The scene of this Assembly, as the title indicates, is Najrân, a celebrated town of Yemen, in Mohammed’s time chiefly inhabited by Christians, whose bishop Ḳoss became proverbial for eloquence and is said to have originated the famous phrase ammâ ba‘d (and now to proceed), the formula of transition from the introductory prayer or preliminary remarks to the principal subject of a discourse.

Al Ḥârith, while making a prolonged stay in this city, meets with an assembly of people engaged in proposing riddles. An old man, who joins them, taunts them with the futility of their pursuit, but when he perceives that his remarks have provoked their violent anger, he appeases and at the same time dumfounds them, by ten riddles of his own composition. These riddles hold the middle between those of the thirty-sixth Assembly, which are of the nature of our conundrum, and the enigmatical descriptions of the eighth, the early part of the twenty-ninth and the thirty-fifth, and are like these largely interspersed with plays on words which frequently render a readable translation exceedingly difficult. Mr. Chenery in his summary of the last twenty-four Assemblies adduces the following instance (vol. i., p. 81), which we reprint in order to give the reader an opportunity of comparing his translation of the passage with the metrical rendering attempted in these pages:

“What is he, who weds two sisters, both openly and secretly, but none accuses him for it?

When he visits the one, he visits also the other; and though husbands may be partial, he is not so.

He increases his visits as his wives grow grey: now this is an affection rare among husbands.”

The answer to this is the pencil used to place the koḥl, or ointment on the eyes: the two eyelids are the wives, each of which it anoints at the same time without partiality, and as they grow old, the necessity for anointing them increases.”

Our translation of the riddle runs:

What groom is it who weds, both in secret and openly, two sisters, and no offence at his wedlock is ever found?

When waiting on one, he waits as well on the other eke: if hus­bands be partial, no such bias is seen in him;

His attentions increase, as the sweethearts are growing grey, and so does his largess: what a rare thing in married men!

Al Ḥârith, son of Hammâm, related: The castings of travel and the by-paths of inclination used to throw me about, until I became a son of every soil and a brother of every foreign land, save that I crossed no valley, nor witnessed any Assembly, unless I fetched light from the torch of learning that consoles for griefs, and raises the worth of man, so that the habit was known of me, and became the tale of tongues with regard to me, cleaving closer to me than love to the Benû ‘Uẕrah, and bravery to the race of Abû Sufrah. Now when I had made for a while a stay at Najrân and selected there my friends and neighbours, I took its assemblies for my visiting-place, and for the resort of my sportive recreation and my night-talk, being assiduous in my attendance at them morn and eve, and seeing therein both what rejoices the heart and distresses it. Once while I was in a thronged assembly and a concourse densely crowded, there crouched before us an aged man, burdened with senility, who greeted after the fashion of a beguiler’s greeting, with a glib tongue, whereupon he said: “O ye full moons of gatherings, and seas of bounties, forsooth the morning-light is evident to him who has two eyne, and beholding holds the stead of two witnesses. So what see you fit to do in what you see [of my state]: will you vouchsafe help, or recede when ye are called upon?” Said they: “By Allah, thou hast provoked wrath, and while thy wish has been to [open a spring] make spring the water, thou hast caused it to sink away.” Then he conjured them by Allah to tell him from what he had interrupted them, so that he made it incumbent upon them to answer. So they said: “We were vying in proposing riddles, as people vie in shooting arrows on a day of battle.” Then he refrained not from vilifying their missile, and treating this feat as a futile thing. Forthwith the tongue-gifted of the people railed at him and tilted at him with the lances of reproach, and he began to excuse himself for his slip, and to repent of his speech while they per­sisted in upbraiding him, and responded to the war-cry of his contention, until he said to them: “O my good people, forbearance is part of generosity of disposition: abstain then from taunt and foul abuse, rather come on that we may riddle together, and let him be judge who excels.” Thereupon the fire of their rage subsided, and their anger was allayed. They agreed to what he stipulated against them and for them, and desired him to be the first of them. Then he kept back as long as a boot-lace may be tied, or a saddle-girth fastened, when he said: “Listen, may ye be preserved of levity, and given your fill of life’s enjoyment,” and he indited riddling upon a ventilating-fan of canvas (punkah):

“A maiden I know, brisk, full of speed in her ministry, returning the same track that she went by when starting off:

A driver she has, kinsman of hers, who is urging her, but while he thus is speeding her on, is her helpmate too.

In summer she is seen dew-besprinkled and moist and fresh, when summer is gone, her body shows flabby and loose and dry.”

Then he said: “Here is another for you, O ye lords of excellence, and centres of intellect,” and indited riddling upon the rope of palm-fibre:

“A son there is of a mother fair, whose root has sprung from her lofty plant:

He hugs her neck, though for some time, she had erewhile dis­carded him:

He who reaps her beauty ascends by means of him and none forbids and blames.”

