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

Note 1. The next story to that of Ghánim, in my original, is one of very great length, comprising the greater part of the forty-fourth night and extending to the end of the hundred and forty-fifth; but interrupted by the contents of my eighth chapter, which consists of two stories of a very different kind, that appear to have been introduced to relieve its tediousness. With these, it occupies nearly 162 pages, or not much less than an eighth part of the whole work. It is the story of the King 'Omar En-Noạmán, and his two sons Sharr-kán360 and Ḍó-el-Mekán,361 and his daughter Nuzhet-ez-Zemán,362 &c. It is entirely a fiction, professedly relating to the first century of the Mohammadan era, "before the reign of the Khaleefeh 'Abd-El-Melik the son of Marwán;" and its main subject is a war with two Greek Kings. Taken altogether, I deem it unworthy of a place in the present series of tales; and so much of it depends upon incidents of a most objectionable nature, that I cannot attempt to abridge it; but a pleasant tale might be composed from it by considerable alterations.

One of the two stories which I have extracted from it, that of Táj-el-Mulook and the Lady Dunyà, bears apparent indications of a Persian origin; but in their present state, the manners and customs &c. which both exhibit are Arab. The scenes of the events narrated in the story of Táj-el-Mulook are in Persia and, probably, in India; but imaginary names appear to be given to the several kingdoms mentioned in it: the kingdom of El-Arḍ el-Khaḍrà ("the Green Country") and El-'Amoodeyn (which signifies "the Two Columns") is said to include the mountains of Iṣpahán, and its locality is thereby sufficiently indicated: that of El-Arḍ el-Beyḍà ("the White Country") I suppose to be in Persia or India: and as to the Islands of Camphor, I fancy we must be content to consider them vaguely as appertaining to India: the country in which 'Azeez and 'Azeezeh resided is said to have been near to the Islands of Camphor; but their story is perfectly Arab.—The Island of Camphor is also mentioned in the Story of Ḥasan of El-Baṣrah.

Note 5.—On Coats of Mail, and other Armour worn by the Arabs. The Prophet David is said to have been the first person who manufactured coats of mail; and the cause of his applying himself to the art was this.—"He used to go forth in disguise; and when he found any people who knew him not, he approached them and asked them respecting the conduct of Dáood (or David), and they praised him and prayed for him; but one day as he was asking questions respecting himself as usual, God sent to him an angel in the form of a human being, who said, 'An excellent man were Dáood if he did not take from the public treasury:'—whereupon the heart of Dáood was contracted, and he begged of God to render him independent: so He made iron soft to him, and it became in his hands as thread; and he used to sell a coat of mail for four thousand [pieces of money—whether gold or silver is not said], and with part of this he obtained food for himself, and part he gave in alms, and with part he fed his family."363—Hence an excellent coat of mail is often called by the Arabs "Dáoodee," i. e. "Davidean." This kind of armour is worn by some Arabs of the Desert in the present day; but the best specimens, I believe, are mostly found in India.

Burckhardt mentions one tribe of Arabs who have about twenty-five; another, two hundred; and two others, between thirty and forty. "The dora [properly dirạ] is," he remarks, "of two sorts, one covering the whole body like a long gown from the elbow, over the shoulders, down to the knees: this is the sirgh: the other, called kembáz, covers the body only to the waist; the arms from the elbows downwards being covered with two pieces of steel, fitting into each other, with iron fingers. Thus clad, the Arab completes his armour by putting on his head an iron cap (tás), which is but rarely adorned with feathers. The price of a coat of mail fluctuates from two hundred to fifteen hundred piastres.... Those of the best quality are capable of resisting a ball."364 The coat of mail is sometimes worn within the ordinary outer tunic.

