84 
C. J. Lyall —The Mo‘alia yah of Lebicl , with the [No. 1, 
whose calf has been killed and torn by wolves, and who wanders restlessly by the out¬ 
skirts of the pastures away from the herd in search of it; at the end of her wander¬ 
ings, when she is beginning to be comforted for her loss, she is beset by hunters and 
dogs, but escapes the former and beats off the latter (vv. 36—52). Then he turns 
again to his Lady, and tells her more of his mood. He describes to her the revels 
which she knows not of (w. 57—61) : his open-handedness (v. 62) in clothing the naked 
and feeding the hungry : his valour in defence of his tribe (v. 63), which gives him 
again occasion to tell of his good mare (vv. 66—69) : his high place in the Courts of 
Kings, where he is chosen as arbiter between contending poets (v. 70) : his liberal hos¬ 
pitality, when he provides for his friends fat camels as the prize of the arrow-gambling 
(vv. 73—75); and his charity to the poor and friendless, whom he satisfies with food 
(vv. 76—77). Then he passes from himself to his tribe, and vaunts their nobleness of 
heart and the valour and steadfastness of their young men and their greybeards (vv. 
78—89). 
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Effaced are her resting-places—where she stayed but a while and where 
[she dwelt long 
in Mina : desolate are her camps in Ghaul and er-Rijam, 
And by the torrents of er-Rayyan : the traces thereof are laid bare 
and old and worn, as the rocks still keep their graving: 
Tent-traces over which have passed, since the time that one dwelt there, 
long years, with their rolling months of war and peace. 
The showers of the signs of Spring have fallen on them, and there have 
[swept 
over them the rains of the thundering clouds, torrents and drizzle 
[both— 
The clouds that came by night, those of the morning that hid the sky, 
and the clouds of even-tide, with their antiphons of thunder; 
There have sprung up over them the shoots of the rocket, and in the 
[sides 
of the valley the deer and the ostriches rear their young; 
The large-eyed wild kine lie down there by their young ones 
just born, and their calves roam in herds over the plain. 
The torrents have scored afresh the traces of the tents, as though 
they were lines of writing in a book which the pens make new 
[again, 
Or the tracery which a woman draws afresh as she sprinkles the blue 
over the rings, and the lines shine forth anew thereon. 
And I stood there asking them for tidings—and wherefore did I ask 
aught of deaf stones that have no voice to answer ? 
Bare was the place where the whole tribe had rested: they passed 
[away 
therefrom at dawn, leaving behind them the tent-trenches and the 
[thatch. 
