The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 10 by Sir Richard Francis Burton (essential reading TXT) 📖

U - - | - U - | U - |

Fa’ktaw� bi’l-n�ri wa’htarak.

 

If we compare this with the formula (iii. A. 2. p. 242), we find that either line of the couplet is shortened by a foot; it is, therefore, majz�. The first ‘Ar�z of this abbreviated metre is F�‘il�tun (- U - -), and is called sah�hah (perfect) because it consists of the normal third foot. In the second ‘Ar�z, F�‘il�tun loses its end syllable tun by the ‘Illah Hafz (suppression of a final Sabab khaf�f), and becomes F�‘il� (- U -), for which F�‘ilun is substituted. Shortening the first syllable of F�‘ilun, i.e. eliminating the Alif by Khabn, we obtain the third ‘Ar�z Fa’ilun (U U -) as that of the present lines, which has two Azrub: Fa’ilun, like the ‘Ar�z, and Fa’lun (- -), here, again by Khabn, further reduced to Fa’al (U -).

 

Ishak of Mosul, who improvises the piece, calls it “so difficult and so rare, that it went nigh to deaden the quick and to quicken the dead”; indeed, the native poets consider the metre Mad�d as the most difficult of all, and it is scarcely ever attempted by later writers. This accounts for its rare occurrence in The Nights, where only two more instances are to be found, Mac. N.

ii. 244 and iii.

404.

 

The second and third circle will best be spoken of together, as the W�fir and K�mil have a natural affinity to the Hazaj and Rajaz. Let us revert to the line:—

 

U - - - | U - - - | U - - |

Ak�m� ‘l-wajda f� kalb� wa s�r�.

 

Translated, as it were, into the language of the Prosodists it will be:—

 

Maf�’�lun[FN#456] ‘Maf�’�lun Fa’�lun, and this, standing by itself, might prima facie be taken for a line of the Hazaj (iii. C. I), with the third Maf�’�lun shortened by Hafz (see above) into Maf�’� for which Fa’�lun would be substituted. We have seen (p. 247) that and how the foot Muf�‘alatun can change into Maf�’�lun, and if in any poem which otherwise would belong to the metre Hazaj, the former measure appears even in one foot only along with the latter, it is considered to be the original measure, and the poem counts no longer as Hazaj but as W�fir. In the piece now under consideration, it is the second Bayt where the characteristic foot of the W�fir first appears:—

 

U - - - | U - U U | U - - |

Naat ‘ann�‘l-rub�‘u wa s�kin�h�

 

U - U U - | U - U U - | U - - |

Wa kad ba’uda ‘l-maz�ru fa-l� maz�ru.

 

Anglic� (vol. iii. 296):—

 

Far lies the camp and those who camp therein; * Far is her tent shrine where I ne’er shall tent.

 

It must, however, be remarked that the Hazaj is not in use as a hexameter, but only with an ‘Ar�z majz�ah or shortened by one foot. Hence it is only in the second ‘Ar�z of the Waf�r, which is likewise majz�ah, that the ambiguity as to the real nature of the metre can arise;[FN#457] and the isolated couplet:—

 

U - - - | U - - - | U - - |

Y�r�du ‘l-mar-u an yu’t� mun�hu U - - - | U - - - | U - - |

Wa yab� ‘ll�hu ill� ma yur�du

 

Man wills his wish to him accorded be, * But Allah naught accords save what he wills (vol. iv. 157),

 

being hexametrical, forms undoubtedly part of a poem in Waf�r although it does not contain the foot Muf�‘alatun at all. Thus the solitary instance of Hazaj in The Nights is Ab� Nuw�s’

abomination, beginning with:—

 

U - - - | U - - - |

 

Fa-l� tas’au il� ghayr�

 

U - - - | U - - - |

Fa-‘indi ma’dinu ‘l-khayri (Mac. N. ii. 377).

 

Steer ye your steps to none but me * Who have a mine of luxury (vol. v. 65).

 

If in the second ‘Ar�z of the W�fir, Maf’��lun (U - - -) is further shortened to Maf�‘ilun (U - U -), the metre resembles the second ‘Ar�z of Rajaz, where, as we have seen, the latter foot can, by licence, take the place of the normal Mustaf’ilun (- - U

-).

 

The K�mil bears a similar relation to the Rajaz, as the W�fir bears to the Hazaj. By way of illustration we quote from Mac. N.

ii. 8 the first two Bayts of a little poem taken from the 23rd Assembly of Al Hariri:—

 

- - U - | - - U - | U U - U - |

Y� kh�tiba ‘l-duny� ‘l-daniyyati innah�

 

U U - U - | U U - U - | - - - |

Sharaku ‘l-rad� wa kar�ratu ‘l-akd�ri - - U - | - - U - | - - U - |

D�run mat� m� azhakat f� yaumiha - - U - | - - U - | - - - |

Abkat ghadan bu’dan lah� min d�ri.

 

In Sir Richard Burton’s translation (vol. iii. 319):—

 

O thou who woo’st a World unworthy, learn * ‘Tis house of evils, ‘tis Perdition’s net:

A house where whoso laughs this day shall weep * The next; then perish house of fume and fret.

