Chapter XIX: Part 19

[FN#306] The text has "F� K�b," which Scott (vol. vi. 367) renders "a mat." [According to the Muh�t "K�b" is a small thick mat used to produce shade, pl. "Kiy�b" and "Aky�b." The same authority says the word is of Persian origin, but this seems an error, unless it be related to "Keb" with the Y� majh�l, which in the Appendix to the Burh�ni K�ti' is given as synonymous with "Pech," twist, fold. Under "Bard�" = papyrus the Muh�t mentions that this is the material from which the mats known by the name of "Aky�b" are made.--ST.]

[FN#307] The text has here "Wasayah," probably a clerical error for "wa Miah" (spelt "M�yah"), and a hundred pair of pigeons.-- ST.]

[FN#308] Showing utter ignorance of the Jewish rite which must always be performed by the Mohel, an official of the Synagogue duly appointed by the Sheliach = legatus; and within eight days after birth. The rite consists of three operations. Milah = the cut; Priah = tearing the foreskin and Mezz�zah = applying styptics to the wound. The latter process has become a matter of controversy and the Israelite community of Paris, headed by the Chief Rabbi, M. Zadoc Kahin, has lately assembled to discuss the question. For the difference between Jewish and Moslem circumcision see vol. v. 209.

[FN#309] The Jewish quarter (H�rah), which the Israelites themselves call "Hazer," = a court-yard, an inclosure. In Mayer's valuable "Conversations-Lexicon" the Italian word is derived from the Talmudic "Ghet" = divorce, separation (as parting the Hebrews from the rest of the population) and the Rev. S. R. Melli, Chief Rabbi of Trieste, has kindly informed me that the word is Chaldaic.

[FN#310] [Ar. "Sarm�jah," from Persian "Sar-m�zah," a kind of hose or gaiter worn over a boot.--ST.]

[FN#311] [Arab. "Yastan�t," aor. to the preter. "istanat," which has been explained, p. 34.--ST.]

[FN#312] The bed would be made of a carpet or thin mattress strewn upon the stucco flooring of the terrace-roof. But the ignorant scribe overlooks the fact that by Mosaic law every Jewish house must have a parapet for the "Sakf" (flat roof), a precaution neglected by Al-Islam.

[FN#313] Good old classical English. In the "Breeches Bible" (A.D. 1586) we read, "But a certaine woman cast a piece of millstone upon Abimelech's head and broke his brain-panne" (Judges ix. 33).

[FN#314] [The words "'Irz," protection, in the preceding sentence, "Hurmah" and "Shat�r�h" explain each other mutually. The formula "f� 'irzak" (vulg. "arzak"), I place myself under thy protection, implies an appeal to one's honour ("'Irz"). Therefore the youth says: "Inna h�zih Hurmah lam 'alay-h� Shat�rah," i.e. "Truly this one is a woman" (in the emphatic sense of a sacred or forbidden object; "this woman" would be "h�zih al-Hurmah"), "I must not act vilely or rashly towards her," both vileness and rashness belonging to the many significations of "Shat�rah," which is most usually "cleverness." --ST.]

[FN#315] In the text "Sind," still confounding this tale with the preceding.

[FN#316] In text "Intih�ba 'l furas," lit. = the snatching of opportunities, a jingle with "Kanas."

[FN#317] [Compare with this episode the viith of Spitta Bey's Tales: Histoire du Prince qui apprit un m�tier.--ST.]

[FN#318] i.e. enables a man to conceal the pressure of impecuniosity.

[FN#319] In text "Al-S�dah wa al-Khat�y�t."

[FN#320] Subaudi, "that hath not been pierced." "The first night," which is often so portentous a matter in England and upon the Continent (not of North America), is rarely treated as important by Orientals. A long theoretical familiarity with the worship of Venus

Leaves not much mystery for the nuptial night.

Such lore has been carefully cultivated by the "young person" with the able assistance of the ancient dames of the household, of her juvenile companions and co-evals and especially of the slave-girls. Moreover not a few Moslems, even Egyptians, the most lecherous and salacious of men, in all ranks of life from prince to peasant take a pride in respecting the maiden for a few nights after the wedding-feast extending, perhaps to a whole week and sometimes more. A brutal haste is looked upon as "low"; and, as sensible men, they provoke by fondling and toying Nature to speak ere proceeding to the final and critical act. In England it is very different. I have heard of brides over thirty years old who had not the slightest suspicion concerning what complaisance was expected of them: out of mauvaise honte, the besetting sin of the respectable classes, neither mother nor father would venture to enlighten the elderly innocents. For a delicate girl to find a man introducing himself into her bedroom and her bed, the shock must be severe and the contact of hirsute breast and hairy limbs with a satiny skin is a strangeness which must often breed loathing and disgust. Too frequently also, instead of showing the utmost regard for virginal modesty and innocence (alias ignorance), the bridegroom will not put a check upon his passions and precipitates matters with the rage of the bull, ruentis in venerem. Even after he hears "the cry" which, as the Arabs say, "must be cried," he has no mercy: the newly made woman lies quivering with mental agitation and physical pain, which not a few describe as resembling the tearing out of a back-tooth, and yet he insists upon repeating the operation, never supposing in his stupidity, that time must pass before the patient can have any sensation of pleasure and before the glories and delights of the sensual orgasm bathe her soul in bliss. Hence complaints, dissatisfaction, disgust, mainly caused by the man's fault, and hence not unfrequently a permanent distaste for the act of carnal congress. All women are by no means equally capable of such enjoyment, and not a few have become mothers of many children without ever being or becoming thoroughly reconciled to it. Especially in the case of highly nervous temperaments--and these seem to be increasing in the United States and notably in New England--the fear of nine months' pains and penalties makes the sex averse to the "deed of kind." The first child is perhaps welcomed, the second is an unpleasant prospect and there is a firm resolve not to conceive a third. But such conjugal chastity is incompatible, except in the case of "married saints," with a bon m�nage. The husband, scandalised and offended by the rejection and refusal of the wife, will seek a substitute more complaisant; and the spouse also may "by the decree of Destiny" happen to meet the right man, the man for whom and for whom only every woman will sweep the floor. And then adieu to prudence and virtue, honour and fair fame. For, I repeat, it is the universal custom of civilised and Christian Europeans to plant their womankind upon a pedestal exposed as butts to every possible temptation: and, if they fall, as must often be expected, to assail them with obloquy and contempt for succumbing to trials imposed upon them by the stronger and less sensitive sex. Far more sensible and practical, by the side of these high idealists, shows the Moslem who guards his jewel with jealous care and who, if his "honour," despite every precaution, insist upon disgracing him, draws the sabre and cuts her down with the general approbation and applause of society.

