A most ardent desire, in Arabic t̤alabun yâ la-hu min t̤alabin; a thoroughly idiomatic expression, the literal rendering of which would be “a desire, O what of a desire it was,” the vocative particle yâ referring to the pronoun of the third person, and this itself being affixed to the so-called lâmu ’t-ta‘ajjub, or particle of admiration. Similar constructions occur in the beginning of the lines of the “Hamâseh,” quoted vol. i., p. 449, in the Note on The guarded domain of Kolayb: “Oh lark! (yâ la-ki min qubburatin), the valley is open to thee in this pasture land,” and in the poet Ẕû ’l-Rummah’s verse: “Oh, oval cheek (yâ la-ki min khaddin asîlîn), and tender speech and form, that only a caviller would presume to blame.” In both these examples the vocative particle and that of admiration have the same reference to the suffix of the second person feminine, which they have ir our text to the third of the masculine.

To sound the stupidity of the people of her soil.—The character of dulness and stupidity was, according to Mot̤arrezi, so well established in public opinion, as to the natives of Emessa, that if the people of Bagdad wished to denote a man as a consummate fool, they called him Ḥimsî, one born at Ḥims.

With the swiftness of the shooting-star when it swoops down to stone, viz., the Shait̤âns stealing a hearing from the angels, allusion to Koran, lxvii. 5: “And of a surety We have decked the lower heaven with lights, and have placed them there to be hurled at the Satans, for whom We have prepared the torment of the flaming fire.” Also xv. 17, 18: “And We guard them from every stoned Satan, save such as steal a hearing: and him do visible flames pursue.”

Whose old age was coming on and whose youth had turned its back on him, a reversal of the proverb adbara gharîru-hu wa aqbala harîru-hu (Ar. Prov., i. 484), generally explained by “whose pleasant disposition had departed and whose peevishness had come,” taking harîr in the sense of yelping or snarling, like an ill-natured dog. But Sherîshi rightly remarks, that this description is not borne out by the schoolmaster’s demeanour towards his pupils, whom he treats in the sequel of the Assembly with playful kindliness. He, there­fore, derives the word from the idiom harra ’sh-shauk, the thorn has dried up and grown hard, like the teeth of a cat (hirr), and con­sidering it as a synonym of yabs, dryness, brought on by old age, renders it by haram, senility. With regard to gharîr, he observes that one of it?? meanings is “one who stands security or bail,” and refers it to youth, as a guarantee for length of life. This seems sufficiently to justify my translation, which at the same time is not inconsistent with the first mentioned interpretation.

So that I might test in him the learned folks of Ḥims, meant, of course, ironically, as presently indicated by the avowed intention of the narrator to fathom the essence of the man’s foolishness.

And greeted me with even a handsomer greeting than I had given him, in accordance with the injunction of the Koran, iv. 88: “If ye are greeted with a greeting, then greet ye with a better greeting, or at least return it; verily God taketh count of all things.”

Indite the unadorned couplets, in Arabic al-abyâta ’l-‘awât̤ila, i.e., those which contain only words consisting of letters without diacritical dots.

Nor gain’st thou glory courting girls full of hip, lit., and the place for seeking glory is not a damsel with heavy hips. This translation is based on the reading marâdu ’l-ḥamdi, which is that of the native editions and of my MS., the governing noun marâd, with fatḥah, being explained by Sherîshi as a synonym of mar‘á, pasture ground. De Sacy prefers murâd, wish, which, however, seems here less appropriate, and gives scarcely a satisfactory sense.

And praise he wins, etc., lit., his knowledge that the one-eyed are not endowed with the dowries of the sound, has obtained praise for him, meaning that he is deservedly commended for his discernment in discriminating between the relative value of things and actions.

