20. A name given to the Prophet's daughter Fatimeh, in commemoration of her supposed
exemption from the periodical infirmity peculiar to women. It is also the Arabic name of Venus.
21. Strictly descendants of the Prophet's grandson Hassan; but the title is commonly (though
erroneously) applied to any descendant of Mohammed.
22. The Calcutta and Boulac Editions add here, 'And contrive to bury him therein alive.' I
have followed the less extravagant reading of the Breslau text.
26. A play upon the double meaning to spot and to handsel, of the Arabic word neket. In its
second sense, it is almost exclusively used to signify the giving of money to dancing and singing
women on festive occasions and in this acceptation is practically equivalent to the English
phrase "to mark (or cross) the palm with silver."
28. Mohammed is fabled, in a tradition of doubtful authenticity, not found in the Misheat el
Mesabih, to have said that every pomegranate contains a seed from Paradise.
30. "And the pomegranates alike and unlike, consider its fruit, when it fruiteth, and the
ripening thereof: verily, therein ye have signs for a people that believe."--Koran vi. 99.
31. Lit. black (aswea), but the Arabs constantly use this word in the sense of green and vice
versa.
40. "La ville (El Aghouat) dort au-dessous de moi, avec ses terrasses vides, ou le soleil
éclaire une multitude de claies pleines de petits abricots roses, exposès la pour sécher."--Eugène
Fromentin, Un Étè dans le Sahara, Paris, 1857, p. 194.
41. Khulenjan. Sic ail editions; but Khelenj, a dark sweet-scented wood, to which a blood-orange might fairly be likened, is probably intended as the object of comparison.
42. Ful, sic Breslai edition. Syn. Arabian jessamine. The Boulac and Macnaghten Editions
read filfil, pepper, which is a manifest error.
43. A town near Mecca, renowned for the manufacture of scented goats' leather.
46. A metaphor taken from the Eastern practice of showing approbation of the performance
of a female singer or dancer by sticking small pieces of money on her face and cheeks, whilst
still wet with perspiration. The same practice obtains at weddings, where one method of giving
presents is to stick money on the bride's cheeks, freely plastered with cosmetics.
47. "They will ask thee of wine and casting of lots; say, 'In them both are great sin and
advantages to mankind; but the sin of them both is greater than the advantage thereof.'"--Koran
ii. 216.
49. It is the custom of the Arabs to call their cattle to water by whistling.
50. Lit. Babylonian eyes. According to Arab tradition, Babylon (Babel) is the metropolis of
sorcery, the two offending angels, Harout and Marout (who teach men witchcraft), being
suspended in a well there. See ante, note, Vol. III. p. 104 {see vol. 3, FN#19}.
51. The Syrian and Mesopotamian Christian, in turning towards Jerusalem, would naturally
face the West, instead of the East, as with his European brethren.
52. Beit shar, lit. a house of hair, the distinctive name of the Bedouin tent, which is made of
camels' hair. Syn. a line of verse.
53. The bodies of Eastern women of the higher classes by dint of continual maceration,
Esther-fashion, in aromatic oils and essences, would naturally become impregnated with the
sweet scent of the cosmetics used.
54. Syn. any yellow flower, particularly orange-blossoms (anwar).
56. i.e. Thou mayst have his company in the life to come, provided I enjoy it in this life.
57. Quaere an allusion to the 113th Chapter (known as the Chapter of the Daybreak) of the
Koran, "I take refuge with the Lord of the Daybreak from the evil of that which He hath created,
etc."
58. Melec means level ground ; but quaere some peace or tract on the banks of the Nile
meant.
59. Syn. the opening of the lips showing the teeth (theghr).
60. Syn. the opening of the lips showing the teeth (theghr).
61. i.e. Iskenderiyeh, the city of Iskander or Alexander the Great.
64. Alluding to the curse denounced by Mohammed against his recalcitrant uncle, Abou
Leheb. "May Abou Leheb's hands perish. … and his wife [be] a bearer of faggots!"--Koran cxi.
184.
65. Likening her eyes to the angels who (according to the Muslim legend) are appointed to
watch for the Jinn that listen by stealth to what is said in heaven and drive them off with
shooting stars.
66. Alluding to the Muslim custom of closing the apertures of the body with cotton wool,
before burial.
67. The Muslims believe that to each man will be given, on the Day of Judgment, a book
containing a record of all the actions of his life. The book of the righteous will be white, and they
will receive it in their right hands; but the wicked man's book will lye black and he will receive it
in his left hand.
68. A play on the double meaning ("whiteness" and "lustre") of the word beyads.
76. The Rif is the north-west coast of Morocco, formerly celebrated as the habitat of the
famous Rif pirates. According to D'Herbelot, Lower Egypt also bears the name of Er Rif.
77. For the complete ablution obligatory after copulation.
78. i.e. to the salutation obligatory between Muslims. "And on thee be peace and the mercy
of God and His blessings!"
80. As has been before observed, these and the like epithet are used by the Arabs in a
complimentary sense, to denote a man who is a terror and calamity to his enemies by reason of
his prowess and skill in war and counsel.
