Djinn

“ Really, I marvel at you, Pete! You, too, Connie! Where is the famous Bartlett logic, the Bartlett quick wit?"
"You mean?"
"I mean there's a very easy, simple, quick way out of this difficulty," the djinn said slyly. "Pshaw! I'm disappointed in both of you! Think!"
Connie looked wary, but I said recklessly, "Name it!"
"All Mrs. B. has to do," the djinn said, spreading his hands expressively, "is wish for me to go away from here promptly." ”

“ I would have leaped unwittingly at the suggestion, but Connie forestalled me.
"Oh-ho, no you don't!" she cried. "Was I born yesterday? Don't think you can teach your grandmother how to suck eggs, djinn! I should tell you to go away before I've even wished a single profitable wish! Get lost with that idea, chump!"
The djinn lapsed into sullen impotence. I groaned aloud in my frustration. We seemed to have reached an impasse.
IV
But like many difficult problems, once attacked, the solution itself was so simple that it would have occurred to a Mongolian idiot. ”

“ The thick mist rose higher still till it was hovering above us, grew denser, and began to form into a shape resembling something remotely human—something like that of the rubber man in the old Michelin tire advertisements.
It was no thing of great beauty, but if it wasn't a djinn, I thought dazedly, it was certainly a reasonable facsimile thereof. I stared at the thing, open-mouthed. I was speechless, I'll admit.
But Connie wasn't. Connie never is.
"See, Pete?" she said. "Your sneer, and your cheap cynicism!" ”

“ Connie began at last conversationally, "I've often read stories about people who'd released djinns from bottles, and it really does seem to me that they're incredibly stupid. The releasers, I mean, not the stories or the djinns or the bottles. For consider! What do the releasers do? Do they consider even the minimum of intelligence in selecting their wish for the djinn to grant? They do not!" She answered herself, before we could open our mouths. "They wish for some silly thing like a million dollars, or something like that." ”

“ By the Arabs spirits were called Djinns (or genii) . They came from
fire, and looked like men or beasts. They might be good or evil,
beautiful or horrible, and could disappear from mortal sight at
will. Nights when they were abroad, it behooved men to stay under
cover.
"Ha! They are on us, close without!
Shut tight the shelter where we lie;
With hideous din the monster rout,
Dragon and vampire, fill the sky." ”

“ But their religion is incrusted with intense superstition. They live in constant terror of the influence of evil spirits, the Djinns, to which are attributed almost all human ills. A madman especially is said to be possessed of evil spirits, and he cannot be cured till they are cast out of him. This fear of evil spirits influences every action of their daily lives; it is the chief stimulus to devotion, for the Djinns are kept not away save by prayer and fasting.
157To-day the French are masters, but the Arab in his centuries of decadence has grown used to masters. ”

“ Jing′oism. [Often fearlessly derived from Basque Jinkoa, Jainko, God; no doubt conn. somehow with St Gengulphus (died May 11, 760) .]
Jink, jingk, v.i. (Scot.) to move nimbly, to dodge.—v.t. to elude: to cheat.—n. a quick, illusory turn.
Jinn, jin, n.pl. (sing. Jin′nee) a class of spirits in Mohammedan mythology, formed of fire, living chiefly on the mountains of Káf which encircle the world, assuming various shapes, sometimes as men of enormous size and portentous hideousness.—Also Djinn, Ginn. The jinn are often called genii by a confusion. A plural Jinns is sometimes erroneously used. ”

“ In vain, however, I cross-questioned Hassan (we talked Italian tant bien que mal) about Peris. He had never heard of such beings. But of Djinns in general he knew only too much; and notably that they had built the vast ruins of Baalbec, which no mortal hands could have raised; and that to the present time they haunt them so constantly and in such terrific shape, that it is very perilous for anybody to go there alone and quite impossible to do so after nightfall. ”

“ Today an African Jew, like his Moslem neighbor, believes in djinns, has his saintly Marabouts and indulges in magic practices and rituals in connection with his fetish-worship. The kubba of the Jewish Marabout, Rabb Ankwa, is the object of many pilgrimages of African Jews to Tlemsen. ”

