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Notes to The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1 — Page 27

698 notes in Richard Francis Burton translation. Follow a thought back to its place in the book.

698 notes
Tale of the Tailor.

Note 626

"Zabbál" is the scavenger, lit. a dung-drawer, especially for the use of the Hammam which is heated with the droppings of animals. "Wakkád" (stoker) is the servant who turns the fi…

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Tale of the Tailor.

Note 628

This form of blessing is chanted from the Minaret about half-an-hour before midday, when the worshippers take their places in the mosque. At noon there is the usual Azán or prayer-…

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Tale of the Tailor.

Note 629

i.e., the women loosed their hair; an immodesty sanctioned only by a great calamity.

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Tale of the Tailor.

Note 630

These small shops are composed of a "but" and a "ben." (Pilgrimage i., 99.)

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Tale of the Tailor.

Note 631

Arab. "Kawwád," a popular term of abuse; hence the Span. and Port. "Alco-viteiro." The Italian "Galeotto" is from Galahalt, not Galahad.

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The Barber’s Tale of Himself.

Note 632

i.e., "one seeking assistance in Allah." He was the son of Al-Záhir bi'lláh (one pre-eminent by the decree of Allah). Lane says (i. 430), "great-grandson of Harun al-Rashid," allud…

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The Barber’s Tale of Himself.

Note 633

Arab. "Yaum al-Id," the Kurban Bairam of the Turks, the Pilgrimage festival. The story is historical. In the "Akd," a miscellany compiled by Ibn Abd Rabbuh (vulg. Rabbi-hi) of Cord…

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The Barber’s Tale of Himself.

Note 634

Arab. "Nata' al-Dam"; the former word was noticed in the Tale of the Bull and the Ass. The leather of blood was not unlike the Sufrah and could be folded into a bag by a string run…

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The Barber’s Tale of his First Brother.

Note 635

The ground floor, which in all hot countries is held, and rightly so, unwholesome during sleep, is usually let for shops. This is also the case throughout Southern Europe, and exte…

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The Barber’s Tale of his First Brother.

Note 636

This serious contemplation of street-scenery is one of the pleasures of the Harems.

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The Barber’s Tale of his First Brother.

Note 637

We should say "smiled at him": the laugh was not intended as an affront.

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The Barber’s Tale of his First Brother.

Note 638

Arab. "Fals ahmar." Fals is a fish-scale, also the smaller coin and the plural "Fulús" is the vulgar term for money (= Ital. quattrini ) without specifying the coin. It must not be…

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The Barber’s Tale of his First Brother.

Note 639

Arab "Farajiyah " a long-sleeved robe; Lane's "Farageeyeh," (M. E., chapt. i)

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The Barber’s Tale of his First Brother.

Note 640

The tailor in the East, as in Southern Europe, is made to cut out the cloth in presence of its owner, to prevent "cabbaging."

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The Barber’s Tale of his First Brother.

Note 642

Alluding to the saying, "Kiss is the key to Kitty."

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The Barber’s Tale of his First Brother.

Note 643

The "panel-dodge" is fatally common throughout the East, where a man found in the house of another is helpless.

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The Barber’s Tale of his Second Brother.

Note 644

This was the beginning of horseplay which often ends in a bastinado.

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The Barber’s Tale of his Second Brother.

Note 645

Hair-dyes, in the East, are all of vegetable matter, henna, indigo-leaves, galls, etc.: our mineral dyes are, happily for them, unknown. Herklots will supply a host of recipes The …

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The Barber’s Tale of his Second Brother.

Note 646

Arab. Amrad, etymologically "beardless and handsome," but often used in a bad sense, to denote an effeminate, a catamite.

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The Barber’s Tale of his Second Brother.

Note 647

The Hindus prefer "having the cardinal points as her sole garment." "Vêtu de climat," says Madame de Stael. In Paris nude statues are "draped in cerulean blue." Rabelais (iv.,29) r…

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The Barber’s Tale of his Second Brother.

Note 648

This scene used to be enacted a few years ago in Paris for the benefit of concealed spectators, a young American being the victim. It was put down when one of the lookers-on lost h…

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The Barber’s Tale of his Second Brother.

Note 649

Meaning that the trick had been played by the Wazir's wife or daughter. I could mention sundry names at Cairo whose charming owners have done worse things than this unseemly frolic…

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