WEBVTT 00:00:00.109 --> 00:00:03.383 align:middle line:84% حبل صبحة حبل صبحة 00:00:03.560 --> 00:00:06.530 align:middle line:84% He will read a poem called "Sabha's Rope." 00:00:06.530 --> 00:00:12.800 align:middle line:84% And this is one of the poems that goes directly back to life 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:15.290 align:middle line:84% in Saffuriya, the village Taha comes from. 00:00:15.290 --> 00:00:20.400 align:middle line:84% And maybe he'll tell you a little bit about who Sabha was. 00:00:20.400 --> 00:00:25.292 align:middle line:84% You translate what I would tell you about the rope. 00:00:25.292 --> 00:00:28.507 align:middle line:90% أفضل بالإنجليزية. بالانجليزية 00:00:28.507 --> 00:00:30.230 align:middle line:90% 00:00:30.230 --> 00:00:37.670 align:middle line:84% Well, in our hamlet, village, Saffuriya, 00:00:37.670 --> 00:00:47.300 align:middle line:84% was a tradition to give the cow a name exactly 00:00:47.300 --> 00:00:53.440 align:middle line:84% as a girl because the cow could make the milk, 00:00:53.440 --> 00:00:57.750 align:middle line:84% could be food for the whole family. 00:00:57.750 --> 00:01:04.980 align:middle line:84% And if the cow died, the family exactly 00:01:04.980 --> 00:01:10.320 align:middle line:84% feels like losing a member of the family. 00:01:10.320 --> 00:01:18.320 align:middle line:84% And because the hunger, it was all over, the cow moos-- 00:01:18.320 --> 00:01:23.240 align:middle line:84% will feels hunger to eat everything 00:01:23.240 --> 00:01:26.660 align:middle line:90% connected with the grass. 00:01:26.660 --> 00:01:27.260 align:middle line:90% One second. 00:01:27.260 --> 00:01:29.690 align:middle line:84% Everybody understand that because there 00:01:29.690 --> 00:01:33.200 align:middle line:84% was so much hunger, hunger was widespread even 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:39.320 align:middle line:84% among the animals, that the cows would eat anything, anything 00:01:39.320 --> 00:01:41.480 align:middle line:84% particularly connected with grass, 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:43.430 align:middle line:90% with hay, or anything like that. 00:01:43.430 --> 00:01:51.170 align:middle line:84% And the ropes was made of not plastic, but from dry grass 00:01:51.170 --> 00:01:52.280 align:middle line:90% from-- 00:01:52.280 --> 00:01:55.586 align:middle line:84% you see, and she would eat the rope. 00:01:55.586 --> 00:01:57.230 align:middle line:90% And the cows would eat the rope. 00:01:57.230 --> 00:02:04.310 align:middle line:84% If she'll eat about a meter or so, she'll die. 00:02:04.310 --> 00:02:08.180 align:middle line:84% If the cow eats more than a meter, a rope a meter long, 00:02:08.180 --> 00:02:11.730 align:middle line:84% it will get into its intestines and it will kill it. 00:02:11.730 --> 00:02:12.620 align:middle line:90% She died. 00:02:12.620 --> 00:02:15.260 align:middle line:90% They used it to cut her. 00:02:15.260 --> 00:02:23.600 align:middle line:84% And the whole village buy the thing to help the family. 