cried out, "O, wonderful!" For they had never heard of a woman eating in the presence of a man—not even with her husband or father.
After supper they talked about the war. They told me how much they feared for their two eldest sons, who, though only fifteen or sixteen, went constantly in the skirmishes in the mountains. These boys had often been slightly wounded, and every day their mothers expected to hear of one of them being killed. Then they sang a song about the Governor, Mohammed Bek, who was absent from Arrabeh, and they sang thus:
- "May our enemies perish before him;
- May the arm of our prince be strong;
- May he be mighty in the battle-field;
- May his enemies perish before him:
- That our shepherds may pasture
- Their flocks in peace,
- And our camels carry
- Their burdens in safety
- May our enemies perish before our prince,
- Our prince and our protector!
- May he return to us with joy,
- With great joy, and as a conqueror!
- And all the dwellers in the mountains
- Shall tremble before him![1]
Then the black slaves danced, each one standing alone, a little apart from the others. They moved their arms above their heads slowly and gracefully, bending the body forward gradually; then suddenly they raised their heads, and rose to their extreme hight, with their hands high. Their limbs seemed very supple and pliant, and I think they enjoyed dancing very much; but it was not a pretty or lively dance. They sang about a beautiful Bedawî girl with teeth like lightning. I sang English songs at their request, and showed them a few of the measures and figures of our Western dances. They were most pleased
- ↑ Arab songs are very difficult for foreigners to understand. I could make out little more than the subject and spirit of the above while the women were singing them. Helweh, at my request, explained the words in simple language, assisted by signs; and a year afterward, when she was my neighbor at Hâifa, she helped me to understand them sufficiently to enable me thus to render them into English.
