Chapter 2

Sometimes two rival singers find themselves together, and each begins to eulogize himself, which eulogy ends in a satire on the other. But the joust begun by apostrophes and Homeric insults finishes often with a fight, and the natural arm is the Basque drum until others separate, the adversaries.[7] We have an example in a dialogue of this kind between Youssuf ou Kassi, of the Aith Djemnad, and Mohand ou Abdaha, of the Aith Kraten. The challenge and the jousts--less the blows--exist among the chellahs of lower Morocco, where they are called _Tamawoucht_; but between man and woman there is that which indicates the greatest liberty of manners. The verses are improvised, and the authors are paid in small money. Here is a specimen:

_The woman_: "When it thunders and the sky is overcast, Drive home the sheep, O watchful shepherd."

_The man_: "When it thunders, and the sky is overcast, We will bring home the sheep."

_The woman_: "I wish I had a bunch of switches to strike you with! May your father be accursed, Sheepkeeper!"

_The man_: "Oh, God, I thank thee for having created Old maids to grind meal for the toilers."[8]

[7] Hanoteau, p. 275 et seq.

[8] Stemme, p. 7, 8.

Another manifestation, and not less important of the popular Berber literature, consists in the stories. Although no attempt has been made in our days to gather them, many indications permit us to believe that they have been at all times well treasured by these people. In the story of Psyche that Apuleius inserted at the end of the second century A.D., in the romance of Metamorphoses,[9] we read that Venus imposed on Psyche, among other trials, that of sorting out and placing in separate jars the grains of wheat, oats, millet and poppy pease, lentils and lima beans which she had mixed together. This task, beyond the power of Psyche, was accomplished by the ants which came to her aid, and thus she conquered the task set by her cruel mother-in-law.

[9] Hanoteau, Essai de Grammaire Khabyle, p. 282 et seq. Alger.

This same trial we find in a Berber story. It is an episode in a Khabyle story of the Mohammed ben Sol'tan, who, to obtain the hand of the daughter of a king, separated wheat, corn, oats, and sorghum, which had been mingled together. This trait is not found in Arab stories which have served as models for the greater part of Khabyle tales. It is scarcely admissible that the Berbers had read the "Golden Ass" of Apuleius, but it is probable that he was born at Madaure, in Algeria, and retained an episode of a popular Berber tale which he had heard in his childhood, and placed in his story.

The tales have also preserved the memory of very ancient customs, and in particular those of adoption. In the tales gathered in Khabyle by General Hanoteau,[10] T. Rivière,[1] and Moulieras,[2] also that in the story of Mizab, the hero took upon himself a supernatural task, and succeeded because he became the adopted son of an ogress, at whose breast he nursed.[3] This custom is an ancient one with the Berbers, for on a _bas relief_ at Thebes it shows us a chief of the Machouacha (the Egyptian name of the Berbers) of the XXII Dynasty nursed and adopted by the goddess Hathor. Arab stories of Egypt have also preserved this trait--for instance, "The Bear of the Kitchen,"[4] and El Schater Mohammed.[5]

[10] Hanoteau, p. 266. Le chasseur.

[1] Contes Populaires de la Khabylie du Jurgura, p. 239. Paris, 1892. Le chausseur.

[2] Legendes et contes merveilleuses de la grande Khabylie, p. 20. 2 vols. Tunis, 1893-1898. Le fils du Sultan et le chien des Chrétiens, p. 90. Histoire de Ali et sa mère.

[3] R Basset, Nouveaux Contes Berbers, p. 18. Paris, 1897. La Pomme de jeunesse.

[4] Spitta-bey, Contes Arabes modernes, p. 12. Ley de 1883.

[5] Arless Pasha, Contes Populaire de la vallée du Nil. Paris, 1895.

During the conquest of the Magreb by the Arabs in the seventh century A.D., Kahina, a Berber queen, who at a given moment drove the Mussulman invaders away and personified national defiance, employed the same ceremony to adopt for son the Arab Khaled Ben Yazed, who was to betray her later.

