The Women of the Arabs Part 22

Rain, O world, your waters shed, On my dear grandmother's head.

The sun s.h.i.+nes out now, and Khalil says the "world has got well" again, so he sings:

s.h.i.+nes the sun with brightest beam On the roof of Im Seleem; Now the bear will dance a reel, On the roof of Im Khaleel.

The roofs of the houses are low and flat, and on the hill-sides you can walk from the street above upon the roof of the houses below. I once lived in a house in Duma in which the cattle, donkeys, and sheep used to walk on our roof every evening as they came in from pasture. It was not very pleasant to be awakened at midnight by a cow-fight on the roof, and have the stones and dirt rattling down into our faces, but we could get no other house, and had to make the best of it. You can understand then Khalil's song:

The sun is rising all so bright Upon the Pasha's daughter: See her toss the ta.s.sels blue, As her mother taught her.

Turn the oxen on the roof Of the village priest; He will kill them one and all, And give the poor a feast.

The boys seem to be in high glee. They all know Handumeh and her betrothed Shaheen Ma'ttar, so they are swinging and singing in honor of her wedding.

But the time has come for the wedding, and we will go over to Ain Kesur, about a mile away, and join in the bridal procession. As we come near the house we hear the women inside singing. They have been dressing the bride, and after she is dressed they lead her around and try to make her dance. Perhaps they will let us see how she is dressed. Her head is covered with a head-dress of pink gauze, embroidered with gold thread and purple chenille, and ornamented with pearl beads and artificial flowers, and over all a long white gauze veil trimmed with lace. Her ear-rings are gold filigree work with pendant pearls, and around her neck is a string of pure amber beads and a gold necklace. She wears a jacket of black velvet, and a gilt belt embroidered with blue, and fastened with a silver gilt filigree buckle in the form of a bow knot with pendants. On her finger is a gold ring set with sapphire, and others with turquoises and amethysts. Her dress is of brown satin, and on her arms are solid gold bracelets which cost 1400 piastres or fifty-six dollars. You know Handumeh is not a rich girl, and her betrothed is a hard working muleteer, and he has had to work very hard to get the money to buy all these things, for it is the custom for the bridegroom to pay for the bride's outfit. The people always lay out their money in jewelry because it is easily carried, and easily buried in time of civil wars and troubles in the land. Shaheen's brothers and relatives have come to take her to Abeih, but he is nowhere to be seen.

It would not be proper for him to come to her house. For weeks she has not been over to Abeih, except to invite us to her wedding, and when Anna asked her on what day she was to be married, she professed not to know anything about it. They think it is not modest for a bride to care anything about the wedding, and she will try to appear unwilling to go when they are ready to start. The women are singing now:

Dance, our bride so fair, Dance and never care; Your bracelets sing, your anklets ring, Your s.h.i.+ning beauty would dazzle a king!

To Damascus your father a journey has made, And your bridegroom's name is Abu Zeid.

And now the young men outside are dancing and fencing, and they all join in singing:

Dance, my dancer, early and late, Would I had like you seven or eight; Two uncles like you, blithe and gay, To stand at my back in the judgment day!

And now the young men, relatives of the bridegroom, address the brother of the bride, as her father is not living, and they all sing:

O brother of the bride, on a charger you should ride; A Councillor of State you should be; Whene'er you lift your voice, The judgment halls rejoice, And the earth quakes with fear From Acre to Ghuzeer.

And now the warlike Druzes, who are old friends of Shaheen and his father, wish to show their good will by singing a wedding song, which they have borrowed from the old wild inhabitants of this land of Canaan:

O brother of the bride, your mare has gnawed her bridle, Run for the blacksmith, do not be idle.

She has run to the grave where are buried your foes, And pawed out their hearts with her iron shoes!

But the time has come for the procession to move, and we go along slowly enough. The bride rides a mare, led by one of Shaheen's brothers, and as we pa.s.s the fountain, the people pour water under the mare's feet as a libation, and Handumeh throws down a few little copper coins to the children. The women in the company set up the zilagheet, a high piercing trill of the voice, and all goes merry as a marriage bell. When we reach the house of Shaheen, he keeps out of sight, not even offering to help his bride dismount from her horse. That would never do. He will stay among the men, and she in a separate room among the women, until the hour of the ceremony arrives.

But the women are singing again, and this time the song is really beautiful in Arabic, but I fear I have made lame work of it in the translation:

Allah, belaly, belaly, Allah, belaly, belaly, May G.o.d spare the life of your sire, Our lovely gazelle of the valley!

May Allah his riches increase He has brought you so costly a dowry; The moonlight has gone from his house, The rose from his gardens so flow'ry.

