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Comparing the two editions of Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence, PART 2 [A] The 1922 Oxford text, printed in 1922; edited by Jeremy Wilson and published in 1997 and 2003. [ See Castle Hill Press' prospectus ] [B] The Subscribers' edition (abridged edition), 1926; Trade edition, 1935, 1940 and 1973. |
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| 1922 Oxford text (J. and N. Wilson 2004 edition) |
1973 edition (Book Club Associates) | |
The tribal propaganda was marching forward: all was for the best, and I was about to take my leave when Suleiman the guest-master hurried in and whispered to Feisal, who turned to me with shining eyes, trying to be calm, and said, 'Auda is here'. I shouted, 'Auda abu Tayi', and at that moment the tent-flap was drawn back and a deep voice boomed salutations to our lord, the Commander of the Faithful: and there entered a tall strong figure with a haggard face, passionate and tragic. This was Auda, and with him young son, Mohammed, a child of eleven years. Feisal had sprung to his feet. Auda caught his hand and kissed it warmly, and they drew aside a pace or two, and looked at each other: a splendid pair, as unlike as possible, but typical of much that was best in Arabia, Feisal the prophet, and Auda the warrior, each looking his part to perfection, and each immediately understanding and liking the other. Then they sat down and spoke. Feisal introduced us one by one, and Auda with a word seemed to register each. We had heard a great deal of Auda, and I had been banking, as a result of what I knew, to open Akaba with his help: and when I had listened to him for a few monentes, and felt the force and directness of the man, I knew that we had attained our end. He had come down to us like a knight-errant, chafing at our delay in Wejh, anxious only to be up and acquiring merit for Arab freedom in his own lands. If his performance was one-half his desire, we should be fortunate and rich. That being seen, and a weight off all our minds, we went in to supper. We were a cheerful party, Nesib el Bekri, Faiz el Ghusein, Mohammed el Dheilan Auda's politic cousin, Zaal his nephew, and Sherif Nasir, resting in Wejh for a few days between expeditions. I told Feisal odd stories of Abdulla's camp, and the joys of breaking railways. Suddenly Auda scrambled to his feet with a loud 'God forbid', and flung from the tent. We stared at one another and there came a noise of hammering outside. I went after to learn what it meant, and there was Auda bent over a great rock pounding his false teeth to fragments with a stone. 'I had forgotten,' he explained, 'Jemal Pasha had these made for me. I was eating my lord's bread with Turkish teeth!' Unfortunately he had very few teeth of his own, so that to eat the meat he loved was great difficulty and after-pain for him, and he went about half-nourished for three monthes, till we had taken Akaba, and Sir Reginald Wingate had sent him a dentist from Egypt, who made him an Allied set. Auda was very simply dressed in white cotton, northern fashion, with a red Mosul headcloth. He might be over fifty, and his black hair was streaked with white, but he was still strong and straight, loosely built, spare, and active as a much younger man. His face was magnificent, even to its lines and hollows, and showed how true it was that the death of Annad, his favourite son, in battle with his Jazi cousins, had cast sorrow over all his life, by the bitter failure of his dream to hand on through him the greatness of the name of Abu Tayi to future generations. He had large eloquent eyes, like black velvet in richness. His forehead was low and broad, his nose very high and sharp, powerfully hooked: his mouth rather large, and beard and moustaches trimmed to a point, in Howeitat style, with the lower jaw shaven underneath. (Chapter 40; 2004 ed. pp.229-30) |
[B] Auda abu Tayi The tribal propaganda was marching forward: all was for the best, and I was about to take my leave when Suleiman, the guest-master, hurried in and whispered to Feisal, who turned to me with shining eyes, trying to be calm, and said, 'Auda is here'. I shouted, 'Auda abu Tayi', and at that moment the tent-flap was drawn back, before a deep voice which boomed salutations to Our Lord, the Commander of the Faithful. There entered a tall, strong figure, with a haggard face, passionate and tragic. This was Auda, and after him followed Mohammed, his son, a child in looks, and only eleven years old in truth. Feisal had sprung to his feet. Auda caught his hand and kissed it, and they drew aside a pace or two and looked at each other -- a splendidly unlike pair, typical of much that was best in Arabia, Feisal the prophet, and Auda the warrior, each filling his part to perfection, and immediately understanding and liking the other. They sat down. Feisal introduced us one by one, and Auda with a measured word seemed to register each person. [BR] We had heard much of Auda, and were banking to open Akaba with his help; and after a moment I knew, from the force and directness of the man, that we would attain our end. He had come down to us like a knight-errant, chafing at our delay in Wejh, anxious only to be acquiring merit for Arab freedom in his own lands. If his performance was one-half his desire, we should be prosperous and fortunate. The weight was off all minds before we went to supper. We were a cheerful party; Nasib, Faiz, Mohammed el Dheilan Auda's politic cousin, Zaal his nephew, and Sherif Nasir, resting in Wejh for a few days between expeditions. I told Feisal odd stories of Abdulla's camp, and the joy of breaking railways. Suddenly Auda scrambled to his feet with a loud 'God forbid', and flung from the tent. We stared at one another, and there came a noise of hammering outside. I went after to learn what it meant, and there was Auda bent over a rock pounding his false teeth to fragments with a stone. 'I had forgotten,' he explained, 'Jemal Pasha gave me these. I was eating my Lord's bread with Turkish teeth!' Unfortunately he had few teeth of his own, so that henceforward eating the meat he loved was difficulty and after-pain, and he went about half-nourished till we had taken Akaba, and Sir Reginald Wingate sent him a dentist from Egypt to make an Allied set. Auda was very simply dressed, northern fashion, in white cotton with a red Mosul head-cloth. He might be over fifty, and his black hair was streaked with white; but he was still strong and straight, loosely built, spare, and as active as a much younger man. His face was magnificent in its lines and hollows. On it was written how truly the death in battle of Annad, his favourite son, cast sorrow over all his life when it ended his dream of handing on to future generations the greatness of the name of Abu Tayi. He had large eloquent eyes, like black velvet in richness. His forehead was low and broad, his nose very high and sharp, powerfully hooked: his mouth rather large and mobile: his beard and moustaches had been trimmed to a point in Howeitat style, with the lower jaw shaven underneath. (Chapter 38; Penguin ed. pp.228-29） | |
