Page:The Celebrated Romance of the Stealing of the Mare.djvu/137

 11. "Even of the shoulder-meat."—I1n serving a lamb to a guest the shoulder is the joint set nearest him."

12. "Lute"—The "rebab," or Bedouin fiddle, a square frame of wood covered with skin, and played, with a bow of hair plucked from the mare's tail, on a single string, a sweet melancholy accompaniment to all desert singing.

"O Mukbeymer."—One of the titles of Abu Zeyd.

14. "And thus to the Divan."—The Diwan or assembly held in the Sheykh's tent every morning for tribal business.

"And the Sultan Hassan hearing struck his two palms together"—A sign of grief.

16. "The slaves of the Agheylat"—Employed as herdsmen. Such may at the present day be found in Nejd, but domestic service is the more usual occupation of slavesand is held more honourable by them.

17. "And fifteen days I journeyed, making of fifteen eight,"— Perhaps five hundred miles in the eight days.

"Tied her fast by the fore leg."—The knee bound to the head by the halter to prevent her rising.

18. "Our stranger guest or a prowler."—A single camel rider would be a natural object of suspicion in the desert. A stranger is an enemy until he has accepted hospitality.

20. "In this mare are there four qualities."—It is difficult to understand Abu Zeyd's meaning in this speech. But he doubtless intended it in a different sense from that given to it by the girl.

22. "Mute girls who speak by signals." —Slaves, perhaps mutilated to insure their silence.

25. "Not with the Persian kings, the Chosroés, the Irani." —The pre-Islamic Kings of Persia.

"In height twice eight, sixteen."—Query sixteen hands?

27. "Get thee gone from our dwellings." —She bids him begone, unwilling to betray her guest even should he prove a traitor. Women, if alone in the tent, will often entertain strangers, observing the same honourable law as in the case of men.

29. "And lo, a spreading tree."—Probably a thorny acacia. Such are found here and there in the desert of considerable size and are superstitiously regarded. (Compare Mr. Doughty's "Arabia.")