[FN#50] The scene is a rechauffe of Badr al-Din Hasan and his wife, i. 247.

[FN#51] Arab.  “Janzir,” another atrocious vulgarism for “Zanjir,” which however, has occurred before.

[FN#52] Arab.  “Arafshah.”

[FN#53] In the “Mishkat al-Masabih” (ii. 341), quoted by Lane, occurs the Hadis, “Shut your doors anights and when so doing repeat the Basmalah; for the Devil may not open a door shut in Allah’s name.”  A pious Moslem in Egypt always ejaculates, “In the name of Allah, the Compassionating,” etc., when he locks a door, covers up bread, doffs his clothes, etc., to keep off devils and daemons.

[FN#54] An Arab idiom meaning, “I have not found thy good fortune (Ka’b = heel, glory, prosperity) do me any good.”

[FN#55] Arab.  “Ya Nakbah” = a calamity to those who have to do with thee!

[FN#56] Koran cxii., the “Chapter of Unity.”  See vol. iii. 307

[FN#57] See vol. iii. 222.

[FN#58] Here the author indubitably speaks for himself, forgetting that he ended Night cclxxxi. (Bresl.  Iv. 168), and began that following with Shahrazad’s usual formula.

[FN#59] i.e., “Delight of the vitals” (or heart).

[FN#60] The trick is a rechauffe of the trick played on Al-Rashid and Zubaydah.

[FN#61] “Kalb” here is not heart, but stomach.  The big toes of the Moslem corpse are still tied in most countries, and in some a sword is placed upon the body; but I am not aware that a knife and sale (both believed to repel evil spirits) are so used in Cairo.

[FN#62] The Moslem, who may not wear unmixed silk during his lifetime, may be shrouded in it.  I have noted that the “Shukkah,” or piece, averages six feet in length.

[FN#63] A vulgar ejaculation; the “hour” referring either to birth or to his being made one of the Caliph’s equerries.

[FN#64] Here the story-teller omits to say that Masrur bore witness to the Caliph’s statement.

[FN#65] Arab.  “Wa kuntu raihah ursil warak,” the regular Fellah language.

[FN#66] Arab. “’Irk al-Hashimi.”  See vol. ii. 19.  Lane remarks, “Whether it was so in Hashim himself (or only in his descendants), I do not find; but it is mentioned amongst the characteristics of his great-grandson, the Prophet.”

[FN#67] Arab.  “Bostan al-Nuzhah,” whose name made the stake appropriate.  See vol. ii. 81.

[FN#68] Arab.  “Tamasil” = generally carved images, which, amongst Moslem, always suggest idols and idolatry.

[FN#69] The “Shubbak” here would be the “Mashrabiyah,” or latticed balcony, projecting from the saloon-wall, and containing room for three or more sitters.  It is Lane’s “Mesrebeeyeh,” sketched in M.E. (Introduction) and now has become familiar to Englishmen.

[FN#70] This is to show the cleverness of Abu al-Hasan, who had calculated upon the difference between Al-Rashid and Zubaydah.  Such marvels of perspicacity are frequent enough in the folk-lore of the Arabs.