The Thistle and the Cedar of Lebanon

by Habeeb Risk Allah

after hewing her to pieces, threw her remains into a well attached to a house belonging to my uncle, the Rev. Kouri Georgius Risk Allah.

The girls in Syria are principally educated in housewifery, such as baking, washing, cooking, etc. Starching and ironing are as yet unknown, except to a few aspiring geniuses at Beyrout, who, from this knowledge, derive no small emolument. The girls are also instructed in the management of all household affairs, the care of poultry, and even of making cream-cheese, bread, pastry and leban, and also in household superstitions. Amongst these last, they are taught—

Never to rock a cradle when it is empty, because evil spirits are very fond, so say old crones in Syria, of being rocked.

Never to sweep the house after sunset, as this is only practised when there has been a death in the family and after the body has been carried out.

Never to look into a mirror after sunset, for an afreet is sure to be peeping over their shoulder, and he may shew himself to them in such a very unpleasant manner as might frighten them to death instanter. Only think of this, ye opera-going and ball-frequenting young ladies! What a hard case it would be if you were forbidden to look into a mirror after candles have been rung for.

Never to cut their finger or toe-nails near a basin of water; for if the nail should chance to fall into the water, they have nothing left to them but to make their will and go to bed, for, according to the logic of all old women, die they must.

And last and not least—Never to interrupt or harm the black snake of the house—Hye il sauda. In almost every house in Syria there is a peculiar black serpent,

large but very harmless, which takes up its abode in the cellar of the house, and will never afterwards quit its nook or corner till killed, or till the house falls, or the snake dies. No Syrian would ever intentionally kill these snakes, for, besides keeping mice and rats away, they are held in such deep veneration, that endless are the absurd superstitions and tales told about them, all of which I myself once firmly believed in. Amongst other things, it is said, that if you destroy one of these snakes, the mate will be sure to seek for and obtain vengeance. They pretend, further, that these snakes are doatingly fond of milk, and that the smell of it will immediately attract them. It is commonly believed, that a young mother may be sure, if she is not on the watch, that the black snake will come in the night and feed off her breasts, till it has drained them so dry that there is nothing left for the infant; and again, with regard to the child, should the snake be disappointed in getting its supply of milk from the fountain-head, that it will then resort to the artifice of inserting its tail into the infant’s mouth, and so tickling its throat as to cause it to be sick, and thus supply itself with food. But the most ludicrous story told is about the conscientiousness of one of these snakes, a story which is firmly believed by most Orientals. It runs thus: “In Syria, it is the custom of every family to lay up a year’s provisions of all the necessaries of life, in store-rooms attached to the house; these provisions consist of melted butter in jars for cooking rice, wheat, burghal, etc. Now, as the story goes, one of these black snakes once deposited her eggs in one of these store-rooms, a hole in the corner of which led to a serpent’s nest. The young ones had been hatched, and were all assembled together gambolling about, when some of the

children, happening to surprise these young snakes at their frolics, seeing that they were very small, whipped them up in their handkerchiefs, and ran off with them to the other end of the house. Now think what might have been the serious results of this frolic. Mother snake coming home could not find her young ones, and made a pretty to do about it. At last she discovered that the children had stolen them, and in her rage and vexation determined to be revenged on the whole family. Accordingly, with the assistance of her tail, she removed the cover of the butter-jar, and inserting her fangs into the butter, succeeded in poisoning the whole mass. Bye and bye, home came the lady of the house from the bath, and no sooner did she see what the children had been about, than, with many screams and exclamations, she insisted on the young snakes being carried back again. No sooner said than done; and now mother snake began to regret deeply what she had done. How to remedy the evil was the question—speak she could not, nor had she any other method of warning the family not to use the butter. Well, now what do you think she did? She called the male snake to her assistance, and these two, coiling themselves round the thin jar, squeezed with all their might and main, till the jar broke into a hundred pieces, the melted butter ran out on the ground, and was lost, and the family were saved from being poisoned.”

This is one amongst the many fabulous tales about the black household snake of Syria; but such like superstitions need not startle educated people in England, when they remember the endless fables that pass current in their own land about many animals, plants, and things—even to coffins darting out of fires, winding-sheets in candles, and lover-like apparitions in tea-cups.