Chapter 5

I occupy myself every day and night in anxious service of him in whose prosperity I have no enjoyment;Like the bleacher who blackens his face in the sun, while he watches the whitening of the clothes of others.

Note37.I read "naṭ'an," as in the Calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights, instead of "kiṭa'an" in the Cairo edition. The naṭạ is a large round piece of leather, which, spread upon the ground, serves as a table for dinner, &c. It is particularly convenient, and therefore much used, in travelling. Around the edge is a running string, which, being drawn, converts it into a bag to hold what is left of the food.

Note38.—On the office ofḲáḍee. The Ḳáḍee is a judge, or minister of justice, who passes sentence in all cases of law, religious, moral, civil, and criminal. This he generally does, in the present day, in accordance with the decision of a Muftee, or doctor of the law. In small towns and villages, he is often employed to draw up written contracts of various kinds.

Note39.The famous Saạdee attained the age here mentioned; but instances of equal longevity, among the Orientals, are rare.110

Note40.To perform the ablution preparatory to prayer in the expectation of almost immediate death, is a supererogatory act which, I believe, is seldom observed.

Note41.Both religion and climate make the Muslim an early riser. It is his duty to perform the first of the five daily prayers at, or soon after, daybreak; and he generally awakes before this period. While Shahriyár, therefore, was waiting for the dawn of day to acquit himself of this duty, in accordance with the common custom of Mohammadan kings, Shahrazád amused him by the recitation of her tales. That he should be described as thus strict with regard to religious exercises, when about to give orders for the murder of his innocent wife, needs not excite our surprise: such conduct is consistent with the character of many Muslims. In the year 1834, when I was residing in Cairo, a General in the service of Moḥammad 'Alee hired a large party of men to perform a recital of the Ḳur-án, in his house in that city, and then went up into his ḥareem, and strangled his wife, in consequence of a report which accused her of incontinence. The religious ceremony was designed as preparatory to this act, though the punishment of the woman was contrary to the law, since her husband neither produced four witnesses of the imputed crime, nor allowed her to clear herself of the charge by her own oath. Another case of diligence in the performance of a religious duty, accompanied by the contemplation of murder, but murder on a larger scale, occurred in the same city shortly after. Suleymán Ághà, the Siláḥdár, being occupied in directing the building of a public fountain, as a work of charity to place to the account of a deceased brother, desired to extend the original plan of the structure; and to do this, itwas necessary that he should purchase two houses adjoining the plot in which the foundations had been laid: but the owners of these houses refused to sell them, and he therefore employed a number of workmen to undermine them by night, and cause them to fall upon their inhabitants. His scheme, however, but partially succeeded, and no lives were sacrificed. This man was notorious for cruelty, but he was a person of pleasing and venerable countenance, and engaging manners: whenever I chanced to meet him, I received from him a most gracious salutation. He died before I quitted Egypt.

Tail-piece to Notes to Introduction.--Morning

12An Apostle is distinguished from a mere Prophet by his having abookrevealed to him.

13In quoting the Ḳur-án, I distinguish the verses in accordance with the numbers in Fluegel's excellent edition of the original text: 4to Lipsiæ 1834. These numbers agree (excepting in a few cases, where a disagreement was found absolutely necessary) with those in Hinckelmann's edition, which is that most commonly quoted by the learned. I am sorry to see that Marracci's numbers have been adopted in a late edition of Sale's translation, and that the distinction between the words of the text and the explanatory interpolations has there been neglected. Its utility to Arabic scholars, and its general fidelity, have been thus greatly lessened; and it appears to me very desirable that it should be superseded as soon as possible by another edition.

14Moḥammad's answers to 'Abd-Allah Ibn-Selám, quoted by Ibn-El-Wardee (MS. in my possession); and Mek-ḥool, quoted by the same author, and Mishkát el-Maṣábeeh, vol. ii. pp. 652 and 653.

15Ibn-Esh-Sheḥneh (MS. in my possession).

16In another MS. of the same author in my possession, "yellow."

17In his "Khiṭaṭ" (MS. in my possession).

18Ḳur-án, ch. xiii. v. 3, and several other places.

19Idem, ch. ii. v. 20, and ch. lxxviii. v. 6.

20Idem, ch. lxxi. v. 18.

21Mek-ḥool, quoted by Ibn-El-Wardee.

22Wahb Ibn-Munebbih, quoted by El-Maḳreezee, is his "Khiṭaṭ."

