Ifis
Published in Hiroshima Journal of International Studies, Hiroshima City University, vol. 6, August 2000, pp. 195-219.
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Mythology and theology in Moroccan popular thought :
A study of a Berber (Tashelhit) poem (Souss region - XIXth c.)
Abderrahmane LAKHSASSI
ABSTRACT
Oral tradition is often believed to treat only everyday concerns and concrete problems with no abstract thinking. Berber poetry is part of a particular oral tradition and Berber poets are usually illiterate.
This paper tries to go against this prejudice and show that oral literature is not only concerned with ad hoc problems of the group and entertainment but also with issues that necessitate theological and philosophical speculation. In analyzing a 19th c. poem about a conversation between the poet, the hyena and the jackal, an illiterate minstrel-poet from south western Morocco deals with one of the most complicated problem in any theology: free will and predetermination.
In making use of myths and legends from the same cultural background, Hummad Ighil's story in the form of an animal tale invites us to explore North Africans' conception of these two animals and their use in traditional and magical medicine.
In this paper, we also tried to set a comparison between this poem on animal adventure and some poems on the same subject in other cultures with well established written tradition such as the Arabic, French, or American. Through this perspective we intended to show that oral poetry, whether in oral or written traditions can equally be aware of and deal with human basic issues such as man and animal relationship.
15 important keywords for indexing
oral tradition, oral literature, Berber poetry, Moroccan culture, Maghrebi story, North African beliefs, animal story, theology, mythology, magic, hyena, jackal, man-animal relationship, predestination, free will, fate.
Mythology and theology in Moroccan popular thought :
A study of a Berber (Tashelhit) poem (Suss region - XIXth c.)
Abderrahmane LAKHSASSI
Introduction
The social role and character of poets in the Moroccan Souss region
I. Text analysis and commentary
1. English translation
2. Text Analysis of the dialogue
3. Some remarks on its characters
(1). Jackal
(2). Hyena
(3). Hummad u-Åli
4. Man-animal relationship in the dialogue
(1). Hunger problem in the poem
(2). Hummad U-Åli, the giant-killer
(3). The hunter / hyena relationship
II. Mythology: Hyena and jackal in North African oral tradition
1. Ighil as a story teller
(1). Animal and man in folktales
(a). Hyena and jackal
(b). Man in folktales
(2). Jackal and hyena in North African common beliefs
(a). Jackal and hyena between magic and medicine
(b). Jackal and hyena as symbols
(c). Ighil’s hyena
2. Mythology in the service of theology
(1). Myths as means of expression
(2). Four positions on free will and predestination
(a). Predestinarians (Jabrites)
(b). Libertarians (Qadarites among Mu’tazilites)
(3). The theological issue in the dialogue
III. The place of Ighil's hyena outside Berber cultural tradition
1 Three symbolic animals in three different cultures
(1). Al-Buhturi ‘s jackal
(2). Vigny ‘s wolf
(3). Faulkner ‘s bear
2. Ighil’s hyena in comparison to these three symbolic animals
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Annex : The Berber (Tashelhit) tex
Notes
References
Introduction
One often hears that societies with oral tradition are incapable of expressing abstract thinking, that their oral literature can only deal with concrete problems and cannot go beyond the level of everyday and short term concerns. Berber poetry is part of a particular oral tradition and minstrel-poets of this tradition are usually illiterate. As the grand son of our poet put:
I neither read nor write, it's versifying I practise
Writing about Berber poetry in general, Henri Basset (1920: 80) has the following remark on its religious genre in particular: "Religious poetry is the weakest of all Berber kinds of poetry : moving closely in the wake of many Arabic models: translation and adaptation rather than truly Berber creative work.".
In this paper, we will try to falsify this claim about Berber religious poetry in particular and go against the commonly held prejudice concerning oral literature in general. by analyzing an animal narrative story in the form of a dialogue composed by Hummad Ighil, a 19th c. minstrel-poet of south western Morocco. We will show that though the text can be seem as an amusing tale by some of its listeners, it can also be understood as a very concise device for communicating a religious message. In that sense it forms part of this Berber religious poetry to which Basset denies any originality. Ighil’s text in the form of a conversation between the poet, the hyena and the jackal is indeed a very brief and succinct means of tackling one of the most puzzling theological problem posed to human search for meaning.
Built on a certain cultural background, this animal story takes us to the North African popular mentality concerning these two beasts. It will help us exploring certain beliefs and deep-rooted convictions about the hyena and the jackal and their use between magic and traditional medicine.
In setting a comparative attempt between this oral poem and some other animal stories in written literature, we endeavor to show that oral poetry is no less equipped to tackle the most complicated issues challenging man and his relation to the animal kingdom than well established written tradition. of so called "high" culture.
The social role of poets in the Moroccan Souss region
Souss region is situated in the Moroccan Southwest and its inhabitants speak the Berber Tashelhit language. The Berber Tashelhit tongue constitutes part of this linguistic family that occupies a geographic area limited in the north by an imagined line that goes from Essaouira to Demnat, stretching to Tafilalet and following the Draa river from its sources in the eastern High-Atlas to the Atlantic ocean in the south-west. In addition to the Souss plain, it includes the High- and Anti-Atlas as well as the Jabal Bani. The south-western part of the Draa river separates the Western Sahara from the Jabel Bani in the north where our poet Ighil lived.
In this Moroccan Tashelhit-speaking region, poetry plays a multiple role. By means of their artistic work, poets exercise a social and political as well as a liturgical, moral and theological influence on their communities. They are usually involved in competition, entertainment, artistry, ritual, persuasion, and doctrine. If, in these societies, they cannot help being socially and politically committed, they also know how to take their distance toward certain socio-political events in order to become "masterminds" of their own groups. In that way, they are able to have a certain impact on the course of social action.
Like other poets in many a society, Berber poets of the Jabal Bani area play with words and language. Their central themes often turn around combats and heroes. This poetry expresses also social relationships that it usually arbitrates. It acts as a vehicle of key-notions of wisdom, justice, morality, and theological doctrine as in the case of the poem here studied. Through it, Ighil endeavors to communicate, transmit and consolidate social, religious and liturgical values. But who is Ighil ?
Hummad U-Åli Ighil (ca. 1812-1912) represents the earlier figure known to us in a family of poets living in South Western Morocco. His son Jamå u-Hummad (1854-1949) (1) and his grand-son Muhmmad u-Jamå (ca. 1900-1975), who, besides the memorization of their ancestors’ poetical texts, had themselves composed their own. All three of them were recognized for their poetical talent and strong verbal expression. They usually perform in public places (communal dances) where they use to compete with other poets of the area and recite poetry during evening parties. The competition between father and son in public occasions is the usual way of initiating the young teenager to poetry versification and poetical debate. Hummad u-Åli Ighil is remembered for being very fluent in this game. His work includes panegyrics (merits), satire, and particularly epic forms. (2) He can be considered “le poète de court” of the tribal chief of Isht, Lhusayn u-Hammu (dead in 1900), but he also used to pay regular visits to the Chief of Tazerwalt, Lhusayn u-Hashm (1810-1886). The job of the majority of Berber poets consists in entertaining their host and his guests, and giving advice to their audience with words of wisdom, and simple lessons of moral and religious teachings. Apart from this common role, compositions of talented poets like Ighil often include flattery texts for their hosts and satires against their enemies. That is why Ighi’s talent for poetical expression did not go without problems. Of his misadventures caused by his tongue for composing defamatory verses against influent persons, the Moroccan historian, Mukhtâr al-Soussi (d. 1963), reported two of these incidents when the poet was publicly beaten : once by people of Asaka of Ida U-Baåqil, and a second time by Sidi Hmad u-Madanî al-Nâsirî of Tankirt (in Ifrane of Anti-Atlas). The first time, both he and his son were victims, and in the second occasion, he was alone to be publicly flagellated. Hummad Ighil died at the beginning of this century at the age of nearly a century (al-Sûssi, 1961: 261-2). (3)
In 1972, Kenneth Brown was able to met his grand son who recited for him many of his own poems in addition to his father’s as well as his grand father's, i. e. Hummad Ighil, our poet. I myself have recorded the original Berber text here under study in 1982 from Lmhjub of Tuzunine, a young poet living in the same village as the author. The former introduced the dialogue between the poet, the hyena and the jackal as follows :
Once, one of Hummad u-Åli’s sheep died. He recounts that he used it to bait a trap. Taking two children with him, he placed one on each side near him, and they all three waited at the trap. At a distance from them, he then placed the sheep. He recounts that when the moon had risen some way, the jackal was the first to come. As soon as the animal sensed the presence of the man's gun, he just sniffed at the sheep and went on his way. When he had covered some distance, he bumped into the hyena who greeted him and asked for news; thus they conversed in verses, and Hummad u-Åli Ighil plays both parts in addition to his as the hunter.
A. TEXT ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY
1. English translation of the Berber (Tashelhit) text
Hummad u-Åli, the hyena, and the jackal
Hyena to jackal
1. Tell me, oh friend ! what’s the motive of your being on the road ?
2. First of all, I want to ask you for news of that place you came from
3. What’s going on there? for God’s sake, tell me
4. I myself came from the wadi Dra, I haven’t yet been to the West,
5. Give me the news of the middle and those of the margins.
Jackal to hyena
6. All is peaceful, it’s a time of plenty
7. Oh ! the feast is waiting right beside the road.
8. Hummad u-Åli is a cunning man, he is watching over it.
9. Lads are waiting there in ambush; none of it will be yours.
10. God will provide for you; return to your own business.
Hyena to jackal
11. I am the expert in ambush if anyone wants to know
12. I absolutely must give it a little try,
13. And if I can catch Hummad himself and carry him off
14. I, in fact, left my children waiting at home.
Jackal to hyena
15. If you don’t believe my words, then test them;
16. And what I have said will be the end of you.
And the hyena sets off straight away for Hummad u-Åli.