[FN#321] [Arab. "'Al� ghayri tar�k," which I would translate "out of the way," like the Persian "b�-R�h."--ST.]

[FN#322] In text "Kababj�" (for Kab�bji) seller of Kab�bs, mutton or kid grilled in small squares and skewered: see vol. vi. 225.

[FN#323] In text "Sujj�dah;" vol. vi. 193.

[FN#324] In text "Faddah" all through.

[FN#325] In text "Kirsh" ( = piastre) a word before explained. See Lane (M.E.) Appendix B.

[FN#326] In Arab. "Sam�r;" from the Pers. "Sumar" = a reed, a rush.

[FN#327] In Arab. "D�w�n:" vols. vii. 340; ix. 108.

[FN#328] Scott has (vol. vi. 373), "The desired articles were furnished, and the Sultan setting to work, in a few days finished a mat, in which he ingeniously contrived to plait in flowery characters, known only to himself and his vizier, the account of his situation."

[FN#329] In Arab. "Ghir�rah" (plur. "Ghar��r") = a sack. In Ibn Khall. (iv. pp. 90, 104) it is a large sack for grain and the especial name of a tax on corn.

[FN#330] In the text "Mohammed ibn Ibrahim," another confusion with the last tale. This story is followed in the MS. by (1) "The History of the First Brave," (2) "The History of the Second Brave," and "The Tale of the Noodle and his Asses," which I have omitted because too feeble for insertion.

[FN#331] Scott (vi.375) "Story of the Good Vizier unjustly imprisoned." Gauttier (vi. 394) Histoire du bon Vizier injustement emprisonn�.

[FN#332] This detail has no significance, though perhaps its object may be to affect the circumstantial, a favourite man�uvre with the R�w�. [It may mean that the prisoner had to pass through seven gates before reaching it, to indicate its formidable strength and the hopelessness of all escape, except perhaps by a seven-warded, or as the Arabs would say, a seven-pinned key of gold. In the modern tale mentioned on p. 223 the kidnapped Prince and his Wazir are made to pass "through one door after the other until seven doors were passed," to emphasise the utter seclusion of their hiding place.--ST.]

[FN#333] i.e. the mats and mattresses, rugs and carpets, pillows and cushions which compose the chairs, tables and beds of a well-to-do Eastern lodging.

[FN#334] The pretext was natural. Pious Moslems often make such vows and sometimes oblige themselves to feed the street dogs with good bread.

[FN#335] In text "Min hakk h�z� 'l-Kal�m sah�h."

[FN#336] In text "K��k" and "K��k-j�," the well-known ca�que of the Bosphorus, a term which bears a curious family resemblance to the "Kayak" of the Eskimos.

[FN#337] Here coffee is mentioned without tobacco, whereas in more modern days the two are intimately connected. And the reason is purely hygienic. Smoking increases the pulsations without strengthening them, and depresses the heart-action with a calming and soothing effect. Coffee, like alcohol, affects the circulation in the reverse way by exciting it through the nervous system; and not a few authorities advise habitual smokers to end the day and prepare for rest with a glass of spirits and water. It is to be desired that the ignorants who write about "that filthy tobacco" would take the trouble to observe its effects on a large scale, and not base the strongest and extremest opinions, as is the wont of the Anglo-Saxon Halb-bildung, upon the narrowest and shakiest of bases. In Egypt, India and other parts of the Eastern world they will find nicotiana used by men, women and children, of all ranks and ages; and the study of these millions would greatly modify the results of observing a few hundreds at home. But, as in the case of opium-eating, populus vult decipi, the philanthrope does not want to know the truth, indeed he shrinks from it and loathes it. All he cares for is his own especial "fad."

[FN#338] Arab. "F�nj�l" systematically repeated for "Finj�n" pronounced in Egypt "Fing�n" see vol. viii. 200. [The plural "Fan�j�l," pronounced "Fan�g�l," occurs in Spitta Bey's Contes Arabes Modernes, p. 92, and in his Grammar, p. 26, the same author states that the forms "Fing�n" and "Fing�l" are used promiscuously.--ST.]

[FN#339] For the "Khaznah" (Khaz�nah) or 10,000 k�s each = �5, see vols. ii. 84; iii. 278.

[FN#340] A euphuism meaning some disaster. The text contains a favourite incident in folklore; the first instance, I believe, being that of Polycrates of Samos according to Herodotus (lib. iii. 41-42). The theory is supported after a fashion by experience amongst all versed in that melancholy wisdom the "knowledge of the world." As Syr Cauline the knight philosophically says:--

Everye white will have its blacke,
And everye sweete its sowre: etc.

[FN#341] Thus making the food impure and unfit for a religious Moslem to eat. Scott (vi. 378) has "when a huge rat running from his hole leaped into the dish which was placed upon the floor." He is probably thinking of the East Indian "bandycoot."

[FN#342] In text this tale concludes, "It is ended and this (next) is the History of the Barber."

[FN#343] A dandy, a macaroni, from the Turk. Chelebi, see vol. i. 22. Here the word is thoroughly Arabised. In old Turk. it means, a Prince of the blood; in mod. times a gentleman, Greek or European.

[FN#344] In the text "�zb�sh�" or "Uzb�sh�," a vile Egyptianism for Y�zb�shi = head of a hundred (men), centurion, captain.

[FN#345] Scil. the household, the Harem, etc. As usual, the masc. is used for the fem.

[FN#346] [Ar. "Al-Rash�kah," a word is not found in the common lexicons. In Dozy and "Engelmann's Glossary of Spanish and Portuguese words derived from the Arabic," it is said to be a fork with three prongs, here probably a hat-stand in the shape of such a fork.--ST.]

[FN#347] In text "Sh�'il" copyist's error for "Sh�ghil," act. part. of "Shughl" = business, affairs. [Here it stands probably for the fuller "Shughl sh�ghil," an urgent business.--ST.]

[FN#348] In text "Y� 'Ars, y� Mu'arras": vol. i. 338.

[FN#349] In Syria most houses have a rain cistern or tank into which the terrace-roof drains and which looks from above like a well with a cover. The water must have been low when the lover hid himself in the reservoir.

[FN#350] [In the MS. "Min Hakk la-hu Asl an 'and-n� hun� R�jil," a thoroughly popular phrase. "Min Hakk" and "min Hakkan," where in the adverbial meaning of Hakkan its grammatical form as an accusative is so far forgotten that it allows itself to be governed by the preposition "min," is rendered by Bocthor "tout de bon," "s�rieusement." "Asl" = root has here the meaning of foundation in fact. The literal translation of the passage would therefore be: "Forsooth, is there any truth in it that a man is here in our house?" "Min Hakk" has occurred page 235, where the text, quoted in the note, may perhaps be translated: "Of a truth, is this saying soothfast?"--ST.]