23Ibn-El-Wardee, however, says that its name is derived from its terrors and difficulties.

24These are monsters who will be described in a subsequent note.

25History of El-Khiḍr in the "Mir-át ez-Zemán" (MS. in my possession), a great history, whose author died in the year of the Flight 656.

26El-Ḳazweenee (MS. in my possession).

27Moḥammad's answers to 'Abd-Allah Ibn-Selám, quoted by Ibn-El-Wardee.

28Ibid.

29El-Ḳazweenee.

30Ḳur-án, ch. ii. v. 22, and ch. lxvi. v. 6.

31Mir-át ez-Zemán.

32Tradition from the Prophet, recorded by Ibn-'Abbás, and quoted by Ibn-El-Wardee; and by El-Is-ḥáḳee, in describing an earthquake that happened in his life-time.—On the subject of earthquakes, see also the next foot-note.

33In Ibn-Esh-Sheḥneh, "Kuyoothán:" the orthography of this word is doubtful, as the vowel-points are not written. As the tradition is related in Ibn-El-Wardee, this bull takes a breath twice in the course of every day (or twenty-four hours); when he exhales, the sea flows; and when he inhales, it ebbs. But it must not be imagined that none of the Arabs have any notion of the true theory of the tides: the more learned among them explain this phenomenon by the influence of the moon.—Many of the Arabs attribute earthquakes to the shaking of this bull.

34In Ibn-El-Wardee, a quantity of sand is introduced between the bull and the fish.

35Ed-Demeeree, on the authority of Walib Ibn-Munebbih, quoted by El-Is-ḥáḳce,loco laudato.

36Ibn-El-Wardee.

37Ḳur-án, ch. xxxix. v. 67.

38Idem, ch. xiv. v. 49.

39Idem, ch. lxxxix. v. 24.

40Khaleel Eẓ-Ẓáhiree, in De Sacy's Chrestomathie Arabe, 2nde ed. tome ii. pp. 10 and 11 of Ar. text.

41Ibid.

42El-Maḳreezee, quoted by De Sacy,ubi supra, pp. 58-62.

43Ibn-Khaldoon, in the same, pp. 168 and 169.

44Ch. xxxii. v. 13.

45Mishḳát el-Maṣábeeḥ, vol. ii. p. 329.

46Burckhardt's "Notes on the Bedouins and Wahábys," 8vo ed. vol. i. pp. 178 and 179.

47This tree is called, in Arabic, "bán" and "khiláf" or "khaláf."

48The Anacreon of Persia affected to prize the mole upon the cheek of his beloved above the cities of Samarḳand and Bukhára.

49Lawsonia inermis.

50In another analysis of the same kind, it is said that four should beshort; the hands, the feet, the tongue, and the teeth; but this is metaphorically speaking; the meaning is, that these members should be kept within their proper bounds. (Kitáb el-'Onwán fee Mekáid en-Niswán. MS. in my possession.)

51An unnamed author quoted by El-Is-ḥáḳee, in his account of the 'Abbásee Khaleefeh El-Mutawekkil.

52Mir-át ez-Zemán. See also, Ḳur-án, ch. v. v. 65.

53The term "'Efreet" is sometimes improperly applied to agoodJinnee [and also, in Egypt, to the ghost of a dead person. See "Modern Egyptians," vol. 1. ch. x. Ed.].

54Mir-át ez-Zemán.

55Ch. xv. v. 27; and Commentary of the Jeláleyn. Also, Ḳur-án, ch. lv. v. 14.

56Ch. xxvii. v. 10 and ch. xxviii. v. 31; and Commentary of the Jeláleyn.

57Ch. lv. vv. 39 and 74; and same Commentary.

58'Ekrimeh, from Ibn-'Abbás, in the Mir-át ez-Zemán.

59Mujáhid, from the same, ibid.

60Hence the appellations of "Jinn" and "Jánn."

61Tradition from the Prophet, in the Mir-át ez-Zemán.

62Mir-át ez-Zemán.

63The worship here spoken of is prostration, as an act of obeisance to a superior being.

64Ḳur-án, ch. xviii. v. 48.

65Eṭ-Ṭabaree, quoted in the Mir-át ez-Zemán.

66Mir-át ez-Zemán.

67Ch. vii. v. 11; and chap. xxxviii. v. 77.

68Mir-át ez-Zemán.

69El-Ḥasan El-Baṣree, in the Mir-át ez-Zemán.—My interpolation of the word "other" is required by his opinion before stated.

