Note 66 — HASSAN OR THE CHILD OF THE PYRAMID (continued 3)
Reading edition
These and other verses occasionally scattered through this tale are translations from Arabic scraps of poetry and love-songs popular in Egypt. The reader must not suppose that the interview related between the father and daughter is intended to represent the ordinary relations of domestic life in Egypt; on the contrary, it is an exceptional picture, exhibiting the fondness of an eccentric and warm-hearted father for an only child. It is scarcely necessary to say that, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, marriages in the East are arranged by the parents and relatives without the slightest reference to the inclinations of the bride.