Part 9 (1/2)

[Footnote 141: Or we may read ”went out, glad and rejoicing, with (bi) the young lady;” but the reading in the test is more consonant with the general style of the Nights.]

[Footnote 142: Azaa, strictly the formal sitting in state to receive visits of condolence for the death of a relation, but in modern parlance commonly applied, by extension, to the funeral ceremonies themselves.]

[Footnote 143: El kendil el meshhour. The lamp is however more than once mentioned in the course of the tale by the name of ”wonderful” (ajib, see post, p. 88, note 4) so familiar to the readers of the old version.]

[Footnote 144: Night DXIV.]

[Footnote 145: Khilafahu, lit. ”the contrary thereof;” but the expression is constantly used (instead of the more correct gheirahu) in the sense of ”other than it,” ”the take,” etc.]

[Footnote 146: Or ”street-boys” (auladu 'l hhareh).]

[Footnote 147: Zeboun.]

[Footnote 148: Burton adds here, ”Counsel and castigation were of no avail.”]

[Footnote 149: Lit. ”had been recalled” (tuwouffia), i.e. by G.o.d to Himself.]

[Footnote 150: This old English and Shakspearean expression is the exact equivalent of the Arabic phrase Khelesza min sherr walidihi. Burton, ”freed from [bearing] the severities of his sire.”]

[Footnote 151: Kanet wayyishuhu. Burton, ”lived only by.”]

[Footnote 152: Night DXV.]

[Footnote 153: I prefer this old English form of the Arabic word Meghrebiy (a native of El Meghreb or North-Western Africa) to ”Moor,”

as the latter conveys a false impression to the modern reader, who would naturally suppose him to be a native of Morocco, whereas the enchanter came, as will presently appear, from biladu 'l gherbi 'l jewwaniy, otherwise Ifrikiyeh, i.e. ”the land of the Inner West” or Africa proper, comprising Tunis, Tripoli and part of A]geria.]

[Footnote 154: Min biladi 'l gherbi 'l jewwaniy. The Muslim provinces of North-Western Africa, extending from the north-western boundary of Egypt to Cape Nun on the Mogador Coast, were known under the general name of El Meghreb (modern Barbary) and were divided into three parts, to wit (1) El Meghreb el Jewwaniy, Inner, i.e. Hither or Nearer (to Egypt) Barbary or Ifrikiyeh, comprising Tripoli, Tunis and Constantine (part of Algeria), (2) El Meghreb el Aouset, Central Barbary. comprising the rest of Algeria, and (3) El Meghreb el Acszaa, Farther or Outer Barbary, comprising the modern empire of Morocco.]

[Footnote 155: El hieh. Burton translates, ”astrology,” and astrology (or astronomy); is the cla.s.sical meaning of the word; but the common meaning in modern Arabic is ”the science of physiognomy,” cf. the Nights pa.s.sim. See especially ante, p. 42.]

[Footnote 156: Bi-szaut hezin meksour. Burton, ”in a soft voice saddened by emotion.”]

[Footnote 157: Burton, ”brother-german.”]

[Footnote 158: Or ”comfort myself in him” (ateazza bihi). Burton ”condole with him [over the past].”]

[Footnote 159: Lit. ”hid not unto me that” (ma ekhfa aleyya an).]

[Footnote 160: Night DXVI.]

[Footnote 161: Teaziyeti. Burton, ”I have now railed in the mourning ceremonies.”]

[Footnote 162: El bein ked efjaani fihi, i e. ”I have been stricken with separation from him.” Burton, ”Far distance wrought me this trouble.”]

[Footnote 163: Lit. ”the being (el ka'n, i.e. that which is, the accomplished fact) there is not from it a refuge or place of fleeing”

(mehreb). Burton, ”nor hath the creature aught of asylum from the Creator.”]

[Footnote 164: Or ”consolation” (azaa).]

[Footnote 165: Burton, ”I have none to condole with now save thyself”]