[FN#351] [The MS. has: "Y� Gh�rat� a-Zay m� hun� R�jil;" "Y� Gh�rat�" will recur presently, p. 256, along with "y� Mus�bat�" = Oh my calamity! I take it therefore to be an exclamation of distress from "Gh�rat" = invasion, with its incidents of devastation, rapine and ruin. It would be the natural outcry of the women left helpless in an unprotected camp when invaded by a hostile tribe. In "a-Zay m�" the latter particle is not the negative, but the pronoun, giving to "a-Zay" = "in what manner," "how ?" the more emphatical sense of "how ever?" In the same sense we find it again, infra, Night 754, "a-Zay m� taf�tn�" = how canst thou quit me? I would therefore render: "Woe me I am undone, how ever should there be a man here?" or something to that purpose.--ST.]

[FN#352] In Persian he would be called "Par�-stricken,"--smitten by the Fairies.

[FN#353] A quarter-staff (vols. i, 234; viii. 186) opp. to the "Dabb�s," or club-stick of the Badawin, the Caffres' "Knob- kerry," which is also called by the Arabs "Kan�," pron. "Gan�."

[FN#354] Scott's "Story of the Lady of Cairo and her four Gallants" (vol. vi. 380): Gauttier, Histoire d' une Dame du Caire et de ses Galans (vi. 400). This tale has travelled over the Eastern world. See in my vol. vi. 172 "The Lady and her Five Suitors," and the "Story of the Merchant's Wife and her Suitors" in Scott's "Tales, Anecdotes, and Letters" (Cadell, London, 1800), which is in fact a garbled version of the former, introduced into the r�pertoire of "The Seven Waz�rs." I translate the W. M. version of the tale because it is the most primitive known to me; and I shall point out the portions where it lacks finish.

[FN#355] This title does not appear till p. 463 (vol. v.) of the MS., and it re-appears in vol. vi. 8.

[FN#356] i.e. in her haste: the text has "Kharrat." The Persians who rhetorically exaggerate everything say "rising and sinking like the dust of the road." [I doubt whether "Kharrat" could have the meaning given to it in the translation. The word in the MS. has no Tashd�d and I think the careless scribe meant it for "Kharajat," she went out.--ST.]

[FN#357] I read "N�s malm�m�n = assembled men, a crowd of people."--ST.]

[FN#358] "Rajul Khw�j�:" see vol. vi. 46, etc. For "Sh�hbandar" = king of the port, a harbour-master, whose post I have compared with our "Consul," see vol. iv. 29. It is often, however, applied to Government officials who superintend trade and levy duties at inland marts.

[FN#359] Arab. "Khim�r," a veil or rather a covering for the back of the head. This was the especial whorishness with which Shahrazad taxes the Goodwife: she had been too prodigal of her charms, for the occiput and the "back hair" should not be displayed even to the moon.

[FN#360] These four become five in the more finished tale--the King, the Wazir, the Kazi, the Wali or Chief of Police and the Carpenter. Moreover each one is dressed in different costume, gowns yellow, blue, red and patched with headgear equally absurd.

[FN#361] In text "Turt�r" = the Badawi's bonnet: vol. ii. 143. Mr. Doughty (i. 160) found at Al-Khuraybah the figure of an ancient Arab wearing a close tunic to the knee and bearing on poll a coif. At Al-'Ula he was shown an ancient image of a man's head cut in sandstone: upon the crown was a low pointed bonnet. "Long caps" are also noticed in i. 562; and we are told that they were "worn in outlandish guise in Arabia."

[FN#362] In text "Emb�rah" (pron. 'Mb�rah); pop. for Al-b�rihah = the last part of the preceding day or night, yesterday. The vulgar Egyptian uses it as if it were a corruption of the Pers. "in b�r" = this time. The Arab Badawin pronounce it El-beyrih (with their exaggerated "Im�lah") and use it not only for "yesterday," but also for the past afternoon.

[FN#363] This device is far inferior in comic effect to the carpenter's press or cabinet of five compartments, and it lacks the ludicrous catastrophe in which all the lovers make water upon one another's heads.

[FN#364] Scott (vi. 386) "The Cauzee's story:" Gauttier (vi. 406) does not translate it.

[FN#365] In the text the message is delivered verbatim: this iteration is well fitted for oral work, with its changes of tone and play of face, and varied "gag"; but it is most annoying for the more critical reader.

[FN#366] Arab. "Lukmah" = a balled mouthful: vols. i. 261, vii. 367.

[FN#367] The "Mift�h" (prop. "Miftah") or key used throughout the Moslem East is a bit of wood, 7�14 inches long, and provided with 4�10 small iron pins which correspond with an equal number of holes in the "Dabbah" or wooden bolt. If one of these teeth be withdrawn the lock will not open. Lane (M.E. Introduction) has a sketch of the "Miftah" and "Dabbah."

[FN#368] In text "Ayoh" which is here, I hold, a corruption of "� (or Ayy) h�" = "yes indeed he." [I take "aywah" (as I would read the word) to be a different spelling for "aywa" = yes indeed, which according to Spitta Bey, Gr. p. 168 is a contraction of "Ay (�) wa'll�hi," yes by Allah. "What? thy lover?" asks the husband, and she emphatically affirms the fact, to frighten the concealed tailor--ST.]

[FN#369] In the Arab. "Al-Ashkh�kh," plur. of "Shakhkh" and literally "the stales" meaning either dejection. [I read: "bi 'l-Shakh�kh," the usual modern word for urine. "'Alayya Shakh�kh" is: I want to make water. See Dozy Suppl. s.v.--ST.]

[FN#370] In text "Ah� ma'�"--pure Fellah speech.

[FN#371] In the Arab. "laklaka-h�"--an onomatopoeia.

[FN#372] In text "Il� an yas�r Karmu-hu." The root Karm originally means cutting a slip of skin from the camel's nose by way of mark, in lieu of the normal branding.

[FN#373] In text "Yazghaz-h� f� shikkati-ha," the verb being probably a clerical error for "Yazaghzagh," from {root} "Zaghzagha," = he opened a skin bag.

[FN#374] This is the far-famed balcony-scene in "Fanny" (of Ernest Feydeau translated into English and printed by Vizetelly and Co.) that phenomenal specimen of morbid and unmasculine French (or rather Parisian) sentiment, which contrasts so powerfully with the healthy and manly tone of The Nights. Here also the story conveys a moral lesson and, contrary to custom, the husband has the best of the affair. To prove that my judgment is not too severe, let me quote the following passages from a well-known and popular French novelist, translated by an English litt�rateur and published by a respectable London firm.

