[FN#175] Or “folly” (hemakeh).

[FN#176] i.e. not every one is lucky enough to be in Ishac’s house.

[FN#177] Apparently some part of Baghdad adjoining the Tigris.  Khanekah means “a convent of dervishes.”

[FN#178] Lit. stronger (acwa).

[FN#179] The gist of this curious comparison is not very apparent.  Perhaps “blander” is meant.

[FN#180] About 10s.

[FN#181] About a penny; i.e.  I have found all my skill in the craft but a trifle in comparison with thine.

[FN#182] i.e. thou art what he wants.

[FN#183] i.e. the dews of her mouth, commonly compared by Oriental writers to wine and honey.

[FN#184] i.e. he died.

[FN#185] i.e. if my hand were out for want of practice.

[FN#186] i.e. a gift or rarity.

[FN#187] Or “rarity” (tuhfeh)

[FN#188] i.e. thou didst her not justice.

[FN#189] i.e. that set apart for the chief of the concubines.

[FN#190] i.e. from the opening made in the ceiling for ventilation.  Or the saloon in which she sat may have been open to the sky, as is not uncommon in the East.

[FN#191] Zubeideh was the daughter of Jaafer, son of El Mensour, second Khalif of the house of Abbas, and was therefore Er Reshid’s first cousin.  It does not appear why she is called daughter (bint) of El Casim.

[FN#192] Lit. “of those noble steps.”

[FN#193] So styled by the Muslums, because Abraham is fabled by them to have driven him away with stones, when he strove to prevent him from sacrificing Ishmael, whom they substitute for Isaac as the intended victim.

[FN#194] i.e.  Gift of Breasts.  The word “breasts” here is, of course, used (metonymically) for “hearts.”

[FN#195] i.e.  “He (lit. father) of the hosts of tribes.”

[FN#196] See post, passim.

[FN#197] Lit. witnesses (shawahid).

[FN#198] Lit. seas (behar).

[FN#199] Afterwards called Zelzeleh; see post, p. 245 et seq.

[FN#200] i.e.  I cannot look long on them.

[FN#201] i.e. change the sir to one less poignant?  Or (perhaps) “lower thy voice.”

[FN#202] i.e. from time immemorial, before the creation of the world.  The most minute details of every man’s life in the world are believed by the Mohammedans to have been fore-ordained by God from all eternity.  This belief is summed up in the Koranic saying, “Verily, the commandment of God is a prevenient decree.”

[FN#203] No mention is afterward made of any wedding, and the word is, therefore, probably used here in its implied sense of “festival,” “merry-making.”  I am not, however acquainted with any instance of this use of the word urs.

[FN#204] Or “peewit.”

[FN#205] i.e. those that led the water to the roots of the trees, after the manner of Eastern gardeners.