that bride and bridegroom perform together in presence of the wedding company.”
[184]. The exceptional reserve of this and other descriptions makes M. H. Zotenberg suspect that the tale was written for one of the Mameluke Princesses: I own to its modesty but I doubt that such virtue would have recommended it to the dames in question. The H. V. adds a few details:—“Then, when the bride and bridegroom had glanced and gazed each at other’s face, the Princess rejoiced with excessive joy to behold his comeliness, and he exclaimed, in the courtesy of his gladness, ‘O happy me, whom thou deignest, O Queen of the Fair, to honour despite mine unworth, seeing that in thee all charms and graces are perfected.’”
[185]. The term has not escaped ridicule amongst Moslems. A common fellow having stood in his way the famous wit Abú al-’Ayná asked “What is that?” “A man of the Sons of Adam” was the reply. “Welcome, welcome,” cried the other, “Allah grant thee length of days! I deemed that all his sons were dead.” See Ibn Khallikan iii. 57.
[186]. This address to an inanimate object (here a window) is highly idiomatic and must be cultivated by the practical Arabist. In the H. V. the unfinished part is the four-and-twentieth door of the fictitious (ja’alí) palace.
[187]. This is true Orientalism, a personification or incarnation which Galland did not think proper to translate.
[188]. Arab. “La’ab al-Andáb;” the latter word is from the √ “Nadb” = brandishing or throwing the javelin.
[189]. The “mothers” are the prime figures, the daughters being the secondary. For the “’Ilm al-Raml” = (Science of the sand) our geomancy see vol. iii. 269, and D’Herbelot’s sub. v. Raml or Reml.
[190]. This is from Galland, whose certaine boisson chaude evidently means tea. It is preserved in the H. V.
[191]. i.e. his astrolabe, his “Zíj” or table of the stars, his almanack, etc. For a highly fanciful derivation of the “Arstable” see Ibn Khallikán (iii. 580). He makes it signify “balance or lines (Pers. ‘Astur’) of the sun,” which is called “Láb” as in the case of wicked Queen Láb (The Nights, vol. vii. 296). According to him the Astrolabe was suggested to Ptolemy by an armillary sphere which had accidentally been flattened by the hoof of his beast: this is beginning late in the day, the instrument was known to the ancient Assyrians. Chardin (Voyages ii. 149) carefully describes the Persian variety of—
“The cunning man hight Sidrophil
(as Will. Lilly was called). Amongst other things he wore at his girdle an astrolabe not bigger than the hollow of a man’s hand, often two to three inches in diameter and looking at a distance like a medal.” These men practised both natural astrology = astronomy, as well as judicial astrology which foretells events and of which Kepler said that “she, albeit a fool, was the daughter of a wise mother, to whose support and life the silly maid was indispensable.” Isidore of Seville (A.D. 600–636) was the first to distinguish between the two branches, and they flourished side by side till Newton’s day. Hence the many astrological terms in our tongue, e.g. consider, contemplate, disaster, jovial, mercurial, saturnine, etc.
[192]. In the H. V. “New brass lamps for old ones! who will exchange?” So in the story of the Fisherman’s son, a Jew who had been tricked of a cock, offers to give new rings for old rings. See Jonathan’s Scott’s excerpts from the Wortley-Montague MSS. vol. vi. pp. 210–12. This is one of the tales which I have translated for vol. iv.
[193]. The H. V. adds that Alaeddin loved to ride out a-hunting and had left the city for eight days whereof three had passed by.
[194]. Galland makes her say, Hé bien, folle, veux-tu me dire pourquoi tu ris? The H. V. renders “Cease, giddyhead, why laughest thou?” and the vulgate “Well, giggler,” said the Princess, etc.
[195]. Nothing can be more improbable than this detail, but upon such abnormal situations almost all stories, even in our most modern “Society-novels,” depend and the cause is clear—without them there would be no story. And the modern will, perhaps, suggest that “the truth was withheld for a higher purpose, for the working out of certain ends.” In the H. V. Alaeddin, when about to go a-hunting, always placed the Lamp high up on the cornice with all care lest any touch it.
[196]. The H. V. adds, “The Magician, when he saw the Lamp, at once knew that it must be the one he sought; for he knew that all things, great and small, appertaining to the palace would be golden or silvern.”
[197]. In truly Oriental countries the Wazir is expected to know everything, and if he fail in this easy duty be may find himself in sore trouble.
