Note [27.] The more simple interpretation is this:—Idle games are more suited to thee than affairs of love.

Note [28.] El-Ḳazweenee makes a remark somewhat similar to this at the close of his account of the date; but the interpretation of the meaning conveyed by the date-stone in our text is very far-fetched: my sheykh, in a marginal note, gives one perfectly apposite: the date-stone is called "nawáyeh," and more properly "nawáh" and "nawà;" and the last of these words signifies also "distance," "absence," &c., and is often used to express the state of one who is far from loving or being a lover: it implies also, in this case, that, if he slept again, she would cast him off.

Note [29.] The locust-fruit, by its dark colour, and the length of time it remains in a state of preservation after it has been plucked, is rendered a fit emblem of a heart long enduring separation from the object of its love.

Note [30.] "Dirhem," I have before mentioned, is the name of a silver coin: it is also the name of a weight, very nearly equivalent to forty-eight English grains; and being here described as of iron, we must understand it in the latter sense.

Note [31.] I suppose the iron dirhem to be symbolic of the eye because it is round, and perhaps likewise because the Arabic term for "iron" (namely "ḥadeed") has also the signification of "sharp" or "piercing;" in which sense it is often applied to the sight (as in the Ḳur-án, ch. l. v. 21). See the next note.

Note [32.] From this double oath, it seems to me probable, that, by the circular form of the dirhem, an allusion was meant to God (as being without beginning or end), and that the matter of which it was composed (from what I have said in the note immediately preceding), as well as its form, conveyed the allusion to the eye.

Note [33.] This gentle kneading or pressing of the limbs, which is one of the operations performed in the bath, is often practised by the Arabs for the purpose of inducing sleep.

Note [34.] This is a kind of nebeedh. (See Note 22 to Chapter iii.) The same fruit is also stewed with meat. It is called in Arabic "'onnáb."

Note [35.] See Note 18 to Chapter vii.

Note [36.] It is seen that 'Azeezeh speaks of herself in the masculine gender in the verses here inserted; but this is in accordance with a common Arab custom.