[102]. Arab. “’Ind ’uzzáti ’s-siníni” = lit. the thorny shrubs of ground bare of pasture.
[103]. This is another form of “inverted speech,” meaning the clean contrary: see vols. ii. 265; vi. 262; and viii. 179.
[104]. In text “Lam yakthir Khayrak”: this phrase (pronounced “Kattir Khayrak”) is the Egyptian (and Moslem) equivalent for our “thank you.” Vols. iv. 6; v. 171. Scott (p. 267) makes Al-Hajjaj end with, “Cursed is he who doth not requite a sincere adviser, declareth our sacred Koran.”
[105]. In the W. M. MS. this tale is followed by the “History of Uns al-Wujúd and the Wazir’s daughter Rose-in-hood,” for which see vol. v. 32 et seq. Then comes the long romance “Mázin of Khorásán,” which is a replica of “Hasan of Bassorah and the King’s daughter of the Jinn” (vol. viii. 7). I have noted (vol. x. 78) that this story shows us the process of transition from the Persian original to the Arabic copy. “Mázin” is also the P. N. of an Arab tribe: De Sacy, Chrest. i. 406.
[106]. MS. vol. v. pp. 92–94: Scott, vol. vi. 343: Gauttier, vi. 376. The story is a replica of the Mock Caliph (vol. iv. 130) and the Tale of the First Lunatic (Suppl. vol. iv.); but I have retained it on account of the peculiar freshness and naïvete of treatment which distinguishes it, also as a specimen of how extensively editors and scriveners can vary the same subject.
[107]. In text “Natar” (watching) for “Nataf” (indigestion, disgust).
[108]. Here again we have the formula “Kála ’l-Ráwí” = the reciter saith, showing the purpose of the MS. See Terminal Essay, p. 163.
[109]. It were well to remind the reader that “Khalífah” (never written “Khalíf”) is = a viceregent or vicar, i.e. of the Prophet of Allah, not of Allah himself, a sense which was especially deprecated by the Caliph Abubakr as “vicar” supposes l’absence du chef; or Dieu est présent partout et à tout instant. Ibn Khal. ii. 496.
[110]. This tale, founded on popular belief in tribadism has already been told in vol. vii. 130: in the W. M. MS. it occupies 23 pages (pp. 95–118). Scott (vi. 343) has “Mesroor retired and brought in Ali Ibn Munsoor Damuskkee, who related to the Caliph a foolish narrative (!) of two lovers of Bussorah, each of whom was coy when the other wished to be kind.” The respectable Britisher evidently cared not to “read between the lines.”
[111]. In pop. parlance “Let us be off.”