[198]. i.e., must be obeyed.
[199]. We see that “China” was in those days the normal Oriental “despotism tempered by assassination.”
[200]. In the H. V. Alaeddin promises, “if I fail to find and fetch the Princess, I will myself cut off my head and cast it before the throne.” Hindus are adepts in suicide and this self-decapitation, which sounds absurd further West, is quite possible to them.
[201]. In Galland Alaeddin unconsciously rubbed the ring against un petit roc, to which he clung in order to prevent falling into the stream. In the H. V. “The bank was high and difficult of descent and the youth would have rolled down headlong had he not struck upon a rock two paces from the bottom and remained hanging over the water. This mishap was of the happiest for during his fall he struck the stone and rubbed his ring against it,” etc.
[202]. In the H. V. he said, “First save me that I fall not into the stream and then tell me where is the pavilion thou builtest for her and who hath removed it.”
[203]. Alluding to the preparatory washing, a mere matter of cleanliness which precedes the formal Wuzú-ablution.
[204]. In the H. V. the Princess ends with, “I had made this resolve that should he approach me with the design to win his wish perforce, I would destroy my life. By day and by night I abode in fear of him; but now at the sight of thee my heart is heartened.”
[205]. The Fellah had a natural fear of being seen in fine gear, which all would have supposed to be stolen goods; and Alaeddin was justified in taking it perforce, because necessitas non habet legem. See a similar exchange of dress in Spitta-Bey’s “Contes Arabes Modernes,” p. 91. In Galland the peasant when pressed consents; and in the H. V. Alaeddin persuades him by a gift of money.
[206]. i.e. which would take effect in the shortest time.
[207]. Her modesty was startled by the idea of sitting at meat with a strange man and allowing him to make love to her.
[208]. In the text Kidí, pop. for Ka-zálika. In the H. V. the Magician replies to the honeyed speech of the Princess, “O my lady, we in Africa have not so gracious customs as the men of China. This day I have learned of thee a new courtesy which I shall ever keep in mind.”
[209]. Galland makes the Princess poison the Maghrabi, which is not gallant. The H. V. follows suit and describes the powder as a mortal poison.
[210]. Contrast this modesty with the usual scene of reunion after severance, as in the case of Kamar al-Zamán and immodest Queen Budúr, vol. iii. pp. 302–304.
[211]. His dignity forbade him to walk even the length of a carpet: see vol. vii. for this habit of the Mameluke Beys. When Harun al-Rashid made his famous pilgrimage afoot from Baghdad to Meccah (and he was the last of the Caliphs who performed this rite), the whole way was spread with a “Pá-andáz” of carpets and costly cloths.
[212]. The proverb suggests our “par nobile fratrum,” a pair resembling each other as two halves of a split bean.
[213]. In the H. V. “If the elder Magician was in the East the other was in the West; but once a year, by their skill in geomancy, they had tidings of each other.”
[214]. The act was religiously laudable, but to the Eastern, as to the South European mind, fair play is not a jewel; moreover the story-teller may insinuate that vengeance would be taken only by foul and unlawful means—the Black Art, perjury, murder and so forth.
[215]. For this game, a prime favourite in Egypt, see vol. vi. 145. De Sacy (Chrestomathie i. 477) and his authorities Hyde, Syntagma Dissert. ii. 374; P. Labat, “Mémoires du Chev. d’Arvieux,” iii. 321; Thevenot, “Voyage du Levant,” p. 107; and Niebuhr, “Voyages,” I, 139, Plate 25, fig. H.
[216]. In the text ضامه evidently = “(jeu de) dames” (supposed to have been invented in Paris during the days of the Regency: see Littré); and, although in certain Eastern places now popular, a term of European origin. It is not in Galland. According to Ibn Khallikan (iii. 69) “Nard” = tables, arose with King Ardashír son of Babuk, and was therefore called Nardashír (Nard Ardashír?). He designed it as an image of the world and its people, so the board had twelve squares to represent the months; the thirty pieces or men represented the days and the dice were the emblems of Fate and Lot.
[217]. i.e. a weaner, a name of good omen for a girl-child: see vol. vi. 145. The Hindi translator, Totárám Shayyán, calls her Hamídah = the Praiseworthy.
[218]. Arab. Kirámát: see vols. ii. 237; iv. 45. The Necromancer clearly smells a rat holding with Diderot:—
De par le Roi! Defense à Dieu
De faire miracle en ce lieu;
and the stage properties afterwards found with the holy woman, such as the gallipot of colouring ointment, justify his suspicion.
