[FN#182] It is not plain what Khalif is here meant, though it is evident, from the context, that an Egyptian prince is referred to, unless the story is told of the Abbaside Khalif El Mamoun, son of Er Reshid (A.D. 813-33), during his temporary residence in Egypt, which he is said to have visited.  This is, however, unlikely, as his character was the reverse of sanguinary; besides, El Mamoun was not his name, but his title (Aboulabbas Abdallah El Mamoun Billah).  Two Khalifs of Egypt assumed the title of El Hakim bi Amrillah (He who rules or decrees by or in accordance with the commandment of God), i.e. the Fatimite Abou Ali El Mensour (A.D. 995-1021), and the faineant Abbaside Aboulabbas Ahmed (A.D. 1261-1301); but neither of these was named El Mamoun.  It is probable, however, that the first named is the prince referred to in the story, the latter having neither the power nor the inclination for such wholesale massacres as that described in the text, which are perfectly in character with the brutal and fantastic nature of the founder of the Druse religion.

[FN#183] i.e. the well-known island of that name (The Garden).

[FN#184] i.e. “whatever may betide” or “will I, nill I”?

[FN#185] Lit. she was cut off or cut herself off.

[FN#186] Lit.  “The convent of Clay.”

[FN#187] i.e. this is the time to approve thyself a man.

[FN#188] To keep her afloat.

[FN#189] Lit “Thou art the friend who is found (or present) (or the vicissitudes of Time (or Fortune).”

[FN#190] i.e. the officer whose duty it is to search out the estates of intestates and lay hands upon such property as escheats to the Crown for want of heirs.

[FN#191] i.e.  Sumatran.

[FN#192] i.e.  Alexander.

[FN#193] i.e. the blackness of the hair.

[FN#194] The ingenuity of the bride’s attendants, on the occasion of a wedding, is strained to the utmost to vary her attire and the manner in which the hair is dressed on the occasion of her being displayed to her husband, and one favourite trick consists in fastening her tresses about her chin and cheeks, so as to produce a sort of imitation of beard and whiskers.

[FN#195] Literal.

[FN#196] i.e.  God only knows if it be true or not.

[FN#197] Or rather appended to.  The Voyages of Sindbad the Sailor form no part of the scheme of Nights in this edition, but are divided into “Voyages” only and form a sort of appendix, following the Two hundredth Night.  See my “Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night,” Vol.  IX. pp. 307-8.

[FN#198] See my “Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night,” Vol.  V. pp. 202 and 210.

[FN#199] i.e. the porter and the other guests.

[FN#200] i.e. a mountainous island.

[FN#201] Kherabeh, lit. a hole.  Syn. ruin or destruction.