The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan ...A. Small, 1824 - English fiction |
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Common terms and phrases
Allah appeared Armenian Aslan Avicenna barber bastinado bazar beard beast Caliph called caravan caravanserai ceremony chief executioner clothes Dervish Sefer doctor dress ducats endeavour Erivan exclaimed eyes face father fear gave Georgian give grand vizier Hajjî Hajji Baba hand happy harem head heard Herat honour horse immediately Ispahan ked khoda Kermanshah Khan khanum king king's knew length look lord high treasurer majesty manner mare Mariam Mashallah master Meshed Mirakhor Mirza Ahmak mountains mules Mussulman Nasakchi never Nûr parasangs Pasha permitted Persia Persian poet possession present prince profession received road royal seated seized Semnan sent Serdar servant Shah Shah Nameh Shah's shawl Shîr Shiraz situation slave smoke soon sort Sultanieh taken Tehran tent thing thought tion tomauns took tribe trowsers Turcomans veil village vizier Wahabi whilst whole wife women Zeenab
Popular passages
Page 93 - Caliph in person, which he duly presented on Friday, the day when he went in state to the mosque. The Caliph's punctuality in reading petitions is well known, and it was not long before the wood-cutter was called to his presence. When he had approached the Caliph he kneeled and kissed the ground...
Page 117 - Their manners and customs are totally different to ours, that is true,' replied Mirza Ahmak, 'and you may form some idea of them, when I tell you, that instead of shaving their heads, and letting their beards grow, as we do, they do the very contrary, for not a vestige of hair is to be seen on their chins, and their hair is as thick on their heads as if they had made a vow never to cut it off: then they sit on little platforms, whilst we squat on the ground; they take up their food with claws made...
Page 110 - From the head of the street, I perceived a crowd surrounding the gate, and I was soon informed that he had just arrived, and had gone through the ceremony of making his entrance over the roof instead of through the door : for such is the custom when a man who has been thought dead returns home alive. I immediately pushed through the crowd, made my way into the room where the poet was seated, and with every demonstration of great joy, congratulated him upon his safe arrival. He did not recognise me,...
Page 71 - ... the purses, but even the lives of your hearers. By impudence I have been a prophet, by impudence I have wrought miracles, by impudence I have restored the dying to health — by impudence, in short, I lead a life of great ease, and am feared and respected by those who, like you, do not know what dervishes are. If I chose to give myself the trouble, and incur the risks which Mahomed himself did, I might even now become as great a prophet as he. It would be as easy for me to cut the moon in two...
Page 95 - The barber was then obliged to 56 prepare a great quantity of soap, to lather the beast from head to foot, and to shave him in the presence of the Caliph and of the whole court, whilst he was jeered and mocked by the taunts and laughing of all the bye-standers.
Page 92 - Sakal. He was so famous for a steady hand and dexterity in his profession, that he could shave a head and trim a beard and whiskers with his eyes blindfolded, without once drawing blood. There was not a man of any fashion at Bagdad who did not employ him ; and such a run of business had he, that at length he became proud and insolent, and would scarcely ever touch a head, whose master was not at least a Beg or an Aga.
Page 93 - How !' said the other, in great amazement ; ' who ever heard of such a bargain ? It is impossible.' In short, after many words and much altercation, the overbearing barber seized the pack-saddle, wood and all, and sent away the poor peasant in great distress. He immediately ran to the Cadi, and stated his griefs ; the Cadi was one of the barber's customers, and refused to hear the case. The woodcutter applied to a higher judge : he also patronised Ali Sakal, and made light of the complaint.
Page 71 - It is not great learning that is required to make a dervish ; assurance is the first ingredient. With onefiftieth part of the accomplishments that you have mentioned, and with only a common share of effrontery, I promise you, that you may command not only the purses, but even the lives of your hearers. By impudence I have been a prophet, by impudence I have wrought miracles, by impudence I have restored the dying to health — by impudence...
Page 122 - When I had assured him that no harm or prejudice could possibly ac-crue to him, he opened a large chest, which appeared to be full of drugs, and taking therefrom the smallest quantity of a certain white powder, he mixed it up, with some bread, into the form of a pill, and putting it into paper gave it me, with proper directions how it should be administered.
Page 30 - Turcomans, and although we were all agreed that they were a desperate enemy, yet we managed to console ourselves by the hope that nothing could withstand our numbers and appearance, and by repeatedly exclaiming, ' In the name of God, whose dogs are they, that they should think of attacking us ?' Every one vaunted his own courage. My master, above the rest, with his teeth actually chattering from apprehension, boasted of what he would do, in case we were attacked ; and, to hear his language, one would...