Black of Robe.—Ta’abbaṭa Sherran says of crossing the desert in a dark night, when the Ghûl was abroad:

A moonless night; I pierced through its robe, as the full-breasted girl puts on her frock. De Sacy’s Ḥarîri, p. 480.

Fantasies.— is the evil whispered suggestion of the mind, or of Satan, which comes in loneliness. The verb is applied to the temptations of Adam and Eve in Paradise, Koran vii. 19; xx. 118; and to the suggestions of a man’s own mind, l. 15. Compare cxiv.

My night-dark night.—A similar expression occurs in the Fifth Assembly. The epithet is used of a dark, moonless night, such as precedes the new moon.

Enter ye into them with peace.—These are words from the Koran, Sura xv. 46. It will be said to those who are welcomed to the gardens and fountains of Paradise, “Enter ye into them with peace, free from fear.” In l. 33, the pronoun refers to the same substantives understood. For this reason the speaker keeps to the actual words of the Koran in addressing whoever knocked at the door. Compare the Forty-first Assembly, where Hârith ad­dresses Abû Zayd, “Woe to thee; will ye bid others to piety, but forget to bid yourselves?” where he speaks in the plural, because these words so occur in a Tradition of Moḥammed, who on the night of the masra saw persons who had their tongues and lips cut off with shears of fire, and who, when asked who they were, answered, “We were of those who bade others to piety, but forgot ourselves.” De Sacy’s Ḥarîri, p. 538.

Without the guess of doubt; or, rather, without guessing at the doubtful or hidden. This expression is taken from Koran xviii. 21, where it is applied to the vain guesses made by people as to the number of the Youths of the Cave, that is the Seven Sleepers.

I took to How? and Where?—I took to asking him of his health, and where he was dwelling.

Let me swallow down my spittle.—This is a most ancient phrase meaning, “Give me time to rest and collect myself.” It is found in the book of Job, vii. 19, “How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?” When Ibn Surayj disputed with Abû Bekr Moḥam-med az Zâhiri, the latter said, “Give me time to swallow down my spittle.” Ibn Surayj answered, “You might swallow the Tigris before you answer me.” (Ibn Khallikân, life of Ibn Surayj.) This anecdote Hammer-Purgstall, in his life of Ibn Surayj, has curiously perverted.

O thou base-born.—The phrase has given rise to much controversy. It may be interpreted, “Thou who art without a father,” that is, who hast no known father, and art base-born,” as the phrase may be rendered, “thou who hast no mother, and art a foundling, picked up,” or “who hast no free mother, and art a ;” or it may mean, “God curse, or cease to preserve, thy father!” But whatever its grammatical import, there can be no doubt that it is generally used play­fully, and though in form an imprecation, or an insult, it ex­presses fondness and intimacy, or even admiration, like , “May God fight against thee!” or , “May thy mother be bereft of thee!” which are used when a man does anything worthy of admiration, as the reciting of some fine verses. Similarly, it is said in praise of a good archer, , “Let him not be counted among his people.”—Anthologie Gram. Arabe. p. 41 Ar. Text, where a verse of Imr al Ḳays is quoted. The meaning of the first and third of these expressions may be, however, “He is so superior to every one that no one can fight against him, and God alone must fight against him;” and “Let him not be counted among his people, for he is far above them.” But it is more reasonable to take them as a kind of complimentary imprecation, as an Englishman might say, “Confound the fellow, how clever he is!” An Arab of the desert was even heard to say to the Deity, in a year of drought, “Send down upon us rain, .” But Sulaymân ibn ‘Abd al Melik, who heard him, put the best construction upon his words, and considered them to mean, “Thou hast no father;” and that the Arab was merely testifying that God had no father, nor female companion, nor offspring.” (Lane.) In the forty-seventh line of the Mo‘allaḳah of Zohayr, the phrase is evidently a mere expletive. is said to be for , the being redundant. (See De Sacy’s Ḥarîri p. 464.) On this point, however, refer to Lane’s Lexicon.

I was evil in thought at his refraining..—When an Arab finds that his guest will not eat, he fears that he meditates some evil against him, and that he does not desire to bind himself by accepting hospitality. Thus when Abraham saw that the angels refused what he set before them he was afraid until they re­assured him. Koran xi. 73.

Brother of empty talk.— are originally small ways, branching off the main road (Sherîshi); and the word must then have been applied to wanderings or digressions of talk, and so to vain and unprofitable speech.

Yesternight.—Ḥarîri, in the Durrah (Anthol. Gram. Arabe, p. 27, Texte Arabe), says that it is a mistake when one who in the morning is speaking of the previous night calls it ; for from the dawn to the time when the sun begins to decline he should say , and only during the latter part of the day, and during the succeeding night, should he say . It is related in a Tradition of the Prophet that when he had finished the morning prayer he said to the Companions, “Is there one of you who has seen a vision this night?” using the word . Compare “last night” and “yesternight” in English. The use in the text is correct, as the conversation takes place at night.

An ally of want.— is one who unites in a confederacy with another. The word is applied to the confederacies of the tribes, as that between Asad and Ghaṭafân, and that between certain tribes of Ḳoraysh. It here means one who is a close companion of want.

Fulfilled its vow, i.e., “come to an end.” It is said of a man, “he has fulfilled his vow,” when he dies, as if death were in­cumbent upon him, as a thing vowed, and he fulfilled the vow by dying. The original of this expression is to be found at Koran xxxiii. 23, where it is explained as referring to those who have fought in the cause of Islam till they have met martyrdom, as Ḥamzah, and Muṣ‘ab son of ‘Omayr, and Anas son of An Naḍr. Others are spoken of in the same passage as “awaiting” their hour, as ‘Othmân and Ṭalḥah. This Anas was the uncle of Anas ibn Mâlik, the transmitter of Traditions.

Sunrise.—Ḥarîri in the Durrah says that is said of the sun only in the winter. Anthol. Gram. Arabe, p. 28.

Pass by.—From left to right, so as to give a good shot. The meaning is any one who might show himself a fit subject to be practised upon.

Cornelian.—This stone is recommended by the Prophet. ‘Âyisheh and ‘Ali relate that he said, “Seal with seals of cornelian.”

The yellow gold.— is apparently the Greek <Greek>.

More bewildered than a lizard.—This is proverbial; it is said that the lizard when he wanders away from the stone under which he lives cannot find his way back.

Chid me on.—As the camel driver chides or urges on his camels by singing to them.

A driblet from my watering.—This is proverbial, like , signifying little from, or instead of, much. A similar expression occurs in Forty-fourth Assembly;

All the length of that day.—Literally, all the cloud of that day, like the shadow of that day: compare Thirty-second Assembly, “who resolved to pass the shadow of that day.”

To let down my bucket into rivers.—To ask charity in many places, or to endeavour to gain money. In the Forty-ninth Assembly Abû Zayd tells his son, “Cast thy bucket into every cistern,” meaning, “get gain wherever thou canst.” “Let down thy bucket among the buckets” (compare Seventeenth Assembly), was a proverbial expression, meaning, “come and labour and take thy chance with the rest;” derived from the watering of travellers at a well, when each man let down the bucket and drew for himself. Arab. Prov. II. 436.

With burning stomach.—Literally, liver. It is said in a Tradition, “For every dried up liver there is a recompense;” meaning, “For the giving of drink to whoever is parched with intense thirst there is a recompense.” From this Tradition Ḥarîri probably took the phrase .