Leg over Leg

Volume One

Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq, Humphrey Davies

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9780814729373
• eBook ISBN:
  9780814745410
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: History

Finalist for the 2016 National Translation Award given by the American Literary Translators' Association

The life, birth, and early years of 'the Fariyaq'—the alter ego of the Arab intellectual Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq

Leg over Leg recounts the life, from birth to middle age, of 'the Fariyaq,' alter ego of Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, a pivotal figure in the intellectual and literary history of the modern Arab world. The always edifying and often hilarious adventures of the Fariyaq, as he moves from his native Lebanon to Egypt, Malta, Tunis, England and France, provide the author with grist for wide-ranging discussions of the intellectual and social issues of his time, including the ignorance and corruption of the Lebanese religious and secular establishments, freedom of conscience, women's rights, sexual relationships between men and women, the manners and customs of Europeans and Middle Easterners, and the differences between contemporary European and Arabic literatures. Al-Shidyaq also celebrates the genius and beauty of the classical Arabic language.

Akin to Sterne and Rabelais in his satirical outlook and technical inventiveness, al-Shidyaq produced in Leg Over Leg a work that is unique and unclassifiable. It was initially widely condemned for its attacks on authority, its religious skepticism, and its "obscenity," and later editions were often abridged. This is the first English translation of the work and reproduces the original Arabic text, published under the author's supervision in 1855.

كتاب

الساق على الساق فى ما هو الفارياق

او

ايام وشهور واعوام فى عجم العرب والاعجام

تاليف العبد الفقير الى ربه الرزاق

فارس بن يوسف الشدياق

تاليف زيد وهند فى زمانك ذا	اشهى الى الناس من تاليف سفرين
ودرس ثورين قد شُدّا الى قَرَن	اقنى وانفع من تدريس حبرين^١

١ بعدها في ١٨٥٥: طبعه بنفقته العبد الفقير الى رحمة ربه الموقّى رافائيل كحلا الدمشقي وذلك فى مدينة باريس المحمية سنة ١٨٥٥ مسيحية ۱۲۷۰ هجرية ثم باللغة الفرنساوية

LA VIE ET LES AVENTURES
DE FARIAC
RELATION DE SES VOYAGES
AVEC SES OBSERVATIONS CRITIQUES
SUR LES ARABES ET SUR AUTRES PEUPLES
Par FARIS EL-CHIDIAC.
PARIS
BENJAMIN DUPRAT, LIBRAIRIE DE L’INSTITUT,
DE LA BIBLIOTHÈQUE IMPERIALE, DES SOCIÉTÉS ASIATIQUES DE PARIS, DE LONDRES, DE MADRAS,
DE CALCUTTA, etc.
Rue du Cloître-Saint-Benoît, no. 7.
1855

Leg over Leg

or

The Turtle in the Tree

concerning

The Fāriyāq

What Manner of Creature Might He Be

otherwise entitled

Days, Months, and Years

spent in

Critical Examination

of

The Arabs

and

Their Non-Arab Peers

by

The Humble Dependent on His Lord the Provider

Fāris ibn Yūsuf al-Shidyāq

The writings of Zayd and Hind these days speak more to the common taste

Than any pair of weighty tomes.

More profitable and useful than the teachings of two scholars

Are what a yoke of oxen from the threshings combs.

فهرست الكتاب

اهدآ هذا الكتاب البديع *

تنبيه من المؤلّف *

مقدمة لناشر هذا الكتاب *

فاتحة الكتاب *

الكتاب الاول

الفصل الاول	فى اثارة رياح وفيه مولد الفارياق *
الفصل الثانى	فى انتكاسة حاقية وعمامة واقية *
الفصل الثالث	فى نوادر مختلفة *
الفصل الرابع	فى شرور وطنبور *
الفصل الخامس	فى قسيس وكيس وتحليس وتلحيس *
الفصل السادس	فى طعام والتهام *
الفصل السابع	فى حمار نهّاق وسفر واخفاق *
الفصل الثامن	فى خان واخوان وخوان *
الفصل التاسع	فى محاورات خانية ومناقشات حانية *
الفصل العاشر	فى اغضاب شوافن وانشاب براثن *
الفصل الحادى عشر	فى الطويل العريض *
الفصل الثانى عشر	فى اكلة واكال *
الفصل الثالث عشر	فى مقامة *
الفصل الرابع عشر	فى سر *
الفصل الخامس عشر	فى قصة القسيس *
الفصل السادس عشر	فى تمام قصة القسيس *
الفصل السابع عشر	فى الثل *
الفصل الثامن عشر	فى النحس *
الفصل التاسع عشر	فى الحس والحركة وفيه نواح الفارياق وشكواه وفيه ايضا عرض كاتب الحروف *
الفصل العشرون	فى الفرق بين السوقيين والخرجيين *

