The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 02...

61. Such an act of generosity would appear to Europeans well-nigh insanity, but it is quite in Arab manners. Witness the oft-quoted tale of Hátim and his horse. As a rule the Arab is the reverse of generous, contrasting badly, in this point, with his cousin the Jew: hence his ideal of generosity is of the very highest. "The generous (i.e. liberal) is Allah's friend, aye, though he be a sinner; and the miser is Allah's foe, aye, though he be a saint!" Indian Moslems call a skin-flint Makhi-chús=fly-sucker (Pilgrimage i. 242).

62. Arab. Ammá ba'ad (or Wa ba'ad), an initiatory formula attributed to Koss ibn Sa'idat al-Iyadi, bishop of Najrán (the town in Al-Yaman which D'Herbelot calls Negiran and a famous preacher in Mohammed's day) hence "more eloquent than Koss" (Maydáni, Arab. Prov., 189). He was the first who addressed letters with the incept, "from A. to B."; and the first who preached from a pulpit and who leant on a sword or a staff when discoursing. Many Moslems date Ammá ba'ad from the Prophet David, relying upon a passage of the Koran (xxxviii. 19).

63. Arab. "Nusf"=half (a dirham): vulgarly pronounced "nuss," and synonymous with the Egypt. "Faddah" (=silver), the Greek Asper, and the Turkish "paráh." It is the smallest Egyptian coin, made of very base metal and, there being forty to the piastre, it is worth nearly a quarter of a farthing.

64. The too literal Torrens and Lane make the Caliph give the gardener-lad the clothes in which he was then clad, forgetting, like the author or copier, that he wore the fishermen's lousy suit.

65. In sign of confusion, disappointment and so forth: not "biting his nails," which is European and utterly un-Asiatic.

66. See lines like these in Night xiii. (i. 136); the sentiment is trite.

67. The Arab will still stand under his ruler's palace and shout aloud to attract his attention. Sayyid Sa'id known as the "Imán of Muskat" used to encourage the patriarchal practice. Mohammed repeatedly protested against such unceremonious conduct (Koran xciv. 11, etc.). The "three times of privacy" (Koran cv. 57) are before the dawn prayer, during the Siesta (noon) and after the even-prayer.

68. The Judges of the four orthodox schools.

69. That none might see it or find it ever after.

70. Arab. "Khatt Sharif"=a royal autographical letter: the term is still preserved in Turkey, but Europeans will write "Hatt."

71. Meaning "Little tom-cat"; a dim. of "Kitt" vulg. Kutt or Gutt.

72. Arab. "Matmúrah"—the Algerine "Matamor"—a "silo," made familiar to England by the invention of "Ensilage."

73. The older "Mustapha"=Mohammed. This Intercession-doctrine is fiercely disputed. Pilgrimage ii. 77. The Apostle of Al-Islam seems to have been unable to make up his mind upon the subject: and modern opinion amongst Moslems is apparently borrowed from the Christians.

74. Lane (i. 486) curiously says, "The place of the stagnation of blood:" yet he had translated the word aright in the Introduction (i. 41). I have noticed that the Nat'a is made like the "Sufrah," of well-tanned leather, with rings in the periphery, so that a thong passed through turns it into a bag. The Sufrah used for provisions is usually yellow, with a black border and small pouches for knives or spoons (Pilgrimage i. 111).

75. This improbable detail shows the Caliph's greatness.

76. "Cousin" is here a term of familiarity, our "coz."

77. i.e. without allowing them a moment's delay to change clothes.

78. i.e. according to my nature, birth, blood, de race.