81. Meryem el Husn. This would appear to have been the girl's full name, though elsewhere
in the story she is called "Meryem" only. The usual form of the name (see Vol. III. p. 309 here) is Husn Meryem, i.e. the beauty of Mary. It would seem to have been
manufactured by the Arab story-tellers after the pattern of their own names (e.g. Noureddin, light
of the faith, Tajeddin, crown of the faith etc.): for the use of their imaginary Christian female
characters.
82. Bitariheh (plural of bitric, Gr. <Greek> Lat. patricius; there is no p in the
Arabic alphabet and in borrowing from foreign languages a word containing that letter, the
Arabs substitute either b or f for it) is the Arab name for the priests of the Christians and was
evidently adopted from their experience of the Templars and other semi-ecclesiastical military
orders, as the same word signifies "Knights."
87. Nacous, a rude kind of wooden gong used by Eastern Christians to summon the
congregation to divine service, the use of bells being forbidden in Muslim countries.
89. A play upon words, the phrase Dsereb en nawakisi, "the smiting of the gongs," by cutting
the last word in two, becoming Dsereb en nawa: kisi, "the giving of the signal for departure:
decide thou."
90. Likening the spy to the angel guardians of heaven, whose missiles, launched at the Jinn
who seek to pry into the secret counsels of heaven, the Muslims suppose the shooting-stars to be.
91. i.e. hadst thou maintained this deception longer.
99. Apparently the affection of the eye in horses, known as "the web and pin."
100. What virgin glass may be I cannot undertake to say: a remote sense of the word (zejaj)
translated "glass" is "clove-berries," and this, though rarely used, would seem the more probable
reading, were it not that Noureddin's avowed object (sufficiently attested, indeed, by the nature
of the other ingredients of the mixture) was to destroy the horse's eyes, a purpose which pounded
glass would certainly seem well calculated to effect.
101. The gist of this favourite comparison lies in the hunted gazelle's graceful habit of turning
its slender neck to look at its pursuers.
103. lit. Out on a prayer who imprecated our parting!
104. It need hardly be noted that the feminine must here (as in the rest of the piece) be
understood for the masculine pronoun. The Arabs consider it indelicate directly to speak of
women in the language of passion led therefore very commonly (though by no means invariably)
adopt the (to Western notions of delicacy) far more objectionable expedient of nominally
addressing their amorous effusions to one of their own sex, whilst a female is well understood to
be the object of love. To avoid mystification and confusion, I have, without remark, in most
instances where this curious substitution of sex occurs in the verse-part of the present work,
rendered the passage according to the understood sense, except in cases where (as in the text) it
seems impossible to do so without altering the general construction.
106. We must suppose the princess to have taken the keys from the drugged vizier or
otherwise procured them, as it is stated above that the people of the city trusted to the gate being
locked.
107. i.e. Head of Killaut. According to the Muhit el Muhit (as quoted by Dozy) Killaut is "the
name of a son of the sons of the Jinn and the Satans."
112. By claiming godhead for him. As has been before observed, the Muslims accuse the
Christians of having garbled the teachings of Jesus, for the purpose of suppressing all mention of
Mohammed.
116. i.e Saladin. See note, Vol. IV. p. 116 {see vol. 4, FN#55}.
117. Or Tiberias, 23rd June, 1187, the famous battle which led to the downfall of the Latin
Kingdom of Jerusalem and in which the King, Gui de Lusignan and his brother Geoffrey, with
Renaud de Chatillon and the Grand Masters of the Templars and Hospitallers, were utterly
routed and taken prisoners by Saladin.
118. It was taken from them by Saladin 28th July, 1187. The story-teller states farther on that
three years intervened between his visit to Acre and the battle of Hittin, thus fixing the date of
the former at (circa) June, 1184.
119. Celebrated Soufi devotees and ascetics of the second and third centuries of the Hegira.
For Bishr Barefoot see Vol. II. p. 127 {see vol. 2, FN#78}. Es Seketi means "the old-clothes-man."
121. Es Sahil, i.e. the seaboard (ant. Phoenicia) of Palestine, a name sometimes given by the
Arabs to the whole province.
122. Sic Breslau. Saladin seems to have been encamped without Damascus and the slave-merchant had apparently come out and pitched his tent near the camp, for the purposes of his
trade.
123. Behaeddin ibn Sheddad, a well-known legist of the time, after Cadi of Aleppo. He was
then Cadi of the army (Judge-Advocate-General) to Saladin.
124. Quære read (instead of "to") "abide with" thy husband.
125. A descendant of Hashim, great-grandfather of Mohammed, and therefore a kinsman of
the Abbaside Khalifs, who were directly descended from him. The Khalifs of the Ommiade
dynasty were somewhat less directly akin to the Prophet, being the descendants of Hashim's
brother, Abdusshems.
