le fils d'Azar = Abraham

27. 2. Baal, the chief deity worshiped by the Chaldean and Babylonian nations.

3. la hache de destruction, namely, the ax with which he had smashed to pièces the idols of the other gods.

12. Nemrod, or Nimrod. See Koran II and XXI. Rabbis represent him as a persecutor of Abraham.

25. David, le roi forgeron. . . . Very little is said about David in the Koran. He was one of the prophets (see above) to whom God taught the art of making coats of mail, and the language of birds. (See Koran II, 227.)

28. Salomon," à qui. ... The Koran (XXI, XXVII, and XXVIII) has only allusions to the legends hère referred to, and which are told fully in the différent Books of Traditions.

29. Balkis, la reine de Saba. The story of Balkis (or Bilkees) queen of Sabah (or Sebah) is told Koran XXVII, 22-45.

28. 5. les compagnons de la caverne. This legend — related in the Koran XVIII — of a few worshipers of the true God

flccing to the mountains and seeking refuge in a cave where, guarded by angcls, they remain aslecp for over 300 years and awake to find the destruction of the infidels is common to Jews and Mohammedans. Il was also taken up and adapted to a new faith by the Christians; the dog l'A Rakim of the Arabian legend, that guarded the sleepers and was latei admitted to Paradise for his fidelity, lias disappeared, however, in the Christian folklore.

5. la chamelle sacrée. . . . An allusion to this slory is found in the Koran VII, 72-77, and XXVI, 142 iï. Saleh or Salih (the pious) is the son of Seth, son of Noah. Hc is himself one of the Thamuditcs. After several attempts to couvert bis people to the true God lie offered their king to perform before his eyes any mirai le that he might choose. The king asked the messenger of Allah to niake a camel corne out of a rocky mountain; the animal must In- one hundred feet high, wilh ail imaginary colors on lier hack, eyes llamin^ like lightning, a voiee like thunder, feel swifter than the wind, and so forth, and so forth. The miracle took place and the kinjj was converled. (Sec the whole story in Weil, Biblical l ends of the Mussulmans : "Noah, Hud, and Salih."

30. 20. Joseph adoré par les onze étoiles, the story of the Bible (Genesis, XXXVII), also known among Mohammedans, of Joseph seeing, in sleep, eleven stars and the sun and the moon, and they were " making obeisance unto him."

22. il levait la lourde pierre. The stone bere referred to, covers the orifice of oriental wells when not in use. Once the stone has been removed a leather pouch is lowered at the end of a rope; the water drawn out is poured in a trougb for the cattle.