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me [with thy presence] thereat.” And Zein ul Asnam said, “With all my heart.”[1] So Mubarek arose and foregoing Zein ul Asnam, brought him into the saloon, which was full of the chief men of Cairo, assembled therein. There he sat down and seating the prince in the place of honour, called for the evening-meal. So they laid the tables and Mubarek stood to serve Zein ul Asnam, with his hands clasped behind him[2] and whiles seated upon his knees [and heels].[3] The notables of Cairo marvelled at this, how Mubarek, the chiefest of them, should serve the youth, and[4] were sore amazed thereat, knowing not [who or] whence he was. But, after they had eaten and drunken and supped and were of good cheer, Mubarek turned to the company and said to them, “O folk, marvel not that I serve this youth with all worship and assiduity, for that he is the son
- ↑ Lit. “[With] love and honour” (hubban wa kerametan), a familar phrase implying complete assent to any request. It is by some lexicologists supposed to have arisen from the circumstance of a man answering another, who begged of him a wine-jar (hubb), with the words, “Ay, I will give thee a jar and a cover (kerameh) also,” and to have thus become a tropical expression of ready compliance with a petition, as who should say, “I will give thee what thou askest and more.”
- ↑ The slave’s attitude before his master.
- ↑ The like.
- ↑ Night DII.