Note 7.—On Public Royal Feasts. On certain periodical festivals, and on other occasions (as those of the kind here described), it has long been, and still is, a custom of Muslim princes to give public feasts to all classes of their subjects, in the palace. El-Maḳreezee quotes a curious account of the feasts which were given on the festival following Ramaḍán to the inhabitants of Cairo, by the Fáṭimee Khaleefehs.365 At the upper end of a large saloon was placed the sereer (or couch) of the monarch, upon which he sat with the Wezeer on his right. Upon this seat was placed a round silver table, with various delicacies, of which they alone ate. Before it, and extending nearly from the seat to the other extremity of the saloon, was set up a kind of table or platform (simáṭ) of painted wood, resembling a number of benches placed together, ten cubits (or about eighteen or nineteen feet) in width. Along the middle of this were arranged twenty-one enormous dishes, each containing twenty-one baked sheep, three years old, and fat; together with fowls, chickens, and young pigeons, in number three hundred and fifty of each kind; all of which were piled together in an oblong form, to the height of the stature of a man, and enclosed with dry sweetmeat. The spaces between these dishes were occupied by nearly five hundred other dishes of earthenware; each of which contained seven fowls, and was filled up with sweetmeats of various kinds. The table was strewn with flowers; and cakes of bread made of the finest flower were arranged along each side.

There were also two great edifices of sweetmeats, each weighing seventeen hundred-weights, which were carried thither by porters with shoulder-poles; and one of these was placed at the commencement, and the other at the close, of this sumptuous banquet. When the Khaleefeh and Wezeer had taken their seats upon the couch, the officers of state who were distinguished by neck-rings or collars,366 and the inferior members of the court, seated themselves in the order of their respective ranks; and when they had eaten, they gave place to others. Two such feasts, given on the festival after Ramaḍán and on the "great festival," cost four thousand deenárs, or about two thousand pounds sterling.—Two military officers, named Ibn-Fáïz and Ed-Deylemee, distinguished themselves at these feasts in a very remarkable manner. Each of them used to eat a baked sheep, and ten fowls dressed with sweetmeats, and ten pounds of sweetmeats besides, and was presented with a quantity of food carried away from the feast to his house, together with a large sum of money. One of them had been a prisoner at 'Asḳalán; and after he had remained there some time, the person into whose power he had fallen jestingly told him that if he would eat a calf belonging to him, the flesh of which weighed several hundred-weights, he would emancipate him. This feat he accomplished, and thus he obtained his liberation.367

Several cases of a similar kind to those just mentioned are instanced in a late work. One of a man who, as related by Vopiscus, was brought before the Emperor Maximilian [sic], and who devoured a whole calf, and was proceeding to eat up a sheep, but was prevented. Another, of a man who commenced his repast (in the presence of Dr. Boehmen, of Wittenberg,) by eating a raw sheep and a sucking pig, and, by way of dessert, swallowed sixty pounds of prunes, stones and all. A third, of an attendant of the menagerie of the Botanical Garden in Paris, who used to devour all the offals of the Theatre of Comparative Anatomy, and ate a dead lion in one day.368

Note 8.—On Litters for Travelling. The kind of litter borne by mules is generally one resembling the pálkee (or palanquin): it is borne by four of these animals, two before and two behind, or by two only, or more commonly by two camels, and sometimes by two horses. When borne by camels, the head of the hindmost of these animals is painfully bent down, under the vehicle. It is the most comfortable kind of litter; and two light persons may travel in it. The name generally given to it is "takhtarawán," or "takht-rawán;" but the term employed in the passage to which this note refers is "miḥaffeh," which is often used as a general name for a camel-litter, and particularly applied to one with a flat top.—A very common kind of camel-litter, called "musaṭṭaḥ," or "ḥeml musaṭṭaḥ," resembles a small square tent, and is chiefly composed of two long chests, each of which has a high back: these are placed on the camel in the same manner as a pair of panniers, one on each side; and the high backs, which are placed outwards, together with a small pole resting on the camel's pack-saddle, support the covering which forms what may be called the tent. This vehicle accommodates two persons. It is generally open at the front; and may also be opened at the back. Though it appears comfortable, the motion is uneasy; especially when it is placed upon a camel that has been accustomed to carry heavy burdens: but camels of easy pace are generally chosen for bearing litters.—Another kind of litter, called "shibreeyeh," is composed of a small square platform with an arched covering.

