Chapter M: The Tale of Attaf (13)

A striking novelty in Captain Burton's translation is the frequent occurrence of passages in cadenced prose, called in Arabic "Saj'a," or the cooing of a dove. These melodious fragments have a charming effect on the ear. They come as dulcet-surprises, and mostly occur in highly-wrought situations, or they are used to convey a vivid sense of something exquisite in art or nature. We give one or two instances of these little eddies of song set like gems in the prose. Their introduction seems due to whim or caprice, but really is due to profound study of the situation, as if the tale-teller felt suddenly compelled to break into the rhythmic strain. The prose ripples and rises to dancing measure when the King of the Age, wandering in a lonely palace, comes upon the half-petrified youth, "the Ensorcelled Prince."

"Now when the Sultan heard the mournful voice he sprang to his feet, and following the sound found a curtain let down over the chamber door. He raised it and saw behind it a young man sitting upon a couch about a cubic above the ground: he fair to the sight, a well- shaped wight, with eloquence dight, his forehead was flower-white, his cheek rosy bright, and a mole on his cheek breadth like an ambergris mite."

It is broken again to bring into fuller notice the perfections of one of the three merry ladies of Baghdad, sitting under a silken canopy, the curtains "looped up with pearls as big as filberts and bigger." We are told to note how eastern are the metaphors, how confused the flattery.

"Thereupon sat a lady bright of blee, with brow-beaming brilliancy, and her eyebrows were arched as for archery; her breath breathed ambergris and perfumery, and her lips were sugar to taste and carnelian to see. Her stature was straight as the letter I (the letter Alif a straight perpendicular stroke), and her face shamed the noon sun's radiancy; and she was even as a galaxy or a dome with golden marquetry, or a bride displayed on choicest finery, or a noble maid of Araby."

And prose is not thought adequate to do justice to the natural beauty of a garden "like one of the pleasaunces of Paradise."

"It was a garden with trees of freshest green and ripe fruits of yellow sheen; and its birds were singing clear and keen, and rills ran wimpling through the fair terrene."

It is a marvel that these cadences have never been reproduced before. They have been faintly attempted by Eastwick, in his "Gulistan," whilst Mr. Payne simply passed them over, rejected them as of no account. They fall in with Captain Burton's plan of omitting nothing; of giving the Nights intact in the precise form in which they are enjoyed by the Oriental. Beside the verses so characteristic of exaggerated Arabic sentiment, and the rhymed cadences, let like precious stones into the gold of the prose, the proverbs embodying the proverbial wit and wisdom are all rhymed as in the original Arabic. What Arabists think of this translation we may learn from a professed Arabist writing to this effect:--"I am free to confess, after many years study of Arabic, a comparison of your translation with the text has taught me more than many months of dry study," whilst Englishmen who for years have lived in the East are making the discovery that, after all, they have known little or nothing, and their education is only beginning with this version of the Arabian Nights. It is only knowledge that knows how to observe; and it is satisfactory to observe that Captain Burton's amazing insight into Eastern peculiarities has been put to its best use in giving a true idea of the People of the Sun and a veritable version of their Book of Books. The labour expended on this edition has been enormous. The work could only have been completed by the most excessive and pertinatious application. All the same we are told it has been "a labour of love," a task that has brought its own exceeding great reward.

Arabian Nights, Volume 16
Footnotes

[FN#1] Tome xii. is dated 1789, the other three, 1788, to include them in the "Cabinet."

[FN#2] The titles of all the vols. are dated alike, 1793, the actual date of printing.

[FN#3] This name is not in the Arabic text, and I have vainly puzzled my brains about its derivation or meaning.

[FN#4] This P.N. is, I presume, a corruption of "Shawalán"=one falling short. The wife "Oitba" is evidently "Otbá" or "Utbá."

[FN#5] See my Supplemental volume i. pp. 37-116, "The Ten Wazirs; or, the History of King Azádbakht and his Son."

[FN#6] MS. pp. 140-182. Gauttier, vol. ii., pp. 313-353, Histoire du sage Heycar translated by M. Agoub: Weber, "History of Sinkarib and his two Viziers" (vol. ii. 53): the "Vizier" is therein called Hicar.

[FN#7] This form of the P.N. is preferred by Prof. R. Hoerning in his "Prisma des Sanherib," etc. Leipsic, 1878. The etymology is "Sin akhi-irib"=Sini (Lunus, or the Moon-God) increaseth brethren. The canon of Ptolemy fixes his accession at B.C. 702, the first year of Elibus or Belibus. For his victories over Babylonia, Palestine, Judea, and Egypt see any "Dictionary of the Bible," and Byron for the marvellous and puerile legend--

The Assyrian came down as a wolf on the fold,

which made him lose in one night 185,000 men, smitten by the "Angel of the Lord" (2 Kings xix. 35). Seated upon his throne before Lachish he is represented by a bas-relief as a truly noble and kingly figure.

[FN#8] I presume that the author hereby means a "fool," Pers. nádán. But in Assyrian story Nadan was=Nathan, King of the people of Pukudu, the Pekod of Jeremiah (i. 21) and other prophets.

[FN#9] In text always "Atúr," the scriptural "Asshur"=Assyria, biblically derived from Asshur, son of Shem (Gen. x. 22), who was worshipped as the proto-deity. The capital was Niniveh. Weber has "Nineveh and Thor," showing the spelling of his MS. According to the Arabs, "Ashur" had four sons; Iran (father of the Furs=Persians, the Kurd, or Ghozzi, the Daylams, and the Khazar), Nabít, Jarmúk, and Basíl. Ibn Khaldun (iii. 413), in his "Universal History," opposes this opinion of Ibn Sa'id.

