[FN#100] Very simple and pathetic is this short sketch of the noble-minded Princess’s death.

[FN#101] In sign of dismissal (vol. iv. 62) I have noted that “throwing the kerchief” is not an Eastern practice:  the idea probably arose from the Oriental practice of sending presents in richly embroidered napkins and kerchiefs.

[FN#102] Curious to say both Lane and Payne omit this passage which appears in both texts (Mac. and Bul.).  The object is evidently to prepare the reader for the ending by reverting to the beginning of the tale; and its prolixity has its effect as in the old Romances of Chivalry from Amadis of Ghaul to the Seven Champions of Christendom.  If it provoke impatience, it also heightens expectation; “it is like the long elm-avenues of our forefathers; we wish ourselves at the end; but we know that at the end there is something great.”

[FN#103] Arab. “ala malakay bayti ’l-rahah;” on the two slabs at whose union are the round hole and longitudinal slit.  See vol. i. 221.

[FN#104] Here the exclamation wards off the Evil Eye from the Sword and the wearer:  Mr. Payne notes, “The old English exclamation ’Cock’s ‘ill!’ (i.e., God’s will, thus corrupted for the purpose of evading the statute of 3 Jac. i. against profane swearing) exactly corresponds to the Arabic”—­with a difference, I add.

[FN#105] Arab.  “Mustahakk"=deserving (Lane) or worth (Payne) the cutting.

[FN#106] Arab.  “Mashhad” the same as “Shahid"=the upright stones at the head and foot of the grave.  Lane mistranslates, “Made for her a funeral procession.”

[FN#107] These lines have occurred before.  I quote Lane.

[FN#108] There is nothing strange in such sudden elevations amongst Moslems and even in Europe we still see them occasionally.  The family in the East, however humble, is a model and miniature of the state, and learning is not always necessary to wisdom.

[FN#109] Arab.  “Farid” which may also mean “union-pearl.”

[FN#110] Trebutien (iii. 497) cannot deny himself the pleasure of a French touch making the King reply, “C’est assez; qu’on lui coupe la tete, car ces dernieres histoires surtout m’ont cause un ennui mortel.”  This reading is found in some of the MSS.

[FN#111] After this I borrow from the Bresl.  Edit. inserting passages from the Mac.  Edit.

[FN#112] i.e. whom he intended to marry with regal ceremony.

[FN#113] The use of coloured powders in sign of holiday-making is not obsolete in India.  See Herklots for the use of “Huldee” (Haldi) or turmeric-powder, pp. 64-65.

[FN#114] Many Moslem families insist upon this before giving their girls in marriage, and the practice is still popular amongst many Mediterranean peoples.

[FN#115] i.e.  Sumatran.

[FN#116] i.e.  Alexander, according to the Arabs; see vol. v. 252.

[FN#117] These lines are in vol. i. 217.