70Mujáhid, quoted by El-Ḳazweenee.

71The same, from Ibn-'Abbás, in the Mir-át ez-Zemán.

72El-Ḥasan El-Baṣree, ibid.

73'Ekrimeh, from Ibn-'Abbás, ibid.

74Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, vol. ii. p. 314.

75Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 311 and 312.

76Mir-át ez-Zemán.

77"Modern Egyptians," vol. i. ch. x.

78Ibid.

79Sale, in a note on chap. xv. of the Ḳur-án.

80So I translate the word "khaṭṭ;" but in a work by Es-Suyootee, (a MS. in my possession, entitled "Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil wa-Murshid el-Mutaähhil," section 7,) I find, in its place, the word "weshm," or "tattooing;" and there are some other slight variations and omissions in this tradition as there quoted.

81El-Ḳazweenee.

82Ch. lxxii. v 6.

83"Modern Egyptians," vol. i. ch. x.

84Idem, vol. ii. ch. xi.

85Ḳur-án, ch. xxvii. v. 17; and ch. xxxviii. v. 35.

86"Modern Egyptians," vol. i. ch. x.

87Ibid.

88Ibid.

89El-Ḳazweenee.

90El-Jáḥeẓ ('Amr Ibn-Baḥr).

91Ṣeḥáḥ and Ḳámoos.

92Tradition for the Whab Ibn-Munebbih, quoted in the account of the early Arabs in the Mir-át ez-Zemán.

93Ibid.

94El-Ḳazweenee.

95Ibn-El-Wardee.

96El-Ḳazweenee, and Mir-át ez-Zemán.

97El-Ḳazweenee.

98El-Ḳazweenee, in the khátimeh of his work.

99Mir-át ez-Zemán.

100Ibn-El-Wardee.

101Idem.

102In a great collection of Indian tales, the "Kathá Sarit Ságara," is a story which may have been the original of that to which this note refers. "Two young Brahmans travelling are benighted in a forest, and take up their lodging in a tree near a lake. Early in the night a number of people come from the water, and having made preparation for an entertainment, retire; a Yaksha, a genie, then comes out of the lake with his two wives, and spends the night there: when he and one of his wives are asleep, the other, seeing the youths, invites them to approach her, and to encourage them, shews them a hundred rings received from former gallants, notwithstanding her husband's precautions, who keeps her locked up in a chest at the bottom of the lake. The Hindu story-teller is more moral than the Arab. The youths reject her advances; she wakes the genie, who is going to put them to death, but the rings are produced in evidence against the unfaithful wife, and she is turned away with the loss of her nose. The story is repeated in the next section with some variation; the lady has ninety and nine rings, and is about to complete the hundredth, when her husband, who is here a Naga, a snake-god, wakes, and consumes the guilty pair with fire from his mouth."—British and Foreign Review, No. xxi. page 266.

103Kitáb el-'Onwán fee Mekáid en-Niswán: a work on the strategems of women (MS. in my possession).

104El-Imám El-Jara'ee, in his book entitled "Shir'at el-Islám," ibid.

105Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil wa-Murshid el-Mutaähhil, section 2.

106Es-Suyooṭee, History of Egypt, account of the strange events that have happened in Egypt during the time of El-Islám.

107Ch. xxvii. v. 16.

108Manṭiḳ eṭ-ṭeyr.

109Of the familyPteroclidæ. (Pr. Bon.)Ed.

110Ibn-'Arab-Sháh, however, has given an account of a man called the sheykh El-'Oryán, an inhabitant of Samarḳand, and a devotee, who was said to have attained the age of 350 [lunar] years [or nearly 340 solar years], and yet preserved an erect stature, a comely appearance, and such strength that it seemed as if he had not attained to mature years. The old men of the place asserted that they remembered him to have had the same appearance when they were children, and that their fathers and grandfathers had said the same.—History of Teemoor, p. 470, Calcutta edition.

