"Arabian Nights by Lane" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lanes Version)

а Note 1. Shahriyar, УFriend of the City;Ф Shah-Zeman, УKing of the Age.Фа[back] Note 2. In Persian and Turkish, Vezir; popular, Vizier.а[back] Note 3. Male white slaves.а[back] Note 4. Sing. of Jinn (Genii), being created of fire. The species of Jinn is said to have been created some thousands of years before Adam. According to a tradition from the Prophet, this species consists of five orders or classes; namely, Jann (who are the least powerful of all), Jinn, Sheytans (or Devils), СEfrits, and Marids. The last, it is added, are the most powerful; and the Jann are transformed Jinn; like as certain apes and swine were transformed men. The terms Jinn and Jann, however, are generally used indiscriminately, as names of the whole species (including the other orders above mentioned), whether good or bad; the former term in the more common. [Iblis is Satan, their King.] УSheytanФ is commonly used to signify any evil Jinn. An СEfrit is a powerful evil Jinni: a Madrid, an evil Jinni of the most powerful class. The Jinn (but generally speaking, evil ones) are called by the Persians Divs; the most powerful evil Jinn, Narahs (which signifies Уmales,Ф though they are said to be males and females); the good Jinn, Peris, though this term is commonly applied to females.а[back] Note 5. NatТ: a large round piece of leather which, spread upon the ground, serves as a table for dinner, etc.а[back] а
Stories from the Thousand and One Nights.
The Harvard Classics.аа1909Ц14. а Nights 1Ц3 а The Story of the Merchant and the Jinni а
а IT has been related to me, O happy King, said Shahrazad, that there was a certain merchant who had great wealth, and traded extensively with surrounding countries; and one day he mounted his horse, and journeyed to a neighbouring country to collect what was due to him, and, the heat oppressing him, he sat under a tree, in a garden, and put his hand into his saddle-bag, and ate a morsel of bread and a date which were among his provisions. Having eaten the date, he threw aside the stone, and immediately there appeared before him an СEfrit, of enormous height, who, holding a drawn sword in his hand, approached him, and said, Rise, that I may kill thee, as thou hast killed my son. the merchant asked him, How have I killed thy son? He answered, When thou atest the date, and threwest aside the stone, it struck my son upon the chest, and, as fate had decreed against him, he instantly died. аа1 ааThe merchant, on hearing these words, exclaimed, Verily to God we belong, and verily to Him we must return! There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! If I killed him, I did it not intentionally, but without knowing it; and I trust in thee that thou wilt pardon me.ЧThe Jinni answered, Thy death is indispensable, as thou hast killed my son:Чand so saying, he dragged him, and threw him on the ground, and raised his arm to strike him with the sword. The merchant, upon this, wept bitterly, and said to the Jinni, I commit my affair unto God, for no one can avoid what He hath decreed:Чand he continued his lamentation, repeating the following verses:Ч
аааааааа
Time consists of two days; this, bright; and that, gloomy; and life, of two moieties; this, safe; and that, a fearful.


Say to him who hath taunted us on account of misfortunes, Doth fortune oppose any but the eminent?


Dost thou observe that corpses float upon the sea, while the precious pearls remain in its furthest depths?


When the hands of time play with us, misfortune is imparted to us by its protracted kiss.


In the heaven are stars that cannot be numbered; but none is eclipsed save the sun and the moon.


How many green and dry trees are on the earth; but none is assailed with stones save that which beareth fruit!


Thou thoughtest well of the days when they went well with thee, and fearedst not the evil that destiny was bringing.

ЧWhen he had finished reciting these verses, the Jinni said to him, Spare thy words, for thy death is unavoidable. аа2 ааThen said the merchant, Know, O СEfrit, that I have debts to pay, and I have much property, and children, and a wife, and I have pledges also in my possession: let me, therefore, go back to my house, and give to every one his due, and then I will return to thee: I bind myself by a vow and covenant that I will return to thee, and thou shalt do what thou wilt; and God is witness of what I say.ЧUpon this, the Jinni accepted his covenant, and liberated him; granting him a respite until the expiration of the year. аа3 ааThe merchant, therefore, returned to his town, accomplished all that was upon his mind to do, paid every one what he owed him, and informed his wife and children of the event which had befallen him; upon hearing which, they and all his family and women wept. He appointed a guardian over his children, and remained with his family until the end of the year; when he took his grave-clothes under his arm, bade farewell to his household and neighbours, and all his relations, and went forth, in spite of himself; his family raising cries of lamentation, and shrieking. аа4 ааHe proceeded until he arrived at the garden before mentioned; and it was the first day of the new year; and as he sat, weeping for the calamity which he expected soon to befall him, a sheykh, advanced in years, approached him, leading a gazelle with a chain attached to its neck. This sheykh saluted the merchant, wishing him a long life, and said to him, What is the reason of thy sitting alone in this place, seeing that it is a resort of the Jinn? The merchant therefore informed him of what had befallen him with the СEfrit, and of the cause of his sitting there; at which the sheykh, the owner of the gazelle, was astonished, and said, By Allah, O my brother, thy faithfulness is great, and thy story is wonderful! if it were engraved upon the intellect, it would be a lesson to him who would be admonished!ЧAnd he sat down by his side, and said, By Allah, O my brother, I will not quit this place until I see what will happen unto thee with this СEfrit. So he sat down, and conversed with him. And the merchant became almost senseless; fear entered him, and terror, and violent grief, and excessive anxiety. And as the owner of the gazelle sat by his side, lo, a second sheykh approached them, with two black hounds, and inquired of them, after saluting them, the reason of their sitting in that place, seeing that it was a resort of the Jann: and they told him the story from beginning to end. And he had hardly sat down when there approached them a third sheykh, with a dapple mule; and he asked them the same question, which was answered in the same manner. аа5 ааImmediately after, the dust was agitated, and became an enormous revolving pillar, approaching them from the midst of the desert: and this dust subsided, and behold, the Jinni, with a drawn sword in his hand; his eyes casting forth sparks of fire. He came to them, and dragged from them the merchant, and said to him, Rise, that I may kill thee, as thou killedst my son, the vital spirit of my heart. And the merchant wailed and wept: and the three sheykhs also manifested their sorrow by weeping and crying aloud and wailing: but the first sheykh, who was the owner of the gazelle, recovering his self-possession, kissed the hand of the СEfrit, and said to him, O thou Jinni, and crown of the kings of the Jann, if I relate to thee the story of myself and this gazelle, and thou find it to be wonderful, and more so than the adventure of this merchant, wilt thou give up to me a third of thy claim to his blood? He answered, Yes, O sheykh; if thou relate to me the story, and I find it to be as thou hast said, I will give up to thee a third of my claim to his blood.