Chapter 15

[Footnote 284: Thani youm, Burton, "the second day," which, though literal, conveys a false impression.]

[Footnote 285: Night DXXXV.]

[Footnote 286: Or "beyond desire" (fauca 'l khatir), i.e. inconceivably good. Burton, "beyond our means."]

[Footnote 287: It is a favourite device with Oriental cooks to colour dishes (especially those which contain rice) in various ways, so as to please the eye as well as the palate.]

[Footnote 288: Lit. "black bottles" (museunvedetein). Burton, "black jacks."]

[Footnote 289: Zekiyyeh (pure) for dhekiyyeh (strong, sharp, pungent), a common vulgar corruption.]

[Footnote 290: Burton, "wherewith Allah Almighty hath eased our poverty."]

[Footnote 291: Elladhi iftekeda juana. Burton, "who hath abated our hunger pains."]

[Footnote 292: Lit. "we are under his benefit."]

[Footnote 293: Hhizana for hhezzaza?]

[Footnote 294: Lit. "whet proceeded from."]

[Footnote 295: Lit. "but" (lakin for Iekan, "then").]

[Footnote 296: Keif dhalik. Lit. "How this?" Burton, "Who may this be?"]

[Footnote 297: Night DXXXVI.]

[Footnote 298: i.e. the Jinn of the lamp and the ring.]

[Footnote 299: Apparently referring to chap. xxiii, verses 99, l00, of the Koran, "Say, 'Lord, I take refuge in Thee from the suggestions of the devils, and I take refuge in thee, Lord, that (i.e. Iest) they appear!'" Mohammed is fabled by Muslim theologians to have made a compact with the Jinn that they should not enter the houses of the faithful unless expressly summoned..]

[Footnote 300: i.e. "I am, in general, ready to obey all thy commandments"]

[Footnote 301: i.e. the lamp.]

[Footnote 302: Lit. "uses," "advantages" (menafi).]

[Footnote 303: Referring, of course, to the slave of the lamp.]

[Footnote 304: Night DXXXVII.]

[Footnote 305: Lit. "saw."]

[Footnote 306: Afterwards "silver"; see pp. 108 and l10.]

[Footnote 307: A carat is generally a twenty-fourth part of a diner, i.e. about 5d.; but here it appears to be a sixtieth part or about 2d. Burton, "A copper carat, a bright polished groat."]

[Footnote 308: Lit. "to the contrary of him" (ila khilafihi). See ante, p. 55, note 4. {see FN#145}]

[Footnote 309: Night DXXXVIII.]

[Footnote 310: Kenani, pl. of kinnineh, a bottle or phial.]

[Footnote 311: i.e. the genie.]

[Footnote 312: Night DXXXIX.]

[Footnote 313: Ala kedhum. Burton, "after their olden fashion."]

[Footnote 314: Lit. "[in] middling case" (halet[an] mustewessitet[an]). Burton translates, "as middle-class folk," adding in a note, "a phrase that has a European touch."]

[Footnote 315: Burton adds, "on diet."]

[Footnote 316: "Er rijal el kamiloun," lit. "complete men." Burton, "good men and true."]

[Footnote 317: Bedsa'a. Burton, "investments,"]

[Footnote 318: Keisein. Burton, "his pockets."]

[Footnote 319: Lit. "neck." The Muslims fable that all will appear at the Day of Resurrection with their good and evil actions in visible form fastened about their necks. "And each man, we constrain him to carry his actions (ta'r, lit. bird, i.e. fortune as told by augury from the flight of birds, according to the method so much in favour with the ancients, but interpreted by the scholiasts as 'actions,' each man's actions being, according to them, the cause of his good and evil fortune, happiness or misery), on (or about,.fi) his neck."--Koran, xvii, 14.]

[Footnote 320: Night DXL]

[Footnote 321: An idiomatic expression, equivalent to our vulgar English phrase, "He was struck all of a heap."]

[Footnote 322: Beszireh, mental (as opposed to bodily) vision.]

[Footnote 323: Night DXLI.]

[Footnote 324: Gheramuha.]

[Footnote 325: Lit. "be rightly guided," "return to the right way."]

[Footnote 326: Heds, Syrian for hheds.]

[Footnote 327: i.e.. if thou be in earnest.]

[Footnote 328: Aamin. Burton, "fonder and more faithful."]

[Footnote 329: Night DXLII.]

[Footnote 330: Lit. "blood of my liver."]

[Footnote 331: i.e. the bride's parents.]