Assisted by these traits of indigenous manners, we can call to mind ogres and pagans who represent an ancient population, or, more exactly, the sectarians of an ancient religion like the Paganism or the Christianity which was maintained on some points of Northern Africa, with the Berbers, until the eleventh century A.D. Fabulous features from the Arabs have slipped into the descriptions of the Djohala, mingled with the confused souvenirs of mythological beings belonging to paganism before the advent of Christianity.

It is difficult to separate the different sources of the Berber stories. Besides those appearing to be of indigenous origin, and which have for scene a grotto or a mountain, one could scarcely deny that the greater part, whether relating to stories of adventure, fairy stories, or comical tales, were borrowed from foreign countries by way of the Arabs. Without doubt they have furnished the larger part, but there are some of which there are no counterparts in European countries. "Half a cock," for instance, has travelled into the various provinces of France, Ireland, Albania, among the Southern Slavs, and to Portugal, from whence it went to Brazil; but the Arabs do not know it, nor do they know Tom Thumb, which with the Khabyles becomes H'ab Sliman. In the actual state of our knowledge, we can only say that there is a striking resemblance between a Berber tale and such or such a version. From thence comes the presumption of borrowed matter. But, for the best results to be gained, one should be in possession of all the versions. When it relates to celebrated personages among the Mussulmans, like Solomon, or the features of a legend of which no trace remains of the names, one can certainly conclude that it is borrowed from the Arabs. It is the same with the greater number of fairy tales, whose first inventors, the Arabs, commenced with the "Thousand and One Nights," and presented us with "The Languages of the Beasts," and also with funny stories.

The principal personage of these last is Si Djeha, whose name was borrowed from a comic narrative existing as early as the eleventh century A.D. The contents are sometimes coarse and sometimes witty, are nearly all more ancient, and yet belong to the domain of pleasantries from which in Germany sprung the anecdotes of Tyll Eulenspiegel and the Seven Suabians, and in England the Wise Men of Gotham. In Italy, and even in Albania, the name of Djeha is preserved under the form of Guifa and Guicha; and the Turks, who possess the richest literature on this person, have made him a Ghadji Sirii Hissar, under the name of Nasr-eddin Hodja (a form altered from Djoha). The traits attributed to such persons as Bon Idhes, Bon Goudous, Bon Kheenpouch, are equally the same as those bestowed upon Si Djeha.

But if the Berbers have borrowed the majority of their tales, they have given to their characters the manners and appearance and names of their compatriots. The king does not differ from the Amir of a village, or an Amanokul of the Touaregs. The palace is the same as all those of a Haddarth, and Haroun al Raschid himself, when he passes into Berber stories, is plucked of the splendor he possesses in the "Thousand and One Nights," and in Oriental stories. This anachronism renders the heroes of the tales more real, and they are real Berbers, who are alive, and who express themselves like the mountaineers of Jurgura, the Arabs of the Atlas; like the men of Ksour, or the nomads of Sahara. In general there is little art in these stories, and in style they are far below other collections celebrated through the entire world.

An important place is given to the fables or stories of animals, but there is little that is not borrowed from foreign lands, and the animals are only such as the Berbers are familiar with. The adventures of the jackal do not differ from those of the fox in European stories. An African trait may be signalled in the prominence which it offers the hare, as in the stories of _Ouslofs_ and _Bantous_. Also, the hedgehog, neglected so lamentably in our fables, holds an important place; and if the jackal manages to deceive the lion, he is, in spite of his astute nature, duped by the hedgehog when he tries a fall with him. As to the lion, the serpent, the cock, the frog, the turtle, the hyena, the jackal, the rat, their rôles offer little of the place they play in the Arab tales, or even the Europeans.

If we pass from Berber we find the Arab tongue as spoken among the Magreb, and will see that the literature is composed of the same elements, particularly in the tales and songs. There are few special publications concerning the first, but there are few travellers who have not gathered some, and thus rendered their relations with the people more pleasant. In what concerns the fairy tales it is, above all, the children for whom they are destined, "when at night, at the end of their wearisome days, the mothers gather their children around them under the tent, under the shelter of her Bon Rabah, the little ones demand with tears a story to carry their imaginations far away." "Kherrfin ya summa" ("Tell us a story"), they say, and she begins the long series of the exploits of Ah Di Douan.[6] Even the men do not disdain to listen to the tales, and those that were gathered from Tunis and Tripoli by Mr. Stemme,[7] and in Morocco by Messrs. Souin and Stemme,[8] show that the marvellous adventures, wherein intervene the Djinns, fairies, ogres, and sorcerers, are no less popular among the Arab people than among the Berbers.

