[240]. This must be the ubiquitous Khizr, the Green Prophet; when Ali appears, as a rule he is on horseback.
[241]. The name is apparently imaginary; and a little below we find that it was close to Jinn-land. China was very convenient for this purpose: the medieval Moslems, who settled in considerable numbers at Canton and elsewhere, knew just enough of it to know their own ignorance of the vast empire. Hence the Druzes of the Libanus still hold that part of their nation is in the depths of the Celestial Empire.
[242]. I am unwilling to alter the old title to “City of Copper” as it should be; the pure metal having been technologically used long before the alloy of copper and zinc. But the Maroccan City (Night dlxvi. et seq.) was of brass (not copper). The Hindus of Upper India have an Iram which they call Hari Chand’s city (Colonel Tod); and I need hardly mention the Fata Morgana, Island of Saint Borondon; Cape Fly-away; the Flying Dutchman, etc. etc., all the effect of “looming.”
[243]. This sword which makes men invisible and which takes place of Siegfried’s Tarnkappe (invisible cloak) and of “Fortunatus’ cap” is common in Moslem folk-lore. The idea probably arose from the venerable practice of inscribing the blades with sentences, verses and magic figures.
[244]. Arab. “’Ukáb,” in books an eagle (especially black) and P. N. of constellation but in pop. usage = a vulture. In Egypt it is the Neophron Percnopterus (Jerdon) or N. Gingianus (Latham), the Dijájat Far’aun or Pharaoh’s hen. This bird has been known to kill the Báshah sparrow-hawk (Jerdon i. 60); yet, curious to say, the reviewers of my “Falconry in the Valley of the Indus” questioned the fact, known to so many travellers, that the falcon is also killed by this “tiger of the air,” despite the latter’s feeble bill (pp. 35-38). I was faring badly at their hands when the late Mr. Burckhardt Barker came to the rescue. Falconicide is popularly attributed, not only to the vulture, but also to the crestless hawk-eagle (Nisætus Bonelli) which the Hindus call Morángá = peacock-slayer.
[245]. Here I translate “Nahás” = brass; as the “kumkum” (cucurbite) is made of mixed metal, not of copper.
GENEROUS DEALING OF YAHYA BIN KHALID THE BARMECIDE WITH MANSUR.
It is told that Harun al-Rashid, in the days before he became jealous of the Barmecides, sent once for one of his guards, Sálih by name, and said to him, “O Salih, go to Mansúr[[246]] and say to him:—Thou owest us a thousand thousand dirhams and we require of thee immediate payment of this amount. And I command thee, O Salih, unless he pay it between this hour and sundown, sever his head from his body and bring it to me.” “To hear is to obey,” answered Salih and, going to Mansur, acquainted him with what the Caliph had said; whereupon quoth he, “I am a lost man, by Allah; for all my estate and all my hand owneth, if sold for their utmost value, would not fetch a price of more than an hundred thousand dirhams. Whence then, O Salih, shall I get the other nine hundred thousand?” Salih replied, “Contrive how thou mayst speedily acquit thyself, else thou art a dead man; for I cannot grant thee an eye-twinkling of delay after the time appointed me by the Caliph; nor can I fail of aught which the Prince of True Believers hath enjoined on me. Hasten, therefore, to devise some means of saving thyself ere the time expire.” Quoth Mansur, “O Salih, I beg thee of thy favour to bring me to my house, that I may take leave of my children and family and give my kinsfolk my last injunctions.” Now Salih relateth:—So I went with him to his house where he fell to bidding his family farewell, and the house was filled with a clamour of weeping and lamentations and calling for help on Almighty Allah. Thereupon I said to him, “I have bethought me that Allah may haply vouchsafe thee relief at the hands of the Barmecides. Come, let us go to the house of Yáhyá bin Khálid.” So we went to Yahya’s house, and Mansur told him his case, whereat he was sore concerned and bowed him groundwards for a while; then raising his head, he called his treasurer and said to him, “How much have we in our treasury?” “A matter of five thousand dirhams,” answered the treasurer, and Yahya bade him bring them and sent a messenger to his son, Al-Fazl, saying, “I am offered for sale a splendid estate which may never be laid waste; so send me somewhat of money.” Al-Fazl sent him a thousand thousand dirhams, and he despatched a messenger with a like message to his son Ja’afar, saying, “We have a matter of much moment and for it we want money;” whereupon Ja’afar at once sent him a thousand thousand dirhams; nor did Yahya leave sending to his kinsmen of the Barmecides, till he had collected from them a great sum of money for Mansur. But Salih and the debtor knew not of this; and Mansur said to Yahya, “O my lord, I have laid hold upon thy skirt, for I know not whither to look for the money but to thee, in accordance with thy wonted generosity; so discharge thou the rest of my debt for me and make me thy freed slave.” Thereupon Yahya hung down his head and wept; then he said to a page, “Harkye, boy, the Commander of the Faithful gave our slave-girl Danánír a jewel of great price: go thou to her and bid her send it to us.” The page went out and presently returned with the jewel, whereupon quoth Yahya, “O Mansur, I bought this jewel of the merchant for the Commander of the Faithful, at a price of two hundred thousand dinars,[[247]] and he gave it to our slave-girl Dananir, the lute-player; and when he sees it with thee, he will know it and spare thy blood and do thee honour for our sake; and now, O Mansur, verily thy money is complete.” (Salih continued) So I took the money and the jewel and carried them to Al-Rashid together with Mansur, but on the way I heard him repeat this couplet, applying it to his own case:—
‘Twas not of love that fared my feet to them; ✿ ‘Twas that I feared me lest they shoot their shafts!