[Footnote 332: Burton, "Also who shall ask her to wife for the son of a snip?"]

[Footnote 333: Night DXLIII.]

[Footnote 334: Lit. "near and far," the great being near to the king's dignity, and the small far from it.]

[Footnote 335: Lit. "before" (cuddam).]

[Footnote 336: Lit. "thou art not of its measure or proportion" (kedd).]

[Footnote 337: Ijreker ti bi 'l hhecc. Burton. "thou hast reminded me aright."]

[Footnote 338: Night DXLIV.]

[Footnote 339: Kiyas, a mistake for akyas, pl. of keis, a purse.]

[Footnote 340: Lit. "So, an thou wilt, burden thy mind (i.e. give thyself the trouble, kellifi khatiraki,) and with us [is] a China dish; rise and come to me with it." Kellifi (fem.) khatiraki is an idiomatic expression equivalent to the French, "donnez-vous (or prenez) la peine" and must be taken in connection with what follows, i.e. give yourself the trouble to rise and bring me, etc. (prenez la peine de vous lever et de m'apporter, etc.). Burton, "Whereupon, an-thou please, compose thy mind. We have in our house a bowl of china porcelain: so arise thou and fetch it."]

[Footnote 341: Lit. "were not equal to one quarter of a carat," i.e. a ninety-sixth part, "carat" being here used in its technical sense of a twenty-fourth part of anything.]

[Footnote 342: Kellifi khatiraki (prenez la peine) as before. Burton, "Compose thy thoughts."]

[Footnote 343: Night DXLV.]

[Footnote 344: Elladhi hu alan ca'm bi maashina. Burton, "Ere this thou hast learned, O mother mine, that the Lamp which we possess hath become to us a stable income."]

[Footnote 345: Or "pay attention" (diri balek); see ante, pp. 78 and 81. {see FN#220 and FN#228}]

[Footnote 346: Minhu. Burton translates, "for that 'tis of him," and says, in a note, "Here the MS. text is defective, the allusion is, I suppose, to the Slave of the Lamp." I confess I do not see the defect of which he speaks. Alaeddin of course refers to the lamp and reminds his mother that the prosperity they enjoy "is (i.e. arises) from it."]

[Footnote 347: Lit. "completed," "fully constituted."]

[Footnote 348: The attitude implied in the word mutekettif and obligatory in presence of a superior, i.e. that of a schoolboy in class.]

[Footnote 349: Or "complainants," "claimants."]

[Footnote 350: Fi teriketihi, apparently meaning "in its turn." Burton, "Who (i.e. the Sultan) delivered sentence after his wonted way."]

[Footnote 351: Night DXLVI.]

[Footnote 352: Illezemet. Burton, "she determined."]

[Footnote 353: Lit. "the Divan;" but the door of the presence-chamber is meant, as appears by the sequel.]

[Footnote 354: Burton, "and when it was shut, she would go to make sure thereof."]

[Footnote 355: Muddeh jumah. Burton, "the whole month."]

[Footnote 356: Burton, "come forward."]

[Footnote 357: Burton, "levee days"]

[Footnote 358: Izar. Burton, "mantilla."]

[Footnote 359: Here the copyist, by the mistaken addition of fe (so), transfers the "forthright" to the Vizier's action of submission to the Sultan's order.]

[Footnote 360: Night DXLVII.]

[Footnote 361: I have arranged this passage a little, to make it read intelligibly. In the original it runs thus, "Alaeddin's mother, whenas she took a wont and became every Divan-day going and standing in the Divan before the Sultan, withal that she was dejected, wearying exceedingly, but for Alaeddin's sake, her son, she used to make light of all weariness."]

[Footnote 361: Aman; i.e. promise or assurance of indemnity, permission to speak freely, without fear of consequences.]

[Footnote 362: Aman in secondary sense of "protection" or "safeguard."]

[Footnote 363: i.e. I pardon thee, under God, ("then I" being understood). The right of pardon residing with God, the pious Muslim can only say, "God pardon thee first and then I pardon thee."]

[Footnote 364: Burton, "shun the streets."]

[Footnote 365: Arad. Burton, "felt an uncontrollable longing."]

[Footnote 366: Or "food (aish, bread) hath not been pleasant (or had any savour) for him."]