[6] Deeplun, Recueil de textes pour l'étude de l'Arabe parlé, v. 12, p. iv. Paris, 1891.

[7] Iumsche Märchen und Gedichte. Leipzig, 1898. 2 vols. Märchen und Gedichte. Aus der Stadt Tripolis in Nord Afrika. Leipzig.

[8] Zum Arabischen Dialekt. Von Markko. Leipzig, 1893. Vers. 8.

We must not forget that these last-named have borrowed much from the first ones, and it is by them that they have known the celebrated Khalif of Bagdad, one of the principal heroes of the "Thousand and One Nights," Haroun al Raschid, whose presence surprises us not a little when figuring in adventures incompatible with the dignity of a successor of the Prophet.

As in the Berber tales, one finds parallels to the Arab stories among the folk-lore of Europe, whether they were borrowed directly or whether they came from India. One will notice, however, in the Arab tales a superior editing. The style is more ornate, the incidents better arranged. One feels that, although it deals with a language disdaining the usage of letters, it is expressed almost as well as though in a cultivated literary language. The gathering of the populations must also be taken into consideration; the citizens of Tunis, of Algiers, and even in the cities of Morocco, have a more exact idea of civilized life than the Berber of the mountains or the desert. As to the comic stories, it is still the Si Djeha who is the hero, and his adventures differ little with those preserved in Berber, and which are common to several literatures, even when the principal person bears another name.

The popular poetry consists of two great divisions, quite different as to subject. The first and best esteemed bears the name of Klam el Djedd, and treats of that which concerns the Prophet, the saints, and miracles. A specimen of this class is the complaint relative to the rupture of the Dam of St. Denis of Sig, of which the following is the commencement:

"A great disaster was fated:[9] The cavalier gave the alarm, at the moment of the break; The menace was realized by the Supreme Will, My God! Thou alone art good. The dam, perfidious thing, Precipitated his muddy Legions, With loud growlings. No bank so strong as to hold him in check.

"He spurred to the right, The bridges which could not sustain his shock fell Under his added weight; His fury filled the country with fear, and he Crushed the barrier that would retain him."

[9] Delphin et Genis. Notes sur la Poesie et la musique Arabes dans le Maghreb Algerien, pp. 14-16. Paris, 1886.

As to the class of declamatory poems, one in particular is popular in Algiers, for it celebrates the conquest of the Maghreb in the eleventh century by the divers branches of the Beni-Hilal, from whom descend almost the whole of the Arabs who now are living in the northwest of Africa. This veritable poem is old enough, perhaps under its present form, for the historian, Ten Khaldoun, who wrote at the end of the fourteenth century and the beginning of the fifteenth, has preserved the resumé of the episode of Djazza, the heroine who abandoned her children and husband to follow her brothers to the conquest of Thrgya Hajoute. To him are attributed verses which do not lack regularity, nor a certain rhythm, and also a facility of expression, but which abound in interpolations and faults of grammar. The city people could not bear to hear them nor to read them. In our days, for their taste has changed--at least in that which touches the masses--the recital of the deeds of the Helals is much liked in the Arab cafés in Algeria and also in Tunis. Still more, these recitals have penetrated to the Berbers, and if they have not preserved the indigenous songs of the second Arab invasion, they have borrowed the traditions of their conquerors, as we can see in the episode of Ali el Hilalien and of Er-Redah.

