Three versions of an Egyptian narrative ballad

Abstract

The entire field of Arabic folk literature has long been neglected, not least by Arab scholars whose concern until very recently has been almost exclusively with texts composed in the classical language. Understandably, Western Arabists too have largely confined themselves to material they encountered in Arab written sources. Some interest has finally been awakened in humbler aspects of Arab creativity, the most solid work being done mainly on the folk epic cycles, especially the one that is still alive to-day - the Hilaliyya. No less important and no less indicative of the perceptions, priorities, and artistic potential of the common people (as against the educated elite) are narrative ballads - usually running to about two hundred lines each - many of which are woven round some contemporary occurrences. The favourite theme is in fact the "honour crime," the story of a woman who has deviated from the strict code of sexual ethics and thereby placed on a close male relative - usually her father or her brother - the duty of "washing the family's honour" in her blood. It is three versions of just such a story - the story of Hasan and Na'ima - that are presented here.