In "A Ladies' Man:" by Guy de Maupassant, we read:--

Page 62.--And the conversation, descending from elevated theories concerning love, strayed into the flowery garden of polished blackguardism. It was the moment of clever, double meanings; veils raised by words, as petticoats are lifted by the wind; tricks of language, cleverly disguised audacities; sentences which reveal nude images in covered phrases, which cause the vision of all that may not be said to flit rapidly before the eyes of the mind, and allow well-bred people the enjoyment of a kind of subtle and mysterious love, a species of impure mental contact, due to the simultaneous evocations of secret, shameful and longed-for pleasures.

Page 166.--George and Madeleine amused themselves with watching all these couples, the woman in summer toilette and the man darkly outlined beside her. It was a huge flood of lovers flowing towards the Bois, beneath the starry and heated sky. No sound was heard save the dull rumble of wheels. They kept passing by, two by two in each vehicle, leaning back on the seat, clasped one against the other, lost in dreams of desire, quivering with the anticipation of coming caresses. The warm shadow seemed full of kisses. A sense of spreading lust rendered the air heavier and more suffocating. All the couples, intoxicated with the same idea, the same ardour, shed a fever about them.

Page 187--As soon as she was alone with George, she clasped him in her arms, exclaiming: "Oh! my darling Pretty-boy, I love you more and more every day."

The cab conveying them rocked like a ship.

"It is not so nice as our own room," said she.

He answered; "Oh, no." But he was thinking of Madame Waller.

Page 198.--He kissed her neck, her eyes, her lips with eagerness, without her being able to avoid his furious caresses, and whilst repulsing him, whilst shrinking from his mouth, she, despite herself, returned his kisses. All at once she ceased to struggle, and, vanquished, resigned, allowed him to undress her. One by one he neatly and rapidly stripped off the different articles of clothing with the light fingers of a lady's maid. She had snatched her bodice from his hands to hide her face in it, and remained standing amidst the garments fallen at her feet. He seized her in his arms and bore her towards the couch. Then she murmured in his ear in a broken voice, "I swear to you, I swear to you, that I have never had a lover."

And he thought, "That is all the same to me."

[FN#375] In text "Ant' amilta maskhar� (for maskharah) matah (for mat�)," idiomatical Fellah-tongue.

[FN#376] Scott (Appendix vol. vi. 460) simply called this tale "The Syrian." In M. Clouston's "Book of Noodles" (pp. 193�194) we find a man who is searching for three greater simpletons than his wife, calling himself "Saw ye ever my like?" It is quoted from Campbell's "Popular Tales of the West Highlands" (ii. 385�387), but it lacks the canopic wit of the Arabo-Egyptian. I may note anent the anecdote of the Gabies (p. 201), who proposed, in order to make the tall bride on horseback enter the low village-gate, either to cut off her head or the legs of her steed, that precisely the same tale is told by the biting wits of Damascus concerning the boobies of Halb�n. "Halb��n," as these villagers call their ancient hamlet, is justly supposed to be the Helbon whose wine is mentioned by Ezekiel in the traffic of Damascus, although others less reasonably identify it with Halab = Aleppo.

[FN#377] In text "La'bat Shaw�ribu-hu" = lit. his mustachios played.

[FN#378] For the "Wak�lah," or caravanserai, see vol. i. 266.

[FN#379] In text "Kab�t," plur. Kab�b�t:

Oh! who is more brave than a dark Suliote,
In his snowy camise and his shaggy capote?
"Childe Harold," Canto II.

And here I cannot but notice the pitiful contrast (on the centenary of the poet's nativity, Jan. 22nd, '88) between the land of his birth and that of his death. The gallant Greeks honoured his memory with wreaths and panegyrics and laudatory articles, declaring that they will never forget the anniversaries of his nativity and his decease. The British Pharisee and Philistine, true to his miserable creed, ignored all the "real Lord Byron"--his generosity, his devotion to his friends, his boundless charity, and his enthusiasm for humanity. They exhaled their venom by carping at Byron's poetry (which was and is to Europe a greater boon than Shakspeare's), by condemning his morality (in its dirty sexual sense) and in prophesying for him speedy oblivion. Have these men no shame in presence of the noble panegyric dedicated by the Prince of German poets, Goethe, to his brother bard whom he welcomed as a prophet? Can they not blush before Heine (the great German of the future), before Flaubert, Alfred de Musset, Lamartine, Leopardi and a host of Italian, Spanish and Portuguese notables? Whilst England will not forgive Byron for having separated from his unsympathetic wife, the Literary society of Moscow celebrated his centenary with all honour; and Prof. Nicholas Storojenko delivered a speech which has found an echo

further west
Than his sires' "Islands of the Blest."

He rightly remarked that Byron's deadly sin in the eyes of the Georgian-English people was his Cosmopolitanism. He was the poetical representative of the Sturm und Drang period of the xixth century. He reflected, in his life and works, the wrath of noble minds at the collapse of the cause of freedom and the reactionary tendency of the century. Even in the distant regions of Monte Video Byron's hundredth birthday was not forgotten, and Don Luis Desteffanio's lecture was welcomed by literary society.

[FN#380] He cried out thinking of the mystical meaning of such name. So ????? sea?t??, would mean in Suf� language--Learn from thyself what is thy Lord;--corresponding after a manner with the Christian "looking up through Nature to Nature's God."

[FN#381] The phrase prob. means so drunk that his circulation had apparently stopped.

[FN#382] This is the article usually worn by the professional buffoon. The cap of the "Sutar�" or jester of the Arnaut (Albanian) regiments--who is one of their professional braves--is usually a felt cone garnished with foxes' brushes.

[FN#383] In Arab. "Sabbal alayhim (for Alayhinna, the usual masc. pro fem.) Al-Satt�r" = lit. the Veiler let down a curtain upon them.

[FN#384] The barber being a surgeon and ever ready to bleed a madman.

[FN#385] i.e. Can play off equally well the soft-brained and the hard-headed.

[FN#386] i.e. a deputy (governor, etc.); in old days the governor of Constantinople; in these times a lieutenant-colonel, etc.

[FN#387] Which, as has been said, is the cab of Modern Egypt, like the gondola and the ca�que. The heroine of the tale is a Nilotic version of "Aurora Floyd."

[FN#388] In text "Rafaka" and infr� (p. 11) "Zafaka."

[FN#389] [In text "Misla 'l-Kal�m," which I venture to suggest is another clerical blunder for: "misla 'l-Kil�b" = as the dogs do.--ST.]

[FN#390] i.e. My wife. In addition to notes in vols. i. 165, and iv. 9, 126, I would observe that "Har�m" (women) is the broken plur. of "Hurmah;" from Haram, the honour of the house, forbidden to all save her spouse. But it is also an infinitive (whose plur. is Har�m�t = the women of a family); and in places it is still used for the women's apartment, the gyn�ceum. The latter by way of distinction I have mostly denoted by the good old English corruption "Harem."