The names of the invading chiefs have been preserved in the declamatory songs: Abou Zeid, Hassan ben Serhan, and, above all, Dyab ben Ghanum, in the mouth of whom the poet puts at the end of the epic the recital of the exploits of his race:

"Since the day when we quitted the soil and territory of the Medjid, I have not opened my heart to joy; We came to the homes of Chokir and Cherif ben Hachem who pours upon thee (Djazzah) a rain of tears; We have marched against Ed-Dabis ben Monime and we have overrun his cities and plains. We went to Koufat and have bought merchandise from the tradesmen who come to us by caravan. We arrived at Ras el Ain in all our brave attire and we mastered all the villages and their inhabitants. We came to Haleb, whose territory we had overrun, borne by our swift, magnificent steeds. We entered the country of the Khazi Mohammed who wore a coat of mail, with long, floating ends, We traversed Syria, going toward Ghaza, and reached Egypt, belonging to the son of Yakoub, Yousof, and found the Turks with their swift steeds. We reached the land of Raqin al Hoonara, and drowned him in a deluge of blood. We came to the country of the Mahdi, whom we rolled on the earth and as to his nobles their blood flowed in streams. We came to the iron house of Boraih, and found that the Jewish was the established religion. We arrived at the home of the warrior, El Hashais: The night was dark, he fell upon us while we slept without anxiety, He took from us our delicate and honored young girls, beauties whose eyes were darkened with kohol. Abou Zeid marched against him with his sharp sword and left him lying on the ground. Abou So'dah Khalifah the Zemati, made an expedition against us, and pursued us with the sword from all sides. I killed Abou So'dah Khalifah the Zemati, and I have put you in possession of all his estates. They gave me three provinces and So'dah, this is the exact truth that I am telling here. Then came an old woman of evil augur and she threw dissension among us, and the Helals left for a distant land. Then Abou Ali said to me: 'Dyab, you are but a fool,' I marched against him under the wing of the night, and flames were lighted in the sheepfolds. He sent against me Hassan the Hilali, I went to meet him and said, 'Seize this wretched dog.' These are the words of the Zoght Dyab ben Ghanem and the fire of illness was lighted in his breast."[10]

[10] R. Basset. Un Episode d'une chanson de geste Arabe sur la seconde conquête de l'Afrique Septentrionale par les Mussulmans. Bulletin de Correspondence Africaine, p. 147. Alger, 1885, in 8vo. See also Stemme. Tripolitanisches Bederinenlieder. Leipzig, 1804, in 8vo.

The second style of modern Arabic poetry is the "Kelamel hazel." It comprises the pieces which treat of wine, women, and pleasures; and, in general, on all subjects considered light and unworthy of a serious mind. One may find an example in the piece of "Said and Hyza," and in different works of Mr. Stemme cited above. It is particularly among the nomad Arabs that this style is found, even more than the dwellers in cities, on whom rests the reproach of composing verses where the study and sometimes the singularity of expression cannot replace the inspiration, the energy, and even the delicacy of sentiment often found among the nomads:

"The country remains a desert, the days of heat are ended, the trees of our land have borne the attack of Summer, that is my grief. After it was so magnificent to behold, its leaves are fallen, one by one, before my eyes. But I do not covet the verdure of a cypress; my sorrow has for its cause a woman, whose heart has captivated mine. I will describe her clearly; you will know who she is; since she has gone my heart fails me. Cheika of the eye constantly veiled, daughter of Mouloud, thy love has exhausted me. I have reached a point where I walk dizzily like one who has drunken and is drunk; still am I fasting; my heart has abandoned me. Thy thick hair is like the ostrich's plumes, the male ostrich, feeding in the depressions of the dunes; thy eyebrows are like two _nouns_ [Arab letters] of a Tlemcen writing. Thy eyes, my beautiful, are like two gleaming gun barrels, made at Stamboul, city defiant of Christians. The cheek of Cherikha is like the rose and the poppy when they open under the showers. Thy mouth insults the emerald and the diamond; thy saliva is a remedy against the malady; without doubt it is that which has cured me[1]."

[1] Joly, Poesie Arnaduno chez les Nomades Algeriennes. Revue Africaine, XLV, pp. 217-219. Alger, 1901, 8vo.

