The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1885-07-10
ARABIAN supERsT,TloNs..

Arabs, ana one 10 WHICH NidhoinV'
effectively put stop, was that OF bury
ing their female children alive. which
was apparently most often done to
avoid the expense Of their mainte-
nance. though sometimes from a mis-
taken idea of sparing them life Of
trouble or disgrace. The following
proverbs: IAN excellent son-in-law IL
the grave and ITO bury daughters is
an act of mercy" sufficiently indicate
the Arab feeling on this point: and
even to the present day Bedawi. II
asded how many children he has, re-
Plies by only enumerat;ng his sons, for.
as a Sinai Arab once said to the writer,
in their eyes-El Benat batteleh-
s.Daue hters are good for nothing" A
terrible story is t~s: of kais ibn Asim.
a ch eff of the tribe of Tain, who, find
ing thai one of his daughters had been
saved ut birth and brought mp in an
other family unknown to him. got pos
session of her and buried her alive.
They relate that the only tears that this
man was ever known to shed was whom
he kissed his little daughter before con-
signing her to her living tomb and she
brushed the grave dust off his beard.
THE KING AND THE MADMAN.
A certain King went to visit n mad
house and found there an intelligent
looking youth, who. afterTeplying SEN
sibly to q number of questions put to
him by the sovereign; at length
addressed the latter, saying: You
have asked me many things; will now
ask you one. At what period does a
sleeper enjoy his sleep nost?" The
King reflected awhile and said: while
he is actually sleeping" That can
not be-" said the mailman, for he has
no perception while asleep Then;
before he goes to sheep" said the
King. "How can one enjoy anything"
said the mailman, .'bcforc it comes?'
Then" said the King. latter he has
been asleep" May" said the mad
man, "a man can not be said to enjoy
thing that has passed away Sc
pleased was the King with the others
wit that he determined to make u COM
panion of him. had table set out il
front of the window of the madhouse
and babe his attendants hand cup Of
wine to himself and one to his mac
friend. ...You drink your cup" safe
the latter. .that You may become like
me; hut if drink mine, whom shall
be like?" The King, on hearing this
speech, threw away the cup. and re
NAMED total absta;ncr for evermorc
A CUNNING FOX.
Two travellers had halted in thu
desert, and had just killed a couple OF
fowls for their dinner. Before they
could dress the birds the hour of prayer
arrived, and they turned like gooc
Moslems, to their dcvotions. A fox.
who had been skulking in ths neigh
borhood, seeing them thus engaged,
came boldly mp and carried off one Of
the fowls before their eyes. Prayers
over. they began lamenting their loss,
when, TO their amazeme1t, they beheld
the thief at little distance. dragging
his tail suhmissively behind him. and
holding the fowl in his mouth. He
then deposited ii on the ground and
skunk away, with every sign OF repent
ance and eontrition. They at once
hailed the occurrence ~ a miraculous
testimony to their own piety. ard ran
to pick up the fowl which had beer
strangely restored to them. On reach
ing the spot, however. they found that
Reynard had only restored the skin
with the feathers on, and in the mean
time had slyiy stolen around to their
camp fire and made of with the re-
naming moiety Of their dinHcr.-
Palmer's desert o the Exodus. p. IS2.
A QUIcK-wITTED eIIEPHERD.
"A certain shepherd had dog Of
which he was very fond, and which
having. to his great grief, died. was
buried by him with every mark Of
affection and regret. The cadi of the
village, whose iM-will the shepherd had
in some way incurred, hearing of this,
ordered him to be brought before him
on the serious charge Of profanity in
having Knocked the ceremonies of the
Mohammedan religion and buried an
unclcan animal with sacred rites. On
beiug-asked what he had to say in his
defense, the prisoner thus addressed
the magistrates: If your reverence
will be pleased to hear my story, you
will, am sure. excuse me. My dogs
mother died when he was quits puppy.
and he was brought up by = she-goat
Of my flock. who adopted him. When
she died in her turn she left him all hcl
property. consisting Of several fine
young kids. Now. when my poor dog
was taken i'll aud found himself at thu
point of death. asked him what
should do with the kids which belonged
to him. and he replied: .sGive them e
his reverence the cadi." thought the
animal so sensible for this that 1 gave
him Moslem burial Quite right,
said his reverence What else wa.
the lamented deceased pleased to OBJ
serve?'
CLEVER EPIGRAM.
Animals play an important part ii
the folklore of the Arabs as of 0thcl
nations. and the Mantik Mt tair, Of
''knowledge of the languae of bird
and beasts" is regarded as the great
est divine gift, and was expressl,
vcuchsafed, according to the Ko-anil
legend. TO Solomon, the son Of David
Apropos of this the Egyptian poet
Beha-eddin Zohcir. has written clevel
epigram:
foolish atheist whom lately found
Alleged philosophy In hts defenSos
Sad he: @Ihe arlumcnts use are sound: