C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Author Unknown

(Nubian—Fifteenth Century)

A CHANGE came over my husband’s mind:

He loved me once, and was true and kind;

His heart went astray, he wished me away,

But he had no money my dower to pay.

Sing Durwadeega, Durwadee,

Oh dear to me is Durwadee.

For blessed be Allah! he’s old and poor,

And my cocks and hens were his only store;

So he kept me still, for well he knew

If I went, that the cocks and hens went too.

Sing Durwadeega, Durwadee,

Oh dear to me is Durwadee.

But I saw him pining day by day,

As he wished his poor wife far away;

So I went my rival home to call,

And gave her the hen-house, and him, and all.

Sing Durwadeega, Durwadee,

Oh dear to me is Durwadee.

Then he tore his turban off his brow,

And swore I never should leave him now,

Till the death-men combed his burial locks:

Then blessed for ever be hens and cocks.

Sing Durwadeega, Durwadee,

Oh dear to me is Durwadee.