Moorish Literature: Comprising Romantic Ballads, Tales of the Berbers, Stories of the Kabyles, Folk-Lore, and National Traditions
General
Moorish Literature: Comprising Romantic Ballads, Tales of the Berbers, Stories of the Kabyles, Folk-Lore, and National Traditions
Spanish literature -- Translations into English
They cut off his head and buried his body. The child went to the
Thadjeinath, where the men of the village were assembled. In his absence
his mother killed a sheep. She took the head and buried it in place of the
sheik's head. The child arrived at the Thadjeinath and said to those
present:
"I have killed the sheik who waked us up every morning."
"It is a lie," said they.
"Come to my mother's house and we will show you where we buried his head."
They went to the house, and the mother said to them:
"Ali Sidi, this child is mad. It is a sheep that we have killed. Come and
see where we buried its head." They went to the spot, dug, and found a
sheep's head.
* * * * *
THE WAGTAIL AND THE JACKAL
At the time when all the animals spoke, a wagtail laid her eggs on the
ground. The little ones grew up. A jackal and a fox came to them. The
jackal said to the fox:
"Swear to me that the wagtail owes me a pound of butter."
The fox swore to it. The bird began to weep. A greyhound came to her and
asked her what was the matter. She answered him:
"The fox has calumniated me."
"Well," said the hound, "put me in this sack of skin."
She put him in the sack. "Tie up the top well," said the hound. When the
jackal returned she said to him:
"Come and measure out the butter."
The jackal advanced and unfastened the sack. He saw the hound, who
stretched out his paws and said to the fox:
"I am ill; come and measure, fox."
The fox approached. The hound seized him. The jackal said, "Remember your
false testimony."
* * * * *
THE FLUTE-PLAYER
A servant tended the sheep of his master. Arrived in the meadow, he played
the flute. The sheep heard him, and would not browse. One day the master
perceived that his sheep did not graze. He followed the servant to the
fields and hid himself in the bush. The shepherd took his flute and began
to play. His master began to dance so that the bushes brought blood upon
him. He returned home.
"Who scratched you so?" asked his wife.
"The servant played on the flute, and I began to dance."
"That is a lie," said she; "people don't dance against their will."
"Well," answered the husband, "tie me to this post and make the servant
play."
She tied him to the post and the servant took the flute. Our man began to
dance. He struck his head against a nail in the post and died. The son of
the dead man said to the servant:
"Pay me for the loss of my father."
They went before the cadi. On the way they met a laborer, who asked them
where they were going.
"Before the cadi."
"Could you tell me why?"
"This man killed my father," answered the son of the dead man.
"It was not I that killed him," answered the shepherd; "I played on the
flute, he danced and died."
"That is a lie!" cried the laborer. "I will not dance against my will. Take
your flute and we shall see if I dance."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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