Note 226 — JA’AFAR THE BARMECIDE AND THE BEAN-SELLER.

Arab. “Fúl al-hárr” = beans like horsebeans soaked and boiled as opposed to the “Fúl Mudammas” (esp. of Egypt) = unshelled beans steamed and boiled all night and eaten with linseed oil as “kitchen” or relish. Lane (M. E., chapt. v.) calls them after the debased Cairene pronunciation, Mudemmes. A legend says that, before the days of Pharaoh (always he of Moses), the Egyptians lived on pistachios which made them a witty, lively race. But the tyrant remarking that the domestic ass, which eats beans, is degenerate from the wild ass, uprooted the pistachio-trees and compelled the lieges to feed on beans which made them a heavy, gross, cowardly people fit only for burdens. Badawis deride “bean-eaters” although they do not loathe the pulse like onions. The principal result of a bean diet is an extraordinary development of flatulence both in stomach and intestines: hence, possibly, Pythagoras who had studied ceremonial purity in Egypt, forbade the use, unless he referred to venery or political business. I was once sitting in the Greek quarter of Cairo dressed as a Moslem when arose a prodigious hubbub of lads and boys, surrounding a couple of Fellahs. These men had been working in the fields about a mile east of Cairo; and, when returning home, one had said to the other, “If thou wilt carry the hoes I will break wind once for every step we take.” He was as good as his word and when they were to part he cried, “And now for thy bakhshish!” which consisted of a volley of fifty, greatly to the delight of the boys.