Then he said: “Here is another for you, hidden of signification and fraught with obscurity,” and indited, riddling upon the reed-pen:

“One split in his head it is through whom ‘the writ’ is known, as honoured recording angels take their pride in him;

When given to drink he craves for more, as though athirst, and settles to rest when thirstiness takes hold of him;

And scatters tears about him when ye bid him run, but tears that sparkle with the brightness of a smile.”

Then he said: “Take this one also, clear of indica­tion, and perspicuous of expression,” and indited riddling upon the koḥl-pencil:

“What groom is it who weds, both in secret and openly, two sisters, and no offence at his wedlock is ever found?

When waiting on one, he waits as well on the other eke: if husbands are partial, no such bias is seen in him;

His attentions increase as the sweethearts are growing grey, and so does his largess: what a rare thing in married men!”

Then he said: “Again this one, O ye men of under­standing and standards of learning,” and indited riddling upon the water-wheel:

“One restless, although firmly fixed, bestowing gifts, not working mischief,

Now plunging, now uprising again, a marvel how he sinks and soars:

He pours down tears as one oppressed, yet is his fierceness to be feared:

For then he brings destruction on, although his inmost heart is pure.”

Said the narrator: Now, when he had launched forth the five which he had strung together he said: “O my good people, ponder these five and close your five upon them, then as you please gather your skirts [for departure], or accept an increase from the same measure.” Then the desire for more made it a light matter for the people to be taxed with dulness. So they said to him: “Our comprehension falls short of thy sharpness, so as to disable us to draw sparks from thy fire-shaft, and to discern the lineaments of thy blade: so if thou wilt make the ten full, it rests with thee.” Then he rejoiced with the rejoicing of one whose arrow has hit, and whose adversary has been silenced, whereupon he opened his speech [with the words] in the name of Allah, and indited riddling upon the cooling-vessel:

“One veiled as if sorrowful, and gladsome withal to see, although she alike of grief and of joy is unconscious.

Approached for her offspring sake at times, and how many times a wife would be divorced were it not that she has a child.

At times she is discarded, though unchanged in all her ways: discarding one unaltered in manners is cruelty.

When nights begin to shorten we relish her intercourse, as soon as they grow longer we care not for her embrace.

Her outward attire is showy [pleasing], disdained is her under­cloth, but why should we disdain that which wisdom approveth of?

Then he showed his yellow dog-teeth, and indited riddling upon the finger-nail:

“One of whose sharpness I fight shy, he grows without either food, or drink:

Seen during Ḥajj, he disappears on offering-day, how strange to tell!”

Then he looked askance as looketh the Ifrit, and indited riddling upon the sulphur-match:

“And who is the slighted one, sought and rejected in turns, though well thou knowest thou canst not spare her:

She has two heads of most perfect resemblance, though one of them is opposite the other:

If both are painted, she is put to torture, but spurned without the paint, and recked for nothing.”

Then he roared with the roar of the stallion, and indited riddling upon the milk of the vine-tree:

“What is the thing, that when it corrupts, its error turns to righteousness,

And when its qualities are choice it stirs up mischief where it appears:

Its parent is of pure descent, but wicked that which he begets.”

Then he placed his travelling staff beneath his arm, and indited riddling upon a goldsmith’s balance:

“One flighty and leaning with one half to one side, but no man of sense will upbraid him for either:

He always is raised up on high as a just king is rightly exalted for aye in his station.

Alike are to him both the pebble and nugget, though truth should in no wise be balanced with falsehood.

And most to be wondered at in his description, if people regard him with eyes of discernment,

Is that by his judgment the parties abide, though they know him as flighty by nature, and partial.”

Said the narrator: Thereupon their thoughts were wandering in the vales of fancies and straying as the love-crazed strayeth, until time waxed long and looks grew sad. So when he saw that they rubbed the fire-shafts and no spark sprang forth, and that they con­sumed the day in barren wishes, he said: “O my good people, until when will ye consider and how long will ye delay? Has the time not come for that the hidden should be disclosed, or the ignorant should surrender?” So they said: “By Allah thou hast tied it hard, and set up the net and caught the game: rule then, as thou wilt, and get the booty and renown.” Then he fixed for every riddle a fee and claimed it from them in ready cash. Forthwith he opened the locks, and set a mark on every [head] piece of his cattle, and wished to decamp. But the headman of the people laid hold on him and said to him: “No dissembling after this day, and tell thy pedigree before thou goest, and reck this as the dowry of divorce.” Then he looked down sulkily, so that we said “He is of doubtful birth,” whereupon he indited while his tears were flowing:

“Serûj the place where my sun rose, the home of my joy and comfort,

But now bereft of her pleasures, of all my soul took delight in,

I had to change her for exile, embittering past and present:

No biding-place have on earth I, no rest there is for my camel.

My morn, my eve pass on one day in Nejd, in Syria another,

I drag my life out with food that dejects the heart, vile and abject,

No copper-coin own I ever;—a coin! from whom should I get it?

Who lives a life such as I live, has bought it at losing bargain.”

Then he put the select of the money into his belt, and went to wander on the face of the earth. We con­jured him to return, and made him great our promises, but by [the life of] thy father, he never came back and our desire for him booted not.