He walked, his hand at his forehead,
so as to give him shade to see by.
He first noticed a giant scorpion they had come upon,
which was hurtling towards them.
Of all scorpions, this one was surely the grand-daddy 30.
Demburu howled, “Sons of my mother's eldest!
Leave behind your indifference and look.
In truth, the evil emissary has overtaken us!
Oh my visual organs 31!
Oh my digestive pouch!
Oh my draining intestines!
Oh my vessels of resistance!
Oh stomach pangs!
Oh rumblings of the belly 32, oh colic!”
These lamentations of Demburu's roused the others.
Thus Hammadi and Hamtudo gazed upon
an enormous scorpion, and began to wail:
“Here's a dwarf for you, a demon incarnate!”
Then the scorpion answered, saying:
“I am neither matter, nor a demon.
I am that animal which is fatal to the touch.
I was given two horns, endowed with sense.
I wave in the air the tail I was given.
Violence and hatred are the names of my horns.
The tip of my tail is called the arrow of vengeance.
I have but one child, I reproduce only once.
Pregnancy, the sign of growth and expansion
among all beings, for me signals death.
Chameleon is my elder brother, you have already seen him,
as you have seen the bat, daughter of my paternal uncle.
I am the third symbol of this country
of the dwarf-spirits and my secret belongs to Kaydara,
the distant, the nearby Kaydara.
As for you, son of Adam, go your way…”
That same instant, Demburu seized his courage and said:

Notes (Lilyan Kesteloot)
30. Indicates the extreme quality, the Scorpion par excellence, and not old age.
31. This incantation reveals magic; when one evokes the organs in this way, the illness cited afterwards is the one that is to be avoided: here it is colic, diarrhea, etc.… One can also enumerate the improvements one hopes for.
32. Diarrhea.