[219] It is needless here to enumerate the stores of various articles detailed in the original, as they will all be found in the vocabulary.
[220] Literally, "her own leavings." In the East it considered a very high compliment on the part of a person of rank to present his guest with the remnants of his own dish.
[221] Literally, "night of power or grandeur," would in that place be "without grandeur." The shabi kadr, or as the Arabs have it, lailatu-l-kadri, is a sacred festival held on the 27th of Ramazan, being, according to the Musalmans, the night on which the Kur,an was sent down from heaven.
[222] Meaning that, under present circumstances, her commands were altogether out of place.
[223] It is incumbent on good Mussulmans to wash the hands and face before prayers. Where water is not to be had, this ceremony, called tayammum is performed by using sand instead.
[224] Lukman is supposed to be the Greek slave Æsop, the author of the Fables. Bu 'Ali Sina is the famous Arab physician and philosopher, by mediæval writers erroneously called Avicenna.
[225] Khizr or Khwaja Khizr is the name of a saint or prophet, of great notoriety among the Muhammadans. The legends respecting his origin and life are as numerous as they are absurd and contradictory. Some say he was grand Vizir to Solomon, others to Alexander the Great. They all agree, however, that he discovered the water of immortality, and that in consequence of having drunk thereof, he still lives and wanders about on the earth.
[226] Kasra is the title of the King of Persia, hence the Greek forms Cyrus and Chosroes, and most probably the more modern forms Caesar, Kaisar, and Czar. The form Kisra used in the text is generally applied to Naushirwan.—Vide note 3, page 13.
[227] Ni'man, also Nu'man, the name of an ancient king of Hirat, in Arabia.
[228] The first day of the new year, which is celebrated with great splendour and rejoicings.