This accommodates but one person; and is placed on the back of the camel: two saḥḥárahs (or square camel-chests), one on each side of the animal, generally form a foundation for it.—The musaṭṭaḥ and shibreeyeh (but particularly the latter) are also called "hódaj."

Note 17. My sheykh has remarked in a marginal note, that this sign may allude to her heart, or to her sighing because she enjoys not the union she desires (as expressed immediately after); and that the latter is more probable, as the action is one common with persons in grief.

Note 18.—On Conversing and Corresponding by means of Signs, Emblems, Metaphors, &c. Many persons of the instructed classes, and some others, among the Arabs, often take delight, and shew much ingenuity and quickness of apprehension, in conversing and corresponding by means of signs, emblems, &c., or in a conventional, metaphorical, language, not understood by the vulgar in general, and sometimes not by any except the parties engaged in the intercourse. In some cases, when the main metaphor employed is understood, the rest of the conversation becomes easily intelligible without any previous explanation; and I have occasionally succeeded in carrying on a conversation of this kind (though not in cases such as that described in the tale referred to by this note); but I have more frequently been unsuccessful in attempting to divine the nature of a topic in which other persons were engaged. One simple mode of secret conversation or correspondence is by substituting certain letters for other letters.

Many of the women are said to be adepts in this art, or science, and to convey messages, declarations of love, &c., by means of fruits, flowers, and other emblems. The inability of numbers of females in families of the middle classes to write or read, as well as the difficulty or impossibility frequently existing of conveying written letters, may have given rise to such modes of communication. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, in one of her charming letters from the East, has gratified our curiosity by a Turkish love-letter of this kind.369 A specimen of one from an Arab, with its answer, may be here added.—An Arab lover sent to his mistress a fan, a bunch of flowers, a silk tassel, some sugar-candy, and a piece of a chord of a musical instrument; and she returned for answer a piece of an aloe-plant, three black cumin-seeds, and a piece of a plant used in washing.370 His communication is thus interpreted:—The fan, being called "mirwaḥah," a word derived from a root which has among its meanings that of "going to any place in the evening," signified his wish to pay her an evening visit: the flowers, that the interview should be in her garden: the tassel, being called "shurrábeh," that they should have sharáb371 (or wine): the sugar-candy, being termed "sukkar nebát," and "nebát" also signifying "we will pass the night," denoted his desire to remain in her company until the morning: and the piece of a chord, that they should be entertained by music.

The interpretation of her answer is as follows:—The piece of an aloe-plant, which is called "ṣabbárah" (from "ṣabr," which signifies "patience"—because it will live for many months together without water), implied that he must wait: the three black cumin-seeds explained to him that the period of delay should be three nights: and the plant used in washing informed him that she should then have gone to the bath, and would meet him.372—I have omitted one symbol in the lady's answer, as it conveys an allusion not so consistent with European as with Arab notions of female delicacy.

The language of flowers employed by the Turks does not exactly agree with the system illustrated in the story of 'Azeez and 'Azeezeh; for the former consists of a collection of words and phrases or sentences which rhyme with the names of the objects used as the signs.373 This system is also employed by the Arabs; but I believe not so commonly as the other.

A remarkable faculty is displayed by some Arabs in catching the meaning of secret signs employed in written communications to them; such signs being often used in political and other intrigues. The following is a curious instance.—The celebrated poet El-Mutanebbee, having written some verses in dispraise of Káfoor El-Ikhsheedee the independent Governor of Egypt, was obliged to flee, and hide himself in a distant town. Káfoor was informed of his retreat, and desired his secretary to write to him a letter promising him pardon, and commanding him to return; but told the writer at the same time, that when the poet came he would punish him. The secretary was a friend of the poet, and, being obliged to read the letter to the Prince when he had written it, was perplexed how to convey to El-Mutanebbee some indication of the danger that awaited him: he could only venture to do so in the exterior address; and having written this in the usual form, commencing "In sháa-lláh" (If it be the will of God) "this shall arrive," &c., he put a small mark of reduplication over the "n" in the first word, which he thus converted into "Inna;" the filial vowel being understood. The poet read the letter, and was rejoiced to see a promise of pardon; but on looking a second time at the address, was surprised to observe the mark of reduplication over the "n."