Hummad to hyena
17. God will provide for you; return to your own business
18 If not it’s you whom I am waiting to carry off.
Hyena to Hummad
19. When the end of my life comes while taking the road,
20. Whatever the cause, I am ready to leave (this world).
And Hummad u-Åli shot the hyena (with his flintlock).
Hummad to hyena
21. Well then ! God’s monster, is my fire not fatal ?
22. Oh ! you who would tear at the meat, how is it
23. That you first have to see sparks in your head
24. Before you regret not having listened to me ?
Hyena to Hummad
25. My days were finished, and then I came to you
26. And mere children (like you) were the cause of my death.
He recounts that Hummad brought the hyena home in the late evening and found the dance in the village of Tuzunine still going on. Another poet among the dancers said to him then:
- Cunning is Hummad u-Åli, he killed a dog, and
- Brought it back, thinking it will bring him the glow of pride.
2. Text analysis of the dialogue
Verses 1 to 5
1. Tell me, oh friend ! what’s the motive of your being on the road ?
2. First of all, I want to ask you for news of that place you came from
3. What’s going on there? for God’s sake, tell me
4. I myself came from the wadi Dra, I haven’t yet been to the West,
5. Give me the news of the middle and those of the margins.
The hyena asks the jackal mere information concerning a place she still ignores everything about. She wants to go there but wishes first to know whether the place is worth visiting. We can easily guess that the animal is very hungry and in search of food. Thus she asks the jackal for detailed information, of first importance as well as secondary (news of the middle and of the margins). The hyena came from the East, the wadi Dra, and was going towards the West when she met her friend the jackal.
Can we interpret this movement of the hyena from East to West as a metaphor for the road of life ? Does not the place of sunset towards which the animal was moving symbolizes the place of her own death ? In any case we learn later from her answer to the jackal that her own offspring remained at home in the East, place of sunrise. The she-hyena is in fact the mother of a family.
Verses 6 to 10
6. All is peaceful, it’s a time of plenty
7. Oh ! the feast is waiting right beside the road.
8. Hummad u-Åli is a cunning man, he is watching over it.
9. Lads are waiting there in ambush; none of it will be yours.
10. God will provide for you; return to your own business.
The news are good. Food which interests both starving animals is just there (right beside the road). But there is also a risk in trying to take it. Hummad u-Åli and his two children are setting a trap. The poet, in his introduction reported by the young poet Lmehjûb of Tuzunine, told us that when the jackal felt the presence of his gun, he went on his way. Thus the jackal prefers not to try and be safe rather than risking his life. For him then any attempt is fatal. To the hyena, his friend, he gives the advice of going elsewhere to search food, because, even as a more ferocious animal than him, she can do nothing against the man with a weapon.
Verses 11 to 14
11. I am the expert in ambush if anyone wants to know
12. I absolutely must give it a little try,
13. And if I can catch Hummad himself and carry him off
14. I, in fact, left my children waiting at home.
In hearing the jackal saying that any attempt from her part is useless, the hyena is touched in her pride. For her, the jackal is insinuating by his words that man is superior to the hyena in hunting and /or that the hyena is as cowardly as her interlocutor, the jackal. She feels therefore challenged in her own domain. That is why the hyena wants to remind her friend and any one interested to know the truth that she, as a species, is the one who is specialized in setting ambush - not man. The fact that Hummad u-Åli and his children are there cannot prevent the ferocious beast trying to grab the sheep.
Contrary to what the jackal thinks, the presence of a man and his kids, watching over the sheep might be considered rather as good news. For the hyena, Hummad u-Åli himself can be viewed as an object of hunting, a sort of booty. Thus, what the jackal perceived as a danger is seen by the hyena as a prey in addition to the sheep. The hyena reminds the jackal that she does not hunt for herself alone but for her offspring as well. The sheep will probably be not enough for the whole hyena-family and it is a happy coincidence that Hummad and probably his two kids too are also present. In order to feed her children left at home in the East, she wants to transform into a prey what was initially an obstacle between her and the dead sheep. The animal is therefore ready not only to take up the challenge launched by the hunter but also to defy the latter in turn. Consequently, to the advice of her friend the jackal, the hyena pays no attention because she is not afraid of the man, even when he is armed.
Verses 15 to 16
15. If you don’t believe my words, then test them;
16. And what I have said will be the end of you.
The jackal defies the hyena who does not seem to believe his words to go towards Hummad u-Åli and try to seize the sheep. For the former, the hyena’s death is inescapable because either his friend considers his information as wrong, or she is really unable to assess the awaiting danger. Indeed, the hyena might think that her friend is a coward but for the jackal cowardliness is far superior to what is obviously for him sheer madness. In any way, the jackal prefers prudence to what might be called by his friend courage and bravery. Thus, unlike his friend the hyena, the jackal does not seem to believe in fatality.
Verse 17 to 18
17. God will provide for you; return to your own business
18. If not it’s you whom I am waiting to carry off.
Let us first remark that the first words said by Hummad u-Åli to the hyena (verse 17) are exactly the same as those addressed to her by the jackal, her friend (verse 10). Like the jackal therefore, the man advises the hyena to go away and look elsewhere for food. Is Hummad u-Åli afraid once he is now face to face with the hyena, or does the hunter-poet simply wants to accentuate the belligerent and aggressive sides of the beast in order to gain thus our sympathy?
It is easy to see in the words first pronounced by Hummad u-Åli, if not a fright, at least a certain lack of self-confidence - let us say a kind of hesitation concerning his initial project. In the following verse however, he immediately regained self-control when he announced to the beast that their face to face is not due to mere coincidence at all. In fact, everything was well planned by him. But this piece of information adds nothing to the knowledge of the hyena. Moreover Hummad himself does not probably ignore that the jackal told his friend the whole story about the ambush. It is also possible that the hunter’s announcement, which is made in the form of a confession, is rather meant to intimidate the wild animal. Yet the beast is there, facing the man who proudly carries a fearful weapon. And it is probably the boldness of this animal - though warned of the danger but nevertheless ready to confront him - that made Hummad show some sort of hesitation. The fact that he is aware of the fact that the beast now in front of him is a well-warned being disposed him de facto, if not to renounce completely to his project, at least to reconsider the situation. Consequently, to the enemy, he offers a choice : either you go away or I seize you. This option, either/or, removes the whole challenging aspect from the hunter’s initiative. To this remote place, far from the peaceful village, he came, at night, to chase the most ferocious beast in the country. Now the situation has been reversed. In refusing to go away, the animal challenges the hunter.
Verses 19 to 20
19. When the end of my life comes while taking the road,
20. Whatever the cause, I am ready to leave (this world).
The hyena is certainly self-confident and sure of her decision because she has a totally different philosophy of life and death from that of the jackal and probably from that of the hunter too. This philosophy, the animal summarizes it in these two verses addressed, as an answer, to Hummad’s ultimatum. Finally the hunter realizes that the animal is ready for fight. Among the offered alternatives, she has chosen war whose escalation now has reached a point of no return. The conflict between man and beast finds its tragic solution in the death of the latter.
We may ask whether this distressing death is the result of man’s offensive attack or simply the consequence of a legitimate self-defense. In fact, once the hyena has exposed her philosophy of life and death, there is nothing to add to it. For Hummad u-Åli, action is necessary for his own survival, because after the moment of hesitation and after the clear determination of the animal to attack, there is no doubt that, in shooting the beast, the hunter is simply trying to rescue his life.
Verses 21 to 24
21. Well then ! God’s monster, is my lead not fatal?
22. Oh ! you who would tear at the meat, how is it
23. That you first have to see sparks in your head
24. Before you regret not having listened to me?
The beast has been hit and Hummad is safe. Proud of his decisive action, he starts exposing arrogantly his contempt to the moribund animal. He cynically reminds her of his fearsome weapon as well as the efficiency of his ammunition. Consequently, the risk taken by any ferocious beast defying man cannot be more outspoken than this action just accomplished. That was Hummad’s lesson to the hyena.
For man, beasts understand but the language of violence represented here by the hunter’s gun. The lesson that should be drawn from this experience is clear and straightforward. But it is too late; already the rifle went off. The hunter-poet probably thought that the beast was sorry for not choosing to go elsewhere for food. For him, things are simple and clear: Had the hyena listened to him, she would have realized the fatal danger she was risking. She also would have avoided this tragic end. All this is wrong, however. The animal’s thoughts are totally different as we can read them in the last words addressed to the hunter:
25. My days were finished, and then I came to you
26. And mere children (like you) were the cause of my death.
The hyena's last words (verses 25 and 26) show that it is Hummad u-Åli who did not understand a thing of what has happened. To the naive hunter the animal reveals the secret of the mortal shot which has just hit her. For the beast, this tragic end has been inscribed in her destiny long before this precise execution. What Hummad u-Åli did not probably know is that this predestined death necessitates an agent. This role is taken by him though he himself believes that he acted freely. Neither could he comprehend that the animal might in fact run after its own end without knowing that beforehand. It is possible therefore that the hyena came to search for him, right at this place, at this very moment of the night, in order to bring a divine decree that is beyond any control - whether animal or human - to a successful end. In the hyena’s mind, the hunter is here to execute an old divine decree. No more, no less.
The difference between the animal and the man vis-à-vis the predestination is clear and distinct for the hyena. Although both are subject to fate, the hyena is aware of it while Hummad u-Åli believes to act outside it. Surely, the hyena seems to accept her own destiny and from this belief came her courage and bravery in life. She wants to undergo her fate whatever its unfolding might come to be (verse 20).
My days were finished, and I came to you.
This verse 25 is an illustration of the philosophy of life and death announced by the animal in the verses 19-20. In fact, the four verses 21-24 where the hunter scornfully exposes what he considers to be his big exploit show that he has understood nothing of what his enemy precedently said in verses 19-20.
When the end of my life comes while taking the road,
Whatever the cause, I am ready to leave (this world).
That is probably why the hyena feels the necessity of explaining this particular event (i.e. her own death) that came within the general philosophical framework of these two preceding verses. With her last remark (verse 26), the animal wants to show that what the hunter considers as an exploit is in reality none at all. From the point of view of the beast, even a kid could have accomplished what Hummad u-Åli did. Thus the so-called exploit of the ferocious-beast hunter looses its value of challenge, bravery, and glory.
