Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 6 (of 6)
General
Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 6 (of 6)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
[FN#115] Arab. "Kaus al-Bundúk" (or Banduk) a pellet-bow, the
Italian arcobugio, the English arquebuse; for which see vol. i.
10. Usually the "Kís" is the Giberne or pellet-bag; but here it
is the bow-cover. Gauttier notes (vii. 131):--Bondouk signifie en
Arabe harquebuse, Albondoukani signifie l'arquebusier; c'était
comme on le voit, le mot d'ordre dit Khalyfe. He supposes, then,
that firelocks were known in the days of Harun al-Rashid (A.D.
786-809). Al-Bundukáni = the cross-bow man, or rather the man of
the pellet-bow was, according to the Ráwí, the name by which the
Caliph was known in this disguise. Al-Zahir Baybars al-
Bundukdárí, the fourth Baharite Soldan (A.D. 1260-77), was so
entitled because he had been a slave to a Bundukdár, an officer
who may be called the Grand Master of Artillery. In Chavis and
Cazotte the Caliph arms himself with a spear, takes a bow and
arrow (instead of the pellet-bow that named him), disguises his
complexion, dyes beard and eyebrows, dons a large coarse turband,
a buff waistcoat with a broad leathern belt, a short robe of
common stuff and half-boots of strong coarse leather, and thus
"assumes the garb of an Arab from the desert." (!)
[FN#116] See vol. i. 266.
[FN#117] i.e. by the Archangel Gabriel.
[FN#118] Arab. "Habbah" = a grain (of barley, etc.), an obolus, a
mite: it is also used for a gold bead in the shape of a cube
forming part of the Egyptian woman's headdress (Lane M.E.,
Appendix A). As a weight it is the 48th of a dirham, the third of
a kírát (carat) or 127/128 of an English grain, avoir.
[FN#119] In text "Mahmá" = as often as = kullu-má. This is the
eleventh question of the twelve in Al-Hariri, Ass. xxiv., and the
sixth of Ass. xxxvi. The former runs, "What is the noun (kullu-
má) which gives no sense except by the addition thereto of two
words, or the shortening thereof to two letters (i.e. má); and in
the first case there is adhesion and in the second compulsion?"
(Chenery, pp. 246-253).
[FN#120] In Chavis and Cazotte he looks through the key-hole
which an Eastern key does not permit, the holes being in the
bolt. See Index, Suppl. vol. v.
[FN#121] In text "Kábal-ki," which I suspect to be a clerical
error for "Kátal-ki" = Allah strike thee dead. See vol. iv. 264,
265. [One of the meanings of "Mukábalah," the third form of
"kabila," is "requital," "retaliation." The words in the text
could therefore be translated: "may God requite thee."--ST.]
[FN#122] In Chavis and Cazotte she swears "by the name of God
which is written on our Great
Prophet's forehead."
[FN#123] Arab. "Yá Luss"; for this word = the Gr. {Greek}; see
Suppl. vol. v. index.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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