[FN#82] The whole of this story (which is apparently intended as an example of the flowery style (el bediya) of Arab prose) is terribly corrupt and obscure, and in the absence of a parallel version, with which to collate it, it is impossible to be sure that the exact sense has been rendered.

[FN#83] Breslau Text, vol xi. pp. 321-99, Nights dccccxxx-xl.

[FN#84] i.e. the first or Beherite dynasty of the Mameluke Sultans, the founder of which was originally a Turkish (i.e.  Turcoman) slave.

[FN#85] Fourth Sultan of the above dynasty.

[FN#86] i.e.  Palestine (Es Sahil) so styled by the Arabs.

[FN#87] Lit. his nightly entertainers, i.e. those whose place it was to entertain him by night with the relation of stories and anecdotes and the recitation of verses, etc.

[FN#88] i.e. the perfect of police.

[FN#89] About fifty shillings.

[FN#90] i.e. those of the visible and invisible worlds.

[FN#91] i.e. of the Sultan’s officers of the household.  The Sultan’s palace and the lodgings of his chief officers were situate, according to Eastern custom, in the citadel or central fortress of the city.

[FN#92] Lit. [self-]possession (temkin).

[FN#93] God forbid!

[FN#94] Or strong place.

[FN#95] i.e. lest ill-hap betide her and you be held responsible for her.

[FN#96] Which was in his custody in his ex-officio capacity of guardian, orphans in Muslim countries being, by operation of law, wards of the Cadi of their district.

[FN#97] Altogether six thousand dinars or about £3000.

[FN#98] i.e. except thou give me immediate satisfaction, I will complain of thee to the Sultan.

[FN#99] i.e. forgetting all that is enjoined upon the true-believer by the Institutes of the Prophet (Sunneh) and the Canons (Fers) of the Divine Law, as deduced from the Koran.

[FN#100] Lit. red i.e. violent or bloody) death.

[FN#101] Lit. the conquered one.

[FN#102] i.e. my view of the matter differs from that of the Cadi, but I cannot expect a hearing against a personage of his rank.

[FN#103] And therefore freshly shed.

[FN#104] For redness.

[FN#105] Or parties.

[FN#106] Lit. quench that fire from him.

[FN#107] Of Cairo or (quære) the two Egyptian provinces known as Es Sherkiyeh (The Eastward) and El Gherbiyeh (The Westward).

[FN#108] i.e, he was a man of ready wit and presence of mind.

[FN#109] Or (in modern slang) “There are good pickings to be had out of this job.”

[FN#110] Lit “the douceur of the key,” i.e. the gratuity which it is customary to give to the porter or portress on hiring a house or lodging.  Cf. the French denier à Dieu, Old English “God’s penny.”

[FN#111] i.e. made the complete ablution prescribed by the Muslim law after copulation.