looks of a soft-bodied person brought up in easy circumstances;
"They arose early in the morning and got up at dawn, and they went straight to the valley of Rass as the hand goes unswervingly to the mouth, when eating.
"And amongst them is a place of amusement for the far-sighted one, and a pleasant sight for the eye of the looker who looks attentively.
"As if the pieces of dyed wool which they left in every place in which they halted, were the seeds of night-shade which have not been crushed.
"When they arrived at the water, the mass of which was blue from intense purity, they laid down their walking sticks, (i.e., took their lodging there,) like the dweller who has pitched his tents.
"They kept the hill of Qanan and the rough ground about it on their hand; while there are many, dwelling in Qanan, the shedding of whose blood is lawful and unlawful.[1]
"They came out from the valley of Soobán, then they crossed it, riding in every Qainian howdah new and widened.
"Then I swear by the temple, round which walk the men who built it from the tribes of Quraish and Jurhum.[2]
"An oath, that you are verily two excellent chiefs, who are found worthy of honor in every condition, between ease and distress.[3]
"The two endeavorers from the tribe of Ghaiz bin Murrah strove in making peace after the connection between the tribes had become broken, on account of the shedding of blood.
"You repaired with peace the condition of the tribes of 'Abs and Zubyán, after they had fought with one another, and ground up the perfume of Manshim between them.[4]
- ↑ There are many enemies and many friends dwelling there.
- ↑ This refers to the temple at Mecca which was built by Ismail, son of Abraham, ancestor of the tribe of Quraish, who married a woman of Jurhum, an old tribe of Yaman, who were the keepers of the temple before Quraish.
- ↑ The theme changes here abruptly, to praise of two peacemakers.
- ↑ Some Arabs, making a league to be revenged against their enemies, took oath with their hands plunged in a certain perfume, made by Manshim, as a sign of their coalition. They fought until they were slain to the last of them. Hence the proverb, "More unlucky than the perfume of Manshim."