3. Some remarks on the characters of the dialogue
(1). the jackal
As far as the dialogue and its message go, the role of the jackal is limited to introducing the more important meeting between the hyena and the hunter-poet. The number of verses said by him are 7 out of 26 said and those addressed to him are 9 out of 26. There is no words exchanged between the jackal and Hummad u-Åli. This is probably due to the fact that there is no contradiction or even incompatibility between their points of view. On the contrary, both probably have the same general philosophy of life.
We know rather indirectly that the jackal has seen or guessed the presence of the hunter and his children in ambush. Thus, feeling the danger, he went on his way without trying to touch the bait. There is an implicit understanding between the two characters about the status quo ante.
In this way, the jackal admits man’s superiority over him, physically as well as in terms of intelligence. There is therefore no defying touch in his behavior but rather prudence and carefulness. This prudence and sense of taking no risks is moreover conform to his traditional role in animal stories. The jackal plays in North Africa the role given to the fox in European folktales. He represents the happy medium and the good sense of common people but not wisdom. Besides, as a booty he is of no interest to the hunter who came to chase a more daring and therefore more prestigious animal, the hyena.
(2). The hyena
All that is said by the jackal is addressed to the hyena, the central character of the dialogue. Some of his words concern the hunter but all are meant to give advice to and convince his hunting colleague to choose caution. Consequently, the jackal behaves toward the hyena as a friend, but their friendship is apparently based only on the fact of having a common enemy who prevents them from eating the dead sheep.
The fact is that the hyena assumes the central role in the dialogue : a)- by the number of her interlocutors (two out of two, therefore the maximum); b)- by the number of verses she said (13 out of 26 said and 13 out of 26 addressed to her); and c)- by the content of her words (the message of the text).
It is important to notice that the hyena is the first and the last character to speak. She opens the dialogue in questioning her friend and she has, in addition, the last word in the conversation. To the hunter she delivers the essential message of the dialogue. More important perhaps is that the words said by the hyena are generally much more significant as to the meaning of the story than those pronounced by the hunter-poet. The truth is that the hyena is in fact the spokesman of the poet himself, Hummad u-Åli Ighil.(5) Hummad u-Åli of the dialogue plays rather the role of the poet’s audience. That is why the last fundamental words are put in the lips of the beast instead of being said by the hunter.
We can see therefore the pro-animal attitude of Ighil who places the whole wisdom of the story in the lips of the beast. Although man won physically the fight, he nevertheless lost the moral battle. Thus the poet emphasizes the wisdom of the animal and her perception of things beyond their appearances in front of man’s brutality and his so-called “fearsome” weapon.
(3). Hummad u-Åli
No doubt Hummad u-Åli, the hunter of the dialogue, represents Ighil’s audience. In terms of importance, he comes next to the hyena in spite of the small number of verses said and addressed to him. Indeed, in comparison to those of the jackal (6 out of 26 verses said and 4 out of 26 addressed to him), he came last. No verse exchange between him and the jackal because, as already remarked, there is probably no need for that. This audience represented by Hummad u-Åli is apparently naive and takes things at their face value. To this public, Ighil wants to send a message. But the fact that the author chooses his own name, Hummad u-Åli, as the name of the hunter representing this naive listener is apparently not without some kind of significance. Does this means that the poet was at a stage of his life as simple minded as the audience, thus trying, by means of the same message, to simultaneously convince himself? or is he simply being ironical with himself? The two verses put in the lips of another poet among his audience are certainly meant to mock him:
Cunning is Hummad u-Åli he killed a dog, and
Brought it back thinking it will bring him the glow of pride.
4. Man / animal relationship in the dialogue
(1). Hunger problem in the dialogue
Hunger is the crucial problem in the whole story of the poem. It constitutes the starting point of the scenario and the two animal-characters debate to find a solution to it. As to Hummad u-Åli, the third character, his trap is based on the supposed hunger of the hyena. Thus, because of hunger, the characters of the dialogue argue, and confront one another.
The feeling of hunger pushes a living being to strive and fight, but it can also incite him to commit some foolishness that might be mortal for him. It is this kind of imprudence that the jackal was trying to advise his friend not to do. As far as the jackal himself is concerned, he is of the sort that prefers to endure this painful feeling than to commit suicide. For the hyena, things are quite different however. Not only is she hungry but her children as well. Besides, the supposed danger of the jackal can be transformed - after a simple test of strength - into a solution to the hunger problem of the whole hyena-family. (6)
(2). Hummad u-Åli, the giant-killer
In this dialogue, the poet wants to make us feel that the hyena is by all means a monster, that it is not only an animal - like the jackal or the fox - that takes away man’s flock, but also one that threatens human life (verses 13-14). The expression “lhisht n’rbbi” (God’s monster) clearly shows that the hunter-poet conceives his enemy as a gigantic being. This way of perceiving has released, on the psychological level, the fear he has experienced in front of the beast. The first goal the poet wishes to achieve with this technique is to make us side with him against his opponent. This is generally a successful method for the simple psychological reason that we do not sympathize with what frightens. (7)
By this technique of representing the hyena as a monster, the poet intends to achieve another goal: stressing the importance of his action. By going out to challenge such a being in her own ground, he wants us to admire his courage. Indeed, he leaves a peaceful place where his fellow men enjoy the feast and dancing (civilized world) for a wild place, unknown and insecure (uncivilized world). Moreover, this adventure take place at night. Thus, Hummad u-Åli tries to put all advantages in the animal side and none on his in order to emphasize the magnificence of what he did. Yet, there is an asset which is exclusive to him, it is the firearm. As a tool, the gun represents the symbol of man’s superiority over animals. Of this asset, Hummad u-Åli did not miss the point of reminding the beast (verse 21)
(3). The hunter / hyena relationship
(a). The opposition between the hunter and the hyena is marked and distinct. Full of enthusiasm, initiative, and courage, Hummad went hunting the most ferocious animal known to him and his community. Once he finds himself in front of it, he is afraid. This is a plausible way of interpreting the choice given to the hyena: the alternative of going away and looking for food elsewhere. An attempt to find a way out of the conflict-situation has been thus tried (verse 17).
God will provide for you; return to your own business
By this offered choice to his opponent, the hunter-poet wanted her to shoulder the responsibility for the fatal shot. Thus can he gain our sympathy. Moreover, in killing such an obstinate beast, he can have a peaceful mind.
Consequently, with the verse 17, the poet reverses the situation concerning man/animal relationship. He makes us feel that, against the ferocious beast, he is simply acting in self- defense. As a matter of fact, this is not completely wrong once the initiative of hunting has been taken. Let us not forget however that the poet is here to kill the fierce brute. He came to the hunting ground with all the necessary equipment (gun, lead, bait, help) to look for his prey. Besides, in the following verse (Verse 18), he confesses so:
If not it’s you whom I am waiting to carry off.
In the hunter-poet’s attitude vis-à-vis the animal, we can distinguish two moments : one before and the other after the fatal shot. The first moment. Before firing, Hummad is afraid of and mistrusts the animal (verse 17). At the same time, he feels reassured by the fact of possessing a firearm which made him finally maintain his initial project (verse 18). The second moment. After firing, he first feels a kind of relief, now that he is sure the enemy is hit (verse 21), then he shows a feeling of contempt for his victim (lhisht n rbbi : God’s monster). He calls her a greedy animal (verse 22) who could not resist the attraction of the appealing meat (tifiyyi). He also calls her a stupid beast that is unable to listen to the slightest piece of advice - that of her friend too - and to take advantage of the alternative offered to save her life (verse 17). For the hunter, the animal understand nothing but the language of violence (verse 23 : amrruy: spark). From his cynical discourse to the dying hyena, not a single sign of pity appears; on the contrary, his words are rather full of resentment and ill-feelings (tagudi) as well as of revenge (verse 24). In addition to this, he is exceedingly proud of being in possession of a fire-arm (23).
(b). As far as the hyena’s attitude vis-à-vis the hunter-poet is concerned, it is rather characterized by a counter-defy and the determination of the animal to go up to the end of her destiny (verse 20). No attention is paid to the weapon considered by the hunter as being decisive in killing the hyena and reaching “the end of her life” (lajal). For the beast, the real cause (ssibba) of her death lies elsewhere for, once the term of her days (layyam) arrives, even simple kids (lehshum) could accomplish the deed from which Hummad was trying to draw much glory. To the hunter’s contempt then, she opposes another. Her disdain however is based on the hunter’s ignorance of the real cause of her life and death. With her last words, she meant to give a lesson on the hidden significance of her death and its secret to the man who still believes that he acted according to his free will.
The relation man/animal in the dialogue is therefore one of belligerence and aggressiveness, challenge and counter-challenge, contempt and counter-contempt, lesson-teaching from both sides based on a certain accusation of mutual ignorance.
II. MYTHOLOGY : JACKAL AND HYENA IN THE NORTH AFRICAN ORAL TRADITION
1. Ighil as a story-teller
Among wild animals known to North Africans in general and to Moroccans in particular, the jackal and the hyena are the most devourers of flock. For that matter, people fear them. But in their imagination, these two beasts became more than wealth devastators. In animal-stories, the jackal has no doubt the main role. As to the hyena, people’s imagination has given it a disproportionate dimension.(8)
The dialogue under consideration falls for that matter in this general framework of animal adventures. Ighil uses an old tradition familiar to his audience. Seen from the perspective of its content, this text can be considered as an animal story. Even its form is not new to the listeners. It is interesting to remark that the kind of plot we encounter in this dialogue is also found in animal tales. H. Stumme reported a story from South Tunisia very much like that recounted by Ighil : “Feeling a trap in a sheep thrown for that purpose, the jackal encourages the hyena to eat it. Thus the hyena is caught and very angry at the jackal. It succeeded to take off a piece of the jackal’s tail. In exchange of receiving its pardon, the jackal agrees to show the hyena how to get out of the trouble: ‘Pretend you were dead’. Being mistrustful of its victim, the jackal made sure to have its fellow jackals without a full tale so as not to be recognized later by the hyena.” (Stumme 1900 : 68 ; Basset 1920 : 220, note 1).