To finish with the modern literature of the northwest of Africa, I should mention a style of writings which played a grand rôle some five centuries ago, but that sort is too closely connected with those composing the poems on the Spanish Moors, and of them I shall speak later. It remains now to but enumerate the enigmas found in all popular literature, and the satiric sayings attributed to holy persons of the fifteenth century, who, for having been virtuous and having possessed the gift of miracles, were none the less men, and as such bore anger and spite. The most celebrated of all was Sidi Ahmed ben Yousuf, who was buried at Miliana. By reason of the axiom, "They lend but to the rich," they attributed to him all the satirical sayings which are heard in the villages and among the tribes of Algeria, of which, perhaps, he did pronounce some. Praises are rare:

"He whom you see, wild and tall, Know him for a child of Algiers,"

"Beni Menaur, son of the dispersed, Has many soldiers, And a false heart."

"Some are going to call you Blida (little village), But I have called you Ourida (little rose)."

"Cherchel is but shame, Avarice, and flight from society, His face is that of a sheep, His heart is the heart of a wolf; Be either sailor or forge worker, Or else leave the city."[2]

[2] R. Basset. Les dictionnaires satiriques attribues à Sidi ben Yousof. Paris, 1890, 8vo.

"He who stands there on a low hill All dressed in a small mantle, Holding in his hand a small stick And calling to sorrow, 'Come and find me,' Know him for a son of Medea."

"Miliana; Error and evil renown, Of water and of wood, People are jealous of it, Women are Viziers there, And men the captives."

"Ténès; built upon a dunghill, Its water is blood, Its air is poison, By the Eternal! Sidi Ahmed will not pass the night here, Get out of the house, O cat!"

"People of Bon Speur, Women and men, That they throw into the sea."

"From the Orient and Occident, I gathered the scamps, I brought them to Sidi Mohammed ben Djellal. There they escaped me, One part went to Morocco, And the rest went down into Eghrès."

"Oran the depraved, I sold thee at a reasonable price; The Christians have come there, Until the day of the resurrection."

"Tlemcen: Glory of the chevaliers; Her water, her air, And the way her women veil themselves Are found in no other land."

"Tunis: Land of hypocrisy and deceit, In the day there is abundance of vagabonds, At night their number is multiplied, God grant that I be not buried in its soil."

Another no less celebrated in Morocco, Sidi Abdan Rahman el Medjidont, is, they say, the author of sentences in four verses, in which he curses the vices of his time and satirizes the tribes, and attacks the women with a bitterness worthy of Juvenal:

"Morocco is the land of treason; Accursed be its habitants; They make guests sleep outside, And steal their provisions."[3]

[3] H.J. Castries. Les Gnomes de Sidi Abdir Rahman El Medjedoub. Paris, 1896.

"Deceptive women are deceivers ever, I hastened to escape them. They girdle themselves with vipers, And fasten their gowns with scorpions."

"Let not thyself fall victim to a widow, Even if her cheeks are bouquets, For though you are the best of husbands, She will repeat ceaselessly, 'God, be merciful to the dead.'"

"No river on the mountains, No warm nights in the winter, No women doing kind actions, No generous-hearted enemies."

The battle of the Guadalete, where sank the Visigoth empire, delivered Spain almost defenceless to the Arab and Berber conquest. There developed then a civilization and an intellectual culture far superior to those of the barbarous Christian refugees in the Asturias, where they led a rude and coarse life which but seasoned them for future struggles. Of their literary monuments, there remain to us but mediocre Latin chronicles. The court of the Omayades at Cordova saw a literature blossom which did not disappear even after the fall of the Khalifate. On the contrary, it seemed to regain a new vigor in the small states which surged up about the Iberian Peninsula. The Christians, under the domination of the Mussulmans, allowed themselves to be seduced by the Arabian literature. "They loved to read their poems and romances. They went to great expense and built immense libraries. They scarcely knew how to express themselves in Latin, but when it was necessary to write in Arabic, they found crowds of people who understood that language, wrote it with the greatest elegance, and composed poems even preferable in point of view to the art of the Arab poets themselves."[4]

[4] Dozy. Histoire des Mussulmans de l'Espagne, pp. 103-166. Leyden, 1861, in 12mo, 4to.