P. 77, note 4.—It was long denied that ants store up grain, because our English ants do not; but it is now well known that many foreign species, some of which inhabit countries bordering on the Mediterranean (including Palestine), store up large quantities of grass seeds in their nests; and one ant found in North America is said to actually cultivate a particular kind of grass.
P. 81, note 6.—Those interested in the question of the succession of the Patriarchs may refer to Joseph Jacobs' article on "Junior-right in Genesis,"[430] in which the writer argues that it was the original custom among the Hebrews, as among other nations, for the youngest son to succeed to his father's estates, after the elder ones had already established themselves elsewhere. Much may be urged in favour of this writer's conclusions, and it will be remembered that our own Monarchy was not recognised as hereditary until the time of the Conquest, the most able or the strongest relative of the late King usually succeeding to the Crown, and minors being always set aside, unless powerful politicians intended to use them as mere tools. In the Esthonian Kalevipoeg the system comes out still more strongly. Three sons are living at home at the time of the death of Kalev, but the youngest is designated by him as his successor, and is afterwards indicated by lot as the peculiar favourite of the gods.
P. 84, note 4.—Although it has nothing to do with the present story, yet I may point out the great importance of the bridle in all the folk-tales which deal with the transformation of human beings into domestic animals. It is clearly implied (though not actually expressed) in the story of Julnar the Sea Born (No. 153) that the power of Abdallah and Badr Basim over Queen Lab, while she bore the form of a mule, depended entirely on their keeping possession of the bridle (cf. Nights, vol. vii., p. 304, and note). There are many stories of magicians who transform themselves into horses, &c., for their friends to sell; but the bridle must on no account be given with the horse. Should this be neglected (purposely or otherwise) the magician is unable to reassume his human form at will. Cf. also Spitta-Bey's story No. 1 (infrà).
The Tale of the Warlock and the Young Cook of Baghdad (Pp. 95-112).
This story appears in Chavis and Cazotte's version, and in the various translations made from the French, in a very highly elaborated form, under the title of "The Adventures of Simoustapha, and the Princess Ilsetilsone." The Caliph and his Wazir are identified with Harun Al-Rashid and Ja'afar, but they suffer no transformations at the hands of the Magician after whose death Prince Simoustapha is protected by Setelpedour Ginatille, whose name is interpreted as meaning the Star of the Seven Seas, though the first name appears rather to be a corruption of Sitt El Bubúr. She is the queen of Ginnistan, and the daughter of Kokopilesobe (Satan), whose contests with Mahomet and Michael (the former of whom continues the conflict by "becoming man") are described on the approved Miltonic lines. Her chief councillors are Bahlisboull (Beelzebub) and Asmonchar (Asmodeus), but ultimately she falls in love with Simoustapha, and adjures her sovereignty, after which he carries her off, and marries her, upon which the mother of Ilsetilsone, "the sensible Zobeide, formed now a much truer and more favourable judgment of her daughter's happiness, since she had shared the heart of Simoustapha with Setelpedour, and at last agreed that the union of one man with two women might be productive of great happiness to all the three, provided that one of the wives happened to be a fairy." (Weber, ii. p. 50.) A most encouraging sentiment for would-be polygamists, truly, especially in Europe, where fairies appear to fly before the advance of civilisation as surely as the wild beasts of the forest!
P. 99.—These apparitions resemble those which usually precede the visions which appear in the well-known pool of ink. But the sweeper is not mentioned in the present story, nor do I remember reading of his appearing in cases of crystal seeing, though Dante Gabriel Rossetti introduces him into his fine poem, "Rose Mary," as preparing the way for the visions seen in the beryl:
"'I see a man with a besom grey
That sweeps the flying dust away.'
'Ay, that comes first in the mystic sphere;
But now that the way is swept and clear
Heed well what next you look on there.'"
P. 104, note 1.—Apropos of the importance of "three days," I may refer to the "three days and three nights" which Christ is commonly said to have passed in the tomb, and I believe that some mystics assert that three days is the usual period required by a man to recover consciousness after death.