00:02:23.600 --> 00:02:31.790 align:middle line:84% And Sabha is one cow which ate a rope, even more 00:02:31.790 --> 00:02:34.490 align:middle line:90% than one-meter rope. 00:02:34.490 --> 00:02:37.880 align:middle line:84% And when she fell down that brought 00:02:37.880 --> 00:02:40.130 align:middle line:90% some knives and cut her. 00:02:40.130 --> 00:02:45.470 align:middle line:84% So this poem is about a cow named Sabha who ate this rope. 00:02:45.470 --> 00:02:47.210 align:middle line:84% And because she ate the rope, they 00:02:47.210 --> 00:02:50.120 align:middle line:84% knew that she was going to die a painful death from eating 00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:51.590 align:middle line:90% the rope, they killed her. 00:02:51.590 --> 00:02:53.480 align:middle line:84% And this is what happened to her. 00:02:53.480 --> 00:02:55.890 align:middle line:84% And tell, maybe, what Sabha means. 00:02:55.890 --> 00:03:03.500 align:middle line:84% Sabha means a good, lucky phrase, like the morning, 00:03:03.500 --> 00:03:08.890 align:middle line:84% الصبح the phrase صبحة and sabah. 00:03:08.890 --> 00:03:13.160 align:middle line:84% The word for morning in Arabic is sabah and [? suprah. ?] 00:03:13.160 --> 00:03:17.240 align:middle line:84% And the word for the cows name comes from a similar root. 00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:19.700 align:middle line:84% So there's a feeling of morning, of light, 00:03:19.700 --> 00:03:21.670 align:middle line:90% of joy comes with this cow. 00:03:21.670 --> 00:03:26.420 align:middle line:84% You know, you read, as he called with Tobacco Road, 00:03:26.420 --> 00:03:30.170 align:middle line:84% you would feel things connected with people 00:03:30.170 --> 00:03:33.080 align:middle line:90% and earth and weather. 00:03:33.080 --> 00:03:34.663 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] 00:03:34.663 --> 00:03:36.455 align:middle line:84% One of the Taha's favorite American writers 00:03:36.455 --> 00:03:37.465 align:middle line:90% is Erskine Caldwell. 00:03:37.465 --> 00:03:39.590 align:middle line:84% I don't want to ask how many people in the audience 00:03:39.590 --> 00:03:40.880 align:middle line:90% have read Erskine Caldwell. 00:03:40.880 --> 00:03:42.530 align:middle line:90% Not so many anymore. 00:03:42.530 --> 00:03:46.580 align:middle line:84% But it's a writer that he read when he was studying English. 00:03:46.580 --> 00:03:48.580 align:middle line:90% And he's from Georgia. 00:03:48.580 --> 00:03:50.330 align:middle line:84% I guess most of his stuff is from Georgia, 00:03:50.330 --> 00:03:51.890 align:middle line:90% the famous book Tobacco Road. 00:03:51.890 --> 00:03:54.620 align:middle line:84% And Taha identifies very much with this writer. 00:03:54.620 --> 00:03:56.460 align:middle line:90% So Rope. 00:03:56.460 --> 00:04:06.110 align:middle line:84% The poem told by a family, old man Hamid and Uncle Hamid. 00:04:06.110 --> 00:04:11.470 align:middle line:84% And they are outside Suffuriya because Suffuriya destroyed, 00:04:11.470 --> 00:04:15.891 align:middle line:90% 1918. 00:04:15.853 --> 00:04:18.908 align:middle line:90% بتتذكر يا "أبو محمد" 00:04:20.216 --> 00:04:27.499 align:middle line:84% بتتذكر لما صبحة بقرة جارنا "أبو هاشم" أكلت الحبل 00:04:28.337 --> 00:04:34.689 align:middle line:84% بتتذكر كيف وهيا تنازع ذبحوها وعلى ضي القناديل سلخوها 00:04:35.003 --> 00:04:39.308 align:middle line:90% وبالبلطات شيلات شيلات قطعوها 00:04:40.503 --> 00:04:47.566 align:middle line:84% "أم هاشم" نصبت مناحة لما السكاكين نزلت بصبحة 00:04:48.765 --> 00:04:50.172 align:middle line:90% بناتها عيطوا 00:04:50.258 --> 00:04:53.656 align:middle line:84% الكل حزن الكل ساعد 00:04:53.860 --> 00:04:57.406 align:middle line:84% والكل ردد: فرق الحمل ينشال! 