1,101. “A veil of musk”; i.e., a black veil (of smoke). With regard to the sun the veil of musk means, of course, a black cloud.
1,102. An allusion to the appearance of the fire through the smoke.
1,103. “A Turk”; i.e., a beauty of brilliant complexion.
“Related to the race of Greeks”; lit., “whose lineage originated in Greeks”; an allusion to the inconstancy and volatileness of the fire, which on account of those qualities is likened to Greeks. Cf. sabuk Rūmī, “the inconstant Greek,” as a term for “fire”.
1,104. Qurratu ’l-‘ain, “lustre and brightness (lit., coolness) of the eyes,” is a name of women. “Lustre of the Eyes of Hindūs” is a reference to the lustrous fire in proximity to the black smoke.
1,105. I have never seen any allusion to “the torch of Jonah”, mash‘al-i Yūnus.
Kalīm, “The Speaker” (with God), is the special title of Moses.
“The Speaker’s lamp” means probably “the burning bush”.
“The feast of Jesus” refers possibly either to the Marriage Feast or to the Last Supper, in which wine is mentioned, which on account of the colour generally associated with it is likened to fire. Cf. ātish-i pur āb; ātish-i tar; ātish-i raz, etc., which are names given to red wine.
“Garden of Abraham” is a reference to the rose-garden into which the fire turned when he was cast into it, according to the Persian legend, by order of Nimrod.
1,106. “Of a musky hue”; i.e., black.
Mirrors were made of metal.
1,107. Yāqūt is a generic name for “ruby”, “topaz”, and “amethyst or sapphire”, according as it is qualified by the adjectives surkh (“red”), zard (“yellow”), or kabūd (“blue”). If used alone it means “ruby”.
1,108. “Ambergris-perfumed” refers to the perfumes burnt in the fire. “Embracing coal”; lit., “(with) charcoal in her bosom,” means, with regard to the young bride, “with long, black hair.”
1,109. “At goldsmiths’ work”; i.e., giving out yellow flames from the burning perfumes.
1,110. i.e., yellow and red.
1,111. “Fuel”; lit., “plants.”
1,112. A snake or dragon was supposed to guard every hidden treasure.
1,113. Lit., “the hell of the people of the caravan to the fire-temple.”
1,114. “The heaven” of those; lit., “the Garden” of those; i.e., the garden of paradise.
1,115. This apparently refers to Bahrām’s Magian guests, and to their gathering close round the fire as devotees.
1,116. The regret is possibly because Satan and hell are called “fire”.
1,117. i.e., beautiful dancing girls were waving their arms in the dance.
1,118. i.e., graceful cupbearers and attendants were circling round.
1,119. The ring-doves are possibly the cup-bearers represented on account of their beauty to have descended from the heavens.
By “blood” is meant the red wine. Or, possibly, it was in the banquet-room as if the sky did this, the “ring-doves” representing glass vessels, and the “blood”, as in the former supposition, standing for the red wine.
Or, again, the first “ring-doves” may mean snow-flakes, and the second, glass vessels, the sense of the distich being that the wintry weather induced them to drink wine.
1,120. I have reversed the order of the two terms of comparison in the second hemistich for the sake of clearness.
The wine is likened to wet fire, and the crystal cup to dry water.
1,121. Kabābs. (See Notes 568 and 1,340.)
1,122. A very special feature is made of wine-drinking among the older Persian kings. (Cf. the Shāh-nāma.)
1,123. “A ripe thing”; i.e., the grape. “Crushed to death.” (Cf. sīmāb-i kushta, “quicksilver reduced to powder.”)
1,124. i.e., they made the path of amusement open, clear, and bright.
1,125. In the two hemistichs the contrast is between the grandeur of the king and the minute particularity of his knowledge, i.e., the subtlety of his intellect in grasping the most minute points.
In the second hemistich daqīqa is, I think, used in the sense of khurda-bīnī.
1,126. i.e., no one has seen either in the outer state or in the hidden mind of any other king.
1,127. “By the glory of (the monarch’s) head”; i.e., through his exaltation and auspicious fortune.
Or, “by the glory of his head” might possibly be an adjuration, but not necessarily so, since the second hemistich may simply supplement the reason for their having everything, and not give another reason when the first has been sufficient.
1,128. “Through his auspicious steps”; i.e., through his coming amongst us and being our king.
1,129. i.e., Would that as regards that enjoyment and prosperity of the king’s there were some means by which the evil eye might be averted. Enjoyment and prosperity are supposed to attract the ill-effects of the evil eye.
