The Fellah had a natural fear of being seen in fine gear, which all would have supposed to be stolen goods; and Alaeddin was justified in taking it perforce, because _necessitas non habet legem_. See a similar exchange of dress in Spitta-Bey’s “Contes Arabes Modernes,” p. 91. In Galland the peasant when pressed consents; and in the H. V. Alaeddin persuades him by a gift of money.
_i.e._ which would take effect in the shortest time.
Her modesty was startled by the idea of sitting at meat with a strange man and allowing him to make love to her.
In the text Kidí, pop. for Ka-zálika. In the H. V. the Magician replies to the honeyed speech of the Princess, “O my lady, we in Africa have not so gracious customs as the men of China. This day I have learned of thee a new courtesy which I shall ever keep in mind.”
Galland makes the Princess poison the Maghrabi, which is not gallant. The H. V. follows suit and describes the powder as a mortal poison.
Contrast this modesty with the usual scene of reunion after severance, as in the case of Kamar al-Zamán and immodest Queen Budúr, vol. iii. pp. 302–304.
His dignity forbade him to walk even the length of a carpet: see vol. vii. for this habit of the Mameluke Beys. When Harun al-Rashid made his famous pilgrimage afoot from Baghdad to Meccah (and he was the last of the Caliphs who performed this rite), the whole way was spread with a “Pá-andáz” of carpets and costly cloths.
The proverb suggests our “par nobile fratrum,” a pair resembling each other as two halves of a split bean.
In the H. V. “If the elder Magician was in the East the other was in the West; but once a year, by their skill in geomancy, they had tidings of each other.”
The act was religiously laudable, but to the Eastern, as to the South European mind, fair play is _not_ a jewel; moreover the story-teller may insinuate that vengeance would be taken only by foul and unlawful means—the Black Art, perjury, murder and so forth.
For this game, a prime favourite in Egypt, see vol. vi. 145. De Sacy (Chrestomathie i. 477) and his authorities Hyde, Syntagma Dissert. ii. 374; P. Labat, “Mémoires du Chev. d’Arvieux,” iii. 321; Thevenot, “Voyage du Levant,” p. 107; and Niebuhr, “Voyages,” I, 139, Plate 25, fig. H.