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
Other poems--for instance, that of Sidi Hammen and that of Job--are equally
celebrated in Morocco. The complaints on religious subjects are accompanied
on the violin, while those treating of a historical event or a story with a
moral have the accompaniment of a guitar. We may class this kind of poems
among those called _Tandant_, in lower Morocco, which consist in the
enumeration of short maxims. The same class exist also in Zouaona and in
Touareg.
But the inspiration of the Khabyle poets does not always maintain its
exaltation. Their talents become an arm to satirize those who have not
given them a sufficiently large recompense, or--worse still, and more
unpardonable--who have served to them a meagre repast:
"I went to the home of vile animals,
Ait Rebah is their name;
I found them lying under the sun like green figs,
They looked ill and infirm.
They are lizards among adders,
They inspire no fear, for they bite not.
Put a sheepskin before them, they
Will tear your arms and hands;
Their parched lips are all scaly,
Besides being red and spotted.
"As the vultures on their dung heaps,
When they see carrion, fall upon it,
Tearing out its entrails,
That day is for them one of joy.
Judging by their breeches,
And the headdresses of their wives,
I think they are of Jewish origin."[6]
[6] Hanoteau, Poèmes Populaires de la Khabyle, pp. 179-181, Du Jurgura.
This song, composed by Mohammed Said or Aihel Hadji, is still repeated when
one wishes to insult persons from Aith Erbah, who have tried several times
to assassinate the poet in revenge.
Sometimes two rival singers find themselves together, and each begins to
eulogize himself, which eulogy ends in a satire on the other. But the joust
begun by apostrophes and Homeric insults finishes often with a fight, and
the natural arm is the Basque drum until others separate, the
adversaries.[7] We have an example in a dialogue of this kind between
Youssuf ou Kassi, of the Aith Djemnad, and Mohand ou Abdaha, of the Aith
Kraten. The challenge and the jousts--less the blows--exist among the
chellahs of lower Morocco, where they are called _Tamawoucht_; but
between man and woman there is that which indicates the greatest liberty of
manners. The verses are improvised, and the authors are paid in small
money. Here is a specimen:
_The woman_: "When it thunders and the sky is overcast,
Drive home the sheep, O watchful shepherd."
_The man_: "When it thunders, and the sky is overcast,
We will bring home the sheep."
_The woman_: "I wish I had a bunch of switches to strike you with!
May your father be accursed, Sheepkeeper!"
_The man_: "Oh, God, I thank thee for having created
Old maids to grind meal for the toilers."[8]
[7] Hanoteau, p. 275 et seq.
[8] Stemme, p. 7, 8.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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