CONTENTS OF THE SEVENTH VOLUME. (continued 1)
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Now when it was the Six Hundred and Eightieth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Gharib caught Murad Shah by the ears and well nigh tore them off he cried, “I yield myself to thy mercy, O Knight of the Age!” So Gharib bound him, and the Marids his comrades would have charged and rescued him, but Gharib fell on them with a thousand Marids and was about to smite them down, when they cried out, “Quarter! Quarter!” and threw away their arms. Then Gharib returned to his Shahmiyánah which was of green silk, embroidered with red gold and set with pearls and gems; and, seating himself on his throne, called for Murad Shah. So they brought him, shuffling in his manacles and shackles. When the prisoner saw him, he hung down his head for shame; and Gharib said to him, “O dog of the Arabs, who art thou that thou shouldst ride forth and measure thyself against kings?” Replied Murad Shah, “O my lord, reproach me not, for indeed I have excuse.” Quoth Gharib, “What manner of excuse hast thou?”; And quoth he, “Know, O my lord, that I came out to avenge my mother and my father on Sabur, King of the Persians; for he would have slain them; but my mother escaped and I know not whether he killed my father or not.” When Gharib heard these words, he replied, “By Allah, thou art indeed excusable! But who were thy father and mother and what are their names?” Murad Shah said, “My sire was Gharib, King of Al-Irak, and my mother Fakhr Taj, daughter of King Sabur of Persia.” When Gharib heard this, he gave a great cry and fell down fainting.
They sprinkled rose-water on him, till he came to himself, when he said to Murad Shah, “Art thou indeed Gharib’s son by Fakhr Taj?”; and he replied, “Yes.” Cried Gharib, “Thou art a champion, the son of a champion. Loose my child!” And Sahim and Kaylajan went up to Murad Shah and set him free. Then Gharib embraced his son and, seating him beside himself, said to him, “Where is thy mother?” “She is with me in my tent,” answered Murad Shah; and Gharib said, “Bring her to me.” So Murad Shah mounted and repaired to his camp, where his comrades met him, rejoicing in his safety, and asked him of his case; but he answered, “This is no time for questions.” Then he went in to his mother and told her what had passed; whereat she was gladdened with exceeding gladness: so he carried her to Gharib, and they two embraced and rejoiced in each other. Then Fakhr Taj and Murad Shah islamised and expounded The Faith to their troops, who all made profession with heart and tongue. After this, Gharib sent for Sabur and his son Ward Shah, and upbraided them for their evil dealing and expounded Al-Islam to them; but they refused to profess; wherefore he crucified them on the gate of the city and the people decorated the town and held high festival. Then Gharib crowned Murad Shah with the crown of the Chosroes and made him King of the Persians and Turks and Medes; moreover, he made his uncle Al-Damigh, King over Al-Irak, and all the peoples and lands submitted themselves to Gharib.
Then he abode in his kingship, doing justice among his lieges, wherefore all the people loved him, and he and his wives and comrades ceased not from all solace of life, till there came to them the Destroyer of Delights and Sunderer of Societies, and extolled be the perfection of Him whose glory endureth for ever and aye and whose boons embrace all His creatures! This is every thing that hath come down to us of the history of Gharib and Ajib.——And Abdullah bin Ma’amar al-Kaysi hath thus related the tale of
Source notes
1. Mayyáfárikín, whose adjective for shortness is “Fárikí”: the place is often mentioned in the Nights as the then capital of Diyár Bakr, thirty parasangs from Násibín, the classical Nisibis, between the upper Euphrates and Tigris.
2. This proportion is singular to moderns but characterised Arab and more especially Turcoman armies.
3. Such is the bathos caused by the Saja’-assonance: in the music of the Arabic it contrasts strangely with the baldness of translation. The same is the case with the Koran, beautiful in the original and miserably dull in European languages; it is like the glorious style of the “Anglican Version” by the side of its bastard brothers in Hindostani or Marathi; one of these marvels of stupidity translating the “Lamb of God” by “God’s little goat.”
4. This incident is taken from the Life of Mohammed who, in the “Year of Missions” (A.H. 7) sent letters to foreign potentates bidding them embrace Al-Islam; and, his seal being in three lines, Mohammed | Apostle | of Allah, Khusrau Parwíz (= the Charming) was offended because his name was placed below Mohammed’s. So he tore the letter in pieces adding, says Firdausi, these words:—
Hath the Arab’s daring performed such feat,
Fed on camel’s milk and the lizard’s meat,
That he cast on Kayánian crown his eye?
Fie, O whirling world! on thy faith and fie!
Hearing of this insult Mohammed exclaimed, “Allah shall tear his kingdom!” a prophecy which was of course fulfilled, or we should not have heard of it. These lines are horribly mutilated in the Dabistan iii. 99.
5. This “Taklíd” must not be translated “girt on the sword.” The Arab carries his weapon by a baldrick or bandoleer passed over his right shoulder. In modern days the “Majdal” over the left shoulder supports on the right hip a line of Tatárif or brass cylinders for cartridges: the other cross-belt (Al-Masdar) bears on the left side the Kharízah or bullet-pouch of hide; and the Hizám or waist-belt holds the dagger and extra cartridges. (Pilgrimage iii. 90.)