[Footnote 367: Seadetuk, lit. "thy felicity;" this and jenabuk (lit. "thy side"), "thine excellence" or "thy highness," and hhedsretuk "thy highness," (lit. "thy presence") are the titles commonly given to kings in Arabic-speaking countries, although hhedsretuk is strictly applicable only to the Prophet and other high spiritual dignitaries. They are often, but erroneously, rendered "thy majesty"; a title which does not exist in the East and which is, as is well known to students of history, of comparatively recent use in Europe.]

[Footnote 368: Lit, "having regard to his clemency, he took to laughing and asked her." Burton, "He regarded her with kindness, and laughing cloud, asked her."]

[Footnote 369: Surreh, lit. purse and by extension, as here, anything tied up in bag-shape.]

[Footnote 370: Night DXLVIII.]

[Footnote 371: Lit. "Be clement unto me, Thy Grace promised me."]

[Footnote 372: Lit. "Forbearance (hhilm, clemency, longanimity, delay in requiting an evil-doer) is incumbent from thine exalted highness unto (ila) three months."]

[Footnote 373: Aatsem melik, an ungrammatical construction of common occurrence in the present MS., properly aatsemu 'l mulouk.]

[Footnote 374: Syn. "his clemency required."]

[Footnote 375: i.e. shall be reserved for him alone.]

[Footnote 376: i.e. the marriage trousseau.]

[Footnote 377: Lit. "Except that, O my son, the Vizier bespoke him a privy word (kelam sirriyy) ere he promised me; then, after the Vizier bespoke him a word privily (sirran), he promised me to (ila) three months."]

[Footnote 378: Lit. an ill presence (mehhdser sau). This expression has occurred before in the Nights, where I have, in deference to the authority of the late M. Dozy (the greatest Arabic scholar since Silvestre de Sacy) translated it "a compend of ill," reading the second word as pointed with dsemmeh (i.e. sou, evil, sub.) instead of with fetheh (i.e. sau, evil, adj.), although in such a case the strict rules of Arabic grammar require sou to be preceded by the definite article (i.e. mehhdseru's sou). However, the context and the construction of the phrase, in which the present example of the expression occurs, seem to show that it is not here used in this sense.]

[Footnote 379: Night DXLIX.]

[Footnote 380: Lit. (as before) "promised her to" (ila).]

[Footnote 381: Lit. "to" (ila), as before.]

[Footnote 382: i.e. the delay.]

[Footnote 383: Lit. "he thanked his mother and thought (or made) much of her goodness (istekthera bi-kheiriha, a common modern expression, signifying simply 'he thanked her') for her toil." Burton, "Then he thanked his parent, showing her how her good work had exceeded her toil and travail "]

[Footnote 384: Lit. "Wonder took her at this wonder and the decoration." Burton amplifies, "She wondered at the marvellous sight and the glamour of the scene." Me judice, to put it in the vernacular, she simply wondered what the dickens it was all about.]

[Footnote 385: Min wectiha. Burton, "And for some time, O my son, I have suspected." See ante, p. 134. {see FN#378}]

[Footnote 386: Lit. "fever seized him of his chagrin."]

[Footnote 387: Night DL.]

[Footnote 388: Lit. "promised me to" (ila), as before.]

[Footnote 389: Eshaa; or, if we take the word as pointed with kesreh (i.e. ishaa), we may read, with Burton, "to pass the rest of the evening," though this expression seems to me hardly in character with the general tone of the MS.]

[Footnote 390: Musterah.]

[Footnote 391: Sic (el gheir).]

[Footnote 392: Night DLI.]

[Footnote 393: Min doun khiyaneh i.e. without offering her any affront. Burton, "and he did no villain deed."]

[Footnote 394: Galland adds, "et passe dans une garde-robe o--il s'etoit deshabille le soir." Something of the kind appears to have dropped out of the present MS.]

[Footnote 395: Night DLII.]

[Footnote 396: Lit. "with the eye of anger." Ghedseb (anger) and its synonym ghaits are frequently used in the Nights in this sense; see especially Vol. II. of my translation, p. 234, "she smiled a sad smile," lit. a "smile of anger," (twice) and p. 258, "my anguish redoubled," lit. "I redoubled in anger."]

[Footnote 397: Wesikh. Burton, "fulsome."]

[Footnote 398: Night DLIII.]

[Footnote 399: Diri balek an [la]. Burton, "compose thy thoughts. If, etc." See ante, passim.]

[Footnote 400: Sic.]

[Footnote 401: Kedhebaka.]

[Footnote 402: i.e. that which he derived from such an alliance.]

[Footnote 403: Lit. "Wretches" (mesakin).]

[Footnote 404: Night DLIV.]

