When not a breath disturbs the deep serene,
And not a cloud o’ercasts the solemn scene;
Around her throne the vivid planets roll,
And stars unnumbered gild the glowing pole,
O’er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed
And tip with silver every mountain’s head.
There are professional minstrels in Kabylia who repeat songs, tales, and sayings handed down by tradition, and who also invent new ones. They wander about the country after the harvests of corn, figs, and olives, and are paid not in money, but in kind. In some tribes the minstrel receives an annual gift, which can be considered as a pension provided from the communal purse. Some who have the gift of invention stop at home, but their compositions are sung through the country, nevertheless; for itinerant minstrels come from afar to learn, and thus make additions to their stock. The musician warbles running cadences on a reed-pipe, sings a verse, and warbles on the pipe again; he will thus continue tuneful for a whole afternoon, halting occasionally to chat a while with his audience. A number of such songs have been collected by General A. Hanoteau. Many refer to engagements with the French at the time of the conquest, others are of a more general character. I translate a few as samples.
The first verse of the following song is a picture of war; the second, of stormy weather. These introduce the motive of the third; ordinary means of communication being interrupted, a lover entreats a bird to carry a message to his mistress. In the verses that follow, he gives an account of how he fell into his present love sick condition, and represents the lady as returning his affection. It will be remarked that in these latter verses there is an echo of the two that are introductory. A picture is given of domestic insubordination to legitimate authority, and attachment to the free lover; the path of true love is beset with uncertainty and storms, the road to domestic happiness is blocked. The Kabyle law must be kept in mind, that a man can, when he wishes, repudiate his wife, and that she cannot marry again without he approves of the new aspirant to her hand.
SONG.
I.