00:04:58.196 --> 00:05:01.477 align:middle line:90% والحارة عن بكرة أبيها تكاتفت 00:05:02.578 --> 00:05:05.359 align:middle line:90% واشترت لحم صبحة 00:05:06.039 --> 00:05:07.945 align:middle line:84% بتتذكر ولا نمت؟ 00:05:08.272 --> 00:05:12.733 align:middle line:84% لا لا أنا فايق طبعًا بتذكر 00:05:13.331 --> 00:05:19.230 align:middle line:84% وبتذكر كمان إنه ما حدا ذاق قضمة من لحم صبحة 00:05:20.524 --> 00:05:24.695 align:middle line:84% اللحم انشوى، انقلى، انسلق والبعض دق كبة 00:05:25.033 --> 00:05:27.141 align:middle line:90% لكن ما حدا ذاقه 00:05:27.892 --> 00:05:33.623 align:middle line:90% الناس حسوا كأنهم شرحوا شرحات من جثة قتيل 00:05:34.404 --> 00:05:39.966 align:middle line:84% وكأن اللي انطبخ هو لحم أبو هاشم ولحم أهل بيته 00:05:40.297 --> 00:05:44.032 align:middle line:84% النفوس صدت وكبوه 00:05:44.946 --> 00:05:49.625 align:middle line:90% مدة والبلد يخنقها أسى صامت ملثم 00:05:50.043 --> 00:05:53.058 align:middle line:90% مثل صوت أبو هاشم خشن 00:05:53.534 --> 00:05:57.558 align:middle line:90% وأخضر مثل عينين صبحة الخضر 00:05:58.079 --> 00:05:59.438 align:middle line:90% شايف يا "أبو محمد" 00:06:00.259 --> 00:06:02.134 align:middle line:90% كانت بلدنا مليحة 00:06:02.438 --> 00:06:05.087 align:middle line:90% صحيح كان فيها أوقات علقم 00:06:05.238 --> 00:06:11.554 align:middle line:84% لكن مرارها طيب يشبه مرار العلت وأطيب 00:06:11.894 --> 00:06:14.761 align:middle line:90% شايف شو كاينه بلدنا مليحة؟ 00:06:15.221 --> 00:06:19.597 align:middle line:84% مليحة؟ هه!! قال مليحة قال 00:06:20.353 --> 00:06:23.244 align:middle line:90% ولك وكتاب الله العزيز 00:06:23.930 --> 00:06:29.923 align:middle line:84% أنا مستعد وبفضل ومن كل قلبي موافق 00:06:30.697 --> 00:06:35.307 align:middle line:84% أكون يومها بلعت حبل أطول من حبل صبحة 00:06:35.852 --> 00:06:39.336 align:middle line:90% بس نكون بقينا ببلدنا. 00:06:43.840 --> 00:06:44.900 align:middle line:90% And you can sit. 00:06:44.900 --> 00:06:54.240 align:middle line:90% 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:54.740 align:middle line:90% Here? 00:06:54.740 --> 00:06:55.716 align:middle line:90% Yeah, you can sit. 00:06:55.716 --> 00:06:56.216 align:middle line:90% Go ahead. 00:06:56.216 --> 00:07:04.110 align:middle line:90% 00:07:04.110 --> 00:07:07.714 align:middle line:90% "Sabha's Rope" 00:07:07.714 --> 00:07:09.630 align:middle line:90% Where'd it go? 00:07:09.630 --> 00:07:11.070 align:middle line:90% 102. 00:07:11.070 --> 00:07:13.200 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:07:13.200 --> 00:07:16.350 align:middle line:90% "Do you remember, Abu Mohammad? 00:07:16.350 --> 00:07:20.880 align:middle line:84% Do you remember when Sabha, our neighbor Abu Hashem's cow, 00:07:20.880 --> 00:07:23.610 align:middle line:90% swallowed the rope? 00:07:23.610 --> 00:07:26.400 align:middle line:84% Do you remember how, as she was dying, 00:07:26.400 --> 00:07:30.180 align:middle line:84% they slaughtered her and, by lamplight, flayed her 00:07:30.180 --> 00:07:36.880 align:middle line:84% and then, bit by bit with axes, hacked her into pieces? 