书城公版Volume Seven
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第139章

[166] Arab.'Sinnaur'(also meaning a prince). The common name is Kitt which is pronounced Katt or Gatt;and which Ibn Dorayd pronounces a foreign word (Syriac?). Hence,despite Freitag,Catus (which Isidore derives from catare,to look for) = gatto,chat,cat,an animal unknown to the Classics of Europe who used the mustela or putorius vulgaris and different species of viverrae. The Egyptians,who kept the cat to destroy vermin,especially snakes,called it Mau,Mai,Miao (onomatopoetic): this descendent of the Felis maniculata originated in Nubia;and we know from the mummy pits and Herodotus that it was the same species as ours. The first portraits of the cat are on the monuments of'Beni Hasan,'B.C. 2500. I have ventured to derive the familiar'Puss'from the Arab.'Biss (fem. :Bissah'),which is a congener of Pasht (Diana),the catfaced goddess of Bubastis (PiPasht),now Zagazig. Lastly,'tabby (brindled)cat'is derived from the Attabi (Prince Attab's) quarter at Baghdad where watered silks were made. It is usually attributed to the Tibbie,Tibalt,Tybalt,Thibert or Tybert (who is also executioner),various forms of Theobald in the old Beast Epic;as opposed to Gilbert the gibcat,either a tomcat or a gibbed (castrated)cat.

[167] Arab.'Ikhwan alSafa,'a popular term for virtuous friends who perfectly love each other in all purity: it has also a mystic meaning. Some translate it'Brethren of Sincerity,'and hold this brotherhood to be Moslem Freemasons,a mere fancy (see the Mesnevi of Mr. Redhouse,Trubner 1881). There is a wellknown Hindustani book of this name printed by Prof. Forbes in Persian character and translated by Platts and Eastwick.

[168] Among Eastern men there are especial forms for'****** brotherhood.'The'Munhbolabhai'(mouthnamed brother) of India is wellknown. The intense'associativeness'of these races renders isolation terrible to them,and being defenceless in a wild state of society has special horrors. Hence the origin of Caste for which see Pilgrimage (i. 52). Moslems,however,cannot practise the African rite of drinking a few drops of each other's blood. This,by the by,was also affected in Europe,as we see in the Gesta Romanoru,Tale lxvii.,of the wise and foolish knights who'drew blood (to drink) from the right arm.'

[169] The F. Sacer in India is called'Laghar'and tiercel'Jaghar.'Mr. T.E. Jordan (catalogue of Indian Birds,1839) says it is rare;but I found it the contrary. According to Mr. R.

Thompson it is flown at kites and antelope: in Sind it is used upon nightheron (nyctardea nycticorax),floriken or Hobara (Otis aurita),quail,partridge,curlew and sometimes hare: it gives excellent sport with crows but requires to be defended. Indian sportsmen,like ourselves,divide hawks into two orders: the'Siyahchasm,'or blackeyed birds,longwinged and noble;the'Gulabichasm'or yelloweyed (like the goshawk) roundwinged and ignoble.

[170] i.e. put themselves at thy mercy.

[171] I have remarked (Pilgrimage iii.307) that all the popular apenames in Arabic and Persian,Sa'adan,Maymun,Shadi,etc.,express propitiousnessprobably euphemistically applied to our'poor relation.'

[172] The serpent does not'sting'nor does it'bite;'it strikes with the poisonteeth like a downward stab with a dagger.

These fangs are always drawn by the jugglers but they grow again and thus many lives are lost. The popular way of extracting the crochets is to grasp the snake firmly behind the neck with one hand and with the other to tantalise it by offering and withdrawing a red rag. At last the animal is allowed to strike it and a sharp jerk tears out both eyeteeth as rustics used to do by slamming a door. The head is then held downwards and the venom drains from its bag in the shape of a few drops of slightly yellowish fluid which,as conjurers know,may be drunk without danger. The patient looks faint and dazed,but recovers after a few hours and feels as if nothing had happened. In India I took lessons from a snakecharmer but soon gave up the practice as too dangerous.

[173] Arab.'Akh alJahalah'= brother of ignorance,an Ignorantin;one'really and truly'ignorant;which is the value of'Ahk'in such phrases as a'brother of poverty,'or,'of purity.'

[174] Lane (ii. 1) writes'AbulHasan;'Payne (iii. 49)

'Aboulhusn'which would mean'Father of Beauty (Husn)'and is not a Moslem name. Hasan (beautiful) and its dimin. Husayn,names now so common,were (it is said),unknown to the Arabs,although Hassan was that of a Tobba King,before the days of Mohammed who so called his two only grandsons. In AngloIndia they have become'Hobson and Jobson.'The Bresl. Edit. (ii. 305) entitles this story'Tale of Abu'l Hasan the Attar (druggist and perfumer)

with Ali ibn Bakkar and what befel them with the handmaid (=jariyah) Shams alNahar.'

[175] i.e. a descendant,not a Prince.

[176] The Arab shop is a kind of hole in the wall and buyers sit upon its outer edge (Pilgrimage i. 99).

[177] By a similar image the chamaeleon is called Abu Kurrat=Father of coolness;because it is said to have the'coldest'eye of all animals and insensible to heat and light,since it always looks at the sun.

[178] This dividing the hemistich words is characteristic of certain tales;so I have retained it although inevitably suggesting:

I left Matilda at the U niversity of Gottingen.

[179] These ***** offers in Eastern tales mostly come from the true seducerEve. Europe and England especially,still talks endless absurdity upon the subject. A man of the world may'seduce'an utterly innocent (which means an ignorant) girl. But to'seduce'a married woman! What a farce!

[180] Masculine again for feminine: the lines are as full of wordplays,vulgarly called puns,as Sanskrit verses.