Book: Supplemental Nights, Volume 1

R >> Richard F. Burton >> Supplemental Nights, Volume 1







SHAHRAZAD AND SHAHRYAR.



As for King Shahryar, he wondered at Shahrazad with the utmost
wonder and drew her near to his heart of his abounding affection
for her; and she was magnified in his eyes and he said within
himself, "By Allah, the like of this is not deserving of
slaughter, for indeed the time favoureth us not with her equal.
By the Almighty, I have been reckless of mine affair, and had not
the Lord overcome me with His ruth and put his one at my service
so she might recount to me instances manifest and cases truthful
and admonitions goodly and traits edifying, such as should
restore me to the right road, I had come to ruin! Wherefore to
Allah be the praise here for and I beseech the Most High to make
my end with her like that of the Wazir and Shah Bakht." Then
sleep overcame the king and glory be unto Him who sleepeth
not![FN#562] When it was the Nine hundred and thirtieth Night,
Shahrazad said, "O king, there is present in my thought a tale
which treateth of women's trickery and wherein is a warning to
whoso will be warned and an admonishment to whoso will be
admonished and whoso hath sight and insight; but I fear lest the
hearing of this belittle me with the liege-lord and lower my
degree in his esteem; yet I hope that this will not be, because
'tis a rare tale. Women are indeed mischief-makers; their craft
and their cunning may not be told nor may their wiles be known;
while men enjoy their company and are not instant to uphold them
in the right way, neither are they vigilant over them with all
vigilance, but relish their society and take whatso is winsome
and regard not that which is other than this. Indeed, they are
like unto the crooked rib, which an thou go about to straighten,
thou distortest it, and which an thou persist in straightening,
thou breakest it,[FN#563] so it behoveth the wise man to be
silent concerning them." Thereupon quoth Dinarzad, "O sister
mine, bring forth that which is with thee and that which is
present to thy mind of the story concerning the guile of women
and their wiles, and have no fear lest this lessen thee with the
king; for that women are, like jewels, of all kinds and colours.
When a gem falleth into the hand of an expert, he keepeth it for
himself and leaveth all beside it. Eke he preferreth some of
them over others, and in this he is like the potter,[FN#564] who
filleth his liln with all the vessels he hath moulded and under
them kindleth his fire. When the making is done and he taketh
out that which is in the kiln, he findeth no help for it but that
he must break some of them, whilst others are what the folk need
and whereof they make use, while yet others there are which
return to be as they were. So fear thou not nor deem it a grave
matter to adduce that which thou knowest of the craft of women,
for that in this is profit for all folk." Then said Shahrazad,
"Then relate, O king (but Allah alone knoweth the secret things)
the Tale of-





End of Volume 11






Arabian Nights, Volume 11
Footnotes



[FN#1] Arab. "Al-Naim wa al-Yakzan." This excellent story is not
in the Mac. Or Bresl. Edits.; but is given in the Breslau Text,
iv. 134-189 (Nights cclxxii.-ccxci.). It is familiar to readers
of the old "Arabian Nights Entertainments" as "Abou-Hassan or the
Sleeper Awakened;" and as yet it is the only one of the eleven
added by Galland whose original has been discovered in Arabic:
the learned Frenchman, however, supplied it with embellishments
more suo, and seems to have taken it from an original fuller than
our text as is shown by sundry poetical and other passages which
he apparently did not invent. Lane (vol. ii. chap. 12), noting
that its chief and best portion is an historical anecdote related
as a fact, is inclined to think that it is not a genuine tale of
The Nights. He finds it in Al-Ishaki who finished his history
about the close of Sultan Mustafa the Osmanli's reign, circa A.H.
1032 (= 1623), and he avails himself of this version as it is
"narrated in a simple and agreeable manner." Mr. Payne remarks,
"The above title (Asleep and Awake) is of course intended to mark
the contrast between the everyday (or waking) hours of Aboulhusn
and his fantastic life in the Khalif's palace, supposed by him to
have passed in a dream;" I may add that amongst frolicsome
Eastern despots the adventure might often have happened and that
it might have given a hint to Cervantes.

[FN#2] i.e., The Wag. See vol. i. 311: the old version calls
him "the Debauchee."

[FN#3] Arab. "Al-Fars"; a people famed for cleverness and
debauchery. I cannot see why Lane omitted the Persian, unless he
had Persian friends at Cairo.

[FN#4] i.e., the half he intended for spending-money.

