书城公版Volume Five
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第128章

When Miriam heard the verses of Nur al-Din the loving-hearted;the parted;they kindled in her vitals a fire of desire,and while her eyes ran over with tears,she recited these two couplets;'I longed for him I love;but,when we met,* I was amazed nor tongue nor eyes I found.

I had got ready volumes of reproach;* But when we met,could syllable no sound.'

When Nur al-Din heard the voice of Princess Miriam,he knew it and wept bitter tears,saying,'By Allah,this is the chanting of the Lady Miriam.'--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Footnotes

[1]Ironice;we are safe as long as we are defended by such a brave.

[2]Blue,azure.This is hardly the place for a protest,but I must not neglect the opportunity of cautioning my readers against rendering Bahr al-Azrak ('Blue River') by'Blue Nile.'No Arab ever knew it by that name or thereby equalled it with the White Nile.The term was a pure invention of Abyssinian Bruce who was well aware of the unfact he was propagating,but his inordinate vanity and self-esteem,contrasting so curiously with many noble qualities,especially courage and self-reliance;tempted him to this and many other a traveller's tale.

[3]This is orthodox Moslem doctrine and it does something for the dignity of human nature which has been so unwisely depreciated and degraded by Christianity.The contrast of Moslem dignity and Christian abasement in the East is patent to every unblind traveller.

[4]Here ends vol.iii.of the Mac.Edit.

[5]This famous tale is a sister prose-poem to the'Arabian Odyssey'Sindbad the Seaman;only the Bassorite's travels are in Jinn-land and Japan.It has points of resemblance in'fundamental outline'with the Persian Romance of the Fairy Hasan B nā and King Bahr m-i-Gār.See also the Kath (s.s.) and the two sons of the Asāra M y ;the Tartar'Sidhi Kār'(Tales of a Vampire or Enchanted Corpse) translated by Mr.W.J.Thoms (the Father of'Folk-lore'in 1846,) in'Lays and Legends of various Nations';the Persian Bah r-i-D nish (Prime of Lore).Miss Stokes'Indian Fairy Tales';Miss Frere's'Old Deccan Days'and Mrs.F.A.Steel's'Tale of the King and his Seven Sons,'with notes by Lieutenant (now Captain) R.C.Temple (Folk-lore of the Panjab,Indian Antiquary of March,1882).

[6]In the Mac.Edit.(vol.iv.i.) the merchant has two sons who became one a brazier ('dealer in copper-wares'says Lane iii.385) and the other a goldsmith.The Bresl.Edit.(v.264)

mentions only one son,Hasan,the hero of the story which is entitled,'Tale of Hasan al-Basri and the Isles of W k W k.'

[7]Arab.'Sh sh Abyaz:'this distinctive sign of the True Believer was adopted by the Persian to conceal his being a fire-worshipper,Magian or'Guebre.'The latter word was introduced from the French by Lord Byron and it is certainly far superior to Moore's'Gheber.'

[8]Persians being always a suspected folk.

[9]Arab.'Al-Bādikah'afterwards used (Night dcclxxix) in the sense of crucible or melting-pot,in modern parlance a pipe-bowl;and also written'Bātakah,'an Arab distortion of the Persian'Bātah.'

[10]Arab.'Sind n'or'Sindiy n'(Dozy).'Sand n,'anvil;

'Sind n,'big,strong (Steingass).

[11]Arab.'Kimiya,'(see vol.i.305) properly the substance which transmutes metals,the'philosopher's stone'

which,by the by,is not a stone;and comes from {Greek letters};a fluid,a wet drug,as opposed to Iksir (Al-) {Greek letters} a dry drug.Those who care to see how it is still studied will consult my History of Sindh (chapt.vii) and my experience which pointed only to the use made of it in base coinage.Hence in mod.

tongue Kimiy wi,an alchemist,means a coiner,a smasher.The reader must not suppose that the transmutation of metals is a dead study: I calculate that there are about one hundred workers in London alone.

[12]Arab.'Al-Kir,'a bellows also = Kār,a furnace.For the full meaning of this sentence,see my'Book of the Sword,'p.119.

[13]Lit.'bade him lean upon it with the shears'(Al-K z).

[14]There are many kinds of Kohls (Hindos.Surm and Kajjal) used in medicine and magic.See Herklots,p.227.

[15]Arab.'Sabikah'= bar,lamina,from'Sabk'= melting;smelting: the lump in the crucible would be hammered out into an ingot in order to conceal the operation [16]i.e.?375.

[17]Such report has cost many a life: the suspicion was and is still deadly as heresy in a'new Christian'under the Inquisition.

[18]Here there is a double entendre: openly it means,'Few men recognise as they should the bond of bread and salt:'the other sense would be (and that accounts for the smile),'What the deuce do I care for the bond?'

[19]Arab.'Kabb t'in the Bresl.Edit.'Ka'ab n': Lane (iii.519) reads'Ka' b plur.of Ka'ab a cup.'

[20]A most palpable sneer.But Hasan is purposely represented as a'softy'till aroused and energized by the magic of Love.

[21]Arab.'Al-iksir'(see Night dcclxxix,supra p.9): the Greek word which has returned from a trip to Arabia and reappeared in Europe as'Elixir.'

[22]'Aw k'plur.of'Ukiyah,'the well-known'oke,'or'ocque,'a weight varying from 1 to 2 lbs.In Morocco it is pronounced'Wukiyah,'and = the Spanish ounce (p.279 Rudimentos del Arabe Vulgar,etc.,by Fr.Jos? de Lorchundi,Madrid;Rivadencyra,1872).

[23]These lines have occurred in vol.iv.267,where references to other places are given.I quote Lane by way of variety.In the text they are supposed to have been written by the Persian,a hint that Hasan would never be seen again.

[24]i.e.a superfetation of iniquity.

[25]Arab.'Kurb n'= offering,oblation to be brought to the priest's house or to the altar of the tribal God Yahveh;Jehovah (Levit.ii,2-3 etc.).Amongst the Maronites Kurban is the host (-wafer) and amongst the Turks'Id al-Kurban (sacrifice-feast) is the Greater Bayram,the time of Pilgrimage.