[FN#10] i.e. "Fish-town" or "town of Nin" =Ninus, the founder. In mod. days "Naynawah" was the name of a port on the east bank of the Tigris; and moderns have unearthed the old city at Koyunjik, Nabi Yunas, and the Tall (mound of) Nimrud.

[FN#11] The surroundings suggest Jehovah, the tribal deity of the Jews. The old version says, "Hicar was a native of the country of Haram (Harrán), and had brought from thence the knowledge of the true God; impelled, however, by an irresistible decree," etc.

[FN#12] i.e. a woollen cloth dyed red. Hence Pyrard (i. 244) has "red scarlet," and (vol. ii.) "violet scarlet"; Froissart (xvth centy.) has "white scarlet," and Marot (xvith) has "green scarlet." The word seems to be French of xiith century, but is uncertain: Littré proposes Galaticus, but admits the want of an intermediate form. Piers Plowman and Chaucer use "cillatún, which suggests Pers. "Sakalat, or "Saklatún", whence Mr. Skeat would derive "scarlet." This note is from the voyage of F. Pyrard, etc. London. Hakluyts, M.dccc.lxxxvii.; and the editor quotes Colonel Yule's M. Polo (ii. chapt. 58) and his "Discursive Glossary s. v. Suclát."

[FN#13] i.e."Al-Kirm," Arab. and Pers. =a worm, as in Kirmán (see Supplem. vol. i. 40); the coccus ilicis, vulg. called cochineal.

[FN#14] Arab. "Arz", from the Heb. Arz or Razah (raz=to vibrate), the root {Greek} (cedrus conifera), the Assyrian "Erimu of Lebanon," of which mention is so often made. The old controversy as to whether "Razah"=cedar or fir, might easily have been settled if the disputants had known that the modern Syrians still preserve the word for the clump called "The Cedars" on the seaward slope of the Libanus.

[FN#15] We should say "reading and writing," but the greater difficulty of deciphering the skeleton eastern characters places reading in the more honourable place. They say of a very learned man, "He readeth it off (readily) as one drinketh water."

[FN#16] Arab. "Al-Sáhib al-jayyid." ["Jayyid" is, by the measure "Fay'il," derived from the root, "Jaud," to excel, like "Kayyis," from "Kaus" (see Suppl. vol. iv., p.277), "Mayyit" from "Maut," "Sayyid" from "Saud." The form was originally "Jaywid;" then the Wáw became assimilated to the preceding Já, on account of the following Kasrah, and this assimilation or "Idghám" is indicated by Tashdíd. As from "Kayyis" the diminutive "Kuwayyis" is formed, so "Jayyid" forms the Tasghír, "Juwayyid," which, amongst the Druzes, has the specific meaning of "deeply versed in religious matters."--ST.]

[FN#17] "Kúl," vulg. for "Kul"; a form constant in this MS.

[FN#18] Gauttier "Sarkhadom," the great usurper Sargon, a contemporary of Merodach Baladan of Babylon and of Sabaco 1st of Ethiopia, B.C. 721-702: one of the greatest Assyrian Kings, whose place has been determined to be between Shalmaneser and his son, the celebrated Sennacherib, who succeeded him. The name also resembles the biblical Ezarhaddon (Asaridanus), who, however, was the son of Sennacherib, and occupied the throne of Babylon in B.C. 680.

[FN#19] Gauttier, pp. 317-319, has greatly amplified and modified these words of wisdom.

[FN#20] In text "Yá Bunayya" =lit. "O my little son," a term of special fondness.

[FN#21] Arab. "Jamrah," a word of doubtful origin, but applied to a tribe strong enough to be self-dependent. The "Jamarát of the Arabs" were three, Banú Numayr, Banú Háris (who afterwards confederated with Mashíj) and Banú Dabbah (who joined the Rikáb), and at last Nomayr remained alone. Hence they said of it:

"Nomayr the jamrah (also "a live coal") of Arabs are; * And ne'er cease they to burn in fiery war."

See Chenery's Al-Hariri, pp. 343-428.

[FN#22] In the Arab. "Ta'arkalak," which M. Houdas renders "qu'elle ne te retienne dans ses filets."

[FN#23] A lieu commun in the East. It is the Heb. "Sháked" and the fruit is the "Loz" (Arab. Lauz)=Amygdalus communis, which the Jews looked upon as the harbinger of spring and which, at certain feasts, they still carry to the synagogue, as representing the palm branches of the Temple.

[FN#24] The mulberry-tree in Italy will bear leaves till the end of October and the foliage is bright as any spring verdure.

[FN#25] Gauttier omits this: pas poli, I suppose.

[FN#26] The barbarous sentiment is Biblical-inspired, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son" (Prov. xiii. 24), and "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying" (Prov. xix. 18). Compare the Arab equivalent, "The green stick is of the trees of Paradise" (Pilgrimage i. 151). But the neater form of the saw was left to uninspired writers; witness "Spare the rod and spoil the child," which appears in Ray's proverbs, and is immortalised by Hudibras:--

Love is a boy by poets styled,
Then spare the rod and spoil the child. (ii. 1, 843.)

It is to the eternal credit of John Locke, the philosopher, that in an age of general brutality he had the moral courage to declare, "Beating is the worst and therefore the last means to be used in the correction of children."

