A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1 (of 17)

691

i. e. "I conjure thee by God."

692

i. e. "This is the very thing for thee."

693

i. e., at random.

694

This is the way of slaughtering the camel, whose throat is never cut on account of the thickness of the muscles. "Égorger un chameau" is a mistake often made in French books.

695

i. e. I will break bounds.

696

The Arabs have a saying corresponding with the dictum of the Salernitan school: —

Noscitur a labiis quantum sit virginis antrum:Noscitur a naso quanta sit hasta viro;(A maiden's mouth shows what's the make of her chose;And man's mentule one knows by the length of his nose.)

Whereto I would add: —

And the eyebrows disclose how the lower wig grows.

The observations are purely empirical but, as far as my experience extends, correct.

697

Arab. "Kahkahah," a very low proceeding.

698

Or "for every death there is a cause;" but the older Arabs had a saying corresponding with "Deus non fecit mortem."

699

The King's barber is usually a man of rank for the best of reasons that he holds his Sovereign's life between his fingers. One of these noble Figaros in India married an English lady who was, they say, unpleasantly surprised to find out what were her husband's official duties.