LessonsṬarafah: The She-Camel’s Anatomy, Similes, and Roman Arch (Verses 17–23)Quiz

فَطَوْرًا بِهِ خَلْفَ الزَّمِيلِ وَتَارَةً
عَلَى حَشَفٍ كَالشَّنِّ ذَاوٍ مُجَدَّدِ
At times the tail moves behind the rider; at others it strikes her shrunken teats, likened to a worn, dried-out and cut leather water-skin.

Fa-ṭawran ... wa-tāratan sets up two alternating actions. First the tail moves behind the person riding; then it touches the rear of the animal.

Ḥashaf suggests a shrunken condition, while al-shann is an old, dried leather water-skin. The comparison is deliberately concrete rather than conventionally flattering: the poet observes actual bodily detail while preserving the mount’s worth as a traveler.

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Verse 18: The tail and an old water-skin

Ṭarafah: The She-Camel’s Anatomy, Similes, and Roman Arch (Verses 17–23)

فَطَوْرًا بِهِ خَلْفَ الزَّمِيلِ وَتَارَةً
عَلَى حَشَفٍ كَالشَّنِّ ذَاوٍ مُجَدَّدِ
At times the tail moves behind the rider; at others it strikes her shrunken teats, likened to a worn, dried-out and cut leather water-skin.

Fa-ṭawran ... wa-tāratan sets up two alternating actions. First the tail moves behind the person riding; then it touches the rear of the animal.

Ḥashaf suggests a shrunken condition, while al-shann is an old, dried leather water-skin. The comparison is deliberately concrete rather than conventionally flattering: the poet observes actual bodily detail while preserving the mount’s worth as a traveler.