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A dirge by the wife of Fekak, the son Be^emnat, for her father-in-law
Be^emnat. Be-emnat fought, together with his son Terag, at Et-hemmarat,
against Obe . And they killed many of the army of Obe. Then he and his
son died there. And the wife of his son sang of him in this way.
The Mansa were beaten : they returned to their children.
But my father refused : he entered the shower of bullets.
The Mansa were beaten : they returned to their seat.
But my father refused : [he dared] to risk his life.
The Mansa were beaten: they returned to their council place. (2)
But my father refused : he endured the storm of bullets ;
He was like Hesal(1) wad whose mother was Hasala's daugh Samara, ter.
Be burnt, O ^andalat tree; now try to fetch something!
Mayest thou perish far away, and follow thine Amhara! (3)
Let Mangur go thither to TaflenSyit; (4)
Let him show there herds and heifers!
This shield of Mangur is brave and boasting.
(1) Hesal, the son of Samara and of the daughter of Hasala, was a famous
hero of the Bet-Sahaqan, about 1850; Hasala was a well known hero of the
Mansa
(2) An c aafo/-tree (Capparis persicifolia R.) is at the council-place
of the Ad-Bula at Galab ; there Be^emnat used to sit. The singer curses
the tree and says to it: "Go, and try to find somebody else, but thou
wilt not find any (3) therefore, follow thine Amhara, i. e. the man who
killed Be-emnat, and
die alone!"
(4) Mangur was the seqrat of Be-emnat. Taflenayit is a hill north-east
of Galab.
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