Run away, rude men, turn aside, Give place to our beautiful bride: From her sweet perfumes I am sighing, From the odor of musk I am dying.

Come and join us fair maid, they have brought you your dress, Leave your peac.o.c.ks and doves, give our bride a caress; Red silk! crimson silk! the weaver cries as he goes: But our bride's cheeks are redder blus.h.i.+ng bright as the rose.

Dark silk! black silk! hear him now as he sings: But our bride's hair is black, like the raven's dark wings; With the light of our eyes with our Handumeh sweet No maid of the Druzes can ever compete.

She is worth all the wealth of the Lebanon domain, All the vineyards and olives, the silk worms and grain.

And no maids of the Christians can with her compare Tho' s.h.i.+ning with pearls and with jewels so rare.

The house is now crowded full, the men being all in one room with Shaheen, and the women in the other room, and the court with the bride Handumeh. One of Shaheen's brothers comes around with a k.u.mk.u.m, and sprinkles orange flower water in all our faces, and Khalil asks us if we wish the ceremony to take place now? We tell him that he must ask the bride and groom. So Abu Shaheen comes into the court with the old priest Eklemandus, as Shaheen's family belong to the Greek Catholic sect.

Handumeh is really a Protestant, and Shaheen has nothing to do with the priests, but the "old folks" had their way about it. A white curtain hangs across the court, and the bride stands on one side, with her bridesmaid, and all the women and girls, and on the other side is the priest with Shaheen, and all of the men and boys. Then candles were distributed, and lighted, and the old priest adjusted his robes and began to read the marriage service. An a.s.sistant stood by his side looking over his shoulder, and responding Amen in a loud and long drawn voice. At length the priest called out to him, "A little shorter there on those Amens. We don't want long Amens at a wedding!" This set the whole crowd laughing, and on he went reading pa.s.sages of Scripture, prayers and advice to the bride and bridegroom in the most hasty and trifling manner, intoning it through his nose, so that no one could understand what he was saying. While he was reading from the gospel about the marriage at Cana of Galilee, a small boy, holding a lighted candle, came very near burning off the old man's beard, and he called out to him, "Put out your candle! You have tormented my life out of me with that candle." This raised another laugh, and on he read. Then he took two rings, and drawing aside the curtain, placed one on the bride's head, and the other on the bridegroom's head, p.r.o.nouncing them man and wife, and then gave them each a sip of wine and the ceremony was concluded, all the men kissing Shaheen, and the women Handumeh.

Refreshments were then served to the guests from the village, and a dinner to those from other villages. In the evening there a.s.sembled a great company in Shaheen's house, and the hour was given up to story telling. Saleh, whose brother married Shaheen's sister, will begin with the _Story of the Goats and the Ghoul_.

Once there was a Nanny Goat, strong and powerful, with long and strong horns, and once upon a time she brought forth twin kids, fair and beautiful. One was named _Sunaisil_, and the other Rabab. Now the Nanny Goat went out every morning to the pasture, leaving her twin kids in the cave. She shut the door carefully, and they locked it on the inside through fear of the Ghoul, for her neighbor in the next house was a Ghoul who swallowed little children alive. Then at evening when she came home, she would stand outside the door, and sing to her twin kids this little song:

Hearken now Sunaisil, Come Rabab my dear: Open to your mother, Never, never fear.

She has sweet milk in her udder.

Tufts of gra.s.s upon her horn; She'll give you both your supper, And breakfast in the morn.

The little twin kids would know her voice, open the door in gladness, and eat a hearty supper, and after hearing a nice story from the Anziyeh, (for so their mother was called), drop off to sweet sleep.

Now all things went on well for some time, until one day the Ghoul neighbor being very hungry for a supper of twin kids, came to the door of the cave and tried to push it open. But it was too strong for her, so she went away in perplexity. At length she thought she would sing to them the very song, which the Nanny Goat sang to them every evening on her return, so she sang it:

Hearken now Sunaisil, Come Rabab, my dear, etc., etc.

and when they heard this song, they opened the door with gladness to eat their supper, when suddenly the Ghoul sprang upon them with her huge mouth open, and swallowed them both down at once. She then shut the door and fastened it as it was before, and went on her way. At evening the Nanny Goat came home with milk and gra.s.s for her twin kids' supper, and knocked at the door and sang:

Hearken now Sunaisil, Come Rabab my dear, etc., etc.,

as usual, but no one opened the door. Then she knocked and sang again, and at length she gave up all hope of their opening the door, and b.u.t.ted against the door with her horns and broke it open. She then entered the cave but there were no twin kids there. All was still. Then she knew that the Ghoul had eaten them. So she hastened to the house of the Ghoul, and went upon the top of the house, and began to stamp and pound upon the roof. The Ghoul, hearing the stamping upon the roof, called out, whosoever stamps on my roof, may Allah stamp on his roof! The Nanny Goat replied, I am on your roof; I, whose children you have eaten. Come out now, and we will fight it out by b.u.t.ting our heads together. Very well, said the Ghoul, only wait a little until I can make me a pair of horns like you. So the goat waited, and away went the Ghoul to make her horns. She made two horns of dough and dried them in the sun until they were hard, and then came to "b.u.t.t" with the goat. At the first shock, when the goat b.u.t.ted her with her horns, the horns of dough broke all to pieces; then the goat b.u.t.ted her again in her bowels and broke her in twain, and out jumped Sunaisil and Rabab, frisking and leaping and calling out "ya imme," oh, my mother, Oh, my mother! The Ghoul being dead they had no more fear, and lived long and happy lives with their mother the An.a.z.iyeh.

Did you notice how the little boys listened to Saleh's story of the Goats and the Ghoul? This story is told by the mothers to their little children, all over Syria, in the tents of the Bedawin and in the houses of the citizens. One of the women, named Noor, (_i.e._ Light), a sister of the bridegroom, says she will tell the children the story of the Hamam, the b.u.t.ta, the Wez, and the Hamar, that is, of the Dove, the Duck, the Goose, and the Donkey, if all will sit still on the floor. So all the little boys and girls curl their feet under them and fold their arms, and Noor begins:

Once the Dove, the Duck, the Goose, and the Donkey joined company and agreed to live together. Then they took counsel about their means of living, and said, how long shall we continue in such distress for our necessary food? Come let us plough a piece of ground, and plant each one such seeds as are suited to his taste. So they ploughed a piece of ground and sowed the seed. The Goose planted rice, the Duck planted wheat, the Dove planted pulse, and the Donkey planted barley, and they stationed the Donkey on guard to watch the growing crop. Now when the seeds began to grow and flourish, and the Donkey looked upon it green and bright and waving in the wind, he arose and ate it all, and then went and threw himself into a ditch near by. Then came the Dove, the Goose, and the Duck to survey the growing crop, and lo and behold, it was all eaten up, and the ground was red and barren. Then said they, where is the Donkey whom we set on guard over our crop? They searched near and far, and at length they found him standing in the ditch, and they asked him where are the crops we so carefully planted and set you to watch? Then said the Donkey, the Bedawin came with their flocks of sheep and pastured them on our crops, and when I tried to resist, they threw me into this ditch. Then they replied, it is false, you have eaten it yourself. He said, I did not. They said, yes, you did, for you are sleek and fat, and the contest waxed hot between them, until at length they all agreed to make each one swear an oath "by the life of the Lake," which was near at hand, and whoever swore the oath, and sprang into the Lake without falling, should be declared innocent. So the Dove went down first and said:

Ham, Ham, Ham, I am the Dove Hamam, Ham, Ham, Ham, My food is the plain Kotan, (pulse), Ham, Ham, Ham, If I ate the growing crop, May I suddenly throw it up!

May Allah tumble me into the Lake, And none any news of me ever take!

Then the Dove leaped into the Lake, and flew to the limb of a tree on the sh.o.r.e, and was proved innocent.

Then the Duck went down and said:

But But, But, I am the b.u.t.ta Duck, But, But, But, My food is wheat and muck; But, But, But, If I ate the growing crop, May I suddenly throw it up!

May Allah tumble me into the Lake, And none any news of me ever take!

So the Duck leaped into the Lake, and then flew to the limb of a tree on the sh.o.r.e and was proved innocent.

Then the Goose went down and said:

Wez, Wez, Wez, I am the Goose and the Wez, Wez, Wez, Wez, I eat Egyptian riz, (rice), Wez, Wez, Wez, If I ate the growing crop, May I suddenly throw it up!

May Allah tumble me into the Lake, And none any news of me ever take!

So the Goose leaped into the Lake and then flew to the limb of a tree on the sh.o.r.e and was proved innocent.

Then the Donkey went down and said:

Hak, Hak, Hak, I am the Donkey Jack, Hak, Hak, Hak, I barley eat by the sack: Hak, Hak, Hak, If I ate the growing crop, May I suddenly throw it up!

May Allah tumble me into the Lake, And none any news of me ever take!

Then the Donkey leaped boldly into the Lake, and down he fell, and his feet stuck fast in the mud and mire. Then his three companions, seeing him proved guilty of the crime, flew away and left him to his fate. Then the Donkey began to "bray" for mercy, and called at the top of his voice:

Whoever will help me out of this plight, May eat my tail at a single bite!

The Bear heard the braying, And without long delaying, He answered by saying: Long eared Donkey will you pay, Every word of what you say?