e head was pointed in the direction
where the loved one lay buried. With us, as with Abu'l-Ala
(_quatrain_ 26), the soul may metaphorically be imagined as a
bird, but for the European's ancestor it was a thing of sober
earnest, as it is to-day to many peoples. Thus the soul of
Aristeas was seen to issue from his mouth in the shape of a
raven.[6] In Southern Celebes they think that a bridegroom's soul
is apt to fly away at marriage, wherefore coloured rice is
scattered over him to induce it to remain. And, as a rule, at
festivals in South Celebes rice is strewed on the head of the
person in whose honour the festival is held, with the object of
detaining his soul, which at such times is in especial danger of
being lured away by envious demons.[7] . . . This metaphor was
used by Abu'l-Ala in the letter which he wrote on the death of
his mother: "I say to my soul, 'This is not your nest, fly
away.'" And elsewhere (_quatrain_ 34) Death is represented as a
reaper. Says Francis Thompson:

The goodly grain and the sun-flushed sleeper
The reaper reaps, and Time the reaper.

It is interesting to find Death also called a sower, who
disseminates weeds among men: "Do der Tot sinen Samen under si
gesoete."

It was an ancient custom of the Arabs when they took an oath of
special significance to plunge their hands into a bowl of perfume
and distribute it among those who took part in the ceremony. Of
the perfumes, musk (_quatrain_ 38) was one which they affected
most. Brought commonly from Turkistan, it was, with certain
quantities of sandalwood and ambra, made into a perfume. And "the
wounds of him who falls in battle and of the martyrs," said
Mahomet, "shall on the Day of Judgment be resplendent with
vermilion and odorous as musk." This was repeated by Ibnol
Faradhi, who in the Kaaba entreated God for martyrdom and, when
this prayer was heard, repented having asked. . . . This quatrain
goes on to allude to things which can improve by being struck.
There is in the third book of a work on cookery (so rare a thing,
they tell us, that no MS. of it exists in England or in any other
country that can be heard of) an observation by the eighteenth-
century editor to the effect that it is a vulgar error to suppose
that walnut-trees, like Russian wives, are all the better for a
beating; the long poles and stones which are used by boys and
others to get the fruit down, for the trees are very high, are
used rather out of kindness to the