The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 01 (of 10) Chapter 10: Part 10

heart. Footnote 7: Debauched women prefer negroes on account of the size of their parts. I measured one man in Somali-land who, when quiescent, numbered nearly six inches. This is a characteristic of the negro race and of African animals: _e.g._ the horse; whereas the pure Arab, man and beast, is below the average of Europe; one of the best proofs by the by, that the Egyptian is not an Asiatic, but a negro partially whitewashed. Moreover, these imposing parts do not increase proportionally during erection; consequently, the "deed of kind" takes a much longer time and adds greatly to the woman's enjoyment. In my time no honest Hindi Moslem would take his womenfolk to Zanzibar on account of the huge attractions and enormous temptations there and thereby offered to them. Upon the subject of Imsák=retention of semen and "prolongation of pleasure," I shall find it necessary to say more. Footnote 8: The very same words were lately spoken in England proving the eternal truth of The Nights which the ignorant call "downright lies." Footnote 9: The Arab's _Tue la!_ Footnote 10: Arab. "Sayd wa kanas": the former usually applied to fishing; hence Sayda (Sidon)=fish-town. But noble Arabs (except the Caliph Al-Amin) do not fish; so here it means simply "sport," chasing, coursing, birding (oiseler), and so forth. Footnote 11: In the Mac. Edit, the negro is called "Mas'úd"; here he utters a kind of war-cry and plays upon the name, Sa'ád, Sa'íd, Sa'úd, and Mas'ud, all being derived from one root, "Sa'ad"=auspiciousness, prosperity. Footnote 12: The Arab singular (whence the French "génie"); fem. Jinniyah; the Div and Rakshah of old Guebre-land and the "Rakshasa," or "Yaksha," of Hinduism. It would be interesting to trace the evident connection, by no means "accidental," of "Jinn" with the "Genius" who came to the Romans through the Asiatic Etruscans, and whose name I cannot derive from "gignomai" or "genitus." He was unknown to the Greeks, who had the Daimon (δαίμον), a family which separated, like the Jinn and the Genius, into two categories, the good (Agatho-dæmons) and the bad (Kako-dæmons). We know nothing concerning the status of the Jinn amongst the pre-Moslemitic or pagan Arabs: the Moslems made him a supernatural anthropoid being, created of subtile fire (Koran, chapts. xv. 27; lv. 14), not of earth like man, propagating his kind, ruled by mighty kings, the last being Ján bin Ján, missionarised by Prophets and subject to death and Judgment. From the same root are "Junún"=madness (_i.e._, possession or obsession by the Jinn) and "Majnún"=a madman. According to R. Jeremiah bin Eliazar in Psalm xli. 5, Adam was excommunicated for one hundred and thirty years, during which he begat children in his own image (Gen. v. 3) and these were Mazikeen or Shedeem—Jinns. Further details anent the Jinn will presently occur. Footnote 13: Arab "Amsár" (cities): in Bul. Edit. "Amtár" (rains), as in Mac. Edit. So Mr. Payne (I., 5) translates:— And when she flashes forth the lightning of her glance, She maketh eyes to rain, like showers, with many a tear. I would render it, "She makes whole cities shed tears;" and prefer it for a reason which will generally influence me—its superior exaggeration and impossibility. Footnote 14: Not "A-frit," pronounced Aye-frit, as our poets have it. This variety of the Jinn, who, as will be shown, are divided into two races like mankind, is generally, but not always, a malignant being, hostile and injurious to mankind (Koran xxvii. 39). Footnote 15: _i.e._, "I conjure thee by Allah;" the formula is technically called "Inshád." Footnote 16: This introducing the name of Allah into an indecent tale is essentially Egyptian and Cairene. But see Boccacio ii. 6; and vii. 9. Footnote 17: So in the Mac. Edit.; in others "ninety." I prefer the greater number as exaggeration is a part of the humour. In the Hindu "Kathá Sárit Ságara" (Sea of the Streams of Story), the rings are one hundred and the catastrophe is more moral; the good youth Yashodhara rejects the wicked one's advances; she awakes the water-sprite, who is about to slay him, but the rings are brought as testimony and the improper young person's nose is duly cut off. (Chapt. lxiii.; p. 80, of the excellent translation by Prof. C. H. Tawney: for the Bibliotheca Indica: Calcutta, 1881.) The Kathá, etc., by Somadeva (century xi), is a poetical version of the prose compendium, the "Vrihat Kathá" (Great Story) by Gunadhya (cent. vi). Footnote 18: The Joseph of the Koran, very different from him of Genesis. We shall meet him often enough in The Nights. Footnote 19: "Iblis," vulgarly written "Eblis," from a root meaning The Despairer, with a suspicious likeness to Diabolos; possibly from "Balas," a profligate. Some translate it The Calumniator, as Satan is the Hater. Iblis (who appears in the Arab. version of the N. Testament) succeeded another revolting angel Al-Haris; and his story of pride, refusing to worship Adam, is told four times in the Koran from the Talmud (Sanhedrim 29). He caused Adam and Eve to lose Paradise (ii. 34); he still betrays mankind (xxv. 31), and at the end of time he, with the other devils, will be "gathered together on their knees round Hell" (xix. 69). He