Leg over Leg. Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq

on every art and science and that there isn’t a house that doesn’t have a folder full of newspapers; that any man among them is better informed as to the conditions of foreign countries than are those countries’ own inhabitants; that most of their peasants can read and write and peruse the daily newspapers and are aware of the rights and obligations that govern the relationships between owner and owned, ruler and ruled, man and wife; that some of their printed newspapers run to fourteen million copies a year, that the sum paid to the state treasury for the printing of their licenses comes to more than fifty thousand lira, and that if a single issue of such a newspaper were translated into Arabic, it would come to two hundred pages; and that when a head of family there sits down to table in the morning with his wife and children, he kisses each, asks after his health, and provides him with profitable pieces of advice and caution to guide him through the coming day and they talk to him and are full of delight and joy, viewing his presence among them as a comfort, never disobeying his orders or thinking his demands upon them a burden yet acknowledging their status as his children and honoring him as children should a father.

      4.1.15

      فهذا وامثاله اصلحك الله ينبغى ان تشنّف به مسامع اصحابك الكرام * عسى ان ينشطوا الى انشآ مدرسة او ترجمة كتاب او لارسال ولدهم الى بلد يتادبون فيه بالاداب المحمودة والمناقب الكريمة * واياك ياسيدي من ان تميل قبل هذا كله الى ان تاخذ عن بعضهم الخصال الذميمة كالطيش والنزق والبخل والفسق والكبر ومد الرجلين فى وجه جليسك * فقد ذكرت لك آنفا ان البلاد التى تكثر فيها الفضائل تكثر فيها الرذائل ايضًا * وانه ليس من انسان الا وفيه عيب بل عيوب * غير انه ينبغى لكل منا ان لا يزال يجد ويسعى فى طريق الكمال وفى تهذيب اخلاقه وحواسه الباطنة بكل ما يبدو لحواسه الظاهرة * وكما ان لذة الحواس لا يشعر بها الانسان الا فى مقدَّم جسمه دون موخره كذلك ينبغى لكل ذى جسم من الحيوان الناطق ان يعتمد على التقدّم فى المعارف والدرايه * والمحامد الى الغايه * وكنت اود لو ان احدا من اهل بلادنا نقل فضيلة او ماثرة عن هولآ الناس الى اخوانه ومعارفه كما تنقل الاخبار والروايات * وبودى لو تستحيل اصناف الماس والزمرذ والياقوت والدهنج والثعثع والدر والعقيان والكهربا والمها وقلنسوة الراهب معها حالة كونها

      معدودة من الجواهر والتحف الى كتب ومدارس ومكاتب ومطابع *

      It is with this and its like that you, God set you to rights, should be beguiling the ears of your noble friends in the hope that they may bestir themselves to build a school, translate a book, or send their children to a country where they can learn praiseworthy manners and noble traits. But beware, my dear sir, before anything else, of taking over from some of them their ignoble qualities, such as frivolity, impetuosity, stinginess, depravity, and arrogance, or showing the soles of your feet to someone sitting with you, for, as I pointed out to you above, countries with many virtues also have many vices and everyone has some fault, or indeed faults. Each of us, however, must seriously strive to follow the path of perfection and to refine his morals and his inner senses by making the best use of everything that appears to his outer senses. Likewise, given that one experiences sensual pleasure through the front of the body rather than its rear, every rational animal that possesses a body should determine to move in a forward direction in pursuit of knowledge, understanding, and praiseworthy qualities till he can go no farther. I would also wish that even one of our countrymen might pass on to his brethren and acquaintances some virtue or memorable deed taken from those people in the same way that news or accounts of events are passed on, and I wish that all kinds of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, jasper, mother-of-pearl, pearls, gold, amber, and crystal (and monk’s hoods too, since they’re considered to belong to the category of jewels and treasures) might be turned into

      books, upper schools, elementary schools, and printing presses.

      الفصل الثانى

      ڡي وداع

      Chapter Two

      A Farewell

      4.2.1

      لما حان سفر الفارياق اخذ يودع زوجته بعد ان اوعى القاموس والاشمونى فى صندوقه ويقول * اذكرى يازوجتى انّا عشنا معا برهة طويلة من الدهر * قالت ما اذكر الا هذا * قال فقلت اَذِكْرُ ناكرٍ ام شاكرٍ * قالت نصف من هذا ونصف من ذاك * قلت يرجعنا النحت الى الاول * قالت او يرجع الاول الى النحت * قلت اىّ اوّل اضمرتِ * قالت ما لك ولتاويل المضمر * قلت حسبى ان تُبيّنى لى حقيقة ذلك * قالت اذا فكرت فى انك لى ولغيرى كنت من الناكرين والا فمن الشاكرين *

      When the time for the Fāriyāq to travel was close, and as soon as he had put his copies of the Qāmūs and al-Ashmūnī into his trunk, he set about bidding his wife farewell.⁶ He said, “Just think, wife—we’ve lived together a goodly span of time.” “That’s all I think of,” she replied. The Fāriyāq resumed his narrative. “I asked her, ‘Hatefully or gratefully?’ and she replied, ‘Half the latter and half the former.’⁷ ‘Application of naḥt brings us back to the first,’⁸ I said, to which she responded, ‘or the first brings us back to another meaning of naḥt.’⁹ ‘Which first did you have in mind?’ I asked.¹⁰ ‘You have no business interpreting my intentions,’ she responded. I replied, ‘I’d be content if you’d just explain to me what you did mean,’ and to this she responded, ‘If you think you can belong to both me and others, then it’s “hatefully,” if not, it’s “gratefully.”’

      4.2.2

      قلت انك كنت نهيتِنى عن المعاملة بالقَسْم وها انت الآن تاتينه * قالت بل هو ياتينى * قلت اَما فى فيك لفظة لا * قالت ان لفظتها كانت نَعَم * قلت ان لا من المراة اِلًى * قالت وان نعم نعم * قلت اجعلت هذا دابك * قالت ودابت فى هذا الجَعل * قلت هذا لا يليق بذات ولد * قالت ولا تلد من لا تليق * قلت من مادة واحدة * قالت ان كانت المادة غير زيادة متصلة احوجت الى اختلاف الصور * قلت