by René Basset
"Greetings to you, you who are before the camels." The horseman still was silent. Ahmed then said: "Greetings to you, you who own the white mare."
"Greetings to you!" replied the horseman.
"How comes it that you would not answer my greetings for so long?"
The horseman answered: "You cried to me, 'Greetings to you, you who are behind the camels,' Now, behind them are their tails. Then you said, 'Greetings to you, you who are in the middle of the camels,' In the middle of them are their bellies. You said, again, 'Greetings to you, you who are before the camels.' Before them are their heads. You said, 'Greetings to you, O master of the white mare,' And then I answered to you, 'Greetings to you also,'"
Ahmed el Hilalieu asked of the shepherd, "What is your name?"
"I am called Chira."
"Well, Chira, tell me where Redah lives. Is it at the city of the stones or in the garden of the palms?"
"Redah dwells in the city. Her father is the Sultan. Seven kings have fought for her, and one of them has refreshed his heart. He is named Chalau. Go, seek the large house. You will be with Redah when I see you again."
Ahmed sets out, and soon meets the wife of the shepherd, who comes before him and says, "Enter, be welcome, and may good luck attend you!" She ties his horse, gives him to drink, and goes to find dates for Ahmed. She takes care to count them before serving him with them. He takes out a pit, closes the date again, puts them all together, and puts down the pit. He ate nothing, and he said to the woman: "Take away these dates, for I have eaten my fill." She looks, takes up the tray, counts the dates again, and perceives that none of them has been eaten. Nevertheless, there is a pit, and not a date missing. She cries out:
"Alas! my heart for love of this young man
Is void of life as is this date of pit."
Then she heaved a sigh and her soul flew away.
Ahmed remained there as if in a dream until the shepherd came back. "Your wife is dead," he said to him, "and if you wish, I'll give you her weight in gold and silver."
But the shepherd answers: "I, too, am the son of a sultan. I have come to pay this woman a visit and desire to see her. Calm yourself. I will take neither your gold nor silver. This is the road to follow; go, till you arrive at the castle where she is."
Ahmed starts, and when he arrives at the castle, he stands up in his stirrups and throws the shadow of his spear upon the window.
Redah, addressing her negress, said to her: "See now what casts that shadow. Is it a cloud, or an Arab's spear?"
The negress goes to see, comes back to her mistress, and says to her, "It is a horseman, such as I have never seen the like of before in all my life."
"Return," said Redah, "and ask him who he is." Redah goes to see, and says:
"O horseman, who dost come before our eyes,
Why seekest thou thy death? Tell me upon
Thine honor true, what is thine origin?"
He answers:
"Oh, I am Ahmed el Hilalieu called. Well known
'Mongst all the tribes of daughters of Hilal.
I bear in hand a spear that loves to kill,
Who'er attacks me counts on flight and dies."
She says to him:
"Thou'rt Ahmed el Hilalieu? Never prowls
A noble bird about the Zeriba;
The generous falcon turns not near the nests,
O madman! Why take so much care
About a tree that bears not any dates?"
He answers:
"I will demand of our great Lord of all
To give us rain to cover all the land
With pasturage and flowers. And we shall eat
Of every sort of fruit that grows on earth."
Redah:
"We women are like silk. And only those
Who are true merchants know to handle us."
Ahmed el Hilalieu then says:
"I've those worth more than thou amid the girls
Of Hilal, clad in daintiest of silk
Of richest dye, O Redah, O fifth rite."
And, turning his horse's head, he goes away. But she recalls him:
"I am an orange, them the gardener;
I am a palm and thou dost cut my fruit;
I am a beast and thou dost slaughter me.
I am--upon thine honor--O gray steed,
Turn back thy head. For we are friends henceforth."
She says to the negress, "Go open wide the door that he may come."
The negress admits him, and ties up his horse. On the third day he sees the negress laughing.
"Why do you laugh, negress?"
"You have not said your prayers for three days."
POPULAR TALES OF THE BERBERS
THE TURTLE, THE FROG, AND THE SERPENT
Once upon a time the turtle married a frog. One day they quarrelled. The frog escaped and withdrew into a hole. The turtle was troubled and stood in front of his door very much worried. In those days the animals spoke. The griffin came by that way and said: "What is the matter with you? You look worried this morning."
"Nothing ails me," answered the turtle, "except that the frog has left me."