Display the bridal couplets.—The couplets following in the original are called bridal, i.e., adorned like brides, because all the letters contained therein are dotted, in direct contradistinction from the preceding ones. According to Sherîshi, it was a custom with the ancient Arabs to apply to the cheeks of brides beauty-spots, painted with saffron, and called nuqat̤, pl. of nuqt̤ah, which is also the grammatical term for the diacritical points of letters.

A blessing has been bestowed on thee amongst fawns, as a blessing has been bestowed on yonder olive-tree.—The Arabic text contains here two expressions, which require explanation. The word translated by fawns is t̤alâ, the young of any cloven-hoofed animal, as a cow, a sheep, a gazelle. The olive-tree is designated by lâ wa lâ (lit., “neither nor”), suggestive of the passage of the Koran, xxiv. 35: “God is the Light of the Heavens and of the Earth. His Light is like a niche in which is a lamp—the lamp encased in glass—the glass, as it were, a glistening star. From a blessed tree it is lighted, the olive, neither of the East nor of the West (lâ sharaqîyatun wa-lâ gharabîyatun), whose oil would well-nigh shine out, even though fire touched it not. It is light upon light!” etc. In illustration of this, it is told that an Arab addressed to Abû Ḥanîfeh the question “With one wâw (letter w for the conjunction wa), or with two wâws?” He replied “With two,” whereupon the Arab said to him, “A blessing has been bestowed in thee, as a blessing has been bestowed in lâ wa-lâ.” After he had gone, Abû Ḥanîfeh’s disciples asked him what the man’s question had meant. Abû Ḥanîfeh answered, “He demanded me whether the profession of faith should be said with two wâws, like that of Ibn Mas‘ûd, namely, ‘I testify that there is no (lâ) god but God and (first wâw) that Mohammed is His servant and (second wâw) Apostle,’ or with one wâw, like that of Abû Musá al-A‘sharî, to wit, ‘I testify that there is no god but God, and that Mohammed is his Apostle.’ In approval of my decision, he called me blessed, and alluded to the passage of the sacred book on the blessed olive-tree.” With regard to the latter a tradition goes, that a man saw the Prophet in a dream, and complained to him of an ailment from which he suffered, whereupon the Prophet said to him: “have lâ wa lâ.” Ibn Sîrîn, a celebrated interpreter of dreams (for whom see Ibn Khallikân, i. 635) was consulted on the meaning of these words, and declared it to be “Eat olives” (or olive oil).

O Qut̤rub,—which may be translated “O fidget,” being the name of a little animal, which is continually on the move, proverbially applied to one who travels much about, and used as a nickname ever since the grammarian Sibawayh called by it Mohammed ibn al-Mustanîr (see Ibn Khallikân, i. 693, and comp. Ar. Prov., i. 643).

Or the likeness of an ivory-doll, allusion to the proverb aḥsanu minu ’d-dumyatî (mina ’z-zûni), more beautiful than a figure or image, both of which, according to Maydâni, mean idols (Ar. Prov., i. 408).

Write down the mongrel couplets, in the original urqum al-abyâta ’l-al- akhyâf, i.e., verses, the alternate words of which consist of dotted and undotted letters in turn. The term akhyâf is applied to sons of the same mother by different fathers, or to men of heterogeneous character and condition, and is derived from khaif, the quality of having one eye blue and the other black in a horse.

O stiff-neck, O [essence of the] perfume of Mausham, two epithets for bold and mischievous, the first of which, in Arabic ghashamsham, is applied to a man of unbending nature, who bows his head to no one, and whom nothing can avert from his purpose. The second alludes to the proverb ash’amu min ‘it̤ri maushamin, more ill-omened than the perfume of Mausham, the most plausible explanation of which is that Mausham is the name of a woman trading in perfumes, who was surprised and despoiled of her goods by a gang of robbers. When she complained of this to the people of her tribe, they pursued the pillagers, and killed every one on whom they smelled the scent of the perfume. See Ar. Prov., i. 155, 692, where other readings and interpretations will be found.