[FN#5] i.e., "men," a characteristic Arab idiom: here it applies
to the sons of all time.

[FN#6] i.e., make much of thee.

[FN#7] In Lane the Caliph is accompanied by "certain of his
domestics."

[FN#8] Arab. "Khubz Mutabbak," = bread baked in a platter,
instead of an oven, an earthen jar previously heated, to the
sides of which the scones or bannocks of dough are applied: "it
is lighter than oven-bread, especially if it be made thin and
leavened." See Al-Shakuri, a medical writer quoted by Dozy.

[FN#9] In other parts of The Nights Harun al-Rashid declines
wine-drinking.

[FN#10] The 'Allamah (doctissimus) Sayce (p. 212, Comparative
Philology, London, Trubner, 1885) goes far back for Khalifah = a
deputy, a successor. He begins with the Semitic (Hebrew?) root
"Khaliph" = to change, exchange: hence "Khaleph" = agio. From
this the Greeks got their {Greek} and Cicero his "Collybus," a
money-lender.

[FN#11] Arab. "Harfush" (in Bresl. Edit. iv. 138, "Kharfush"),
in popular parlance a "blackguard." I have to thank Mr.
Alexander J. Cotheal, of New York, for sending me a MS. Copy of
this tale.

[FN#12] Arab. "Ta'am," in Egypt and Somaliland = millet seed
(Holcus Sorghum) cooked in various ways. In Barbary it is
applied to the local staff of life, Kuskusu, wheaten or other
flour damped and granulated by hand to the size of peppercorns,
and lastly steamed (as we steam potatoes), the cullender-pot
being placed over a long-necked jar full of boiling water. It is
served with clarified butter, shredded onions and meat; and it
represents the Risotto of Northern Italy. Europeans generally
find it too greasy for digestion. This Barbary staff of life is
of old date and is thus mentioned by Leo Africanus in early sixth
century. "It is made of a lump of Dow, first set upon the fire,
in a vessel full of holes and afterwards tempered with Butter and
Pottage." So says good Master John Pory, "A Geographical
Historie of Africa, by John Leo, a Moor," London, 1600, impensis
George Bishop.

[FN#13] Arab. "Bi al-Salam" (pron. "Bissalam") = in the Peace
(of Allah).

[FN#14] And would bring him bad luck if allowed to go without
paying.

[FN#15] i.e., of the first half, as has been shown.

[FN#16] Arab. "Kumajah" from the Persian Kumash = bread
unleavened and baked in ashes. Egyptians use the word for
bannocks of fine flour.

[FN#17] Arab. "Kali," our "alcali" ; for this and other
abstergents see vol. i. 279.

[FN#18] These lines have occurred twice in vol. i. 117 (Night
xii.); I quote Mr. Payne.

[FN#19] Arab. "Ya 'llah, ya 'llah;" vulg. Used for "Look
sharp!" e.g., "Ya 'llah jari, ya walad" = Be off at once, boy."

[FN#20] Arab. "Banj akritashi," a term which has occurred
before.

[FN#21] A natural clock, called West Africans Cokkerapeek =
Cock-speak. All the world over it is the subject of
superstition: see Giles's "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio"
(i. 177), where Miss Li, who is a devil, hears a cock crow and
vanishes.

[FN#22] In Lane Al-Rashid "found at the door his young men
waiting for him and ordered them to convey Abu-l-Hasan upon a
mule and returned to the palace; Abu-l-Hasan being intoxicated
and insensible. And when the Khaleefah had rested himself in the
palace, he called for," etc.

[FN#23] Arab. "Kursi," Assyrian "Kussu" = throne; and "Korsai"
in Aramaic (or Nabathean as Al-Mas'udi calls it), the second
growth-period of the "Semitic" family, which supplanted Assyrian
and Babylonian, and became, as Arabic now is, the common speech
of the "Semitic" world.

[FN#24] Arab. "Makan mahjub," which Lane renders by "a private
closet," and Payne by a "privy place," suggesting that the Caliph
slept in a numero cent. So, when starting for the "Trakki
Campaign," Sir Charles Napier (of Sind), in his zeal for
lightening officers' baggage, inadvertently chose a water-closet
tent for his head-quarters--magno cum risu not of the staff, who
had a strange fear of him, but of the multitude who had not.

[FN#25] Arab. "Dar al-Salam," one of the seven "Gardens" into
which the Mohammedan Paradise is divided. Man's fabled happiness
began in a Garden (Eden) and the suggestion came naturally that
it would continue there. For the seven Heavens, see vol. viii.,
111.