“ Distinct from the angels there is another order of beings made of fire called jinn (genii.) It is said that they were created thousands of years before Adam came into existence. "We created man of dried clay, of dark loam moulded, and the jinn had been before created of subtle fire." (Súra xv. 26, 27.) They eat, drink, propagate their species and are subject to death, though they generally live many centuries. They dwell chiefly in the Koh-i-Káf, a chain of mountains supposed to encompass the world: [129] [146] some are believers in Islám; some are infidels, and will be punished. ”

“ Seeing that wisdom is not in cities nor happiness in wisdom, and because Yadin the prophet was doomed by the gods ere he was born to go in search of wisdom, he followed the caravans to Bodrahan. There in the evening, where the camels rest, when the wind of the day ebbs out into the desert sighing amid the palms its last farewells and leaving the caravans still, he sent his prayer with the wind to drift into the desert calling to Hoodrazai.
And down the wind his prayer went calling: “Why do the gods endure, and play their game with men? ”

“ But it is desirable that we should know the Oriental, or rather, African legend, of which the chief incidents were to be reproduced in the Feast of the Storks, which is the “great attraction” for the Mohammedans.
There was formerly on the African continent a race of Djins. Under the name of Bou-Chebris, these Djins occupied a vast territory situated on the borders of the desert of Hammada, between Tripoli and the Kingdom of Fezzan. They were a powerful people, fearless and feared. They were unjust, perfidious, aggressive, inhuman, and no African monarch had been able to suppress them. ”

“ The good Jinn acquit themselves of the imperative duties of religion; namely, prayers, alms-giving, fasting during the month of Ramaḍán, and pilgrimage to Mekkeh and Mount 'Arafát: but in the performance of these duties they are generally invisible to human beings. Some examples of the mode in which good Jinn pay the alms required of them by the law, I have given in a former work.84
Of the services and injuries done by Jinn to men, some account must be given.
It has been stated, that, by means of talismans, or certain invocations, men are said to obtain the services of Jinn ”

“ Teja was about to leave the tent.
Hildebrand stopped him.
"Remain," he said; "we dare not hide it from him any longer. King! the Goths murmur. To-day they would not obey thee; the attack is impossible."
"Stand things so?" said Witichis bitterly. "The attack is impossible? Then only one thing remains: the course which I should have taken yesterday--then those three thousand would have been still living. Go, Hildebad, take that crown and sceptre! Go to the rebels' camp; lay them at the feet of young Arahad; tell him that he may woo Mataswintha; I and my army will greet him as our King." ”

“ The father of this saint was rich in gold and silver, and when his father died Abba Dionysius, Bishop of the city of ‘Amed, brought him up, and taught him the Books of the Church, and then made him a deacon and priest, and arrayed him in the garb of the monastic life. And Mar Daniel continued in fasting and prayer, and he never ate food between one Sabbath and the next, and at length the gift of healing was bestowed upon him; and he made a vow to himself that he would never look upon a woman. ”

“ On the slope of the hill which bounds the southern extremity of this fertile valley stands the town of Jennin, a place, like most of the cities of Palestine, more remarkable for decayed grandeur than for actual wealth, beauty, or power. Its ancient name was Ginoa, and it is found recorded in the works of some of the older writers as a frontier place between Samaria and Galilee. The population at present is said to amount to about eight hundred; but the ruins of a palace and a mosque prove that it once possessed a greater importance than now belongs to it. ”

“ The devil, the demon of your race, helped you.'
"'Who?' I asked.
"'Why, that Genseric, the son of Orcus. You Asdings boast of your descent from pagan gods; but these, so the priest taught us, were demons. That is the reason of his luck, his victories.'
"I laughed, but he went on: 'He said so himself. Once, when Genseric left the harbor of Carthage on his corsair ship and the helmsman asked where he should turn the prow, the wicked tyrant answered: "Let us drift with the wind and waves toward whomsoever God's anger is directed against."' Is that true, brother?" ”

“ Crooke classes “Shāitān” with Jinn, or Genii. Divided into the Janii, who are the least powerful of all, the Jinn, the “Shāitān” or devils, the “Ifrit” and the “Marīd,” or rebellious ones, the last of whom rule the rest, Jan is sometimes identified with the Serpent, and sometimes with “Iblis,” which has been imported direct from the Greek 89“Diābolos.” Some have wings and fly; others move like snakes and dogs; others again like men. (Vide “Folk-lore of Northern India.”)
Dennys, in his “Folk-lore of China,” says that the belief in the existence of demon monsters is in full force in China. ”

