The Jim-Jam King of the Jou-Jous

An Arabian Legend

Translated from the Arabic

FAR off in the waste of desert sand,

The Jim-jam rules in the Jou-jou land:

He sits on a throne of red-hot rocks,

And moccasin snakes are his curling locks;

And the Jou-jous have the conniption fits

In the far-off land where the Jim-jam sits—

If things are nowadays as things were then.

Allah il Allah! Oo-aye! Amen!

The country’s so dry in Jou-jou land

You could wet it down with Sahara sand,

And over its boundaries the air

Is hotter than ’tis—no matter where.

A camel drops down completely tanned

When he crosses the line into Jou-jou land—

If things are nowadays as things were then.

Allah il Allah! Oo-aye! Amen!

A traveler once got stuck in the sand

On the fiery edge of Jou-jou land;

The Jou-jous they confiscated him,

And the Jim-jam tore him limb from limb;

But, dying, he said: “If eaten I am,

I’ll disagree with this Dam-jim-jam!

He’ll think his stomach’s a Hoodoo’s den!”

Allah il Allah! Oo-aye! Amen!

Then the Jim-jam felt so bad inside,

It just about humbled his royal pride.

He decided to physic himself with sand,

And throw up his job in the Jou-jou land.

He descended his throne of red-hot rocks,

And hired a barber to cut his locks.

The barber died of the got-’em-again.

Allah il Allah! Oo-aye! Amen!

And now let every good Mussulman

Get all the good from this tale he can.

If you wander off on a jamboree

Across the stretch of the desert sea,

Look out that right at the height of your booze

You don’t get caught by the Jou-jou-jous!

You may, for the Jim-jam’s at it again.

Allah il Allah! Oo-aye! Amen!