Which none but madmen know.
[293]. Lane (ii. 449) gives a tradition of the Prophet, “Whoso is in love, and acteth chastely, and concealeth (his passion) and dieth, dieth a martyr.” Sakar is No. 5 Hell for Magi, Guebres, Parsis, etc.; it is used in the comic Persian curse, “Fi’n-nári wa Sakar al-jadd w’al-pidar”—In Hell and Sakar his grandfather and his father.
[294]. Arab. “Sifr”: I have warned readers that whistling is considered a kind of devilish speech by the Arabs, especially the Badawin; and that the traveller must avoid it. It savours of idolatry: in the Koran we find (chapt. viii. 35), “Their prayer at the House of God (Ka’abah) is none other than whistling and hand-clapping;” and tradition says that they whistled through their fingers. Besides many of the Jinn have only round holes by way of mouths and their speech is whistling—a kind of bird-language like sibilant English.
[295]. Arab. “Kíl wa kál” = lit. “it was said and he said;” a popular phrase for chit-chat, tittle-tattle, prattle and prate, etc.
[296]. Arab. “Hadis,” comparing it with a tradition of the Prophet.
[297]. Arab. “Mikashshah,” the thick part of a midrib of a palm-frond soaked for some days in water and beaten out till the fibres separate. It makes an exceedingly hard, although not a lasting broom.
[298]. Persian, “the youth, the brave;” Sansk. Yuván; and Lat. Juvenis. The Kurd, in tales, is generally a sturdy thief; and in real life is little better.
[299]. Arab. “Yá Shátir;” lit. O clever one (in a bad sense).
[300]. Lane (ii. 453) has it, “that I may dress thy hair,” etc. This is Bowdlerising with a witness.
[301]. The sign of respect when a personage dismounts (Pilgrimage i. 77).