Ye know why the forms are fair, ye hear how the tale is told

[FN#439] e.g., the Poem of Hareth which often echoes the hexameter

[FN#440] Gladwin, p. 80.

[FN#441] Gladwin (p. 77) gives only eight, omitting F ' l which he or his author probably considers the Muzahaf, imperfect or apocoped form of F ' l n, as M f ' l of M f ' l n. For the infinite complications of Arabic prosody the Khafif (soft breathing) and Sahih (hard breathing); the Sadr and Aruz (first and last feet), the Ibtida and Zarb (last foot of every line); the Hashw (cushion-stuffing) or body part of verse, the 'Amud al-Kasidah or Al-Musammat (the strong) and other details I must refer readers to such specialists as Freytag and Sam. Clarke (Prosodia Arabica), and to Dr. Steingass's notes infra.

[FN#442] The Hebrew grammarians of the Middle Ages wisely copied their Arab cousins by turning Fa'la into Pael and so forth.

[FN#443] Mr. Lyall, whose "Ancient Arabic Poetry" (Williams and Norgate, 1885) I reviewed in The Academy of Oct. 3, '85, did the absolute reverse of what is required: he preserved the metre and sacrificed the rhyme even when it naturally suggested itself. For instance in the last four lines of No. xii. what would be easier than to write,

Ah sweet and soft wi' thee her ways: bethink thee well! The day shall be When some one favoured as thyself shall find her fair and fain and free; And if she swear that parting ne'er shall break her word of constancy, When did rose-tinted finger-tip with pacts and pledges e'er agree?

[FN#444] See p. 439 Grammatik des Arabischen Vulgaer Dialekts von AEgyptian, by Dr. Wilhelm Spitta Bey, Leipzig, 1880. In pp. 489-493 he gives specimens of eleven Mawawil varying in length from four to fifteen lines. The assonance mostly attempts monorhyme: in two tetrastichs it is aa + ba, and it does not disdain alternates, ab + ab + ab.

[FN#445] Al-Siyuti, p. 235, from Ibn Khallikan. Our knowledge of oldest Arab verse is drawn chiefly from the Katab al-Aghani (Song-book) of Abu al-Faraj the Isfahani who flourished A.H. 284-356 (= 897- 967): it was printed at the Bulak Press in 1868.

[FN#446] See Lyall loc. cit. p. 97.

[FN#447] His Diwan has been published with a French translation, par R. Boucher, Paris, Labitte, 1870.

[FN#448] I find also minor quotations from the Imam Abu al-Hasan al-Askari (of Sarra man raa) ob. A.D. 868; Ibn Makula (murdered in A.D. 862?), Ibn Durayd (ob. A.D. 933) Al-Zahr the Poet (ob. A.D. 963); Abu Bakr al-Zubaydi (ob. A.D. 989), Kabus ibn Wushmaghir (murdered in A.D. 1012-13); Ibn Nabatah the Poet (ob. A.D. 1015), Ibn al-Sa'ati (ob. A.D. 1028); Ibn Zaydun al-Andalusi who died at Hums (Emessa, the Arab name for Seville) in A.D. 1071; Al-Mu'tasim ibn Sumadih (ob. A.D. 1091), Al-Murtaza ibn al-Shahrozuri the Sufi (ob. A.D. 1117); Ibn Sara al-Shantarani (of Santarem) who sang of Hind and died A.D. 1123; Ibn al-Khazin (ob. A.D. 1124), Ibn Kalakis (ob. A D. 1172) Ibn al-Ta'wizi (ob. A.D. 1188); Ibn Zabadah (ob. A.D. 1198), Baha al-Din Zuhayr (ob A.D. 1249); Muwaffak al-Din Muzaffar (ob. A.D. 1266) and sundry others. Notices of Al-Utayyah (vol. i. 11), of Ibn al-Sumam (vol. i. 87) and of Ibn Sahib al-Ishbili, of Seville (vol. i. 100), are deficient. The most notable point in Arabic verse is its savage satire, the language of excited "destructiveness" which characterises the Badawi: he is "keen for satire as a thirsty man for water:" and half his poetry seems to consist of foul innuendo, of lampoons, and of gross personal abuse.

[FN#449] If the letter preceding Waw or Ya is moved by Fathah, they produce the diphthongs au (aw), pronounced like ou in "bout'" and se, pronounced as i in "bite."

[FN#450] For the explanation of this name and those of the following terms, see Terminal Essay, p. 225.

[FN#451] This Fasilah is more accurately called sughra, the smaller one, there is another Fasilah kubra, the greater, consisting of four moved letters followed by a quiescent, or of a Sabab sakil followed by a Watad majmu'. But it occurs only as a variation of a normal foot, not as an integral element in its composition, and consequently no mention of it was needed in the text.

[FN#452] It is important to keep in mind that the seemingly identical feet 10 and 6, 7 and 3, are distinguished by the relative positions of the constituting elements in either pair. For as it will be seen that Sabab and Watad are subject to different kinds of alterations it is evident that the effect of such alterations upon a foot will vary, if Sabab and Watad occupy different places with regard to each other.

[FN#453] i.e. vertical to the circumference.

[FN#454] This would be a Fasilah kubra spoken of in the note p. 239.

[FN#455] In pause that is at the end of a line, a short vowel counts either as long or is dropped according to the exigencies of the metre. In the Hashw the u or i of the pronominal affix for the third person sing., masc., and the final u of the enlarged pronominal plural forms, humu and kumu, may be either short or long, according to the same exigencies. The end-vowel of the pronoun of the first person ana, I, is generally read short, although it is written with Alif.

[FN#456] On p. 236 the word akamu, as read by itself, was identified with the foot Fa'ulun. Here it must be read together with the following syllable as "akamulwaj," which is Mafa'ilun.

[FN#457] Prof. Palmer, p. 328 of his Grammar, identifies this form of the Wafir, when every Mufa' alatum of the Hashw has become Mafa'ilun, with the second form of the Rajaz It should be Hazaj. Professor Palmer was misled, it seems, by an evident misprint in one of his authorities, the Muhit al-Dairah by Dr. Van Dayk, p. 52.

[FN#458] Calcutta (1839-42) and Boulac 134b "The Merchant's Wife and the Parrot."

[FN#459] This will be found translated in my "Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night," vol. vii. p. 307, as an Appendix to the Calcutta (1839-42) and Boulac version of the story, from which it differs in detail.

[FN#460] Called "Bekhit" in Calcutta (1839-42) and Boulac Editions.

[FN#461] Yehya ben Khalid (Calcutta (1839-42) and Boulac),

[FN#462] "Shar" (Calcutta (1839-42) and Boulac).

[FN#463] "Jelyaad" (Calcutta (1839-42) and Boulac.)

[FN#464] Calcutta (1839-42) and Boulac, No. 63. See my "Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night," vol. iv., p. 211.

[FN#465] Calcutta (1839-42) and Boulac, "Jaafar the Barmecide."

[FN#466] Calcutta (1839-42) and Boulac, "The Thief turned Merchant and the other Thief," No. 88.

[FN#467] This story will be found translated in my "Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night," vol. v., p. 345.

[FN#468] After this I introduce the Tale of the Husband and the Parrot.

[FN#469] The Bulak Edition omits this story altogether.

[FN#470] After this I introduce How Abu Hasan brake wind.

[FN#471] Probably Wakksh al-Falak=Feral of the Wild.

[FN#472] This is the date of the Paris edition. There was an earlier edition published at La Haye in 1743.

[FN#473] There are two other Oriental romances by Voltaire; viz., Babouc, and the Princess of Babylon.

THE END