[97]. i.e. One for each day in the Moslem year. For these object-lessons, somewhat in Kindergarten style, see the Book of Sindibad or The Malice of Women (vol. vi. [126]).
[98]. Arab. “Jahábizah” plur. of “Jahbiz” = acute, intelligent (from the Pers. Kahbad or Kihbad?).
[99]. Arab. “Nimr” in the Bresl. Edit. viii. 58. The Mac. Edit. suggests that the leopard is the lion’s Wazir.
[100]. Arab. “Kaun” lit. = Being, existence. Trébutien (iii. 20), has it, “Qu’est-ce que l’être (God), l’existence (Creation), l’être dans l’existence (the world), et la durée de l’être dans l’existence (the other world).
[101]. i.e. for the purpose of requital. All the above is orthodox Moslem doctrine, which utterly ignores the dictum “ex nihilo nihil fit;” and which would look upon Creation by Law (Darwinism) as opposed to Creation by miracle (e.g. the Mosaic cosmogony) as rank blasphemy. On the other hand the Eternity of Matter and its transcendental essence are tenets held by a host of Gnostics, philosophers and Eastern Agnostics.
[102]. This is a Moslem lieu commun; usually man is likened to one suspended in a bottomless well by a thin rope at which a rodent is continually gnawing and who amuses himself in licking a few drops of honey left by bees on the revetement.
[103]. A curious pendent to the Scriptural parable of the Unjust Steward.
[104]. Arab. “Rúh” Heb. Ruach: lit. breath (spiritus) which in the animal kingdom is the surest sign of life. See vol. v. [29]. Nothing can be more rigidly materialistic than the so-called Mosaic law.
[105]. Arab. “Al-Amr” which may also mean the business, the matter, the affair.
[106]. Arab. “Ukáb al-kásir,” lit. = the breaker eagle.