[FN#27] Arab. "Dahn" (oil, ointment) which may also mean "soft sawder."

[FN#28] Aucun roi ne peut gouverner sans armée et on ne peut avoir une armée sans argent. For a treatise on this subject see the "Chronique de Tabari," ii. 340.

[FN#29] M. Agoub, in Gauttier (vi. 321) remarks of these prosings, "Ces maximes qui ne seraient pas indignes, pour la plupart, des beaux temps de la philosophie grecque, appartiennent toutes au texte arabe; je n'ai fait que les disposer dans un ordre plus méthodique. J'ai dû aussi supprimer quelques unes, soit parce qu'elles n'offraient que des préceptes d'une morale banale, soit que traduites en frangais, elles eussent pû paraître bizarres à des lecteurs européens. Ce que je dis ici, s'applique également à celles qui terminent le conte et qui pourraient fournir le sujet de plusieurs fables." One would say that the translator is the author's natural enemy.

[FN#30] Arab. "Ammál," now vulgarly written with initial Hamzah, a favourite expression in Egypt and meaning "Verily," "I believe you, my boy," and so forth. But "'Ammál" with the Ayn may also mean "he intended," or "he was about to."

[FN#31] In Gauttier the name is Ebnazadan, but the Arab. text has "Naudán," which I take to be the Persian "New of knowledge" as opp. to Nádán, the "unknowing."

[FN#32] In Chavis (Weber ii. 58) and Gauttier (p. 323) Akis, roi de Perse. The second name may be "Shah of the Ebna" or Persian incolæ of Al-Yaman; aristocratie Persane naturalisée Arabe (Al-Mas'udi, iv. 188, etc.).

[FN#33] i.e. the Lowland of the Eglantine or Narcissus; Nisrín is also in dictionaries an island where amber abounds. There is a shade of difference between Buk'ah and Bak'ah. The former which is the corrector form=a patch of ground, a plain (hence the Buká'a= Coelesyria), while Bak'ah=a hollow where water collects. In Chavis we find "the plain of Harrim" and in Gauttier la plaine de Baschrin; and the appointment was "for the first of the month Niram" (Naysán).

[FN#34] "Pharaoh," which Hebrew Holy Writ left so vague and unsatisfactory, has become with the Arabs "Fir'aun", the dynastic name of Egyptian kings, as Kisrà (Chosroës) of the Persians, Tobba of the Himyarites, Kaysar (Cæsar) of the Romans, Jalut (Goliath) of the Phoenicians, Faghfur of the Chinese, Khákán of the Tartars, Adfonsh (Alfonso) of the Spanish, and Aguetíd of the Berbers. Ibn Khaldún iv. 572.

[FN#35] "Mizr" in Assyrian="Musur," in Heb. "Misraim" (the dual Misrs, whose duality permeated all their polity), and in Arab. "Misr," the O. Egypt. "Há káhi Ptáh" (the Land of the great God, Ptah), and the Coptic "Tá-mera"=the Land of the Nile flood, ignoring, I may add, all tradition of a Noachian or general deluge.

[FN#36] The simplicity of old Assyrian correspondence is here well preserved, as we may see by comparing those letters with the cuneiform inscriptions, etc., by S. Abden Smith (Pfeiffer, Leipsic, 1887). One of them begins thus, "The will of the King to Sintabni-Uzur. Salutation from me to thee. May it be well with thee. Regarding Sinsarra-utzur whom thou hast sent to me, how is thy report?" etc. We find such expressions as "May the great Gods, lovers of thy reign, preserve thee an hundred years;" also "Peace to the King, my lord," etc.

[FN#37] Arab. "Yaum al-Khamís." For the week-days see vol. vi. 190, and for a longer notice, Al-Mas'udi, iii. 422-23.

[FN#38] In the text "Kál" (al-Ráwí), "the Reciter saith"--which formula I omit here and elsewhere.

[FN#39] i.e. "The Father of the little Fish," in Gauttier (vii. 329) "Abou Soméika."

[FN#40] By way of insult; as I have before noticed.

[FN#41] He had now learned that Nadan had ruined him.

[FN#42] The wife (in p. 155; "Ashghaftíní") is called "Thou hast enamoured me" from the root "Shaghaf"=violent love, joy, grief. Chavis has Zefagnie: Gauttier suppresses the name, which is not pretty. In the old version she is made aunt (father's sister) to Sankharib.

[FN#43] The old version attributes all this device to "Zefagnie;" thus injuring the unity and the interest of the tale.

[FN#44] Arab. "Jund" plur. "Junúd," a term mostly applied to regular troops under the Government, as opposed to soldiers who took service with the Amirs or great barons--a state of things still enduring in non-British India.

[FN#45] Who thus makes a "Ma'adabah"=wake or funeral feast before his death. See vol. viii. 231.

[FN#46] i.e. "Father of the Fishlet", in the old version "Yapousmek" (Yá Abú Sumayk).

[FN#47] In Chavis he becomes "an old slave, a magician, stained with the greatest crimes, who has the air and figure of Hicar."

[FN#48] A formula which announces the death of his supposed enemy.

[FN#49] Arab. " Matmúrah"=Sardábah (i. 340), a silo for storing grain, an underground cell (ii. 39).

[FN#50] See text "Náhú" from "Nauh"=ceremonious keening for the dead. The general term for the wail is "Walwalah" or "Wilwál" (an onomatopoy) and for the public wailing-woman "Naddábah."

