Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/323

 

 

Birth of Abu-Zaid and the poem of Beni-Helal were told me by an illiterate fellah of die plain of Philistia. I wrote them down whilst he told them by heart. When I had written it all from his dictation, I revised and translated it, using no published work whatever. Clot Bey, in his "Egypte," states that this is a very popular romance amongst the Egyptians.

Abu-Zaid is the popular name of the black hero, but his real name is Barakat, and Salamé Shiha is his sister. Both Shiha and Barakat are