The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I. Commonly Called the...

Note 87. In the old version, two strange errors occur in the passage corresponding with this: two words in the original, "nár" and "doon," having been mistaken for a proper name; and the word "jebbár," which, applied to God, signifies "almighty," or rather the "Compeller of his creatures to do whatsoever He willeth," being taken in the sense of "giant," which it bears in many other cases.

Note 88.—On Martyrs. The Mohammadan law distinguishes several different descriptions of martyrs. This honourable title is given to the soldier who dies in fighting for the faith, or on his way to do so, or who dies almost immediately after his having been wounded when so engaged; to a person who innocently meets with his death from the hand of another; to a victim of the plague, who does not flee from the disease, or of dysentery; to a person who is drowned; and to one who is killed by the falling of a wall or any building. It is said that the souls of martyrs, after quitting their bodies, reside, until the day of resurrection, in the crops of green birds, which eat of the fruits, and drink of the waters, of Paradise. Such we are to consider as the first and lowest state of felicity to which the young prince in this tale was introduced as the reward of his virtue.

Note 89. The share inherited, according to the law, by the wife, or by the wives conjointly when there are more than one, is one-eighth of what remains of the property of the deceased after the discharge of his debts and legacies, if he have left issue; and one-fourth, if he have left no issue.

Note 91.—On the Magnificence of Arab Palaces, &c. After remarking upon the preceding sentence as presenting an instance of Oriental hyperbole, it may be necessary to inform the reader that he needs not regard this in the same light. The magnificence of the palaces of Baghdád in the times of the Khaleefehs almost exceeds belief.

In the beginning of the year of the Flight 305 (June, A.D. 917), two ambassadors from the Greek Emperor (Constantine IX., Porphyrogenitus) arrived in Baghdád on a mission to the Khaleefeh El-Muḳtedir, bringing an abundance of costly presents; and the scenes which they witnessed are thus described; apparently, however, not without some exaggeration. They were first received by the Wezeer, who, at the audience which he granted to them in his garden-palace, displayed on this occasion a degree of magnificence that had never before been manifested by any of his rank; pages, memlooks, and soldiers, crowded the avenues and courts of his mansion, the apartments of which were hung with tapestry of the value of thirty thousand deenárs; and the Wezeer himself was surrounded by generals and other officers on his right and left and behind his seat, when the two ambassadors approached him, dazzled by the splendour that surrounded them, to beg for an interview with the Khaleefeh. El-Muḳtedir, having appointed a day on which he would receive them, ordered that the courts and passages and avenues of his palace should be filled with armed men, and that all the apartments should be furnished with the utmost magnificence.

A hundred and sixty thousand armed soldiers were arranged in ranks in the approach to the palace; next to these were the pages of the closets, and chief eunuchs, clad in silk and with belts set with jewels, in number seven thousand; four thousand white, and three thousand black: there were also seven hundred chamberlains; and beautifully ornamented boats of various kinds were seen floating upon the Tigris, hard by. The two ambassadors passed first by the palace of the chief chamberlain, and, astonished at the splendid ornaments and pages and arms which they there beheld, imagined that this was the palace of the Khaleefeh; but what they had seen here was eclipsed by what they beheld in the latter, where they were amazed by the sight of thirty-eight thousand pieces of tapestry of gold-embroidered silk brocade, and twenty-two thousand magnificent carpets. Here also were two menageries of beasts by nature wild, but tamed by art, and eating from the hands of men: among them were a hundred lions; each lion with its keeper. They then entered the Palace of the Tree, enclosing a pond from which rose the Tree: this had eighteen branches, with leaves of various colours (being artificial), and with birds of gold and silver (or gilt and silvered) of every variety of kind and size, perched upon its branches, so constructed that each of them sang. Thence they passed into the garden, in which were furniture and utensils not to be enumerated: in the passages leading to it were suspended ten thousand gilt coats of mail.

Being at length conducted before El-Muḳtedir, they found him seated on a couch of ebony inlaid with gold and silver, to the right of which were hung nine necklaces of jewels, and the like to the left, the jewels of which outshone the light of day. The two ambassadors paused at the distance of about a hundred cubits from the Khaleefeh, with the interpreter. Having left the presence, they were conducted through the palace, and were shewn splendidly-caparisoned elephants, a giraffe, lynxes, and other beasts. They were then clad with robes of honour, and to each of them was brought fifty thousand dirhems, together with dresses and other presents. It is added, that the ambassadors approached the palace through a street called "the Street of the Menárehs," in which were a thousand menárehs, or menarets. It was at the hour of noon; and as they passed, the muëddins from all these menárehs chanted the call to prayer at the same time, so that the earth almost quaked at the sound, and the ambassadors were struck with fear.274

The Orientals well understand how to give the most striking effect to the jewels which they display on their dress, &c., on occasions of state. Sir John Malcolm, describing his reception by the late King of Persia, says, "His dress baffled all description. The ground of his robes was white; but he was so covered with jewels of an extraordinary size, and their splendour, from his being seated where the rays of the sun played upon them, was so dazzling, that it was impossible to distinguish the minute parts which combined to give such amazing brilliancy to his whole figure."275

Note 93. Every person who has visited Eastern cities will bear testimony to the plausibility of this excuse. I have several times been thrown down by the wide load of a camel in the streets of Cairo, and seen loads of firewood scraping the houses on both sides of a street at the same time.

Note 97. This allusion to religious faith is peculiarly apt in the mouth of a Muslim; for the chief dogma of his creed is the denial of any partnership in the Divine essence. He calls persons of all other religions "mushriks," or those who attribute partners to God.