[FN#391] In text "Misla 'l-kh�r�f" (for Khar�f) a common phrase for an "innocent," a half idiot; so our poets sing of "silly (harmless, Germ. Selig) sheep."

[FN#392] In text this ends the tale.

[FN#393] In text "Wa l� huwa 'ashamn� min-ka talkash 'al� Harimi-n�." "'Ashama," lit. = he greeded for; and "Lakasha" = he conversed with. [There is no need to change the "talkas" of the text into "talkash." "Lakasa" is one of the words called "Zidd," i.e. with opposite meanings: it can signify "to incline passionately towards," or "to loath with abhorrence." As the noun "Laks" means "itch" the sentence might perhaps be translated: "that thou hadst an itching after our Har�m." What would lead me to prefer the reading of the MS. is that the verb is construed with the preposition "'al�" = upon, towards, for, while "lakash," to converse, is followed by "ma'" = with.--ST.]

[FN#394] Such was the bounden duty of a good neighbour.

[FN#395] He does not insist upon his dancing because he looks upon the offence as serious, but he makes him tell his tale--for the sake of the reader.

[FN#396] "S�hib al-Hay�t:" this may also = a physiognomist, which, however, is probably not meant here.

[FN#397] In text "Har�rah" = heat, but here derived from "Hurr" = freeborn, noble.

[FN#398] In text "Azay m� taf�t-n�?"

[FN#399] In the Arab. "Rajul Khuzar�" = a green-meat man. [The reading "Khuzar�" belongs to Lane, M.E. ii. 16, and to Bocthor. In Schiaparelli's Vocabulista and the Muh�t the form "Khuzr�" is also given with the same meaning.--ST.]

[FN#400] [In text "Far�rij�," as if the pl. of "Farr�j" = chicken were "Far�rij" instead of "Far�r�j." In modern Egyptian these nouns of relation from irregular plurals to designate tradespeople not only drop the vowel of the penultimate but furthermore, shorten that of the preceding syllable, so that "Far�rij�" becomes "Fararj�." Thus "San�dik�," a maker of boxes, becomes "Sanadk�," and "Dakh�khin�, a seller of tobacco brands," "Dakhakhn�." See Spitta Bey's Grammar, p. 118.--ST.]

[FN#401] In the Arab. "Al-M�j�r," for "Maaj�r" = a vessel, an utensil.

[FN#402] In text "shaklaba" here = "shakala" = he weighed out (money, whence the Heb. Shekel), he had to do with a woman.

[FN#403] [The trade of the man is not mentioned here, p. 22 of the 5th vol. of the MS., probably through negligence of the copyist, but it only occurs as far lower down as p. 25.--ST.]

[FN#404] A certain reviewer proposes "stained her eyes with Kohl," showing that he had never seen the Kohl-powder used by Asiatics.

[FN#405] ["Bi-M� al-fas�kh 'al� Akr�s al-Jullah." "M� al-Fas�kh" = water of salt-fish, I would translate by "dirty brine" and "Akr�s al-Jullah" by "dung-cakes," meaning the tale should be written with a filthy fluid for ink upon a filthy solid for paper, more expressive than elegant.--ST.]

[FN#406] "Al-Jan�n�ti"; or, as the Egyptians would pronounce the word, "Al-Gan�n�t�". [Other Egyptian names for gardener are "Jan�in�," pronounced "Gan�in�," "Bust�nj�" pronounced "Bustangi," with a Turkish termination to a Persian noun, and "Bakhshaw�ng�," for Baghchaw�nj�," where the same termination is pleonastically added to a Persian word, which in Persian and Turkish already means "gardener."--ST.]

[FN#407] A Koranic quotation from "Joseph," chap. xii. 28: Sale has "for verily your cunning is great," said by Potiphar to his wife.

[FN#408] I have inserted this sentence, the tale being absolutely without termination. So in the Medi�val Lat. translations the MSS. often omit "explicit capitulum (primum). Sequitur capitulum secundum," this explicit being a sine qua non.

[FN#409] In text "Fat�ir�" = a maker of "Fat�rah" = pancake, or rather a kind of pastry rolled very thin, folded over like a napkin, saturated with butter and eaten with sugar or honey poured over it.

[FN#410] In Arab. "Nay�z�ti," afterwards "Nuwayz�t�," and lastly "Rayh�n�" (p. 34) = a man who vends sweet and savoury herbs. We have neither the craft nor the article, so I have rendered him by "Herbalist."

[FN#411] In text a "Miht�r" = a prince, a sweeper, a scavenger; the Pers. "Mihtar," still used in Hindostani. [In Quatrem�re's Histoire des Sultans Mamlouks "Mihtar" occurs also in the sense of superintendent, of head-equerry, and of chief of a military band. See Dozy Supp. s. v.--ST.]

[FN#412] "Ant' aysh" for "man," decidedly not complimentary, "What (thing) art thou?"

[FN#413] Arab. "Kabsh." Amongst the wilder tribes of the East ram's mutton is preferred because it gives the teeth more to do: on the same principle an old cock is the choicest guest-gift in the way of poultry.

[FN#414] "Naubah," lit. = a period, keeping guard; and here a band of pipes and kettledrums playing before the doors of a great man at certain periods.

[FN#415] In text "Al-Mubtali."

[FN#416] Arab. "Haww�l�n"; the passage is apparently corrupt. ["Haw�l�n" is clerical error for either "haw�l�" = all around, or "Haw�l�" = surroundings, surrounding parts, and "Aud�n" is pl. of the popular "Widn" or "Wudn" for the literary "Uzn," ear.--ST.]

[FN#417] The exclamation would be uttered by the scribe or by Shahrazad. I need hardly remind the reader that "Khizr" is the Green Prophet and here the Prophet of greens.

[FN#418] For "Isr�f�l" = Raphael, the Archangel who will blow the last trump, see vol. ii. 287.

[FN#419] Gen. meaning "Look sharp," here syn. with "Allah! Allah!" = I conjure thee by God. Vol. i. 346.

[FN#420] A Persian would say, "I am a Ir�n� but Wall�hi indeed I am not lying."

[FN#421] [This sentence of wholesale extermination passed upon womankind, reminds me of the Persian lines which I find quoted in 'Abdu 'l-Jal�l's History of the Barmecides:

Agar nek b�d� Zan u R�y-i-Zan
Zan-r� Ma-zan N�m b�d�, na Zan,

and which I would render Anglic�:

If good there were in Woman and her way
Her name would signify "Slay not," not "Slay."

"Zan" as noun = woman; as imp. of "zadan" = strike, kill, whose negative is "mazan."--ST.]

