Page:Folk-lore of the Holy Land.djvu/240
settling on her shoulders and nestling to her cheeks, as they had used to do. And when Ijbeyneh saw them she wept tears of joy and said to them:
“O ye doves of my mother and father,
O greet ye my mother and father,
Tell them that Ijbeyneh, the dear one,
Keeps sheep upon the high mountain.”[1]
Ijbeyneh’s naughty cousins had gone home and reported her as lost, without saying that they had purposely deserted her. Her father and her brothers sought everywhere; her mother wept herself almost blind, exclaiming that Allah had punished her for not being content with seven sons; and it was noticed that the very doves seemed mournful, and did not coo as of old. One day, however, the behaviour of the birds changed suddenly. From mournful they became lively and seemed anxious to make their owners understand something. Their dumb efforts were apparent to the neighbours, one of whom suggested that the parents of Ijbeyneh should try and discover which way the birds went every day, and follow them. The father, the brothers, and a number of sympathisers set out on the quest. They found that the doves flew straight to the summit of a certain mountain and there settled. Climbing forthwith, they found the missing girl, who was full of joy to see them. They then took all the goods, cattle, poultry, and what-
- ↑
Ya Hammâm ummi wa abi,
Sallimû ’ala ummi wa abi,
Kûlû an Ijbeyneh el ghâlieh
Ibtir’a ghanam fi el Jebel el ’alieh.”