[584]. Arab. “Sarmújah” = sandals, slippers, shoes, esp. those worn by slaves.
[585]. Suggesting carnal need.
[586]. The young man being grown up did not live in his father’s house.
[587]. Arab. “Tartara.” The lexicons give only the sigs. “chattering” and so forth. Prob. it is an emphatic reduplication of “Tarra” = sprouting, pushing forward.
[588]. The youth plays upon the bride’s curiosity, a favourite topic in Arab. and all Eastern folk-lore.
[589]. There is a confusion in the text easily rectified by the sequel. The facetia suggests the tale of the Schildburgers, who on a fine summer’s day carried the darkness out of the house in their caps and emptied it into the sunshine which they bore to the dark room.
[590]. A kindly phrase popularly addressed to the returning traveller whether long absent or not.
[591]. In the text “Hamákah.”
[592]. Arab. “Adi” which has occurred before.
[593]. This “little orgie,” as moderns would call it, strongly suggests the Egyptian origin of the tale.