 

The ‘Ar�z of the first couplet is Mutaf�‘ilun, assigning the piece to the first or perfect (sah�hah) class of the K�mil. In the Hashw of the opening line and in that of the whole second Bayt this normal Mutaf�‘ilun has, by licence, become Mustaf’ilun, and the same change has taken place in the ‘Ar�z of the second couplet; for it is a peculiarity which this metre shares with a few others, to allow certain alterations of the kind Zuh�f in the ‘Ar�z and Zarb as well as in the Hashw. This class has three subdivisions: the Zarb of the first is Mutaf�‘ilun, like the ‘Ar�z the Zarb of the second is Fa’al�tun (U U - -), a substitution for Mutaf�‘il which latter is obtained from Mutaf�‘ilun by suppressing the final n and rendering the l quiescent; the Zarb of the third is Fa’lun (- - -) for M�tf�, derived from Mutaf�‘ilun by cutting off the Watad ‘ilun and dropping the medial a of the remaining Mutaf�.

 

If we make the ‘Ayn of the second Zarb Fa’al�tun also quiescent by the permitted Zuh�f Izm�r, it changes into Fa’l�tun, by substitution Maf ‘�lun (- - -) which terminates the rhyming lines of the foregoing quotation. Consequently the two couplets taken together, belong to the second Zarb of the first ‘Aruz of the K�mil, and the metre of the poem with its licences may be represensed by the scheme:

- | - | - |

U U - U - | U U - U - | U U - U - |

- | - | - |

U U - U - | U U - U - | U U - - |

 

Taken isolated, on the other hand, the second Bayt might be of the metre Rajaz, whose first ‘Ar�z Mustaf’ilun has two Azrub: one equal to the Ar�z, the other Maf’�lun as above, but here substituted for Mustaf’il after applying the ‘Illah Kat’ (see p 247) to Mustaf’ilun. If this were the metre of the poem throughout the scheme with the licences peculiar to the Rajaz would be:

 

U U | U U | U U |

- - U U | - - U - | - - U - |

 

U U | U U | U |

- - U - | - - U - | - - - |

 

The pith of Al-Hariri’s Assembly is that the knight errant not to say the arrant wight of the Romance, Ab� Sayd of Sar�j accuses before the Wal� of Baghdad his pretended pupil, in reality his son, to have appropriated a poem of his by lopping off two feet of every Bayt. If this is done in the quoted lines, they read: - - U - | - - U - |

Y� kh�tiba ‘l-duny� ‘l-dandy.

 

U U - U | U U - U - |

Yati innah� sharaku ‘l-rad�

 

- - U - | - - U - |

D�run mat� m� azhakat,

 

- - U - | - - U - |

F� yaumih� abkat ghad�,

 

with a different rhyme and of a different variation of metre. The amputated piece belongs to the fourth Zarb of the third ‘Aruz of K�mil, and its second couplet tallies with the second subdivision of the second class of Rajaz.

 

The Rajaz, an iambic metre pure and simple, is the most popular, because the easiest, in which even the Prophet was caught napping sometimes, at the dangerous risk of following the perilous leadership of Imru ‘l-Kays. It is the metre of improvisation, of ditties, and of numerous didactic poems. In the latter case, when the composition is called Urj�zah, the two lines of every Bayt rhyme, and each Bayt has a rhyme of its own. This is the form in which, for instance, Ibn M�lik’s Alf�yah is written, as well as the remarkable grammatical work of the modern native scholar, Nas�f al-Yazij�, of which a notice will be found in Chenery’s Introduction to his Translation of Al-Hariri.

 

While the Hazaj and Rajaz connect the third circle with the first and second, the Ramal forms the link between the third and fourth D�irah. Its measure F�‘il�tun (- U - -) and the reversal of it, Maf’�l�tu (- - - U), affect the trochaic rhythm, as opposed to the iambic of the two first-named metres. The iambic movement has a ring of gladness about it, the trochaic a wail of sadness: the former resembles a nimble pedestrian, striding apace with an elastic step and a cheerful heart; the latter is like a man toiling along on the desert path, where his foot is ever and anon sliding back in the burning sand (Raml, whence probably the name of the metre). Both combined in regular alternation, impart an agitated character to the verse, admirably fit to express the conflicting emotions of a passion stirred mind.

 

Examples of these more or less plaintive and pathetic metres are numerous in the Tale of Uns al-Wuj�d and the Wazir’s Daughter, which, being throughout a story of love, as has been noted, vol.

v. 33, abounds in verse, and, in particular, contains ten out of the thirty two instances of Ramal occurring in The Nights. We quote:

 

Ramal, first Zarb of the first ‘Ar�z (Mac. N. ii. 361): - U - - | U U - - | - U - |

Inna li ‘l-bulbuli sautan f� ‘l-sahar - U - - | U U - - | - U - |

Ashghala ‘l-�shika ‘an husni ‘l-water The Bulbul’s note, whenas dawn is nigh * Tells the lover from strains of strings to fly (vol. v. 48).

 

Sar�’, second Zarb of the first ‘Ar�z (Mac. N. ii. 359): U - U - | - - U - | - U - |

Wa f�khitin kad k�la f� nauhihi - - U - | - - U - | - U - |

Y� D�iman shukran ‘al� balwat�

 

I heard a ringdove chanting soft and plaintively, * “I thank Thee, O Eternal for this misery” (vol. v. 47).

 

Khaf�f, full or perfect form (sah�h), both in Zarb and ‘Ar�z (Mac. N. ii. 356):

 

- U - - | U - U - | - U - - |

Y� li-man ashtak� ‘l-ghar�ma ‘llaz� bi U U - - | U - U - | - U - -