[FN#26] Branch of Pearl, see vol. ii. 57.

[FN#27] Arab. "Kahbah," the lowest word (vol. i. 70),
effectively used in contrast with the speaker's surroundings.

[FN#28] Arab. "Ya kabiri," = mon brave, my good man.

[FN#29] This exaggeration has now become familiar to English
poets.

[FN#30] Like an Eastern he goes to the water-closet the first
thing in the morning, or rather dawn, and then washes
ceremonially before saying the first prayer. In Europe he would
probably wait until after breakfast. See vol. iii. 242.

[FN#31] I have explained why an Eastern does not wash in the
basin as Europeans do in vol. i. p. 241.

[FN#32] i.e., He was confused that he forgot. All Moslems know
how to pray, whether they pray or not.

[FN#33] The dawn-prayer consists of only four inclinations
(raka'at); two "Farz" (divinely appointed), and two Sunnah (the
custom of the Apostle). For the Raka'ah see Lane, M.E. chapt.
iii.; it cannot be explained without illustrations.

[FN#34] After both sets of prayers, Farz and Sunnah, the Moslem
looks over his right shoulder and says, "The Peace (of Allah) be
upon you and the ruth of Allah," and repeats the words over the
left shoulder. The salutation is addressed to the Guardian Angels
or to the bystanders (Moslems), who, however, do not return it.

[FN#35] i.e., Ibrahim of Mosul the musician. See vol. iv. 108.

[FN#36] Arab. "Liyuth" plur. of "layth," a lion: here warriors
are meant.

[FN#37] The Abbasides traced their descent from Al-Abbas,
Mohammed's uncle, and justly held themselves as belonging to the
family of the Prophet. See vol. ii. 61.

[FN#38] Arab. "Nimshah" = "half-sword." See vol. ii. p. 193.

[FN#39] i.e., May thy dwelling-place never fall into ruin. The
prayer has, strange to say, been granted. "The present city on
the eastern bank of the Tigris was built by Haroun al-Rashid, and
his house still stands there and is an object of reverent
curiosity." So says my friend Mr. Grattan Geary (vol. i. p. 212,
"Through Asiatic Turkey," London: Low, 1878). He also gives a
sketch of Zubaydah's tomb on the western bank of the Tigris near
the suburb which represents old Baghdad; it is a pineapple dome
springing from an octagon, both of brick once revetted with white
stucco.

[FN#40] In the Bresl. Edit. four hundred. I prefer the
exaggerated total.

[FN#41] i.e., the raised recess at the upper end of an Oriental
saloon, and the place of honour, which Lane calls by its Egyptian
name "Liwan." See his vol. i. 312 and his M.E. chapt. i.: also
my vol. iv. p. 71.

[FN#42] "Bit o'Musk."

[FN#43] "A gin," a snare.

[FN#44] "A gift," a present. It is instructive to compare Abu
al-Hasan with Sancho Panza, sprightly Arab wit with grave Spanish
humour.

[FN#45] i.e., he fell down senseless. The old version has "his
head knocked against his knees."

[FN#46] Arab. "Waddi" vulg. Egyptian and Syrian for the
classical "Addi" (ii. of Adu = preparing to do). No wonder that
Lane complains (iii. 376) of the vulgar style, abounding in
errors."

[FN#47] O Apple, O Repose o' Hearts, O Musk, O Choice Gift.

[FN#48] Arab. "Doghri," a pure Turkish word, in Egypt meaning
"truly, with truth," straightforwardly; in Syria = straight
(going), directly.

[FN#49] Arab. "Maristan," see vol. i. 288.

[FN#50] The scene is a rechauffe of Badr al-Din Hasan and his
wife, i. 247.

[FN#51] Arab. "Janzir," another atrocious vulgarism for
"Zanjir," which however, has occurred before.

[FN#52] Arab. "Arafshah."

[FN#53] In the "Mishkat al-Masabih" (ii. 341), quoted by Lane,
occurs the Hadis, "Shut your doors anights and when so doing
repeat the Basmalah; for the Devil may not open a door shut in
Allah's name." A pious Moslem in Egypt always ejaculates, "In
the name of Allah, the Compassionating," etc., when he locks a
door, covers up bread, doffs his clothes, etc., to keep off
devils and daemons.

[FN#54] An Arab idiom meaning, "I have not found thy good
fortune (Ka'b = heel, glory, prosperity) do me any good."

