Hey! I'm Wafa, the current Princess of Rhymes, taking over for (but never achieving the same blog-worthy status as) our former Princess Myra, Master Blogger. As the summer drags on, my favorite LEP people are welcoming a new and amazing year of poetry. This year, we're trying something different and we've decided to have a theme to inspire wonderful works and performances. So get ready for "Global Di-VERSE-ity!"
To kick off our trot around the globe, here's a cool story I heard in the seventh grade. It's about a Caliph in eighth century Iraq who had a great memory for poetry. Poets would come to Basra to present their work to him with hopes of receiving payment for their original pieces. Being a particularly stingy and somewhat clever guy, the Caliph tricked the unsuspecting poets out of their pay. He had the ability to memorize something after only hearing it once, so when the poets would recite their poems, he could recite it back and claim that he had heard it before. To make his story more believable, the Caliph would call upon his servant, who could memorize things after hearing them twice. So the servant would hear the poet and the Caliph recite the poem and then follow suit. Is it a coincidence that the maid memorized things after hearing them three times and joined in on the fun? This went on for some time and the poets of the time were out of luck unless they could out-do the Caliph.
An Imam named Asma'i heard about the plight of the poets and decided to do something about it. He disguised himself and paid a visit to the Caliph with a new work. The Caliph agreed that, if this was in fact an original work, he would pay his veiled visitor the weight of his poem in gold. So the Imam recited his poem and the Caliph was dumbstruck. He heard a long, winding poem filled with outrageous rhymes and amazing alliterations that had such a quick tempo it was difficult to follow. The Caliph called his servant and maid and neither of them had heard anything like it. Admitting defeat, the Caliph ordered his servant to give the stranger the promised payment.
"Excuse me, sir, but I've carved my poem on a large boulder, one so big you need ten people to carry so please send some of your strongest men to weigh it," the Imam said.
"What kind of joke are you playing?" the Caliph demanded. "Who are you? Uncover your face and tell me who you are!"
The Imam unveiled his face and the Caliph was shocked.
"Imam Asma'i! What do you mean by all of this?"
"You were conning the poets out of their money and they have no way to make a living, so I did the only thing I could do. I'd like my payment now." But the embarrassed Caliph did not want to pay so the Imam and the Caliph agreed that the payment would go to the poets.
I really like this story and I think the poem is really cool. My Arabic teacher had a contest to see if any of the students could memorize the poem and a few of us did (I did!). Here's a link! It's not as fast paced but you can hear the alliteration and rhyme.
If you have any favorite poems from around the world you'd like to see featured here on our blog, tell me about it in the comments or contact LEP on Facebook, Twitter, or email us at umdlep@gmail.com.