has evidently had the worst of the game and we wonder, with Origen, Tillotson, Burns and many others, that he does not throw up the cards. Footnote 20: A similar tale is still told at Akká (St. John d'Acre) concerning the terrible "butcher"—Jazzár (Djezzar) Pasha. One can·hardly pity women who are fools enough to run such risks. According to Frizzi, Niccolò, Marquis of Este, after beheading Parisina, ordered all the faithless wives of Ferrara to be treated in like manner. Footnote 21: "Shahrázád (Persian)=City-freer; in the older version Scheherazade (probably both from Shirzád=lion-born). "Dunyázád=World-freer. The Bres. Edit. corrupts the former to Sháhrzád or Sháhrazád; and the Mac. and Calc. to Shahrzád or Shehrzád. I have ventured to restore the name as it should be. Galland for the second prefers Dinarzade (?) and Richardson Dinazade (Dinázád=Religion-freer): here I have followed Lane and Payne; though in "First Footsteps" I was misled by Galland. See Vol. ii. p. 1. Footnote 22: Probably she proposed to "Judith" the King. These learned and clever young ladies are very dangerous in the East. Footnote 23: In Egypt, etc., the bull takes the place of the Western ox. The Arab. word is "Taur" (Thaur, Saur); in old Persian "Tora" and Lat. "Taurus," a venerable remnant of the days before the "Semitic" and "Aryan" families of speech had split into two distinct growths. "Taur" ends in the Saxon "Steor" and the English "Steer." Footnote 24: Arab. "Abú Yakzán"=the Wakener; because the ass brays at dawn. Footnote 25: Arab. "Tibn"; straw crushed under the sledge: the hay of Egypt, Arabia, Syria, etc. The old country custom is to pull up the corn by handfuls from the roots, leaving the land perfectly bare: hence the "plucking up" of Hebrew Holy Writ. The object is to preserve every atom of "Tibn." Footnote 26: Arab. "Yá Aftah": Al-Aftah is an epithet of the bull, also of the chameleon. Footnote 27: Arab. "Balid," a favourite Egyptianism often pleasantly confounded with "Wali" (a Santon); hence the latter comes to mean "an innocent," a "ninny." Footnote 28: From the Calc. Edit., Vol. I., p. 29. Footnote 29: Arab. "Abu Yakzán" is hardly equivalent with "Père l'Eveillé." Footnote 30: In Arab. the wa (وَ) is the sign of parenthesis. Footnote 31: In the nearer East the light little plough is carried a-field by the bull or ass. Footnote 32: Ocymum basilicum, the "royal herb," so much prized all over the East, especially in India, where, under the name of "Tulsi," it is a shrub sacred to the merry god Krishna. I found the verses in a MS. copy of the Nights. Footnote 33: Arab. "Sadaf," the Kauri, or cowrie, brought from the Maldive and Lakdive Archipelago. The Kámús describes this "Wada'" or Concha Veneris as "a white shell [whence to "shell out"] which is taken out of the sea, the fissure of which is white like that of the date-stone. It is hung about the neck to avert the evil eye." The pearl in Arab. is "Murwarid," hence evidently "Margarita" and Margaris (woman's name). Footnote 34: Arab. "Kat'a" (bit of leather): some read "Nat'a," a leather used by way of table-cloth, and forming a bag for victuals; but it is never made of bull's hide. Footnote 35: The Older "Cadi," a judge in religious matters. The Shuhúd, or Assessors, are officers of the Mahkamah or Kazi's Court. Footnote 36: Of which more in a future page. He thus purified himself ceremonially before death. Footnote 37: This is Christian rather than Moslem: a favourite Maltese curse is "Yahrak Kiddísak man rabba-k!"=burn the Saint who brought thee up! Footnote 38: A popular Egyptian phrase: the dog and the cock speak like Fellahs. Footnote 39: _i.e._ between the last sleep and dawn when they would rise to wash and pray. TALE OF THE TRADER AND THE JINNI. It is related, O auspicious King, that there was a merchant of the merchants who had much wealth, and business in various cities. Now on a day he mounted horse and went forth to recover monies in certain towns, and the heat sore oppressed him; so he sat beneath a tree and, putting his hand into his saddle-bags, took thence some broken bread and dry dates and began to break his fast. When he had ended eating the dates he threw away the stones with force and lo! an Ifrit appeared, huge of stature and brandishing a drawn sword, wherewith he approached the merchant and said, "Stand up that I may slay thee, even as thou slewest my son!" Asked the merchant, "How have I slain thy son?" and he answered, "When thou atest dates and threwest away the stones they struck my son full in the breast as he was walking by, so that he died forthwith."[40] Quoth the merchant, "Verily from Allah we proceeded and unto Allah are we returning. There is no Majesty, and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! If I slew thy son, I slew him by chance medley. I pray thee now pardon me." Rejoined the Jinni, "There is no help but I must slay thee." Then he seized him and dragged him along and, casting him to the earth, raised the sword to strike him; whereupon the merchant wept, and said, "I commit my case to Allah," and began repeating these couplets:— Containeth Time a twain of days, this of blessing that of bane ✿ And holdeth Life a twain of halves, this of pleasure that of pain. See'st not when blows the hurricane, sweeping stark and