Note 303
The Eldest Lady’s Tale.
Arab. "Izár," the man's waistcloth opposed to the Ridá or shoulder-cloth, is also the sheet of white calico worn by the poorer Egyptian women out of doors and covering head and hands. See Lane (M. E., chapt. i.). The rich prefer a "Habárah" of black silk, and the poor, when they have nothing else, use a bed-sheet.
…foreign parts amid stranger folk. After five years my eldest sister returned to me in beggar's gear with her clothes in rags and tatters[FN#302] and a dirty old mantilla;[FN#303] and truly she was in the foulest and sorriest plight. At first sight I did not know my own sister; but presently I recognised her and said "What state is this?" "O our sister," she replied, "Words cannot undo the done; and the reed of Destiny hath run…
Return to passage