[189] Cf. Rückert's Hamâsa, vol. i, p. 61 seq.
[190] Ḥamása, 30.
[191] Aghání, ii, 160, l. 11-162, l. 1 = p. 13 sqq. of the Beyrout Selection.
[192] The Bedouins consider that any one who has eaten of their food or has touched the rope of their tent is entitled to claim their protection. Such a person is called dakhíl. See Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins and Wahábys (London, 1831), vol. i, p. 160 sqq. and 329 sqq.
[193] See p. 81 supra.
[194] Stuttgart, 1819, p. 253 sqq. The other renderings in verse with which I am acquainted are those of Rückert (Hamâsa, vol. i, p. 299) and Sir Charles Lyall (Ancient Arabian Poetry, p. 48). I have adopted Sir Charles Lyall's arrangement of the poem, and have closely followed his masterly interpretation, from which I have also borrowed some turns of phrase that could not be altered except for the worse.
[195] The Arabic text will be found in the Hamása, p. 382 sqq.
[196] This and the following verse are generally taken to be a description not of the poet himself, but of his nephew. The interpretation given above does no violence to the language, and greatly enhances the dramatic effect.
[197] In the original this and the preceding verse are transposed.
[198] Although the poet's uncle was killed in this onslaught, the surprised party suffered severely. "The two clans" belonged to the great tribe of Hudhayl, which is mentioned in the penultimate verse.