Note [43.] It is common (as my sheykh has remarked) to say, of a very spacious chamber, that a horseman might gallop in it. The playing at goff by horsemen has been mentioned in a former tale. It was a common exercise in Egypt as well as Persia and other Eastern countries.

Note [44.] "Deleeleh" is an epithet used in modern Arabic as indicative of artifice, machination, or fraud.[378] It is often employed as a female nickname.

Note [45.] From this point to the end of the story of 'Azeez and 'Azeezeh I omit some portions which are tedious, and others which are more objectionable.

Note [46.] Any one may enter the public bath, but none can go out of it, without paying.[379]

Note [47.] The "kaạk," commonly called "kaḥk," has been described in Note 16 to Chapter i. De Sacy has remarked that our English word "cake" seems to be from the same origin.

Note [48.]—On Oaths. To explain this passage, I must repeat, with a few slight additions, some remarks which I have made in a former publication.[380]—Among a people by whom falsehood, in certain cases, is not only allowed but commended,[381] oaths of different kinds are more or less binding. In considering this subject, we should also remember that oaths may sometimes be expiated.[382] There are some oaths which, I believe, few Muslims would falsely take; such as saying, three times, "By God the Great!" (Wa-lláhi-l-Aẓeem), and the oath upon the muṣ-ḥaf (or copy of the Ḳur-án), saying, "By what this contains of the word of God!" This latter is rendered more binding by placing a sword with the sacred volume; and still more so, by the addition of a cake, or piece, of bread, and a handful of salt. But a form of oath which is generally yet more to be depended upon is that of saying, "I impose upon myself divorcement!" (that is, "the divorce of my wife, if what I say be false"); or, "I impose upon myself interdiction!" which has a similar meaning ("My wife be unlawful to me!"); or, "I impose upon myself a triple divorcement!" which binds a man by the irrevocable divorce of his wife. If a man use any of these three forms of oath falsely, his wife, if he have but one, is divorced by the oath itself, if proved to be false, without the absolute necessity of any further ceremony; and if he have two or more wives, he must, under such circumstances, choose one of them to put away.

In the case which this note is principally intended to illustrate, the wife of 'Azeez makes him swear by the sword and the Ḳur-án in the hope of inducing him to return to her; and by the oath of divorce, to make the inducement more strong, and that she might be enabled, in case he did not fulfil his vow, legally to contract another marriage as soon as she should have waited the period which the law requires.

Note [49.] The verses I have omitted as they are the same (with the exception of some slight variations) as the first, second, third, and fifth, of those commencing at page 185 in this volume; and the contents of the accompanying paper as being tiresome and in some parts unmeaning.

Note [50.] See the first note in the present series.

Note [51.] I have substituted "Sháh-Zemán" (signifying "King of the Age") for Shahramán; the latter being evidently a mistake of a copyist.