Head-piece to Chapter I.--Shahrazád narrating her Stories

It has been related to me, O happy King, said Shahrazád, that there was a certain merchant who had great wealth, and traded extensively with surrounding countries; and one day he mounted his horse, and journeyed to a neighbouring country to collect what was due to him, and, the heat oppressing him, he sat under a tree, in a garden,1and put his hand into his saddle-bag,2and ate a morsel of bread and a date which were among his provisions. Having eaten the date, he threw aside the stone,3and immediately there appeared before him an 'Efreet, of enormous height, who, holding a drawn sword in his hand, approached him, and said, Rise, that I may kill thee, as thou hast killed my son. The merchant asked him, How have I killed thy son? He answered, When thou atest the date, and threwest aside the stone, it struck my son upon the chest,4and, as fate had decreed against him, he instantly died.5

Merchant and Jinnee

The merchant, on hearing these words,6exclaimed, Verily to God we belong, and verily to Him we must return! There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! If I killed him, I did it not intentionally, but without knowing it; and I trust in thee that thou wilt pardon me.—The Jinnee answered, Thy death is indispensable, as thou hast killed my son:—and so saying, he dragged him, and threw him on the ground, and raised his arm to strike him with the sword. The merchant, upon this, wept bitterly, and said to the Jinnee, I commit my affair unto God, for no one can avoidwhat He hath decreed:—and he continued his lamentation, repeating the following verses:—

Time consists of two days; this, bright; and that, gloomy: and life, of two moieties; this, safe; and that, fearful.Say to him who hath taunted us on account of misfortunes, Doth fortune oppose any but the eminent?Dost thou not observe that corpses float upon the sea, while the precious pearls remain in its furthest depths?When the hands of time play with us, misfortune is imparted to us by its protracted kiss.In the heaven are stars that cannot be numbered; but none is eclipsed save the sun and the moon.How many green and dry trees are on the earth; but none is assailed with stones save that which beareth fruit!Thou thoughtest well of the days when they went well with thee, and fearedst not the evil that destiny was bringing.

—When he had finished reciting these verses, the Jinnee said to him, Spare thy words, for thy death is unavoidable.

Then said the merchant, Know, O 'Efreet, that I have debts to pay, and I have much property, and children, and a wife, and I have pledges also in my possession: let me, therefore, go back to my house, and give to every one his due, and then I will return to thee: I bind myself by a vow and covenant that I will return to thee, and thou shalt do what thou wilt; and God is witness of what I say.—Upon this, the Jinnee accepted his covenant, and liberated him; granting him a respite until the expiration of the year.

The merchant, therefore, returned to his town, accomplished all that was upon his mind to do, paid every one what he owed him, and informed his wife and children of the event which had befallen him; upon hearing which, they and all his family and women wept. He appointed a guardian over his children, and remained with his family until the end of the year; when he took his grave-clothes under his arm,7bade farewell to his household and neighbours, and all his relations, and went forth, in spite of himself; his family raising cries of lamentation, and shrieking.8

He proceeded until he arrived at the garden before mentioned; and it was the first day of the new year; and as he sat, weeping for the calamity which he expected soon to befall him, a sheykh,9advanced in years, approached him, leading a gazelle with a chain attached to its neck. This sheykh saluted the merchant, wishing him a long life, and said to him, What is the reason of thy sitting alone in this place, seeing that it is a resort of the Jinn? The merchant thereforeinformed him of what had befallen him with the 'Efreet, and of the cause of his sitting there; at which the sheykh, the owner of the gazelle, was astonished, and said, By Allah, O my brother, thy faithfulness is great, and thy story is wonderful! if it were engraved upon the intellect, it would be a lesson to him who would be admonished!—And he sat down by his side, and said, By Allah, O my brother, I will not quit this place until I see what will happen unto thee with this 'Efreet. So he sat down, and conversed with him. And the merchant became almost senseless; fear entered him, and terror, and violent grief, and excessive anxiety. And as the owner of the gazelle sat by his side, lo, a second sheykh approached them, with two black hounds, and inquired of them, after saluting them, the reason of their sitting in that place, seeing that it was a resort of the Jánn:10and they told him the story from beginning to end. And he had hardly sat down when there approached them a third sheykh, with a dapple mule; and he asked them the same question, which was answered in the same manner.

Meeting of the Merchant and the Sheykh with the Gazelle

Immediately after, the dust was agitated, and became an enormous revolving pillar, approaching them from the midst of the desert; and this dust subsided, and behold, the Jinnee, with a drawn sword in his hand; his eyes casting forth sparks of fire. He came to them, and dragged from them the merchant, and said to him, Rise, that I may kill thee, as thou killedst my son, the vital spirit of my heart. And the merchant wailed and wept; and the three sheykhs also manifested their sorrow by weeping and crying aloud and wailing: but the first sheykh, who was the owner of the gazelle, recovering his self-possession, kissed the hand of the 'Efreet, and said to him, O thou Jinnee, and crown of the kings of the Jánn, if I relate to thee the story of myself and this gazelle, and thou find it to be wonderful, and more so than the adventure of this merchant, wilt thou give up to me a thirdof thy claim to his blood? He answered, Yes, O sheykh; if thou relate to me the story, and I find it to be as thou hast said, I will give up to thee a third of my claim to his blood.

