The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 01 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 01 (of 10)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
[FN#4] Galland writes "Vizier," a wretched frenchification of a mincing
Turkish mispronunciation; Torrens, "Wuzeer" (Anglo-Indian and
Gilchristian); Lane, "Wezeer"; (Egyptian or rather Cairene); Payne,
"Vizier," according to his system; Burckhardt (Proverbs), "Vizír;" and
Mr. Keith-Falconer, "Vizir." The root is popularly supposed to be
"wizr" (burden) and the meaning "Minister;" Wazir al-Wuzará being
"Premier." In the Koran (chapt. xx., 30) Moses says, "Give me a Wazir
of my family, Harun (Aaron) my brother." Sale, followed by the
excellent version of the Rev. J. M. Rodwell, translates a "Counsellor,"
and explains by "One who has the chief administration of affairs under
a prince." But both learned Koranists learnt their Orientalism in
London, and, like such students generally, fail only upon the easiest
points, familiar to all old dwellers in the East.
[FN#5] This three-days term (rest-day, drest-day and departure day)
seems to be an instinct-made rule in hospitality. Among Moslems it is a
Sunnat or practice of the Prophet.)
[FN#6] _i.e._, I am sick at heart.
[FN#7] Debauched women prefer negroes on account of the size of their
parts. I measured one man in Somali-land who, when quiescent, numbered
nearly six inches. This is a characteristic of the negro race and of
African animals; _e.g._ the horse; whereas the pure Arab, man and
beast, is below the average of Europe; one of the best proofs by the
by, that the Egyptian is not an Asiatic, but a negro partially
white-washed. Moreover, these imposing parts do not increase
proportionally during erection; consequently, the "deed of kind" takes
a much longer time and adds greatly to the woman's enjoyment. In my
time no honest Hindi Moslem would take his women-folk to Zanzibar on
account of the huge attractions and enormous temptations there and
thereby offered to them. Upon the subject of Imsák = retention of semen
and "prolongation of pleasure," I shall find it necessary to say more.
[FN#8] The very same words were lately spoken in England proving the
eternal truth of The Nights which the ignorant call "downright lies."
[FN#9] The Arab's _Tue la!_
[FN#10] Arab. "Sayd wa kanas": the former usually applied to fishing;
hence Sayda (Sidon) = fish-town. But noble Arabs (except the Caliph
Al-Amin) do not fish; so here it means simply "sport," chasing,
coursing, birding (oiseler), and so forth.
[FN#11] In the Mac. Edit. the negro is called "Mas'úd"; here he utters
a kind of war-cry and plays upon the name, "Sa'ád, Sa'íd, Sa'úd," and
"Mas'ud", all being derived from one root, "Sa'ad" = auspiciousness,
prosperity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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