Note 61 — NUR AL-DIN ALI AND THE DAMSEL ANIS AL-JALIS

Such an act of generosity would appear to Europeans well-nigh insanity, but it is quite in Arab manners. Witness the oft-quoted tale of Hátim and his horse. As a rule the Arab is the reverse of generous, contrasting badly, in this point, with his cousin the Jew: hence his ideal of generosity is of the very highest. "The generous (i.e. liberal) is Allah's friend, aye, though he be a sinner; and the miser is Allah's foe, aye, though he be a saint!" Indian Moslems call a skin-flint Makhi-chús=fly-sucker (Pilgrimage i. 242).