1,051. Lit., “(who) can draw aside the neck of the rhinoceros.” (Cf. gardan kaj, or kham, kardan, “to bend the neck,” i.e., “to humble,” or “to humble oneself”.)

The use of the lasso is presumably implied.

1,052. A play upon the words chīn, “wrinkle,” and Chīn, “China.”

1,053. It is probable that Hindū has here the sense of Hindū-yi shab, “the Hindū night,” since Bahrām’s victory was gained by a night attack. It may, however, mean Hindī, “an Indian (sword).” (The I.O. B. ed. reads Hindī.)

Again, Hindū signifies also “slave”, “watchman”, which are also possible meanings here, the sense being presumably “a few slaves, or watchmen”.

1,054. Faghfūr, says Albīrūnī, was the special title of the emperor of China. It is a later Arabicized form of baghpūr; cf. the Akhæmenian Persian baga-putra, “the son of God.”

1,055. A very doubtful hemistich. I have translated from the I.O. B. ed.,

khūd dar tārak-ash du-lakht kunad. I.O. MSS. 777, 1168, and 1491 read,

chun dar-ī ṭāram-ash du-lakht kunad, “he splits it like the door of his round tent.”

The B. ed. of 1328 has,

chun dar-ī āsmān du-lakht kunad, “he splits it like the milky way in two.”

This, as seen from the following description of the milky way, is not an unreasonable reading:

“A dimly luminous zone encompassing the heavens as a great circle, which intersects the celestial equator at an angle of 63°, and has its northern pole in R.A. 12 h. 47 m., D. + 27°. It bifurcates in Cygnus, and the two galactic streams run side by side over an area of 120°, reuniting near the Southern Cross… It is interrupted by a wide gap in Argo, where it forms a fan-shaped expansion 20° across.” Besides these, other rifts and vacuities are described as abounding, one measuring 8° by 5°.

Dar-i āsmān might possibly however mean simply, “the door of the sky,” which is said to be opened sometimes by the angels, by which it is implied that the time has come when prayers are heard or granted. Such an interpretation, however, would seem rather far-fetched. The dar in dar-i āsmān, “the milky way,” is for dara, valley.

1,056. i.e., he gives an antidote to his friends against the poison of their enemies.

For the “snake-stone”, see Note 1,693.

1,057. i.e., wherever he rides he checks his enemies.

His bridle is likened to a dragon or serpent.

1,058. Cf. the expressions gul bar tārak zadan, and gul badastār zadan, “to fasten a rose upon the head, or turban.”

1,059. “To bore pearls” is “to speak eloquently”.

1,060. The Fish; i.e., the legendary Fish that supports the Ox on which the earth was imagined to rest; and hence, “the lowest place or depth.”

“The moon,” which is in the first sky, the sky immediately over the earth, is opposed, as the highest, to “the Fish”, the lowest. (See also Notes 739 and 1,416.)

1,061. “The relations”; lit., “the accounts.” i.e., What man should say whether the crown is rightly or wrongly on the king’s head?

1,062. “Protection”; lit., “shadow,” sāya. I.O. MS. 1168, only, has shuqqa, which might mean here “royal order”.

1,063. Lit., “you have power over our wet and dry.”

1,064. ‘Ummānian. (See Note 903.)

1,065. David is celebrated amongst Muslims as an armourer. (See the Qur’ān, xxi., 80, and xxxiv., 10.)

1,066. i.e., he was generous in a high degree.

Mount Ararat, called in Persian Jūdī, is the mountain on which Noah’s Ark was supposed to have rested.

1,067. Shushtar or Shūshtar, the modern capital of Khūzistān (Susiana). The town was famous for its dress-stuffs and brocades, but probably the reference is to the wealth derived from the fertility of the district in which it is situated.

Tustar is said to be an old name of the town. (See also Note 590.)

1,068. I have reversed the order of the two hemistichs for the sake of clearness. They read literally,

“He gave (him all this), so that his face lighted up like the moon; and he bestowed upon him in (or, out of) Yaman as far as Aden.” (See Note 737.)

