Ya Saa’i Wayn al-Raa’i ….O Owner of the Herds, Where is Your Herdsman
-Proverb collected by H.Jackson, in Sudan Notes and Records, 1919
In the digitized archive of Sudan Notes and Records (1918-1951) I came upon a proverb collection which included this one. But I could not find the word saa’i with that meaning in Wehr. I began to suspect that the Arabic given by Jackson may have been incorrect, and what he meant to write was saaqi, cupbearer- with the letter qaf replacing the letter ‘ayn. Cupbearer made also perfectly good sense, given that a saaqi is a person directly addressed in the vocative in many Arabic, Persian, and Urdu poems celebrating the intoxicated life, both spiritual and alcoholic often in equal measure, in which the poet asks his cupbearer- Ya Saaqi!- to refill his cup throughout the night.
But no, I was told by a Sudanese friend, saa’i does in fact mean what Jackson had it as, which brings the proverb even closer to home, because I knew well both the herds owner and his herdsman. O Hajj Bashir, where is KhairAllah…