[FN#422] In the text the Shaykh, to whom "Am�n" was promised, is also gelded, probably by the neglect of the scribe.

[FN#423] This tale is a variant of "The First Constable's History:" Suppl. Nights, vol. ii. 3-11.

[FN#424] In text "Al-Baww�bah" = a place where door-keepers meet, a police-station; in modern tongue "Karakol," for "Karaghol-kh�nah" = guard-house.

[FN#425] In text "K�z� al-'Askar" = the great legal authority of a country: vol. vi. 131.

[FN#426] Anglo-Indice "Mucuddum" = overseer, etc., vol. iv. 42.

[FN#427] i.e. is not beyond our reach.

[FN#428] In text "Y� Sult�n-am" with the Persian or Turkish suffixed possessional pronoun.

[FN#429] In text "m�l," for which see vol. vi. 267. Amongst the Badawin it is also applied to hidden treasure.

[FN#430] I carefully avoid the obnoxious term "intoxication" which properly means "poisoning," and should be left to those amiable enthusiasts the "Teetotallers."

[FN#431] A sign of foul play; the body not having been shrouded and formally buried.

[FN#432] For the title, the office and the date see vol. ix. 289.

[FN#433] The names are = Martha and Mary.

[FN#434] MS. vi. 57-77, not translated by Scott, who entitles it (vi. 461) "Mhassun, the Liberal, and Mouseh, the treacherous Friend." It is a variant of "The Envier and the Envied:" vol. i. 123.

[FN#435] The Arab. "Jarrah": vol. viii. 177.

[FN#436] i.e. One who does good, a benefactor.

[FN#437] In the text "M�s� wa M�zi," the latter word = vexatious, troublesome. [I notice that in the MS. the name is distinctly and I believe purposely spelt with Hamzah above the W�w and Kasrah beneath the S�n, reading "Muus�." It is, therefore, a travesty of the name M�s�, and the exact counterpart of "Muhsin", being the active participle of "as�a", 4th form of "s�a," = he did evil, he injured, and nearly equivalent with the following "Muuz�." The two names may perhaps be rendered: Muhsin, the Beneficent, and Muus�, the Malignant, the Malefactor.--ST.]

[FN#438] In text "Fat�r" for "Fat�rah" = a pancake, before described.

[FN#439] In text "Bi-kh�tiri-k" = Thy will be done; the whole dialogue is in pure Fellah speech.

[FN#440] Supposed to be American, but, despite Bartlett, really old English from Lancashire, the land which has supplied many of the so-called "American" neologisms. A gouge is a hollow chisel, a scoop; and to gouge is to poke out the eye: this is done by thrusting the fingers into the side-hair thus acting as a base and by prising out the ball with the thumbnail which is purposely grown long.

[FN#441] [In the text: "Fa tarak-hu Muus� am'� d�ir yaltash f� 'l-Tar�k." Latash has the meaning of beating, tapping; I therefore think the passage means: "hereupon Muus� left him, blind as he was, tramping and groping his way" (feeling it with his hands or stick).--ST.]

[FN#442] In text "Biiru mily�nah Moyah." As a rule the Fellah of Egypt says "Mayyeh," the Cairene "Mayya," and the foreigner "Moyah": the old Syrian is "May�," the mod. "Moy," and the classical dim. of "M�" is "Muwayh," also written "Muwayy" and "Muwayhah."

[FN#443] "Sabt" = Sabbath, Saturday: vol. ii. 305, and passim.

[FN#444] i.e. "By Allah," meaning "Be quick!"

[FN#445] For this well-nigh the sole equivalent amongst the Moslems of our "thank you," see Vol. iv. 6. and v. 171.

[FN#446] In Arab. "Ana 'l-Tab�b, al-Mud�wi." In pop. parlance, the former is the scientific practitioner and the latter represents the man of the people who deals in simples, etc.

[FN#447] In text "R�kiba-h�," the technical term for demoniac insiliation or possession: the idea survives in our "succubi" and "incubi." I look upon these visions often as the effects of pollutio nocturna. A modest woman for instance dreams of being possessed by some man other than her husband; she loves the latter and is faithful to him, and consequently she must explain the phenomena superstitiously and recur to diabolical agency. Of course it is the same with men, only they are at less trouble to excuse themselves.

[FN#448] The construction here, MS. p. 67, is very confused. [The speech of Muhsin seems to be elliptical. In Ar. it runs: "Li-ann� iz�, lam nukhullis-ha (or nukhlis-h�, 2nd or 4th form) taktuln�, wa an� iz lam tattafik ma'� ann� iz� khallastu-h� tu't�-h� alayya" --which I believe to mean: "for if I do not deliver her, thou wilt kill me; so I (say) unless thou stipulate with me that when I have delivered her thou wilt give her to me in marriage--" supply: "well then I wash my hand of the whole business." The Shaykh acts on the tit for tat principle in a style worthy of the "honest broker" himself.--ST.]

[FN#449] In text "Yaum Sabt" again.

[FN#450] As has been said (vol. ii. 112) this is a sign of agitation. The tale has extended to remote Guernsey. A sorcier named Hilier Mouton discovers by his art that the King's daughter who had long and beautiful tresses was dying because she had swallowed a hair which had twined round her praecordia. The cure was to cut a small square of bacon from just over the heart, and tie it to a silken thread which the Princess must swallow, when the hair would stick to it and come away with a jerk. See (p. 29) "Folk-lore of Guernsey and Sark," by Louise Lane-Clarke, printed by E. Le Lievre, Guernsey, 1880; and I have to thank for it a kind correspondent, Mr. A. Buchanan Brown, of La Co�ture, p. 53, who informs us why the Guernsey lily is scentless, emblem of the maiden who sent it from fairy-land.

[FN#451] The text says only, "O my father, gift Shaykh Mohsin."

[FN#452] Her especial "shame" would be her head and face: vol. vi. 30, 118.

[FN#453] In northern Africa the "D�r al-Ziy�fah" was a kind of caravanserai in which travellers were lodged at government expense. Ibn Khald�n (Fr. Transl. i. 407).

[FN#454 In most of these tales the well is filled in over the intruding "villain" of the piece. Ibn Khaldun (ii. 575) relates a "veritable history" of angels choking up a well; and in Mr. Doughty (ii. 190) a Pasha-governor of Jiddah does the same to a Jinni-possessed pit.

[FN#455] This tale is of a kind not unfrequent amongst Moslems, exalting the character of the wife, whilst the mistress is a mere shadow.

[FN#456] Here written "Jalab�" (whence Scott's "Julbee," p. 461) and afterwards (p. 77, etc.) "Shalab�": it has already been noticed in vol. i. 22 and elsewhere.

