Chapter XVIII: Part 18

Meanwhile Ghanim's mother and sister arrived at Baghdad and fell in with the charitable syndic, who carried them to Cout el Culoub and said to her, 'O princess of benevolent ladies, there be come to our city this day a woman and her daughter, who are fair of face and the marks of gentle breeding and fortune are manifest upon them, though they are clad in hair garments and have each a wallet hanging to her neck; and they are tearful-eyed and sorrowful-hearted. So I have brought them to thee, that thou mayest shelter them and rescue them from beggary, for they are not fit to ask alms, and if God will, we shall enter Paradise through them.' 'O my lord,' exclaimed she, 'thou makest me long to see them! Where are they? Bring them to me.' So he bade the eunuch bring them in; and when she looked on them and saw that they were both possessed of beauty, she wept for them and said, 'By Allah, they are people of condition and show signs of former fortune.' 'O my lady,' said the syndic's wife, 'we love the poor and destitute, because of the recompense that God hath promised to such as succour them: as for these, belike the oppressors have done them violence and robbed them of their fortune and laid waste their dwelling-place.' Then Ghanim's mother and sister wept sore, recalling their former prosperity and contrasting it with their present destitute and miserable condition and thinking of Ghanim, whilst Cout el Culoub wept because they did. And they exclaimed, 'We beseech God to reunite us with him whom we desire, and he is none other than our son Ghanim ben Eyoub!' When Cout el Culoub heard this, she knew them to be the mother and sister of her beloved and wept till she lost her senses. When she revived, she turned to them and said, 'Have no care and grieve not, for this day is the first of your prosperity and the last of your adversity.' Then she bade the syndic take them to his own house and let his wife carry them to the bath and clothe them handsomely. And she charged him to take care of them and treat them with all honour, and gave him a sum of money. Next day, she mounted and riding to his house, went in to his wife, who rose and kissed her hands and thanked her for her goodness. There she saw Ghanim's mother and sister, whom the syndic's wife had taken to the bath and clothed afresh, so that the traces of their former condition were now plainly apparent. She sat awhile, conversing with them, after which she enquired for the sick youth, and the syndic's wife replied, 'He is in the same state.' Then said Cout el Culoub, 'Come, let us go and visit him.' So they all went into the room where he lay and sat down by him. Presently, Ghanim heard them mention the name of Cout el Culoub, whereupon his life came back to him, wasted and shrunken as he was, and he raised his head from the pillow and cried out, 'O Cout el Culoub!' 'Yes, O friend!' answered she. 'Draw near to me,' said he. So she looked at him earnestly and knew him and said to him, 'Surely thou art Ghanim ben Eyoub?' 'I am indeed he,' replied he. At this, she fell down in a swoon, and when Ghanim's mother and sister heard their words, they both cried out, 'O joy!' and swooned away. When they recovered, Cout el Culoub exclaimed, 'Praised be God who hath brought us together again and hath reunited thee with thy mother and sister!' Then she told him all that had befallen her with the Khalif and said, 'I have made known the truth to the Commander of the Faithful, who believed me and approved of thee; and now he wishes to see thee.' Then she told him how the Khalif had bestowed her on him, at which he was beyond measure rejoiced, and she returned to the palace at once, charging them not to stir till she came back. There she opened the chest that she had brought from Ghanim's house, and taking out some of the money, carried it to the syndic and bade him buy them each four suits of the best stuffs and twenty handkerchiefs and what else they needed; after which she carried them all three to the bath and commanded to wash them and made ready for them broths and galingale and apple-water against their coming out. When they left the bath, they put on new clothes, and she abode with them three days, feeding them with fowls and broths and sherbet of sugar-candy, till their strength returned to them. After this, she carried them to the bath a second time, and when they came out and had changed their clothes, she took them back to the syndic's house and left them there, whilst she returned to the palace and craving an audience of the Khalif, told him the whole story and how her lord Ghanim and his mother and sister were now in Baghdad. When the Khalif heard this, he turned to his attendants and said, 'Bring hither to me Ghanim.' So Jaafer went to fetch him: but Cout el Culoub forewent him to the syndic's house and told Ghanim that the Khalif had sent for him and enjoined him to eloquence and self-possession and pleasant speech. Then she clad him in a rich habit and gave him much money, bidding him be lavish of largesse to the household of the Khalif, when he went in to him. Presently, Jaafer arrived, riding on his Nubian mule, and Ghanim met him and kissed the ground before him, wishing him long life. Now was the star of his good fortune risen and shone, and Jaafer took him and brought him to the Khalif. When he entered, he looked at the viziers and amirs and chamberlains and deputies and grandees and captains, Turks and Medes and Arabs and Persians, and then at the Khalif. Then he made sweet his speech and his eloquence and bowing his head, spoke the following verses:

