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As to his flocks and his children,
He left them to wander in Sahara.
Bon Mezrag is not a man,
But the lowest of all beings;
He deceived both Arabs and Khabyles,
Saying, 'I have news of the Christians.'
"I believed Haddad a saint indeed,
With miracles and supernatural gifts;
He has then no scent for game,
And singular to make himself he tries.
"I tell it to you; to all of you here
(How many have fallen in the battles),
That the Sheikh has submitted.
From the mountain he has returned,
Whoever followed him was blind.
He took flight like one bereft of sense.
How many wise men have fallen
On his traces, the traces of an impostor,
From Babors unto Guerrouma!
This joker has ruined the country--
He ravaged the world while he laughed;
By his fault he has made of this land a desert."[8]
[8] R. Basset, L'insurrection Algerienne, de 1871 dans les chansons
populaires Khabyles Lourain, 1892.
The conclusion of poems of this kind is an appeal to the generosity of
France:
"Since we have so low fallen,[9]
You beat on us as on a drum;
You have silenced our voices.


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