[FN#51] Here we find the Doric form "Rahúm" for "Rahím," or it may simply be the intensive and emphatic form, as "Nazúr"=one who looks intently for "Názir," a looker.

[FN#52] In the old version "a tenth part of the revenues." The "Kasím" of the text is an unusual word which M. Houdas would render revenues en nature, as opposed to Khiráj, revenues en argent. I translate it by "tax tribute."

[FN#53] In text "'Azzámín, "i.e. men who recite "'Azm," mostly Koranic versets which avert evil.

[FN#54] This may either be figurative or literal--upon the ashes where the fire had been; even as the father of Sayf al-Mulúk sat upon the floor of his audience-hall (vol. vii. 314).

[FN#55] In text "Ya'tadir"--from 'Adr=heavy rain, boldness. But in this MS. the dots are often omitted and the word may be Ya'tazir=find excuse.

[FN#56] In the old version the wife is made to disclose the secret of her husband being alive--again a change for the worse.

[FN#57] Here "Wayha-v." and before "Wayla-k": see vols. v. 258; vii. 127 and iii. 82.

[FN#58] The King, after the fashion of Eastern despots, never blames his own culpable folly and hastiness: this was decreed to him and to his victim by Destiny.

[FN#59] The older version reads "Roc" and informs us that "it is a prodigious bird, found in the deserts of Africa: it will bear two hundred pounds weight; and many are of opinion that the idea of this bird is visionary." In Weber ii. 63, this is the device of "Zafagnie," who accompanies her husband to Egypt.

[FN#60] This name appears to be a corruption. The sound, however, bears a suspicious resemblance to "Dabshalim" (a name most proper for such a Prince, to wit, meaning in their tongue a mighty King), who appears in chapt. i. of the "Fables of Pilpay" (Bidpai=Bidyapati=Lord of Lore?). "Dabshalímat"=the Dabshalíms, was the dynastic title of the Kings of Somanáth (Somnauth) in Western India.

[FN#61] Arab. "Tín"=clay, mud, which would be used with the Tob (adobe, sun-dried brick) forming the walls of Egypt and Assyria. M.G. Maspero, in his excellent booklet "L'Archéologie Egyptienne" (p. 7. Paris, Quantin, 1887), illustrates this ancient industry which endures with all its gear to the present day. The average measured 22 X 11 X 14 cm.; the larger was 38 X 18 X 14 cm., with intermediate sizes. These formed the cores of temple walls, and, being revetted with granite, syenite, alabaster and other stones, made a grand show; but when the outer coat was removed they were presently weathered to the external semblance of mud-piles. Such was mostly the condition of the ruins of grand Bubastis ("Pi-Pasht") hod. Zagázig, where excavations are still being pushed on.

[FN#62] The old version has "Masser, Grand Cairo (in the days of the Pharaohs!); so called from having been built by Misraim, the son of Cham."

[FN#63] In Chavís, "Abicam, a Chaldæan astrologer;" in Gauttier "Abimacam."

[FN#64] In Al-Harírí (p. 409) we read, "Hospitality is three days;" and a Hadís of the Prophet confirms the liberal practice of The Ignorance:--"The entertainment of a guest is three days, and the viaticum ("Jáizah") is a day and a night, and whatso exceedeth is an alms-gift." On the first day is shown largesse and courtesy; on the second and third the stranger is treated after the usual custom of the household, and then he is provided with rations for a day and a night. See Lane: A. Nights, i. 486; also The Nights, vol. i. 3.

[FN#65] i.e. Not standing astraddle, or in other such indecorous attitude.

[FN#66] Chavis, "Bilelsanam, the oracle of Bel, the chief God of the Assyrian: "Gauttier, Une idole Bíl. Bel (or Ba'al or Belus, the Phoenician and Canaanite head-god) may here represent Hobal the biggest idol in the Meccan Pantheon, which used to be borne on raids and expeditions to give plunder a religious significance. Tabari iii. 17. Evidently the author holds it to be an idol.

[FN#67] The Syro-solar month=April; much celebrated by poets and fictionists: rain falling at such time into shells becomes pearls and upon serpents poison.

[FN#68] The text has "Baybúnah," prop. Bábúnaj in Arab., and in Pers. "Bábúk," or "Bábúnak"=the white camomile-flower. See vol. iii. 58.

[FN#69] "Khabata"="He (the camel) pawed the ground." The prim. sig. is to beat, secondly, it is applied to a purblind camel which beats or strikes the ground and so stumbles, or to him who bashes a tree for its leaves; and lastly to him who gets alms by begging. See Chenery's Al-Hariri, p. 447.

[FN#70] Arab. "Karz"=moneys lent in interest and without fixed term of payment, as opp. to "Dayn."

[FN#71] In text "Kintár"=a quintal, 98 to 99 lbs. avoir.: in round numbers a cwt. a hundred weight: see vol. ii. 233. The old version explains it by "A golden coin, equivalent to three hundred livres French (?)." About the value of the Kintár of gold, doctors differ. Some value it at 40 ounces, others make it a leathern bag containing 1,080 to 1,100 dinars, and others 100 rotls (lbs.) of precious metal; while Al-Makrizi relates that Mohammed the Apostle declared, "The Kintár of gold is twelve hundred ounces." Baron de Slane (Ibn Khaldun i. 210) computes 100 Kintárs=1 million of francs.

[FN#72] In the text "wa lá ahad tafawwaha fina."

[FN#73] Arab. "Falsafah"=philosophy: see vols. v. 234 and vii. 145.

