L.Hochard [ to JM: ""petard" in French has different meanings...] In French slang, "pétard" also has the meaning of "bottom", usually "big bottom" (un gros pétard); it is also a rolled cigarette with hashish or marijuana
JM: Laurence Hochard's information about the French slang pétard for "big bottom," stimulated me to search for another reference to Ben Wright's farting (btw: duly corrected,here I note that Trofim's name is Fartukov and not Fartukoff, as I've been referring to him until now.) A search after "il pue" led me to B.Boyd's annotations to ADA (ch 13, part I) 87.32-88.09: slight commotion . . . he does not smell good. . . . Il pue. . . . I doubt strongly he ever was in that Rajah’s service: Cf.140.01-02: “Ben Wright was fired after letting winds go free while driving Marina and Mlle Larivière home from the Vendange Festival at Brantôme near Ladore.” [...] 88.08-09: in that Rajah’s service: Cf. 408.18-19: “Bengal Ben, as the servants called him.” MOTIF: Rajah.

[QUERY] Walt Disney's 1992 movie, Aladdin, could not have inspired Nabokov in the link between Bengal Ben, a "Rajah" and a "Bengal tiger" (Yasmine's tiger was named Rajah), although there are ample references to "1001 Nights" and magic carpets in ADA.
It's too long since I last read the story. Its subject has been discussed already in the List, but in another context.
 
Does anyone remember if there is any Rajah bengal tiger in any of the Aladdin versions with which Nabokov could have been familiar?
 
 
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For those who may be curious about coincidences, here is a link that carried me to Shakespeare's "petar" in a most amusing setting.

Mr. Shakespeare's blog: April 2009 ... K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo. .... Using the downloadable reader mentioned above and searching for "petard" will find ...
mrshakespeare.typepad.com/.../2009/.../index.html - 

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