Page 73 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

A St. George of Dhofar 63
version of the story given by me above, makes him a rather
impersonal, even distant, hero. Certainly he is not anxious to get
into the limelight. He assigns watches to his companions. This,
incidentally, is the way that co-operative work is done in Dhofar: a
leader assigns tasks, but it seems he must have the agreement of
those on whose co-operation he is relying. Abu Zayd does
somewhat casually administer the coup de gr&ce to the great snake
but only when his companions have tested their nerve in previous
encounters with it.
The great size of the snake is indicated by the fact that they
have to retire hastily to avoid being washed away by its blood. This
again is a conventional image, found in the early European heroic
literature in the saga of the Volsungs, for example, when Sigurd
kills the dragon.18 Sigurd digs pits to drain off Fafnir’s blood but he
is still immersed up to his armpits in blood when he strikes his
blow.
Abu Zayd again shuns the limelight when he turns up in ragged
clothes at the leaping contest to redeem the severed head. He
allows himself to be persuaded to leap but modestly refuses all
reward.
The companion who takes the first watch of the night is hardly
delineated at all. We are not told his name and, because of the
ambiguous use of the name Bayt Abu Zayd al-Hilall, it is not even
certain that he is a Hilall. All we know is that he has the gall to
persuade the great snake that the stakes with which he props open
its jaws are its supper, and to keep up this pretence for a third of
the night.
The second watchman is more interesting, in that he is the one
of the three whose qualities arc most clearly supernatural. Like
many heroes he is eminent for his beauty,19 and a light shines from
his face as the ceaseless fire burned over the head of the mighty
Achilles.20 The moonlight of his face he must keep veiled unless he
wishes to affect the wits of the spectator. The sweetness of his song
and the lifting of one veil are enough to keep the poor serpent
bemused during the second watch of the night.
The folk-tale as it is presented here is full of conventional
elements, the test, the quest, the dragon and the dragon’s blood,
Abu Zayd, the poltroon, the miraculous companion, another
companion, bringing the number of the company to three, the
great leap, and so on.
It does not preserve as much detail as the cycles recited by the
professional tale-tellers which are fairly easily available in uncriti­
cal editions. This could hardly be expected. What is interesting
rather is that so much survives, even when there is no especial need