登陆注册
16285000000123

第123章

[283]Arab.'Zimmi'which Lane (ii.474) aptly translates a 'tributary.'The Koran (chaps.ix.) orders Unbelievers to Islamize or to 'pay tribute by right of subjection'(lit.an yadin=out of hand,an expression much debated).The least tribute is one dinar per annum which goes to the poor-rate.and for this the Kafir enjoys protection and almost all the civil rights of Moslems.As it is a question of 'loaves and fishes'there is much to say on the subject; 'loaves and fishes'being the main base and foundation of all religious establishments.

[284]This tetrastich has before occurred,so I quote Lane (ii.444).

[285]In Night xxxv.the same occurs with a difference.

[286]The old rite,I repeat,has lost amongst all but the noblest of Arab tribes the whole of its significance; and the traveller must be careful how he trusts to the phrase 'Nahnu malihin'we are bound together by the salt.

[287]Arab.'Alama'= Ala-ma = upon what ? wherefore ?

[288]Arab.'Mauz'; hence the Linnean name Musa (paradisiaca,etc.).The word is explained by Sale (Koran,chaps.xxxvii.146) as 'a small tree or shrub;'and he would identify it with Jonah's gourd.

[289]Lane (ii.446) 'bald wolf or empowered fate,'reading (with Mac.) Kaza for Kattan (cat).

[290]i.e.'the Orthodox in the Faith.'Rashid is a proper name,witness that scourge of Syria,Rashid Pasha.Born in 1830,of the Haji Nazir Agha family,Darrah-Beys of Macedonian Draina,he was educated in Paris where he learned the usual-hatred of Europeans: he entered the Egyptian service in 1851,and,presently exchanging it for the Turkish,became in due time Wali (Governor-General) of Syria which he plundered most shamelessly.

Recalled in 1872,he eventually entered the Ministry and on June 15.1876,he was shot down,with other villains like himself,by gallant Captain Hasan,the Circassian (Yarham-hu 'llah !).

[291]Quoted from a piece of verse,of which more presently.

[292]This tetrastich has occurred before (Night cxciii.).I quote Lane (ii.449),who quotes Dryden's Spanish Friar,'There is a pleasure sure in being mad Which none but madmen know.'

[293]Lane (ii.449) gives a tradition of the Prophet,'Whoso is in love,and acteth chastely,and concealeth (his passion) and dieth,dieth a martyr.'Sakar is No.5 Hell for Magi Guebres,Parsis,etc.,it is used in the comic Persian curse,'Fi'n-nari wa Sakar al-jadd w'al-pidar'=ln Hell and Sakar his grandfather and his father.

[294]Arab.'Sifr': I have warned readers that whistling is considered a kind of devilish speech by the Arabs,especially the Badawin,and that the traveller must avoid it.It savours of idolatry: in the Koran we find (chaps.viii.35),'Their prayer at the House of God (Ka'abah) is none other than whistling and hand-clapping;'and tradition says that they whistled through their fingers.Besides many of the Jinn have only round holes by way of mouths and their speech is whistling a kind of bird language like sibilant English.

[295]Arab.'Kil wa kal'=lit.'it was said and he said;'a popular phrase for chit chat,tittle-tattle,prattle and prate,etc.

[296]Arab.'Hadis.'comparing it with a tradition of the Prophet.

[297]Arab.'Mikashshah,'the thick part of a midrib of a palm-frond soaked for some days in water and beaten out till the fibres separate.It makes an exceedingly hard,although not a lasting broom.

[298]Persian,'the youth,the brave;'Sansk.Yuvan: and Lat.

Juvenis.The Kurd,in tales,is generally a sturdy thief; and in real-life is little better.

[299]Arab.'Ya Shatir ;'lit.O clever one (in a bad sense).

[300]Lane (ii.453) has it.'that I may dress thy hair''etc.

This is Bowdlerising with a witness.

[301]The sign of respect when a personage dismounts.(Pilgrimage i.77.)

[302]So the Hindus speak of 'the defilement of separation'as if it were an impurity.

[303]Lane (i.605) gives a long and instructive note on these public royal-banquets which were expected from the lieges by Moslem subjects.The hanging-penalty is,perhaps,a tattle exaggerated;

but we find the same excess in the priestly Gesta Romanorum.

[304]Had he eaten it he would have become her guest.Amongst the older Badawin it was sufficient to spit upon a man (in entreaty) to claim his protection: so the horse-thieves when caught were placed in a hole in the ground covered over with matting to prevent this happening.Similarly Saladin (Salah al-Din) the chivalrous would not order a cup of water for the robber,Reynald de Chatillon,before putting him to death [305]Arab.'Kishk'properly 'Kashk'=wheat-meal-coarsely ground and eaten with milk or broth.It is de rigueur with the Egyptian Copts on the 'Friday of Sorrow'(Good Friday): and Lane gives the recipe for making it (M.E.chaps.xxvi.)

[306]In those days distinctive of Moslems.

[307]The euphemism has before been noticed: the Moslem reader would not like to pronounce the words 'I am a Nazarene.'The same formula occurs a little lower down to save the reciter or reader from saying 'Be my wife divorced,'etc.

[308]Arab,'Hajj,'a favourite Egyptianism.We are wrong to write Hajji which an Eastern would pronounce Haj-ji.

[309]This is Cairene 'chaff.'

[310]Whose shell fits very tight.