Instead of the pronoun I have introduced Nu‘mān’s name into the translation for clearness. He was mentioned some distichs back as making a speech to Bahrām, but it may perhaps be remembered that before this Munẕir had been mentioned as king, and that no death has subsequently been spoken of. We must therefore assume inadvertence on the part of the Author or carelessness on that of the copyists.

1,069. “That master”; i.e., Simnār.

1,070. “The Seven Climes”; i.e., the whole inhabited world as known to Oriental geographers. (See Note 207.)

1,071. The term haft-jūsh, “the seven fusions,” is described by the Burhān-i Qāṭi‘ as a mixture of the seven metals, gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, tin, and antimony; and by the Bahār-i ‘Ajam as a bronze composed of all the metals. One would gather from the second hemistich, however, that the meaning here is the fusing of metals for the purpose of trying to make gold. If this be correct the sense of the distich would be that he could desist from trying to make the gold of happiness when he had the alchemy of the seven portraits to make it for him.

1,072. “A pearl”; i.e., the princess.

“Virtues.” A play upon the word gauhar, which means “pearl, jewel”, and also “nature, qualities, virtues”.

1,073. A dīnār was an ancient gold coin worth about ten shillings.

1,074. i.e., he created a disturbance by his demands and threats.

1,075. “Gold of Barbary”; i.e., pure gold.

1,076. “The Rāy”; i.e., the Rājā.

1,077. For an account of the Seven Climes, see Note 207.

1,078. “Exclusively”; lit., “out of (all) the world’s goods.”

1,079. “The garden’s lamps and candles”; i.e., “the flowers.”

1,080. Lit., “had removed his baggage and effects.” By “the gardener” is possibly meant the warmer season before the winter.

1,081. As the nightingale is not heard in the winter and the crow is, the author fancifully conceives that the latter has stolen the former’s notes.

1,082. “Hindū” means “black” and also “thief”.

1,083. “Robbed the fire of light”; i.e., was brighter in its effects than fire. “Made swords from water”; i.e., made sharp ice or icicles. “Water, too, from swords”; i.e., deprived them of éclat or honour, brought them into disrepute, āb kardan, having those senses. (Cf. āb shudan, “to melt; to become ashamed, or divested of honour; to grow obsolete.”)

1,084. Lit., “icy coldness,” zamharīr.

1,085. “Egg-plant robes”; i.e., white robes.

1,086. “Two-hued” in respect of day and night.

1,087. Means presumably that the fire which may be struck from stone (flint) kept within the stone because of the cold.

At the same time, the heat of the sun was supposed to be required to develop the ruby in the stone.

1,088. i.e., the roses when made into rose-water or otto of roses and put into bottles had stoppers for these bottles of a species of cement, with which they are fancifully supposed to have covered themselves to keep out the cold.

1,089. i.e., the quicksilver-like globules in the glass of water by being frozen became like pure silver.

1,090. “Winter-house,” tāb-khāna, which appears to be a room with a species of oven sunk into the floor for the purpose of warming.

1,091. Lit., “maintained the nature of the four seasons”; i.e., kept the mean between them.

1,092. i.e., by the burning of such perfumes as sandal and aloes-wood the wintry air was tempered. “Wintry,” lit., “snow-raising,” barf-angīz, the reading of I.O. MSS. 777 and 1491, and of the B. ed. of 1328.

I.O. MS. 1168 reads less satisfactorily ‘ambar-bīz, “ambergris-sifting”; i.e., “scented.”

The readings of the other I.O. MSS. I have consulted are worthless.

1,093. i.e., soothed the brain and gave lively fancies to the heart.

1,094. It is implied that the Hindūs are black as smoke and their devotions as well.

1,095. “Zoroastrian sulphur red of hue.” “Zoroastrian” because of the fire associated with the religion.

1,096. Both hemistichs are descriptive of the fire.

1,097. i.e., the fire after giving forth darting, unsteady flames, settled into a steady glow.

1,098. Descriptive of the red glow of the fire.

1,099. “Gardener”; lit., “labourer.”

“The juice of grapes” means here red wine.

1,100. An allusion to the yellow of the fire and the blackness of the smoke.