[FN#292] A similar story of generous dealing is told of the Caliph Omar in The Nights.  See vol. v. 99 et seq.

[FN#293] Bresl.  Edit., vol. viii. pp. 273-8, Nights dclxxv-vi.  In Syria and Egypt Firuz (the Persian “Piroz”) = victorious, triumphant, is usually pronounced Fayrus.  The tale is a rechauffe of the King and the Wazir’s Wife in The Nights.  See vol. vi. 129.

[FN#294] i.e.  I seek refuge with Allah = God forfend.

[FN#295] Bresl.  Edit., vol. xi. pp. 84-318, Nights dccclxxv-dccccxxx.  Here again the names are Persian, showing the provenance of the tale; Shah Bakht is=King Luck and Rahwan is a corruption of Rahban=one who keeps the (right) way; or it may be Ruhban=the Pious.  Mr. W. A. Clouston draws my attention to the fact that this tale is of the Sindibad (Seven Wise Masters) cycle and that he finds remotely allied to it a Siamese collection, entitled Nonthuk Pakaranam in which Princess Kankras, to save the life of her father, relates eighty or ninety tales to the king of Pataliput (Palibothra).  He purposes to discuss this and similar subjects in extenso in his coming volumes, “Popular Tales and Fictions:  their Migrations and Transformations,” to which I look forward with pleasant anticipations.

[FN#296] So far this work resembles the Bakhtiyar-nameh, in which the ten Wazirs are eager for the death of the hero who relates tales and instances to the king, warning him against the evils of precipitation.

[FN#297] One pilgrimage (Hajjat al-Islam) is commanded to all Moslems.  For its conditions see The Nights, vol. v. 202, et seq.

[FN#298] Arab.  “Hajj al-Sharif.”  For the expenses of the process see my Pilgrimage iii. 12.  As in all “Holy Places,” from Rome to Benares, the sinner in search of salvation is hopelessly taken in and fleeced by the “sons of the sacred cities.”

[FN#299] Here a stranger invites a guest who at once accepts the invitation; such is the freedom between Moslems at Meccah and Al-Medinah, especially during pilgrimagetime.

[FN#300] i.e. the master could no longer use her carnally.

[FN#301] i.e. wantoned it away.

[FN#302] Here “Al-Hajj"=the company of pilgrims, a common use of the term.

[FN#303] The text says, “He went on with the caravan to the Pilgrimage,” probably a clerical error.  “Hajj” is never applied to the Visitation (Ziyarah) at Al-Medinah.

[FN#304] Arab.  “Jawar,” that is, he became a mujawir, one who lives in or near a collegiate mosque.  The Egyptian proverb says, “He pilgrimaged:  quoth one, Yes, and for his villainy lives (yujawir) at Meccah,” meaning that he found no other place bad enough for him.

[FN#305] I have often heard of this mysterious art in the East, also of similarly making rubies and branch-coral of the largest size, but, despite all my endeavours, I never was allowed to witness the operation.  It was the same with alchemy, which, however, I found very useful to the “smasher.”  See my History of Sindh, chapt. vii.