00:07:36.880 --> 00:07:41.290 align:middle line:84% And Hashem sent up her wailing as the knives sliced away 00:07:41.290 --> 00:07:43.770 align:middle line:90% at Sabha and her daughter wept. 00:07:43.770 --> 00:07:47.760 align:middle line:84% Everyone grieved and everyone lent a hand, insisting, 00:07:47.760 --> 00:07:49.440 align:middle line:90% we'll share the burden. 00:07:49.440 --> 00:07:50.790 align:middle line:90% We'll manage. 00:07:50.790 --> 00:07:53.320 align:middle line:84% All the neighbors rushed together, 00:07:53.320 --> 00:07:59.670 align:middle line:84% shoulder to shoulder, without exception, to buy Sabha's meat. 00:07:59.670 --> 00:08:04.860 align:middle line:84% Do you remember, or have you fallen asleep? 00:08:04.860 --> 00:08:06.390 align:middle line:90% No, I'm awake. 00:08:06.390 --> 00:08:07.560 align:middle line:90% Of course I remember. 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:10.140 align:middle line:84% And I remember too that no one ever 00:08:10.140 --> 00:08:12.810 align:middle line:90% tasted a piece of that meat. 00:08:12.810 --> 00:08:15.600 align:middle line:84% It was grilled, fried, and cooked, 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:18.120 align:middle line:90% and minced for chopped meat. 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:20.910 align:middle line:90% But no one ate it. 00:08:20.910 --> 00:08:24.630 align:middle line:84% The people felt that they were slicing into flesh fresh 00:08:24.630 --> 00:08:29.670 align:middle line:84% from a cadaver, as though it were Abu Hashem's body or that 00:08:29.670 --> 00:08:33.030 align:middle line:90% of his family being carved. 00:08:33.030 --> 00:08:38.340 align:middle line:84% Men and women turned away in disgust and threw it away. 00:08:38.340 --> 00:08:40.900 align:middle line:90% 00:08:40.900 --> 00:08:45.070 align:middle line:84% For a while, the village was choked 00:08:45.070 --> 00:08:50.290 align:middle line:84% in a muted sort of grief, like Abu Hashem's hoarse voice 00:08:50.290 --> 00:08:54.040 align:middle line:90% and green as Sabha's eyes. 00:08:54.040 --> 00:08:56.440 align:middle line:90% Don't you see, Abu Muhammad? 00:08:56.440 --> 00:08:58.390 align:middle line:90% Our village was pleasant. 00:08:58.390 --> 00:09:02.260 align:middle line:84% It's true there were hard times, but the bitterness 00:09:02.260 --> 00:09:06.820 align:middle line:84% was good, like chicory, or better. 00:09:06.820 --> 00:09:08.650 align:middle line:90% You see what I mean? 00:09:08.650 --> 00:09:11.240 align:middle line:90% Wasn't it pleasant? 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:14.010 align:middle line:90% Pleasant, ha. 00:09:14.010 --> 00:09:15.590 align:middle line:90% Pleasant, he says. 00:09:15.590 --> 00:09:17.400 align:middle line:90% Pleasant. 00:09:17.400 --> 00:09:24.770 align:middle line:84% Let me tell you, by the book of almighty god, I swear to you, 00:09:24.770 --> 00:09:26.730 align:middle line:90% I was prepared. 00:09:26.730 --> 00:09:30.590 align:middle line:84% In fact, I would have preferred, and with all my heart 00:09:30.590 --> 00:09:33.950 align:middle line:84% I would have agreed, to swallow a rope longer 00:09:33.950 --> 00:09:40.900 align:middle line:84% than Sabha's if only we could have stayed in our village." 00:09:40.900 --> 00:09:43.000 align:middle line:90%