The griffin replied, "I'll bring him back."
"You will do me a great favor."
The griffin took up his journey and arrived at the hole of the frog. He scratched at the door.
The frog heard him and asked, "Who dares to rap at the door of a king's daughter?"
"It is I, the griffin, son of a griffin, who lets no carrion escape him."
"Get out of here, among your corpses. I, a daughter of the King, will not go with you."
He departed immediately.
The next day the vulture came along by the turtle and found it worrying before its door, and asked what was the trouble. It answered: "The frog has gone away."
"I'll bring her back," said the vulture.
"You will do me a great favor."
The vulture started, and reaching the frog's house began to beat its wings.
The frog said: "Who conies to the east to make a noise at the house of the daughter of kings, and will not let her sleep at her ease?"
"It is I, the vulture, son of a vulture, who steals chicks from under her mother."
The frog replied: "Get away from here, father of the dunghill. You are not the one to conduct the daughter of a king."
The vulture was angry and went away much disturbed. He returned to the turtle and said: "The frog refuses to come back with me. Seek someone else who can enter her hole and make her come out. Then I will bring her back even if she won't walk."
The turtle went to seek the serpent, and when he had found him he began to weep. "I'm the one to make her come out," said the serpent. He quickly went before the hole of the frog and scratched at the door.
"What is the name of this other one?" asked the frog.
"It is I, the serpent, son of the serpent. Come out or I'll enter."
"Wait awhile until I put on my best clothes, gird my girdle, rub my lips with nut-shells, put some koheul in my eyes; then I will go with you."
"Hurry up," said the serpent. Then he waited a little while. Finally he got angry, entered her house, and swallowed her. Ever since that time the serpent has been at war with the frog. Whenever he sees one he chases her and eats her.
THE HEDGEHOG, THE JACKAL, AND THE LION
Once upon a time the jackal went in search of the hedgehog and said to it: "Come along. I know a garden of onions. We will fill our bellies."
"How many tricks have you?" asked the hedgehog.
"I have a hundred and one."
"And I," said the other, "have one and a half."
They entered the garden and ate a good deal. The hedgehog ate a little and then went to see if he could get out of the entrance or not. When he had eaten enough so that he could just barely slip out, he stopped eating. As for the jackal, he never stopped eating until he was swollen very much.
As these things were going on, the owner of the garden arr
ived. The hedgehog saw him and said to his companion:
"Escape! the master is coming." He himself took flight. But in spite of his exhortations the jackal couldn't get through the opening. "It is impossible," he said.
"Where are those one hundred and one tricks? They don't serve you now."
"May God have mercy on your parents, my uncle, lend me your half a trick." "Lie down on the ground," answered the hedgehog. "Play dead, shut your mouth, stretch out your paws as if you were dead, until the master of the garden shall see it and cast you into the street, and then you can run away."
On that the hedgehog departed. The jackal lay down as he had told him until the owner of the garden came with his son and saw him lying as if dead. The child said to his father:
"Here is a dead jackal. He filled his belly with onions until he died."
Said the man, "Go, drag him outside."
"Yes," said the child, and he took him and stuck a thorn into him.
"Hold on, enough!" said the jackal. "They play with reeds, but this is not sport."
The child ran to his father and said, "The jackal cried out, 'A reed! a reed!'"
The father went and looked at the animal, which feigned death. "Why do you tell me that it still lives?"
"It surely does."
"Come away and leave that carrion." The child stuck another thorn into the jackal, which cried, "What, again?" The child went to his father. "He has just said, 'What, again?'"
"Come now," said the man, and he sent away his son. The latter took the jackal by the motionless tail and cast him into the street. Immediately the animal jumped up and started to run away. The child threw after him his slippers. The jackal took them, put them on, and departed.
On the way he met the lion, who said, "What is that footwear, my dear?"
"You don't know, my uncle? I am a shoemaker. My father, my uncle, my mother, my brother, my sister, and the little girl who was born at our house last night are all shoemakers."
"Won't you make me a pair of shoes?" replied the lion.
"I will make you a pair. Bring me two fat camels. I will skin them and make you some good shoes."
The lion went away and brought the two fat camels. "They are thin," said the jackal. "Go change them for others."
He brought two thin ones.
"They are fat," said the jackal. He skinned them, cut some thorns from a palm-tree, rolled the leather around the lion's paws and fastened it there with the thorns.
