Page:The L-poem of the Arabs.djvu/37

 as usual in difficult passages, being quite useless. The harbinger, فَارِطٌ, is well known; as is also the custom of tucking up one's sleeves, legs, or skirts, preparatorily to a brush of hard work or exertion.

V. 41. The idea of the "chins and breasts" of the sandgrouse "embracing the margin of the tank" as they alight, is very graphic and poetical. They run with rapidity; and, as their legs are short, their bodies are carried very close to the ground, the steps short and tripping. So say our modern ornithologists, unconsciously confirming what Shanfara sang of the birds thirteen centuries ago.

The "Uhūtza" of v. 41, and the "Et-hami rag" of v. 46, are not especially known or described.

V. 50. The "wolf-hyæna," a peculiarly bold creature, which I cannot attempt to identify, is supposed to be a cross between a he-wolf and a she-hyæna. The idea of wearing the armour (or the garment) of patience over something that may be like the heart of that beast, is an extremely artistic turn of thought. Perhaps, it is the poet's determination, his unflinching pertinacity, that is hinted at.

V. 51. That "assaults" should gamble (the same root with the designation of the "distributer by lot of the joints of the slaughtered camel" of v. 32) on the poet's flesh and death-shriek is also an artistic expression. But the true meaning of the word rendered "death-shriek," عَقِيرَتُهُ, is very doubtful. The commentators have coined an anecdote to explain it; which, as usual, fails.

V. 53. The إِذَا وَرَدَتْ أَصْدَرْتُهَا has been noticed in the explanation of the صُدُورَّ of v. 1.

V. 55. The "bringing together the two ends" of a space journeyed over is a usual expression.

V. 63. Gumaysa ٱلْغُمَيْضَآءْ, as the name of a place, is not particularly specified. I can imagine the word's meaning, in the distich, the faint light of the dawn; but this sense is in none of the authorities.

V. 66. That the genii can sometimes be very cruel is well known to every reader of the Thousand and One Nights.

We here bring our short notes to a close, in order to avoid prolixity. Almost every word and expression in the poem would bear a gloss or a comment.

The distichs of the poem are numbered for the sake of easy reference; and, to facilitate a comparison of the order now adopted, with those given by the India Office manuscript and by De Sacy, we have shown, in parentheses, the number of each distich as placed in their respective texts. The first of those numerals marks the place of the distich in the manuscript; the second, its position in De Sacy's version.