Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp Part 8

[Footnote 92: Night DV.]

[Footnote 93: Night DVI.]

[Footnote 94: Here we have the word mithl (as or like) which I supplied upon conjecture in the former description of the genie; see ante, p. 24, note.]

[Footnote 95: Medinetu 'l meda'n wa ujoubetu 'l aalem. It is well known (see the Nights pa.s.sim) that the Egyptians considered Cairo the city of cities and the wonder of the world.]

[Footnote 96: Lit. "How [is] the contrivance and the way the which we shall attain by (or with) it to...."]

[Footnote 97: I.a tehtenim; but the text may also be read la tehettem and this latter reading is adopted by Burton, who translates, "Be not beaten and broken down."]

[Footnote 98: Or "in brief" (bi-tejewwuz). Burton translates, "who maketh marriages," apparently reading bi-tejewwuz as a mistranscription for tetejewwez, a vulgar Syrian corruption of tetezewwej.]

[Footnote 99: Said in a quasi-complimentary sense, as we say, "Confound him, what a clever rascal he is!" See the Nights pa.s.sim for numerous instances of this.]

[Footnote 100: Quoth Shehrzad to Shehriyar.]

[Footnote 101: Syn. "to work upon her traces or course" (tesaa ala menakibiha).]

[Footnote 102: Night DVII.]

[Footnote 103: Lit. "the thirsty one (es szadi) and the goer-forth by day or in the morning" (el ghadi); but this is most probably a mistranscription for the common phrase es sari (the goer by night) wa 'l ghadi, often used in the sense of "comers and goers" simply. This would be quite in character with the style of our present ma.n.u.script, which constantly subst.i.tutes sz (sad) for s (sin), e.g. szerai for serai (palace), szufreh, for sufreh (meal-tray), for hheresza for hheresa(he guarded), etc., etc., whilst no one acquainted with the Arabic written character need be reminded how easy it is to mistake a carelessly written-r (ra) for d (dal) or vice-versa]

[Footnote 104: The mosque being the caravanserai of the penniless stranger.]

[Footnote 105: The person specially appointed to lead the prayers of the congregation and paid out of the endowed revenues of the mosque to which he is attached.]

[Footnote 106: Night DVIII.]

[Footnote 107: Burton translates, "these accurseds," reading melaa'n (pl. of melaoun, accursed); but the word in the text is plainly mulaa'bein (objective dual of mulaa'b, a trickster, malicious joker, hence, by a.n.a.logy, sharper).]

[Footnote 108: Eth thiyab el heririyeh. Burton "silver-wrought."]

[Footnote 109: Netser ila necshetihim (lit. their image, cf. Scriptural "image and presentment") wa szufretihim, i.e. he satisfied himself by the impress and the colour that they were diners, i.e. gold.]

[Footnote 110: Lit. I am now become in confusion of or at him (lianneni alan szirtu fi khejaleh (properly khejleh) minhu). Burton, "for that I have been ashamed of waiting upon him."]

[Footnote 111: Lit. "That which was inc.u.mbent on me to him."]

[Footnote 112: Lit. "go to (or for) his service," or, as we should say, "attend him."]

[Footnote 113: Burton, "one of the envious;" but the verb is in the plural.]

[Footnote 114: Night DIX.]

[Footnote 115: Et tsenn er redi. Burton, "the evil."]

[Footnote 116: So that they might hang down and hide his feet and hands, it being a point of Arab etiquette for an inferior scrupulously to avoid showing either of these members in presenting himself (especially for the first time) before his superior.]

[Footnote 117: Lit., "religiousness or devoutness (diyaneh) was by nature in him," i.e. he was naturally inclined to respect religion and honour its professors. Burton, "He was by nature conscientious," which does not quite express the meaning of the text; conscientiousness being hardly an Oriental virtue.]

[Footnote 118: Lit, "I may (or shall) ransom him with m' life till I (or so that I may) unite him therewith."]

[Footnote 119: Iftekeret fi rejul.]

[Footnote 120: Terbiyeh. This word is not sufficiently rendered by "education," which modern use has practically restricted to scholastic teaching, though the good old English phrase "to bring up" is of course a literal translation of the Latin educare.]

[Footnote 121: i.e. "I shall owe it to thee."]

[Footnote 122: Lit. "It is certain to me," Constat mihi, fe-meikeni (vulg. for fe-yekin) indi.]

[Footnote 123: Night DX.]

[Footnote 124: Or perhaps "Would I might."]

[Footnote 125: i.e. the contract of marriage.]

[Footnote 126: See my "Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night"

pa.s.sim, especially Vol. I pp. 190 et seq.]

[Footnote 127: Miheffeh, a kind of howdah with a flat roof or top.]

[Footnote 128: Tekht-rewan, a sort of palanquin drawn or carried by mules or camels wherein she could recline at length. Burton renders Miheffeh bi-tekhtrewan "a covered litter to be carried by camels."]

[Footnote 129: Burton adds here, "Thou wouldst feel ruth for me."]

[Footnote 130: Lit. profit, gain (meksib), i.e. the ninth image, which he was to receive as a reward for the faithful execution of his commission.]

[Footnote 131: Night DXI.]

[Footnote 132: [A] nehnu bedna baud an hukm. The word hukm, which commonly signifies the exercise of government or judicial power, is here used metonymically in the sense of the place of dominion, the seat of government. Burton, "Have we fared this far distance by commandment of my bridegroom?"]

[Footnote 133: Or "G.o.d forbid!" (Hhasha), a common interjection, implying unconditional denial.]

[Footnote 134: Lit. "The writing of (or he wrote) his writ upon thee"

(ketb kitabiki aleiki).]

[Footnote 135: i.e.. at the Last Day, when men will be questioned of their actions.]

[Footnote 136: Night DXII.]

[Footnote 137: Sic (tentsur), but this is probably a copyist's error for "we may see" (nentsur), the difference being only a question of one or two diacritical points over the initial letter.]

[Footnote 138: Here Burton adds, "Indeed I had well nigh determined to forfeit all my profit of the Ninth Statue and to bear thee away to Ba.s.sorah as my own bride, when my comrade and councillor dissuaded me from so doing, lest I should bring about my death."]

[Footnote 139: Night DXIII.]

[Footnote 140: Or (vulg.) "I thank him, etc." (istekthertu aleihi elladhi hefitsaha wa sanaha wa hejeba rouhaku anha). Burton, "Albeit I repeatedly enjoined him to defend and protect her until he concealed from her his face."]