Wonders will never cease, lit., then, how many wonders are there in creation!

And also “the telling of a lie.”—In the passage of the Koran quoted to this (xxvi. 137), the expression khalqu ’l-auwalîna is used in the same sense as asât̤îru ’l-auwalîna in that quoted, p. 275, above.

And also the lachrymal gland.—Sherîshi mentions a third significa­tion of gharb, a large bucket, and explains in this connection ḥalab with saiyalân, running, streaming, which, however, scarcely yields a satisfactory meaning, and seems not to have been in Ḥarîri’s mind when he composed this line.

Of Arabs and wives beloved.—This translation follows De Sacy’s reading min ‘urbin wa min ‘urubi, which is also that of my MS. The native editions have min ‘ujmin wa min ‘urubi, where ‘ujm is pl. of ‘ajam, one who speaks Arabic badly or not at all, a foreigner.

And also used metaphorically for “woman.”—Compare the expres­sion libâs, garment, in the same sense which occurs in the Koranic passage quoted, p. 267, above.

It is no nest of thine, so get thee out, in Arabic laisa bi-‘ushshi-ki fa-’drujî , a proverb applied to one who claims or usurps that to which he is not entitled. Ḥarîri, in his commentary to the Assembly, remarks that ‘ushsh is the term for a nest built on a tree, while wakr is a nest made on a wall or in a mountain-cave.

He taunted us with the taunt of the unconcerned towards the troubled.— Comp. Ar. Prov., ii. 612, 815; also i. 720.

The coaxing before provoking the milk-flow, in Arabic al-înâsu qabla ’l-ibsâsi, another proverb (Ar. Prov., i. 94), taken from the habit of the milker to coax the camel before he draws the milk, saying to her during the act, bus, bus, in order to keep her quiet and elicit a copious flow. The camel which gives milk freely when this is said to her is called basûs (compare Chenery’s note on The war of Al Basûs, vol. i., p. 526 and foll.). The meaning of the passage in the context is, of course, that Abû Zayd expects to be gratified by a gift before vouchsafing the explanation of his verbal puzzles.

One of those who want a return for their gift.—The four concluding words of this sentence are in Arabic represented by the single word shukm, the opposite of which is shukd, a free gift. In some manu­script copies of Ḥarîri’s commentary the following line of a poet is quoted:

“My gift to be returned (shukmî) is ready, and likewise my free gift (shukdî), for good and evil there is a place with me,” where, however, the meaning seems to be, I am equally prepared to return evil for evil, as good for good.

It grieved our host, in the original sâ’a abâ mas̤wá-nâ, lit., the father of our place of shelter, or, as Ḥarîri explains, the entertainer, to whom they had repaired, and whose hospitality they were enjoying.

An ‘Îdî camel and a robe like Sa‘îd’s.—An ‘Îdî camel means, accord­ing to the author’s commentary, either one descended of a generous stallion of the name ‘Îd, or the noun of relation refers to ‘Îd ibn Mahrah, a tribal division, which, like the tribe Mahrah itself, was renowned for its camel breed (comp. the note on Mahrîyah, p. 238, above). A robe like Sa‘îd’s alludes to a garment in which Mohammed clad Sa‘îd ibn al-‘Aṣ when he was a youth.

A disposition like Akhzam’s, a proverb the origin of which is ascribed to Sa‘d ibn al-Ḥashraj, grandfather of Ḥâtim T̤ay, the pro­totype of generosity with the Arabs and the people of the East in general, when he found that the youth Ḥâtim, in growing up, had developed more and more the liberal and magnanimous qualities for which his own grandfather Akhzam was renowned, saying: “a disposition which I know from Akhzam” (Ar. Prov., i. 658). Maydâni (ii. 688) adduces the authority of Ibn al-Kalbî for the statement that the proverb originated with the father of Akhzam, which latter is said to have been a disobedient and undutiful son to him. When Akhzam died he left sons behind him, who one day assaulted their grandfather and wounded him severely, whereupon he indited the following verses:

“Children of my own blood have stained me with my blood, whoever meets with lions amongst men, will be wounded, a disposition known to me from Akhzam.”

The verses occur in the Ḥamâseh, p. 646 of Freytag’s edition, where the Commentary attributes their authorship, implying that of the proverb, to various other persons. Ḥarîri, in his own notes to this Assembly, asserts that they were composed by ‘Akîl ibn ‘Ullafah, and that the final words are only a quotation of the current proverb. This is probable enough, and in this case ‘Akîl evidently means simply to say, that the disposition of his sons was inherited from their father, as that of Ḥâtim was from his grandfather Akhzam.

He sprang to the camel and straightway saddled her, etc.—This passage has been translated as interpreted in Ḥarîri’s commentary, which takes occasion from the term “saddled” (raḥala) to supple­ment the explanation of râḥilah, saddle-beast, mentioned p. 247 above, by the remark that it applies as well to the male as the female camel, and that its feminine termination has no reference to the sex, but is that of intensity (mubâlaghah). To the word “mounted” (irtaḥala), the author quotes a characteristic anecdote recorded of Mohammed, to the effect that once, when he was pros­trated in prayer, and his grandson Ḥasan riding on his back, he prolonged his devotion and afterwards said: “The little one had mounted me (irtaḥala-nî), and I was loath to curtail his pleasure.” Lastly to “hastened on” he refers to the tradition: “At the approach of the hour (of resurrection) a fire will come forth from the bottom of ‘Aden, which will hasten on mankind.”

Contented with a chance draught, nashḥ, lit., a draught insufficient to quench the thirst, and, according to the dictionary Muḥît̤, by opposition, drinking one’s fill.

And went away under every star of heaven, a proverbial expression applied to those who separate and travel on different roads (comp. Ar. Prov., i. 508).