Long life unto a King, the greatest of the great, Still following
on good works and bounties without date!
Glowering with high resolves, a fountain of largesse, For ever
full; 'tis said, of fire and flood and fate,
That they none else would have for monarch of the world, For
sovran of the time and King in Kisra's gate.[FN#119]
Kings, salutation-wise, upon his threshold's earth, For his
acceptance lay the jewels of their state;
And when their eyes behold the glory of his might, Upon the
earth, in awe, themselves they do prostrate.
This humbleness it is that profits them with thee And wins them
wealth and power and rank and high estate.
Upon old Saturn's heights pitch thy pavilion, Since for thy
countless hosts the world is grown too strait,
And teach the stars to know thine own magnificence, In kindness
to the prince who rules the starry state.
May God with His consent for ever favour thee! For steadfastness
of soul and sense upon thee wait:
Thy justice overspreads the surface of the earth, Till far and
near for it their difference abate.

The Khalif was charmed with his eloquence and the sweetness of his speech and said to him, 'Draw near to me.' So he drew near and the Khalif said, 'Tell me thy story and expound to me thy case.' So Ghanim sat down and related to him all that had befallen him, from beginning to end. The Khalif was assured that he spoke the truth; so he invested him with a dress of honour and took him into favour. Then he said to him, 'Acquit me of the wrong I have done thee.' And Ghanim did so, saying, 'O Commander of the Faithful, the slave and all that is his belong to his lord.' The Khalif was pleased with this and bade set apart a palace for Ghanim, on whom he bestowed great store of gifts and assigned him bountiful stipends and allowances, sending his mother and sister to live with him; after which, hearing that his sister Fitneh was indeed a seduction[FN#120] for beauty, he demanded her in marriage of Ghanim, who replied, 'She is thy handmaid and I am thy servant.' The Khalif thanked him and gave him a hundred thousand dinars; then summoned the Cadi and the witnesses, who drew up the contracts of marriage between the Khalif and Fitneh on the one hand and Ghanim and Cout el Culoub on the other; and the two marriages were consummated in one and the same night. On the morrow, the Khalif ordered the history of Ghanim to be recorded and laid up in the royal treasury, that those who came after him might read it and wonder at the dealings of destiny and put their trust in Him who created the night and the day.

End Of Vol. 1

Footnotes to Volume 1.

[FN#1] The visible and the invisible. Some authorities make it three worlds (those of men, of the angels and of the Jinn or genii), and ethers more.

[FN#2] The Arabic word for island (jezireh) signifies also "peninsula," and doubtless here used in the latter sense. The double meaning of the word should be borne in mind, as it explains many apparent discrepancies in Oriental tales.

[FN#3] A powerful species of genie. The name is generally (but not invariably) applied to an evil spirit.

[FN#4] God on thee! abbreviated form of "I conjure thee (or call on thee) by God!"

[FN#5] lit. bull

[FN#6] Epithet of the ass and the cock. The best equivalent would be the French "Père L'Eveillé."

[FN#7] i.e. stupid.

[FN#8] The Arabic word for garden (bustan) applies to any cultivated or fertile spot, abounding in trees. An European would call such a place as that mentioned in the tale an oasis.

[FN#9] in preparation for death.

[FN#10] Jinn, plural of genie.

[FN#11] A dinar (Lat. denarius) is a gold coin worth about 10s.

[FN#12] i.e. I have nothing to give thee.

[FN#13] A dirhem (Gr. drachma) is a silver coin worth about 6d.

[FN#14] Afriteh, a female Afrit. Afrit means strictly an evil spirit; but the term is not unfrequently applied to benevolent Jinn, as will appear in the course of these stories.