[219]. “’Ajáib” plur. of “’Ajíb,” a common exclamation amongst the populace. It is used in Persian as well as in Arabic.
[220]. Evidently la force de l’imagination, of which a curious illustration was given in Paris during the debauched days of the Second Empire. Before a highly “fashionable” assembly of men appeared a youth in fleshings who sat down upon a stool, bared his pudenda and closed his eyes when, by “force of fancy,” erection and emission took place. But presently it was suspected and proved that the stool was hollow and admitted from below a hand whose titillating fingers explained the phenomenon.
[221]. Moslems are curious about sleeping postures and the popular saying is:—Lying upon the right side is proper to Kings, upon the left to Sages; to sleep supine is the position of Allah’s Saints and prone upon the belly is peculiar to the Devils.
[222]. This “’Asá,” a staff five to six feet long, is one of the properties of Moslem Saints and reverends who, imitating that furious old Puritan, Caliph Omar, make and are allowed to make a pretty liberal distribution of its caresses.
[223]. i.e. as she was in her own home.
[224]. Arab. “Sulúk” a Sufistical expression, the road to salvation, &c.
[225]. In the H. V. her diet consisted of dry bread and fruits.
[226]. This is the first mention of the windows in the Arabic MS.
[227]. For this “Roc” of the older writers see vols. v. 122; vi. 16–49. I may remind the reader that the O. Egyptian “Rokh,” or “Rukh,” by some written “Rekhit,” whose ideograph is a monstrous bird with one claw raised, also denotes pure wise Spirits, the Magi, &c. I know a man who derives from it our “rook” = beak and parson.
[228]. In the H. V. he takes the Lamp from his bosom, where he had ever kept it since his misadventure with the African Magician.
[229]. Here the mythical Rukh is mixed up with the mysterious bird Símurgh, for which see vol. x. 130.
[230]. The H. V. adds, “hoping thereby that thou and she and all the household should fall into perdition.”
[231]. Rank mesmerism, which has been practised in the East from ages immemorial. In Christendom Santa Guglielma worshipped at Brunate, “works many miracles, chiefly healing aches of head.” In the H. V. Alaeddin feigns that he is ill and fares to the Princess with his head tied up.
[232]. Mr. Morier in “The Mirza” (vol. i. 87) says, “Had the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, with all their singular fertility of invention and never-ending variety, appeared as a new book in the present day, translated literally and not adapted to European taste in the manner attempted in M. Galland’s translation, I doubt whether they would have been tolerated, certainly not read with the avidity they are, even in the dress with which he has clothed them, however imperfect that dress may be.” But in Morier’s day the literal translation was so despised that an Eastern book was robbed of half its charms, both of style and idea. My version is here followed by the popular English version from Galland, so that my readers may compare the old with the new.
[233]. This “pointing the moral,” as the reader will observe, belongs to Galland, who had no right to introduce the stale European practice into an Eastern tale.—R. F. B.
[234]. In the MS. of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Supplement Arabe (No. 2523, vol. ii. fol. 147), the story which follows “Aladdin” is that of the Ten Wazirs, for which see Supp. Nights ii. In Galland the Histoire de Codadad et de ses Frères comes next to the tale of Zayn al-Asnam: I have changed the sequence in order that the two stories directly translated from the Arabic may be together.
[235]. M. Hermann Zotenberg lately informed me that “Khudadad and his Brothers” is to be found in a Turkish MS., “Al-Faraj bȧ’d al-Shiddah”—Joy after Annoy—in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris. But that work is a mere derivation from the Persian “Hazár o yek Roz,” for which see my vol. x. p. 499. The name Khudadad is common to most Eastern peoples, the Sansk. Devadatta, the Gr. Θεοδόσιος, Θεοδώρος, Θεοδώρητος and Dorotheus; the Lat. Deodatus, the Ital. Diodato, and Span. Diosdado, the French Dieu-donné, and the Arab.-Persic Alladád, Dívdád and Khudábaksh. Khudá is the mod. Pers. form of the old Khudáí = sovereign, king, as in Máh-i-Khudáí = the sovereign moon, Kám-Khudáí = master of his passions, etc.
