第127章

[392]In all hot-damp countries it is necessary to clothe dogs，morning and evening especially： otherwise they soon die of rheumatism and loin disease.

[393]=Beatrice.A fragment of these lines is in Night cccxv.

See also Night dcclxxxi.

[394]The Moslems borrowed the horrible idea of a 'jealous God'from their kinsmen，the Jews.Every race creates its own Deity after the fashion of itself： Jehovah is distinctly a Hebrew，the Christian Theos is originally a Judaeo-Greek and Allah a half-Badawi Arab.In this tale Allah，despotic and unjust，brings a generous and noble-minded man to beggary，simply because he fed his dogs off gold plate.Wisdom and morality have their infancy and youth： the great value of such tales as these is to show and enable us to measure man's development.

[395]In Trebutien （Lane ii.501） the merchant says to ex-Dives，'Thou art wrong in charging Destiny with injustice.If thou art ignorant of the cause of thy ruin I will acquaint thee with it.Thou feddest the dogs in dishes of gold and leftest the poor to die of hunger.'A superstition，but intelligible.

[396]Arab.'Sarraf'= a money changer.

[397]Arab.'Birkah，'a common feature in the landscapes of Lower Egypt： it is either a natural-pool left by the overflow of the Nile； or，as in the text，a built-up tank，like the 'Talab'for which India is famous.Sundry of these Birkahs are or were in Cairo itself； and some are mentioned in The Nights.

[398]This sneer at the 'military'and the 'police'might come from an English convict's lips.

[399]Lit.'The conquering King；'a dynastic title assumed by Salah al-Din （Saladin） and sundry of the Ayyubi （Eyoubite）

sovereigns of Egypt，whom I would call the 'Soldans.'

[400]'Kahirah'（i.e.City of Mars the Planet） is our Cairo：

Bulak is the port suburb on the Nile，till 1858 wholly disjoined from the City； and Fostat is the outlier popularly called Old Cairo.The latter term is generally translated 'town of leathern tents；'but in Arabic 'fustat'is an abode of Sha'ar=hair，such as horse-hair，in fact any hair but 'Wabar'=soft hair，as the camel's.

See Lane，Lex.

[401]Arab.'Adl'=just： a legal-witness to whose character there is no tangible objection a prime consideration in Moslem law.

Here 'Adl'is evidently used ironically for a hypocritical-rascal [402]Lane （ii.503） considers three thousand dinars （the figure in the Bres.Edit.） 'a more probable sum.'Possibly： but，I repeat，exaggeration is one of the many characteristics of The Nights.

[403]Calc.Edit.'Kazir：'the word is generally written 'Kazdir，'Sansk.Kastira，born probably from the Greek .

[404]This would have passed for a peccadillo in the 'good old days.'As late as 1840 the Arnaut soldiers used to 'pot'any peasant who dared to ride （instead of walking） past their barracks.

Life is cheap in hot countries.

[405]Koran，xii.46 --a passage expounding the doctrine of free will： 'He who doth right doth it to the advantage of his own soul； and he who doth evil，doth it against the same； for thy Lord，'etc.

[406]Arab.'Suffah'； whence our Sofa.In Egypt it is a raised shelf generally of stone，about four feet high and headed with one or more arches.It is an elaborate variety of the simple 'Tak'or niche，a mere hollow in the thickness of the wall.Both are used for such articles as basin.ewer and soap； coffee cups，water bottles etc.

[407]In Upper Egypt （Apollinopolis Parva） pronounced 'Goos，'the Coptic Kos-Birbir，once an emporium of the Arabian trade.

[408]This would appeal strongly to a pious Moslem.

[409]i.e.'the father of a certain person'； here the merchant whose name may have been Abu'l Hasan，etc.The useful word （thingumbob，what d'ye call him，donchah，etc.） has been bodily transferred into Spanish and Portuguese Fulano.It is of old genealogy，found in the Heb.Fuluni which applies to a person only in Ruth iv.I，but is constantly so employed by Rabbinic writers.

The Greek use {Greek Letters}.

[410]Lit.'by his （i.e.her） hand，'etc.Hence Lane （ii.507）

makes nonsense of the line.

[411]Arab.'Badrah，'as has been said，is properly a weight of 10，000 dirhams or drachmas； but popularly used for largesse thrown to the people at festivals.

[412]Arab.'Allaho A'alam'； （God knows！） here the popular phrase for our，'I know not；'when it would be rude to say bluntly 'M'adri'= 'don't know.'

[413]There is a picturesque Moslem idea that good deeds become incarnate and assume human shapes to cheer the doer in his grave，to greet him when he enters Paradise and so forth.It was borrowed from the highly imaginative faith of the Guebre，the Zoroastrian.

On Chinavad or Chanyud-pul （Sirat），the Judgement bridge，37 rods （rasan） long，straight and 37 fathoms broad for the good，and crooked and narrow as sword-edge for the bad，a nymph-like form will appear to the virtuous and say，'I am the personification of thy good deeds！'In Hell there will issue from a fetid gale a gloomy figure with head like a minaret，red eyeballs，hooked nose，teeth like pillars，spear-like fangs，snaky locks etc.and when asked who he is he will reply，'I am the personification of thine evil acts！'（Dabistan i.285.） The Hindus also personify everything.

[414]Arab.'Banu Israil；'applied to the Jews when theirs was the True Faith i.e.before the coming of Jesus，the Messiah，whose mission completed that of Moses and made it obsolete （Matruk） even as the mission of Jesus was completed and abrogated by that of Mohammed.The term 'Yahud'=Jew is applied scornfully to the Chosen People after they rejected the Messiah，but as I have said 'Israelite'is used on certain occasions，Jew on others.

[415]Arab.'Kasa'ah，'a wooden bowl，a porringer； also applied to a saucer.