[FN#55] Arab. "Ya Nakbah" = a calamity to those who have to do
with thee!

[FN#56] Koran cxii., the "Chapter of Unity." See vol. iii. 307

[FN#57] See vol. iii. 222.

[FN#58] Here the author indubitably speaks for himself,
forgetting that he ended Night cclxxxi. (Bresl. Iv. 168), and
began that following with Shahrazad's usual formula.

[FN#59] i.e., "Delight of the vitals" (or heart).

[FN#60] The trick is a rechauffe of the trick played on Al-
Rashid and Zubaydah.

[FN#61] "Kalb" here is not heart, but stomach. The big toes of
the Moslem corpse are still tied in most countries, and in some a
sword is placed upon the body; but I am not aware that a knife
and sale (both believed to repel evil spirits) are so used in
Cairo.

[FN#62] The Moslem, who may not wear unmixed silk during his
lifetime, may be shrouded in it. I have noted that the
"Shukkah," or piece, averages six feet in length.

[FN#63] A vulgar ejaculation; the "hour" referring either to
birth or to his being made one of the Caliph's equerries.

[FN#64] Here the story-teller omits to say that Masrur bore
witness to the Caliph's statement.

[FN#65] Arab. "Wa kuntu raihah ursil warak," the regular Fellah
language.

[FN#66] Arab. "'Irk al-Hashimi." See vol. ii. 19. Lane
remarks, "Whether it was so in Hashim himself (or only in his
descendants), I do not find; but it is mentioned amongst the
characteristics of his great-grandson, the Prophet."

[FN#67] Arab. "Bostan al-Nuzhah," whose name made the stake
appropriate. See vol. ii. 81.

[FN#68] Arab. "Tamasil" = generally carved images, which,
amongst Moslem, always suggest idols and idolatry.

[FN#69] The "Shubbak" here would be the "Mashrabiyah," or
latticed balcony, projecting from the saloon-wall, and containing
room for three or more sitters. It is Lane's "Mesrebeeyeh,"
sketched in M.E. (Introduction) and now has become familiar to
Englishmen.

[FN#70] This is to show the cleverness of Abu al-Hasan, who had
calculated upon the difference between Al-Rashid and Zubaydah.
Such marvels of perspicacity are frequent enough in the folk-lore
of the Arabs.

[FN#71] An artful touch, showing how a tale grows by repetition.
In Abu al-Hasan's case (infra) the eyes are swollen by the
swathes.

[FN#72] A Hadis attributed to the Prophet, and very useful to
Moslem husbands when wives differ overmuch with them in opinion.

[FN#73] Arab. "Masarat fi-ha," which Lane renders, "And she
threw money to her."

[FN#74] A saying common throughout the world, especially when
the afflicted widow intends to marry again at the first
opportunity.

[FN#75] Arab. "Ya Khalati" = O my mother's sister; addressed by
a woman to an elderly dame.

[FN#76] i.e., That I may put her to shame.

[FN#77] Arab. "Zalabiyah."

[FN#78] Arab. "'Ala al-Kaylah," which Mr. Payne renders by
"Siesta-carpet." Land reads "Kiblah" ("in the direction of the
Kiblah") and notes that some Moslems turn the corpse's head
towards Meccah and others the right side, including the face. So
the old version reads "feet towards Mecca." But the preposition
"Ala" requires the former sig.

[FN#79] Many places in this text are so faulty that translation
is mere guess-work; e.g. "Basharah" can hardly be applied to ill-
news.

[FN#80] i.e. of grief for his loss.

[FN#81] Arab. "Tobani" which Lane renders "two clods." I have
noted that the Tob (Span. Adobe = Al-Tob) is a sunbaked brick.
Beating the bosom with such material is still common amongst
Moslem mourners of the lower class, and the hardness of the blow
gives the measure of the grief.

[FN#82] i.e. of grief for her loss.

[FN#83] Arab. "Ihtirak" often used in the metaphorical sense of
consuming, torturing.

[FN#84] Arab. "Halawat," lit.=a sweetmeat, a gratuity, a thank-
offering.

[FN#85] Bresl. Edit., vol. vi. Pp. 182-188, Nights ccccxxxii.-
ccccxxxiv.