Apart from the difference between the jackal’s attitude toward the hyena in the two texts, Ighil’s use of the animal story is totally different from this tale. Moreover, the relationship between the two characters in the Tunisian story is not the same as the one we have in Ighil’s.
(1). Animals and man in folktales
(a). The jackal and the hyena
In folktales, animals assume different roles according to cultures. Each people incarnate a quality or a defect in a certain element of its fauna. In Morocco, the jackal (ushshn) is believed to be a cunning animal (the equivalent of the fox in Europe) while the hyena (ifis) is perceived as being rather ferocious but not smart at all (the equivalent of the wolf for Europeans).(9)
In Berber folktales, the jackal is by far the most important character. It is the central figure in the majority of tales where he becomes involved in different adventures with other wild animals like the lion, the hyena, the fox, the hedgehog as well as domesticated ones like the dog, the camel ... He is in fact a very suitable beast for playing an ordinary role in these tales. “It is a small animal, not so strong to be dangerous for human life, but enough to harm his wealth, his farmyard, and his cultivation.”(10) Moroccans - like the other people of North Africa - gave him the reputation of being cunning and deceitful, two characteristics reserved in European cultures for the fox.
As to the role of the hyena in Moroccan folktales, it is rather one of stupidity. Being a strong beast than the jackal and yet less ferocious than the lion for instance, makes it more victim of both : one by means of its cunning, the other by means of its strength. With the jackal the hyena meets from time to time, but always in brief isolated stories not linked together. In these meetings, the hyena is generally the looser, like in their story with the lion or in their tale with the sheep thrown on the road as a trap. There is for example their adventure with a cow belonging to the lion. And when the latter came, the jackal run away quickly. The pretext given is that of accomplishing his noon prayer. The hyena remained and was killed by the lion. (Basset 1920: 230) There is also the following story in addition to the quoted one reported by Stumme : “One day the lion was hunting together with the hyena and the jackal. They found a sheep, an ewe and a lamb. The hyena, in charge of the division, distributed them among the three hunters. the lion was mad at the hyena and killed it. The jackal, who was then well-advised, gave the whole booty to the lion.” (R. Basset 1897 : 265-68) (11)
In these animal tales, the meeting between the two beasts is rather brief and without continuity. But if the jackal usually looses in his adventures with the hedgehog, he always gain the party when he meets with the hyena.
(b). Man in animal folktales
In North African animal tale, man is rather of secondary importance. He appears for instance to throw away the jackal that pretends to be dead. The owner of the farmyard or garden is only a threat in the background, he never plays an active role. The tricks of the jackal are not directed against him but only in order to escape the punishment. Never a direct fight between the animal and man. The role given by Ighil to Hummad u-Åli, the hunter in the dialogue, is much more important.(12)
In this sense, Ighil’s dialogue as an animal tale is of a different sort. Though the central place is taken by the hyena and an obvious solidarity between the two animals against man cuts across the whole story, the latter plays as important a role as that of the hyena. The significance of man’s role in it comes from his direct confrontation with the beast. It also comes, of course, from the fact that man in the story represents the poet's audience.
(2). Jackal and hyena in North African common beliefs
As was previously noted, the jackal and the hyena are known for Maghribis particularly as devastators of flock. However, or rather as a consequence of that, they also stand as symbols for human qualities (smartness, cleverness for the first and ferocity, cowardliness, stupidity for the second).(13) Moreover, many an animal and particularly these two ones are still used by North Africans for evil spell and magical medicine.
(a). the jackal and the hyena between magic and medicine
In Maghrebi popular mind, the jackal has many medical virtues. From a long list of these qualities (Westermarck 1926, II : 319-21) (14), four kinds can be distinguished : (1) Sexual and birth problems. Parts of the jackal’s body are used by childless men and women for the purpose of having the desirous offspring. Men who are incapable of having sexual intercourse as well as married women who want to be divorced by their husbands can make use of them. (2) Preventive virtues of its parts. The jackal is believed to have seven lives. If a piece of its body is eaten by a man (a watchman), he will not need sleep anymore. It is also believed that , hung round the necks of sheep and goats, a small bit of its part works as a charm against evil eye. Likewise, if a piece of its ear for instance is worn, it works against the barking of the dogs; women who have eaten a piece of its tongue or throat can perform better trilling (taghwrit). (3) Bad and good superstitions about parts of the jackal. If eaten before the age of puberty, the boy will always be accused of wrong doing. Once clerks (tolba) and scholars (fuqahâ') have consumed the meat of this animal, their charms will not work anymore. Likewise, if a traveler sees a jackal in a trap, so the belief goes, he should turn back; otherwise, he might be in trouble. For some people, to encounter a jackal in early morning is considered to be a good omen for the rest of the day. Its shrieks at night during the ploughing season are said to announce a good year.
As to the hyena, it is far the most used animal for magical practices particularly in Morocco and North Africa in general. (Panouse 1957 : 100) (15) From very ancient beliefs came probably a whole range of occult practices about parts of its body. It was reported by many ethnographers that in some areas of Morocco for instance, people are very much worried about the ultimate usage of a captured hyena. When this animal is killed, the village community requires that its head be burned and its ashes thrown away. And this must be done in the presence of local authorities (Laoust 1949: xxi).(16) The fact is that people usually believed that when the smallest area of it is in contact with an individual, it makes him mad. It is also thought that women mix its brain or liver with the food given to the husbands in order to submit them to their wills. As in the case of the jackal, other parts of the hyena's body, like the skin, the tongue and even its excrement, are used to prepare charms and amulets that preserve animals against malignant looks, make dogs be quiet and increase butter in the churn. A piece of its head with verses of the Qur’an is used against evil eye and spirits (jnun) (Westermarck 1926, II: 318-19).(17) But these beliefs are not restricted to Morocco or even to North Africa. They can be considered Mediterranean in the sense of being shared, for a long time, by people of the same region. According to Pliny (23-79 A.D.), such convictions exist among Near Eastern people. The Roman writer talks about the hyena’s magic feature and the various remedies derived from its body (Westermarck 1926, II: 317).
At this point, the question becomes: Does Hummad u-Åli hunt the hyena for its magical virtues? With his fellowmen, he no doubt shares the same beliefs about the hyena as a source of certain magical virtues. Like them, he perceives her as a cannibalistic animal. Yet, he took the initiative of going out to chase such a monstrous beast. But instead of taking with him a light or a colocynth (taferzizt), he prefers a gun. For, Hummad’s goal is not to protect himself from this fearful animal, but rather to bring it back to the village. Maybe for its magical virtues. Maybe for the prestige he can gain in the eyes of his village men and women. Maybe for both.
(b). Jackal and hyena as symbols
We have seen that the jackal, as it appears in folktales, is usually cunning and smart. Indeed, in animal tales, he always menages to get out of difficult situations. We have also seen that the hyena is rather stupid, though stronger than her friend. More complex is the image of the hyena in Moroccan mentality. If it is believed that hyenas are extremely ferocious at night, it is equally believed that they are terribly afraid and coward during daytime. At night, the simple smell of her urine can hypnotize a human being and makes him loose his/her consciousness. It was thought that the beast follows him and cries : “stop, my donkey”. Then, the person in turn follows the brute to her den (ifri) from where the she-hyena and her children came to surround him. Before taking him in, the she-hyena breaks her prey into pieces. To each of her offspring is given a share and the feast begins. There are cases when this animal hypnotizes even an armed adult man armed with his gun and dagger ".(Roux 1955 : 87-8). Thus, with her simple pee, the hyena can disorient the most courageous person who will be forced to follow her where he will be tore into pieces.(18)
More strange however is the belief of the hyena’s reputation of being a cowardly animal. It was said that there are people who, in daytime, can even enter a hyena’s den and put a rope around her neck. It was also believed that during the day, the hyena makes herself limp, miserable and weak when she happens to meet a human being (Roux 1955 : 87 and 89). (19)
A hyena tale
“A man went once alone at midnight to irrigate his cornfield. He saw in front of him a hyena which he took for a dog. The hyena growls at him :”A ha ha!”. He took a fright and run away. The hyena followed him and stopped only once she saw the house lights. He falls in front of his house moaning. His mother came out and asked him : - What is the matter, my son ? - A hyena was following me from the corn field. His wife told him as well : - She did not hurt you, at least. - Yes, she scared me, he responded. Thus the man vomited but blood; - Ah, my son ! hopefully the hyena did not devour you ! “ (Boulifa 1908 : 46-7)
In Moroccan imagination therefore, the hyena is after all a cannibalistic being. She goes to graveyards to dig out corps from the ground. By putting a bundle of sticks on the newly made tombs, people intend to protect the corpses of the dead persons from these beasts.
An ogre-tale
“Put alive in the tomb, a hyena devours a man little by little. His daughter brings him everyday what to eat, but her father advises her to go away. Once the hyena has finished the man the animal follows the woman and, in order to catch her, transforms herself into a peddler and devours her child; then into a camel, then into a seven-headed beast, and lastly into a mule, each time committing the worst deeds. Finally, the hyena is killed and dies only after returning the child she swallowed that is found still alive.” (Laoust 1949 : xx) (20)
As an ugly animal, the hyena strikes the imagination and inspires a big fright, during the night. She also has special ways of scaring and attacking human beings, particularly the late traveler. Her laugh and phosphorescent stare are particularly irresistible. By the smell of her urine and by eccentricities, she can madden him: she is able to throw stones at him, leaps about and encloses him in smaller and smaller circles. It is believed that she has a fascinating power used to attract and devour humans.
If Moroccans’ imagination is powerful in developing the extraordinary ways attributed to the hyena in scaring and aggressing humans, it has equally elaborated many devices to save the person attacked. It was said that the hyena flees from lights or fire as well as from him who holds in his hands a wild fruit: colocynth (taferzizt). Two more anti-hyena devices are mentioned: striking two stones against each other and showing the animal one's penis. (Westermarck, II: 317).