6. Arab. “Bab,” which may mean door or gate. The plural form (Abwáb) occurs in the next line, meaning that he displayed all manner of martial prowess.
7. Arab. “Farrásh” (also used in Persian), a man of general utility who pitches tents, sweeps the floors, administers floggings, etc. etc. (Pilgrimage iii. 90).
8. i.e. the slogan-cry of “Allaho Akbar,” which M. C. Barbier de Meynard compares with the Christian “Te Deum.”
9. The Anglo-Indian term for the Moslem rite of killing animals for food. (Pilgrimage i. 377.)
10. Arab “tawílan jiddan”—a hideous Cairenism in these days; but formerly used by Al-mas’údí and other good writers.
11. Arab “’Ajwah,” enucleated dates pressed together into a solid mass so as to be sliced with a knife like cold pudding. The allusion is to the dough-idols of the Hanífah tribe, whose eating their gods made the saturnine Caliph Omar laugh.
12. Mr. Payne writes “Julned.” In a fancy name we must not look for grammar; but a quiescent lám (l) followed by nún (n) is unknown to Arabic while we find sundry cases of “lan” (fath’d lám and nún), and Jalandah means noxious or injurious. In Oman also there was a dynasty called Julándah, for which see Mr. Badger xiii:. and passim.
13. Doubtless for Jawán-mard—un giovane, a brave. (See vol. iv., p. 208).
14. Mr. Payne transposes the distichs, making the last first. I have followed the Arabic order finding it in the Mac. and Bul. Edits. (ii. 129).
15. Al-Irak like Al-Yaman may lose the article in verse.
16. Arab. “Ka’ka’at”: hence Jabal Ka’ka’án, the higher levels in Meccah, of old inhabited by the Jurhamites and so called from their clashing and jangling arms; whilst the Amalekites dwelt in the lower grounds called Jiyád from their generous steeds (Pilgrimage iii. 191).
17. Al-Shara’, a mountain in Arabia.
18. See vol. vi., 249. “This (mace) is a dangerous weapon when struck on the shoulders or unguarded arm: I am convinced that a blow with it on a head armoured with a salade (cassis cælata, a light iron helmet) would stun a man” (says La Brocquière).
19. Oman, which the natives pronounce “Amán,” is the region best known by its capital, Maskat. These are the Omana Moscha and Omanum Emporium of Ptolemy and the Periplus. Ibn Batutah writes Ammán, but the best dictionaries give “Oman.” (N.B.—Mr. Badger, p. 1, wrongly derives Sachalitis from “Sawáhíly”: it is evidently “Sáhili.”) The people bear by no means the best character: Ibn Batutah (fourteenth century) says, “their wives are most base; yet, without denying this, their husbands express nothing like jealousy on the subject.” (Lee, p. 62.)
20. The name I have said of a quasi historical personage, son of Joktan, the first Arabist and the founder of the Tobbá (“successor”) dynasty in Al-Yaman; while Jurham, his brother, established that of Al-Hijaz. The name is probably chosen because well-known.
21. Arab “Hákim”: lit. one who orders; often confounded by the unscientific with Hakím, a doctor, a philosopher. The latter re-appears in the Heb. Khákhám applied in modern days to the Jewish scribe who takes the place of the Rabbi.
22. As has been seen, acids have ever been and are still administered as counter-inebriants, while hot spices and sweets greatly increase the effect of Bhang, opium, henbane, datura, &c. The Persians have a most unpleasant form of treating men when dead-drunk with wine or spirits. They hang them up by the heels, as we used to do with the drowned, and stuff their mouths with human ordure which is sure to produce emesis.
23. Compare the description of the elephant-faced Vetála (Kathá S.S. Fasc. xi. p. 388).
24. The lover’s name Sá’ik = the Striker (with lightning); Najmah, the beloved = the star.
25. I have modified the last three lines of the Mac. Edit. which contain a repetition evidently introduced by the carelessness of the copyist.
26. The Hindu Charvakas explain the Triad, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, by the sexual organs and upon Vishnu’s having four arms they gloss, “At the time of sexual intercourse, each man and woman has as many.” (Dabistan ii. 202). This is the Eastern view of Rabelais’ “beast with two backs.”
27. Arab. “Rabbat-i,” my she Lord, fire (nár) being feminine.
28. The prose-rhyme is answerable for this galimatias.
29. A common phrase equivalent to our “started from his head.”
30. Arab. “Máridúna” = rebels (against Allah and his orders).
31. Arab. Yáfis or Yáfat. He had eleven sons and was entitled Abú al-Turk because this one engendered the Turcomans as others did the Chinese, Scythians, Slaves (Saklab), Gog, Magog, and the Muscovites or Russians. According to the Moslems there was a rapid falling off in size amongst this family. Noah’s grave at Karak (the Ruin) a suburb of Zahlah, in La Brocquière’s “Valley of Noah, where the Ark was built,” is 104 ft. 10 in. long by 8 ft. 8 in. broad. (N.B.—It is a bit of the old aqueduct which Mr. Porter, the learned author of the “Giant Cities of Bashan,” quotes as a “traditional memorial of primeval giants”—talibus carduis pascuntur asini!). Nabi Ham measures only 9 ft. 6 in. between headstone and tombstone, being in fact about as long as his father was broad.