Richard Burton - A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4 (of 17)

My dear Arbuthnot,

I have no fear that a friend, whose friendship has lasted nearly a third of a century, will misunderstand my reasons for inscribing his name upon these pages. You have lived long enough in the East and, as your writings show, observantly enough to detect the pearl which lurks in the kitchen-midden, and to note that its lustre is not dimmed nor its value diminished by its unclean surroundings.

Ever yours sincerely,

RICHARD F. BURTON.

Athenæum Club, October 1, 1885 .

There lived once in the city of Cufa 1 1 The name is indifferently derived from the red sand about the town or the reeds and mud with which it was originally built. It was founded by the Caliph Omar, when the old Capital Madáin (Ctesiphon) opposite was held unwholesome, on the West bank of the Euphrates, four days’ march from Baghdad and has now disappeared. Al-Saffáh, the first Abbaside, made it his Capital and it became a famous seat of Moslem learning; the Kufi school of Arab Grammarians being as renowned as their opponents, the Basri (of Bassorah). It gave a name to the “Cufic” characters which are, however, of much older date. a man called Al-Rabí’a bin Hátim, who was one of the chief men of the town, a wealthy and a healthy, and Heaven had vouchsafed him a son, whom he named Ni’amat Allah. 2 2 “Ni’amat” = a blessing; and the word is perpetually occurring in Moslem conversation, “Ni’amatu ‘lláh” (as pronounced) is also a favourite P. N. and few Anglo-Indians of the Mutiny date will forget the scandalous disclosures of Munshi Ni’amatu ‘llah, who had been sent to England by Nana Sahib. Nu’m = prosperity, good fortune, and a P. N. like the Heb. “Naomi.” One day, being in the slave-brokers’ mart, he saw a woman exposed for sale with a little maid of wonderful beauty and grace on her arm. So he beckoned to the broker and asked him, “How much for this woman and her daughter?” He answered “Fifty dinars.” Quoth Al-Rabi’a “Write the contract of sale and take the money and give it to her owner.” Then he gave the broker the price and his brokerage and taking the woman and her child, carried them to his house. Now when the daughter of his uncle who was his wife saw the slave, she said to her husband, “O my cousin, what is this damsel?” He replied, “Of a truth, I bought her for the sake of the little one on her arm; for know that, when she groweth up, there will not be her like for beauty, either in the land of the Arabs or the Ajams.” His wife remarked, “Right was thy rede”; and said to the woman, “What is thy name?” She replied, “O my lady, my name is Taufík. 3 3 i. e. “causing to be prosperous”; the name, corrupted by the Turks to “Tevfik,” is given to either sex, e. g. Taufik Pasha of Egypt, to whose unprosperous rule and miserable career the signification certainly does not apply. ” “And what is thy daughter’s name?” asked she. Answered the slave, “Sa’ad, the happy.” Rejoined her mistress, “Thou sayst sooth, thou art indeed happy, and happy is he who hath bought thee.” Then quoth she to her husband, “O my cousin, what wilt thou call her?”; and quoth he, “Whatso thou choosest”; so she, “Then let us call her Naomi;” and he rejoined, “Good is thy device.” The little Naomi was reared with Al-Rabi’a’s son Ni’amat in one cradle, so to speak, till the twain reached the age of ten and each grew handsomer than the other; and the boy used to address her, “O my sister!” and she, “O my brother!”, till they came to that age when Al-Rabi’a said to Ni’amah, “O my son, Naomi is not thy sister but thy slave. I bought her in thy name whilst thou wast yet in the cradle; so call her no more sister from this day forth.” Quoth Ni’amah, “If that be so, I will take her to wife.” Then he went to his mother and told her of this, and she said to him, “O my son, she is thy handmaid.” So he wedded and went in unto Naomi and loved her; and two 4 4 Lane (ii. 187) alters the two to four years. years passed over them whilst in this condition, nor was there in all Cufa a fairer girl than Naomi, or a sweeter or a more graceful. As she grew up she learnt the Koran and read works of science and excelled in music and playing upon all kinds of instruments; and in the beauty of her singing she surpassed all the folk of her time. Now one day, as she sat with her husband in the wine-chamber, she took the lute, tightened the strings, and sang these two couplets: —

Ni’amah was charmed with these verses and said to her, “By my life, O Naomi, sing to us with the tambourine and other instruments!” So she sang these couplets to a lively measure: —

And Ni’amah exclaimed, “Heaven favoured art thou, O Naomi!” But whilst they led thus the most joyous life, behold! Al-Hajjáj, 6 6 Bin Yúsuf al-Sakafi, a statesman and soldier of the seventh and eighth centuries (A.D.). He was Governor of Al-Hijaz and Al-Irak under the fifth and sixth Ommiades, and I have noticed his vigorous rule of the Moslems’ Holy Land in my Pilgrimage (iii. 194, etc.). He pulled down the Ka’abah and restored it to the condition in which it now is. Al-Siyuti (p. 219) accuses him of having suborned a man to murder Ibn Omar with a poisoned javelin, and of humiliating the Prophet’s companions by “sealing them in the necks and hands,” that is he tied a thong upon the neck of each and sealed the knot with lead. In Irak he showed himself equally masterful; but an iron hand was required by the revolutionists of Kufah and Basrah. He behaved like a good Knight in rescuing the Moslem women who called upon his name when taken prisoners by Dahir of Debal (Tathá in Sind). Al-Hajjaj was not the kind of man the Caliph would have chosen for a pander; but the Shi’ahs hated him and have given him a lasting bad name. In the East men respect manly measures, not the hysterical, philanthropic pseudo-humanitarianism of our modern government which is really the cruellest of all. When Ziyád bin Abihi was sent by Caliph Mu’awiyah to reform Bassorah, a den of thieves, he informed the lieges that he intended to rule by the sword and advised all evil-doers to quit the city. The people were forbidden, under pain of death, to walk the streets after prayers; on the first night two hundred suffered; on the second five and none afterwards. Compare this with our civilised rule in Egypt where even bands of brigands, a phenomenon perfectly new and unknown to this century, have started up, where crime has doubled in quantity and quality, and where “Christian rule” has thoroughly scandalised a Moslem land. the Viceroy of Cufa said to himself, “Needs must I contrive to take this girl named Naomi and send her to the Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin Marwán, for he hath not in his palace her like for beauty and sweet singing.” So he summoned an old woman of the duennas of his wives and said to her, “Go to the house of Al-Rabi’a and foregather with the girl Naomi and combine means to carry her off; for her like is not to be found on the face of the earth.” She promised to do his bidding; so next morning she donned the woollen clothes of a devotee and hung around her neck a rosary of beads by the thousand; and, hending in hand a staff and a leather water-bottle of Yamani manufacture, – And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.