“ No more shall Gothic blood flow from wounds made by Gothic weapons. Wait patiently here. Thou, Hildebad, open the gate for me. None shall follow me. I alone go to the rebels. Thou, Earl Teja, control the troops until I return. But thou, Hildebrand," he cried, raising his voice, "ride to the gates of Ravenna, and loudly bid them open. Their desire is fulfilled, and, before evening, we will enter: King Witichis and Queen Mataswintha." ”

“ The heralds galloped away in all directions, and shortly there arose through the whole camp the thundering shout, "Hail, King Witichis!" Even those who had just been murmuring joined unanimously in the cry.
Witichis listened to these acclamations with a look full of pride and pain, and Teja whispered to him: "Now thou seest that thou hast saved the kingdom."
"Up! lead us to victory!" cried Hildebad, "for Guntharis and Arahad approach! They think to surprise us without a chief and in complete disorder. At them! They shall find themselves mistaken. At them! and down with the rebels!" ”

“ Quoth Gherib, ‘What is to do?’ And they told him what had passed, whereupon he cried out to Sehim, saying, ‘Saddle me one of the chargers that King Muraash gave me.’ ‘O my brother,’ said Sehim, ‘wilt thou do battle with the Jinn?’ ‘Yes,’ answered Gherib; ‘I will fight them with the sword of Japhet son of Noah, seeking help of the God of Abraham the Friend, (on whom be peace,) for He is Lord and Creator of all things. So Sehim saddled him a sorrel horse of the horses of the Jinn, as he were a castle, and he armed and mounting, rode out with the tribes of the Jinn, armed cap-a-pie. ”

“ When, this morning, thou wert not found in thy tent, the report spread through the camp that, despairing of kingdom and happiness, thou hadst fled. It soon reached the city of Ravenna and Guntharis. The Ravennese threaten a sally, and that they will go over to Belisarius. Arahad tempts the army to give him the crown. Two, three opposing Kings arise. Everything will fall to pieces if thou comest not to save us!"
"I come!" cried Witichis. "Let them take care! The best heart in the world has been broken for the sake of this crown; it is sacred, and they shall not desecrate it. ”

“ The Jinn in most of the tales of The Thousand and One Nights resemble the Shedim or Mazikeen of the Jews; but the beautiful and gracious beings spoken of in such stories as Janshah and Hasan are human, except in their supernatural power, and more closely resemble the peris of Persia and the fairies of Italian romance, the Ifrits and Morids being represented as their subjects or slaves. The Deevs of Persia have more resemblance to the devils of the Middle Ages than to the evil Jinn of the Arabian Nights. ”

“ She is of no use to us if we do not make her our Queen. Wilt thou do so? Hast thou not had enough with Amalaswintha and Gothelindis? Once more the rule of a woman?"
"God forbid!" laughed Hildebad.
"I think so too," said the King, "otherwise I should have taken this course long since."
"Well, then, let us remain here and wait until the city is wearied out."
"It is impossible." said Witichis, "we cannot wait. In a few days Belisarius may descend from yonder mountains and conquer us, Duke Guntharis, and the city; then the kingdom and people of the Goths are lost for ever! ”

“ That the evil Jinn are believed still to ascend sufficiently near to the lowest heaven to hear the conversation of the Angels, and so to assist magicians, appears from the former quotation, and is asserted by all Muslims. The discovery of hidden treasures before alluded to, is one of the objects for which divination is most studied. The mode of divination called Ḍarb el-Mendel is by some supposed to be effected by the aid of evil Jinn; but the more enlightened of the [86] Muslims regard it as a branch of natural magic. ”

“ He immediately made the necessary preparations, and summoned an evil Jinni named Mukhtatif (Ravisher) who inquired, "What do you require of me?" "Go quickly to the city of King Afrakh, and contrive that the inhabitants shall leave it." In that age men had intercourse with the more powerful Jinn, and each attained their ends by means of the other. The Jinn did not withdraw themselves till after the advent of the Prophet. The magician continued, "When the inhabitants have left the city, they will ask you what you want. ”