In this social and cultural framework, Hummad u-Åli went to chase the hyena.
(c). Ighil’s hyena
These traditional beliefs constitute the background of Ighil’s story. His audience shares with him this mythical setting. As a story, his dialogue falls within the traditional animal folktales. What distinguishes Ighil’s work from the rest of animal tales is the central place given to man in it. The choice of the jackal and the hyena as characters to converse with him is highly meaningful in itself. As we have seen, the two beasts, and particularly the hyena, play a highly significant role in the imagination of North Africans in general.
2. Mythology in the service of theology
Berber literature, like any other oral literature, employs the verse form in its composition, not only in poetry stricto sensus, but in many a literary genre as well. In semi-oral societies like ours, the use of versification, for the sake of memorization, imposes itself in almost all domains of learning.(21)
Putting it in an abrupt way, Ighil's text is not a poem in the classical sense of the term, though its composition in a metrical form contains some imaginative thoughts. Indeed, not much can be considered poetical in this dialogue.(22) At least in its translated version.
Moreover, in relating a certain incident, Ighil's text can also be viewed as a tale, but not a folktale since this story is not transmitted among common people like the latter. At least so far. The dialogue is rather a new creative work executed at a given time by a particular artist, Hummad u-Åli Ighil. More specifically, it can be counted, as was already said, among animal stories in the sense of being a fictitious narrative meant to amuse the listener. If, through our interpretation, some theological message appeared beneath the surface of the text, for the village people in Tuzunine I interviewed about the meaning of this text, Ighil's intention is amusement, not edification. For them, the poet composed it in view of entertaining his listeners in the same way his grand son, Muhmmad Ighil, amuses the same people with a similar kind of dialogue between him and his own donkey. As they put it, in both fictitious conversations, there is nothing serious. For us however, as we have tried to show, the story of “Hummad u-Åli, the jackal and the hyena” is indeed a means of communicating a theological message in a concise form. A way of being very brief and succinct in tackling one of the most puzzling theological problem posed to human search for meaning.
(1). Myths as a means of expression
The use of myths, legends, stories and tales to communicate a message whether theological, philosophical or otherwise is a very old custom in human culture. Greek philosophers employed some of these to explain their views. Plato for instance had recourse to myths to convey his doctrine on the origin of human language, the genesis of the world... Animal tales and beast conversation with human beings have also been used to deliver moral, political or philosophical messages. North African popular culture and no doubt most oral or semi-oral societies are no exception to this rule.
We will make use here of the expression 'the myth of the hyena' to refer to Ighil's piece of work. As a matter of fact, the text is also a 'myth' in the sense of being, not an attempt to explain the origin of any aspect of the world creation, but of being rather an invented story built on a certain phantasmagoric image of the hyena prevailing in North African popular mind. Therefore adverse to what is in the real world. Being at the opposite of reality and history, Ighil's hyena could only gain even more as far as its symbolic power is concerned. As R. S. Grele put it, if history serves as an ideological (philosophical) basis for social action, 'myth', in this sense, offers, on the contrary, authority in answer to ignorance, doubt and disbelief. (Brown and Lakhsassi 1980: 132). To my mind, that is precisely the purpose of Ighil's text.
We propose therefore to examine here how far the ‘myth of the hyena’ conversing with the jackal and the poet-hunter can be an efficient and concise tool to express a position on such a theological issue as that of fate.(23)
In his poem Ighil tackles one of the most important problem in Islamic dialectical theology (åilm al-kalâm), if not of any theology : that of free will and predestination (al-jabr wa l-ikhtiyyâr). This question was certainly raised before the ascent of Islam, it cuts across any religious thinking and is no doubt as old as human religious thought itself.(24) The myth of the hyena as an anthropophagical being is deeply rooted in Mediterranean popular mind and beyond. To be able to kill such a monster is a victory on fear par excellence. But the hyena explains to the candid hunter the true cause of this pretended victory. Her death, like every thing else in life, is due to the divine way (mashiyat Allah). Otherwise, how can an ordinary human being like Hummad u-Åli be able to kill such a monster?
(2). Four positions on free will and predestination
In Islam, there are four basic positions on the issue of free will and predestination, (1) two extreme ones (Jabriyyah and Qadariyyah), and (2) two intermediate ones (Ashåarites and Maturidites): The predestinarians (Jabriyyah) hold that man plays no part whatsoever in his actions. The libertarians (Qadariyyah) among the Muåtazilah, hold that man creates his own actions. Their starting point is the idea that God’s justice requires man’ s liberty. Both extreme schools could support their views with Qur'anic and Hadith passages.(25)
(a). The Predestinarians (Jabriyyah)
Whether God acts in the world through intermediate causes is a question posed by these Kalam theologians. Consequently, the two schools are identified according to their answer to this question. Generally speaking, it can be said that the Qur’an is pro-predestinarians whereas the Hadith can be considered more pro-libertarians.(26) It is also a fact that the Early Muslims were more inclined to stress the predestinarian surat-s (chapters) than their opposite. The problem then becomes : How did it happen that early Muslim believers had chosen to follow the predestinarian (before 2nd / 8th c.) rather than the libertarian passages of the Qu’ran ?
The first point to be remarked here is that among the pre-Islamic Arabs, the belief in fate and predestination (dahr) was quiet widespread. Thus, the Qur’anic statements which reinforced it are much more retained than those which go against it. Moreover, the Qur’anic chapters preaching free will were unable to eradicate this mythological tradition in fate and determinism.(27) It is true that Muhammad wanted to emphasize the powerfulness of Allah over the heathen gods of the Arabs. Thus, in order to contrast the two antagonists, preference was given “to the predestinarian passages in the Qur’an over the libertarian verses”.(28)
(b). The Libertarians (Qadariyyah)
The main problem posed to the libertarians concerns God’s power and human liberty. How to reconcile Allah’s omnipotence and divine justice on the one hand and to get out of the dilemma free act / man’s term of life (ajal) on the other. Almost all of Libertarians accepted the Qur’anic teaching on preordination (qadar) of man’s term of life and sustenance (rizq). (29)
Since the human appointed term (ajal) is explicitly taught in the Qur’an (VI : 2 for instance), all Muåtazilites agree on maintaining the belief in it. Some however hold that, by his free act of killing, a murderer can undo the divinely decreed, i.e. ajal.(30) Other deny God’s foreknowledge of all future events on the basis that it is not explicitly taught in the Qur’an. (Wolfson 1976: 660-1)(31) Abu l-Hudhayl al-Ållâf (d. 840) tried to reconcile the two positions by holding at the same time the inexorability of the appointed term against the first group and God’s knowledge of man’s action and his time of acting against the second. Yet, in his view, God’s knowledge is not the cause of either the act or the chosen time of the killing. These two things still remain the free choice of the killer. Indeed, God synchronizes the decreed ajal with the freely chosen time known to Him. (Wolfson 1976 : 657-60)
Between these two extreme schools, (a) Predestinarians and (b) Libertarians, are the orthodox mediating views: The Ashåarites and the Maturidites give little attention to the ethical concern of the Muåtazilites. They hold instead what D.B. Macdonald call “the Pauline parallel of the potter and the vessels”: With his creatures, Allah could do whatever He feels like doing.(32) If we have to mention the Murji'a school, we need only say here that their liberal theses are later incorporated in the Ashåarite school of thought.
(3). The theological issue in the dialogue
While it is very easy to see among these four positions that the hyena (that is the author himself) believes in jabriyyah (predestination), it remains difficult to classify Hummad’s view, the character’s in the dialogue, and consequently the poet’s audience. In fact we are not given enough elements enabling us to relate it to one of the three other schools. What the poem provides us with is enough elements to maintain that the hyena (i.e. the poet) denies the freedom of the will. This, in the sense that man’s actions are dependent on Allah’s compulsion (jabr). And this position is meant by the hyena to go against Hummad’s. For this reason, we can only infer from it that Hummad holds the Qadarites’ (Libertarians’) standpoint: man creates his own actions.(33)
III. THE PLACE OF IGHIL’S HYENA OUTSIDE BERBER CULTURAL TRADITION
Ighil is not however the first poet to use an animal story to treat a theo-philosophical problem. We cannot read his text without being reminded of Abû Åubâdah al-Buhturî’s (d. 897) jackal in the classical Arabic literature, or Alfred Victor de Vigny’s (d. 1863) wolf in the French Belles Lettres or even William Faulkner’s (d. 1962) bear in American literature. In many a culture in the world, one can easily find poets and litterateurs making use of animal stories to convey different messages. We will be content with these three examples for the sake of throwing some new light on our dialogue. For that purpose, it would be very instructive to briefly remind ourselves of the contents of these three texts and to compare them with Ighil’s.
1. Three symbolic animals in three different cultures
(1). Al-Buhturî’s jackal
The poet recounts that he had once spent a night alone in the desert and met at dawn a half asleep jackal that was looking for food. Skinny to the point that there is nothing left in him but “bones, soul, and skin” and shaking with hunger, the animal was moving towards the poet who was also hungry. The confrontation between the man and the beast could not be but mutual challenging. After having yelled, the jackal attacks the poet who shot him with the first arrow. The animal was not discouraged and a second arrow killed him. Proud of his victory, the poet grilled his prey, ate part of it, and left the rest. (Pellat II: 1328-30).
With al-Buhturî’s jackal, we remark the following: The jackal resists the poet and defends itself, therefore opposition between man and animal. Their confrontation is a struggle and, at the same time, a mutual challenge leading progressively the two starving beings into a bloody fight. For the Arab poet, the jackal is the symbol of injustice and subjugation (zulm wa qahr). Its tragic end, due to the poet-hunter's dexterity, shows the anti-animal position of the poet-writer : man is above the animal. This enemy is being grilled (meshwi) and partly eaten and partly left in disdain by the proud hunter.
