XXXIII
Hadil is a poetic term for dove. And in Arabic mythology it is the name of a particular dove, which died of thirst in the days of Noah, and is bemoaned until this day.
"Ababil," a flock of birds, who scourged with flint-stones which they carried in their beaks, one of the ancient Arab tribes, noted for its idolatry and evil practices.
XXXVIII, XCIII and XCIV
I quote again from Omar, Fitzgerald's version, quatrain 44:
"Why, if the Soul can fling the dust aside,
And naked on the air of Heaven ride,
Were't not a shame—were't not a shame
for him
In this clay carcass crippled to abide?"
And from Heron-Allen's, quatrain 145:
"O Soul, if thou canst purify thyself from the
dust of the clay.
Thou, naked spirit, canst soar in the heav'ns.
The Empyrian is thy sphere—let it be thy shame
That thou comest and art a dweller within the
confines of earth."
XLVIII
"The walking dust was once a thing of stone," is my rendering of the line,
"And he concerning whom the world is puzzled
Is an animal evolved of inorganic matter."
This line of Abu'l-Ala is much quoted by his
enthusiastic admirers of the present day to prove
96
