[53]Here again are the'Swan-maidens'（See vol.v.346）'one of the primitive myths，the common heritage of the whole Aryan （Iranian） race.'In Persia Bahram-i-Gār when carried off by the Div Sapid seizes the Peri's dove-coat： in Santh li folk-lore Torica，the Goatherd，steals the garment doffed by one of the daughters of the sun；and hence the twelve birds of Russian Story.To the same cycle belong the Seal-tales of the Faroe Islands （Thorpe's Northern Mythology） and the wise women or mermaids of Shetland （Hibbert）.Wayland the smith captures a wife by seizing a mermaid's raiment and so did Sir Hag n by annexing the wardrobe of a Danubian water-nymph.Lettsom，the translator，mixes up this swan-raiment with that of the Valkyries or Choosers of the Slain.In real life stealing women's clothes is an old trick and has often induced them，after having been seen naked，to offer their persons spontaneously.Of this I knew two cases in India，where the theft is justified by divine example.The blue god Krishna，a barbarous and grotesque Hindu Apollo，robbed the raiment of the pretty Gop lis （cowherdesses）
who were bathing in the Arjun River and carried them to the top of a Kunduna tree；nor would he restore them till he had reviewed the naked girls and taken one of them to wife.See also Imr al-Kays （of the Mu'allakah） with'Onaiza'at the port of Daratjuljul （Clouston's Arabian Poetry，p.4）.A critic has complained of my tracing the origin of the Swan-maiden legend to the physical resemblance between the bird and a high-bred girl （vol.v.346）.I should have explained my theory which is shortly，that we must seek a material basis for all so-called supernaturalisms，and that anthropomorphism satisfactorily explains the Swan-maiden，as it does the angel and the devil.
There is much to say on the subject；but this is not the place for long discussion.
[54]Arab.'Nafs Amm rah，'corresponding with our canting term'The Flesh.'Nafs al-N tikah is the intellectual soul or function；Nafs al-Ghazabiyah = the animal function and Nafs al Shahw niyah = the vegetative property.
[55]The lines occur in vol.ii.331： I have quoted Mr.
Payne.Here they are singularly out of place.
[56]Not the'green gown'of Anglo-India i.e.a white ball-dress with blades of grass sticking to it in consequence of a'fall backwards.'
[57]These lines occur in vol.i.219： I have borrowed from Torrens （p.219）.
[58]The appearance of which ends the fast and begins the Lesser Festival.See vol.i.84.
[59]See note，vol.i.84，for notices of the large navel；
much appreciated by Easterns.
[60]Arab.'Sh'ir Al-Walah n'= the love-distraught poet；
Lane has'a distracted poet.' My learned friend Professor Aloys Sprenger has consulted，upon the subject of Al-Walah n the well-known Professor of Arabic at Halle，Dr.Thorbeck，who remarks that the word （here as further on） must be an adjective；mad，love-distraught，not a'lakab'or poetical cognomen.He generally finds it written Al-Sh'ir al-Walah n （the love-demented poet） not Al-Walah n al-Sh'ir = Walah n the Poet.
Note this burst of song after the sweet youth falls in love： it explains the cause of verse-quotation in The Nights，poetry being the natural language of love and battle.
[61]'Them'as usual for'her.'
[62]Here Lane proposes a transposition，for'Wa-huw （and he） fi'l-hubbi，'to read'Fi'l-hubbi wa huwa （wa-hwa）；'but the latter is given in the Mac.Edit.
[63]For the pun in'Sabr'=aloe or patience.See vol.i.
138.In Herr Landberg （i.93） we find a misunderstanding of the couplet--
'Aw' kibu s-sabri （K la ba'azuhum）
Mahmādah： Kultu，'khshi an takhirrini.'
'The effects of patience'（or aloes） quoth one'are praiseworthy！'Quoth I，'Much I fear lest it make me stool.'
Mahmādah is not only un laxatif，but a slang name for a confection of aloes.
[64]Arab.'Akāna fid -ka.'Fid = ransom，self-sacrifice and Fid'an = instead of.The phrase，which everywhere occurs in The Nights，means，'I would give my life to save thine'
[65]Thus accounting for his sickness，improbably enough but in flattering way.Like a good friend （feminine） she does not hesitate a moment in prescribing a fib.
[66]i.e.the 25，000 Amazons who in the Bresl.Edit.（ii.308） are all made to be the King's Ban t'= daughters or prot？g？es.The Amazons of Dahome （see my'Mission'） who may now number 5，000 are all officially wives of the King and are called by the lieges'our mothers.'
[67]The tale-teller has made up his mind about the damsel；
although in this part of the story she is the chief and eldest sister and subsequently she appears as the youngest daughter of the supreme Jinn King.The mystification is artfully explained by the extraordinary likeness of the two sisters.（See Night dcccxi.）
[68]This is a reminiscence of the old-fashioned'marriage by capture，'of which many traces survive，even among the civilised who wholly ignore their origin.
[69]Meaning her companions and suite.
[70]Arab.''Ab ah'vulg.''Ab yah.' See vol.ii.133.
[71]Feet in the East lack that development of sebaceous glands which afflicts Europeans.
[72]i.e.cutting the animals' throats after Moslem law.
[73]In Night dcclxxviii.supra p.5，we find the orthodox Moslem doctrine that'a single mortal is better in Allah's sight than a thousand Jinns.' For，I repeat，Al-Islam systematically exalts human nature which Christianity takes infinite trouble to degrade and debase.The results of its ignoble teaching are only too evident in the East： the Christians of the so-called （and miscalled）'Holy Land'are a disgrace to the faith and the idiomatic Persian term for a Nazarene is'Tars'= funker；coward.
[74]Arab.'Sakaba Kārah ；'the forge in which children are hammered out？
[75]Arab.'M al-Mal hat'= water （brilliancy） of beauty.
[76]The fourth of the Seven Heavens，the'Garden of Eternity，'made of yellow coral.