[236]. Lit. Homes (or habitations) of Bakr (see vol. v. 66), by the Turks pronounced “Diyár-i-Bekír.” It is the most famous of the four provinces into which Mesopotamia (Heb. Naharaym, Arab. Al-Jàzírah) is divided by the Arabs; viz: Diyár Bakr (capital Amídah); Diyár Modhar (cap. Rakkah or Aracta); Diyár Rabí’ah (cap. Nisibis) and Diyár al-Jazírah or Al-Jazírah (cap. Mosul). As regards the “King of Harrán,” all these ancient cities were at some time the capitals of independent chiefs who styled themselves royalties.
[237]. The Heb. Charran, the Carrhæ of the classics where, according to the Moslems, Abraham was born, while the Jews and Christians make him emigrate thither from “Ur (hod. Mughayr) of the Chaldees.” Hence his Arab. title “Ibrahim al-Harráni.” My late friend Dr. Beke had a marvellous theory that this venerable historic Harrán was identical with a miserable village to the east of Damascus because the Fellahs call it Harrán al-’Awámíd—of the Columns—from some Græco-Roman remnants of a paltry provincial temple. See “Jacob’s Flight,” etc., London, Longmans, 1865.
[238]. Pírozah = turquoise, is the Persian, Firúzah and Firuzakh (De Sacy Chrest. ii. 84) the Arab. forms. The stone is a favourite in the East where, as amongst the Russians (who affect to despise the Eastern origin of their blood to which they owe so much of its peculiar merit,) it is supposed to act talisman against wounds and death in battle; and the Persians, who hold it to be a guard against the Evil Eye, are fond of inscribing “turquoise of the old rock” with one or more of the “Holy Names.” Of these talismans a modern Spiritualist asks, “Are rings and charms and amulets magnetic, to use an analogue for what we cannot understand, and has the immemorial belief in the power of relics a natural not to say a scientific basis?”
[239]. Samaria is a well-known name amongst Moslems, who call the city Shamrín and Shamrún. It was built, according to Ibn Batrik, upon Mount Samir by Amri who gave it the first name; and the Taríkh Samírí, by Abu al-Fath Abú al-Hasan, is a detailed account of its garbled annals. As Nablús (Neapolis of Herod., also called by him Sebaste) it is now familiar to the Cookite.
[240]. In the text Zangi-i-Adam-kh’wár afterwards called Habashi = an Abyssinian. Galland simply says un nègre. In India the “Habshí” (chief) of Jinjírah (= Al-Jazirah, the Island) was admiral of the Grand Moghul’s fleets. These negroids are still dreaded by Hindús and Hindis and, when we have another “Sepoy Mutiny,” a few thousands of them bought upon the Zanzibar coast, dressed, drilled and officered by Englishmen, will do us yeoman’s service.
[241]. This seems to be a fancy name for a country: the term is Persian = the Oceanland or a seaport town: from “Daryá” the sea and bár = a region, tract, as in Zanzibár = Blackland. The learned Weil explains it (in loco) by Gegend der Brunnen, brunnengleicher ort, but I cannot accept Scott’s note (iv. 400), “Signifying the seacoast of every country: and hence the term is applied by Oriental geographers to the coast of Malabar.”
[242]. The onager, confounded by our older travellers with the zebra, is the Gúr-i-khár of Persia, where it is the noblest game from which kings did not disdain to take a cognomen, e.g. Bahrám-i-Gúr. It is the “wild ass” of Jeremiah (ii. 24: xiv. 6). The meat is famous in poetry for combining the flavours peculiar to all kinds of flesh (Ibn Khallikan iii. 117; iii. 239, etc.) and is noticed by Herodotus (Clio. cxxxiii.) and by Xenophon (Cyro. lib. 1) in sundry passages: the latter describes the relays of horses and hounds which were used in chasing it then as now. The traveller Olearius (A.D. 1637) found it more common than in our present day: Shah Abbas turned thirty-two wild asses into an enclosure where they were shot as an item of entertainment to the ambassadors at his court. The skin of the wild ass’s back produces the famous shagreen, a word seemingly derived from the Pers. “Saghrí,” e.g. “Kyafsh-i-Saghri” = slippers of shagreen, fine wear fit for a “young Duke.” See in Ibn Khallikan (iv. 245) an account of a “Júr” (the Arabised “Gúr”) eight hundred years old.
[243]. “Dasht-i-lá-siwá-Hú” = a desert wherein is none save He (Allah), a howling wilderness.
[244]. Per. “Náz o andáz” = coquetry, in a half-honest sense. The Persian “Káká Siyáh,” i.e. “black brother” (a domestic negro) pronounces Nází-núzí.
