[FN#36] i.e. the vein said to have been peculiar to the descendants of Hashim, grandfather of Abbas and great-grandson of Mohammed, and to have started out between their eyes in moments of anger.

[FN#37] Lit. that I may do upon her sinister deeds.

[FN#38] “The pitcher comes not always back unbroken from the well.”—­English proverb.

[FN#39] i.e. of sorrow for his loss.

[FN#40] i.e. of grief for her loss.

[FN#41] Breslau Text, vol. vl. pp. 182-188, Nights ccccxxxii-ccccxxxiv.

[FN#42] The eighth Khalif (A.D. 717-720) of the house of Umeyyeh and the best and most single-hearted of all the Khalifs, with the exception of the second, Omar ben Khettab, from whom he was descended.

[FN#43] A celebrated statesman of the time, afterwards governor of Cuia* and Bassora under Omar ben Abdulaziz.

[FN#44] The most renowned poet of the first century of the Hegira.  He is said to have been equally skilled in all styles of composition grave and gay.

[FN#45] Or eternal.

[FN#46] Or “in him.”

[FN#47] Chief of the tribe of the Benou Suleim.  Et Teberi tells this story in a different way.  According to him, Abbas ben Mirdas (who was a well-known poet), being dissatisfied with the portion of booty allotted to him by the Prophet, refused it and composed a lampoon against Mohammed, who said to Ali, “Cut off this tongue which attacketh me,” i.e.  “Silence him by giving what will satisfy him,” whereupon Ali doubled the covetous chief’s share.

[FN#48] Bilal ibn Rebeh was the Prophet’s freedman and crier.  The word bilal signifies “moisture” or (metonymically) “beneficence” and it may well be in this sense (and not as a man’s name) that it is used in the text.

[FN#49] Said to have been the best poet ever produced by the tribe of Cureish.  His introduction here is an anachronism, as he died A.D. 712, five years before Omar’s accession.

[FN#50] i.e. odorem pudendorum amicæ?

[FN#51] A famous poet of the tribe of the Benou Udhreh, renowned for their passionate sincerity in love-matters.  He is celebrated as the lover of Butheineh, as Petrarch of Laura, and died A.D. 701, sixteen years before Omar’s accession.

[FN#52] A friend of Jemil and a poet of equal renown.  He is celebrated as the lover of Azzeh, whose name is commonly added to his, and kept a grocer’s shop at Medina.

[FN#53] i.e. in the attitude of prayer.

[FN#54] A famous satirical poet of the time, afterwards banished by Omar for the virulence of his lampoons.  His name is wrongly given by the text; it should be El Ahwes.  He was a descendant of the Ansar or (Medinan) helpers of Mohammed.

[FN#55] A famous poet of the tribe of the Benou Temim and a rival of Jerir, to whom he was by some preferred.  He was a notorious debauchee and Jerir, in one of the satires that were perpetually exchanged between himself and El Ferezdec, accuses his rival of having “never been a guest in any house, but he departed with ignominy and left behind him disgrace.”