1.16.6
“I started funding it from what I gathered from the old women and greenhorns by way of fees for welcoming new souls and seeing off old, as I continued to ply my first profession. Indeed, all the preceding was a stimulus to extra passion from both my side and that of my little cutie, for she now grew greedy for presents and gifts, as women do every time there is some occasion in the lives of their husbands and lovers. The news of my new profession reached my abbot, who sent to demand from me the money that I’d made. I made excuses that he refused and didn’t accept, and he found a reason to recall me, seizing the baggage and everything else I had with me, though the loss of all of that didn’t upset me as much as the interruption of the first count (the one I’d initiated at the house of the righteous merchant). After a period almost long enough to make me forget the pleasures of those by-gone days, I slipped from that abbot’s bonds and set off in search of another, to spite the former. I thus made my way to an abbot who was one of those most hostile to the abbot I’d been with before — for hostility is to be found as much among abbots as among atheists — and the former, fearing that I might come to harm from the latter, sent me off to distant lands in a ship of war.
1.16.7
“Before we’d been at sea for more than a few hours, some of the ship’s instruments failed, causing its captain to fear that it would take us down, so he turned back, having decided that I was the cause of his misfortune and telling one of the passengers that what happened had occurred because of my ugly mug. I was greatly amazed to hear his words, for such people237 are not given to irtisām,238 to tashāʾum,239 to taṭayyur,240 to tafāʾul,241 to taḥattum,242 to tayammun,243 to tasaʿʿud,244 to tamassuḥ,245 or to hanging necklaces of shubāriq wood or making use of ʿaṭaf; nor do they place any faith in haqʿah or lujām, ʿāṭūs or ʿāṭis,246 kābiḥ or kādis, qaʿīd or dākis,247 bāriḥ or sāniḥ, zajr or taḥazzī, ʿiyāfah or ʿaytharah, ṭarq or ʿirāfah, hajīj, or kahānah,248 ibnā ʿiyān or tanajjī, lammah or ḥufūf, luʿṭah or intijāʾ,249 tashawwuh or taʿayyud, ṭalāsim250 or tashahhuq or ʿazāʾim,251 ruqā252 or tamāʾim,253 yanjalib or tuwalah, ḥawṭ or ghazz, tadsīm al-nūnah or shadd al-ḥiqāb, rasʿ or ṣakhbah, qulayb or kabdah, wajīh or sulwānah, sulwān or ʿuqarah, mijwal or muhrah, ukhdhah or ʿūdhah,254 habrah or raʾamah, kaḥlah or hinnamah, julbah or ṣarrah, qablah or nushzah, qublah or nufrah, ṣudḥah or hamrah, zarqah or ʿaṭfah, faṭsah or ṣarfah, ghaḍār or karār, barīm or ḥirz, khaṣmah or ratīmah, asḥam or ṣihmīm, tadhaʿʿaba or ṣawt al-lūf, hāmah or ṣafar, ukhdhat al-nār or tanjīs, laḥj or inkīs, us or shaḥīthā, ṭibb or tawl, siḥr255 or māqiṭ, ʿāḍih or mustanshiʾah, naffāthāt fi l-ʿuqad or ṣadā,256 shaʿbadhah or nīranj, shaʿwadhah or ḥābil or ḥāwī.
1.16.8
“On that day I learned for sure that a man with a big nose is hated in every country and that half a pound of extra flesh on a man’s face will bring him woe and privation, while two pounds on a woman’s rump will bring her fortune and success, and my wonder at this world that’s built on two-and-a-half pounds of flesh increased, despite which I couldn’t bring myself to renounce it. Then I traveled to those lands257 and found safety in them from the intrigues of my enemies, and rented a house and brought a woman to serve me. It has become customary for priests, in those lands and in the lands of the Franks too, to take a woman to serve them, who comes to him in the morning, while he is still in his comfortable bed, and provides him with whatever he wants from her. Having tasted the sweetness of that life, the Tempter whispered in my ear that I should marry a girl who was poor but beautiful. I wasn’t quite certain that her breasts had completely rounded out but had taken a fancy to her all the same. I therefore asked the abbot to increase my stipend, but he refused. I insisted, but he was adamant in saying no, while I was adamant in asking for more. Then, when I argued with him and ended our discussion on an angry note, he decided to send me back to whence I’d come, so I went to an abbot who was friendly with the first abbot, and he was delighted to see me and put me up with him, and I found myself back where I’d begun. Now I’m waiting for an opportunity to exchange this other no-hoper too, for he is very ignorant, and, in my opinion, swapping abbots in these days of oppression brings more benefit than the philosopher’s stone.” Here ends the priest’s tale.
1.16.9
Here are the meanings of the rare words mentioned above:
ibnā ʿiyān,
[literally, “the Sons of Sight”] “Two birds, or two lines; the augur would draw lines on the ground and say, ‘Sons of Sight, tell us quickly what you see!’,” etc.
ukhdhat al-nār,
[literally, “the fire spell”] “Shortly after the sunset prayer; they claim that this is the worst time at which to strike [a flint].”
ukhdhah,
“An incantation, like sorcery, or a bead with which spells are made”
irtisām,
“Saying, ‘God is great!’ or ‘I take refuge with God!’ or believing that certain things are inevitable or believing in omens”
asḥam,
“The blood in which the hands of those swearing oaths are dipped”
us,
“A word said to the serpent, on hearing which it obeys”
inkīs,
“A shape made in the sand [by a geomancer]; some call it the mankūs”258
bāriḥ,
“Game that passes from one’s right to one’s left”
barīm,
“Two separate threads, red and white, tied by a woman around her waist and her forearm… and incantation”