456 C. J. Lyall— Translations from the Hamaseh and the Aghani. [No. 4, 
Tlie alliteration in v. 9, -where out of ten words seven contain the letter : 
The alliteration of gheythu and ghdmirun in v. 10, and the rhyming antithesis of 
gheyth and leyth (besides heyth in the same verse) : 
The very unusual distributive sense of Jcilu in v. 12 : 
The use of injdba in v. 14 for the dawn : it appears to be used in classical Arabic 
only for the clearing away of clouds ; 
The play on the word mddin in v. 15, where it means (1) a warrior who goes 
straight to his end, and (2) a sword that cuts through all obstacles. 
None of these taken by itself would perhaps be conclusive ; alliteration is not 
unknown in the ancient poetry, but it is not approved; and instances of word-play 
might also be found. But taken together they constitute what is called tekelluf (which 
may be rendered artificiality), which is foreign to the age to which the poem would 
belong if it were really by Ta’abbata Sherra. 
But whether an imitation or a genuine old poem, there can be no doubt that the 
piece breathes the true spirit of the pagan Arab. Albert Schultens says of it—“ Nobile 
hoc carmen.monumentum est illustre laudationum quibus Fortium fortia facta 
concelebrari solebant. Magnis splendet ornamentis ac luminibus, quse gentis genium 
graphice pingunt.” Goethe, in the Appendix to his West-Oestlicher Diwan (where he 
gives a translation of it, rendered from Schultens’ Latin, as the only specimen of old 
Arab poetry which he adduces), writes — “Die Grosse des Characters, der Ernst, die 
rechtmassige Grausamkeit des Handelns, sind hier eigentlich das Mark der Poesie .... 
Hochst merkwiirdig erscheint uns bei diesem Gedicht, dass die reine Prosa der Hand- 
lung durch Transposition der einzelnen Ereignisse poetisch wird. Dadurch, und dass 
das Gedicht fast alles aussern Schmucks ermangelt, wird der Ernst desselben erhoht, 
und wer sich recht hinein lies’t muss das Geschehene, von Anfang bis zu Ende, nach 
und nach vor der Einbildungskraft aufgebaut erblicken.’’ 
vv. 1 to 4 tell of the slaying, and set before us the avenger : w. 5 to 13 praise 
the slain man, his mighty deeds and great heart: vv. 14 to 17 describe the onslaught 
which led in the end to his fall: vv. 18 to 20, the many deeds of daring which Hufteyl 
had to avenge on him ; vv. 21 to 27, the vengeance taken by him into whose mouth 
the poem is put. 
v. 1. “Drips not without vengeance,” md yutallu : literally, “is not poured 
forth like the dew or fine rain.” 
v. 3. “A heritage of bloodshed to me the son of his sister”, wa ward' a-th-tha? ri 
minni-bnu ukhtin : literally, “ and behind the vengeance” (7. e., to take it up—a con¬ 
tinuation of the thought of verse 2) [there is] “ a sister’s son in me.” This verse has 
been misunderstood by Schultens and Piickert: the former renders it—“ Post me talioni 
imminet sororis filius,” and the latter—“ Und ein Schwestersohn zur Pache tritt mir 
nach.” Goethe, seeing with a fine discernment that the avenger who speaks is himself 
the sister’s son of the dead, (compare verse 24— inna jismi ba‘da Khali lakliallu ), makes 
verses 3 and 4 the reported utterance of the dying man— 
“ Erbe meiner Pache 
1st der Schwestersohn, 
Der Streitbare, 
Der Unversohnliche,” u. s. w. 
Minni is here an example of the explicative min (li-l-baydn ). 
“ His knot none looses,” ‘ oqdatuhu Id tohallu , said of a man whose fury in battle is 