[FN#15] for his impatience.

[FN#16] A Marid is a genie of the most powerful class. The name generally, though not invariably, denotes an evil spirit.

[FN#17] Of Islam, which is fabled by the Muslims to have existed before Mohammed, under the headship, first of Abraham and afterwards of Solomon.

[FN#18] From this point I omit the invariable formula which introduces each night, as its constant repetition is only calculated to annoy the reader and content myself with noting the various nights in the margin. {which will not be included in this electronic version}

[FN#19] Probably the skin of some animal supposed to be a defence against poison.

[FN#20] Literally, "eyes adorned with kohl:" but this expression is evidently used tropically to denote a natural beauty of the eye, giving it that liquid appearance which it is the object of the use of the cosmetic in question to produce.

[FN#21] A fabulous tribe of giants mentioned in the Koran.

[FN#22] The word here translated "eye" may also be rendered "understanding." The exact meaning of the phrase (one of frequent recurrence in these stories) is doubtful.

[FN#23] A fabulous range of mountains which, according to Muslim cosmography, encompasses the world.

[FN#24] The prophet Mohammed.

[FN#25] Various kinds of cakes and sweetmeats.

[FN#26] The appearance of which is the signal for the commencement of the fast. All eyes being on the watch, it naturally follows that the new moon of this month is generally seen at an earlier stage than are those of the other months of the year, and its crescent is therefore apparently more slender. Hence the comparison.

[FN#27] Caravanserai or public lodging-place.

[FN#28] A kind of religious mendicant.

[FN#29] One condition of which is that no violation of the ceremonial law (which prohibits the use of intoxicating liquors) be committed by the pilgrim, from the time of his assuming the pilgrim's habit to that of his putting it off; and this is construed by the stricter professors to take effect from the actual formation of the intent to make the pilgrimage. Haroun er Reshid, though a voluptuary, was (at all events, from time to time) a rigid observer of Muslim ritual.

[FN#30] It is a frequent practice, in the East, gently to rub and knead the feet, for the purpose of inducing sleep or gradually arousing a sleeper.

[FN#31] An expression frequent in Oriental works, meaning "The situations suggested such and such words or thoughts."

[FN#32] Religious mendicants.

[FN#33] Referring, of course, to the wine, which it appears to have been customary to drink warm or boiled (vinum coctum) as among several ancient nations and in Japan and China at the present day.

[FN#34] Or chapter or formula.

[FN#35] A play upon words is here intended turning upon the double meaning ("aloes" and "patience") of the Arabic word sebr.

[FN#36] See note on p. 120. {Vol. 1, FN#35}

[FN#37] Dar es Selam.

[FN#38] A certain fixed succession of prayers and acts of adoration is called a rekah (or bow) from the inclination of the body that occurs in it. The ordained prayers, occurring five times a day, consist of a certain number of rekahs.

[FN#39] i.e. "There is no god but God", etc.

[FN#40] or sinister conjunction of the planets.

[FN#41] Menkeleh, a game played with a board and draughtmen, partaking of the character of backgammon, draughts and fox-and-geese.

[FN#42] A common Oriental substitute for soap.

[FN#43] i.e. newly dug over.

[FN#44] lit. rukh.

[FN#45] A sweet-scented, variegated wood.

[FN#46] The Arabs consider a slight division of the two middle teeth a beauty.

[FN#47] The Egyptian privet; a plant whose flowers have a very delicious fragrance.

[FN#48] A kind of mocking-bird.

[FN#49] Of providence.

[FN#50] Literally, "O my eyes!"

[FN#51] A niche in the wall, which indicates the position the worshipper must assume, in order to face Mecca, in accordance with the ritual of prayer.

[FN#52] cf. Germ. Zuckerpuppchen.

[FN#53] i.e., moles, which are considered a great beauty in the East.

[FN#54] A female genie.

[FN#55] The unveiling or displaying of the bride before her husband is the culminating ceremony of a Muslim wedding of the better class. The bride is always displayed in the richest clothes and ornament that can be mustered or borrowed for the occasion.

[FN#56] Moles?

