The latter are uttered by the friends of
Ibrahim Aga. They have placed themselves near the but to begin,
according to a religious custom, the service of the dead, as soon as
the soul shall have left the body.
They form a circle near the open door. Their arms crossed over their
breasts, they stand there, moving their heads continually from one
side to the other. "Allah il Allah!" they cry, and within stand the
women shrieking, yelling, and lamenting, over the deceased. They at
last arouse Mohammed, who had swooned away beside the body. He
springs to his feet, pushes back the women, and bounds into the
middle of the circle of men, who whirl around faster and faster;
they suppose he has come to join in their ceremony, but he pushes
them aside and rushes forth. He rushes so rapidly up the pathway
that no one can follow him, and no one attempts to do so.
His grief must exhaust itself, they say to each other.
"When it has done so, and evening comes, he will return." The
evening came, but Mohammed had not returned to perform the sacred
duty of watching over the dead through the night, as it became an
only son to do. The mourning women had departed to rest after their
exertions. They now returned, the sheik having ordered that they
should perform the night-watch in the absence of the son, in order
that the ghins might not enter and pronounce their curse over the
house, condemning the future generations, descending from the dead,
to misery.
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