The door has opened down stairs, and some of Sit Leila’s friends have come to see her.  The moment they saw the little baby Fereed, they all began to call out, “Ism Allah alayhee,” “The name of Allah upon him.”  They use this expression to keep off the Evil Eye.  This superstition is universal throughout Western Asia, Northern Africa, and exists also in Italy and Spain.  Dr. Meshaka of Damascus says that those who believe in the Evil Eye, “think that certain people have the power of killing others by a glance of the eye.  Others inflict injury by the eye.  Others pick grapes by merely looking at them.  This power may rest in one eye, and one man who thought he had this power, veiled one eye, out of compassion for others!  The Moslem Sheikhs and others profess to cure the evil eye, and prevent its evil effects by writing mystic talismanic words on papers, which are to be worn.  Others write the words on an egg, and then strike the forehead of the evil eyed with the egg.”

Whenever a new house is built, the workmen hang up an egg shell or a piece of alum, or an old root, or a donkey’s skull, in the front door, to keep off the evil eye.  Moslem women leave their children ragged and dirty to keep people from admiring them, and thus smiting them with the evil eye.  They think that blue eyes are especially dangerous.

They think that the name of God or Allah is a charm against evil, and when they repeat it, they have no idea of reverence for that Holy Name.

Here is a terrible imprecation against a woman who smites with the Evil Eye: 

    May her hand be thrust in her mouth,
    And her eyes be burned in the fire! 
    The blessings of Mighty God,
    Preserve you from her ire!

Nideh sings

    Upon you the name of Allah,
    Around you Allah’s eye! 
    May the Evil Eye be blinded,
    And never harm my boy!

It is ten o’clock at night, and Katrina, Laia, Wered, and Handumeh say it is time to go.  Handumeh insists that we come to her wedding to-morrow.  Amin will go with them to drive away the dogs, and see that no wolves, hyenas, or leopards attack them by the way.

PART VII.

The boys of Abeih are early risers.  What a merry laugh they have!  What new song is that they are singing now?

There has been a shower in the night and Yusef and Khalil are singing about the rain.  We say in English “it rains” but the Arabs tell us what “it” refers to.  They say “The world rains,” “The world snows,” “The world is coming down,” “The world thunders and lightens.”  So you will be able to tell your teacher, when he asks you to parse “it rains,” that “it” is a pronoun referring to “world.”  Hear them sing: 

    Rain, O world, all day and night,
    We will wash our clothing white. 
    Rain, O world, your waters shed,
    On my dear grandmother’s head.