[Footnote 405: Inketaet (lit. "she was cut or broken") min el khauf. Burton, "She was freed from her fear of the past."]

[Footnote 406: Or "honoured" (azlz)]

[Footnote 407: i.e. "in my behaviour to thee."]

[Footnote 408: Kema akedu min mehebbetika li. Burton, "even as I claim of thee affection for thy child."]

[Footnote 409: Night DLV.]

[Footnote 410: Hhashaha min el kidhb; lit. "Except her from lying!" Hhasha (which commonly signifies, "Far be it," "God forbid!") is here used in a somewhat unusual manner. The sense seems to be, "God forbid that the Lady Bedrulbudour should be suspected of lying! "]

[Footnote 411: Or "shrunken" (kusziret). Burton, "bursten."]

[Footnote 412: Or "honoured" (aziz).]

[Footnote 413: Night DLVI.]

[Footnote 414: Lit. "how [was] the device therein;" i.e how he should do for an expedient thereanent. Burton, "the device whereby he should manage it."]

[Footnote 415: Or "called upon" (nedeh).]

[Footnote 416: El ashreh [mubeshshereh understood], "the ten [who were rejoiced with glad tidings]," i.e. ten of Mohammed's companions (Abou Bekr, Omar, Othman, Ali, Telheh, Zubeir, Saad ibn Abi Weccas, Abdurrehman ibn Auf, Abou Ubeideh ibnu'l Jerrah and Said ibn Zeid), to whom (and to whom alone) he is said to have promised certain entrance into Paradise. They are accordingly considered to have pre-eminence over the Prophet's other disciples and are consequently often invoked by the less orthodox Muslims as intercessors with him, much after the fashion of the Quatuordecim Adjutores, the Fourteen Helpers [in time of need], (i.e. Saints Catherine, Margaret, Barbara, Pantaleon, Vitus, Eustace, Blase, Gregory, Nicholas, Erasmus, Giles, George, Leonard and Christopher) of Romish hagiology.]

[Footnote 417: i.e the marriage of his son to the Sultan's daughter. Burton, "it having been a rare enjoyment to him that he had fallen upon such high good fortune."]

[Footnote 418: Lit. "marriage," i.e. "wedding festivities are out of place." The word (zijeh) here used is a dialectic (Syrian) variant of zewaj, marriage. Burton, "we require no delay,"]

[Footnote 419: Lit. "the lord (i.e. he) of the suit or claim" (sahibu 'd dewat).]

[Footnote 420: Or "inestimable," lit. "might not be measured by (or appraised at) a price or value." Burton, "far beyond his power to pay the price."]

[Footnote 421: Lit. "How is the management or contrivance (tedbir) with thee?" i.e. "canst thou suggest to us any expedient?"]

[Footnote 422: Night DLVII.]

[Footnote 423: Burton adds, "speaking privily."]

[Footnote 424: Or perhaps, "we may with impunity rebut," etc.]

[Footnote 425: Gherib, lit. a stranger, an exile, but vulg. by extension, a poor, homeless wretch.]

[Footnote 426: i.e Alaeddin's mother.]

[Footnote 427: Lit. "that day."]

[Footnote 428: Fr. "... l'aimable." Lit. "by a way or means" (bi-terikeh). It may be we should read bi [hatheti'll] terikeh, "by [this] means;" but the rendering in the text seems the more probable one, the Sultan meaning that he would thus get rid of Alaeddin's importunity by practice, without open breach of faith or violence.]

[Footnote 429: Night DLVIII.]

[Footnote 430: Lit. "Burden thyself (prenez la peine) and rise", (kellifi khatiraki, etc., as before).]

[Footnote 431: Here szewani (trays) instead of, as before, szuhoun (dishes).]

[Footnote 432: Night DLIX.]

[Footnote 433: i.e. "look with open eyes"]

[Footnote 434: En nuwwab, i.e. those whose turn it was to be on guard.]

[Footnote 435: Need (lit. coin), a vulgar Syrian corruption of neket, customary gift of money or otherwhat to a bride on the marriage-day.]

