登陆注册
6605300000136

第136章

Lane imagines that it came from the Jew's daughter being called'Sa'adat.' But the latter is the Jew's wife (Night dcccxxxiii)

and the word in the text is plural.

[194]Arab.'Furkh samak'lit.a fish-chick,an Egyptian vulgarism.

[195]Arab.'Al-Rasif';usually a river-quay,levee,an embankment.Here it refers to the great dyke which distributed the Tigris-water.

[196]Arab.'Dajlah,'see vol.i,p 180.It is evidently the origin of the biblical'Hiddekel''Hid'= fierceness;swiftness.

[197]Arab.'Bayaz'a kind of Silurus (S.Bajad,Forsk.)

which Sonnini calls Bayatto,Saksatt and Hebede;also Bogar (Bakar,an ox).The skin is lubricous,the flesh is soft and insipid and the fish often grows to the size of a man.Captain Speke and I found huge specimens in the Tangany ika Lake.

[198]Arab.'Mu'allim,'vulg.'M'allim,'prop.= teacher;master esp.of a trade,a craft.In Egypt and Syria it is a civil address to a Jew or a Christian,as Hajj is to a Moslem.

[199]Arab.'Gharamah,'an exaction,usually on the part of government like a corvee etc.The Europeo-Egyptian term is Avania (Ital.) or Avanie (French).

[200]Arab.'Sayyib-hu'an Egyptian vulgarism found also in Syria.Hence Saibah,a woman who lets herself go (a-whoring)

etc.It is syn.with'Dashar,'which Dozy believes to be a softening of Jashar;and Jashsh became Dashsh.

[201]The Silurus is generally so called in English on account of its feeler-acting mustachios.

[202]See Night dcccvii,vol.viii.p.94.

[203]This extraordinary confusion of two distinct religious mythologies cannot be the result of ignorance.Educated Moslems know at least as much as Christians do,on these subjects,but the Rawi or story-teller speaks to the'Gallery.' In fact it becomes a mere'chaff' and The Nights give some neat specimens of our modern linguistic.

[204]See vol.ii.197.'Al-Siddikah'(fem.) is a title of Ayishah,who,however,does not appear to have deserved it.

[205]The Jew's wife.

[206]Here is a double entendre.The fisherman meant a word or two.The Jew understood the Shibboleth of the Moslem Creed;popularly known as the'Two Words,'--I testify that there is no Ilah (god) but Allah (the God) and I testify that Mohammed is the Messenger of Allah.Pronouncing this formula would make the Jew a Moslem.Some writers are surprised to see a Jew ordering a Moslem to be flogged;but the former was rich and the latter was poor.Even during the worst days of Jewish persecutions their money-bags were heavy enough to lighten the greater part,if not the whole of their disabilities.And the Moslem saying is,'The Jew is never your (Moslem or Christian) equal: he must be either above you or below you.' This is high,because unintentional praise of the (self-) Chosen People.

[207]He understands the'two words'(Kalmatani) the Moslem's double profession of belief;and Khalifah's reply embodies the popular idea that the number of Moslems (who will be saved) is preordained and that no art of man can add to it or take from it.

[208]Arab.'Mamarr al-Tujjar'(passing-place of the traders) which Lane renders'A chamber within the place through which the traders passed.' At the end of the tale (Night dccxlv.) we find him living in a Khan and the Bresl.Edit.(see my terminal note) makes him dwell in a magazine (i.e.ground-floor store-room) of a ruined Khan.

[209]The text is somewhat too concise and the meaning is that the fumes of the Hashish he had eaten ('his mind under the influence of hasheesh,'says Lane) suggested to him,etc.

[210]Arab.'Mamrak'either a ****** aperture in ceiling or roof for light and air or a more complicated affair of lattice-

work and plaster;it is often octagonal and crowned with a little dome.Lane calls it'Memrak,'after the debased Cairene pronunciation,and shows its base in his sketch of a Ka'ah (M.E.;Introduction).

[211]Arab.'Kamar.' This is a practice especially amongst pilgrims.In Hindostan the girdle,usually a waist-shawl,is called Kammar-band our old'Cummerbund.' Easterns are too sensible not to protect the pit of the stomach,that great ganglionic centre,against sun,rain and wind,and now our soldiers in India wear flannel-belts on the march.

[212]Arab.'Fa-imma'alayha wa-imma biha,'i.e.whether (luck go) against it or (luck go) with it.

[213]'O vilest of sinners!'alludes to the thief.'A general plunge into worldly pursuits and pleasures announced the end of the pilgrimage-ceremonies.All the devotees were now'whitewashed'--the book of their sins was a tabula rasa: too many of them lost no time in ****** a new departure down South and in opening a fresh account'(Pilgrimage iii.365).I have noticed that my servant at Jeddah would carry a bottle of Raki,uncovered by a napkin,through the main streets.