135. Most of the great Arab musicians had their own peculiar fashion of tuning the lute, for
the purpose of extending its register or facilitating the accompaniment of songs composed in
uncommon keys and rhythms or possibly of increasing its sonority, and it appears to have been a
common test of the skill of a great musician, such as Ishac el Mausili or his father Ibrahim, to
require him to accompany a difficult song on a lute purposely untuned. As a (partial) modern
instance of the practice referred to in the text, may be cited Paganini's custom of lowering or
raising the G string of the violin in playing certain of his own compositions. According to the
Kitab el Aghani, Ishac d Mausili is said to have familiarized himself, by incessant practice, with
the exact sounds produced by each division of the strings of the four-course lute of his day,
under every imaginable circumstance of tuning.
136. i.e. perfume his clothes and person with the fragrant smoke of burning aloes-wood or
ambergris, a common practice among the Arabs.
138. A canal so called, branching off from the Tigris and leading from Bassora to an adjacent
town of the same name. Its banks are a favourite pleasure-resort of the townsfolk, and it is said
by the Arabs to be one of the four most delightful places in the world, the three others being
situate A Damascus, Shiraz and Samarcand respectively.
139. i.e. the contingent dowry. The dowry agreed for on an Arab marriage consists of two
parts, one paid down on consummation and the other agreed to be paid to the wife, contingently
upon her being divorced by her husband.
140. i.e. the cost of her maintenance during the four months which must according to Muslim
law, elapse before she could marry again.
141. i.e. at the time of commencement of the story.
142. Sic in all three texts; but the passage should read, "what befell the cat with the mouse,"
i.e. the reward of tyranny. See post, sequel of the story of the Cat and the Mouse.
147. Lit. ultimate reward, i.e. in the world to come.
148. i.e. preserves him from the ill-will of his subjects.
149. Generally Africa but occasionally Spain or Portugal, one province of which latter counts
still retains this name, i.e. Algarve, corrupted form of El Gherb, the West.
150. i.e. one of those for whom eternal felicity is prepared.
153. Sic in all the texts; but this is an evident error, as twelve is the age at which the prince is
afterwards (see post, p. 216 here) stated to have completed his education. We
should probably here read "seven," that being the age at which most of the royal children in tales
of this kind be stated to have commenced the serious work of education.
164. The famous <Greek> of the New Testament and the Alexandrian theologians. The
writer of this and the following passages was evidently well acquainted with the Gospel of St.
John and other parts of the New Testament, though probably only in the garbled versions that
circulated among the Syrian and Arab Christians of his time.
167. Or [the lust of] gain. This is the common meaning of the word kesb, but the scholastic
writers of the Arabs use it to express the act by which a man seeks to win advantage or avert ill
from himself. The Arab casuist of the present tale evidently intended to formulate the Christian
dogma of freewill, although his meaning is much obscured by the imperfection of his expression
and (in all probability, also) by his defective apprehension of the knotty point of doctrine
involved.
168. i.e. had deferred his final punishment and definitive confinement in Hell till the Day of
Resurrection.
182. Lit. the book of judgment or jurisdiction (kitab el kedsäa). Quaere the list of cases to be
decided or business to be transacted by the king and his divan in public session.
190. Literally, indigo (nilek); but the word is evidently used here to express dye-stuffs in
general, as it stands to reason that, in a town where dyeing was confined to blue, indigo would be
much in demand and high In price, whilst the other colours would be valueless.
194. "Munkir [Munker] and Nakir [Nekir] are the two angels that preside at the 'examination
of the tomb.' They visit a man in his grave directly after he has been buried and examine him
concerning his faith: if he acknowledge that there is but one God and that Mohammed is His
prophet [apostle], they suffer him to rest in peace ; otherwise they beat him with iron maces, till
he roars so loud[ly] that he is heard by all from east to west, except by men aud Ginns [Jinn]."--Palmer's Koran, Introduction.
196. It seems doubtful wherher this phrase means, " He did not neglect him, as most folk
would have done," or " He did not keep him waiting as he did the rest of the folk.".
198. i.e. the first chapter of the Koran. See note, Vol.Vl. p.6 {see vol. 6, FN#3}
199. Two fabulous tribes of idolaters, repeatedly mentioned in the Koran as having been
destroyed by thunder from heaven, for refusing tp bearken to the prophets Houd and Salih.
200. i.e. for the purpose of protecting its possessor from the greed and oppression of his
fellows.
202. Lit. "dessert " (nucl); but this latter word properly includes dried (as well as dry) fruits
and confections. The Arabs divide fruits into wet or fresh (i.e. soft skinned or pulped, such as
cherries and peaches) and dry (i.e. hard-skinned or shelled, such as nuts and almonds).
203. The ancient name of the city of 'Medina' which latter name (abridged form of that of
Medinet-en-Nebi, the city of the Prophet) was not given to it till after the Hegira. Thus the
Breslau edition; but the Boulac and Calcutta texts read, "in a city called Teibeh" Teibeh or
Teyyibeh (the excellent) is one of the many names of honour of the Holy City and is rarely used,
Yethrib being the common ancient and Medina the common modern name.
205. The dictionaries are silent as to this fish, which appears to be fabulous monster, partaking
of the attributes of the shark and the cachalot or sperm-whale.
206. i.e. is not the life or soul, in you a deposit, etc.
207. i.e. how shall I trust thee to deposit on the Prophet's tomb the purse which I committed
to thee, and how can I be sure that thou wilt not keep it for thyself?