Knowing the writer to be his friend, he immediately suspected a secret meaning, and rightly conceived that the sign conveyed an allusion to a passage in the Ḳur-án commencing with the word "Inna," and this he divined to be the following:—"Verily the magistrates are deliberating concerning thee, to put thee to death."374 Accordingly, he fled to another town.—Some authors add, that he wrote a reply, conveying, by a similar sign, to his friend, an allusion to another passage in the Ḳur-án:—"We will never enter the country while they remain therein."375—It is probable that signs thus employed were used by many persons to convey allusions to certain words; and such may have been the case in the above-mentioned instance: if not, the poet was indeed a wonderful guesser.

Note 19. Perhaps it is unnecessary to explain that the actions here described are those of a dyer, dipping a piece of linen into a red dye, and then wringing it. The shop of the dyer is generally, like most other shops, a small chamber or recess open towards the street. Pans containing the different dyes are imbedded in its floor.

Note 20. "Maḳ'ad" is a name generally given to a chamber in which male guests or visiters are received, having an open front with two or more arches, and looking into the court or garden of the house. Its floor is elevated about ten or more feet above the ground, and the front is usually towards the north, or nearly so.

Note 21. I suppose it to be meant, that these designs were executed in a kind of mosaic work; for the pool of the fountain is generally ornamented with black and white marble, and pieces of fine red tile, inlaid in complicated and tasteful patterns. A view and plan of a fountain of this kind are inserted in the Introduction to my work on the Modern Egyptians.

Note 22. "Baḳláweh," from the Turkish "baḳláva," is a name given to a kind of pastry, which is generally thus prepared:—A paste made of fine flour with clarified butter is rolled thin, and laid upon a tray: upon this paste is then spread a composition of clarified butter and blanched almonds (and sometimes walnuts and currants) beaten small; and over this is put another layer of paste. Eight of these double layers of paste with the composition above mentioned between them are placed one upon another, making the whole about an inch thick. It is baked in an oven; cut into lozenge-shaped pieces, about three inches long, and two inches wide; and after it is thus cut, some honey or treacle is poured over.

Note 24. It is a general belief of the Muslims that the wicked will rise to judgment with their faces black; and hence the origin of the imprecation, "May God blacken thy face!" But it is often used to signify "May God disgrace thee!" for a person's face is said to be black when he is in any disgrace; and in the reverse case, it is said to be white.376

Note 26. By the play-bone and the ṭáb-stick an allusion is conveyed to two games common among the Arabs. The play-bones are used in the same manner as dice, of which they are probably the origin; and both bear the same name in the Arabic, in the singular "kaạb" or "kaạbeh," that is, "a cube." Of the game of ṭáb I have given a full account in my work on the Modern Egyptians (vol. ii. ch. iv.). I need only mention here, that the ṭáb-stick is of a flat form, about a span (or eight inches) in length, and two-thirds of an inch in breadth, generally formed of a piece of a palm-branch; one side of which, being cut flat and smooth, is white; the other, green, or, if not fresh, of a dull yellow colour. Four such sticks are used in playing the game.

Note 28. El-Ḳazweenee makes a remark somewhat similar to this at the close of his account of the date; but the interpretation of the meaning conveyed by the date-stone in our text is very far-fetched: my sheykh, in a marginal note, gives one perfectly apposite: the date-stone is called "nawáyeh," and more properly "nawáh" and "nawà;" and the last of these words signifies also "distance," "absence," &c., and is often used to express the state of one who is far from loving or being a lover: it implies also, in this case, that, if he slept again, she would cast him off.

Note 30. "Dirhem," I have before mentioned, is the name of a silver coin: it is also the name of a weight, very nearly equivalent to forty-eight English grains; and being here described as of iron, we must understand it in the latter sense.