[311]His hand was like a raven's because he ate with thumb and two fingers and it came up with the rice about it like a camel's hoof in dirty ground.This refers to the proverb (Burckhardt,756),'He comes down a crow-claw (small) and comes up a camel-hoof (huge and round).'

[312]Easterns have a superstitious belief in the powers of food: I knew a learned man who never sat down to eat without a ceremonious salam to his meat.

[313]Lane (ii.464),uses the vile Turkish corruption 'Rustum,'which,like its fellow 'Rustem,'would make a Persian shudder.

[314]Arab.'Darrij'i.e.let them slide (Americanice).

同类推荐
  • 悟玄篇

    悟玄篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 蓝涧集

    蓝涧集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 四品学法经

    四品学法经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 大沩密印寺养拙明禅师语录

    大沩密印寺养拙明禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 月涧禅师语录

    月涧禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 金刚场陀罗尼经

    金刚场陀罗尼经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 情弦

    情弦

    聪明漂亮,才艺过人的萧潇从小受到一个韩国人士的资助,心存感谢的她一直希望能见到资助人。一次偶然的机会,她所在的学校获得一个“中韩友好交往生”的名额。聪明的萧潇以她的才智努力争取到这个名额,获得了到韩国大学艺术系的留学机会。在学校她遇到了温柔体贴的尹安泰和帅得不象话的万人迷金俊熙。安泰对萧潇一见钟情,但萧潇却总是受到万人迷俊熙的吸引。然而互相吸引的两人却因为误会而相互止步。萧潇一直在心里忽略那种莫名心动,可是,一次偶然的机会,萧潇在俊熙的包里看到了自己在中国时寄给自己的资助人的信,她由此认定俊熙就是自己的资助人,她决定让自己的感情跟随俊熙。可是她要面对的困难超乎她的想象……故事情节峰回路转,萧潇的感情到底何去何从呢?此书改编的小说作品《琴弦上的阿狄丽娜》已经出版,请多多关注(*^__^*)嘻嘻……
  • 爱情没有终点

    爱情没有终点

    也许你会认为高中谈恋爱是早恋,但是我们却忘了……
  • 兽王·战兽隼狼

    兽王·战兽隼狼

    沙祖为了在谈判桌上获得胜利,手段百出,无所不用其极,但是军队的频频失利令他决定孤注一掷,密谋将东西联邦政府的谈判组成员杀得干干净净,这样一来东西联邦政府群龙无首,很有可能就此被沙祖扳回局面。一时间,沙祖身边集中了苏尔、黑鹰王纳特和独孤霸三大超一流高手,并由加利亚城城主金铎率众强者围杀东西联邦政府的护卫队和保镖队。千钧一发之际,兰虎挺身而出,与隼狼合体……
  • 拾光七色

    拾光七色

    宁戚是一名患有多重人格的导游,暗恋一人爱而不言。颜舒情是一名颇有天赋的插画家,追逐一人爱而不得。毕淑敏说,太多的人善于珍藏苦难。当苦难的力量大过于甜美的力量,幸福之路往往会被阻挡。幸福是七色的光。当存放幸福的地方被内心恶魔占据,幸福之光如何照耀...
  • 天狼帝国

    天狼帝国

    一个宇航员意外钻入黑洞,来到神武世界,修炼神武功法,最终成为绝代高手。
  • 都市最强特种兵

    都市最强特种兵

    “热血可洒,军令难违!我们是为和平而来!”维和、反恐,时常游走在危险边缘的杜希,佣兵界最强悍的敌人,各国元首最想要干掉的业内顶级兵王,卸下荣耀,回归家族后,却发现命运似乎也一直在和他作对。被自己家族视为耻辱,父母在家族抬不起头来、妹妹因为他交不到男朋友,未曾见过面的未婚妻一家,迫不及待跑来退婚,于是他怒了,他决定和这个世界谈谈,王者回归,携风云之势,一路啪啪啪拍打敌人的脸。
  • 娱乐众生

    娱乐众生

    尴尬离职的主持人,为了心中小小的梦想,一头扎进了娱乐圈。“我的梦想就是让我的名字成为金字招牌,成为票房卖点”--吕珂
  • 重生空间之农女逆袭

    重生空间之农女逆袭

    响男怎么也没想到,原本以为无意的一场恶作剧,却被人记恨了两年直到自己被侮辱致死,谁知却意外回到上大学前期,并得无上宝物认主,随后走上了修仙的道路,于是……“什么?你说那个人连死人都能救活?”淡定,人家只是救了癌症患者,死人谁救得活,你救看看?“什么?你说那家化妆品连重度烧伤患者都能弄成大美女?”淡定,人家只是纯天然复原好不?基因不好的人你整个看看,除非是棒子国。“什么?你说那个龙队瞬间就将一百多名恐怖份子给制服了?”淡定,人家只是爱国,对方实力弱,没办法。“什么?你说还不止这些?”淡定,你以为哀家的能力就这么点?想要知道更多?哼,点开自己看。(本文纯属虚构,请勿模仿。)
  • 人间罪恶

    人间罪恶

    “爱他的人将他奉作神明,恨他的人觉得他装腔作势。”一双犀利的鬼眼、加上缜密的思维,配合上绝对丰富的想像力,实习生王动刚刚出现在案发现场,就给所有人一个大大的惊奇。一桩桩毫无头绪的悬案,一张张令人迷途的大网,一把把解开迷题的密钥,纷纷踏至而来。是继续还是选择逃避,实习期满的王动陷入了迷茫之中。