[FN#457] In text "Baltah" for Turk. "B�ltah" = an axe, a hatchet. Hence "Baltah-ji" a pioneer, one of the old divisions of the Osmanli troops which survives as a family name amongst the Levantines and semi-European Perotes of Constantinople.

[FN#458] Here the public gaol is in the Head Policeman's house. So in modern times it is part of the Wali or Governor's palace and is included in the Maroccan "Kasbah" or fortalice.

[FN#459] In text "Naakhaz bi-lissati-him;" "Luss" is after a fashion ??st??; but the Greek word included piracy which was honourable, whenas the Arab. term is mostly applied to larcenists and similar blackguards. [I would read the word in the text "Balsata-hum," until I have received their "ransom."--ST.]

[FN#460] In the text "Tajr�s" which I have rendered by a circumlocution. [For the exact meaning of "Tajr�s," see Dozy, Suppl. s.v. "jarras," where an interesting passage from Mas'�d� is quoted.--ST.]

[FN#461] In Moslem lands prisoners are still expected to feed themselves, as was the case in England a century ago and is still to be seen not only in Al-Islam, Egypt and Syria, but even in Madeira and at Goa.

[FN#462] In text "Hud� Sirru-hu," i.e. his secret sin was guided (by Allah) to the safety of concealment. [A simpler explanation of this passage would perhaps be: "wa had� Sirru-hu," = and his mind was at rest.--ST.]

[FN#463] Arab. "Aud�j" (plur. of "Wadaj") a word which applies indiscriminately to the carotid arteries and jugular veins. The latter, especially the external pair, carry blood from the face and are subject abnormally to the will: the late lamented Mr. Charley Peace, who murdered and "burgled" once too often, could darken his complexion and even change it by arresting jugular circulation. The much-read Mr. F. Marion Crawford (Saracinesca, chapt. xii.) makes his hero pass a foil through his adversary's throat, "without touching the jugular artery (which does not exist) or the spine." But what about larynx and pharynx? It is to be regretted that realistic writers do not cultivate a little more personal experience. No Englishman says "in guard" for "on guard." "Colpo del Tancredi" is not = "Tancred's lunge" but "the thrust of the (master) Tancredi:" it is quite permissible and to say that it loses half its dangers against a left-handed man is to state what cannot be the fact as long as the heart is more easily reached from the left than from the right flank.

[FN#464] Lit. "Then faring forth and sitting in his own place." I have modified the too succinct text which simply means that he was anxious and agitated.

[FN#465] After this in the text we have only, "End of the Adventure of the Kazi's Daughter. It is related among the many wiles of women that there was a Fellah-man," etc. I have supplied the missing link.

[FN#466] On the margin of the W. M. MS. (vi. 92) J. Scott has written: "This story bears a faint resemblance to one in the Bahardanush." He alludes to the tale I have already quoted. I would draw attention to "The Fellah and his Wicked Wife," as it is a characteristic Fellah-story showing what takes place too often in the villages of Modern Egypt which the superficial traveller looks upon as the homes of peace and quiet. The text is somewhat difficult for technicalities and two of the pages are written with a badly nibbed reed-pen which draws the lines double.

[FN#467] The "Fadd�n" (here miswritten "Fadd�d") = a plough, a yoke of oxen, a "carucate," which two oxen can work in a single season. It is also the common land-measure of Egypt and Syria reduced from acre 1.1 to less than one acre. It is divided into twenty-four Kir�ts (carats) and consists or consisted of 333 Kasabah (rods), each of these being 22-24 Kabzahs (fists with the thumb erect about = 6� inches). In old Algiers the Fadd�n was called "Zuijah" (= a pair, i.e. of oxen) according to Ibn Khaldun i. 404.

[FN#468] In text "Masb�bah."

[FN#469] Arab. "Dash�sh," which the Dicts. make = wheat-broth to be sipped. ["Dash�sh" is a popular corruption of the classical "Jash�sh" = coarsely ground wheat (sometimes beans), also called "Saw�k," and "Dash�shah" is the broth made of it.--ST.]

[FN#470] In text "Ahmar" = red, ruddy-brown, dark brown.

[FN#471] In text "Kas'at (= a wooden platter, bowl) afr�kah." [The "Mafr�kah," an improvement upon the Fat�rah, is a favourite dish with the Badaw�, of which Dozy quotes lengthy descriptions from Vansleb and Th�venot. The latter is particularly graphical, and after enumerating all the ingredients says finally: "ils en font une grosse p�te dont ils prennent de gros morceaux.--ST.]

[FN#472] The Fellah will use in fighting anything in preference to his fists and a stone tied up in a kerchief or a rag makes no mean weapon for head-breaking.

[FN#473] The cries of an itinerant pedlar hawking about woman's wares. See Lane (M. E.) chapt. xiv. "Flfl'a" (a scribal error?) may be "Filfil" = pepper or palm-fibre. "Tutty," in low-Lat. "Tutia," probably from the Pers. "Tutiyah," is protoxide of zinc, found native in Iranian lands, and much used as an eye-wash.

[FN#474] In text "Samm S�'ah."

[FN#475] "Laban hal�b," a trivial form = "sweet milk;" "Laban" being the popular word for milk artificially soured. See vols. vi. 201; vii. 360.

[FN#476] In text "Nisf ra'as Sukkar Misri." "Sukkar" (from Pers. "Shakkar," whence the Lat. Saccharum) is the generic term, and Egypt preserved the fashion of making loaf-sugar (Raas Sukkar) from ancient times. "Misri" here = local name, but in India it is applied exclusively to sugar-candy, which with G�r (Molasses) was the only form used throughout the country some 40 years ago. Strict Moslems avoid Europe-made white sugar because they are told that it is refined with bullock's blood, and is therefore unlawful to Jews and the True Believers.

[FN#477] Lit. "that the sugar was poison."

[FN#478] In text "Kata'a Jud�r-h�" (for "hu"). [I refer the pronoun in "Jud�r-h�" to "Rakabah," taking the "roots of the neck" to mean the spine.--ST.]

[FN#479] In text "Fahata" for "Fahasa" (?) or perhaps a clerical error for "Fataha" = he opened (the ground). ["Fahata," probably a vulgarisation of "fahatha" (fahasa) = to investigate, is given by Bocthor with the meaning of digging, excavating. Nevertheless I almost incline to the reading "fataha," which, however, I would pronounce with Tashd�d over the second radical, and translate: "he recited a 'F�tihah' for them," the usual prayer over the dead before interment. The dative "la-hum," generally employed with verbs of prayer, seems to favour this interpretation. It is true I never met with the word in this meaning, but it would be quite in keeping with the spirit of the language, and in close analogy with such expressions as "kabbara," he said "Allabu akbar," "Hallala," he pronounced the formula of unity, and a host of others. Here it would, in my opinion, wind up the tale with a neat touch of peasant's single-mindedness and loyal adherence to the injunctions of religion even under provoking circumstances.--ST.]