"Ouch!" screamed the lion.
"He who wants to look finely ought not to say, 'Ouch.'"
"Enough, my dear."
"My uncle, I will give you the rest of the slippers and boots." He covered the lion's skin with the leather and stuck in the thorns. When he reached the knees, "Enough, my dear," said the lion. "What kind of shoes are those?"
"Keep still, my uncle, these are slippers, boots, breeches, and clothes."
When he came to the girdle the lion said, "What kind of shoes are those?"
"My uncle, they are slippers, boots, breeches, and clothing." In this way he reached the lion's neck. "Stay here," he said, "until the leather dries. When the sun rises look it in the face. When the moon rises, too, look it in the face."
"It is good," said the lion, and the jackal went away.
The lion remained and did as his companion had told him. But his feet began to swell, the leather became hard, and he could not get up. When the jackal came back he asked him, "How are you, my uncle?"
"How am I? Wretch, son of a wretch, you have deceived me. Go, go; I will recommend you to my children."
The jackal came near and the lion seized him by the tail. The jackal fled, leaving his tail in the lion's mouth.
"Now," said the lion, "you have no tail. When my feet get well I will catch you and eat you up."
The jackal called his cousins and said to them, "Let us go and fill our bellies with onions in a garden that I know." They went with him. Arriving he tied their tails to the branches of a young palm-tree, and twisted them well. "Who has tied our tails like this?" they asked. "No one will come before you have filled your bellies. If you see the master of the garden approach, struggle and fly. You see that I, too, am bound as you are." But he had tied an onion-stalk on himself. When the owner of the garden arrived, the jackal saw him coming. They struggled, their tails were all torn out, and stayed behind with the branches to which they were fastened. When the jackal saw the man, he cut the onion stem and escaped the first of all.
As for the lion, when his feet were cured, he went to take a walk and met his friend the jackal. He seized him and said, "Now I've got you, son of a wretch."
The other answered, "What have I done, my uncle?"
"You stuck thorns in my flesh. You said to me, 'I will make you some shoes.' Now what shall I do to you?"
"It was not I," said the jackal.
"It was you, and the proof is that you have your tail cut off."
"But all my cousins are without tails, like me."
"You lie, joker."
"Let me call them and you will see."
"Call them."
At his call the jackals ran up, all without tails.
"Which of you is a shoemaker?" asked the lion.
"All of us," they answered.
He said to them: "I am going to bring you some red pepper. You shall eat of it, and the one who says, 'Ouch!' that will be the one I'm looking for."
"Go and get it."
He brought them some red pepper, and they were going to eat it when the first jackal made a noise with his shoes, but he said to the lion, "My uncle, I did not say, 'Ouch!'" The lion sent them away, and they went about their business.
THE STOLEN WOMAN
It is related that a man of the Onlad Draabad married his cousin, whom he loved greatly. He possessed a single slave and some camels. Fearing lest someone should carry off his wife on account of her beauty, he resolved to take her to a place where no one should see her. He started, therefore, with his slave, his camels, and his wife, and proceeded night and day until he arrived at the shore of the great salt sea, knowing that nobody would come there.
One day when he had gone out to see his camels and his slave, leaving his wife alone in the tent, she saw a ship that had just then arrived. It had been sent by a sultan of a far country, to seek in the islands of the salt sea a more beautiful wife for him than the women of his land. The woman in the tent, seeing that the ship would not come first to her, went out first in front. The people said to her, "Come on board in order to see the whole ship." She went aboard. Finding her to be just the one for whom they were seeking, they seized her and took her to their Sultan. On his return, the husband, not finding his wife, realized that she had been stolen. He started to find the son of Keij, the Christian. Between them there existed a friendship. The son of Keij said to him: "Bring a ship and seven men, whose guide I will be on the sea. They need not go astray nor be frightened. The city is three or four months' journey from here." They set sail in a ship to find the city, and were on the way the time that he had said.
Arriving they cast their anchor near the city, which was at the top of a high mountain. Their chief went ashore and saw a fire lighted by someone. He went in that direction. It was an old woman, to whom he told his story. She gave him news of his wife. They agreed to keep silence between themselves. Then the old woman added: "In this place there are two birds that devour people. At their side are two lions like to them, and two men. All of these keep guard over your wife."