[FN#86] "The good Caliph" and the fifth of the Orthodox, the
other four being Abu Bakr, Omar, Osman and Ali; and omitting the
eight intervening, Hasan the grandson of the Prophet included.
He was the 13th Caliph and 8th Ommiade A.H. 99-101 (=717-720) and
after a reign of three years he was poisoned by his kinsmen of
the Banu Umayyah who hated him for his piety, asceticism, and
severity in making them disgorge their ill-gotten gains. Moslem
historians are unanimous in his praise. Europeans find him an
anachorete couronne, a froide et respectable figure, who lacked
the diplomacy of Mu'awiyah and the energy of Al-Hajjaj. His
principal imitator was Al-Muhtadi bi'llah, who longed for a
return to the rare old days of Al-Islam.

[FN#87] Omar 'Adi bin Artah; governor of Kufah and Basrah under
"the good Caliph."

[FN#88] Jarir al-Khatafah, one of the most famous of the
"Islami" poets, i.e. those who wrote in the first century (A.H.)
before the corruption of language began. (See Terminal Essay, p.
230). Ibn Khallikan notices him at full length i. 294.

[FN#89] Arab. "Bakiyah," which may also mean eternal as opposed
to "Faniyah" = temporal. Omar's answer shows all the narrow-
minded fanaticism which distinguished the early Moslems: they
were puritanical as any Praise-God-Barebones, and they hated
"boetry and bainting" as hotly as any Hanoverian.

[FN#90] The Saturday Review (Jan. 2, '86), which has honoured me
by the normal reviling in the shape of a critique upon my two
first vols., complains of the "Curious word Abhak" as "a
perfectly arbitrary and unusual group of Latin letters." May I
ask Aristarchus how he would render "Sal'am" (vol ii. 24), which
apparently he would confine to "Arabic MSS."(!). Or would he
prefer A(llah) b(less) h(im) a(nd) k(eep) "W.G.B." (whom God
bless) as proposed by the editor of Ockley? But where would be
the poor old "Saturnine" if obliged to do better than the authors
it abuses?

[FN#91] He might have said "by more than one, including the
great Labid."

[FN#92] Fi-hi either "in him" (Mohammed) or "in it" (his
action).

[FN#93] Chief of the Banu Sulaym. According to Tabari, Abbas
bin Mirdas (a well-known poet), being dissatisfied with the booty
allotted to him by the Prophet, refused it and lampooned
Mohammed, who said to Ali, "Cut off this tongue which attacketh
me," i.e. "Silence him by giving what will satisfy him."
Thereupon Ali doubled the Satirist's share.

[FN#94] Arab. "Ya Bilal": Bilal ibn Rabah was the Prophet's
freedman and crier: see vol. iii. 106. But bilal also signifies
"moisture" or "beneficence," "benefits": it may be intended for a
double entendre but I prefer the metonymy.

[FN#95] The verses of this Kasidah are too full of meaning to be
easily translated: it is fine old poetry.

[FN#96] i.e. of the Koraysh tribe. For his disorderly life see
Ibn Khallikan ii. 372: he died, however, a holy death, battling
against the Infidels in A.H. 93 (= 711-12), some five years
before Omar's reign.

[FN#97] Arab. "Bayn farsi-k wa 'l-dami" = lit. between faeces
and menses, i.e., the foulest part of his mistress's person. It
is not often that The Nights are "nasty"; but here is a case.
See vol. v. 162.

[FN#98] "Jamil the Poet," and lover of Buthaynah: see vol. ii.
102, Ibn Khallikan (i.331), and Al-Mas'udi vi. 381, who quotes
him copiously. He died A.H. 82 (= 701), or sixteen years before
Omar's reign.

[FN#99] Arab. "Safih" = the slab over the grave.

[FN#100] A contemporary and friend of Jamil and the famous lover
of Azzah. See vol. ii. 102, and Al-Mas'udi, vi. 426. The word
"Kuthayyir" means "the dwarf." Term. Essay, 231.

[FN#101] i.e. in the attitude of prayer.

[FN#102] In Bresl. Edit. "Al-Akhwass," clerical error, noticed
in Ibn Khallikan i. 526. His satires banished him to Dahlak
Island in the Red Sea, and he died A.H. 179 (= 795-96).

[FN#103] Another famous poet Abu Firas Hammam or Humaym (dimin.
Form), as debauched as Jarir, who died forty days before him in
A.H. 110 (= 728-29), as Basrah. Cf. Term. Essay, 231.

[FN#104] A famous Christian poet. See C. de Perceval, Journ.
Asiat. April, 1834, Ibn Khallikan iii. 136, and Term. Essay, 231.