(2). Vigny’s wolf
Vigny’s “La Mort du Loup” (1843) is too famous to need clarifications. Nothing is more straightforward and clear than its message :
How to quit life and its sorrow
It is you that knows it, sublime animals
Let us not, we human beings, forget this lesson. Like the wolf that is cornered by the hunters, let us withdraw into a fierce stoicism and die with bravery without uttering a single word :
Gémir, pleurer, prier est également lâche
Fais énérgiquement ta longue et lourde tâche
Dans la voie où le sort a voulu t’appeler
Puis, après, comme moi, souffre et meurs sans parler.(34)
The idea of the poem is probably not the author’s. “The wolf dies in silence” wrote the British poet, Lord Byron in Song IV of Childe Harold. (35) Did Vigny want to illustrate Byron’s words ? Maybe, maybe not. In any case, the morality of the poem answers his main preoccupation. Did he want to prove that animals can teach man courage and dignity ? Yes, no doubt, but that is only one of the essential points. In "La Mort du Loup", we are concerned with “Destinies” and their weight.(36) Here, the wolf feels crushed by fatality : it can now do nothing but die with dignity. Let us follow its example and, since “fate” commands, let us accept with elegance in order to assure our greatness in our servitude. To the creature defeated by fate, the poet recommends a haughty submission which allows him to disappear without lowering. (Castex 1957 : 127-8.) (37)
With Vigny’s wolf, we can remark that the animal shows no resistance. Clearly enough, the poem stresses man’s injustice towards the innocent beast and the pro-animal position of the poet-writer: the beast is above man. Here, the wolf is the symbol of what man should strive for. The ideal. It is the non-social, the example outside man’s world, far from the real. This fact makes it loose its objective reality and gives it a romantic dimension. (38)
(3). Faulkner’s bear
“The Bear”, one of the most powerful stories by Faulkner and a key to his central themes, celebrates the initiation into manhood of Isaac McCaslin through the hunting of an animal at once legendary, symbolic and superbly actual. At the same time, the story treats the problem of interracial relations.(39)
As a short story which has the proportions of a novel, “The Bear” combines the epic of hunting an old she-bear - a quasi-mythical beast and a genius of virgin forests - with hunters’ initiation to their passion and to land. All this is done with a magnificence of images, a flavor of the era and adventure which makes “The Bear” one of the masterpieces of the huge Faulknerean saga (Gallimard, 1955).
2. Ighil’s hyena in comparison to the three symbolic animals
From these examples of wild animals in some non-Berber cultures, we can take note of the fact that the three characters are hungry, flat stomach, sad and suffering (objectively or symbolically). Moreover, all of them have a tragic end. Some have been described in their outside with details, others were even given inside description, negatively (fear / treason / distrust) or positively (domestication / friendship / trustfulness). How is our hyena compared to them ?
Like al-Buhturî’s jackal, Ighil’s hyena defies the hunter. She goes toward the danger and challenges the poet. Hers is even more than a simple defiance, it is a counter-challenge. Symbolically however, the hyena here is not the “I” represented by this other famous beast in Arabic literature, Thâbit Shanfarâ’s (6th c.) jackal. She is rather an example, an ideal for the poet, just like Vigny’s wolf. As a matter of fact, Ighil, unlike Shanfarâ for instance, is not in conflict with his social milieu. In leaving his village at night for the wild and dangerous world, he is not intending to avoid his fellow men. To be sure, he took the initiative of leaving the civilized world in order to achieve an exploit and prove to his fellow village men how courageous and brave he can be. Though an other poet in the Tuzunine somehow mocked him that night, the latter nevertheless acknowledged the courage of Hummad u-Ali the hunter.
Unlike Vigny’s wolf, the hyena resists the poet and challenges him. The result is therefore a fierce opposition, like in al-Buhturî’s text, between man and the beast. Their confrontation is a mutual challenge resulting into a bloody fight, before culminating into the tragic end for the animal (like Vigny’s wolf) and the cynical victory of the poet-hunter (like in the case of al-Buhturî).
As we already noticed, the hyena is the spokes-animal for the poet. Like in the case of Shanfarâ’s jackal and Vigny’s wolf, Ighil's character is the "I", and not the "other". Moreover, the hyena is innocent and man is unjust toward her, therefore, a rather pro-animal position of the poet: the animal knows better than man the secret of human action. Like in the case of Vigny’s text, but unlike Buhturî’s, the moribund beast teaches man a final lesson before leaving this world. Thus the hyena reveals to the naive Hummad the difference between the apparent and the real cause of life and death.
ANNEX
I. Berber-Tashelhit Text
Hummad u-Åli Ighil d ushshn d ifis
Hummaf u-Ali immut-as izimmr, inkr, inna-yk, isers fella-s tashbart (imdi fella-s). Imun d sin lehshum, ig yan h tasga yad, ig yan h xetta. Awa yili netta h-ugens n teshbart. Isers nn izimmer lli immutn h ttissaå. Inna-yk: ighwli-d ukan wayyur, ikkis-d kra, ha ushen izwar-d netta. Ushen, ikelli ka ikwda i wadu n lehdid, ikdu izimmer ann, ibalak iddu. Yut nn ukan kra yili-d fella-s ifis, inna-ys: ålaslamt-k ! kfa-h laxwbar. Ar isawal ushen tamddamt, ar-as ittrar ifis (Ig-tn kullu nettan Hummad):
Ifis i wushen
1. Ida lasbab-ann add ikfan i ugharas
2. Akk nsaqsa beåda¸ lexwbar n ghinna-nnun
3. Maggis ittgaran ad ah-t i rebbi tinim
4. Nkka-d Wad Dra ha tagut ur-ttin lkem-x
5. Kfa-h d laxwbar n tuzzumt ula win tterf
Ushen i ifis
6. Ihnna lhal azemz n lxir itters ukan
7. Tllamt nit a zzerda h tama n ugharas
8. A washsh a iga Hummad u-Åli rurn ka sers
9. A had lehshum x temdayt ayt-yat ur-ak llin
10. A fellak ishel rbbi lkem tawwuri-nnun
Ifis i wushen
11. Darnex ax tersa temdayt i wannatt iran
12. A labudd wa labudd ann yarm yan imik
13. Ix akkw nufa Hummad att ghix nkki, nawi-t
14. A felh-nn arraw-inu gh lemrah lligh llix
Ushen i ifis
15. Ini dax tennit uhuy taremt-yinn ukan
16. Ih ak ur gih ssibba lah twasil-nek
Iddu ifis isker dirikt dar Hummad u-Åli
Hummad i ifis
17. A fellak ishel rbbi lkem tawwuri-nnun
18. Wa kiyyin kaf nggiwr rix akk-inn awix
Ifis i Hummad
19. Ass-nna ikemml lajal, ix nkka agharas
20. A inna igan ssibba rix attent nffugh
Yut Hummad u-Åli ifis, inna-ys ddag s usbahi
Hummad i ifis
21. Wa-yak a lhisht n rbbi rrsas-nex ar ikkit
22. A walli iran ad lddin tifiyyi mamnik
23. Awi, iqqand udgwig, iga, att yanni x uqllal
24. Wa bash a izer tagwudi n mas-asn ttinigh
Ifis i Hummad
25. Wa kmmelt-yyi lajal, nkki nelkem-kid
26. Wa gin lehshum ssibba, asin layyam-nex
Inna-yk ha tazzwit yawi-t-id, tili dderst, inna-ysenn yan unddam h Tuzunin:
- Washsh a iga Hummad u-Åli ingha hrrush
- Yawi-t-id, inna is radas isker iqqullan
NOTES
(1). On these two poets of Tuzunine (near Aqqa), al-Mukhtâr al-Sûssî informs us that Jamå Ighil was, with his father Hummad, among the poets who use to perform communal dances (ahwash) in Imi Ugadir near Tamanart in the Jabel Bani. Both of them were under the protection of Lhusayn U-Hammu and his notables (inflas). Apart from the clerics (tolba-s), every one in Isht is supposed to bring wood and participate in preparing the dancing feast. Jam' and his father spent most of their time reciting poetry in ahwash performing. al-Sûssi recounts having met Jamå Ighil who recited him one of his father's poem composed in 1291 / 1874 on the battle between Ajerrar and Sidi Lhusayn U-Hashem. He said to have been impressed by his talent in poetry composition and chanting. "Full of maxims and proverbs", said al-Süssi who continues reporting.: he always came to the Sufi brotherhood lodge (zawiyya) for the annual meeting in Iligh where I met him as an old man. I later learned that he died after 1364 / 1945. (al-Sûssi, 1963 : 88-92).
(2). Apart from this theologico-philosophical poem (Dialogue between Hummad U-Ali, the jackal and the hyena), Hummad Ighil's poetical composition includes two texts on natural catastrophes (one on the inundation of 1255 / 1839, and the other on the year of the famine of 1295 / 1878), and 5 epic poems relating different battles between the regional tribes (1. The Battle of the Walls in ca. 1260 / 1844, 2. The Battle between Tazerwalt and Ayt Jerrar in 1291 / 1874. 3. The Battle between Aguerd and Lqasbt about a camel in 1300 / 1882. 4. The Battle of Igdi attack by Iguzuln in 1304 / 1886, and 5. The Battle of Isht in ca. 1318 / 1900).
(3). On satirical poetry, he composed a Dialogue with his son. Of his family life we know that he was married more than once but without children until he had his son Jamå whose mother was a black woman, a freed slave belonging to the Zawiyya of the descents of Sidi Brahim Shikh of Tamanart.
(4). On flintlock (asbahi), Muhmmad Ighil said:
- There was a time when the flint-lock was the best of guns
- And later came the rifle which rendered it obsolete.
(5). Thus we are using, on the one hand, the name Hummad u-Åli or simply Hummad to refer to the poet as an actor, the hunter in the story, and on the other, the name Hummad u-Ali Ighil or simply Ighil to refer to the poet as the writer of the dialogue between the three characters.
(6). Some terms concerning hunger problem in the poem are : lkhir (verse 6) : plenty of food ; zzerda (verse 7) : feast ; tifiyyi (verse 22) : meat ; a fella-k isahl rebbi (verses 10 and 17) : expression generally used as an answer to a beggar asking for food or money.
