O sleep to God, my child, my eyes, Your heart no ill shall know; Who loves you not as much as I, May God her house o'erthrow! May the mosque and the minaret, dome and all, On her wicked head in anger fall! May the Arabs rob her threshing floor, And not one kernel remain in her store. The servant girl Nideh, who attends the Sit Leila, thinks that her turn has come, and she is singing, We've the white and the red in our baby's cheeks, In pounds and tons to spare; But the black and the rust, And the mould and the must, For our neighbor's children are! I hope she does not refer to _us_ for we are her nearest neighbors. But in reality I do not suppose that they actually mean what they sing in these Ishmaelitic songs. Perhaps they do when they are angry, but they probably sing them ordinarily without thinking of their meaning at all. Sometimes snakes come down from the ceilings of these earth-roofed houses, and terrify the people. At other times government horsemen come and drag them off to prison, as they did in Safita. These things are referred to in this next song which Nideh is singing: If she love you not, my boy, May the Lord her life destroy! Seven mules tread her down, Drag her body through the town! Snakes that from the ceiling hang, Sting her dead with poison fang! Soldiers from Damascus city, Drag her off and shew no pity! Nor release her for a day, Though a thousand pounds she pay! That is about enough of imprecations, and it will be pleasanter to listen to Katrina, for she will sing us some of the sweetest of the Syrian Nursery Songs. Sleep, my moon, my baby sleep! The Pleiades bright their watches keep. The Libra shines so fair and clear, The stars are shining, hush my dear! There is not much music in the tunes they sing to these words. The airs generally are plaintive and monotonous, and have a sad and weary sound. Here is another: My boy, my moon, I bid you good morrow! Who wishes you peace shall know no sorrow! Whom you salute, his earth is like heaven, His care relieved, his sin forgiven! She says that last line is extravagant, and I think as much. The next one is a Moslem lullaby. O Lord of the heavens, Knowing and Wise, Preserve my Ali, the light of my eyes! Lord of high heaven, Compassionate! Keep my dear boy in every state! This one is used by the women of all the sects, but in all of the songs the name is changed to suit the name of the baby to whom the mother is singing, Ali, your eyes are sleeping, But God's eyes never sleep: Their hours of lonely weeping None can forever keep. How sweet is the night of health, When Ali sleeps in peace! Oh may such nights continue, Nor ever, ever cease!