[Footnote 436: The whole of the foregoing passage is so confused that I think it well to add here (l) a literal translation, as I read it: "So the Vizier, yea, indeed, he marvelled at the greatness of that wealth more than the Sultan, but envy was killing him and waxed on him more and more when he saw the Sultan that he was satisfied with (or accepted of) the bride-gift and the dowry; however, it was not possible to him that he should gainsay the truth and should say to the Sultan, 'He is not worthy;' only, he practised with a device upon the Sultan so he should not let him give his daughter the Lady Bedrulbudour to Alaeddin, and this [Footnote was] that he said to him, etc,"--and also (2) the version given by Sir K. F. Burton, who takes a different view of the passage: "Then the Minister (although he marvelled at these riches even more than did the Sultan), whose envy was killing him and growing greater hour by hour, seeing his liege lord satisfied with the moneys and the dower and yet being unable to fight against fact, made answer, 'Tis not worthy of her.' Withal he fell to devising a device against the King, that he might withhold the Lady Badr-al-Budur from Alaeddin, and accordingly he continued, etc."]

[Footnote 437: Or "in comparison with her" (ent hhedsretuk istatsemet hatha aleiha). This is an ambiguous passage and should perhaps be read, "Thou magnifiest this (i.e. the gift) over her."]

[Footnote 438: Night DLX.]

[Footnote 439: Lit. "swiftly, the winds overtook her not."]

[Footnote 440: Aksen. Burton, "more suitable to thee."]

[Footnote 441: Kethir[an]. Burton, "And right soon (Inshallah!) O my daughter, thou shalt have fuller joy with him."]

[Footnote 442: Muebbed. Burton, "alone."]

[Footnote 443: Sic (kum),]

[Footnote 444: Or "commission" (mishwar).]

[Footnote 445: Bekia ma bekia hatha shey aleik, lit. "remaineth what remaineth this is a thing upon (or for) thee." Burton, "Happen whatso may happen; the rest is upon thy shoulders." The first bekia is perhaps used in the common colloquial sense of "then."]

[Footnote 446: Shekeraha wa istekthera bi-kheiriha. See ante, p. 155, note 3. Burton, "enhancing her kindly service."]

[Footnote 447: Surname of the ancient Kings of Persia, vulg. Chosroes.]

[Footnote 448: Night DLXI.]

[Footnote 449: Lit. "the."]

[Footnote 450: Burton, "the costliest of clothes."]

[Footnote 451: Generally that of aloes-wood.]

[Footnote 452: Quoth Shehrzad to Shehriyar.]

[Footnote 453: Yetsunnuhu; quare a clerical error for yentsuruku ("had seen him" )?]

[Footnote 454: i.e. male white slaves (memlouk, whence our "mameluke," sing. for plural memalik).]

[Footnote 455: Lit. "and let there be with each slave-girl a suit, etc." Burton "And let every handmaid be robed in raiment that befitteth queens wearing." The twelve suits of clothes to be brought by the slave-girls were of course intended for the wearing of Alaeddin's mother; see post, p. 167. {see FN#457 in text}]

[Footnote 456: i.e. the genuine Arabs of the unmixed blood.]

[Footnote 457: See ante, p. 166, note 2. {see FN#455}]

[Footnote 458: Likai telbesa (tetelebbesa?) hiya. Burton, "she should wear."]

[Footnote 459: Sic, the meaning seeming to be that kings' sons were out of comparison with Alaeddin, as who should say (in Cockney parlance) "Don't talk to me about kings' sons."]

[Footnote 460: Lit. "upon."]

[Footnote 461: El kendil el ajib.]

[Footnote 462: Syn. "old and young."]

[Footnote 463: Night DLXII.]

[Footnote 464: Ictedsa an tesmuha li bi, lit. "decided (or demanded) that thou be bountiful to (or grace) me with;" but icledsa is here used in the colloquial sense of "willed, vouchsafed."]

[Footnote 465: i.e. that of his tongue, lit. "its bounds or reach" (kheddahu). Burton, "passing all measure."]

[Footnote 466: Lit. "acquired, gotten, come by thee" (khetsitu bika).]

[Footnote 467: Night DLXIII.]

[Footnote 468: Nuweb (properly naubat).]

[Footnote 469: Musica.]

[Footnote 470: Acamou el fereh el atsim. Burton, "a mighty fine marriage-feast was dispread in the palace."]

[Footnote 471: Muashir.]

[Footnote 472: Netser.]

[Footnote 473: Lit. "but the behoving on me for her service engageth (or enforceth) me to apply myself hereunto."]

[Footnote 474: i.e. at thy disposition.]

[Footnote 475: Night DLXIV.]

[Footnote 476: Tebakhin. Burton, "kitcheners."]

[Footnote 477: Keszr.]

[Footnote 478: Wa, but quaere au ("or")?]

[Footnote 479: Kushk.]