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THE STORY OF KANTEBAY SALLIM AND OF ALI WAD MA'O.
A nan named Kantebay Sallim with his farmly had built his village on the top of a mountain. And another [man] named 'Ali wad Ma'o was abiding with his village in Daset (1). And Kantebay Sallim betrothed his son to the daughter of Ali wad Ma'o. Thereupon when the "constellation" (2) was near, Kantebay Sallim requested the wedding of 'Ali wad Ma'o. And 'Ali wad Ma'o replied: "Marry then, I have granted (thy request), come to me!" But in his village he sent a message about speaking thus: «Now the nuptial cortege of Kantebay Sallim is on the way towards us. Give them no wood, and even when the [people of the] cortege wish to gather wood themselves tell thern: "It is forbidden; the wood of Dasit is not to be burned; do not break any of it (3)" And all of them accepted his plan. Thereupon the nuptial cortege of Kantebay Sallim arrived in the evening and halted at the nuptial bower. And the people of the village greeted the cortege and gave them rnats. 'Ali wad Ma'o brought barren cows for the cortege and said to thern: 'These are your dinner." So the people of the cortege accepted the cows from him, killed them, skinned them and prepared them [for the rneal]. Thereupon they asked water and wood and fire from the people of the village. They said to them "Water and wood and fire, all of this we shall not give [to You]. Take water and fire only! For wood is forbidden; the wood of Daset is not to be burned." And even, when the people of the cortege wished to gather [it] themselves; they said to them: 'It is forbidden; the wood of Daset is not to be burned. Do not break a piece of its wood!" Then the people of the cortege said to Kantebay Sallim: 'What shall we do? They have refused us wood. We have found nothing where with to cook the meat." He said to all the people of the cortege: 'Take the points of your spears and cook the meat with the shafts, then eat your meal. And he who has a saddle, let him break it, then have your meal with it!" And after they had done thus, they ate their meal. And the next morning they took their bride and went to their village. .And when they had entered the village, they found at once that the bride was pregnant with a bastard. Kantebay Sallim heard that his son's wife was with child; and he returned the dowery that had come with the bride and the bride mounting her on a beast, to her father.
And after this Kantebay Sallim rose in a storm with all those of his men that were good for work, to overrun and plunder Daset, the village of 'Ali wad Ma'o. But at that time 'Ali wad Ma'o was not at home; for he used to pass little time at home being a restless wanderer. Then Kantebay 5allim attacked the village of Dasét with his army swarming on all sides, and destroyed its people and its cattle. And his men pierced the bride, the daughter of 'Ali wad Ma'o with a broad pointed lance, so that her embryo and her kidneys became visible. And Kantebay 5allim having destroyed what he destroyed and having.taken what he had gathered together returned to his village. When 'Ali wad Ma'o after his walking about came to his village he found his village totally desintegrated and forsaken, and his daughter only met him with her embryo almost outside of her body. Then she told him that Kantébay Sallim had annihilated them; thereupon her soul left [her]. When 'Ali was looking at his daughter's body he sang thus: "Fatna, thy father's plan has wronged thee, That he would not have a piece of wood broken of all Daset. [Now] the embryo is moving out of the open flank (4) Between me and thee is (only) the afternoon of this day." (5)
When 'Ali saw the destruction of his village and the cruel death of his daughter, fire began to burn within him. For all this had come to pass through his own decision: first he had ordered that the wood be refused to the people of the cortege; then he had married his daughter knowing that she was with child; therefore he felt a most poignant grief. He had left his weapons in his house, and the robbers had taken them; now as he sought some weapon he did not find (any). But afterwards he found an Arabian razor. that he took, made a cut in his calf and hid the razor in it. Then he went to the village of Kantebay Sallim. When he arrived there, he went straightway to the council-place. The men of the council said to each other by themselves: 'This new-comer resembles 'Ali wad Ma'o." But some of them said: "Is 'Ali wad Ma'o not dead and his village destroyed?" However, which they saw that he was without arms, they said: "Even if it is he, what [are we to fear] that he might do? This one here is a man without arms." And when 'Ali came to them he greeted them: 'Peace be upon you!" And they answered him: 'Welcome!" And 'Ali said to Kantebay Sallim: "Kantebay, rise (and come] to me; we have some business apart." And Kantebay Sallim rose (and came) toward him, but the people of the council said to him: 'Do not go to him!" But Kantebay Sallim replied to them: 'What weapons has he wherewith to kill me? And if he bites me, ye will help me." And he went to him-, and after they had gone a little beyond the council-place, they sat down. 'Ali said to Kantebay Sallim: 'What is there that thou hast done and I have not done? I am the guilty one. And now allow me to live in this your country under your rule!" He spoke thus to him deceitfully. Kantebay Sallim was very fat and his beard was long. Now 'Ali seized him by his beard-and taking his razor out of his calf he cut him with it and made his entrails to come out.And when the people of the council saw their wrestling, they stood up and sprang upon them. But they found that Kantebay Sallim had given up the ghost. Saying: 'With what has he cut him?", they looked closely, and afterwards they saw the razor. Then they said: 'Since he has killed the Kantebay, with what and in what way shall we kill him?", and they took council about him. Thereupon they decided, in the same way as he had done to the Kantebay, to cut his belly and to make his entrails come out. And then when tliey had cut him open, fire came out of his inside, and it burnt those that had cut him; and afterwards it spread all over the village and burnt down everything. And in this way, at first Kantebay Sallim destroyed the village of 'Ali wad Ma'o; and then, on the other hand, the fire that came out from 'Ali wad Ma'o ruined the village of Kantebay Sallim: and they both died in each other's presence. And the
mountain on which the village of Kantebay Sallim had been is called "Kantebay Sallim" or "Mount Kantebay Sallim;" and on the top of the mountain there are, as they tell, until the present day the ruins of the walls of the village. And in the village of 'Ali wad Ma'o, in Daset, there are the tombs of those who died. And those who left the village fleeing, are called Dagdage, and they are (now) to be found everywhere.
(1) Daset or Dasit is a district north of Moncullo(Emkullu)
(2) Cf. Below, No 53
(3) Literally: away from it, i.e. the Daset country.
(4) Literally: under the side, i.e. the side part of the chest.
(5) Literally: evening, which begins after noon. The meaning is: To-night there shall be nothing between us; either we shall
both be dead, or I shall have avenged thee.
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