Note 624
Tale of the Tailor.

These doggerels, which are like our street melodies, are now forgotten and others have taken their place. A few years ago one often heard, "Dus ya lalli" (Tread, O my joy) and "Názil il'al-Ganínah" (Down into the garden) and these in due turn became obsolete. Lane (M. E. chapt. xviii.) gives the former e.g.

Tread, O my joy! Tread, O my joy! Love of my love brings sore annoy,

A chorus to such stanzas as:—

Alexandrian damsels rare! * Daintily o'er the floor ye fare: Your lips are sweet, are sugar-sweet, * And purfled Cashmere shawls ye wear!

It may be noted that "humming" is not a favourite practice with Moslems; if one of the company begin, another will say, "Go to the Kahwah" (the coffee-house, the proper music-hall) "and sing there!" I have elsewhere observed their dislike to Al-sifr or whistling.