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