Page 9 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW Special Edition 5

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 0 9

THE WIDOW HADJALA WHO LOST THE SLOUGHIS

L’ABBÉ P. BAURON 1893 - FRANCE
Translated from French by M.-D. Crapon de Caprona - USA

Berber

The night is absolutely black and silent. The jackals are quiet; but I hear several times a
harmonious whistling, like that of a man calling. I think an Arab has gotten astray or gone in
search of us, for a reason my imagination tries to guess. I answer with a long cry, the
whistling stops suddenly. I listen; no one approaches.

After a few minutes, the same call rings out loud, vibrant, mournful and worried. “Decidedly,
someone is calling us” I say aloud. And I get up. Mr. Hébrard adds: “I have also heard”. Then
Mohamed, who wakes up, tells us “Be reassured, it is Hadjala, the widow!”
-“Which widow?” – “ The one who lost the Sloughis”. He tells us the legend which I have read,
in the meantime, in the travel of Mr. Valérie Mayet and in the book of Mr. Charles Lallemand.

An Ouerghemma warrior, about to leave for battle, swears his wife to faithfulness during his
absence and even after his death. “I trust you he tells her, and, as a token of your faith, I give
you the care of my Sloughis. Take their leash in your hand and under no pretext will you let it

go.”

The wife, moved, promises from the bottom of her heart. The warrior succumbs with dignity
in the face of the enemy. The widow weeps, holding the Sloughis. The two sighthounds,
touched, lick her tears which wash her face and hands.

But one day as the sun seemed more beautiful to her, and the nature sweeter, the
disconsolate widow observes that she cannot weep anymore. The Sloughis, joyous, turn their
gaze of desire towards the great plain. Hadjala marries another younger warrior and releases
the Sloughis.

She dies in her turn. At the door of Paradise, she encounters her first husband. “I am so happy
to see you again” he tells her. “But what have you done with my Sloughis?”
The widow, speechless with shame, comes down to earth. Since then, under the form of a
little Triquet, saxicola*, she travels the desert, whistles the Sloughis at length, listens and
waits for them. She will find them before the last judgement.

Cited in “De Carthage au Sahara”, l’Abbé P. Bauron 1893. Translated by M.-D. Crapon de
Caprona for her book “The Sloughi 1852- 1952”.
* African stonechat.