[FN#156] Tubba was the dynastic title of the ancient Himyerite Kings of Yemen, even as Chosroës and Cæsar of the Kings of Persia and the Emperors of Constantinople respectively.
[FN#157] i.e. a king similar in magnificence and dominion to the monarchs of the three dynasties aforesaid, whose names are in Arab literature synonyms for regal greatness.
[FN#158] i.e. his rage was ungovernable, so that none dared approach him in his heat of passion.
[FN#159] i.e. maidens cloistered or concealed behind curtains and veiled in the harem.
[FN#160] i.e. those whose business it is to compose or compile stories, verses, etc., for the entertainment of kings and grandees.
[FN#161] i.e. that his new and damnable custom. The literal meaning of bidah is “an innovation or invention, anything new;” but the word is commonly used in the sense of “heresy” or “heterodox innovation,” anything new being naturally heretical in the eyes of the orthodox religionist.
[FN#162] i.e. women.
[FN#163] Breslau Text, vol. xii. pp. 394-398.
[FN#164] i.e. his apathy or indifference to the principles of right and wrong and the consequences of his wicked behaviour.
[FN#165] i.e. in a state of reprobation, having incurred the wrath of God.
[FN#166] hath mentioned the office of vizier.
[FN#167] Koran xx. 30.
[FN#168] i.e. none had been better qualified to dispense with a vizier than he.
[FN#169] i.e. the essential qualification.
[FN#170] The word jeish (troops) is here apparently used in the sense at officials, ministers of government.
[FN#171] Or “rectification.”
[FN#172] Koran xxxiii. 35.
[FN#173] i.e. I know not which to choose of the superabundant material at my command in the way of instances of women’s craft.
[FN#174] Breslau Text, vol xii. pp. 398-402.
[FN#175] i.e. incensed with the smoke of burning musk. It is a common practice in the East to fumigate drinking-vessels with the fragrant smoke of aloes-wood and other perfumes, for the purpose of giving a pleasant flavour to the water, etc., drunk from them.
[FN#176] Huneini foucaniyeh. Foucaniyeh means “upper” (fem.); but the meaning of huneini is unknown to me.
[FN#177] Heriseh. See supra, Vol. II. p. 26, note 4.
[FN#178] The Arabs distinguish three kinds of honey, i.e. bees’ honey, cane honey (treacle or syrup of sugar) and drip-honey (date-syrup).
[FN#179] i.e. yet arrive in time for the rendezvous.
[FN#180] Breslau Text, pp. 402-412.
[FN#181] i.e. on an island between two branches of the Nile.