[5]. This famous tale is a sister prose-poem to the “Arabian Odyssey” Sindbad the Seaman; only the Bassorite’s travels are in Jinn-land and Japan. It has points of resemblance in “fundamental outline” with the Persian Romance of the Fairy Hasan Bánú and King Bahrám-i-Gúr. See also the Kathá (s.s.) and the two sons of the Asúra Máyá; the Tartar “Sidhi Kúr” (Tales of a Vampire or Enchanted Corpse) translated by Mr. W. J. Thoms (the Father of “Folk-lore” in 1846,) in “Lays and Legends of various Nations”; the Persian Bahár-i-Dánish (Prime of Lore); Miss Stokes’ “Indian Fairy Tales”; Miss Frere’s “Old Deccan Days” and Mrs. F. A. Steel’s “Tale of the King and his Seven Sons,” with notes by Lieut. (now Captain) R. C. Temple (Folk-lore of the Panjab, Indian Antiquary of March, 1882).
[6]. In the Mac. Edit. (vol. iv. i.) the merchant has two sons who became one a brazier (“dealer in copper-wares” says Lane iii. 385) and the other a goldsmith. The Bresl. Edit. (v. 264) mentions only one son, Hasan, the hero of the story which is entitled, “Tale of Hasan al-Basrí and the Isles of Wák Wák.”
[7]. Arab. Shásh Abyaz: this distinctive sign of the True Believer was adopted by the Persian to conceal his being a fire-worshipper, Magian or “Guebre.” The latter word was introduced from the French by Lord Byron and it is certainly far superior to Moore’s “Gheber.”
[8]. Persians being always a suspected folk.
[9]. Arab. Al-Búdikah afterwards used (Night dcclxxix.) in the sense of crucible or melting-pot, in mod. parlance a pipe-bowl; and also written Bútakah, an Arab distortion of the Persian “Bútah.”
[10]. Arab. Sindán or Sindiyán (Dozy.) Sandán, anvil; Sindán, big, strong (Steingass).
[11]. Arab. Kímiyá, (see vol. i. [305]) properly the substance which transmutes metals, the “philosopher’s stone” which, by the by, is not a stone; and comes from χυμεία, χυμός = a fluid, a wet drug, as opposed to Iksír (Al-) ξηρόν, ξήριον, a dry drug. Those who care to see how it is still studied will consult my History of Sindh (chapt. vii) and my experience which pointed only to the use made of it in base coinage. Hence in mod. tongue Kímiyáwi, an alchemist, means a coiner, a smasher. The reader must not suppose that the transmutation of metals is a dead study: I calculate that there are about one hundred workers in London alone.
[12]. Arab. “Al-Kír,” a bellows also = Kúr, a furnace. For the full meaning of this sentence, see my “Book of the Sword,” p. 119.
[13]. Lit. “bade him lean upon it with the shears” (Al-Káz).
[14]. There are many kinds of Kohls (Hindos. Surmá and Kajjal) used in medicine and magic. See Herklots, p. 227.