By God, bravo, hashish! It stirs deep meanings.
Do not pay attention to those who blame it.
Refrain from the daughter of the vines
And do not be stingy with it.
Eat it dry always and live! By God, bravo, hashish!
It is above pure wine.
When noble men use it,
Eat it and agree, young man.
Eating it revives the dead. By God, bravo, hashish!
It gives the stupid, inexperienced, dull person
The cleverness of the straightforward sage.
I do not think I can escape from it!
… By God, bravo, hashish!
-From a 13th century Arabian tale
‘Turkish bath house‘ Bursa, Turkey by Pascal Sébah 1870
Bravo Hashish
Intertwined within a 13th century poem lies an ancient ode to hashish. Incredibly this hashishin ode is just a hint to one of the earliest stoner comedies ever written!
Almost lost to history this classic Arabian tale’s a story filled with plot twisting adventure, endless love and of course lots of hashish!
‘La grande piscine de Brousse’ (The large Brousse Pools), by Jean-Léon Gérôme 1885
The sorted tale can be found in Franz Rosenthal’s book ‘Haschish Versus Medieval Muslim Society’ from 1971, which he translates from the original 13th century Persian manuscript.
Our stoned story begins ordinarily enough with a man named Al-Jayshi visiting the local Persian Bath House or a Hamam. After smoking some hashish he was enjoying the bath house atmosphere when he hears a commotion. Turns out a wedding procession was marching down the street and had hired a incredible singer to accompany the walk.
Wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist from the bath house, Al-Jayshi gets caught up in the celebratory parade instinctively joining the walk while listening to the music. The parading wedding party eventually arrives at the destination as the crowd lingers in the street. When he overhears another group of guys talking about ditching the party for another nearby bath house, Al-Jayshi decides to join them.
Lounging the day away with more hashish at the second bath house, it became time to go home. Making his way to the locker room, Al-Jayshi discovers his cloths are nowhere to be found…
Causing a scene, he’s complaining to the bath house attendant when a discovery is made…
On the towel wrapped around his waist is the emblem of the first bath house… He had gotten so stoned that he forgot he walked to the second bath house earlier in the day!
Erupting with taunting laughter, the entire bath house joins in on the joyful mocking. In a epic walk of shame, the whole bath house parades the stoned bather all the way back to the original bath house while dancing and singing the Bravo Hashish poem!
Smoking a water pipe In the Baths of Tbilisi by Dmitri Ivanovich Yermakov 1890
‘Haschish Versus Medieval Muslim Society’ By Franz Rosenthal 1971
“The role of hashish… Occupies the center of the stage in another most vivid and entertaining story. A certain al-Jayshi al-Hakwi took hashish and went to the al-Fadil Bath at Bab Zuwaylah. Sitting in the bath under the influence of the drug, he was told by someone that he should come out and listen to al-Mazuni at the wedding of ash-Sharabi. Wearing only a bath towel, he left and walked along. When he reached al-Khurunfish, he overheard someone telling his friend that he should accompany him to the al-Baysari Bath. He followed those people in, continued his bathing as if he had never interrupted it, had his head shaved, and then went to the locker room to look for his clothes. When he could not find them there (as they were still in the other bath), he looked for them all over the place. He asked the watchman what might have happened to them, but then, the bath attendant noticed the markings of the al-Fadil Bath on the towel and wondered about it. People started shouting, “Bravo, hashish!,” and they all moved in procession to the al-Fadil Bath with al-Jayshi naked, dancing with lascivious gestures, and singing:
By God, bravo, hashish! It stirs deep meanings.
Do not pay attention to those who blame it.
Refrain from the daughter of the vines
And do not be stingy with it.
Eat it dry always and live! By God, bravo, hashish!
It is above pure wine.
When noble men use it,
Eat it and agree, young man.
Eating it revives the dead. By God, bravo, hashish!
It gives the stupid, inexperienced, dull person
The cleverness of the straightforward sage.
I do not think I can escape from it!
… By God, bravo, hashish!
– Haschish Versus Medieval Muslim Society By Franz Rosenthal 1971
The author also adds another dab of history adding a extra verse left off the original translation. In the last line before the ‘by god, bravo, Hashish’ where the ‘…’ Is placed, he adds the original line from the 13the century manuscript, “my load is a feather”.
The newly discovered line could possibly point to Al-Jayshi only wearing his bath house towel or in a possible double entendre, refer to the stoned feeling of being ‘light as a feather’…
My God, Bravo, Hashish!
Massage In Baths of Tbilisi by Dmitri Ivanovich Yermakov 1890