The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, Volume 1Methuen and Company, 1895 - English fiction |
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Common terms and phrases
Allah appeared Armenian Aslan Sultan attack attend Avicenna Banou barber bastinado beard beast caliph called caravan caravanserai ceremony chief executioner clothes companion Constantinople 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 honour horse Imâm immediately Ispahan journey ked khoda Khan khanum king king's knew length look lord high treasurer majesty manner mare Mariam Mashallah master medicine Meshed Mirakhor Mirza Ahmak Morier mountains mules Mussulmans nasakchi never Nûr parasangs Pasha Persian person poet possession present prince proceeded received road royal seated seized Semnan Serdar servants Shah Shah Nameh Shah's shawl Shîr Shiraz situation slave smoke soon sort Sultanieh taken Tehran tent tomauns took tribe Turcomans veil village vizier Wahabi whilst whole wife women Zeenab
Popular passages
Page 83 - the barber has words on his side — you have equity on yours. The law must be defined by words, and agreements must be made by words : the 55 former must have its course, or it is nothing; and agreements must be kept, or there would be no faith between man and man ; therefore the barber must keep all his wood...
Page 106 - Hajji, you must know that an ambassador from the Franks is lately arrived at this court, in whose suite there is a doctor. This infidel has already acquired considerable reputation here. He treats his patients in a manner quite new to us, and has arrived with a chest full of medicines, of which we do not even know the names. He pretends to the knowledge of a great many things of which we have never yet heard in Persia. He makes no distinction...
Page 108 - ... 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 of iron, whilst we use our fingers; they are always walking about, we keep seated; they wear tight clothes, we loose ones; they write from left to right, we from right to left; they never pray, we five times a day; in short, there is no end to what might...
Page 84 - This is my companion," said he, "and you must shave him." "Shave him!" exclaimed the barber, in the greatest surprise; "it is enough that I have consented to demean myself by touching you, and do you insult me by asking me to do as much to your ass?
Page 82 - Ali Sakal, and made light of the complaint. The poor man then appealed to the mufti himself, who, having pondered over the question, at length settled that it was too difficult a case for him to decide, no provision being made for it in the Koran : and therefore he must put up with his loss. The woodcutter was not disheartened ; but...
Page 104 - Hakim was an old man, with an eye sunk deep into his head, high cheek-bones, and a scanty beard. He had a considerable bend in his back ; and his usual attitude, when seated, was that of a projecting chin, his head reclining back between his shoulders, and his hands resting on his girdle, whilst his elbows formed two triangles on each side of his body. He made short snappish questions, gave little hums at the answers, and seemed to be thinking of anything but the subject before him. When he heard...
Page 112 - Locman was a fool when compared to one of his wisdom; and that as for his contemporaries, the Persian physicians, they were not fit to handle his pestle for him. To all this he said nothing. I then told him that the King himself, having heard of the wonderful effects of his medicine upon the person of his grand vizier, had ordered his historian to insert the circumstance in the annals of the empire as one of the most extraordinary events of his reign; that a considerable sensation had been produced...
Page 60 - 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, 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.
Page 109 - And then coaxing me, and preventing me from making any further objections to his unexpected request, he gently pushed me out of the room; and I left him, scarcely knowing whether to laugh or to cry at the new posture which my affairs had taken. To sicken without any stipulated reward was what I could not consent to do, so I retraced my steps with a determination of making a bargain with my patron: but when I got to the room, he was no longer there, having apparently retreated into his harem; and...
Page 61 - Mohammed 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 with my finger as it was for him, provided I once made my hearers have confidence in me ; and impudence will do that, and more, if exerted in a proper manner.