[FN#74] In the text "Fa-yatrahúna," masc. for fem.

[FN#75] The writer probably remembered that the cat was a sacred animal amongst the Egyptians: see Herod., ii. 66, and Diod. Sic., who tells us (vol. i. p. 94) of a Roman put to death under Ptolemy Auletes for accidentally killing one of these holy beasts. The artists of Bubastis, whose ruins are now for the first time being scientifically explored, modelled the animal in bronze with an admirable art akin to nature.

[FN#76] M. Houdas explains this miswritten passage, Quand le soleil fut levé et qu'il pénétra par ces ouvertures (lis. abkhásh, trou de flûte), il répandit le sable dans ces cylindres formés par la lumière du soleil. It is not very intelligible. I understand that the Sage went behind the Palace and drove through a mound or heap of earth a narrow hole bearing east-west, which he partially filled up with sand; and so when the sun rose the beams fell upon it and made it resemble a newly made cord of white flax. M. Agoub (in Gauttier vol. vi. 344) shirks, as he is wont to do, the whole difficulty. [The idea seems to me to be, and I believe this is also the meaning of M. Houdas, that Haykar produced streaks of light in an otherwise dark room by boring holes in the back wall, and scattered the sand over them, so that, while passing through the rays of the sun, it assumed the appearance of ropes. Hence he says mockingly to Pharaoh, "Have these ropes taken up, and each time you please I will twist thee the like of them"--reading "Aftilu," lst p. aor. instead of "Iftil", 2nd imper.--ST.)

[FN#77] Gauttier (vi. 347), Ces présens ne sont pas dignes de lui; mais peu de chose contents les rois.

[FN#78] Haykar is a Sage who follows the religion of nature, "Love thy friends and hate thy foes." Gauttier (vii. 349) embroiders all this with Christian and French sentiment-- L'intention secrète de Heycar était de sauver la vie à l'ingrat qui avait conspiré contre la sienne. Il voulait pour toute vengeance, le mettre désormais dans l'impossibilité de nuire et l'abandonner ensuite à ses remords, persuadé que le remords n'est pas le moindre châtiment du coupable. True nonsense this when talking of a character born bad: its only remorse is not to have done worse than bad.

[FN#79] Striking the nape being the Moslem equivalent for "boxing ears."

[FN#80] With this formula compare Chaucer, "The Manciple's Tale."

[FN#81] In the text "Znnákt-ha," which is unintelligible, although the sense be clear.

[FN#82] A bird unknown to the dictionaries, apparently a species of hawk.

[FN#83] In the text "Júrah Syán" for "Júrah Sayyál."

[FN#84] The tree having furnished the axe-helve.

[FN#85] M. Houdas translates Tu as médit de moi et tu m'as accablé de tes méchancetés.

[FN#86] In text "Alif, bá, tá, sá," the latter written with a Sin instead of a Thá, showing the vulgar use which extends from Alexandria to Meccah.

[FN#87] So in French, deriding the difference between written and spoken English, Ecrivez Salmonassar, prononcez crocodile.

[FN#88] Because he owes thee more than a debt of life.

[FN#89] i.e. "Tammat"=She (the tale) is finished.

[FN#90] MSS. pp.217-265. See the "Arabian Tales," translated by Robert Heron (Edinburgh M.DCC.XCII.), where it is "The Robber- Caliph; or Adventures of Haroun Alraschid, with the Princess of Persia, and the fair Zutulbé," vol. i. pp. 2-69. Gauttier, Histoire du Khalyfe de Baghdad, vol. vii. pp.117-150.

[FN#91] In text "Ahádís," esp. referred to the sayings of Mohammed, and these are divided into two great sections, the "Ahádís al-Nabawí," or the actual words pronounced by the Apostle; and the "Ahádís al-Kudus," or the sentences attributed to the Archangel Gabriel.

[FN#92] Heron has "the Festival of Haraphat," adding a power of nonsense. This is the day of the sermon, when the pilgrims sleep at Muzdalifah (Pilgrimage iii. 265). Kusayy, an ancestor of the Apostle, was the first to prepare a public supper at this oratory, and the custom was kept up by Harun al-Rashid, Zubaydah and Sha'ab, mother of the Caliph al-Muktadir (Tabari ii. 368). Alms are obligatory on the two great 'I'ds or festivals, al-Fitr which ends the Ramazán fast and al-Kurbán during the annual Pilgrimage. The dole must consist of at least a "Sa'" = 7 lbs. in grain, dates, &c.

[FN#93] i.e. habited themselves in the garments of little people: so to "enlarge the turband" is to assume the rank of an 'Álim or learned man. "Jayb," the breast of a coat is afterwards used in the sense of a pocket.

[FN#94] Either the Caliph was persuaded that the white wrist was a "promise of better things above and below," or he proposed marriage as a mere freak, intelligible enough when divorce costs only two words.

[FN#95] In text "Nakdí" = the actual as opposed to the contingent dowry: sec vols. vii. 126; ix. 32.

[FN#96] This is said in irony.

[FN#97] In text "Bashákhín" plur. of "Bashkhánah:" see Suppl. vols. ii. 119; iii. 87.

[FN#98] In Heron he becomes "Kassera-Abocheroan." Anushirwan (in full Anúshínrawán = sweet of soul) is popularly supposed to have begun his rule badly after the fashion of Eastern despots, and presently to have become the justest of monarchs. Nothing of this, however, is found in Tabari (ii. 159).

