The title is borrowed from the _Mille et Une Nuits_, translated into
French by Galland (1704).
201.--1. favorite. This peculiar feminine form is due to
analogy with _petite_ (in the masculine _petit_ and _favori_ end with
the same sound, hence by analogy they have the same sound in the
feminine).
13. ne sachant que faire. _Pas_ may be omitted: (1) in certain
fixed phrases (_n'importe_, etc.); (2) after _qui_ or _que_ expressing
a regret or a desire (_qui de nous n'a ses défauts?_); (3) before the
interrogative pronouns _que, quel, quoi_ (_je n'ai que faire de vos
dons, ne sachant que faire_, etc.); (4) with _ni_ (_il ne boit ni ne
mange_); (5) with _ne... que_, meaning "oldquo;only," or when another negative
follows (_point, rien_, etc.); (6) with certain verbs followed by an
infinitive (_pouvoir, savoir_, etc.); (7) with _si_ when expressing a
reservation in the sense of _à moins que_; (8) in certain subordinate
clauses (_je n'y vais jamais qu'il ne m'arrive quelque accident; c'est
vrai qu'il ne s'est jamais marié, mais ce n'est pas qu'il ne l'ait
voulu_, etc.). This list does not embrace the pleonastic uses of _ne_.
Notice further in regard to this phrase (ne sachant que faire)
that, although the indirect question usually becomes in French a
relative clause (_il ne sait pas ce qu'il fait_), with the infinitive
the old Latin construction is preserved (with _avoir, pouvoir_ and
_savoir_, when negative). _Ne_ (alone) to express negation is a survival
of the usage in Old French where _ne_ (without pas) could be used
generally.
216.--27. Ibnn-Ben-Omaz. There seems to have been no
celebrated poet of this name. Gautier's knowledge of Arabiç was
apparently limited (a number of his errors have been indicated under
the proper words in the vocabulary). Omar Khayyam (eleventh and twelfth
centuries) is naturally suggested; Ibn al-Khattab Omar, the second
Caliph, who succeeded Abu-Bekr in 634 and who took part in writing the
Koran, is also suggested. Omaz is not an Arabic name.
218.--22. l'escarboucle magique, ou l'aigrette de plume de
héron. That is, she was neither a fairy nor of royal blood; the
carbuncle was formerly a magic stone and was credited with the power to
emit light; in regard to the héron, possibly Gautier had in mind the
ibis, the sacred bird of Egypt.
219.--29. la princesse... n'enverrait... que je
refuserais. For _si la princesse envoyait... je refuserais_.
220.--23. vous l'a fait préférer. Notice that in this
construction the object of the infinitive precedes _faire_.
221.--1. c'est tout au plus si je pourrais. In conditional
clauses the conditional is not allowed after _si_; this clause is
declarative, the meaning is: "aldquo;at the utmost I could do no more than."