The drift of the orator’s words is that all the enjoyment, happiness, and prosperity of the people depend upon those of the king, and that they are so great that the evil eye is to be feared, and a means of averting it is desirable. If the evil eye is averted from the king it will be averted from the people.
1,130. i.e., so that (cf. also the two preceding distichs) the king might ever have as much enjoyment, happiness, and prosperity as at the present time.
1,131. “Fixed (their) hearts upon the speech”; i.e., were pleased with, and acquiesced in it.
1,132. Dama means literally “wind and snow; icicle; asthma”; but it seems here equivalent to the Arabic word ẓīq, “anxiety, contraction, oppression.” Cf. ẓīqu ’n-nafas, “oppression, difficulty of breath, asthma.”
1,133. Shīda, the name of the man. Shīd, a name of the sun.
1,134. i.e., of anything he wished.
1,135. Mānī (Manes), the famous Persian syncretist and painter, the founder of the sect of the Manichæans.
Farhād, who cut through the rocky mountain Bīstūn for the sake of his beloved Shīrīn. (See Nizāmī’s poem Khusrau-u Shīrīn. See also Notes 1,163, 1,165, 1,234, and 1,555.)
1,136. Simnār, the architect who built the palace of Khavarnaq.
1,137. Naqsh means painting, sculpture, and also engraving, and embroidery.
1,138. Lit., “when he saw water in his tongue and fire in his heart.”
1,139. “Form a likeness to”; or “proceed by analogy with”; lit., “take a relation from.” Cf. the following distichs to the end of the speech.
1,140. “He’ll be as the sky,” ḥukm-i āsmān dārad.
1,141. Or, “from my sketches or plans of the business.”
But az, “from,” sometimes has the sense of “for”, so that the meaning may be “for the accomplishment of the business”.
1,142. “Skies”; lit., “fortresses.”
1,143. “Idols”; i.e., “wives.”
1,144. “Signalized”; lit., “having the distinguishing ornament”; or, more literally, “having ‘the shoulder-band of rich stuff worn by kings and grandees’,” ‘alam.
1,145. “In ground-work and in columns”; i.e., absolutely and entirely.
1,146. The Burhān-i Qāṭi‘ and other authorities make each one of certain definite countries dependent upon one particular planet; and certain geographers, e.g., Jurjānī, assert that the nature of the people is influenced by the nature of the planet which governs their country.
The authorities, however, do not agree, except in a few cases, as to which planet governs which country.
The statement of the Burhān-i Qāṭi‘ has been given in Note 207. Authorities generally agree as to the First, Fifth, and Seventh, but not as to the others, and, as a matter of fact, according to the limits of the Climes assigned by geographers, Turkistan, which clashes with Transoxiana, is not in the Third Clime, nor Rūm in the Sixth, but in the Fourth. Part of India is in the First; part of China, but not Khaṭā, in the Second; (Maghrib is in the Third); part of ‘Irāq and Khurāsān in the Fourth; (but Rūm is also in the Fourth); part of Transoxiana in the Fifth; part of the hyperborean regions, the far north, Slavonia, etc., in the Sixth and Seventh.
Maghrib, by the way, i.e., north-west Africa or Barbary, from Tripoli to Morocco, (often Morocco alone), is included by some in the Climes, though not by the Burhān-i Qāṭi‘. (See also Notes 207 and 1,147.)
1,147. i.e., each of the days, as in the Classical and Scandinavian mythology, is under the influence of one particular planet:—
But it will be observed that except with regard to Saturn the order of the planets as associated with the days is different from their order as associated with the Climes. Thus, (beginning with Saturday), Wednesday, the fifth day, is subject to Mercury, but Transoxiana, the Fifth Clime, is subject to Venus.
It is evident, therefore, that the Author, when associating in the Stories which follow any particular day with the Clime corresponding with it in number, is not adhering either to any given order of Climes or to the statements of the geographers. In fact, although he takes the days in order, he is quite arbitrary as to the Climes, giving, e.g., Ṣaqlāb, i.e., Slavonia, as the Fourth Clime, whereas it is in the Sixth and Seventh and still farther north. According to the Burhān-i Qāti‘, as mentioned in Note 207, it is in the Seventh. (See also Notes 207 and 1,146.)
1,148. Lit., “as long as life is on the target of affairs,” tā buvad ‘umr bar nishāna-yi kār.
1,149. “Applause,” āfarīn; “Creator,” Āfarīnanda.
1,150. “Simnār’s formula.” See the Section, “Bahrām finds the picture of the Seven (Fair) Faces in Khavarnaq.”