God curse the king of 'Iyad' — that foreigner with his puffed-up jowls and his flabby limbs, who, if he sits upright on his seat a little while, snores the louder and fidgets the more... God curse him! His injustice knows no relenting, and between his cruelty and gentleness there is an old enmity...!
Look at this woman laid low behind those iron bars — how she gazes, distracted, toward the peaks of the mountains of the south... sending her burning sighs and her bitter complaint to her kinsfolk, Rabi'a and Nizar!!
If you had glimpsed her wondrous beauty and heard of the abundance of her letters, whose fame has flown far among her people and her clan — if you had seen her and heard of her, you would have poured out your scorching curses in the face of this fearsome king...!!
Who is this woman? Where did she come from? And how did she come?
You must surely recall with me the story of 'Elizette de Romian,' the most beautiful girl of her age, and how she drained the last drop of her cup of poison to find rest from the pursuit of kings and princes — the kings and princes whom her captivating beauty, the like of which they had never seen, had tempted... so that they committed sins and drowned in transgressions...
And chastity has no religion and no era: a good plant, if it is well tended, gives fruit sweet, delicious, and appetizing, yielding its harvest...
And this Layla — beautiful in her letters, her character, the breadth of her learning, and her poetic gift; beautiful in her slenderness, her smile, her figure, and the sweetness of her talk... this 'Layla' is many times more beautiful than Elizette de Romian...
And if misery and wretchedness are measured in proportion to beauty, loveliness, and character... then Layla's portion of desertion and privation is many, many times Elizette's...!
We saw her — the King and I — when, as was our custom, last Thursday, we were touring the quarters of the town, inspecting its weekly market... She was walking on her father's arm, like the full moon wrapped round in pitch darkness... The King's eye fell upon her — and he fell, struck down, enslaved by her beauty!! So he sent after her father, who rejected his notion; whereupon he flew into a rage against him and ordered him imprisoned, so that the field might lie clear for him with Layla...
He seized her with his trembling hands, imploring her to submit to his will and to become, thereafter, Queen of Persia, holding command and absolute power over it...
And she seized him with two strong arms, saying to him — while her breath blew a heat beside which the flames of the blazing fire were nothing — saying to him: 'And what do you hope to gain from an Arab woman
who gives her life freely for the sake of her chastity?'
She shook him violently, filled with the faith that whoever means to guard her honor will not be brought down by those who have toppled thrones...
She refused to defile her Arab blood and accept this foreigner... though behind him stood the world and all it holds!!
Hear her, my dear friend, from time to time, sending out from behind the bars of her chamber her complaint to al-Barraq son of Rawhan:
Would that al-Barraq had an eye to see what affliction and hardship I endure! O Kulayb and Aqil, my brothers, O Junayd, come to my aid with weeping! Your sister has been tormented — woe upon you — with cruel torture, morning and evening.
This woman laid low behind the iron bars is free — no fetters bind her, despite these bars and those doors and boundaries...
In her spirit, her imagination, and her feeling, she lives on the peaks of the mountains of the south, among her people and her clan... Rabi'a and Nizar!!
She is a poetess, whose imagination no girdle can confine. She is a poetess: though she perish in her body... she will remain immortal in her works and her lessons...
Hebron — Palestine
Publications of Dar al-Kitab
The Palestine Question — by Dr. Najib Sadaka — price: 3 Lebanese liras
Speeches — by Dr. Charles Malik — price: 1 Lebanese lira
The Belle of Lebanon (a story) — by Mr. Farid Mudawwar — price: 2 Lebanese liras
Social Relations in the Arab East — by Dr. Stuart Dodd — price: 10 Lebanese liras
Liberty (a poetry collection) — by Mr. Youssef al-Khal — price: 1½ Lebanese liras
Riyad on His Grandfather's Farm — (the Children's Library) — price: 75 Lebanese piasters
Ri'a and the Fisherman
Whither? — by Mr. Fayez Sayegh — price: 150 Lebanese piasters
These books may be ordered from Dar al-Kitab — Beirut, P.O. Box 1284, and from all the major bookshops.