Note 5 — THE STORY OF THE MERCHANT AND THE GENIE
Reading edition
"Now this, at first sight, seems a singular, if not a ridiculous thing; but even this has its foundation in an Eastern custom. It is in this manner that prisoners are sometimes put to death; a man sits down at a little distance from the object he intends to destroy, and then attacks him by repeatedly shooting at him with the stone of the date, thrown from his two forefingers, and in this way puts an end to his life."—Preface to Forster's edition of Arabian Nights.