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Vaalu-soru and the Kilegefan

Vaalu-soru, the half-wit, tall but looking like a balimaan

Said once to a very short Kilegefaan

Who was enraged like a pit of alifaan

That Aayaths descended from above below, as Thoofaan!

Author’s Annotation: This was based on a story that Abdul Rasheed heard as a child. He must have seen Vaalu-soru (literally "batman", but had nothing to do with the American cartoon character) who was another of Malé’s characters. "Balimaan" is reputedly a type of monkey that always looked very weak and sleepy. The "short Kilegefaan" was Eggamugey Hassan Faamuladeyri Kilegefan, a Male nobleman, long deceased when Abdul Rasheed was a child. "Alifaan" means fire in Maldivian. "Thoofaan" means typhoon. "Aayaths" refer to verses of the Koran, and what Vaalu-soru said that so angered the short Kilegefan was the implication that the revelation of the Koran to Mohamed had the effect of some typhoon wreaking havoc from above. Vaalu-soru must have been

 

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