[97]. Here more is meant than meets the eye. When a Moslem’s head was struck off, in the days of the Caliphate, it was placed under his armpit, whereas that of a Jew or a Christian was set between his legs, close to the seat of dishonour.
[98]. In Chavis and Cazotte the lady calls to “Morigen, her first eunuch and says, Cut off his head!” Then she takes a theorbo and “composed the following couplets”—of which the first may suffice:—
Since my swain unfaithful proves,
Let him go to her he loves, etc., etc.
[99]. The device has already occurred in “Ali Baba.”
[100]. Arab. “Al-ma’húd min ghayr wa’d.”
[101]. In Chavis and Cazotte the king is Harun al-Rashid and the masterful young person proves to be Zeraida, the favourite daughter of Ja’afar Bermaki; whilst the go-between is not the young lady’s mother but Nemana, an old governess. The over-jealous husband in the Second Lady of Baghdad (vol. i. 179) is Al-Amín, son and heir of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid.
[102]. Vol. iii. pp. 168–179: and Scott’s “Story of the Second Lunatic,” pp. 45–51. The name is absurdly given as the youth was anything but a lunatic; but this is Arab symmetromania. The tale is virtually the same as “Women’s Wiles,” in Supplemental Nights, vol. ii. 137–151.
[103]. This forward movement on the part of the fair one is held to be very insulting by the modest Moslem. This incident is wanting in “Women’s Wiles.”
[104]. Arab. “Labbah,” usually the part of the throat where ornaments are hung or camels are stabbed.