It is commonly believed by the Muslims (learned and unlearned) that all kinds of birds and many (if not all) beasts have a language by which they communicate their thoughts to each other; and we are told in the Ḳur-án[146] that Suleymán (Solomon) was taught the language of birds.[147] I thought that I could boast of an accomplishment very rare in Christian countries, in having learned in Egypt somewhat of this language; for instance, that the common cry of the pigeon is "Allah! Allah!" ("God! God!"); that of the ringdove, "Kereem! Towwáb!" ("Bountiful! Propitious!"--an ejaculation addressed to God); that of the common dove, "Waḥḥidoo rabbakumu-llezee khalaḳakum yeghfir-lakum zembakum!" ("Assert the unity of your Lord who created you, that He may forgive you your sin!"): but I afterwards found that several specimens of this language were given by Ez-Zamakhsheree, and had been published in Europe.[148] The cock cries, "Uzkuru-lláha, yá gháfiloon!" ("Commemorate God, O ye negligent!"): the ḳaṭà (a kind of grouse), "Men seket selim!" ("He who is silent is safe!") The latter, however, would do better if it did itself attend to the maxim it utters; for its cry (which to the uninstructed in the language of birds sounds merely "ḳaṭà! ḳaṭà!"--its own name) tells where it is to be found by the sportsman, and thus causes its own destruction.--Hence the proverb, "More veracious than the ḳaṭà." An Arab historian mentions a parrot which recited the Soorat Yá-Seen (or 36th chapter of the Ḳur-án), and a raven which recited the Soorat es-Sijdeh (or 32nd chapter) and which, on arriving at the place of prostration (or verse which should be recited with prostration), would perform that action, and say, "My body prostrateth itself to Thee, and my heart confideth in Thee." But these are not the most remarkable cases of the kind. He affirms that there was a parrot in Cairo which recited the Ḳur-án from beginning to end. The Pásha, he says, desiring to try its talent, caused a man to recite a chapter of the Ḳur-án in its presence, and to pass irregularly from one chapter to another, with the view of leading the bird into error; but, instead of this being the result, the parrot corrected him![149] FOOTNOTES: [123] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 424. This of course alludes to _Arab_ unbelievers. [For a fuller account of ancient Arab poetry, with examples, see my Introduction to Lane's "Selections from the Ḳur-án," xiv.-xxxi. 2nd ed. S. L-P.] [124] Genesis ix. 5. [125] Lettres sur l'Histoire des Arabes avant l'Islamisme, par Fulgence Fresnel (Paris, 1836, pp. 31 ff.); an author who is at present [1837] devoting talents of the very highest order to the study and illustration of the history and literature of the early Arabs, and to whose conversations and writings I must acknowledge myself indebted for the most valuable information. [126] El-Isḥáḳee. [127] El-Isḥáḳee. [128] El-Isḥáḳee. [129] Fakhr-ed-Deen, in De Sacy, Chrestomathie Arabe. [130] Ibn-Khaldoon.