[FN#480] In the MS. we have only "Ending. And it is also told," etc. I again supply the connection.

[FN#481] Scott does not translate this tale, but he has written on the margin (MS. vi. 101), "A story which bears a strong resemblance to that I have read (when a boy) of the Parson's maid giving the roasted goose to her Lover and frightening away the guests, lest he should geld them."

[FN#482] In text "Zakarayn Wizz (ganders) sim�n"; but afterwards "Wizzatayn" = geese.

[FN#483] These dried fruits to which pistachios are often added, form the favourite "filling" of lamb and other meats prepared in "pul�o" (pilaff).

[FN#484] "Anta j�ib(un) bas r�jul (an) w�hid (an)"--veritable and characteristic peasant's jargon.

[FN#485] i.e., it is a time when men should cry for thy case. "L� Haula" = there is no Majesty, etc. An ejaculation of displeasure, disappointments, despair.

[FN#486] In text "Mah�shima-k" = good works, merits; in a secondary sense beard and mustachios. The word yard (etymologically a rod) is medical English, and the young student is often surprised to see, when a patient is told to show his yard, a mere inchlet of shrunken skin. ["Mah�shim," according to Bocthor, is a plural without singular, meaning: les parties de la g�n�ration. Pedro de Alcala gives "Hashsh�m," pl. "Hash�shim," for the female parts, and both words are derived from the verb "hasham, yahsh�m," he put to shame.--ST.]

[FN#487] Characteristic words of abuse, "O thou whose fate is always to fail, O thou whose lot is ever subject to the accidents of Fortune!"

[FN#488] Arab. "Bayzah" = an egg, a testicle. See "Bayza'�ni," vol. ii. 55.

[FN#489] Here the text ends with the tag, "Concluded is the story of the Woman with her Husband and her Lover. It is related of a man which was a Kazi," etc. I have supplied what the writer should have given.

[FN#490] The "Mahkamah" (Place of Judgment), or Kazi's Court, at Cairo is mostly occupied with matrimonial disputes, and is fatally famous for extreme laxness in the matter of bribery and corruption. During these days it is even worse than when Lane described it. M.E. chapt. iv.

[FN#491] The first idea of an Eastern would be to appeal from the Kazi to the Kazi's wife, bribing her if he failed to corrupt the husband; and he would be wise in his generation as the process is seldom known to fail.

[FN#492] In Arab. "Sitta-h�": the Mauritanians prefer "S�dah," and the Arabian Arabs Kab�rah" = the first lady, Madame M�re.

[FN#493] In text "Ah� 'inda-k,"--pure Fellah speech.

[FN#494] In text here and below "Maghb�n" usually = deceived, cajoled.

[FN#495] He began to fear sorcery, Satan, etc. "Muslim�na" is here the reg. Arab. plur. of "Muslim" = a True Believer. "Musulm�n" (our "Mussalman" too often made plur. by "Mussalmen") is corrupted Arab. used in Persia, Turkey and India by the best writers as Sa'adi; the plur. is "Musulm�n�n" and the Hind. fem. is Musalm�n�. Francois Pyrard, before alluded to, writes (i. 261) "Mouselliman, that is, the faithful."

[FN#496] In the text "help ye the Moslems."

[FN#497] Again the old, old story of the "Acrisian maid," and a prose variant of "Yusuf and Al-Hayfa" for which see vol. v. p. 123. I must note the difference of treatment and may observe that the style is rough and the incidents are unfinished, but it has the stuff of an excellent tale.

[FN#498] In text "Min ghayr Wa'ad" = without appointment, sans pr�m�ditation, a phrase before noticed.

[FN#499] In text, "Al-Mukawwam�na wa Arb�bu 'l-Aklam," the latter usually meaning "Scribes skilled in the arts of caligraphy."

[FN#500] In text "Zarb al-F�l" = casting lots for presage, see v. 136.

[FN#501] "The Mount of Clouds."

[FN#502] In the margin is written "Kbb," possibly "Kubb" for "Kubbah" = a vault, a cupola. [I take "Kubba" for the passive of the verb "Kabba" = he cut, and read "Fajwatun" for "Fajwatan" = "and in that cave there is a spot in whose innermost part from the inside a crevice is cut which," etc.--ST.]

[FN#503] "Zarb al-Akl�m," before explained: in a few pages we shall come upon "San'at al-Akl�m.

[FN#504] A pun upon the name of the Mountain.

[FN#505] In text "Wa kulli T�rik" = Night-traveller, magician, morning-star.

[FN#506] i.e. In Holy Writ--the Koran and the Ah�d�s.

[FN#507] "Walad al-Hay�h" for "Hay�t" i.e. let him be long-lived.

[FN#508] This and other incidents appear only at the latter end of the tale, MS. p. 221.

[FN#509] i.e. "Father of a Pigeon," i.e. surpassing in swiftness the carrier-pigeon.

[FN#510] "Bi-sab'a Sikak" = lit. "with seven nails;" in the MS. vol. vi. p. 133, l. 2, and p. 160, l. 4, we have "four Sikak," and the word seems to mean posts or uprights whereto the chains were attached. ["Sakk," pl. "Sik�k" and "Suk�k," is nail, and "Sikkah," pl. "Sikak," has amongst many other meanings that of "an iron post or stake" (Bocthor: piquet de fer).--ST.]

[FN#511] In text "Al-Lij�m w' al-B�l�m" = the latter being a "T�bi'" or dependent word used only for jingle. [The Muh�t explains "Bil�m" by "Kim�m at-Thaur" = muzzle of a bull, and Bocthor gives as equivalent for it the French "cavecon" (English "cavesson" nose-band for breaking horses in). Here, I suppose, it means the headstall of the bridle.--ST.]

[FN#512] In Arab. "Al-Sayfu w' al-Kalanj."

[FN#513] In text "Itowwaha," which is repeated in p. 146, l. 2. ["Ittawwah" seems to be the modern Egyptian 5th form of "Tauh." In classical Arabic it would be "tatawwah," but in the dialect of to-day the prefix becomes "it," whose final dental here assimilates with the initial palatal of the root; p. 146 the word is correctly spelt with two Tashdids. The meaning is: he threw himself (with his right foot foremost) upon the horse's back. Instances of this formation, which has now become all but general in Egyptian, are not infrequent in old Arabic, witness chapters lxxiii. and lxxiv. of the Koran, which begin with "ayyuh� 'l Muddassiru" and "ayyuh� 'l-Muzzammilu" respectively.--ST.]

[FN#514] In text "Ramaha bi-h."

[FN#515] The vowel points in the MS. show this to be a quotation.