Note 29 — Introductory material

Note 29. I here deviate a little from my original, in which Shahrazád is made to say, "Either I shall live, or I shall be a ransom for the daughters of the Muslims, and the cause of their deliverance from him." Upon this, the sheykh Moḥammed 'Eiyád has remarked in a marginal note, "It would seem that she had contrived some stratagem to prevent his marrying again if he determined to kill her: otherwise, the mere killing her would not be a means of rescuing the other maidens."