Return of the Jinnee

Then said the sheykh, Know, O 'Efreet, that this gazelle is the daughter of my paternal uncle,11and she is of my flesh and my blood. I took her as my wife when she was young,12and lived with her about thirty years; but I was not blessed with a child by her; so I took to me a concubine slave,13and by her I was blessed with a male child, like the rising full moon, with beautiful eyes, and delicately-shaped eyebrows, and perfectly-formed limbs; and he grew up by little and little until he attained the age of fifteen years. At this period, I unexpectedly had occasion to journey to a certain city, and went thither with a great stock of merchandise.

Now my cousin,14this gazelle, had studied enchantment and divination from her early years; and during my absence, she transformed the youth above mentioned into a calf; and his mother, intoa cow;15and committed them to the care of the herdsman: and when I returned, after a long time, from my journey, I asked after my son and his mother, and she said, Thy slave is dead, and thy son hath fled, and I know not whither he is gone. After hearing this, I remained for the space of a year with mourning heart and weeping eye, until the Festival of the Sacrifice;16when I sent to the herdsman, and ordered him to choose for me a fat cow; and he brought me one, and it was my concubine, whom this gazelle had enchanted. I tucked up my skirts and sleeves, and took the knife17in my hand, and prepared myself to slaughter her; upon which she moaned and cried so violently that I left her, and ordered the herdsman to kill and skin her: and he did so, but found in her neither fat nor flesh, nor anything but skin and bone; and I repented of slaughtering her, when repentance was of no avail. I therefore gave her to the herdsman, and said to him, Bring me a fat calf: and he brought me my son, who was transformed into a calf. And when the calf saw me, he broke his rope, and came to me, and fawned upon me, and wailed and cried, so that I was moved with pity for him; and I said to the herdsman, Bring me a cow, and let this—

Transformation of the Concubine into a Cow

Here Shahrazád perceived the light of morning, and discontinued the recitation with which she had been allowed thus far to proceed. Her sister said to her, How excellent is thy story! and how pretty! and how pleasant! and how sweet!—but she answered, What is this in comparison with that which I will relate to thee in the next night, if I live, and the King spare me! And the King said, By Allah, I will not kill her until I hear the remainder of her story. Thus they pleasantly passed the night until the morning, when the King went forth to his hall of judgment, and the Wezeer went thither with the grave-clothes under his arm: and the Kinggave judgment, and invested and displaced, until the close of the day, without informing the Wezeer of that which had happened; and the minister was greatly astonished. The court was then dissolved; and the King returned to the privacy of his palace.

[On the second and each succeeding night, Shahrazád continued so to interest King Shahriyár by her stories as to induce him to defer putting her to death, in expectation that her fund of amusing tales would soon be exhausted; and as this is expressed in the original work in nearly the same words at the close of every night, such repetitions will in the present translation be omitted.18]

When the sheykh, continued Shahrazád, observed the tears of the calf, his heart sympathized with him, and he said to the herdsman, Let this calf remain with the cattle.—Meanwhile, the Jinnee wondered at this strange story; and the owner of the gazelle thus proceeded.

O lord of the kings of the Jánn, while this happened, my cousin, this gazelle, looked on, and said, Slaughter this calf; for he is fat: but I could not do it; so I ordered the herdsman to take him back; and he took him and went away. And as I was sitting, on the following day, he came to me, and said, O my master, I have to tell thee something that thou wilt be rejoiced to hear; and a reward is due to me for bringing good news.19I answered, Well:—and he said, O merchant, I have a daughter who learned enchantment in her youth from an old woman in our family; and yesterday, when thou gavest me the calf, I took him to her, and she looked at him, and covered her face, and wept, and then laughed, and said, O my father, hath my condition become so degraded in thy opinion that thou bringest before me strange men?20—Where, said I, are any strange men? and wherefore didst thou weep and laugh? She answered, This calf that is with thee is the son of our master, the merchant, and the wife of our master hath enchanted both him and his mother; and this was the reason of my laughter; but as to the reason of my weeping, it was on account of his mother, because his father had slaughtered her.—And I was excessively astonished at this; and scarcely was I certain that the light of morning had appeared when I hastened to inform thee.

Back to Index Next