[82]. Baghdad is called House of Peace, amongst other reasons, from the Dijlah (Tigris) River and Valley “of Peace.” The word was variously written Baghdád, Bághdád, (our old Bughdaud and Bagdat), Baghzáz, Baghzán, Baghdán, Baghzám and Maghdád as Makkah and Bakkah (Koran iii. 90). Religious Moslems held Bágh (idol) and Dád (gift) an ill-omened conjunction, and the Greeks changed it to Eirenopolis. (See Ouseley’s Oriental Collections, vol. i. pp. 18–20.)
[83]. This is a popular saying but hardly a “vulgar proverb.” (Lane iii. 522). It reminds rather of Shakespear’s:
“So loving to my mother,
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly.”
[84]. i.e. God forbid that I should oppose thee!
[85]. Here the writer again forgets apparently that Shahrazad is speaking: she may, however, use the plural for the singular when speaking of herself.
[86]. i.e. She would have pleaded ill-treatment and lawfully demanded to be sold.
[87]. The Hindus speak of “the only bond that woman knows—her heart.”
[88]. i.e. a rarity, a present (especially in Persian).