Table of Contents

  1. Letter from the General Editor
  2. Introduction
  3. Note on the Text
  4. Notes to the Introduction
  5. Risible Rhymes
    1. Preamble
    2. The Author Declares His Intention to Decode a Sampling of Rural Verse and to Follow This with a Sampling of Hints, Wrangles, and Riddles
    3. A Sampling of the Verse of the Rural Rank and File
      1. “By God, by God, the Moighty, the Omnipotent”
      2. “You sleep while my eye by distance and insomnia’s distressed”
      3. “The soot of my paternal cousin’s oven is as black as your kohl marks”
      4. “And I said to her, ‘O daughter of noble men, go into the garden!’”
      5. “I asked after the beloved. They said, ‘He skedaddled from the shack!’”
      6. “I asked God to join me together with Salmā”
      7. “And I said to her, ‘Piss on me and spray!’”
      8. “The rattle staff of our mill makes a sound like your anklets”
      9. “I saw my beloved with a plaited whip driving oxen”
      10. “I ran into her and said, ‘My Lady, come tomorrow’”
    4. A Sampling of Hints and Riddles
      1. “O Scholars of Verse”
      2. “Avoid a friend who is like mā”
      3. “Hie thee to men in positions of eminence”
      4. “What is the name of a thing?”
      5. “My father I would give for the suns that turn away at sunset”
      6. “Were it not for difficulties, all men would be lords”
      7. “O dwelling of ʿĀtikah from which I depart”
      8. “She sent you ambergris”
      9. “An apple wounded by her front teeth”
      10. “If, in all your days, one friend you find”
      11. “I have not forgotten the time he visited me after his turning aside”
      12. “O you, ʿAlī, who have risen to the summit of virtue”
    5. A Wrangle over a Line by al-Mutanabbī
    6. The Author Mentions the Date of Composition of the Work and Apologizes for Its Brevity
  6. Notes
  7. Glossary of Names and Untranslated Terms
  8. Bibliography
  9. Index
  10. About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute
  11. About this E-book
  12. Titles Published by the Library of Arabic Literature
  13. About the Editor–Translator