The experienced who repeats her favour, in Arabic al-mu ‘allilah, the active form of the participle, of which the passive occurs in verse 15 of the “Mo‘allaḳah,” just quoted:

“Then I said to her, Travel on, loosening the camel’s rein, and repel me not from the repeated culling of thy fruit.”

An easy knot for the wooer, i.e., a knot easily untied, in allusion to the proverb mâ ‘iqâlu-ki bi-unshût̤at-in, the tether of thy love is not lightly loosened (Ar. Prov., ii. 621).

And have displayed the two hinds—al-mahâtainî, dual of mahât, a wild cow, with whose eyes the eyes of a woman are compared, in analogy with the Homeric epithet <Greek>, bestowed on the queen of the gods.

And which rouses thy appetite?—a translation which I beg the indulgent reader to consider rather as a modest rendering of the asterisks, which the Beyrout edition substitutes to the unsophisti­cated words of the text than of the words themselves.

A stone to be feared by the adversary, in Arabic al-murâjim, which Sherîshi explains, he at whom thou throwest stones and who throws stones at thee.

From which the cupping-places are made to bleed, meaning the shoulder and lower part of the neck.

Her intercourse is unprofitable, lit., is a thunder-cloud without rain (ṣalifatun) from ṣalaf, little rain, accompanied with much thunder, whence the proverb, many a scanty rainfall is under the thunder­cloud, applied to a man who praises himself much and has little merit, or who assumes a threatening air without standing his ground when it comes to the point (Ar. Prov., i. 535). Sherîshi, however, explains ṣalifah by fastidious, disdainful, deriving it from ṣalîf, side of the neck, the showing of which to a person corresponds to the English idiom “showing him the cold shoulder.” Lastly, it is said to mean untractable, difficult to manage, from arẓun ṣalifatun, a hard ground which resists cultivation.

Her hand is clumsy (kharqâ’).—This word is variously interpreted as “foolish,” “unskilful in handiwork,” “too proud to work with her fingers,” “wanting in gentleness,” “lavish in household expendi­ture.” A proverb says: al-kharqâ’u lá ta‘damu ‘illat-an, the foolish woman is not at a loss for pretexts (Ar. Prov., iii., P. 1, p. 364).

Her night is a night indeed.—One of the many grammatical re­sources of Arabic is to create comparatives of any noun, by forming the measure af‘al from the respective root. I remember to have read somewhere an amusing story of a judge who, being carried across a swollen stream astride on the back of a client, uttered the prayer: “O Allah, strengthen this ass, to bring me safely over.” Said the client within himself: “Thou callest me an ass, and makest use of me as such, but thou art a greater ass than I” (aḥmar, more of an ass, comparative of ḥimâr, ass), presently dropping him into the water, where the poor man would have been drowned if his judicial embonpoint had not served him as a life-buoy, that floated him comfortably to the shore. In similar manner the noun lail, night, forms the comparative alyal, more of a night than night itself, which occurs in the phrase khâbit̤u lailin alyali (by metrical license for alyala, the comparative form being imperfectly declined), which Chenery translates: one stumbling in the night-dark night (see vol. i., p. 129, six lines from the bottom). The fem. of alyal is lailâ’, as in the passage now under consideration, the Arabic of which is: wa-lailata‘hâ lailâ’u, the objective case of the noun depending on the preceding inna. The same expression has been met with in Assembly XV., where Al Ḥarith is made to say: “Until I formed a wish that I might be granted a talk-fellow, who (as Chenery again renders it) should shorten the tedium of my night-dark night (li-yaqṣura t̤ûla lailatî ’l-lailâ’i, see vol. i., p. 186, and the corre­sponding note, ibid., p. 398). The native Dictionaries describe both lailun alyalu and lailatun lailâ’u as synonyms of lailun lâ’ilun, where lâ’il has the force of an active participle, as we would say “nighten-ing” for “darkening,” and which they explain as a long and dark night, or as one of the three nights preceding the new moon. In the present instance I think my translation, “her night is a night indeed,” expresses sufficiently the idea which the precocious youth wishes to convey.

And to know her needs the lifting of a veil.—This may mean, her real character is a mystery to the husband, which only reveals itself to him after long acquaintance and intercourse, or, according to others, it refers to her virginity and its physical sign.

And subdues the experienced stallion, in Arabic wa’ẓra‘ati ’l-fanîqa ’l-bâzila, literally, she subjugates the stallion, who has grown the tooth bâzil, and is then called by the same name, an event which takes place with the camel of either sex, when it has reached the ninth year. The term stands here metaphorically for a man of whom we would say, “he has cut his wisdom-teeth.” For the verb aẓra‘at comp. the proverb: “The fever has humbled me before thee,” or in another version, “The fever has made me succumb to sleep,” which professes submission to a calamity, and is said to originate with an Arab of the tribe Kalb, named Murîr, or Murîn, who uttered the words when, in an attempt to liberate his brothers from the captivity of the Jinn, he was, in consequence of a fever, overpowered by sleep, and fell captive himself to one of them (Ar. Prov., i. 364).

So I look out for one who holds and spends, i.e., one who has hoarded up money and expends it freely, so that I may indulge in fine raiment and pleasant companionship.

One dainty (ẕawwâqah, of fastidious and changeable taste, especially in matters matrimonial), alluding to a saying attributed by tradition to Mohammed, in answer to a man who had told him that he had divorced his wife: “Allah loves not the dainty, either man or woman.”

I was and have become, meaning “under my former husband I was honoured and well-to-do, but now I am despised and poverty-stricken.”

And if she thus be a habitual lamenter, blest with family and withal a bold-faced wanton.—A lamenter, ḥannânah, is a woman who always bewails the late lamented, and blest with family, barûk, is explained as one who has up-grown sons. For the following “and withal” De Sacy reads “or,” which in itself would be preferable, but is not warranted by the native editions and the MSS. consulted by me.

Then he chid me as the tutor chideth at the slip of his pupil.—The word translated with chiding (intihâr) is taken from Koran, xciii. 10: “And as to him that asketh of thee, chide him not away (lâ tanhar).”

Dost thou bethink thee of what thou hast heard? in Arabic aturâ-ka mâ sami‘ta, lit., wilt thou be made to see or ponder? where the pronominal suffix of the first verb is not considered as a maf‘ûl or objective case, but as corroborative of the inflectional pronoun, just as we might say: “Wilt thou be made to see for thyself,” or “with thy own eyes?” Compare Koran, vi. 40, and Bayḍâwi’s commen­tary; also De Sacy, Gramm., i. 1189, and ii. 866, note.

That there is no monkery in Islâm, alluding to a tradition which makes Mohammed say: “In Islâm there is no monkery (ruhbânîyah) and no celibacy (tabattul),” the former Arabic term being derived from ruhbân, a Christian monk, the latter from the verb batl, cutting off, which in its fifth form means cutting one’s self off from all worldly concerns, and in particular abstaining from sexual inter­course. To the same root the word batûl, virgin, is to be traced, which is applied to the Virgin Mary and to Mohammed’s daughter Fât̤imeh. Another tradition relates that the Prophet asked of ‘Akâf ibn Wadâ‘ah: “O ‘Akâf, hast thou a wife?” and when he answered in the negative, Mohammed said: “Then thou art of the brothers of Satan; if thou belong to the Christian monks, stick to them; but if thou belong to us, one of our ordinances is the married state.”

Sobers thy sight, i.e., prevents thy eyes from looking at other women.

Through her thou beholdest the coolness of thy eye, and the flower sweet to thy nostrils.—These two similes, and the metaphorical expressions which follow them, stand for offspring.