[FN#57] There is a play upon words in this line, founded upon the double meaning of the word shirk, sharing (or partnership) and polytheism or the attributing partners or equals to God (as in the Trinity), the one unpardonable sin of the Muslim religious code.

[FN#58] Both afterwards Khalifs.

[FN#59] i.e. God.

[FN#60] lit "though lying save, yet truth saves and saves."

[FN#61] On which she sits to be displayed.

[FN#62] Placed there for the purpose of the ablution prescribed by the ceremonial law.

[FN#63] Speaking, of course, ironically and supposing Bedreddin to be the hunchback.

[FN#64] Bedreddin.

[FN#65] Mosul is a town of Mesopotamia, some two hundred miles N.E. of Baghdad. It is celebrated for its silk and muslin manufactories. The Mosulis doubtless set the fashion in turbans to the inhabitants of Baghdad and Bassora, and it would appear from the Vizier's remark that this fashion was notably different from that followed at Cairo.

[FN#66] Eye-powder. The application of kohl to an infant's eyes is supposed to be beneficial.

[FN#67] The North wind holds the same place in Oriental metaphor and poetry as does the West wind in those of Europe.

[FN#68] Or kernel.

[FN#69] lit. puppet or lay figure.

[FN#70] Mole.

[FN#71] A well-known legist and Cadi of Cufa in the seventh century.

[FN#72] The Sun.

[FN#73] The word melik 'king,' by changing the second (unwritten) vowel to e becomes melek 'angel'.

[FN#74] A measure of about five bushels.

[FN#75] The left hand is considered unclean, being used for certain ablutions, and it is therefore a breach of good manners to use it in eating.

[FN#76] Between the two palaces.

[FN#77] Apparently said in jest.

[FN#78] i.e. do not forget me.

[FN#79] A kind of edible arum.

[FN#80] This is apparently some proverbial saying. The meaning appears to be, "Let every man be judge of his own case."

[FN#81] That none might stare at or jostle her.

[FN#82] About a hundred and twenty-five pounds.

[FN#83] About five hundred pounds.

[FN#84] i.e. of prime cost.

[FN#85] The face of a mistress.

[FN#86] It is a common Oriental figure to liken a languishing eye to a dying narcissus.

[FN#87] One of the companions of Mohammed.

[FN#88] Prater.

[FN#89] Babbler.

[FN#90] Gabbler.

[FN#91] The Stone Mug.

[FN#92] The Braggart.

[FN#93] Noisy.

[FN#94] Silent.

[FN#95] Mohammed.

[FN#96] Or attendant on the people in the bath.

[FN#97] i.e. a stoker or man who keeps up the fire in the baths.

[FN#98] A sort of sermon, which immediately follows, the noontide call to prayer on Fridays.

[FN#99] Preliminary to the call to prayer.

[FN#100] A.H. 623-640.

[FN#101] A leather rug on which they make criminals kneel to be beheaded.

[FN#102] It will be seen that the stories told by the barber do not account for the infirmities of all his brothers, as this would imply.

[FN#103] A formula of refusal.

[FN#104] lit. ladder; a sort of frame, like the triangles to which they bound criminals sentenced to be flogged.

[FN#105] Dinars; 100,000 dirhems would be only five thousand dinars and it will be seen from the sequel that El Feshar proposed to spend half that amount upon the dowry and presents to the tire-women alone.

[FN#106] i.e. try this.

[FN#107] The moon is masculine in Arabic.

[FN#108] Mohammed.

[FN#109] Or Hajji, pilgrim; title given to those who have made the pilgrimage to Mecca.

[FN#110] lit. the fundamentals are remembered.

[FN#111] i.e. chanting the ninety-nine names of God or repeating the words "There is no god but God."

[FN#112] i.e. a fair faced cup bearer.

[FN#113] Generally, the floating ends of the turban. This was for the purpose of concealment and is a common practice with the Bedouins.

[FN#114] The name Kerim means "generous."

[FN#115] Or perhaps "cancelled."

[FN#116] To simulate the customary evidence of virginity.

[FN#117] Names of her waiting women.

[FN#118] Of providence.

[FN#119] i.e. monarch of Persia, the realm of the ancient Kisras or Chosroes.

[FN#120] Fitneh.