[FN#99] He was indignant because twitted with having married a beggar-maid like good King Cophetua. In Heron he is "moved by so sensible a reply."

[FN#100] Plur. "Katáif," a kind of pancake made of flour and sugar (or honey) and oil or butter.

[FN#101] Arab. "Sakká" = a water-carrier, generally a bad lot. Of the "Sakká Sharbah," who supplies water to passengers in the streets, there is an illustration in Lane; M. E. chapt. xiv.

[FN#102] In the text "Kahbah" an ugly word = our whore (i.e. hired woman): it is frightfully common in every-day speech. See vol. ii. 70.

[FN#103] Arab. "Sibák" usually = a leash (for falconry, etc.).

[FN#104] I have emphasised this detail which subsequently becomes a leading incident.

[FN#105] Usual formulæ when a respectable person is seen drinking: the same politeness was also in use throughout the civilised parts of mediæval Europe. See the word "Hanian" (vol. ii. 5), which at Meccah and elsewhere is pronounced also "Haniyyan."

[FN#106] In text "Yá Ta'ís," a favorite expression in this MS. Page 612 (MS.) has "Tá'ish," a clerical error, and in page 97 we have "Yá Ta'ásat-ná" = O our misery!

[FN#107] As might a "picker-up of unconsidered trifles."

[FN#108] In text "Akbá' wa Zarábíl." I had supposed the first to be the Pers. Kabá = a short coat or tunic, with the Arab. 'Ayn (the second is the common corruption for "Zarábín" = slaves' shoes, slippers: see vol. x. 1), but M. Hondas translates Ni calottes ni calecons, and for the former word here and in MS. p.227 he reads "'Arakiyah" = skull-cap: see vol. i. 215. ["Akbá'" is the pi. of "Kub'," which latter occurs infra, p.227 of the Ar. MS., and means, in popular language, any part of a garment covering the head, as the hood of a Burnus or the top-piece of a Kalansuwah; also a skull-cap, usually called "'Araqíyah." --ST.]

[FN#109] Heron dubs him "Hazeb (Hájib) Yamaleddin." In text "'Alái al-Dín;" and in not a few places it is familiarly abbreviated to "'Ali" (p. 228, etc.). For the various forms of writing the name see Suppl. vol. iii. 30. The author might have told us the young Chamberlain's name Arabicè earlier in the tale; but it is the Ráwi's practice to begin with the vague and to end in specification. I have not, however, followed his example here or elsewhere.

[FN#110] i.e. Destiny so willed it. For the Pen and the Preserved Tablet see vol. v. 322.

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

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

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

[FN#114] "Mayzar," in Pers. = a turband: in Arab. "Miizar" = a girdle; a waistcloth.

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

[FN#116] See vol. i. 266.

[FN#117] i.e. by the Archangel Gabriel.

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

[FN#119] In text "Mahmá" = as often as = kullu-má. This is the eleventh question of the twelve in Al-Hariri, Ass. xxiv., and the sixth of Ass. xxxvi. The former runs, "What is the noun (kullu- má) which gives no sense except by the addition thereto of two words, or the shortening thereof to two letters (i.e. má); and in the first case there is adhesion and in the second compulsion?" (Chenery, pp. 246-253).

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

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

[FN#122] In Chavis and Cazotte she swears "by the name of God which is written on our Great Prophet's forehead."

[FN#123] Arab. "Yá Luss"; for this word = the Gr. {Greek}; see Suppl. vol. v. index.

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

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

[FN#126] In text "Aská-hu 'alakah" = gave him a good sound drubbing ('alakah), as a robber would apply to a Judge had he the power.

[FN#127] Lest he happen to meet an unveiled woman on the stairs; the usual precaution is to cry "Dastúr!" by your leave (Persian).

[FN#128] Arab. "Khayr"--a word of good omen.

[FN#129] In Chavis and Cazotte the mother gives her daughter's name as Zutulbé (?) and her own Lelamain (?).

[FN#130] In text "Waliyah" or "Waliyáh" = and why?

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

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

[FN#133] The "Street of the Copperas-maker": the name, as usual, does not appear till further on in the tale.

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

[FN#135] Arab. "Al-Hásil" also meaning the taxes, the revenue.

[FN#136] In text "Ká'ah" = a saloon: see vols. i. 85; i. 292; and vii. 167.

[FN#137] In the sing. "Sikálah."

[FN#138] The Jinn here was Curiosity, said to be a familiar of the sex feminine, but certainly not less intimate with "the opposite."

[FN#139] In text "Kinnab" which M. Houdas translates étoupe que l'on fixe an bout d'un roseau pour blanchir les murs.

[FN#140] Impossible here not to see a sly hit at the Caliph and the Caliphate.

[FN#141] The writer has omitted this incident which occurs in Chavis and Cazotte.

[FN#142] In the text, "Samd" = carpets and pots and pans.