Contents of the Book

The Dedication of This Elegantly Eloquent Book

Author’s Notice

An Introduction by the Publisher of This Book

Proem

Book One

Chapter 1: Raising a Storm

Chapter 2: A Bruising Fall and a Protecting Shawl

Chapter 3: Various Amusing Anecdotes

Chapter 4: Troubles and a Tambour

Chapter 5: A Priest and a Pursie, Dragging Pockets and Dry Grazing

Chapter 6: Food and Feeding Frenzies

Chapter 7: A Donkey that Brayed, a Journey Made, a Hope Delayed

Chapter 8: Bodega, Brethren, and Board

Chapter 9: Unseemly Conversations and Crooked Contestations

Chapter 10: Angering Women Who Dart Sideways Looks, and Claws like Hooks

Chapter 11: That Which Is Long and Broad

Chapter 12: A Dish and an Itch

Chapter 13: A Maqāmah

Chapter 14: A Sacrament

Chapter 15: The Priest’s Tale

Chapter 16: The Priest’s Tale Continued

Chapter 17: Snow

Chapter 18: Bad Luck

Chapter 19: Emotion and Motion, including “The Fāriyāq’s Lament and Plaint” and also “A Memorandum from the Writer of These Characters”

Chapter 20: The Difference between Market-men and Bag-men

ڡي اهدآ هذا الكتاب البديع

The Dedication of This Elegantly Eloquent Book

0.1

الحمد لل‍ه

لما جرت عادة المولفين من الافرنج ان يهدوا مولفاتهم الى من تميّز فى عصرهم بالفضائل والمحامد ورُويت عنه مآثر جليلة فى اكرام العلم واهله رايت هنا ان احذو حذوهم ڡي اهدآ هذا الكتاب البديع الى الجناب المكرم الخواجا بطرس يوسف حوّا المقيم بلندرة اذ كان قد اتصف فى عصرنا هذا بالمزايا الحميدة التى يتحلّى بها مدح كل مطرئ وقول كل مولّف وهو الان كبير هذا البيت المشهور من قديم الزمان بالحسب والفخر ورفعة القدر وكثيرا ما اعان على تحصيل الفضايل وامدّ بنى جنسه وغيرهم بما افازهم بمنتهى الامال وادرك بهم منتأى الاوطار فانثنوا عنه حامدين وعلى آلائه شاكرين هذا وان يكن مقامه الكريم يجلّ عن بعض جُمَل فى الكتاب لكنه فى الجملة جدير بان يختص به فالمرجو منه قبوله واجارته وترويجه واجازته فان الحقير بالانتمآ اليه يعود جليلا والناقص يكتسب تكميلا *

من الداعى لجنابه
فارس الشدياق

Praise Be to God

It being the custom of Frankish authors to dedicate their works to those distinguished in their day by virtues and praiseworthy qualities and of whom great achievements are reported regarding the patronage of scholarship and its servants, I have decided here to follow their example by dedicating this elegantly eloquent book to the esteemed and honorable Khawājā Buṭrus Yūsuf Ḥawwā,¹ of London, for he is well known in this age of ours for all the commendable merits with which the eulogist adorns his songs and the author his words, while he is now also head of that house² so long celebrated for its pedigree, pride, and elevated status. Many a time has he assisted in the attainment of virtuous qualities and provided those of his race, and others, with the means to obtain their highest hopes and realize their most distant goals, so that they leave him uttering praise, grateful to him for his generous ways. Moreover, albeit his standing exceeds what little may be contained in summary form in this book, it is nevertheless fitting that the latter be dedicated to him in sum. We ask that he accept it, take it under his wing, promote it, and grant it his approval, for whatever is unworthy regains, through appurtenance to him, its worth, and all that is incomplete is made whole.

From Fāris al-Shidyāq
Who Prays for His Honorable Person

تنبيه من المولف

Author’s Notice

0.2.1

الحمد لل‍ه الموفّق الى السداد والملهم الى الرشاد وبعد فان جميع ما اودعته فى هذا الكتاب فانما هو مبنىّ على امرين احدهما ابراز غرائب اللغة ونوادرها

Praise be to God, who each happy thought inspires, and to guide man to righteous acts conspires. To proceed: everything that I have set down in this book is determined by one of two concerns. The first of these is to give prominence to the oddities of the language, including its rare words.³

0.2.2

فيندرج تحت جنس الغريب نوع المترادف والمتجانس وقد ضمّنت منهما هنا اشهر ما تلزم معرفته واهمّ ما تمسّ الحاجة اليه على نمط بديع ولو ذكر على اسلوب كتب اللغة مقتضبا على العلائق لجآء مملّا وقد راعيت سرده مرة على ترتيب حروف المعجم ومرّة نسقته بفقر مسجعة وعبارات مرصعة *

Under the category of oddities fall words that are similar in meaning and...

Table of contents

• Letter from the General Editor
• Leg over Leg, Volume One
• Notes