O you who reveal hidden places.”
The last song that I shall set down shows the traditional attitude of the Bedouin to his camel. It is his most precious possession. To give it up without a struggle to the death is dishonor. A Bedouin might wait to take revenge for the killing of a brother or a son, but if his camel were stolen he would not rest until he found it and brought it back, by force of arms if necessary. “He who will not risk his life for his camel,” says the Bedouin, “does not deserve to have it.” So the camel-driver sings to his beast:
“For your sakes,
O ye who cherish us
As loving mothers their children,
For your sakes
The sons of nobles
Have lain stark on the sands,
Unsheltered by tomb or burial.”
The men suit the song to the occasion. The first one that I have translated might be used when an oasis was not far off, the second when the caravan is approaching sand-dune country, the third and fourth when they are nearing a well, and the last when entering a hostile region.