[247] See note on page [303], and note 1 on page [306].
[248] The Vazír forgot that he had previously told the king that the Khoja was “notorious for his immorality”—p. 392.
[249] Among the slanderous sayings about women ascribed (falsely, many of them, no doubt) to Muhammed is this: “They are deficient in sense and religion, and hence are more disposed than men to practise what is unlawful.”—In Eastern tales most magical things are done by women.
[250] In the “History of Farrukhrúz”—p. 179—we find that it is dangerous to open shops before sunrise, because if shopkeepers do so they become liable to be injured by genii and demons; and it will be seen from the present story that the wretched narrator had too much cause to regret his “early opening” practice.
[251] We see from this story that Oriental sharpers are not a whit behind their European brethren in swindling tricks—such as, despite the publicity given to them in the newspapers, continue to be perpetrated every day in great cities.
[252] Mahmúd ruled in Ghazní from A.D. 997 till A.D. 1030. It was at his request that the Persian poet Firdausí composed his grand epic, the Sháh Náma, or Book of Kings.
[253] It is seldom such a sentiment occurs in Eastern books. Alms-giving is enjoined by the Kurán on all who have anything to give, and the rapacity of Asiatic despots has not been conducive to a spirit of independence among their subjects.
[254] A parasang is a Persian measure of three or four miles, more or less in different countries.
[255] That is to say, all who are outside the pale of Islám; like Gentiles with the Jews, and Barbarians with the Greeks.
[256] A most absurd idea, and a foul slander on the “chosen people”—not to say that all are to be considered as “Israelites indeed,” and so forth. During the middle ages in Europe it was generally believed that the Jews, on certain of their religious festivals, stole and murdered little Christian children!—See the Tale of the Prioress in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and in Originals and Analogues (printed for the Chaucer Society, pp. 251, 257), “The Boy killed by a Jew for singing ‘Gaude Maria!’” and “The Paris Beggar-boy murdered by a Jew for singing ‘Alma redemptoris mater!’” Such idle stories were invented and diligently circulated by the monks, and sore persecution had the unfortunate and innocent Jews to suffer in consequence!