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

302. Meaning, "It was decreed by Destiny; so it came to pass," appropriate if not neat.

303. The short, stout, dark, long-haired and two bunched camel from "Bukhtar" (Bactria), the "Eastern" (Bakhtar) region on the Amu or Jayhún (Oxus) River; afterwards called Khorasan. The two-humped camel is never seen in Arabia except with northern caravans, and to speak of it would be a sore test of Badawi credulity.

304. "Kaylúlah" is the "forty-winks" about noon: it is a Sunnat or Practice of the Prophet who said, "Make the mid-day siesta, for verily at this hour the devils sleep not." "Aylúlah" is slumbering after morning prayers (our "beauty-sleep"), causing heaviness and idleness: "Ghaylúlah" is dozing about 9 a.m. engendering poverty and wretchedness: "Kaylúlah" (with the guttural Kaf) is sleeping before evening prayers and "Faylúlah" is slumbering after sunset—both held to be highly detrimental. (Pilgrimage ii. 49.)

305. The Biblical "Hamath" (Hightown) too well known to require description. It is still famous for the water-wheels mentioned by al-Hariri (assembly of the Banu Harám).

306. When they say, The leven flashes bright on the hills of Al-Yaman, the allusion is to the south quarter, where summer-lightning is seen. Al-Yaman (always with the article) means, I have said, the right-hand region to one facing the rising sun and Al-Sham (Syria) the left-hand region.

307. Again "he" for "she," in delicacy and jealousy of making public the beauty or conditions of the "veiled sex." Even public singers would hesitate to use a feminine pronoun. As will be seen, however, the rule is not invariably kept and hardly ever in Badawi poetry.

308. The normal pun on "Nuzhat al-Zaman"=Delight of the Age or Time.

309. The reader will find in my Pilgrimage (i. 305) a sketch of the Takht-rawan or travelling-litter, in which pilgrimesses are wont to sleep.

310. In poetry it holds the place of our Zephyr; and the "Bád-i-Sabá"=Breeze o' the morn, is much addressed by Persian poets.

311. Here appears the nervous, excitable, hysterical Arab temperament which is almost phrensied by the neighbourhood of a home from which he had run away.

312. Zau al-Makan and Nuzhat al-Zaman.

313. The idea is essentially Eastern, "A lion at home and a lamb abroad" is the popular saying.

314. Arab. "Hubb al-Watan" (=love of birthplace, patriotism) of which the Tradition says "Min al-Imán" (=is part of man's religion).

315. He is supposed to speak en prince; and he yields to a prayer when he spurns a command.

316. In such caravans each party must keep its own place under pain of getting into trouble with the watchmen and guards.

317. Mr. Payne (ii. 109) borrows this and the next quotation from the Bul. Edit. i. 386.

318. For the expiation of inconsiderate oaths see Koran (chapt. v.) I cannot but think that Al-Islam treats perjury too lightly: all we can say is that it improves upon Hinduism, which practically seems to leave the punishment to the gods.

319. "Kausar," as has been said, represents the classical nectar, the Amrita of the Hindus.

320. From Bul. Edit. i. 186. The couplet in the Mac. Edit. i. 457 is very wildly applied.

321. The "insula" of Sancho Panza.

322. This should have assured him that he stood in no danger.

323. Here ends the wearisome tale of the brother and sister and the romance of chivalry begins once more with the usual Arab digressions.

324. I have derived this word from the Persian "rang"=colour, hue, kind.

325. Otherwise all would be superseded, like U. S. officials under a new President.

326. Arab. "Nímshah" from the Pers. Nímchah, a "half-sword," a long dagger worn in the belt. Richardson derives it from Namsh, being freckled (damasked).

327. The Indian term for a tent large enough to cover a troop of cavalry.

328. Arab. "Marhúm" a formula before noticed. It is borrowed from the Jewish, "of blessed memory" (after the name of the honoured dead, Prov. x. 17.); with the addition of "upon whom be peace," as opposed to the imprecation, "May the name of the wicked rot!"

329. The speeches of the five damsels should be read only by students.

330. i.e. Those who look for "another and a better."

331. The title of Caliph Abu Bakr because he bore truthful witness to the Apostle's mission or, others say, he confirmed the "Mi'ráj" or nocturnal journey to Heaven.

332. All this is Koranic (chapt. ii., etc.)

333. This may have applied more than once to "hanging judges" in the Far West.

334. A traditionist and jurisconsult of Al-Medinah in the seventh and eighth centuries.

335. The Alexander of the Koran and Eastern legends not to be confounded with the Alexander of Macedon. He will be noticed in a future Night.

336. Æsop, according to the Arabs: of him or rather of the two Lukmans, more presently.

337. Koran ii. 185.

338. Mohammed.

339. One of the Asháb or Companions of Mohammed.

340. A noted traditionist at Cufa in the seventh century.

341. Koran, chapt. lxxiv. 1 (and verse 8 follows). The Archangel Gabriel is supposed to address Mohammed and not a few divines believe this Surah (chapter) to have been first revealed. Mr. Rodwell makes it No. ii. following the Fatrah or silent interval which succeeded No. xcvi. "Clots of Blood." See his 2nd Edit. p. 3 for further details.