A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4 (of 17). Richard Francis Burton
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polite formula for announcing a death.
81
As he died heirless the property lapsed to the Treasury.
82
This shaking the kerchief is a signal to disperse and the action suggests its meaning. Thus it is used in an opposite sense to “throwing the kerchief,” a pseudo-Oriental practice whose significance is generally understood in Europe.
83
The body-guard being of two divisions.
84
Arab. “Hadbá,” lit. “hump-backed;” alluding to the Badawi bier; a pole to which the corpse is slung (Lane). It seems to denote the protuberance of the corpse when placed upon the bier which before was flat. The quotation is from Ka’ab’s Mantle-Poem (Burdah v. 37) “Every son of a female, long though his safety may be, is a day borne upon a
85
This is a high honour to any courtier.
86
“Khatun” in Turk. means any lady: mistress, etc., and follows the name,
87
Or night. A metaphor for rushing into peril.
88
Plur. of kumkum, cucurbite, gourd-shaped vessel, jar.
89
A popular exaggeration for a very expert thief.
90
Arab. “Buka’at al-dam”: lit. the “low place of blood” (where it stagnates): so Al-Buká’ah = Cœlesyria.
91
That common and very unpleasant phrase, full of egotism and self-esteem, “I told you so,” is even more common in the naïve East than in the West. In this case the son’s answer is far superior to the mother’s question.
92
In order to keep his oath to the letter.
93
“Tabannuj” literally “hemping” (drugging with hemp or henbane) is the equivalent in Arab medicine of our “anæsthetics.” These have been used in surgery throughout the East for centuries before ether and chloroform became the fashion in the civilised West.
94
Arab. “Durká’ah,” the lower part of the floor, opposed to the “liwan” or daïs. Liwán = Al-Aywán (Arab. and Pers.) the hall (including the daïs and the sunken parts).
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96
This till very late years was the custom in Persia; and Fath Ali Shah never appeared in scarlet without ordering some horrible cruelties. In Dar-For wearing a red cashmere turban was a sign of wrath and sending a blood-red dress to a subject meant that he would be slain.
97
That is, this robbery was committed in the palace by some one belonging to it. References to vinegar are frequent; that of Egypt being famous in those days. “Optimum et laudatissimum acetum a Romanis habebatur Ægyptum” (Facciolati); and possibly it was sweetened: the Gesta (Tale xvii.) mentions “must and vinegar.” In Arab Proverbs, “One mind by vinegar and another by wine” = each mind goes its own way. (Arab. Prov. ii. 628); or, “with good and bad,” vinegar being spoilt wine.
98
We have not heard the last of this old “dowsing rod”: the latest form of rhabdomancy is an electrical rod invented in the United States.
99
This is the
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The sight of running water makes a Persian long for strong drink as the sight of a fine view makes the Turk feel hungry.
101
Arab. “Min wahid aduww” a peculiarly Egyptian or rather Cairene phrase.
102
Al-Danaf = the Distressing Sickness: the title would be Ahmad the Calamity. Al-Zaybak (the Quicksilver) = Mercury Ali: Hasan “Shuuman” = a pestilent fellow. We shall meet all these worthies again and again: see the Adventures of Mercury Ali of Cairo, Night dccviii., a sequel to The Rogueries of Dalilah, Night dcxcviii.
103
For the “Sacrifice-place of Ishmael” (not Isaac) see my Pilgrimage (iii. 306). According to all Arab ideas Ishmael, being the eldest son, was the chief of the family after his father. I have noted that this is the old old quarrel between the Arabs and their cousins the Hebrews.
104
This black-mail was still paid to the Badawin of Ramlah (Alexandria) till the bombardment in 1881.
105
The famous Issus of Cilicia, now a port-village on the Gulf of Scanderoon.
106
Arab. “Wada’á” = the
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Arab. “Sakati” = a dealer in “castaway” articles, such as old metal, damaged goods, the pluck and feet of animals, etc.
108
The popular tale of Burckhardt’s death in Cairo was that the names of the three first Caliphs were found written upon his slipper-soles and that he was put to death by decree of the Olema. It is the merest nonsense, as the great traveller died of dysentery in the house of my old friend John Thurburn and was buried outside the Bab al-Nasr of Cairo, where his tomb was restored by the late Rogers Bay (Pilgrimage i. 123).
109
Prob. a mis-spelling for Arslán, in Turk, a lion, and in slang a piastre.
110
Arab. “Maka’ad”; lit. = sitting-room.
111
Arab. “Khammárah”; still the popular term throughout Egypt for a European Hotel. It is not always intended to be insulting but it is, meaning the place where Franks meet to drink forbidden drinks.
112
A reminiscence of Mohammed who cleansed the Ka’abah of its 360 idols (of which 73 names are given by Freytag, Einleitung, etc. pp. 270, 342-57) by touching them with his staff, whereupon all fell to the ground; and the Prophet cried (Koran xvii. 84), “Truth is come, and falsehood is vanished: verily, falsehood is a thing that vanisheth” (magna est veritas, etc.). Amongst the “idols” are said to have been a statue of Abraham and the horns of the ram sacrificed in lieu of Ishmael, which (if true) would prove conclusively that the Abrahamic legend at Meccah is of ancient date and not a fiction of Al-Islam. Hence, possibly, the respect of the Judaising Tobbas of Himyarland for the Ka’abah (Pilgrimage, iii. 295).
113
This was evidently written by a Sunni as the Shí’ahs claim to be the only true Moslems. Lane tells an opposite story (ii. 329). It suggests the common question in the South of Europe, “Are you a Christian or a Protestant?”
114
Arab. “Ana fí jírat-ak!” a phrase to be remembered as useful in time of danger.