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Dhu l-rumma riddles
ḍḥṣʾṭ‘

Anything interesting in DHŪ AL-RUMMA'S "TO THE TWO ABODES OF MAYYA..."? Author(s): MICHAEL SELLS Source: Al-'Arabiyya, Spring & Autumn 1982, Vol. 15, No. 1/2 (Spring & Autumn 1982), pp. 52-65 Published by: Georgetown University Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43192539

(64)(الطويل)
ḍḥṣʾṭ‘

Papoutsakis,  Desert Travel , p. 20: 'Another riddle-poem is ode 64, which consists of  nasīb  and a single long riddle (vv. 18-29), this time introduced as such, i.e. in the form of a question ("what is a mother bereft of her children, that when the sons of her belly die they lie in her belly?") alluding to the earth, presented in the guise of a female camel: her offspring is neither born nor aborted (v. 19); her daughters, obviously the various regions / sorts of soil, barren or fertile, are of different breeds and colours (vv. 20-22); she is always in front of the travellers, no matter how long and strenuously they travel (vv. 23-25); the traces of the saddle-girths (a pun on the word  ansā ' , also meaning "the outlines of a road") upon her back are like the traces of ropes upon the casing of a well (v. 26)[fn says 'this is often said of camels']; when the saddle is laid upon her, she won't move (v. 27); when she rises you see death (a pun on the wordd  qiyāma  ) and when the rider dismounts, he dies (v. 28); she has a back, a belly and a hump; she drinks and eats (v. 29).

(82)(الطويل)
وجارية ليست من الإنس ... ولا الجن قد لاعبتها ومعي ذهني

فأدخلت فيها قيد شبر موفر ... فصاحت ولا والله ما وجدت تزني

فلما دنت إهراقة الماء أنصتت ... لأعز له عنها وفي النفس أن أثني

وَجَارِيَةٍ لَيْسَت مِنَ الْإنْسِ تَسْتَهِى  *  وَلَا الْجِنِّ قَدْ لَاعَبْتُهَا وَمَعِي دُهْنِي

فَأَدْخَلْتُ فِيهَا قَيْدَ شِبْرٍ مُوَفَّرٍ  *  فَصَاحَتْ وَلَا وَٱﷲِ مَا وُجِدَتْ تَزْنِي

فَلَمَّا دَنَتْ إهْرَاَقَةُ الْمَآء أَنْصَتَتْ  *  لِأَعْزِ لَهُ عَنْهَا وَفِي النَّفْسِ أَنْ أُثْنِي

wa-jāriyatin laysat mina al-insi tushtahā(dunno, but Macartney's tastaḥī seems to mean 'shy, ashamed, diffident') * wa-lā al-jinni qad lā‘abtu-hā wa-ma‘ī duhnī

fa-adkhaltu fī-hā qayda shibran muwaffaran * fa-ṣāḥat wa-lā wa-Allāhi mā wujidat taznī

fa-lammā danat ihrāqatu almā‘ anṣatat * l-a‘zi(?) la-hu ‘anhā wa-fī al-nafsi an uthnī

And many a shy maid neither human nor genie have I dallied with while I had my oil with me. So I inserted into her an ample span-length and she cried out. And no, by God! she was not found to be committing fornication. And when the time of emission (pouring forth of water) came near she became quiet in order that I might have the emission outside though desiring that I do it again.

49
Macartney 24

Other one 49, pp. 1411ff. -- this is the text I follow, but I base the vocalisation in Macartney unless this edn vocalises differently. pp. 2044ff. seem to have commentary on the poem. pp. 76ff. are, according to the contents page, about commentaries, but I can't see that on p. 76: obviously I'm missing something here.

Wagner, Ewald, Grundzüge der klassischen arabischen Dichtung, Grundzüge, 68, 70, 2 vols (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1987-88). 'Einem Rätsel, das aus einer Rechenoperation bestand, sind wir bereits in der Erzählung von dem klugen Beduinenmädchen bei an-Nābiġa begegnet (s. I, S. 165-166). Aus der Umayyadenzeit kennen wir rätselartige Verse von D ū r-Rumma, die den Dinggedichten bereits sehr ähnlich sind. Eine größere Anzahl davon steht in einem einzigen Gedicht, jeweils, wie auch viele der Dinggedichte, mit "manch ein" (wāw rubba) beginnend. Das Gesamtgedicht fängt ganz normal mit einem an die Geliebte Mayya gerichteten nasīb an. Die Rätsel übernahmen offensichtlich die Funktion der Spruchweisheiten in anderen qaṣīden. Die Araber haben das Gedicht Uḥǧīyat al-ʿArab genannt, das "Rätselgedicht der Araber". Hier seien einige Verse wiedergegeben (EMac 24/37-40; 43; EAṢāl 49/37-40; 43)'

Papoutsakis, Desert Travel, pp. 19-20 fn 85: '

al-ṭawīl

.٤٣ - ومكنية لا يعلم الناس ما اسمها ... وطئنا عليها ما تقول لنا هجرا

"ومكنية"، يريد: أم حبين. و"ما تقول لنا هجرا"، أي: فحشاً، و"أم حبين": دويبة صغيرة حمراء تكون أيام النيروز.

Re riddle-song (49/24 Macartney); comprising a nasīb (stanzas 1-14), travel faḥr (15-26) and then twenty-six enigmatic statements (28-72).