The Book Of The Thousand Nights And A Night, Vol 1 Page-348

The Book Of The Thousand Nights And A Night, Vol 1

A plain and literal translation of the arabian nights entertainments

[FN#126] Arab. “Ajal”=the period of life, the appointed time of death: the word is of constant recurrence and is also applied to sudden death. See Lane’s Dictionary, s.v. [FN#127] “The dying Badawi to his tribe” (and lover) appears to me highly pathetic. The wild people love to be buried upon hill slopes whence they can look down upon the camp; and they still call out the names of kinsmen and friends as they pass by the graveyards. A similar piece occurs in Wetzstein (p. 27, “Reisebericht ueber Hauran,” etc.):— O bear with you my bones where the camel bears his load And bury me before you, if buried I must be; And let me not be burled ‘neath the burden of the vine But high upon the hill whence your sight I ever see! As you pass along my grave cry aloud and name your names The crying of your names shall revive the bones of me: I have fasted through my life with my friends, and in my death, I will feast when we meet, on that day of joy and glee. [FN#128] The Ak�sirah (plur. of Kasr�=Chosro�s) is here a title of the four great dynasties of Persian Kings. 1. The Peshdadian or Assyrian race, proto￾historics for whom dates fail, 2. The K�y�ni�n (Medes and Persians) who ended with the Alexandrian invasion in B. C. 331. 3. The Ashk�ni�n (Parthenians or Arsacides) who ruled till A. D. 202; and 4. The Sassanides which have already been mentioned. But strictly speaking “Kisri” and “Kasra” are titles applied only to the latter dynasty and especially to the great King Anushirwan. They must not be confounded with “Khusrau” (P. N. Cyrus, Ahasuerus? Chosro�s?), and yet the three seem to have combined in “C�sar,” Kaysar and Czar. For details especially connected with Zoroaster see vol. I, p. 380 of the Dabistan or School of Manners, translated by David Shea and Anthony Troyer, Paris, 1843. The book is most valuable, but the proper names are so carelessly and incorrectly printed that the student is led into perpetual error.