Page:Swahili tales.djvu/17

Rh whole of the 'Utenzi on Job,' which was the best I met with, but my authority could give me no more than the beginning, my copy breaking off short in the council of the fiends as to how to avail themselves of the permission to vex Job. The stanzas I have printed are followed by a confession of God's greatness and a long commemoration of Mohammed, his family, and chief followers. Then there is an account of Job's prosperity, mentioning amongst other things the ducks and fowls which he had; then the colloquy between Satan and the Almighty, and the planning of the temptation. The language of this Utenzi is singularly clear and intelligible.

There are also current a number of epigrams, of which I subjoin one, which is said to have been composed by a famous poet of Mombas some fifty years ago. He went with his king to fight against the people of Lamoo, and was struck by an arrow. He asked the king to take it out, which he refused to do until the poet had made some verses upon the occurrence, so he recited to him the following:—

Nalishika gurumza kwa mkono kushoto, Na mato hiyang'ariza yakawaka kana moto, Waamu hiwafukuza kama mbuzi na ufito; Nikatupwa majini, hapigwa chombo kizito.

I held a musket in my left hand, And glared with my eyes, they blazed like fire, Driving the people of Lamoo like goats with a switch, And I was cast into the water, and struck by a heavy weapon.

The translation of the 'Poem of Liongo' into the current Swahili of Zanzibar was made by Hassan bin Yusuf, and revised by Sheikh Mohammed bin Ali, to whom I was indebted for a copy of the original with an interlinear version in Arabic. The translation of the dance songs was made by Hamisi wa Kayi.