Afterwards in the hotel I tried to find clothes less exciting than my Arab get-up: but the moths had corrupted all I had, and it was three days before I became normally ill-dressed. Meanwhile I heard of how good Allenby was, and of the last tragedies of Murray, that second attack on Gaza which London forced on him, and which he was too weak or too politic to resist, and how we went into it, everybody, generals and Staff officers, even soldiers convinced that we should be beaten, while Murray in headquarters worked for a perfectly safe defeat, loosing enough men to show he had tried, and not enough to be disastrous: five thousand eight hundred was the casualty bill run up among them wantonly. They said Allenby was getting thousands of fresh men, and hundreds of guns, and all would be different. Before I was clothed the Commander-in-Chief sent for me, curiously. In my report, thinking of my more direct models Saladin and Abu Obeida, I had stressed the strategic importance of the tribes between Akaba and Damascus, and their proper use as a threat to the railway communications of of the Turks in Palestine. This jumped with his ambitions, and he wanted to weigh me further. It was a comic interview, for Allenby was physically large and confident, and morally so great that the comprehension of our littleness was not easy to him. He sat in his chair looking at me -- not straight, as his custom, but sideways, puzzled. [BR] He was newly came from France, where for years he had been a tooth of the great machine grinding the faces of the enemy. He was full of Western ideas of gun-power and weight, the worst training for our war, but as a cavalryman was already half-persuaded to throw up the new school and in this different world of Asia to follow Guy Dawnay and Chetwode along the worn road of manoeuvre and movement: yet he was hardly prepared for anything so odd as myself, a little bare-footed silk-skirted person preaching a Willisen strategy of communications, offering to hobble the enemy by his preaching, if given stores and arms and a fund of two hundred thousand sovereigns to convince and control the converts. Allenby could not make out how much was genuine actor and how much charlatan: the problem was working behind his eyes and I left him to its difficulties. He did not ask many questions, or talk much, but studied the map and listened to my explanation of the nature of eastern Syria and the inhabitants. At the end he put up his chin and said quite directly, 'Well, I will do for you what I can', and that ended it. I was not sure how far I had caught him, but in the future we learned that he always meant exactly what he said, and that what General Allenby could do was enough for the very greediest of his subjects. (Chapter 60; 2004 ed. pp.347-49） |
[B] General Allenby Afterwards, in the hotel, I tried to find clothes less publicly exciting than my Arab get-up; but the moths had corrupted all my former store, and it was three days before I became normally ill-dressed. [BR] Meanwhile I heard of Allenby's excellence, and of the last tragedy of Murray, that second attack on Gaza, which London forced on one too weak or too politic to resist; and how we went into it, everybody, generals and staff-officers, even soldiers, convinced that we should lose; while Murray, in headquarters, worked for a perfectly safe defeat, costing enough men to prove he had tried, but not enough to be disastrous . Five thousand eight hundred was the casualty bill. They said Allenby was getting armies of fresh men, and hundreds of guns, and all would be different. Before I was clothed the Commander-in-Chief sent for me, curiously. In my report, thinking of Saladin and Abu Obeida, I had stressed the strategic importance of the eastern tribes of Syria, and their proper use as a threat to the communications of Jerusalem. This jumped with his ambitions, and he wanted to weigh me. [BR] It was a comic interview, for Allenby was physically large and confident, and morally so great that the comprehension of our littleness came slow to him. He sat in his chair looking at me -- not straight, as his custom was, but sideways, puzzled. He was newly from France, where for years he had been a tooth of the great machine grinding the enemy. He was full of Western ideas of gun power and weight -- the worst training for our war -- but, as a cavalryman, was already half persuaded to throw up the new school, in this different world of Asia, and accompany Dawnay and Chetwode along the worn road of manoeuvre and movement; yet he was hardly prepared for anything so odd as myself -- a little bare-footed silk-skirted man offering to hobble the enemy by his preaching if given stores and arms and a fund of two hundred thousand sovereigns to convince and control his converts. Allenby could not make out how much was genuine performer and how much charlatan. The problem was working behind his eyes, and I left him unhelped to solve it. He did not ask many questions, nor talk much, but studied the map and listened to my unfolding of Eastern Syria and its inhabitants. At the end he put up his chin and said quite directly, 'Well, I will do for you what I can', and that ended it. I was not sure how far I had caught him; but we learned gradually that he meant exactly what he said; and that what General Allenby could do was enough for his very greediest servant. (Chapter 56; Penguin ed. pp.329-30） |
![[Auda Abu Tayi, 1921]](imagejpg/auda01.jpg)
![[General Allenby, 1918]](imagejpg/allenby01.jpg)
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