[214]The copper cucurbites in which Solomon imprisoned the rebellious Jinns,often alluded to in The Nights.

[215]i.e.Son of the Chase: it is prob.a corruption of the Persian Kurnas,a pimp,a cuckold,and introduced by way of chaff,intelligible only to a select few'fast'men.

[216]For the name see vol.ii.61,in the Tale of Ghanim bin'Ayyub where the Caliph's concubine is also drugged by the Lady Aubaydah.

[217]We should say,'What is this?'etc.The lines have occurred before so I quote Mr.Payne.

[218]Zubaydah,I have said,was the daughter of Ja'afar,son of the Caliph al-Mansur,second Abbaside.The story-teller persistently calls her daughter of Al-Kasim for some reason of his own;and this he will repeat in Night dcccxxxix.

[219]Arab.'Shakhs,'a word which has travelled as far as Hindostan.

[220]Arab.'Shamlah'described in dictionaries,as a cloak covering the whole body.For Hizam (girdle) the Bresl.Edit.reads'Hiram'vulg.'Ehram,'the waist-cloth,the Pilgrim's attire.

[221]He is described by Al-Siyuti (p.309) as'very fair;tall handsome and of captivating appearance.'

同类推荐
  • 心意拳拳谱

    心意拳拳谱

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 因明入正理论疏

    因明入正理论疏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说作佛形像经

    佛说作佛形像经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 淮南鸿烈解

    淮南鸿烈解

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • THE TALISMAN

    THE TALISMAN

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 位面监察系统

    位面监察系统

    天降系统,屌丝逆袭!萧瑜原本是一名普通的大学生,却因为一个奇怪的系统而发生了变化校花,总裁,各路牛鬼蛇神都来齐聚萧瑜身边!看普通大学生如何逆袭人生!
  • 新娘验尸官

    新娘验尸官

    人生里,一村又一村,一站再一站,一路下一路,一尸复一案。我们,有种情绪裹着犯罪,有种猜疑种着宣泄,或是深情胜过背叛…嘘!请认真听我说,也许,你不知道世界上存在着另一种职业,俗称“验尸官”
  • 苍途志

    苍途志

    天分九重,对应划分九层境界,九字可概括:中,羡,从,更,晬,廓,咸,沈,成。天地动荡,茫茫苍途,血腥妖夜,惨绝人寰的大屠杀......雷霆之中醒来,等待景柏青的将会是怎样的命运......灵力、武学、阴谋、真相......纷乱世间,众生万象,因果轮回,是为大志向。
  • 天行

    天行

    号称“北辰骑神”的天才玩家以自创的“牧马冲锋流”战术击败了国服第一弓手北冥雪,被誉为天纵战榜第一骑士的他,却受到小人排挤,最终离开了效力已久的银狐俱乐部。是沉沦,还是再次崛起?恰逢其时,月恒集团第四款游戏“天行”正式上线,虚拟世界再起风云!
  • 薄情总裁的小甜心

    薄情总裁的小甜心

    一次意外她的孩子流掉,她选择离开。两年后,她再次出现。他便决定不会再让她离开。
  • 戮灭天地

    戮灭天地

    无尽的世界,蕴藏着无尽的奥秘,无尽的深邃与浩渺强者之路,可有坦途??少年在不断的成为强者的道路上,不断的成长
  • 无吝

    无吝

    梧禾高中在瑜城是神仙一般的存在,没有保送入学,没有竞赛特招,所有进入这所省重点学校的学生,都是在中考中数一数二的人物,这所中学的重点班更是藏龙卧虎,所有人都挤破脑袋地想要进这个班级,却独独出了一个例外,他叫陆悬。这个梧禾高中的例外,有一个不可说的禁忌,这个名字,是姜令。
  • 第三只天眼

    第三只天眼

    以法医为视角,带您走进血腥残忍的凶杀现场,巨人观、碎尸案,人皮外衣等等,揭秘真假难辨的诡异案件,太平间的神秘身影、午夜街边的幽魂……主角和二女之间的爱恨纠葛。
  • 绝顶玄灵

    绝顶玄灵

    对武侠梦的点点憧憬,他踏入修炼殿堂;在边缘小村出发,他不知不觉中向巅峰前进。雾中雾,圈中圈,局中局。
  • 独饮江湖酒

    独饮江湖酒

    一杯浊酒剑上走,划开青天一片天拔剑断水水更流,举杯消愁愁更愁清风徐来飘烟过,脱剑直上九天关十步一人如流星,千里不留风中行(本书纯粹虚构,切勿当真!)