(7) In the story, there is, however, an important element by which the animal too can gain our sympathy. The hyena informs us indirectly that she is the mother of a big family and that her children are waiting for food. The animal is therefore a responsible female who takes big risks for her offspring still incapable of hunting by themselves. Yet we do feel fear in front of a wild animal, even as a parent , or probably because of that. As a matter of fact, a wild mother can do the worst thing in order to feed her offspring.
(8) About this animal, J. B. Panouse, from a biological perspective, writes : "In spite of its overdone reputation of ferocity, the hyena is an animal easy to tame even as a dog if taken young… The hyena can have three to four offspring and the time of her pregnancy probably lasts nearly three months. The striped hyena is a species inhabiting South Mediterranean countries and Asia. In Morocco it is represented by a variety called hyena of Barbary, which is unfortunately disappearing as is clearly shown by the chart made according to the information of forest wardens. In 1932, Carrera remarked its total absence from the Rif mountains. As a victim of many a Moroccan legend, the hyena became rarer and rarer. Hopefully since 1955, this animal is protected in Morocco." (Panouse 1957 : 100-102)
(9) According to Henri Basset there are two reasons that make animals in folktales not all the same everywhere. The tale is introduced into a culture with its animal-hero which becomes different from that of its original place (lion in Europe) or with a local animal-hero near the original model. The second is that an animal species incarnates a different quality or defect for each people, making the same animal looks different in other cultures. (Basset 1920 : 203-4).
(10) On this animal, Henri Basset writes : "The jackal generally feeds on carrion, but he also eats small animal (rabbits, hare, partridge). He can attack the hen house when he succeeded in seizing his prey without waking up dogs. He also eats fruits, particularly dates, figs, arbutus berries, grapes and watermelon." (Basset 1920 : 208-10). According to J. B. Panouse , it has "an unpleasant yapping and as he often yelps and for long times, he becomes annoying in the regions where there are plenty of them because it becomes difficult to sleep where they are around. This is one reason why we do not find a lot of jackals in captivity though they easily put up with it. He is even timid. His smell is very bad which discourages also its captivity." (Panouse 1957 : 47-8)
(11) About the hyena elsewhere than in Morocco, we learn that, in her different encounters with the jackal, this animal is not much happier among the Zenaga of Senegal where she plays a more significant role than in the Maghreb." (H. Basset 1920 : 230).
(12) Big is the difference between Hummad u-Ali here and the naughty persons we find in the European stories like Le Roman du Renard ! For Henri Basset, "tales like that of Ntifa (High-Atlas) where a woodcutter succeeds in using his cunning to escape from a lion are rather exceptional. The lion doubted the words of the cat who told him that man's strength is superior to his. This theme is rare among the Berbers but frequent elsewhere." (H. Basset 1920 : 236-37).
(13) As to the common belief that the jackal is smart and clever, it appears not only in stories like the following tale, but also in Berber poetry. Here is a jackal's tale: :"A jackal has 5 children to whom he brings everyday a lamb. One day, his kids asks him : Daddy, where do you find this meet ? I buy it in the market, answers the jackal. And how do you pay? you do not seem to have money. I buy it on credit, answered the father-jackal. And when are going to pay? The day you do not see me back, you will know that that day I have paid." (Destaing 1937 : 134). About the jackal's cunning, Sidi Hemmu, the semi-legendary Berber poet (18th c.) is supposed to have said (Justinard,1938: 3):
Moi et le chacal, nous vous supportons haines et soupçons.
Le chacal n'a pas été à l'école coranique.
Il n'a pas appris à lire avec la planchette
Sa sagesse est de retenir tout ce qui lui est arrivé.
As to the hyena, it is possible that its apparent stupidity results from its particular way of looking. Indeed, it is said to have a vacant stare. In Morocco, a stupid person is said to be madhbuå ("hyenaized"), either because he looks like the hyena in having a vacant stare or because the hyena has succeeded in rendering him stupid (Westermarck 926, II: 318). In classical Arabic, we say kharaja åalayhi al-dhabuå (the hyena made him absent minded), or mâ yakhfî zâlika åalâ al-dhaduå (that is not unapparent to the hyena) because the hyena is deemed to be stupid, and ahmaqu mina al-dhabuå (more stupid than the hyena) is a proverb. (Lane 1874 (5-6): 1767).
(14) Reporting about the beliefs and customs relating to different animals, Edward Westermarck writes that people in different parts of Morocco often hang a small piece of hyena's brain on their churn in order to have more plentiful of milk. They also use the hyena's liver for the same purpose. (Westermarck 1926, II: 298). Similar beliefs about the magical power of parts of the hyena’s body are found in the Mediterranean world and probably elsewhere. People assert that “the dogs bark not at him who retains with him its teeth : - if its skin is bound upon the belly of her that is pregnant, she casts not her young. - if seed is measured in a measure covered with its skin, the seed-produce is secure from the banes thereof: And the application of its gall-bladder as a collyrium sharpens the sight.” (Lane 1874 (5-6): 1766)
(15) In 1908, Edmond Doutté writes : “La cervelle d'hyène en particulier est connu dans tout le nord de l'Afrique pour exciter l'amour au point que le verbe d’eba' (d'eba' signifie l'hyène) s'emploie pour dire ‘être fou d'amour’." (Doutté 1984: 79).
(16) According to Emile Laoust, this custom seems to be generalized in Berber areas. In 1940’s a witness is supposed to have told him that when the hunters had killed a hyena, women of Tilsint, being alerted by the Central Government officers (mokhaznis) insist that the head of the beast be burned in front of the officer of Local Affairs himself. (Laoust 1949: xxi-xxii, note 7). Even more important and surprising is what we can read as late as in 1987 in the front page of a daily newspaper of the Moroccan socialist party (USFP) about a hyena that disappeared from the zoo of Casablanca : “ahdirû mukh al-dabå !” (“Beware of the hyena’s brain ! ”), Ittihad al-Ishtiraki, Saturday, December 5th, 1987: 1)
(17) According to Edward Westermarck, "it may be that the strength and ferocious qualities of the boar and certain other beast of prey have contributed to the efficacy of their tusks or claws as charms against the evil eye (...). The prophylactic virtue of the hyena, however, may also be connected with its vacant stare; and so the tusk or claw of an animal may on account of its shape have imparted to other parts of the animals' body the power of neutralising the dangerous glance." (Westermarck 1926, I: 463-4)
(18) About this ancient belief elsewhere, Westermarck writes that generally it is thought that “the hyena possesses the power of fascinating people with a view to devouring them. A belief which is also found in the East and is spoken of by Pliny as existing in classical antiquity. Urinating on a person, vomiting on him, walking around him, making a noise... the person becomes enchanted and looses his senses. But it has no power to enchant and do harm to a brave man". (Westermarck 1926, II: 316-17)
(19) But there is certainly here some exaggeration. In fact hyenas are able to attack flocks of sheep and goats during the day (Panouse 1957: 99). In classical Arabic, dhabuå means the worst or most abominable of sibâå resembling the wolf, except that, when it runs, it is as though it were lame, wherefore it is called al-åarjâ' (Lane 1874: 1766). This is why one of its nickname is "the lame" (abidal for the Tuaregs). Besides "the lame", other nicknames given in Berber to the hyena are "the stinking" (amejjuy) or "the dog-eater" (bu-idan), or "the donkey-eater" (mejj-ghiyul). Still others are Brahim u-Brahim, Mansur (Laoust 1949: xx). As to their bad smell, it no doubt comes from their diet too; but we should add that between the base of their tales and the anus, hyenas have a pair of glands horizontally open towards outside. (Panouse 1957: 99).
(20) The idea that the hyena is taken as being an ogre can be illustrated by the fact that in certain regions lghul (ogre) is given as its name in Moroccan Arabic and in other areas it is given as the he-hyena. (Laoust 1949 : xxi)
(21) This is true even when scribes start putting down these different kinds of learning in writing. Reporting about this practice in Vietnamese society for instance, DeFrancis writes: "Books had to be composed not to be read but to be recited. And in order for the content to be remembered after learning, versified form, with its rhythm and rhyme, virtually imposed itself. For even greater simplicity, it was the versification of Vietnamese popular songs which was generally adopted." (Quoted by Van Den Boogert, 1997: 46).
(22) In Western contemporary societies, the function of poetry is often restricted to art for art; the novel, theater, songs are more used for the purpose of the writer's commitment. In spite of some transformation in certain Berber communities, these narrative and dramatic forms of expression are not yet used for the novel or theater (…). In addition to its role of entertainment, poetry thus assumes functions performed elsewhere by other means of expressions, except for the story and certain types of narration. (Galand-Pernet 1973: 262-3).
(23) In Berber poetry, this is often the case. Bubakr Anshad, a Berber poet-singer (who died in 1950's), in one of his famous texts addresses directly the Heavens wondering if its doorkeeper would let in a certain minstrel poet who did not have time to do his five daily prayers. His answer at the end of the poem was that Paradise is not gained by means of religious rituals but depends rather on the divine free choice. Only God, says he, chooses who will be saved and who will be damned.
