[FN#3] i.e. “my lord,” a title generally prefixed to the names of saints.  It is probable, therefore, that the boy was named after some saint or other, whose title, as well as name, was somewhat ignorantly appropriated to him.

[FN#4] i.e. one and all?

[FN#5] i.e. a foretaste of hell.

[FN#6] Lit. he loaded his sleeve with.

[FN#7] A mithcal is the same as a dinar, i.e. about ten shillings.

[FN#8] Masculine.

[FN#9] He was a noted debauchee, as well as the greatest poet of his day See my “Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night,” Vol.  IV. p. 205, and Vol.  IX. p. 332.

[FN#10] See ante, Vol.  II. p. 240. note.

[FN#11] Princess of the Fair.

[FN#12] i.e.  Ye are welcome to.

[FN#13] i.e. the place in which those accused or convicted of crimes of violence were confined.

[FN#14] i.e. a youth slender and flexile as a bough.

[FN#15] i.e. sway gracefully.  A swimming gait is the ideal of elegance to the Arab.

[FN#16] An Arab of Medina, proverbial for faithlessness.

[FN#17] Joseph is the Mohammedan prototype of beauty.

[FN#18] For the loss of Joseph.  Jacob, in like manner, is the Muslim type of inconsolable grief.

[FN#19] Uncle of the Prophet.

[FN#20] First cousin of the Prophet.

[FN#21] i.e. cut off her head.

[FN#22] When asked, on the Day of Judgment, why he had slain her.

[FN#23] i.e. that some one of the many risings in Khorassan (which was in a chronic state of rebellion during Er Reshid’s reign) had been put down.

[FN#24] Lit. fry.  The custom is to sear the stump by plunging it into boiling oil.

[FN#25] Lit. of those having houses.

[FN#26] i.e. from God in the world to come.

[FN#27] I look to get God’s favour in consequence of thy fervent prayers for me.

[FN#28] Provided for ablution.

[FN#29] i.e. if you want a thing done, do it yourself.

[FN#30] i.e. put on the ordinary walking dress of the Eastern lady, which completely hides the person.

[FN#31] This is apparently said in jest; but the Muslim Puritan (such as the strict Wehhabi) is often exceedingly punctilious in refusing to eat or use anything that is not sanctified by mention in the Koran or the Traditions of the Prophet, in the same spirit as the old Calvinist Scotchwoman of popular tradition, who refused to eat muffins, because they “warna mentioned in the Bible.”

[FN#32] i.e. a leader (lit. foreman, antistes) of the people at prayer.

[FN#33] Koran ii. 168.

[FN#34] i.e.  I have eaten largely and the food lies heavy on my stomach.

[FN#35] Wine is considered by the Arabs a sovereign digestive.  See my “Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night,” Vol.  IV. p. 357.