« Many Wives | Hereditary Wanderlust »
April 04, 2006
Whimsy for the Bored
I've found a decent version of my favourite Arabian Nights story online: The Tale of Kamar al-Zaman
It's a long, wonderfully convoluted tale that begins with a quarrel between two jinn, Dahnash (male) and Maymunah (female). The Afriit is in love with one Princess Budur, while the Afriitah has recently become infatuated with Prince Kamar al-Zaman (jinn falling in love with humans is not an uncommon theme, though the expression of this love often amounts to nothing more than kissing them between the eyes while they sleep). The jinn proceed to argue over which human is more lovely and eventually decide that poetry and hearsay will not resolve their quarrel. The sleeping princess is whisked from her chamber and set down next to the sleeping Kamar al-Zaman for direct comparison by the two lovesick Afriit.
Rather than summarize the entire story, I will leave you with the Dahnash's fevered description of the Princess Budur (as I happen to like the elaborate, decadent accounts of beauty in Burton's translation):
"Know, O my mistress [Maymunah], that I come to-night from the Islands of the Inland Sea in the parts of China, which are the realms of King Ghayur, lord of the Islands and the Seas and the Seven Palaces. There I saw a daughter of his, than whom Allah hath made none fairer in her time: I cannot picture her to thee, for my tongue would fail to describe her with her due of praise; but I will name to thee a somewhat of her charms by way of approach. Now her hair is like the nights of disunion and separation and her face like the days of union and delectation; and right well hath the poet said when picturing her,'She dispread the locks from her head one night,
Showing four fold nights into one night run
And she turned her visage towards the moon,
And two moons showed at moment one.'She hath a nose like the edge of the burnished blade and cheeks like purple wine or anemones blood-red: her lips as coral and carnelian shine and the water of her mouth is sweeter than old wine; its taste would quench Hell's fiery pain. Her tongue is moved by wit of high degree and ready repartee: her breast is a seduction to all that see it (glory be to Him who fashioned it and finished it!); and joined thereto are two upper arms smooth and rounded; even as saith of her the poet Al-Walahan,
'She hath wrists which, did her bangles not contain,
Would run from out her sleeves in silvern rain.'She hath breasts like two globes of ivory, from whose brightness the moons borrow light, and a stomach with little waves as it were a figured cloth of the finest Egyptian linen made by the Copts, with creases like folded scrolls, ending in a waist slender past all power of imagination; based upon back parts like a hillock of blown sand, that force her to sit when she would fief stand, and awaken her, when she fain would sleep, even as saith of her and describeth her the poet,
'She hath those hips conjoined by thread of waist,
Hips that o'er me and her too tyrannise
My thoughts they daze whene'er I think of them,
And weigh her down whene'er she would uprise.'And those back parts are upborne by thighs smooth and round and by a calf like a column of pearl, and all this reposeth upon two feet, narrow, slender and pointed like spear-blades, the handiwork of the Protector and Requiter, I wonder how, of their littleness, they can sustain what is above them. But I cut short my praises of her charms fearing lest I be tedious."
Tedious, well, perhaps the poetry is a bit much.
Posted by eerie at April 4, 2006 12:30 AM
Filed Under:
Random Notes
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.aqoul.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/2547
Comments
dear e,
so the ancestors (indian, persian, arab) were obsessed about white skin, round faces, and fat asses.
--raf*
Posted by: raf* at April 4, 2006 06:30 AM
King Solomon (yawning): Song of Songs. Been there, done that.
Posted by: matthew hogan at April 4, 2006 07:10 AM
well, i loved it.
it was sensuous and romantic.
thank-you, eerie.
i wondered tho, about the jinn--were all jinn isomorphic with the afriit in the Jahilyyah?
I believe Islam says jinn are neither completely good or completely evil.
Posted by: jinnilyyah at April 4, 2006 02:45 PM
I haven't actually looked into pre-Islamic jinn lore, so I can't say which characteristics/distinctions held in that period. Most sources are unclear about what differentiates Afriit, Marid, Shaytan, etc except for claims that Marid or Afriit are the strongest and most malevolent of the jinn. The categories themselves might refer to races, bloodlines (e.g. seed of Iblis) or just appellations.
As for what "Islam" says, there isn't a lot of consistency between texts, regional opinions, etc. From what I've read, jinn have the same capacity for good and evil as humans, but can be quite nasty if so inclined. Sura 72 has a decent explanation, but legends/stories vary by region.
Posted by: eerie
at April 4, 2006 03:43 PM
I don't know, kiddo. These specific jinn don't seem particularly bright to me.
I mean, all they expect from their perfect little girl is a porcelain body and a sharp tongue?
Maybe they should have tried kissing a conscious girl sometime.
Posted by: blue92 at April 8, 2006 10:46 PM
Eh, fairy tales. Same old Prince Charming crap.
I'm not sure if jinn and humans are allowed to consort that way. Of course it might simply be undesirable, not forbidden.
Hmm, a whole new can of worms is opened.
Posted by: eerie
at April 8, 2006 11:41 PM
Heh. Perhaps the jinn would possess the pair of humans simultaneously to see what they're missing.
I suppose that could, as far as topical fiction goes, be a vehicle for interesting perspectives on humanity... but more likely than not would be hackneyed shit.
I admit that I can't bring myself to slog through the entirety of the tale, but I did find this bit very amusing in passing:
Then she thrust her hand into his breast and, because of the smoothness of his body, it slipped down to his waist and thence to his navel and thence to his yard, whereupon her heart ached and her vitals quivered and lust was sore upon her, for that the desire of women is fiercer than the desire of men, and she was ashamed of her own shamelessness.
"Am I ashamed or shameless? Oh bother, my vitals are quivering. Where's the Maalox?"
Posted by: blue92 at April 9, 2006 12:57 AM

RSS