[FN#143] The Katá grouse (Tetrao alchata seu arenarius of Linn.) has often been noticed by me in Pilg. I. 226 (where my indexer called it "sand goose") and in The Nights (vols. i. 131; iv. 111). De Sacy (Chrestom. Arab. iii pp. 416, 507-509) offers a good literary account of it: of course he cannot speak from personal experience. He begins with the Ajáib al-Makhlúkát by Al- Kazwini (ob. A.H. 674 = A.D. 1274) who tells us that the bird builds in the desert a very small nest (whence the Hadís, "Whoso shall build to Allah a mosque, be it only the bigness of a Katá's nest, the Lord shall edify for him a palace in Paradise"); that it abandons its eggs which are sometimes buried in sand, and presently returns to them (hence the saying, "A better guide than the Katá"); that it watches at night (?) and that it frequents highways to reconnoitre travellers (? ?), an interpretation confirmed by the Persian translator. Its short and graceful steps gave rise to the saying, "She hath the gait of a Katá," and makes De Sacy confound the bird with the Pers. Káhú or Kabk-i-dari (partridge of the valley), which is simply the francolin, the Ital. francolino, a perdrix. The latter in Arab. Is "Durráj" (Al- Mas'udi, vii. 347): see an affecting story connected with it in the Suppl. Nights (ii. 4O-43). In the xxiiid Ass. of Al-Hariri the sagacity of the Katá is alluded to, "I crossed rocky places, to which the Katá would not find its way." See also Ass. viii. But Mr. Chenery repeats a mistake when he says (p. 339) that the bird is "never found save where there is good pasturage and water:" it haunts the wildest parts of Sind and Arabia, although it seldom strays further than 60 miles from water which it must drink every evening. I have never shot the Katá since he saved my party from a death by thirst on a return-ride from Harar (First Footsteps in E. Africa, p. 388). The bird is very swift, with a skurrying flight like a frightened Pigeon; and it comes to water regularly about dusk when it is easily "potted."

[FN#144] In text "Samman" for "Sammán": Dozy gives the form "Summun" (Hondas). The literary name is "Salwà."

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

[FN#146] Prob. a corruption of the Pers. "Názuk," adj. delicate, nice.

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

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

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

[FN#150] Qui n'ait un point de contact aver l'une de ces catégories--(Houdas).

[FN#151] In the old translations "The Hazen" (Kházin = treasurer?) which wholly abolishes the double entendre.

[FN#152] In text "Darbisí al-báb" from the Persian, "Dar bastan" = to tie up, to shut.

[FN#153] In text "Ghaush" for "Ghaushah" = noise, row.

[FN#154] "Akkál bula'hu" i.e. commit all manner of abominations. "To eat skite" is to talk or act foolishly.

[FN#155] In the old translations "Ilamir Youmis."

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

[FN#157] "Nahs" means something more than ill-omened, something nasty, foul, uncanny: see vol. i. 301.

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

[FN#159] Arab. "Al-Káfi'ah" = garde-fou, rebord d'une terrasse-- (Houdas).

[FN#160] Our vulgar "Houri": see vols. i. 90; iii. 233. There are many meanings of Hawar; one defines it as intense darkness of the black of the eye and corresponding whiteness; another that it is all which appears of the eye (as in the gazelle) meaning that the blackness is so large as to exclude the whiteness; whilst a third defines "Haurá" as a woman beautiful in the "Mahájir" (parts below and around the eyes which show when the face is veiled), and a fourth as one whose whiteness of eye appears in contrast with the black of the Kohl-Powder. See Chenery's Al-Hariri, pp. 354-55.

[FN#161] Arab. "Zalamah" = tyrants, oppressors (police and employés): see vols. i. 273, and vi. 214.

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

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

[FN#164] Arab. "Yulakkimu," from "Lukmah" = a mouthful: see vols. i. 266; vii. 367.

[FN#165] Arab. "Jarazat Kuzbán" (plur. or "Kazíb," see vol. ii. 66) = long and slender sticks.

[FN#166] i.e. a witch; see vol. viii. 131.

[FN#167] So in the phrase "Otbah hath the colic," first said concerning Otbah b. Rabí'a by Abú Jahl when the former advised not marching upon Badr to attack Mohammed. Tabari, vol. ii. 491.

[FN#168] Compare the French "Brr!"

[FN#169] i.e. to whom thou owest a debt of apology or excuse, "Gharím" = debtor or creditor.

[FN#170] Arab. "Juráb al-'uddah," i.e. the manacles, fetters, etc.

[FN#171] The following three sentences are taken from the margin of (MS.) p. 257, and evidently belong to this place.

[FN#172] In text "Bghb" evidently for "Baght" or preferably "Baghtatan."

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

[FN#174] The normal idiom for "I accept."

[FN#175] In text Khila't dakk al-Matrakah," which I have rendered literally: it seems to signify an especial kind of brocade.

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

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

[FN#178] Alluding to the Wali and his men.

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

[FN#180] In text "Yá Kawákí," which M. Houdas translates "O piailleur," remarking that here it would be = poule mouillée.

[FN#181] "'Alakah khárijah" = an extraordinary drubbing.

[FN#182] In text "Ij'alní fí kll," the latter word being probably, as M. Houdas suggests, a clerical error for "Kal-a" or "Kiláa" = safety, protection.

[FN#183] I am surprised that so learned and practical an Arabist as the Baron de Slane in his Fr. translation of Ibn Khaldún should render le surnom d'Er-Rechid (le prudent), for "The Rightly Directed," the Orthodox (vol. ii. 237), when (ibid. p. 259) he properly translates "Al-Khulafá al-rashidín" by Les Califes qui marchent dans la voie droite.

[FN#184] MSS. pp. 476-504. This tale is laid down on the same lines as "Abú al-Husn and his Slave-girl Tawaddud," vol. vi. 189. It is carefully avoided by Scott, C. de Perceval, Gauttier, etc.

[FN#185] Lit. an interpreter woman; the word is the fem. of Tarjumán, a dragoman whom Mr. Curtis calls a Drag o' men; see vol. i. 100. It has changed wonderfully on its way from its "Semitic" home to Europe which has naturalised it as Drogman, Truchman and Dolmetsch.

