Note 162 — THE HISTORY OF AL-BUNDUKANI. OR, THE CALIPH HARUN AL-RASHID AND THE DAUGHTER OF KING KISRA.

In text “Kunná nu’tíhu li-ahad” = we should have given him to someone; which makes very poor sense. [The whole passage runs: “Házá allazí kasam alláh bi-hi fa-lau kána rajul jayyid ghayr luss kunná nu’tíhu li-ahad,” which I would translate: This is he concerning whom Allah decreed (that he should be my portion, swearing;) “and if he were a good man and no thief, we would have bestowed him on someone.” In “kasama” the three ideas of decreeing, giving as a share, and binding one’s self by oath are blended together. If it should appear out of place to introduce Divinity itself as speaking in this context, we must not forget that the person spoken of is no less illustrious individual than Harun al-Rashíd, and that a decidedly satirical and humorous vein runs through the whole tale. Moreover, I doubt that “li-ahad” could be used as equivalent for “li-ghayrí,” “to some other than myself,” while it frequently occurs in the emphatic sense of “one who is somebody, a person of consequence.” The damsel and her mother, on the other hand allude repeatedly to the state of utter helplessness, in which they find themselves in default of their natural protector, and which has reduced them from an exalted station to the condition of nobodies. I speak, of course, here as elsewhere, “under correction.”—St.]