Note 377 — Chapter XXIV · CONQUEST OF EGYPT. A.H. XX. A.D. 641.

This tale (which is not given by our earliest authorities) is, no doubt, based upon a custom of the Egyptians, who, as we learn from Lane, cast, year by year, the effigy of a maiden, decked in bridal attire, into the river, calling it ‘the Bride of the Nile.’ But whether the tale be real or fictitious, the sentiment conveyed in it is indicative of that virtue in the Moslem faith which carries the special providence of God into the life of every day.