After a prolonged stay in Aleppo, Ḥârith passes on his return journey through Ḥims (Emessa), a place noted for the stupidity of its inhabitants, like Abdera among the Greeks, or Schildburg in Germany. Here he meets with a schoolmaster, instructing, in the open air, his pupils, and, expecting to be entertained by the blunders of teacher and disciples, he draws near to assist at the lesson or class, as we would term it, when he finds to his astonishment that the lads are able to accomplish the most surprising feats. “One of them,” to quote once more Mr. Chenery’s succinct summary, “recites a poem consisting entirely of unpointed letters; the next writes out some which not only have every letter pointed, but are full of assonances and alliterations; a third produces lines of which the words consist alternately of pointed and unpointed letters; a fourth gives verses in which there is tejnîs, or homogeneity in sound or in letters between each two successive words; the next produces a couplet each line of which begins and ends with the same syllables. Then the nature of the exercises changes, and some lines are given containing words which ought to be written with the letter Sîn, but about which some Arabs are doubtful. Then come the words which should be written with Sâd; then those that may be written with either. One pupil gives in verse the rules for writing the verb whose last letter is weak. Another repeats a poem comprising all the words in the language which contain z̤; this table is especially usaful since a common mistake among the Arabs was to confound z̤ with ẓ [Chenery gives the two letters in Arabic characters, but would transliterate the second one by ḍ, as in “Tumâḍir,” vol. i., p. 387], the old Semitic language having a less variety of sounds than the cultivated Arabic, as may be seen by a comparison with the Hebrew. It need not be said that the schoolmaster is Abû Zayd.”

The linguistic artifices mentioned above, like those which have preceded in former Assemblies, defy the resources of the translator. Rückert, in his spirited and ingenious imitation of Ḥarîri, substitutes similar feats in German, giving for instance a number of verses, in which the sounds respectively of g and ch (as pronounced in Scotch) change entirely the meaning of certain words; another piece, in which the leading words are only distinguished by d and t alter­nately; a third, in which the meaning of words is altered by eliminating the letter s, and so on, with an astonishing amount of inventiveness. My less ambitious object being to render the Original into English as faithfully as the difference between the two idioms will allow, I had to content myself, like Chenery in similar cases before me, with simply translating the wording of the text. The memorial verses on Arabic orthography, however, I have tried in a certain measure to reproduce because I thought that it might be a useful exercise for the student to learn them by heart. The insertion of Arabic vocables in transliteration of needs increased the number of lines in these pieces, and, as the last of them is rather long, I give only half of it in full for fear of exhausting the patience of the general reader, relegating the remainder of the words, to­gether with their explanation, to the Notes.

Al Ḥârith, son of Hammâm, related: An over­powering longing and a most ardent desire carried me to Aleppo, and at that time my back was light and I quick of execution; so I took travelling gear and sped thither with the speed of the bird, and ever since I had put up at her dwellings, and was enjoying her spring season, I ceased not to while away my days in all that which satisfies the wish and quenches thirst, until my heart had no longer power to addict itself to aught, and the raven of separation took wing after his alighting. Then my mind, free of care and sweet wilfulness [sprightliness], urged me to make for Ḥims (Emessa), so as to pass the summer in her territory and to sound the [proverbial] stupidity of the people of her soil. So I hastened towards her with the swiftness of the shoot­ing-star when it falls to stone [the listening devils]. Now when I had pitched my tent in her boundary, and found the fragrance of her breeze, my eye spied a Shaykh whose old age was coming on and whose youth had turned its back on him, and around him ten youngsters of one root and of diverse roots, and I yielded to my eagerness to approach him, so that I might probe in him the learned folks of Ḥims. There­upon he met me with a cheerful face and greeted me with [even] a handsomer greeting than I had given him. Then I sat down with him to test the fruit of his speech, and to fathom the essence of his clownishness. Forthwith he tarried not to point with his little staff to the oldest of his chicks, and said to him: “Indite the unadorned couplets, and beware of keeping us waiting.” Then he crouched as the lion croucheth, and indited without hesitation:

“Make ready for thy enviers’ weapons sharp, but kindly deal with him who sets hope in thee,

Cut off thyself from play, avoid wantonness, but ply the camels and the brown supple spears,

Strive to obtain a lofty place, pillared high, not to enrobe thyself in gay dalliance,

For lordship means, by Allah, not quaffing wine, nor gain you glory courting girls full of hip,

Hail to one free of hand and mind, large of heart, whose only joy is giving joy to the good,

His water-pond is sweet to those seeking it, nor waste his wealth, when one in need begs for it,

Expectant hope is not refused at his door, and not put off: delay­ing hope deems he vile.

He follows not the call of loose sportiveness, nor is the winecup ever seen in his palm,

Stern discipline and self-reproof make him rule over his heart and master his lust and greed,

And praise he wins through knowing that one-eyed wives are not endowed alike with wives sound of sight.”

Said he (the Shaykh) to him (the boy:) “Thou hast done well, O thou little, full-moon, O thou head of the fraternity,” whereupon he said to the next, who seemed to be a brother of the former, “Come near, O Nuwairah (my little luminary), my moonlet of the little halo.” Then he came nigh and tarried not, until he was as close to him as the receiver of a gift, when the Shaykh said to him: “Display the bridal couplets, even though they be not of the choicest.” Then he mended his reed-pen, and nibbed it, whereupon he took the tablet in his lap and wrote:

“Fair Tajannî has maddened me and bewitched me with her thousands of wily tricks and beguilements,

Has enamoured me with the droop of her eyelids, as a doe’s, draining mine of tears through her love-charm.

She approached me, adorned and richly attired, and crazed my senses with forms that gleam through her movements;

Then I fancied she favoured me and would soothe me by her speech, but an idle dream proved my fancy.

After using with me her heart’s cruel falsehood, like one faithless, who would appease rightful anger,

She forsook me, and let me go, softly weeping, and in sorrow that ceaselessly breedeth sorrow.”

When the Shaykh looked at that which the boy had deftly devised, and scanned attentively that which he had written down, he said to him: “A blessing has been bestowed on thee amongst the fawns, as there has been a blessing bestowed on yonder olive-tree.” Then he called out: “Step nigh, O Qutrub.” Forthwith approached him a lad, resembling a star of a dark night or the likeness of an ivory-figure, whereupon he said to him: “Put this into mongrel couplets (the alternate words of which consist of dotted and undotted letters), and avoid blunders.” Then the boy took the reed-pen and wrote:

“Be bountiful, bounty is a jewel, and disappoint none who hopes for shelter;

Refuse not him who implores assistance, be he prolix in his suit, or modest;

And think not that time will leave for ever the miser to starve upon his riches;

Be lenient: men of worth condemn not, their hearts expand with the joy of giving;

Betray no trustworthy friend and crave not for coin that, when tested, proves deficient.”

Said the Shaykh to him: “May thy hands not wither nor thy knives get blunted.” Then he called out: “O Ghashamsham, O thou [essence of the] perfume of Mausham.” Forthwith there stood ready to his bidding a lad like the pearl of the diver, or the young buffalo of the hunter, when he said to him: “Write down the twin-couplets, and may no mishap befall thee.” Then the boy took from him the straightened reed, and penned without stopping:

“Zaynab’s stature, erect and lithe, kills beholders, and a bane is her rounded bosom to lovers,

Helping hosts are her neck to her, and her grace, and languid eyes that dart glances of deadly sharpness,

Proudly bearing herself she swayed full-blown power, now my foe, now with glowing cheeks drawing nigh me

In the morn or at night, to leave me again in sore distress at the cruelty of her doings,