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 -- Arab countries; Folklore -- Arab countries
Arab "Amsár" (cities): in Bul. Edit. "Amtár" (rains), as in Mac.
Edit. So Mr. Payne (I., 5) translates:—
And when she flashes forth the lightning of her glance, She maketh
eyes to rain, like showers, with many a tear.
I would render it, "She makes whole cities shed tears;" and prefer it
for a reason which will generally influence me—its superior
exaggeration and impossibility.
Footnote 14:
Not "A-frit," pronounced Aye-frit, as our poets have it. This variety
of the Jinn, who, as will be shown, are divided into two races like
mankind, is generally, but not always, a malignant being, hostile and
injurious to mankind (Koran xxvii. 39).
Footnote 15:
_i.e._, "I conjure thee by Allah;" the formula is technically called
"Inshád."
Footnote 16:
This introducing the name of Allah into an indecent tale is
essentially Egyptian and Cairene. But see Boccacio ii. 6; and vii. 9.
Footnote 17:
So in the Mac. Edit.; in others "ninety." I prefer the greater number
as exaggeration is a part of the humour. In the Hindu "Kathá Sárit
Ságara" (Sea of the Streams of Story), the rings are one hundred and
the catastrophe is more moral; the good youth Yashodhara rejects the
wicked one's advances; she awakes the water-sprite, who is about to
slay him, but the rings are brought as testimony and the improper
young person's nose is duly cut off. (Chapt. lxiii.; p. 80, of the
excellent translation by Prof. C. H. Tawney: for the Bibliotheca
Indica: Calcutta, 1881.) The Kathá, etc., by Somadeva (century xi),
is a poetical version of the prose compendium, the "Vrihat Kathá"
(Great Story) by Gunadhya (cent. vi).
Footnote 18:
The Joseph of the Koran, very different from him of Genesis. We shall
meet him often enough in The Nights.
Footnote 19:
"Iblis," vulgarly written "Eblis," from a root meaning The Despairer,
with a suspicious likeness to Diabolos; possibly from "Balas," a
profligate. Some translate it The Calumniator, as Satan is the Hater.
Iblis (who appears in the Arab. version of the N. Testament)
succeeded another revolting angel Al-Haris; and his story of pride,
refusing to worship Adam, is told four times in the Koran from the
Talmud (Sanhedrim 29). He caused Adam and Eve to lose Paradise (ii.
34); he still betrays mankind (xxv. 31), and at the end of time he,
with the other devils, will be "gathered together on their knees
round Hell" (xix. 69). He has evidently had the worst of the game and
we wonder, with Origen, Tillotson, Burns and many others, that he
does not throw up the cards.
Footnote 20:
A similar tale is still told at Akká (St. John d'Acre) concerning the
terrible "butcher"—Jazzár (Djezzar) Pasha. One can·hardly pity women
who are fools enough to run such risks. According to Frizzi, Niccolò,
Marquis of Este, after beheading Parisina, ordered all the faithless
wives of Ferrara to be treated in like manner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account