[FN#105] The poet means that unlike other fasters he eats meat
openly. See Pilgrimage (i. 110), for the popular hypocrisy.

[FN#106] Arab. "Batha" the lowlands and plains outside the
Meccan Valley. See al-Mas'udi, vi. 157. Mr. (now Sir) W. Muir
in his Life of Mahomet, vol. i., p. ccv., remarks upon my
Pilgrimage (iii.252) that in placing Arafat 12 miles from Meccah,
I had given 3 miles to Muna, + 3 to Muzdalifah + 3 to Arafat = 9.
But the total does not include the suburbs of Meccah and the
breadth of the Arafat-Valley.

[FN#107] The words of the Azan, vol. i. 306.

[FN#108] Wine in Arabic is feminine, "Shamul" = liquor hung in
the wind to cool, a favourite Arab practice often noticed by the
poets.

[FN#109] i.e. I will fall down dead drunk.

[FN#110] Arab. "Aram," plur. of Irm, a beautiful girl, a white
deer. The word is connected with the Heb. Reem (Deut. xxxiii.
17), which has been explained unicorn, rhinoceros, and aurochs.
It is at the Ass. Rimu, the wild bull of the mountains, provided
with a human face, and placed at the palace-entrance to frighten
away foes, demon or human.

[FN#111] i.e. she who ensnares [all] eyes.

[FN#112] Imam, the spiritual title of the Caliph, as head of the
Faith and leader (lit. "foreman," Antistes) of the people at
prayer. See vol. iv. 111.

[FN#113] For Yamamah see vol. ii. 104. Omar bin Abd-al-Aziz was
governor of the province before he came to the Caliphate. To the
note on Zarka, the blue-eyed Yamamite, I may add that Marwan was
called Ibn Zarka, son of "la femme au drapeu bleu," such being
the sign of a public prostitute. Al-Mas'udi, v. 509.

[FN#114] Rain and bounty, I have said, are synonymous.

[FN#115] About L4.

[FN#116] i.e. what is thy news.

[FN#117] Bresl. Edit., vol. vi. pp. 188-9, Night ccccxxxiv.

[FN#118] Of this masterful personage and his energie indomptable
I have spoken in vol. iv. 3, and other places. I may add that he
built Wasit city A.H. 83 and rendered eminent services to
literature and civilization amongst the Arabs. When the Ommiade
Caliph Abd al-Malik was dying he said to his son Walid, "Look to
Al-Hajjaj and honour him for, verily, he it is who hath covered
for you the pulpits; and he is thy sword and thy right hand
against all opponents; thou needest him more than he needeth
thee, and when I die summon the folk to the covenant of
allegiance; and he who saith with his head--thus, say thou with
thy sword--thus" (Al-Siyuti, p 225) yet the historian simply
observes, "the Lord curse him."

[FN#119] i.e. given through his lieutenant.

[FN#120] "Necks" per synecdochen for heads. The passage is a
description of a barber-surgeon in a series of double-entendres
the "nose-pierced" (Makhzum) is the subject who is led by the
nose like a camel with halter and ring and the "breaker" (hashim)
may be a breaker of bread as the word originally meant, or
breaker of bones. Lastly the "wealth" (mal) is a recondite
allusion to the hair.

[FN#121] Arab. "Kadr" which a change of vowel makes "Kidr" = a
cooking-pot. The description is that of an itinerant seller of
boiled beans (Ful mudammas) still common in Cairo. The "light of
his fire" suggests a double-entendre some powerful Chief like
masterful King Kulayb. See vol. ii. 77.

[FN#122] Arab. "Al-Sufuf," either ranks of fighting-men or the
rows of thread on a loom. Here the allusion is to a weaver who
levels and corrects his threads with the wooden spate and shuttle
governing warp and weft and who makes them stand straight (behave
aright). The "stirrup" (rikab) is the loop of cord in which the
weaver's foot rests.

[FN#123] "Adab." See vols. i. 132, and ix. 41.

[FN#124] Bresl. Edit., vol. vi. pp. 189-191, Night ccccxxxiv.

[FN#125] Arab. "Za'mu," a word little used in the Cal., Mac. or
Bul. Edit.; or in the Wortley Montague MS.; but very common in
the Bresl. text.

[FN#126] More double-entendres. "Thou hast done justice"
('adalta) also means "Thou hast swerved from right;" and "Thou
hast wrought equitably" (Akasta iv. of Kast) = "Thou hast
transgressed."

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