[227] Truly a most promising beginning! Such is the inflated style which alone is appreciated by the modern Persians and the Muslims of India. For since the decline of literature in Persia—which began soon after the death of the justly-celebrated poet Jamí, in A.D. 1492—the compositions of Persian authors have been chiefly characterised by puerile conceits and meaningless plays upon words and phrases, for which indeed the language furnishes every facility. Nevertheless, the reader can hardly fail to be highly diverted with the following tale, which the writer has simply re-dressed in his own style, for assuredly he was not its inventor.
[228] Here the author is employing the various processes of the Eastern bath in describing the chattering of three ladies who have “foregathered” there.—“The Persian ladies,” says Sir R. Ker Porter, in his Travels in Georgia, Persia, etc., vol. i, 233, “regard the bath as the place of their greatest amusement; they make appointments to meet there, and often pass seven or eight hours together in the carpeted saloon, telling stories, relating anecdotes, eating sweetmeats, sharing their kalyouns [pipes] and embellishing their beautiful forms with all the fancied perfection of the East; dyeing their hair and eyebrows; and curiously staining their fair bodies with a variety of fantastic devices, not unfrequently with the figures of trees and birds, the sun, moon, and stars.”
[229] A purely imaginary personage, of course, invented and introduced by the author, because he had just mentioned a ring set with a fine gem.—The reader will find many similar absurdities in the course of the narrative, and I need make no farther remark upon them.
[230] Eastern baths are used by men and women on different days of every week.
[231] Shamsah is the name of a sorceress who figures in several Asiatic fictions.
[232] Banafshá: Violet, the name of the girl.
[233] Sums of money mean nothing in an Eastern story: 1000 dínars would be equivalent to about 500 pounds, English currency; but were the amount even in dirhams the carpenter would be giving the girl 25 pounds—a handsome “tip” indeed!
[234] Among Muslims when the moon is new or full is the preferable time for marriage, but she must be clear of the sign of the Scorpion, which is considered very unlucky.
[235] Bilkís, according to Muslim tradition, was the name of the celebrated Queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon “in all his glory.” Many curious legends, or stories, are related, both by the Rabbins and the Muslims, regarding Solomon and Bilkís. It is said that Solomon had been told by some slanderer that she had goats’ feet and legs. In order to ascertain the fact, he caused the floor of the audience-chamber to be laid with glass or crystal. When Bilkís entered the chamber and perceived what looked like clear water on the floor, she gracefully raised the skirt of her dress a few inches, to save it from being wetted, and Solomon saw, to his great relief, that she had a pair of “natty” little human feet. We are told in the Bible that the Queen of Sheba plied the sage monarch with “hard questions,” but he answered them every one (1 Kings, x, 1-3). So much was Solomon charmed with her sagacity, virtue, and modesty, that he ultimately married her.—Our friend the Kází, to mollify his wife, calls her a second Bilkís.
[236] The usual exclamation of a Muslim when he believes the Devil is playing him some mischievous trick.—See note on page [277].