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

[FN#187] See vols. iv. 100; viii. 268. In his Introduction (p. 22) to the Assemblies of Al-Hariri Chenery says, "This prosperity had now passed away, for God had brought the people of Rum (so the Arabs call the Byzantines, whom Abú Zayd here confounds with the Franks) on the land," etc. The confusion is not Abu Zayd's: "Rumí" in Marocco and other archaic parts of the Moslem world is still synonymous with our "European."

[FN#188] This obedience to children is common in Eastern folk-lore: see Suppl. vol. i. 143, in which the royal father orders his son to sell him. The underlying idea is that the parents find their offspring too clever for them; not, as in the "New World," that Youth is entitled to take precedence and command of Age.

[FN#189] In text "Fa min tumma" for "thumma"--then, alors.

[FN#190] Such as the headstall and hobbles the cords and chains for binding captives, and the mace and sword hanging to the saddle-bow.

[FN#191] i.e. not a well-known or distinguished horseman, but a chance rider.

[FN#192] These "letters of Mutalammis," as Arabs term our Litteræ Bellerophonteæ, or "Uriah's letters," are a lieu commun in the East and the Prince was in luck when he opened and read the epistle here given by mistake to the wrong man. Mutalammis, a poet of The Ignorance, had this sobriquet (the "frequent asker," or, as we should say, the Solicitor-General), his name being Jarír bin 'Abd al-Masíh. He was uncle to Tarafah of the Mu'-allakah or prize poem, a type of the witty dissolute bard of the jovial period before Al-Islam arose to cloud and dull man's life. One day as he was playing with other children Mutalammis was reciting a panegyric upon his favourite camel, which ran:--

I mount a he-camel, dark-red and firm-fleshed; or a she-camel of Himyar, fleet of foot and driving the pebbles with her crushing hooves.

"See the he-camel turned to a she," cried the boy, and the phrase became proverbial to express inelegant transition (Arab. Prov. ii. 246). The uncle bade his nephew put out his tongue and seeing it dark-coloured said, "That black tongue will be thy ruin!" Tarafah, who was presently entitled Ibn al-'Ishrin (the son of twenty years), grew up a model reprobate who cared nothing save for three things, "to drink the dark-red wine foaming as the water mixeth with it, to urge into the fight a broad-backed steed, and to while away the dull day with a young beauty." His apology for wilful waste is highly poetic:--

I see that the grave of the careful, the hoarder, differeth not from the grave of the debauched, the spendthrift: A hillock of earth covers this and that, with a few flat stones laid together thereon.

See the whole piece in Chenery's Al-Hariri (p. 360), from which this note is borrowed. At last uncle and nephew fled from ruin to the Court of 'Amrú bin Munzír III., King of Hira, who in the tale of Al-Mutalammis and his wife Umaymah (The Nights, vol. v. 74) is called Al-Nu'umán bin Munzir but is better known as 'Amrú bin Hind (his mother). The King, who was a derocious personage nicknamed Al-Muharrik or the Burner, because he had thrown into the fire ninety-nine men and one woman of the Tamím tribe in accordance with a vow of vengeance he had taken to slaughter a full century, made the two strangers boon-companions to his boorish brother Kábús. Tarafah, offended because kept at the tent-door whilst the master drank wine within, bitterly lampooned him together with 'Abd Amrú a friend of the King; and when this was reported his death was determined upon. Amrú, the King, seeing the anxiety of the two poets to quit his Court, offered them letters of introduction to Abú Kárib, Governor of Al-Hajar (Bahrayn) under the Persian King and they were accepted. The uncle caused his letter to be read by a youth, and finding that it was an order for his execution destroyed it and fled to Syria; but the nephew was buried alive. Amrú, the King, was afterwards slain by the poet-warrior, Amrú bin Kulthum, also of the "Mu'allakát," for an insult offered to his mother by Hind: hence the proverb, "Quicker to slay than 'Amrú bin Kulsum" (A.P. ii. 233).

[FN#193] See vols. i. 192; iii. 14; these correspond with the "Stathmoi," Stationes, Mansiones or Castra of Herodotus, Terps. cap. 53, and Xenophon. An. i. 2, 10.

[FN#194] In text "Ittiká" viiith of waká: the form "Takwà" is generally used = fearing God, whereby one guards oneself from sin in this life and from retribution in the world to come.

[FN#195] This series of puzzling questions and clever replies is still as favourite a mental exercise in the East as it was in middle-aged Europe. The riddle or conundrum began, as far as we know, with the Sphinx, through whose mouth the Greeks spoke: nothing less likely than that the grave and mysterious Scribes of Egypt should ascribe aught so puerile to the awful emblem of royal majesty--Abu Haul, the Father of Affright. Josephus relates how Solomon propounded enigmas to Hiram of Tyre which none but Abdimus, son of the captive Abdæmon, could answer. The Tale of Tawaddud offers fair specimens of such exercises, which were not disdained by the most learned of Arabian writers. See Al-Hariri's Ass. xxiv, which proposes twelve enigmas involving abstruse and technical points of Arabic, such as: "What be the word, which as ye will is a particle beloved, or the name of that which compriseth the slender-waisted milch camel!" Na'am = "Yes" or "cattle," the latter word containing the Harf, or slender camel. Chenery, p. 246.

[FN#196] For the sundry meanings and significance of "Salám," here=Heaven's blessing, see vols. ii. 24, vi. 232.