(24) According to Martin Schreiner quoted by Wolfson, as far as the teaching of free will goes, “there is no doubt that, among the heathen Arabs, the conception of fate was widespread, and the statements of the Koran [to the contrary] were not capable to do away with them." (Wolfson 1976: 608)
(25) Here are some Qur'anic references: 1. Surat VI (Al-anåâm), verse 2 : "He it is Who created you from clay and then decreeted (for you) a stated term (ajal). And there is in His Presence another determined term (ajal); yet ye doubt within yourselves ! Allah has decreeted for everyone a term (ajal), while another term is fixed and known by Him." According to Régis Blachère, a French translator of the Qur'an, a "stated term" (ajal) means death, and "another determined term" (ajal) refers to the Day of Resurrection It was said that the first ajal refers to what is between birth and death, and the second ajal to what is between death and the day of resurrection, i.e. the Purgatory. It was also said that the first is sleep and the second is death. (Zamakhsharî, II : 4). 2. Surat VII (Al-aåraf), verse 32 / 34: "To every people is a term appointed (ajal): when their term (ajal) is reached, not an hour can they cause delay, nor (an hour) can they advance (it in anticipation)." Commenting this verse, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, another translator of the Qur'an, says that, though grammatically the text refers to a group, it actually deals with the individuals composing the community ... "We cannot retard or advance the march of time by a single hour or minute ('Hour' in the text expresses an indefinite but short period of time)". But for Régis Blachère, the verse deals rather with the group, to every community, there is a term and when it comes, it can neither delay nor advance by an hour. The same explanation is given by Zamakhsharî for whom "Hour" (sâåah) means the shortest and nearest time. To every people, there is a term (ajal). For instance, to the people of Mecca, as was the case for other nations, God was promised a coming fire (?) in a time known to Him. (Zamkhshari, II, 77). 3. Surat LXIII (Al-munâfiqûn), verse 11: "But to no soul will grant respite when the time appointed (ajal) (or it) has come; And God is well acquainted with (all) that ye do." For Yusuf Ali, this means that "when our limited period of probation is over, we cannot justly ask for more time, nor will more time be given to us. But for Zamakhsharî, the verse means that if you know that there is no escape from death the appointed time and that God knows all your deeds, there is nothing left but to do your duties and get ready to meet God. (Zamakhshari, IV : 112). 4. Surat III (Al- Åimrân), verse 139 / 145 : "Nor can a soul die except by God's leave the term being fixed as by writing (kitaban muajjalan). If any one do desire a reward in this life We shall give it to him; and if any desire a reward in the Hereafter, We shall give it to him. And swiftly shall We reward those (serve us with) gratitude." According to one of the earliest Qur'ân commentators,sSouls' death cannot happen but by God's way of doing things, and it is impossible for any one to be in advance of it ... because the Angel of death is the one responsible of this and cannot do it without God's permission which means two things: a) inciting to jihad and encouraging them to fight the enemy by informing them that caution is useless since no one dies before his term arrives even if in war;: b) reminding them of what has God did with His Prophet when he won over his enemy and submitted his people. (Zamakhshari , I, 468-9) These are some basic Qur'ân references concerning predestination, as for the references in Hadith, we can mention these two Traditions according to Salîh Muslim: 1. "Abdullah ibn Omar reported that the Messenger of God says : Allah had written down the measures of creations 50 000 years before He created the heavens and earth. He said that His Throne was (then) upon water." and 2. "Ibn Omar reported that the Messenger of Allah said: Everything is according to a measure, even weakness and intelligence."
(26). "The Qur’an is through and through theistic "whereas" the Traditions, though they mention God, at times tend to be atheistic ...". (Watt : 609)
(27). On this point, Ignaos Goldziher thinks that different Qur’anic passages could satisfy either opposite groups and their respective arguments, “still a mythological tradition, which either developed very early as a kind of hagadah in Islam, or perhaps first appeared in the course of those debates ... favored the determinists". (Goldziher 1900)
(28). According to Wolfson, the belief in predestination was referred to by Jahm ibn Safwân as Jabriyyah (compulsionism). “In the course of time (…) spokesmen of predestinarianism rejected the term compulsionism, referring to it disdainfully as the obsolete view of the Jahmiyyah.” (Wolfson 1976: 612)
(29). For Abû al-Hasan al-Ashåarî, Kitâb al-Ibânah, the Libertarians believed in preordination (qadar) of man's term of life; but for Malati, Kitâb al-Tanbîh, only "a group" of them in fact accepted the qadar and rizq (sustenance). (Wolfson 1975: 613-4). Among the technical meaning of qadâ' (predetermination), D.B. Macdonald mentions "the eternal, universal decision of Allah as to all existent things as they are continuously, very nearly the 'eternal decree' of Calvinism" As to the relation of the term qadâ' to qadar (preordination, measure), and the same author writes, "the overwhelmingly position makes kadâ' [qadâ'] the universal, general and eternal decree, and kadar [qadar] the individual development or application of that in time." (Macdonald 1974: 199).
(30). One of these 4 views is described by al-Ashåarî as that "of certain ignorant members of the sect", who maintain that "a man's ajal is the time until which God knows that He will last, if he is not killed, and not the time at which he is killed" (Makallat al-islâmiyin, p. 256, ll. 8-9). These are two poetical verses sung by a woman in the High-Atlas about the Moroccan king Mohamed V and his regretted death. Even such a beloved man cannot escape the appointed term (ajal): Allah akbar a Sidi Lkhamis / Ur tgi-t i wakal mashsh lajal kemmel-n. (Unayn, March 1983)
(31). Still others think that, if the murderer did not commit the murder, the person might either die or live which, according to Wolfson, implies one of the two possibilities: “either a denial of the ajal or a denial of God’s knowledge of the murderer’s act of killing. In as much, however, as the ajal is explicitly taught in the Koran whereas God’s foreknowledge of all future events is not explicitly taught in the Koran (…), we may conclude that the second-mentioned interpretation is more likely to be the right one;” (Wolfson 1976: 659)
(32). The Maturidites admit man's "free-choice actions" (afåâl ikhtiyâriyah) that justify his reward or punishment, while the Ashåarites added the idea of iktisâb ("accepting for one's self") : By accepting for himself God's action, man realizes his consciousness of free will. However, "man is still an automaton, although part of his machinery is that he believes himself free." (Macdonald 1974: 200).
(33). However, Ighil’s story as a concise oral text, by an illiterate poet, for a popular audience, cannot be expected to expose the complexity this theological issue.
(34). About Vigny’s masterpiece, P. G. Castex writes : « La Mort du Loup” is a story in the first person and the reader is inclined to think that the poet is recounting a souvenir. Many excellent commentators thought that Vigny took part in hunting and admired his realistic preciseness in reporting the story. Yet, he never pretended having this privilege ... This injured wolf, this hopeless fighter , is not wildcat, but a man, a soldier who fights for his honor. The anthropomorphic touch of certain details is of course done on purpose: Vigny knows that we do not say "bouche" (mouth) for animals, nor "jambes" (legs), "fils" or "enfants" for offspring. He deliberately moves to a symbolic level when, after the father's death, he calls the she-wolf " a beautiful and gloomy widow". (Castex 1957: 127-8)
(35). Here follows the full context of this idea in Lord Byron’s original text (Byron 1949: 246):
Existence may be borne, and the deep root
Of life and sufferance make its firm abode
In bare and desolated bosoms; mute
The camel labours with the hieviest load,
And the wolf dies in silence, _ not bestow'd
In vain should such example be; if they,
Things of ignoble or of savage mood,
Endure and shrink not, we of nobler clay
May temper it to bear, - it is but for a day.
(36). The work of Vigny, Les Destinées (Poèmes philosophiques. Recueil posthumes d'Alfred de Vigny (1797-1863), publié par Louis Ratisbonne en 1864) is composed of eleven texts. "The most ancient of these poems is written in 1839 and the last in 1863, about a quarter of a century. Each of these poems reveals an aspect of this basic pessimism represented by Vigny. 1. Les Destinées (1849); 2. La Colère de Samson (1839); 3. La Mort du Loup (1843); 4. La Maison du Berger (1844); 5. La Bouteille à la Mer (Oct. 1853); 6. La Flûte (non datée); 7. La Sauvage (1843); 8. Wanda (1847); 9. Les Oracles (1847); 10. Le Mont des Oliviers (1862); 11. L'Esprit pur (1863). That is the collection of Destinies. Eleven poems but not eleven masterpieces. Shall we quote Eugène Marsan : these poems "who can really pretend that they are not too long, too deliberately obscure...?" Let us not be unjust.: Vigny is among these small number of poets who is eager to illustrate, in a dramatic and epic form, a philosophical thought. Difficult and courageous task ... Thus we owe to Vigny a hundred verses which are the best and most perfect ones of our poetry." (Dictionnaire 1958, I: 646-7)
(37). On this French poet and his stoic wolf, Pierre Paraf writes : « Solitude and pride are Vigny’s two marks of genus. They hide the secret of his contradictions (... ). Of this solitude and of this pride, man is not alone in nature to give example of them. Vigny is searching them in the last look of the wolf, withdrawn hunted down by man to whom it gives its lesson of stoic courage (...). One who has taken the wolf side against man has taken party of man facing his fate which he should not be subjected to but must dominate. Fate or God that the romantics, these revolted children of the Voltairean irony, are going to meet in a tragic way (...). Alfred de Vigny does not fly this way. He remains on earth in his solitude and pride. He tends towards Pure Spirit, fully conscious of “the majesty of human sufferings". ( Paraf 1978: 96-8).
(38). For Yussef al-Yussef, “La mort du Loup” is an image of the Oedipus complex. To argue his point, he gives the following reasons: 1. the wolf is a member of a family, he is the husband of a she-wolf and a father of two children; 2. it is the he-wolf that is killed, not by the dog, but by the hunter's knife (the dog is killed by the wolf); and 3. the hunter refuses to follow the she-wolf and her children; he refers to her by the significant terms "la veuve sombre et belle". Al-Yussef maintains that the image of the mother and the beloved are confused in the poet's mind. For him, the "widow" might be a slight indication to Marie-Duval who left Vigny. (Al-Youssef 1975: 194).
(39). About the short stories included in "Go Down Moses" (1942), T. F. Gallimard writes that they are at the center of Faulkner's work with "his obsession of the virginity of the land (which must belong commonly to all men) and his obsession of sin caused first of all from the destruction of this same virginity by land division into "properties" (...). Now sin calls for revenge and those who committed it or their lineage are its instruments; a fatality of crime, sufferings, heartbreak, and racial hatred plays with them. On this background of fatality which is noisy like wind in the secular forests, Faulkner mixes the characters' life of the two lineages, stressing sometimes their actions of epic pioneers as thirsty of treasure, or simply of hunting and space, and sometimes describing them in their every day life, full of deeds and words ... (Gallimard 1968: 179-80)
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Abderrahmane LAKHSASSI
University Mohammed V