[245]. In the text Nimak-harám: on this subject see vol. viii. 12.
[246]. i.e. an Arab of noble strain: see vol. iii. 72.
[247]. In the text “Kazzák” = Cossacks, bandits, mounted highwaymen; the word is well known in India, where it is written in two different ways, and the late Mr. John Shakespear in his excellent Dictionary need hardly have marked the origin “U” (unknown).
[248]. Here and below the Hindostani version mounts the lady upon a camel (“Ushtur” or “Unth”) which is not customary in India except when criminals are led about the bazar. An elephant would have been in better form.
[249]. The Ashrafi (Port. Xerafim) is a gold coin whose value has greatly varied with its date from four shillings upwards. In The (true) Nights we find (passim) that, according to the minting of the VIth Ommiade, ‘Abd al-Malik bin Marwán (A.H. 65–86 = A.D. 685–703), the coinage of Baghdad consisted of three metals. “Ita quoque peregrina suis nummis nomina posuit, aureum Dinar denarium, argentem Dirhen (lege dirham), Drachma, æreum fols (fuls), follem appellans. * * * Nam vera moneta aurea nomine follis signabatur, ut æreorum sub Aarone Raschido cussorum qui hoc nomen servavit.” (O. G. Tychsen, p. 8. Introduct. in Rem numariam Muhammedanorum). For the dinar, daric or miskál see The Nights, vol. i. 32; ix. 294; for the dirham, i. 33, ii. 316, etc.; and for the Fals or Fils = a fish scale, a spangle of metal, vol. i. 321. In the debased currency of the Maroccan Empire the Fals of copper or iron, a substantial coin, is worth 2,160 to the French five-franc piece.
[250]. In the Hindi, as in Galland’s version, the horse is naturally enough of Turcoman blood. I cannot but think that in India we have unwisely limited ourselves for cavalryremounts to the Western market that exports chiefly the mongrel “Gulf Arab” and have neglected the far hardier animal, especially the Gútdán blood of the Tartar plains, which supply “excellent horses whose speed and bottom are” say travellers in general, “so justly celebrated throughout Asia.” Our predecessors were too wise to “put all the eggs in one basket.”
[251]. An act of worship, see my Pilgrimage in which “Tawáf” = circuiting, is described in detail, ii. 38; iii. 201 et seqq. A counterpart of this scene is found in the Histoire du Sultan Aqchid (Ikhshid) who determined to witness his own funeral. Gauttier vol. i. pp. 134–139. Another and similar incident occurs in the “Nineteenth Vezir’s Story” (pp. 213–18 of the History of the Forty Vezirs, before alluded to): here Hasan of Basrah, an ’Alim who died in A.H. 110 (= A.D. 728) saw in vision (the “drivel of dreams?”) folk of all conditions, sages, warriors and moon-faced maids seeking, but in vain, to release the sweet soul of the Prince who had perished.
[252]. Here after Moslem fashion, the mother ranks before the wife: “A man can have many wives but only one mother.” The idea is old amongst Easterns: see Herodotus and his Christian commentators on the history of Intaphernes’ wife (Thalia, cap. cxix). “O King,” said that lady of mind logical, “I may get me another mate if God will and other children an I lose these; but as my father and my mother are no longer alive, I may not by any means have another brother,” etc., etc.
[253]. In Galland the Histoire de Ganem, fils d’ Abu Aïoub, surnommé l’esclave d’Amour, precedes Zayn al-Asnám. In the Arab texts Ghanim bin Ayyúb, the Thrall o’ Love, occurs much earlier: see The Nights vol. ii. 45.
It is curious to compare the conclusions of these tales with the formula of the latest specimens, the Contes Arabes Modernes of Spitta-Bey, e.g. “And the twain lived together (p. iii.) and had sons and daughters (p. ii.), cohabiting with perfect harmony (fí al-Kamál pp. 42, 79); and at last they died and were buried and so endeth the story” (wa khalás p. 161).
[254]. In Galland and his translators the Adventures of Khudadad and his Brothers is followed by the Histoire du Dormeur Eveillé which, as “The Sleeper and the Waker,” is to be found in the first of my Supplemental Volumes, pp. 1–39. After this the learned Frenchman introduced, as has been said, the Histoire de la Lampe merveilleuse or “Alaeddin” to which I have assigned, for reasons given in loco, a place before Khudadad.