1878.] 
C. J. Lyall —The Mo 1 alia yah of Zuheyr. 
11 
III. 
26 Ho ! carry my message true to the tribesmen together leagued 
and Bubyan—Have ye sworn all that ye took upon you to swear ? 
27 It boots not to hide from God aught evil within your breasts: 
it will not be hid—what men would hold hack from God, He knows. 
28 It may be its meed comes late : in the Book is the wrong set down 
for the Beckoning Hay ; it may be that vengeance is swift and 
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stern. 
29 And War is not aught but what ye know well and have tasted oft: 
not of her are the tales ye tell a doubtful or idle thing. 
30 When ye set her on foot, ye start her with words of little praise ; 
but the mind for her grows with her growth, till she bursts into 
blazing flame. 
31 She will grind you as grist of the mill that falls on the skin beneath ; 
year by year shall her womb conceive, and the fruit thereof shall 
32 Yea, boys shall she bear you, all of ill omen, eviller [be twins : 
than Ahmar of ‘Ad : then suckling and weaning shall bring their 
33 Such harvest of bitter grain shall spring as their lords reap not [gain ; 
from acres in el-‘Iraq of bushels of corn and gold. 
IV. 
Yea, verily good is the kin, and unmeet the deed of wrong 
Hoseyn son of Ham dam wrought against them, a murder foul! 
He hid deep within his heart his bloody intent, nor told 
to any his purpose, till the moment to do was come. 
He said—‘ I will work my will, and then shall there gird me round 
and shield me from those I hate a thousand stout cavalry.’ 
So he slew : no alarm he raised where the tents stood peacefully, 
though there in their midst the Vulture-mother had entered in 
To dwell with a lion fierce, a bulwark for men in fight, 
a lion with angry mane upbristled, sharp tooth and claw, 
Fearless : when one him wrongs, he sets him to vengeance straight, 
unfaltering: when no wrong lights on him, ’tis he that wrongs. 
V. 
40 They pastured their camels athirst, until when the time was ripe 
they drove them to pools all cloven with weapons and plashed with 
blood ; 
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35 
36 
37 
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